Chapter 304: Life Stage 4 (3)
Someone grabbed Confusion’s shoulder, surprising the monarch. However, he wasn’t the only one surprised.
“…!”
Hugo, who had been confronting Confusion, saw a pale hand grab Confusion’s shoulder! Of course, the hand didn’t belong to Lee Gun.
A gate had appeared above Confusion’s head, and the face that appeared from the gate was…!
“Time!!”
Confusion glared as the other man grabbed him. “What the hell? Why are you…!!!”
Confusion acted as if a bug had landed on him. He tried to break free of Time’s hand, but…
Kwah-jeeek!!
“Ahhhk!!!”
Accompanying a blinding black light, Confusion’s scream rang out.
In response to the light, Hugo had clenched his eyes shut. When he opened his eyes again, he was surprised.
‘Time just…!’
Yes. Confusion was being cut open, starting from the shoulder to the right upper half of the body. Blood and a bizarre black magical energy shot out from the sliced-open body. It was clearly the magical energy of a monarch.
Confusion had not been lying. He had been born as a human because of Time. When his body was destroyed, Confusion felt excruciating pain.
“Bastard…!!”
At that moment…
‘!’
The being within the gate finally revealed all of itself.
Hugo raised his guard, whereas Confusion became hysterical at the sight of his older brother. He shouted, “Fuck! Why did you have to come here?”
An aloof smirk appeared on Time’s lips as he faced Confusion’s barrage of cuss words.
[You did a good job, little brother. Your time ends here.]
“What did you just— Ahhhk!!!”
Confusion vomited blood when Time attacked once again.
Then Time flicked his finger, and Confusion fell over without being able to do anything.
This shocked Hugo.
‘He took down Confusion with a single attack…!?’
Although Confusion was in that form, he was still a monarch. After all, Confusion had needed only to lift a finger to turn Giselle, who was trapped within the Alps, into chunks of meat!
Moreover, Hugo had advanced to the Construct rank. Hugo could immediately see the power difference with his eyes.
‘Confusion has enough power to destroy the earth in one fell swoop.’
If he appeared in his true form, he could destroy the earth at once. He was like the final boss! Yet Time was able to take care of such a being with one finger?
‘That bastard…!!’
Hugo now understood why Hailey warned them not to get close to Time at all costs.
On the other hand, Confusion didn’t seem to care. In his anger, he took something out of his possession. “You’re an annoying bastard! Do you think I’ll lose to you lying down?”
It seemed he had prepared something for Time.
Hugo flinched when he saw the item that Confusion was trying to take out. He recognized what it was.
‘Miss Yeonwoo!’
He was sure of it, even though the bottle looked like a normal glass bottle.
‘It feels the same as the fragment of Miss Yeonwoo’s soul, which Gun possesses.’
Hugo was thinking of the 10% of the soul that Lee Gun had taken back from Pisces.
Of course, the part that Confusion had was on a different level compared to the 10% that Lee Gun now possessed.
‘90%!’
It was the rest of Yeonwoo-nim’s soul. That wasn’t all.
‘I can detect the power of Life from Miss Yeonwoo’s soul.’
It wasn’t as powerful as Lee Gun’s power, but Hugo could feel a faint trace of it. Of course, it wasn’t a total mystery as to why that was possible.
‘Miss Yeonwoo had been a god in charge of the Divine status of Life.’
Unlike Lee Gun, in the previous generation, the powers of the Divine statuses of Life and Death were respectively given to Yeonwoo and Junwoo.
Soon, Confusion laughed. “I know you plan on consuming the previous Serpent Bearer’s soul!”
Confusion immediately opened the stopper. “Even if she was weak, she was the Zodiac of the Serpent Bearer temple! I’ll use it well!”
When Confusion was about to use the soul…
Pahng!!!
“!!!”
A fierce attack rushed at Confusion’s arm and found its target!
“Koohk!”
Confusion dropped the small bottle containing Yeonwoo’s soul. He glared at Hugo, who had sent the attack.
‘That bastard is interfering with me until the end!’
Confusion quickly tried to retrieve the bottle. “I won’t let you!!”
However, Hugo snatched away the bottle.
Confusion glared as he tried to kill Hugo. “You son of a bitch!”
