“Yooha! Dad is here!”

Accompanying a familiar voice, the ground exploded.

Kwahng!

The monsters that were five hundred meters away got sent flying by a powerful light beam.

The one to do this was Hugo.

Chun Yooha and Chun Sungjae were surprised at the appearance of their father.

“Dad!”

They wondered how their father had arrived at this place. After all, Hugo was supposed to be at the Archer Saint’s holy ground in Korea.

Yooha looked at her brother, thinking whether her brother had used that weird defense skill. However, Sungjae just shook his head from side to side.

Nevertheless, they soon realized how Hugo did that.

“Hugo-nim!”

“!”

The space next to Hugo shifted as a young man appeared next to him. He was a teleporter for the Gemini temple and seemed to be the one responsible for teleporting Hugo.

Although this young man was honored that he had met a Zodiac Saint, he would never let himself get cheated. “You... You have to pay me the cost of the teleport!”

Hugo realized he had made a mistake. “Sorry! I was in a hurry.”

He quickly took out a golden horse statue and handed it over to the young man.

The item surprised the Chun Siblings.

“This is the collateral I told you about. I’ll give you the money at a later time.”

“Understood! I’ll hold it in trust! Please pay off the rest within a month!”

The teleporter soon disappeared after receiving the item, leaving the two siblings looking at each other in surprise. This was to be expected. That golden horse sculpture had been a tribute for the Sagittarius temple.

Of course, this item didn’t possess any significant abilities. However, it was worth a hefty amount of money if sold. Therefore, everyone kept wanting Hugo to sell it to cover their cost of living, but Hugo had always refused.

As the Archer Saint, how could he use the tribute for his temple for personal reasons? Him coming here by paying the teleportation fee was unusual, but it seemed he had been desperate.

Hugo’s eyes blazed as he found Lee Gun.

“Gun! You!”

He approached Lee Gun. It seemed as if flames would come out of his mouth. “You took the Cancer’s Core!”

He had used his precious tribute to come here because he was worried about his friend’s safety. However, Lee Gun didn’t care what Hugo said. He just looked at him as if the latter had caught him off guard.

[Zodiac Saint Qualified Candidate]

He rubbed his eyes, but the notification was still there. Lee Gun scoffed. ‘Zodiac Saint Qualified Candidate? Him?’

This baffled him. Of course, it wasn’t as if he disliked it. Originally, Hugo had been his support in battle. Despite how it looked(?), Hugo was a friend he treasured the most. Naturally, Lee Gun wanted Hugo to become his disciple from the start. He would much prefer Hugo becoming his Zodiac Saint.

It wasn’t like Lee Gun thought Yooha was bad. But he was going to work the Zodiac Saint hard, and he would rather boss around his friend than his niece.

‘There is a reason the Zodiac Saints are referred to as servants.’

The situation differed depending on the Zodiac Saints, but some were even ordered to draw water by the Zodiacs. Their Zodiacs ordered them to clean up all kinds of messes.

Of course, Lee Gun didn’t plan on doing that to his niece and nephew. However, he could be a bit rougher(?) if it was Hugo, right?

There was just one catch. Hugo was the Archer Saint; no one should be able to poach him.

‘What’s going on?’

Lee Gun’s question was answered quickly.

[Achievement: He has earnestly prayed to the Serpent Bearer before.]

[Temple Activity: He has consistently shown faith to the Serpent Bearer.]

[His religious activities already rival that of the disciples of the Serpent Bearer.]

Lee Gun burst out laughing. Now that he thought about it, Hugo had prayed to him not too long ago. In fact, that act had caused his divine status to rise to 65%.

‘Well, I was also told a Zodiac Saint’s prayer shouldn’t be directed at just anyone.’ Still, Lee Gun had never expected it would function like this. He started to feel sorry, but he couldn’t understand the reason behind this.

[Serpent Bearer Faith: 402%]

[Sagittarius Faith: 92%]

‘His faith was at a ridiculous level in the first place.’

Hugo was qualified as an SS-rank. He was perfect.

Moreover, the last criteria to become the Zodiac Saint was “Inclination Requirement,” which meant one’s inclination toward a Zodiac.

Normally, one’s inclination toward a Zodiac rose as one rose higher in rank as a disciple. However, Hugo seemed to have perfectly satisfied this requirement. Why?

[Serpent Bearer’s Inclination: Revenge]

Hugo was probably sharpening his knife in his heart, thinking about what had happened to Lee Gun and his wife. Of course, he satisfied the Revenge requirement. In the end, it didn’t matter.

[You can bring in the other person if you use the Missionary skill.]

