Lee Gun seriously looked at his attributes.

[Rookie <Serpent Bearers> (Lv.1)!]

[Disposition/ Not Chosen]

- Penalty/ (990 hours)

- Saint EXP/ 39840 (Point 0)

《The Man Who Pounds on All Creations' Advanced Skills》

[Extreme Observation ▶ Gaze of a god (F)]

[Piercing Eye: Can see the special characteristics, weaknesses, status, structure, etc. of an All Creation!]

- Current Level <F>: See the basic data of items/people/skills in the vicinity!

[One Room Workshop ▶ Creation Workshop (F)]

- Summons Workshop where all things can be created

[Transcendent Sense ▶ 13th Sense (F)]

- Transforms the five senses to that of a Snake for 3 minutes!

[Bull Instinct ▶ Suicidal Instinct (F)]

- It consumes the remaining magical energy you have and releases the majesty of a god for 3 seconds!

<Divine Skill of the Serpent Bearer>

[Super Regeneration (F Rank)]

- The body regenerates at an astonishing speed for ten seconds

- If an attack happens during regeneration, the rate of regeneration will decrease.

- Cooldown: 3 days

[Construct (F)]

- Designates eighty-eight units for the Serpent Bearer

- The army defends the Serpent Bearer

(Current Summons: 1/2)

- Piggy Bank: Lv.1 (Critical Condition)/Low-rank Rebellious Subject/ Not affiliated with the eighty-eight constellations!

Lee Gun laughed as he saw the information. He had yet to comprehend it, but he knew his attributes had changed in unexpected ways. For example, his skill that exposed a weakness in the enemy had transformed into a skill that displayed personal information about the enemy. A simple skill he had gotten after his awakening had turned into a supreme skill.

‘Anyway, I’m glad I unlocked all the skills.’ Without skills, he was severely limited in what he could do in a fight. Soon, something odd caught his eyes.

[Magical Energy Status: 100% (Enough Nutrient)] 

[Divine Status: 40% (Recharge Needed)]

He knew what magical energy was, but he had no idea about Divine status. As if it had read his thoughts, a voice rang within his head.

 [Divine status allows one to activate and maintain Divine power. It's the dignity of a Zodiac. Divine status (Divine power) can be taken from other Zodiacs and their disciples. When Divine status reaches 0%, you will lose the Divine power. If it remains low for a prolonged period, it will wither away.]

‘This is fun.’ Lee Gun still didn’t know for sure. However, it seemed magical energy was the energy source needed to use skills. In turn, Divine Status was like a life force that allowed a Zodiac to exist as a Zodiac. He wondered if it was something similar to the class of a Zodiac and whether it was the energy he always felt from the Zodiacs.

Only a short time had passed since he had started thinking about the information, but he had to stop due to an interruption.

“M-my god. He really is Lee Gun… I meant you are Lee Gun-nim?”

Lee Gun had never seen this couple before. They were trembling as they looked at Lee Gun. Lee Gun had to say something. “What the hell is wrong with them?”

“Wow! This is nuts! I’m conversing with Lee Gun-nim!”

“P-please speak one more word!”

In the end, Hugo let out a sigh. They were inside the office within the Archer’s temple, the Archer’s holy ground. Even though it was a holy ground, only one building could fit inside it. This holy ground was very small compared to the holy ground of the Sheep Saint. It was like housing for students. 

Anyway, Hugo had brought Lee Gun here because it was the safest location.They would be able to lose their pursuers here.

‘Also, we have to deal with what happened to Yang Wei.’ Hugo had sent Lee Gun ahead. He hadn’t minded catching up to him. However...

“My god. If I knew Lee Gun-nim were still alive, I would've joined his temple instead of the Archer's!”

“You guys are fired.”

The ones trembling in excitement were none other than Hugo's loyal subordinates. They were his disciples and direct subordinates, so they were high-rank disciples. Despite being powerful, they looked like rookies next to Lee Gun.

He could clearly feel that Lee Gun was in a different league from them.

‘No. Anyone in this world would look like that if they stood beside him.’ 

“I think you guys are under a misunderstanding. This guy isn’t Lee Gun.”

“What? Really?”

Disappointment appeared in the eyes of his disciples. Their Saint had immediately returned from England when the news about Lee Gun had broken out. Now, he had brought this young man after the incident at the Sheep’s holy ground. Therefore, these disciples had deduced that this young man was Lee Gun.

“I guess so. There is no way Lee Gun-nim is this young and handsome.”

'What did you say, punks?' An odd light flashed in Lee Gun’s eyes. 

The flustered Hugo quickly sent his disciples out of the room. When the two of them were the only ones left inside the office, Hugo let out a sigh of relief. ‘As expected of my senior rank disciples, they are quick on the uptake.’

Of course, he could reveal Lee Gun’s identity to them, but they would get unnecessarily loud. He decided to send them out for now. 

It happened at that moment.

