Hugo screamed. His reaction was expected.

[Yooha: Uncle! May I become Uncle’s disciple? (Emoticon)]

The screen of Lee Gun’s phone clearly displayed the name “Yooha.” The message had come a couple of minutes ago. Apart from the text, it also contained an emoticon that Yooha wouldn’t send her father even if Hugo had asked for it.

Hugo had a realization. ‘He said someone who’ll become a Saint will be joining his temple!’

Lee Gun had suddenly said that he didn’t need Hugo. Hugo should have known something was wrong at this point, but he had never expected Yooha to enter the temple of the Serpent Bearer.

The Archer Saint grabbed Lee Gun by the collars. “You son of a bitch!! You already stole my wife and son! Isn’t that enough?”

Hugo raged when Lee Gun was trying to take his only remaining daughter. If he were to be precise about it, Chun Jiwoo was only a normal disciple within the Serpent Bearer’s temple. She was clearly working for the benefit of the Archer Saint, yet that wasn’t important to Hugo.

“Did you accept her? Did you accept her into the Serpent Bearer’s temple?”

“I have no reason to reject her. In terms of abilities, Yooha is already in the Saint rank.”

“You adgjklagj!!!” Hugo shook Lee Gun by the collar as if to ask how Lee Gun could do this to him. “I get you don’t like being a Zodiac Saint, but how can you make someone else’s daughter a Zodiac Saint?”

Lee Gun never said he was a Zodiac Saint… Well, it didn’t matter in the end.

“Yooha will be a great Zodiac Saint.”

“Ahk!”

Hugo raged. He said he would enter the Serpent Bearer’s temple. Hugo would rather become the Serpent Bearer’s Zodiac Saint than his daughter.

In the end, the young Archer disciples were barely able to calm their Saint down.

“Saint-nim! Yooha is powerful, but she’s only an S-rank! There is no way she can become a Saint!”

“That’s right! She has to become an SS-rank first!”

It wasn’t official, but everyone in the Saint rank was SS-rank or above.

“You’re the Archer Saint, a Saint from a different temple, yet the Serpent Bearer allowed you to use the regeneration skill. What if the Serpent Bearer is actually cool and wonderful? It might not be a bad idea to follow—”

Hugo hit the youngest Archer disciple, Suh Jihoon. Of course, Hugo also thought the Serpent Bearer was splendid. If it were just the Serpent Bearer, Hugo would show respect as opposed to someone else he knew.

“The answer is no!”

The Serpent Bearer wasn’t the problem. Since Yooha was under the Leo temple, the opportunities for her to meet Lee Gun were few. However, if she joined the Serpent Bearer, she would get to see Lee Gun every day.

“As soon as Yooha sees Gun, she’ll ask for m… mmm… marria—”

“Saint-nim!”

The Archer disciples caught Hugo, who fell from high blood pressure.

“Take me instead!”

“Saint-nim!!!”

Lee Gun laughed at the sight. ‘As expected, it is very effective.’

Of course, Yooha becoming his disciple was a bald-faced lie. Yes, Lee Gun was trying to swindle Hugo. Of course, it wasn’t 100% a lie. Why?

[Chun Yooha has accepted Missionary.]

[Missionary mission has started.]

Yooha had used his coin. Of course, her mission was quite troublesome compared to the one Sungjae got.

[Mission: Defeat a Saint-rank]

[Archer Saint is an exception. (Reason: It is too easy)]

Sungjae just had to defeat the enemy in front of him.

‘Well, the reward for the awakening gets better the more difficult the condition is.’

This might be a good thing. Although Lee Gun was worried, he decided Yooha would be able to solve this quickly. Why?

‘She just needs to defeat the cat bastard.’

The Leo Saint’s arms had been severed. Red Eye had eaten one of it, and Giselle had cut off the other.

Therefore, Yooha’s Missionary mission had progressed significantly.

[Chun Yooha has accomplished 20% of the Missionary Mission.]

Due to this, Lee Gun had received 20% divine status. 

In Sungjae’s case, the appearance of the Fairy Monarch had ended the mission very quickly. Therefore, Sungjae didn’t even have a chance to raise Lee Gun’s divine status.

‘Even if his arms are gone, he’s a Zodiac Saint.’

In the end, it didn’t matter. Lee Gun looked at Hugo as if he were doing him a favor. “Anyway, you don't have to join my temple. You just have to become an affiliate. If you don’t, I’ll take over your holy ground.”

“You… adlkfjlada… my… adklgja;l!!”

Lee Gun had already made the building his own, so what nonsense was he talking about? That was what Hugo was trying to say. 

“Just return my building to its original state!!! You also secretly made this place your holy ground! Cancel it!”

“Why?”

“If you don’t, this really is the end of our friendship!!!”