The wicked magical energy tried to slam into Hugo, but it lasted only a moment.
Koohng!!!
“Ahhk!!!”
Time’s attack dug into Confusion’s back. At the same time, Confusion was dragged into the gate.
“You!!”
Time laughed slyly.
[You cannot kill him.]
He couldn’t be killed here.
Hugo felt a chill when he saw Time’s gaze. Then Confusion’s scream rang out as he was sucked into the gate. It sounded as if his body was being broken down.
In the end, Hugo froze when he heard the scream.
Time laughed as he leisurely entered the game.
[Ah. I almost forgot.]
“…!!”
Time disappeared. At the same time, Hugo felt his body freeze. A hand as cold as ice touched his neck.
It was none other than Time! Time was right behind him.
With his neck grabbed, Hugo felt as if he couldn’t breathe. It was fear, the fear of certain death. At the same time, Hugo also felt the fear of seeing a future where the gods and humanity had gone extinct.
It was as if he was trapped within a coffin, as fear made it difficult for him to breathe. Fear made him unable to move his hands and legs.
Time took Yeonwoo’s soul from Hugo’s pocket.
[This isn’t something someone like you should possess.]
“…!”
Hugo couldn’t move his body even as Time took Yeonwoo’s soul.
However, this status quo lasted only a moment as he bit his lips. Hugo used pain to push down the fear and let out a shout. “Don’t look down on me!”
Hugo sent an arrow flying as the gate was about to close.
Kwah-gwa-gwahng!
Time was shocked by this.
[!!]
He felt something odd press into his arm.
Ssuh-guhk!
[!]
Time’s forearm was severed and fell to the ground. It was the arm holding Yeonwoo’s soul.
Time’s eyes turned round, but he soon started laughing.
[I see. This is what happens when someone with 600% faith becomes a Construct.]
Time burst out laughing, as if he couldn’t believe it. He had never expected such a thing to happen. He wanted to bring back Yeonwoo’s soul at all costs, but his time to remain in this place had run out.
[I guess I have no choice.]
The gate was completely closed.
Time and Confusion had completely disappeared from that place. After some time, their magical energy vanished as well.
Hugo sank to the ground in relief.
‘It happened so fast that I didn’t have the chance to call Gun.’
Hugo became relieved as he picked up Yeonwoo’s soul. The reason for his relief was the cheers ringing all over the city.
“Wahhhhhhhh!!! The monsters are retreating!”
“Lee Gun-nim is reviving other people!!!”
Hugo laughed.
‘It seems we were successful in defending the city.’
It was all thanks to a Zodiac named Lee Gun. It was as if humanity had been saved once again after twenty years.
* * *
– Are you seeing this? The dead people around the city are coming back to life!
– Lee Gun is bringing people back to life!
– My god! I’ve never heard of a skill called Revive!
– In the past, the Serpent Bearer was portrayed as someone who revived the dead. Can it be that the Serpent Bearer Temple is the temple of revival?
– Anyway, this incident has caused the faith that was headed toward the other Zodiacs to be gathered toward Lee Gun!
– This has nothing to do with this incident, but people are lamenting right now.
– They are lamenting?
– Yes! It’s because they thought the young Lee Gun-nim was very cute!
– That is correct! It was an otherworldly level of cuteness! They want to see his younger appearance once again!! No, they want him to live with that appearance forever…!!
– From the rumors, it seemed the power of Time turned him into his younger self. Won’t it be possible to change him once again?
“Ah! What the hell is up with these bastards!!” Lee Gun became angry as he watched the TV. He almost threw the rice soup that he had been eating.
“Do they realize how much I struggled, yet they want me to become small again? Really?”
“P-Please calm down. Everyone is just expressing their thanks toward you, Lee Gun-nim. Of course, you were really cute…”
“What?!”
Lee Gun glared at the government employees next to him.
Yes, he was inside a large rice soup restaurant located within the city. The city was being restored, and not all the monsters had been killed. This was why disciples were given support through meals as they worked on recovery.
Well, Lee Gun avoided doing any of that. “Whatever. Just continue giving me your report.”
“Ah. Yes! The observatories are being restored. The cities around the world were successful in driving the monsters out of the domes. The Zodiac Saints did the heavy lifting there!”