“Traitor.”

Hugo received a sudden kick from Lee Gun. Baffled, the Archer Saint turned his head. “What do you mean I’m a traitor— Koohk!”

“What? You are a traitor that committed high treason. You got married without me knowing, and you had kids.”

“!”

Lee Gun looked at Hugo with a disappointed expression. Then, he pointed at the picture on top of Hugo’s desk. It was a family picture with a five-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl. Both kids had good appearances, and the girl was especially pretty. “I should've known when I saw the ring, you bastard. You got married. You're a traitor.”

Lee Gun's remarks baffled Hugo.

“You had no plans on meeting a woman and settling down! Don’t be so difficult! You get angry when someone intrudes on your personal space!”

Lee Gun replied, “I don't care about that. Now, I can't execute my plan to set your house on fire. You messed it up.”

“What?”

“I can’t set fire to a house where someone's family lives.”

The words shocked Hugo.

“Wow.! You're capable of thinking in such a sensible manner?”

“What?”

Hugo found all of this unexpected. He then asked, “Why are you bothering to ask me for help? You can ask the government, right?”

Lee Gun was a hero to the world. Every country in the world coveted him, and there was no way Korea would stand back and do nothing if he requested them.

Hugo said, “I heard you tried to contact Cheongwadae.”

“Yes, I did. I’m going to kill all those idiots at a later date.”

“…!” Hugo’s face froze. It was to be expected. The person on the other side of the phone had thought it was a prank call, so he had ended it. ‘Those idiots… There's no way Lee Gun will let go of such a slight.’

Lee Gun was like that. If he couldn’t contact someone, he would make just one extra effort to contact them. It was Korea’s loss that they didn’t pick up the phone, not Lee Gun's.

“Still, you can receive VIP treatment. Don’t you want that?” Hugo asked.

Lee Gun scoffed. “I was never treated like a VIP even when I was called to the Cheongwadae.”

He wasn’t wrong. It had been a different time, but Lee Gun would fight at the frontline every day. Therefore, the government's treatment of him had only made him angrier.

“I would've overlooked it if they were good at their job. I always had to report to a superior when people's lives were on the line. I had to receive permission before I could move. I had to wait for an answer from a superior. I should upset their table this time.”

‘You already upset the table before….’

It seemed Lee Gun had forgotten the incidents where he had made the generals from the army, the navy, and the air force almost cry. Hugo decided to put that aside for now. “So, you won’t go to the government? The president even called me. They are causing a big fuss.” 

“Why would I? I’m sure some of them will go to the Zodiac Saints in the neighboring countries, and they’ll rat me out.” 

‘He’s right.’ Hugo was sure everyone around the world would cause all kinds of ruckus saying the hero had returned. 

“I’ll only go after I drag the Zodiac Saints outs by their hair.”

It seemed some people in the government had handed over all of Lee Gun’s estate to the Zodiac Saints. Lee Gun wouldn’t tolerate anyone who did that to him. “Anyway, I’ll have to find a different place to stay since you're a traitor since my so-called friend got married.”

“I don’t mind. You can stay for a while.” Hugo offered.

“?”

“I live on my own,” Hugo told him.

“!”

His wife was no longer with him. His college-age daughter could provide for herself, so she had left his house. As for his son... Hugo frowned when he thought about his son, who was obsessed with Lee Gun. ‘I’ll never tell my children that Lee Gun came back.’

Lee Gun misread his friend’s expression. He patted his friend's shoulder with sympathy. “Cheer up! Did you lose a lot of money in the divorce?” 

“I didn’t divorce her!” Hugo glared at Lee Gun. The more he thought about it, the more his anger grew. His wife was a Lee Gun fan. He was also one of the thirteen original awakened beings, yet his children and wife liked Lee Gun more than him. Of course, the inner dynamics of his family weren’t important right now. 

“Whatever! Let’s stop talking about that. What happened to you? What happened to your body? What happened inside the tower?” The events of the past still baffled Hugo. Twelve people had entered the tower, and Lee Gun was the reason they could reach the 100th floor, Red Eye's residence.

He asked his friend, “Why did Leo come out with the head of Red Eye? Why didn't you come out with them? Did you really fall behind in the fight… Kuhk!”

Hugo had once again received a blow from Lee Gun.

“You wanna die? I’m the one who killed Red Eye.” 

“I knew it…” Hugo had known something was off. Monsters had started converging into the tower when they had reached the ninetieth floor. Therefore, Hugo had gone out to defend against the horde of monsters trying to enter the tower. He was absent in the fight against Red Eye.

‘There was no way they could've killed Red Eye.’ Since Hugo wasn’t there, the others had told him to shut up. They had then taken the stage to receive the spotlight from the world.

He tried to tell everyone that their assessment of Lee Gun was wrong, but in turn, they called him a liar. It had given a lot of consternation to Hugo. Now that he had heard the truth, he felt better.

