Finally encountering Red Eye, Lee Gun laughed in contempt.

“That lizard should know where it can and cannot run wild. It must have lost its mind.”

“…!”

This man’s appearance surprised the disciples. But how this person had come here wasn’t important right now.

“The one to send that big monster flying was Lee Gun?”

“What? Is this a joke?”

“No! I saw it. He really sent it flying!”

The disciples who were protecting Stevens felt chills run up their backs. This was to be expected. After all, the monster in front of them, Red Eye, was huge. Its size was beyond their imagination. At a glance, it measured to be over 170m tall.

No awakened being had ever killed anything over a height of a hundred meters. Red Eye was special; other large monsters were normally fifty meters tall at most.

‘The record for the largest monster killed was 70m. An SS-rank had killed it.’

That was the reason the disciples were overwhelmed from merely encountering Red Eye. Yet, Lee Gun had tossed it aside just like that.

The fallen Red Eye seemed taken aback as well.

[Goo-ohhhhhh!]

A light flashed within its red eyes. This meant it had found the culprit.

In return, Lee Gun took up Heaven’s Punishment. “At that size, it’s only a baby.”

This monster grew in proportion to what it ate. It could grow its size to a height of several hundred meters. The one Lee Gun had seen twenty years ago had been three hundred meters tall at most.

Of course, the monster’s power didn’t fluctuate with its size, so it was a troublesome opponent no matter its size.

Therefore, Lee Gun put magical energy into Heaven’s Punishment.

Geeeng!!

In response to its owner’s magical energy, Heaven’s Punishment cried out in joy.

This surprised the disciples.

“It… It is too dangerous!”

“There is no way Lee Gun-nim can kill it on his own!”

The monster’s reflexes were too excellent compared to its size. Fighting it at close quarters would be impossible.

“Saint-nim had his arm eaten when he approached it!”

Ignoring the disciples, Lee Gun moved across the roofs.

The disciples witnessing this screamed. They acted as if this was the end of the world. “Shit! Everyone, get ready to support him!”

“Get ready to lift him! If he gets beaten, we’ll immediately retrieve him!!”

“Hurry up and move!”

Stevens spoke to his disciples, who were getting ready for a battle. “Don’t do anything useless. You guys will just get in the way.”

“What?!”

“You asked how to kill Red Eye, right?” Stevens added.

“!”

“That’s it.”

“What?”

“The way to kill it is Lee Gun.”

“?!”

The disciples looked at Stevens, surprised. They were asking what the hell their Saint was talking about.

Stevens was being sincere. “He’s the only one who can kill it.”

Of course, Stevens hadn’t witnessed Lee Gun killing Red Eye. He hadn’t been in the position to do so.

[Run away!]

Twenty years ago, everything had gone differently from the plan. Their group of thirteen had planned on killing Red Eye when it was asleep, but they had woken it up by mistake. Moreover, their attacks hadn’t worked against it.

The only thing Stevens had witnessed was Lee Gun running in a direction opposite from the Zodiac Saints.

[That crazy bastard!]

He still couldn’t forget the image of Lee Gun’s back. Moreover, he still regretted being the first one to run away.

‘Not many saw him sever Red Eye’s head.’

The only ones Stevens was sure about were the Crab Saint and the Libra Saint. The Crab Saint had always been interested in Lee Gun, and the Libra Saint hated losing to Lee Gun. She wouldn’t have left unless Lee Gun had.

Of course, the one to hand him Red Eye’s head was the Crab Saint, but Stevens had confirmed it.

‘Who else would have killed it? It was Lee Gun.’

[Koo-ohhhhhhhh!]

The sound of Red Eye screaming rang once again.

When everyone looked up in surprise, they saw Red Eye down again. The monster had been trying to open its mouth, but the roof came flying at it.

This made the disciples panic for an entirely different reason.

“That’s nuts! How can he…”

Before they could panic, however, something dropped in front of Stevens.

Boom!

Stevens and his guards were all surprised. It was none other than Lee Gun.

After abruptly appearing in front of them, Lee Gun scrunched up his face. “What the hell? Where are your arms?”

It seemed he had noticed this when he was about to kill Red Eye.

The Leo Saint laughed; Lee Gun wasn’t acting like his normal self. “They were cut off. Are you worried about me?”

Lee Gun contemptuously looked at Stevens as if the latter were talking nonsense. “I’m asking, where did your severed limbs go?”

“…”

Lee Gun looked down at Stevens as if the Saint were a bug. It seemed he really was the same.

“The Taurus Saint took my arm,” Stevens answered.

“Both of them?”

“…?”

For some odd reason, Lee Gun seemed fixated on it, but Stevens answered without thinking much, “No. I think one of them is in that bastard’s stomach!”

