Chapter 184 - For Crying Out Loud (3)

It was hard to tell, but the TV screen showed Sophie was near a dome. The monsters must have brought her along with them to declare war.

The people from the nearby city had caught sight of it. Taking a video of it, they sent the video as a tip-off.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

The video showed that Sophie was in a bit of an odd state. Her robe, which almost looked like a habit, was in tatters. Her hair was stiff and dry, looking like straws. Cuts and bruises were all over her face. She was tied up in chains inside a mobile cage, making it clear that she was a prisoner.

Lee Gun said as he picked at his ear, “Why is she in such a state?”

Hugo was baffled to hear that. “Why else? She’s like that because you threw off from an extreme height!”

Obviously, Sophie had suffered the same fate as Stevens; she had unfortunately fallen into the territory of the unknown civilization. Of course, she seemed to have fared better than Stevens. She hadn’t fallen in a region they considered a military zone.

That was the reason the combat monsters hadn’t killed her immediately.

However, this wasn’t what Lee Gun found odd. In the first place, he didn’t care if she died or not when he tossed her. “Why is she a hostage? If she’s supposed to be a tasty, nutritional supplement, it wouldn’t have been strange to see her sacrificed to a monarch.”

The words seemed to have shocked Hugo. When he thought about it, Lee Gun had also thrown Yang Wei to become the food of a monarch. Of course, he had used Yang Wei as a bomb, too.

“Why is her skin color like that?”

At Lee Gun’s disgruntled expression, Hugo looked closely at the news. Inside the mobile prison, Sophie’s skin looked odd as if she was poisoned or sick. Her skin was purple.

Soon, the monster that had captured her shouted its next words.

- This rotten— No. If you want this food-poisoned Saintess, we want other lives in return.

“Rotten?” Lee Gun smirked as if he realized something. “Ah! That bedwetter probably ate something poisonous off the ground. She’s poisoned.”

“Poisoned?!”

“That’s right. I’m not sure since the footage is blurry, but her skin color is the telltale sign. If I’m right, I’ve tested the same poison on my body in the past.”

“Ah! Was it the time when you didn’t even differentiate if something was poison or poop? You ate everything before falling over. That time?”

Hugo received a hit once again.

“Anyway, it’s a poisonous plant that grows only in the territory of the unknown civilization. It’s a deadly poison fatal to even high-rank monsters.”

The poison was so effective that Lee Gun applied it to his weapons from time to time.

“It might not work against a monarch rank, but that doesn’t mean it will be good for their body.”

“So the reason those monsters brought her as a hostage instead of offering her to a monarch is...”

“Yes! She is spoiled meat now. Feeding her to a monarch won’t look good. However, just killing her would be too big of a loss. I’m sure they are trying to salvage some value by making her a hostage. Her having so many spots on her skin means she ate a lot of the poison. I used only a bit as an experiment.”

The information stunned Hugo. “How is she alive?”

“That’s to be expected. The Aquarius Saint has a unique skill of ‘Purify.’”

The Purify skill that Lee Gun coveted even now.

“It neutralized the poison to a point where she avoided death.”

Hugo found Lee Gun’s words to be off. At the end of the day, Sophie was the only healer amongst the twelve Zodiac Saints. She was a healer-type awakened being. She was the one to treat Lee Gun when he was poisoned in the past. So how did this happen?

“She’s the Saintess. There’s no way she would choose to eat that poisonous plant.”

“If you’re starving, you can eat anything. Anyway, the bedwetter did something stupid—”

Suddenly!

“You did that!”

“!”

The one to scream was the Secretary. He had been within Lee Gun’s workshop and was organizing the bible.

When Yooha had entered Lee Gun’s temple, the bible had expanded. The Secretary had screamed when he had seen the text written by a fangirl. That was why he had been editing the text.

However, he seemed to have become angry at Lee Gun when he saw an excerpt from the bible.

Puzzled, Hugo looked at the Secretary. “That poison is Gun’s doing? What do you mean?”

“That bastard fed the Saintess something strange before— Kuhk!”

A hammer from Lee Gum struck the Secretary.

“You’re being rude, Guisoon.”

Even after being hit, the Secretary slapped at the papers as if he wanted to jog Lee Gun’s memories. These papers were records of Lee Gun for the past twenty years, written in long, winding letters.

“Extract Past(S)” was one of the Secretary’s skills. In other words, it was a skill that extracted someone’s past. The Secretary had extracted useful information using it, and the information was polished before being put inside the bible.

On the other hand, this skill could be used to steal someone’s past as well. It could even change someone’s past. Naturally, there were some conditions.