“Yes. Let’s set up a press conference.”

In the near future, the twelve Zodiac Saints were going to gather for a big meeting. The whole world would be paying attention to the meeting, so it would be a great opportunity for him. A dangerous light flashed within Lee Gun’s eyes.

He then said, “Also, one of them stabbed me in the back.”

“!”

“Due to that, I fell into a trap on the 100th floor. Then, the monsters within the trap attacked me.”

“Did you somehow dodge the monsters to exit the tower?” Hugo asked.

“Nope!”

“What?”

“I came out after killing them all.” 

Hugo became silent. “You're joking, right?”

“I’m telling the truth.”

The soda bottle fell from Hugo’s hand. He stared at Lee Gun as if he had lost his mind. 

Lee Gun laughed in derision. “Be logical! If the tower still had monsters, they would've followed me out.”

“No way! There were so many monsters within the tower!”

The tower contained an enormous number of monsters! It had been full of mysterious creatures and an unknown army of monsters that he had never seen before! Moreover, these monsters were unkillable.

‘He killed them all before he came out?’ 

“ I was told there were around a hundred thousand, so how did you kill all...”

“There were more than that.”

“What?”

Lee Gun smirked. “At the very least, the number was a hundred times higher.” 

“What?”

Lee Gun laughed, but he still felt angry and annoyed when he thought about it. It was to be expected. The matter wasn't as simple as him being trapped in the tower.

‘You killed Red Eye? You are amazing. Are you sure you're human?’

When Lee Gun had fallen into the trap, he had met the tower's odd administrator. He didn’t know its identity, but it hadn’t been a normal monster. Whatever it was, the bastard had enjoyed torturing and playing with him.

Moreover, the tower had an infinite reset capability. It might have been an illusion, but Lee Gun had to defeat the monsters again and again. They were all unkillable. When it came to fighting Red Eye once more, even the mighty Lee Gun felt like he was about to lose his mind.

“I could break that shitty trap only after I killed the admin.”

“You... you repeated that how many times?” Hugo asked.

“I stopped counting after a hundred thousand times.” 

“…!”

Hugo was shocked.

“I’m pretty sure the person who pushed me into the trap knew what would happen.”

As he listened to this, Hugo turned as pale as he could be. He couldn’t tell if the person in front of him was a human or a monster.

At the same time, Hugo knew this was an incredible development.

Why?

‘Recently, the types of monsters that used to show up within the Devil’s Tower are showing up in the world.’

The barrier was holding up well, but all the Zodiac Saints were on high alert.

‘Gun was the one to clear the tower. The Zodiac Saints were put in a worse spot, because Gun was no longer here.’ Hugo had encountered several of those monsters, and he instinctively felt how dangerous they were. This was why the best he could do was chase them away. Yet, Lee Gun had casually spoken that he had killed all those monsters.

“Anyway, my body transformed into this when I killed everything.” Lee Gun stopped speaking as he glared at Hugo. Then, he hit Hugo out of nowhere. “You deserve a beating.”

“You already hit me!”

“You're a fraud. You prophesied that I would die, yet you were wrong again. You should give up on being a fortune teller.”

Hugo felt aggrieved. He wasn’t a fraud. For some odd reason, whenever it came to Lee Gun, his predictions would turn out to be false.

“Let’s put that aside for now.” Lee Gun furrowed his brows. “I don’t know what method you used, but you guys leveled up your Zodiacs, right?”

 “!”

“I purposefully conducted an experiment on Yang Wei. The blessing around him had become stronger. My hands hurt when I beat up that pig.”

It didn’t seem like a bad trade-off considering he had beaten his opponent to a bloody pulp.

Hugo soon admitted it. The twelve Zodiac Saints were using the EXP gathered by their disciples to grow the power of their Zodiacs. In turn, they received special blessings and holy items from the Zodiacs. ‘Some of them had become demi-Zodiacs.’ 

Even Lee Gun wouldn’t come out unharmed if he charged straight into them. 

This was why he spoke the next words with sincerity. “Gun. I’m glad you are back, and I understand what you went through. However, it is impossible to destroy them no matter how strong you are…”

At that moment, Hugo flinched. It had to do with the energy that he could sense from Lee Gun. He was sure of it. He felt a sense of awe toward that power…

‘Zodiac?’ Hugo absentmindedly stared at Lee Gun, but then shook his head. There was no way it could be possible. 

“Hey. Why did you suddenly stop talking?”

“Ah. It’s nothing. Anyways, what do you plan on doing next?”

Lee Gun let out a cold laughter.

“What will I do? I’ll use these holy items to…”

It happened at that moment.

“!”

Kwahng!

Lee Gun shot up from his seat for some reason.

Hey guys.  This is NaughtyOtter.  This is the end of the sneak peek.  I am dealing with some personal issues IRL, so there will be a month gap before I start the series.  Thank you for your understanding.  I hope you enjoyed the story so far.