“Damn it!” Lee Gun didn’t seem to want to end his relationship with his best friend. He looked at the sixty-three-story building that resembled a Demon King’s castle.

At that moment…

“Koohk!”

Lee Gun covered his eyes as he felt extreme pain. It was the location where the upgrade had occurred after absorbing Giselle’s power.

Lee Gun faltered as he placed a hand over his right eye, surprising everyone.

“Gun! What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“Nothing. It’s fine. I’m used to it.”

This was similar to the effect of the Body Upgrade Stone, which he had received as a reward for the trial of strength. When his arms had been upgraded, he had felt muscle aches.

Right now, Lee Gun could see something through his eyes.

[Is that so? Lee Gun said he’ll go to the Devil’s Tower?]

[That mutant is going?]

“…!”

It was like watching holographic footage. Half translucent people moved in a dizzying manner as they walked through Hugo and Kevin.

This was clearly Giselle’s memory. He had seen a similar thing earlier.

“!!”

Boom!

Suddenly, Lee Gun’s point of view changed. The sixty-three-story building of the Archer Saint disappeared, and the surrounding environment changed as well.

What showed up in its place was a sacred altar. 

Lee Gun complained of pain. However, his body didn’t move. It felt as if he were possessing something at an unknown location.

‘Shit! What the hell is this?’ Lee Gun soon realized whom he was possessing. ‘Hand.’

It was the hand of a man. But he couldn’t move it; he was in a half-dead body.

Lee Gun realized at this time that he was lying down on top of the altar.

‘This feels like the Libra Saint’s holy ground.’

This meant he was in Giselle’s memories. Instead of seeing the holographic images, however, he had taken possession of someone in the memories. But that wasn’t the problem right now.

[Lee Gun will die in three days within the Devil’s Tower.]

‘!’

Unfamiliar figures sat near the altar. Realizing their identities, Lee Gun ground his teeth. 

‘Zodiacs!’

Yes, the ones gathered within the Libra Saint’s holy ground were Zodiacs.

Lee Gun hadn’t encountered all the Zodiacs before, but he could smell and sense them. And he was sure they were the Zodiacs.

Since he couldn’t turn his head, he couldn’t check how many of them were there. 

The Zodiacs didn’t seem to have borrowed their Zodiac Saints’ bodies. They were gathered within Giselle’s royal quarters in their spirit forms to have an important meeting.

Soon, Giselle spoke.

[We'll do as planned. We’ll kill Lee Gun there. No objections?]

[That’s right. We should have killed the mutant early on.]

Those bastards… The Zodiacs were also involved in his murder.

[Are you sure it’ll be ok, Libra? Entering the Devil’s Tower even as a god will be very dangerous.]

[That’s right. One of the four great dread lords they are growing has taken a nest over there. The power of the unknown civilization’s monarch is richest in that place, so even a Zodiac can die there. It’s too dangerous of a place.]

Giselle laughed. The unknown civilization was their enemy. However…

[All the more reason to kill Lee Gun in that space.]

[!]

[Red Eye is powerful. We’ll use one of the four dread lords to erase the presence of the thirteenth.]

[We need at least the power of monarchs to get rid of the thirteenth]

“!”

Lee Gun furrowed his brows. The Zodiacs already seemed to know that Giselle was a Zodiac.

‘It looks like they hid that information from their Zodiac Saints.’

[Our opponent is an expert at killing monsters. Even if Red Eye is one of the four great dread lords they are growing, it is a monster in the end. This means Lee Gun might kill it.]

“…!”

Lee Gun was a bit shocked to hear this voice in the distance. Someone with blonde hair that was closer to being brown wearing a suit sat there. It was Hugo. However, it wasn’t his friend.

‘Sagittarius.’

The Sagittarius seemed to be possessing its Zodiac Saint’s body. The color of those eyes was different.

‘Gold.’

Hugo’s eyes were green. Moreover, the Zodiac Saint couldn’t remember anything when a Zodiac descended into their body.

That didn’t matter. What if this memory really was one of Giselle’s memories from twenty years ago?

‘That bastard was involved in the plan too?’ Was the Sagittarius part of the plot related to killing him? ‘No. He let Taeksoo prophesy to me that I’ll die. That doesn’t seem to be the case.’

Unlike the other Zodiacs, the Sagittarius had an unfavorable expression on its face.

[His body is in a bad state. He’ll die soon. There’s no reason to hatch such a plan.]

The other Zodiacs raged at the words of the god of the sun.

[We have to prevent the god of calamity from being born.]

[You don’t know what the thirteenth stands for, so how can you be so callous?]

Lee Gun was trying to observe the faces of the Zodiacs, who were in attendance, when…

Koo-goo-goohng!

“!”