“Is that so? Your arm is inside its stomach?”

“!”

At that moment, Stevens felt a chill run up his back.

Lee Gun’s oddly twinkling eyes were scary to begin with, but for some odd reason, his gaze was fixed on Stevens’s legs as well. That was more terrifying.

Stevens scooted backward in fright. “What the hell? Why are you looking at my legs like that?”

“No! It’s nothing.” Letting out a meaningful laugh, Lee Gun looked at Red Eye.

* * *

At that moment…

Boom! Boom!

“What the hell? Attacks don’t work against it!”

The disciples screamed as they tried to stop Red Eye from heading toward the city. Goat, Lee Jaewon, and the other Archer disciples were there as well. 

Hugo had sent them here. He had been worried about sending Lee Gun against Red Eye alone. It wasn’t as if he didn’t trust Lee Gun, but the trauma from twenty years ago still existed inside him.

The Archer disciples were like a precious extension of Hugo. Even one of them would be helpful in protecting his holy ground, yet he had sent them here. However, it didn’t matter in the end.

‘How are we supposed to kill that? Is this a joke?’

Goat and Lee Jaewon froze when they arrived at the site. Of course, they hadn’t overestimated themselves in thinking they could kill Red Eye. However, they had thought they could slow it down at the very least.

‘The fact that he killed such a thing makes Lee Gun-nim look like a monster.’

Of course, Lee Jaewon had seen Red Eye twenty years ago. However, he had been young at that time. He was a porter with no ability, so he just remembered the fear from that time.

However, now that he was an S-rank, he felt more afraid. Now, he could gauge how strong his opponent was.

‘It’s a monster that has transcended the realm of humans.’

Goat held his shaking hands. He had been a bit confident since he was an SS-rank.

‘We aren’t the new strongest beings of humanity.’

If Lee Gun had really killed that thing, getting referred to by that title would be embarrassing for Goat.

Chun Sungjae, who had been retching, said, “In truth, I was young, so I never knew how amazing Red Eye was. But now that I see it for myself, I can feel it in my bones.”

“!”

“I can see why Earth almost ended twenty years ago.”

It was understandable why the original awakened beings were praised after killing Red Eye and why they were worshiped as Saints.

Suddenly, a despairing voice rang out as if the speaker agreed with those words. “Wouldn’t it be best if we joined the Libra Saint?”

Aside from the Leo temple and the Archer temple, disciples with mettle from other temples had come running to the fight.

“That’s right! The Libra temple isn't under attack from Red Eye!”

“We have to go there if we want to live!”

“Yes! Let’s all go to the Libra right now! If we gather disciples for them, they might protect us!”

As if they found these other panicked disciples idiots, the Archer disciples clicked their tongues.

Boom!

Red Eye swung its enormous tail as though these disciples were noisy.

The disciples fell to the ground when they saw the tail heading toward them. The enormous tail wasn’t something they could dodge.

“Ahhk! We are done for!”

At that moment…

Kwahng!

Accompanying the sound of an explosion, a scream rang out.

It was the cry of a beast. Surprised, everyone looked up to see red rain pouring down from the sky.

This rain was a rain of blood, Red Eye’s blood!

“Kee-ehhhhhhhhhhhk!”

Red Eye let out a violent roar when its tail was cut.

This took everyone aback.

“The… the tail was severed!”

“Who did it?”

They were surprised to see someone descend from the sky.

“Lee… Lee Gun?!”

Lee Gun landed with an enormous ax on his back.

Boom!

He moved lightly like a squirrel. 

Realizing that Lee Gun was the one who had cut off the tail, everyone started to scream.

“L-Lee Gun cut that thing?”

“That’s crazy! He cut it?”

The subject of the discussion didn't care for the others’ reactions. Lee Gun looked at Red Eye, which was growling at him. Unlike before, he had a very serious expression on his face. This was to be expected.

‘It has a wound.’

Lee Gun was looking at the monster’s eye. Red Eye was so large that no one had noticed this, but he was certain. It had an injured eye.

‘I’m sure of this. I’m the one who left that scar there.’

That was a stab wound he had created when he had been with the twelve Zodiac Saints. This wasn’t all. A familiar scar was also on Red Eye’s back, and Lee Gun had also spotted signs of its neck being cut.

‘I’m sure of this. I cut its neck at the same spot.’

Basically, this was the same Red Eye that he had decapitated. In the first place, Lee Gun hadn’t thought there would be another one of that size…

‘What’s going on?’

However, that question didn’t last long.

[Gaze of a God]

After activating the skill, Lee Gun snorted. He saw a yellow light emanating from Red Eye’s surroundings. Lee Gun smirked as if it all made sense now.