[Will you make candidate “Hugo Otis” the Serpent Bearer’s Zodiac Saint?]

Lee Gun grinned. ‘There is no reason I should turn this down, right?’

His laughter was so wicked that Hugo stopped lecturing. The Archer Saint flinched. “Are you listening to me?”

Normally, Lee Gun would have been annoyed by that scolding.

‘He is laughing??’

Suddenly, Lee Gun placed a hand on Hugo’s shoulder and used his skill.

[Missionary]

Soon, green energy surged from Lee Gun, surprising Hugo.

Kwahng!!!

As if it was trying to resist the green light, a red light appeared from the sky, surprising Hugo again.

‘The Zodiac is descending?!’

He had never called for his Zodiac, so why was this happening?

Moreover, his Zodiac had never come down even when he had begged for help because it was too lazy. So why was it suddenly coming down here?

Of course, this wasn’t like the situation when the Leo descended in person. This was more like the time when the Gemini had appeared.

Red flames rained down from the sky.

[The Sagittarius is angry.]

[It is raging that you tried to steal someone else’s Zodiac Saint out of all the things you could take.]

[It is making a passionate speech. There’s no way its Zodiac Saint would serve the Serpent Bearer.]

The flame looked as if it would immediately attack Lee Gun, but Lee Gun just scoffed. “If you continue to act this way, I’m going to use my wish coupon.”

The angry flames flinched. The Saggitarius had given Lee Gun the wish coupon as a reward for fixing the royal holy item.

“Alright. I’ll use the wish coupon here.”

The flame started to shake.

[The Sagittarius is taken aback. It says you are talking nonsense.]

[It wants a peaceful resolution. It requests a negotiation with the Serpent Bearer.]

Lee Gun furrowed his brows. There would be no negotiation.

“Your Zodiac Saint has less than 100% faith toward you.”

Lee Gun was about to use the Missionary skill when...

“!”

The light in his eyes suddenly turned harsh. Fixing his grip on his ax, he instantly ran forward like a beam of light.

“Lee Gun-nim?!”

There was no need to ask where Lee Gun was going.

Kwahng!!!

“Huh-uhk!”

The surface of the ground four hundred meters away surged into the air. Lee Gun had brought down the ax on the ground. Lee Gun’s ax destroyed the head of a monster that had pushed out of the ground like a mole!

The monsters that Hugo’s attack had sent flying had returned once again. Lee Gun had noticed their presence and charged forward.

This shocked Stevens and Hugo.

‘He noticed them?!’

This had happened when they shared the same battlefield with Lee Gun. There had always been a wide skill gap between them, but this was on another level. Lee Gun’s senses were beyond that of a human.

However, they didn’t have time to be surprised.

“Everyone, get into attack formation!!”

At Stevens’s shout, the Leo disciples charged forward, transforming into beasts.

Boom boom!

“Everyone, charge!”

The disciples rushed toward the monsters.

Stevens and Hugo quickly summoned their holy items. Of course, these weren’t normal holy items.

[Royal holy item]

A bright golden light appeared from the necklace around the Leo Saint’s neck. Then, a light rivaling the sunlight appeared in Hugo’s hand as he summoned a bow. Lee Gun had already reassembled the bow in no time.

Both Zodiac Saints were about to use their skills.

‘!’

However, they were all gone. The targets of their attacks had vanished. The two Zodiac Saints looked at their surroundings.

“Shit! Where are they?” Stevens desperately yelled.

The Archer Saint’s specialty was finding camouflaged enemies since he was part of the temple of the sun.

“Archer! Find the hidden monsters!”

“I can’t see them!”

“What?”

Hugo had used Penetrating Eyes, yet he was taken aback. He couldn’t find the monsters even with a Saint rank skill.

In the end, the two Saints ground their teeth.

‘As expected, they are black zone rank monsters!’

Suddenly, they heard screams from all around.

“Ahhk!”

They were the sounds of the armed Leo disciples dying.

Stevens quickly changed his direction.

“Idiot. Not there!”

“!”

Accompanying the voice, Chun Sungjae appeared above Stevens’s head. It was a teleport.

Chun Sungjae waved his arm toward Stevens’s back.

Kwahng!!!

A massive explosion erupted.

The camouflaged monster that had been aiming for the two Zodiac Saints got burned black as it fell to the ground.

Chun Sungjae landed after using his fire magic, then he yelled, “Dad! They are hiding over there! Shoot toward that side!”

“!”

The color of Chun Sungjae’s eyes had changed to gold. As a disciple of the Serpent Bearer, he could use the “Eye of Distinguishment” skill.