“People from various locations are sending their thanks to Lee Gun-nim…”
“Ah! What the hell? The Zodiac Saints are still alive? They are useless. They should have just died with the monsters.”
“…!”
The government employees realized Lee Gun was still Lee Gun despite being revered. They started to sweat.
“What about the monsters?”
“Ah… Yes! The monsters are still gathered outside the domes. They are still looking for the opportunity to enter the cities.”
“Will we be ok? What if they enter the dome again?”
“We’ll be ok for now. The domes weren’t penetrated through physical force. Yong Yong’s siblings opened it from inside.”
Thanks to people’s faith, the power of the Serpent Bearer temple was rising. The Serpent Bearer temple’s Dome was protecting the world. It was protecting the land of humanity.
‘However, I can’t maintain this for long.’
At most, they would last a month. He would have to exterminate the monsters shortly.
Then there was the last monarch that had invaded earth since he knew his chances were good. Lee Gun had to kill Time and drive out the monsters. That would achieve the eternal victory that humanity was hoping for.
Of course, he would have to prepare for the final battle. He was having this thought when…
[Both your Divine statuses have reached stage 4.]
[Soon, you will no longer be a rookie. You will be a full-fledged Zodiac.]
[Depending on which Divine status you awaken first, you will be able to become either the god of Life or the god of Death. The other one will automatically cease to exist.]
Lee Gun furrowed his brows.
‘As expected, it wants me to choose one of them.’
However, he believed he would be able to use Life and Death if his expectations panned out.
“I’ll raise their EXP at a similar rate. Maybe I’ll be able to raise both of them to stage 5 at the same time.”
Hearing those words, his affiliate Zodiac spoke up.
[Even the genius thirteenth original owner couldn’t handle the power of Life and Death.]
“What?”
It was Sagittarius.
[The risk of handling both of them was too big. That is why he eventually partitioned and gave them to his Constructs.]
“Really?”
That was the reason Life and Death were given to Yeonwoo and Junwoo, respectively. They were used separately.
[Of course, the power decreased when the Divine statuses were split apart.]
“Their power decreased? How much?”
[Since a stage 5 power was split between two Zodiacs, it was reduced to a power equivalent to stage 3.]
“…!”
This basically meant that the Life and Death used by Yeonwoo and Junwoo weren’t whole.
Lee Gun realized something. Time had acquired the power of the Serpent Bearer through Yeonwoo, yet he was still dissatisfied.
‘That bastard wants a power that is at least stage 5 or above.’
This was why he had failed with Yeonwoo. Well, it didn’t matter.
‘If I want to get rid of Time, I need Death.’
Lee Gun did kill Yong Yong’s siblings using the power of Life stage 3. He used the Creation skill to create all kinds of things to kill them.
‘However, there is no way that’ll work against a monarch.’
Even if Lee Gun created all kinds of growth within Time, Time could immediately reverse them. If Lee Gun were being honest, he didn’t know how he was supposed to kill a time traveler.
‘There must be a way.’
If he was unable to find a way, he would choose to become the god of Death to…
At that moment…
“No!!”
“!”
Lee Gun became surprised when someone suddenly barged through the door. It was Hugo’s voice that he had just heard, and Lee Gun looked surprised to see him.
“Why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to go to the OB/GYN with Miss Jiwoo?”
“What? Jiwoo is hurt somewhere?!”
“No. That isn’t it.”
“What nonsense are you talking about then? Why would we go to the OB/GYN at our age?”
Lee Gun groaned. Hugo seemed to be unaware. Of course, Lee Gun hadn’t been sure himself, so he had told Chun Jiwoo to go to the hospital.
Hugo huffed as he sat down in front of Lee Gun. “Anyway, you shouldn’t choose to become the god of Death!”
“What the hell? Did you read my thoughts?”
“No! It just seems like something you would do!” Hugo fumed as he remained seated in front of Lee Gun.
‘Confusion was aiming for the god of Death.’
Hugo didn’t know why, but there was no way he’d let the monsters get their way. “You have to choose Life at all costs!”
Well, that didn’t matter right now. Hugo let out a bright smile toward Lee Gun, who was grumbling.
“Take this. I picked it up on the way here for you.” Hugo placed something on top of the table. It was Yeonwoo’s soul.
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