His vision changed once again. It changed from the altar to the bathhouse within the Libra Saint’s holy ground. He seemed to have been transported into the body of Giselle, who was taking a bath.

Lee Gun could see the tablet PC Giselle was looking at. According to the date on it, this memory was quite recent. It was from a couple of days ago.

The problem was the map holy item that she was looking at.

“The unknown civilization will commence a great invasion in sixty-five hours.”

That was right. Red Eye was merely a preview of what was to come. In fact, Giselle could see the movement of the unknown civilization through the map.

She laughed. “Red Eye will raze everything to the ground, then I’ll let the unknown civilization invade as the feature presentation.”

[That’s a good idea. You will crush the hopes of the humans.]

Well, Lee Gun had killed the revived Red Eye. Instead of despair, the world was almost in a festive mood.

“Still, Red Eye is one of the four great dread lords. What a shame that I couldn’t tame it! It’s a major fighting power of the monarch-ranks.”

[It’s one of the great calamities the monarchs are cultivating. Taming it isn’t possible. The fact that you were able to use it is amazing in itself.]

[Of course, it is a shame we couldn’t regenerate that monster. We won’t be able to use Red Eye for long.]

[If the missing Aquarius Saint could have regenerated it, wouldn’t we have been able to use it longer? Should we go look for her…]

Giselle laughed. “Even the Aquarius cannot regenerate something to a point where a dead being can be revived.”

[Anyway, our territory is safe since Master has already negotiated a deal.]

“Yes. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in sixty-five hours. Red Eye is secondary since the monarch ranks will take the field then. This invasion will be on another level.”

Monarch rank?

‘Koohk!’

As Giselle’s laughter rang, Lee Gun’s vision faded away. How much time had passed?

“Gun!!”

“Huhk!”

Lee Gun opened his eyes. He gasped as if he had come to the surface. At the same time, he heard a familiar voice above his head.

“Gun, are you ok? Are you conscious?”

“What? Did I fall unconscious?”

“Yes! Do you realize how surprised we were?!”

“How long was I out?”

“A minute? Three minutes?”

“Is that so?”

It seemed he hadn’t been out for long. Since the others were oblivious to what had happened, they were worried about him.

“Are you sure you’re fine?”

Lee Gun suddenly jumped to his feet, surprising everyone.

“Lee Gun-nim?! Where are you going?”

“They are coming.”

“What? Who’s coming?”

Lee Gun looked at his watch. Red Eye was the appetizer. Those called the monarch ranks were the real invasion.

‘It was sixty-five hours then….’

Now, only twenty-three hours were left until the invasion. ‘That’s less than a day.’

Was it just a coincidence? The invasion would take place around the time when his penalty ended.

Lee Gun called forth his Constructs. Eeny, Miny, and Moe were deeply moved when their master summoned them.

[Master!!! You finally called us!!!!]

[How could you leave that pipsqueak in charge of us? How could you never call for us?]

“Ah! Just shut up! I want you guys to check out a location.”

[What? Where….]

Lee Gun pointed somewhere.

* * *

Thirty minutes ago in the US.

“Wow! He really took down Red Eye!”

“He’s in a completely different class!”

A lot of disciples had gathered at the location Red Eye had swept through, their mouths agape in shock.

The terrifying sight of Lee Gun taming Red Eye had been stunning.

“The one to kill that calamity from twenty years ago was Lee Gun!”

Chun Yooha vacantly looked at the place where the Red Eye had been. The news about Lee Gun was being broadcast in real-time.

[Red Eye has reappeared after twenty years!]

[Lee Gun takes down the scourge to humanity once again!]

[The Zodiac Saints could do nothing!]

[Did the Libra’s power call forth Red Eye?]

[The interest in the Serpent Bearer has surged!]

However, Chun Sungjae didn’t even register the news about Red Eye. “Noona!!! Look at this! Uncle is the best!”

Chun Sungjae showed his sister the picture of the Libra Saint’s face, which Lee Gun had sent him earlier.

The bloodied and disfigured face of the Libra Saint shocked Chun Yooha. Lee Gun had put the first-ranked Zodiac Saint in such a state.

On the other hand, Chun Sungjae cried in joy when he saw the articles his sister was reading. “The world is finally recognizing Uncle’s achievements!! I kept telling everyone that Uncle killed Red Eye, but everyone on the internet ignored me! I even hacked the Leo temple’s homepage, yet it was ignored!”

The Leo disciples looked at Chun Sungjae with angry expressions.

“You were the one that hacked it?”

“Of course! You guys kept ignoring my uncle by saying that the Leo Saint killed Red Eye!”

“Still…!”

“You guys are dead. I’ll sue every one of you for spreading false rumors.”

“N… No!”

The armless Leo Saint was about to get a headache watching his disciples bicker when…

“!”

Chun Yooha approached him.