Chun Sungjae used teleport again and disappeared.

Hugo was shocked at the sight of his son fighting. Was he mistaken? Did his son become stronger after he joined the Serpent Bearer?

‘Even if he’s an S-rank, he’s on par with a Zodiac Saint.’

In some aspects, Sungjae was better than a Zodiac Saint.

‘His skill is better than the Sagittarius’s discernment skill.’

His faith toward the Serpent Bearer was high, and the temple’s influence on him was large. Of course, the Zodiac being powerful had a role in it too. That was why Hugo unconsciously felt jealous.

However, it wasn’t the time to have such thoughts. He was reloading his bow when...

Kwahng!!!

“!”

A large explosion erupted in the distance.

Hugo wondered what had happened when he saw a large monster come out of the explosion. His and Stevens’s faces turned pale. The problem was the size of the monster.

“What... what the hell is that?”

The monster was much larger than Red Eye.

“How many meters is that thing?”

Red Eye had been about 170 meters tall. And this monster seemed to be over 300 meters tall at a glance.

Moreover, Lee Gun was heading toward the monster. He knew the city would be instantly destroyed if the monster got closer to it.

Lee Gun flew toward the huge monster, killing other monsters in his path. His skill was sublime.

Soon, Hugo bled as a formless attack from the sky hit him.

“Koohk!”

Hugo flinched as he fell over.

‘!’

The Archer’s eyes allowed him to see into the distance. He had made eye contact with Lee Gun, who laughed in contempt as he looked at his friend.

This made Hugo angry. ‘He’s laughing at me because I couldn’t kill the monster!’

However, Hugo was unable to say anything in response. It was true that his skills were very lacking when compared to Lee Gun. At the very least, he should be the one to stall the other monsters while Lee Gun faced the big one.

‘At this rate...’

At that moment, a green light appeared from the sky.

[The Serpent Bearer wants to make you his Zodiac Saint.]

“?!”

The voice coming from the sky surprised Hugo. It continued as if it was trying to coax Hugo.

[You will get much stronger if you become the Serpent Bearer’s Zodiac Saint.]

[The Zodiac that is of no help should be abandoned.]

[You should leave the temple that only cares about appearances.]

Hugo was baffled. This was the first time that he had heard the voice of this woman. He was taken aback, but he couldn’t believe those words.

‘It is asking a Zodiac Saint of a different temple to convert and become the Zodiac Saint of the Serpent Bearer?’

Didn’t the Serpent Bearer already have a Zodiac Saint? A monstrous being named Lee Gun?

So why was the position of the Zodiac Saint being offered to him?

That was the reason for his surprise. Of course, it wasn’t as if he disliked the offer. In fact, this was an offer to become a Zodiac Saint, not a disciple. Moreover, it would be a Zodiac Saint directly chosen by the Zodiac. That meant...

‘The Serpent Bearer chose me?’

The Serpent Bearer chose him over the stupidly powerful Lee Gun? In an odd way, Hugo felt better. The Serpent Bearer was an amazing god that had allowed someone from another temple to use his skills. He was someone to be admired.

‘There is no way Gun is the Zodiac. That’s nonsense...’

Lee Gun was this powerful after receiving power from the Zodiac. He was incredibly strong even though his Zodiac didn’t seem to care for him. That wasn’t all.

‘My Zodiac doesn’t listen to the words of his Zodiac Saint. This might be the preferable option.’

The Sagittarius’s missionary criteria were too difficult. Hugo had asked it to lower the conditions, yet the Zodiac had completely ignored him.

Moreover, his Zodiac didn’t show up when he asked for help, and Hugo was worked like a dog.

‘Would it be bad if I switched?’

Of course, the fact that he would be late in worshiping the Serpent Bearer compared to Lee Gun bothered him a bit.

All this made Hugo’s Zodiac desperate.

[The Sagittarius is showering you with the treasures of the sun.]

[The Sagittarius declares it will lower the entrance requirement by a lot.]

[The Sagittarius has placed an SSS-rank buff on you.]

[The Sagittarius is quickly sending down items.]

[A spear(Myth rank) has come down.]

[Armor(Myth rank) has come down.]

...

[Carriage(Myth rank) has come down.]

Incredible holy items rained down around him, numbering over a hundred. However, something different fell in front of Hugo. At a glance, it looked like a dagger shaped like an ornamental knife. This item was the badge of the Serpent Bearer.

[If you agree to become the Serpent Bearer’s Zodiac Saint, pull on the handle.]

Hugo was serious as his hand headed toward the handle.