‘It was revived using the Libra’s power.’

Of course, this wasn't impossible. Red Eye’s severed head was considered the treasure of humanity. The Libra Saint had used that head to revive this monster.

‘I have no idea what price she paid to do it.’

In the end, that woman had revived Red Eye. She had then used a skill similar to “Blindfolded Eyes” to make the monster move past their holy ground. That was the plan she had concocted.

She had used the plan to protect her holy ground and gather people under her with the power of fear.

‘How detestable!’

However, even the Libra seemed incapable of fully reviving Red Eye. Why?

‘It feels more like a zombie.’

This was the same beast, but for some odd reason, Lee Gun could smell the stench of a corpse from it. This meant Red Eye hadn’t been fully revived.

‘Well, the Libra isn’t known as the Zodiac of revival and regeneration.’

There was a limit to what could be done. As proof, Red Eye was incapable of fully using its main skill. That main skill was its ability to gather monsters, yet Red Eye hadn’t used the skill even once.

However, this didn’t matter in the end.

‘Its body was revived pretty well.’ An odd light entered Lee Gun’s eyes. ‘I can make unbreakable items with it.’ Should he work a bit for his cute disciples? 

Lee Gun checked one of his skills.

[You can now use the Prisoner skill]

He let out a wicked laugh. As if the voice could read his thoughts, it gave him a warning.

[You are under a penalty!]

[Physical Ability Reduced by 50% (Remaining Time: 39h 35m 02s)]

Despite the warning, Lee Gun laughed. ‘I’ve always fought with the penalty in place.’ It wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Lee Gun headed toward Red Eye, surprising the disciples.

“U-Uncle?!”

“No! If you go by yourself—”

They didn’t even have the time to stop him. Lee Gun disappeared.

Pahng!

“Kyahhk!”

“Ahhhk!”

Accompanying a boom, Lee Gun had instantly vanished. The wind pressure prevented everyone from opening their eyes, but their mouths soon fell open.

“He’s already that far!”

Lee Gun had shot forward so fast that the bag containing components for his manufacturing had fallen out. Thankfully, he hadn’t dropped any items needed for battle. 

At that moment…

Kwahng!

“Kehhhhhhhhhk!!!”

“Kee-ehk!”

The sound rang out as if it would pierce the sky. A group of monsters was converging on Lee Gun. However, Lee Gun was like an out-of-control freight train. There was no way they could slow him down.

Instead of slowing down…

[Diagonal Cut]

Poo-hahk!!

He cut down the enemies blocking his path. Blood surged into the sky, and Lee Gun disappeared before the blood could hit the floor.

Hoo-doo-doohk!

In his place, several dozen monster heads fell!

Boom! Boom!

The disciples’ jaws dropped to the floor as they watched him.

“C-Crazy!”

“What… What the hell is that speed?”

Lee Gun was running, but describing that action as running would be difficult. He was like the wind and the light. That wasn’t all.

“Kee-ehhhk!”

He had lost Heaven’s Punishment during the ambush, yet Lee Gun nonchalantly took out a carving knife equipped on his waist. All this took a mere 0.1 seconds.

Then, he used it to pierce the monsters’ temples.

Kwah-jeek!

When Lee Gun extended his hand, Heaven’s Punishment flew back into his hand. He ruthlessly brought down the ax toward the monsters rushing him.

Pah-gahk!

The monsters were clad in metal armors, yet the ax cut through them as if their defense was nonexistent. The terrifying part was that Lee Gun could read the flow of all the attacks even in such a dire situation.

The situation was hectic, yet he could predict even the attacks coming from his back. On top of that, he chained his attacks to kill them all.

Chun Yooha and Goat felt very small in front of this display. They were part of the Ten Stars, so they had thought of themselves as the best. However, Lee Gun was on a different level. 

It was as if they could think one or two seconds ahead, yet Lee Gun’s thought process was instantaneous. His ability to make a decision was on a different level. That wasn’t all.

In contrast to the macho men like the Leo Saint and the Taurus Saint, Lee Gun’s arms looked normal. Therefore, it was a wonder where such power was coming from in his arms.

At that moment…

“Ah! He is already there!”

Lee Gun had arrived in front of Red Eye. The giants guarding this huge monster stepped forward. However, Lee Gun ignored them.

Too-hahk!

The heads of the giants flew away the next second.

Kwah-jeek!

Lee Gun used the falling, headless giants as stepping stones to jump into the air. Instantly reaching Red Eye, he smirked. “It has been a while, you big-ass snake.”

“Kee-ehhk?!”

He swung his Heaven’s Punishment!

Poohahk!!!!

Red Eye split down its length from head to toe.