“I’m talking about the ring...! When you beat up the Saintess, you fed her a ring...!”

“!”

At the mention of the ring, Hugo’s and Lee Gun’s eyes turned round. The Secretary was clearly talking about their reunion with Sophie at the holy item exchange market.

When Lee Gun had beaten up Sophie in the restroom, he had pushed something down her throat. It had been an item shaped like a ring.

‘Gun put it inside Sophie as a way to keep her silent...’

Lee Gun wanted to make sure Sophie couldn’t ask for help from other Zodiac Saints. Due to that threat, Sophie hadn’t talked nonsense during the press conference.

When Lee Gun had killed the Spider Queen, he had recovered an item from the S-rank Gemini disciple.

- Do you know what I fed you?

There was no way Lee Gun would have fed her something having no purpose.

Lee Gun made sure Sophie knew what would happen. That was why she told the truth about the events from twenty years ago at the press conference. So why did Sophie still have that ring?

Lee Gun started to sweat. “Ah! That’s right. I forgot to retrieve that thing.”

“!!?”

The surprised Hugo looked at Lee Gun. “What does that ring do?”

“It excretes poison on a schedule.”

“?!”

That was right.

[Ring That Likes To Give Off A Scent(A)]

- Manufacturer: Lee Gun

The ring was supposed to regularly emit a scent like an air freshener. It was a holy item that spread the content inside it to the surroundings.

‘Normally, I put things like pain relievers in there.’

Since Lee Gun didn’t have the Zodiacs’ blessings, he would receive the full brunt of any injuries he suffered in battle. At times, he didn’t even have time to apply healing poultices on himself. But with this ring, which could release pain relievers at regular intervals, he could forget the pain and continue to fight.

Anyway, he had acquired the poison from an S-rank Gemini disciple. Then, he had put it inside the ring just in case he captured a Zodiac Saint as a hostage. Coincidently, Sophie became his target.

In the end, it didn’t matter.

“If I don’t send a signal, it won’t stop emitting the poison...”

Hugo screamed, “Say it ain’t so!”

“I forgot. It’s an automatic-type holy item. If I don’t turn it off, the ring will automatically turn on by itself.”

“?!!”

There was no doubt about it. Sophie was in such a state because of the ring Lee Gun had fed to her. Since Lee Gun had forgotten about it, the ring kept activating and a horrible poison spread through Sophie’s body. She was probably feeling a pain worse than death.

However, Lee Gun discreetly turned his head away. “So what? She isn’t dead thanks to her Purify skill.”

“You’re the devil!”

“What? She should be thankful to me! She didn’t get eaten by a monarch thanks to me!”

“Who threw her there in the first place?” Hugo was about to say something more about it, but he stopped himself. “Are you going to let her be like that?”

“What? Do you want to go rescue her? I bet she’ll love it if her crush comes looking for her.”

Hugo pounded his chest. “I don’t plan on rescuing her. Didn’t you say you needed something from her Zodiac? What are you going to do about that? Also, why do you keep saying that she likes me? That’s preposterous—”

“Uh. He’s right.”

“!”

Hugo was surprised to hear the sudden voice.

The voice belonged to Lee Jaewon. After appearing in front of Hugo using the Return skill, Lee Jaewon handed something to Lee Gun. It was the body data of the Archer disciples and some ingredients.

Saying that he would make equipment for them, Lee Gun had asked Lee Jaewon to bring those items.

Of course, the Capricorn disciples had seen this. They said, “Lee Gun won’t sell weapons to disciples who entered his temple.”, “He won’t make you anything even if you beg.”, and “You guys are so poor that you can’t even use the goods provided to the world by the Maker temple.”

They accused him of counting his chickens before they hatched. Lee Jaewon had replied that Lee Gun-nim would make items for them, but the Capricorn disciples just laughed, saying Lee Gun’s items couldn’t compare to those belonging to the Maker Zodiac.

‘We’ll see once we have a confrontation.’

Lee Jaewon laughed as he looked at Hugo. “I suffered a lot because of the Aquarius Saint. She always asked me about your tastes and schedule, and I always rejected all her inquiries.”

“?!”

Lee Gun cackled. This was why he had purposefully run interference and kidnapped Hugo when Sophie tried to be alone with Hugo.

Every time she looked at him with hatred, it tickled Lee Gun to no end.

“She cares about looks. There is no way she would let you go after seeing you.”

Hugo despaired. He wasn’t happy at all.

‘You are more handsome than me now!’

Hugo pounded his chest as he yelled, “That must be why that woman had a grudge against you. Do you think it’s a possibility that she handed your data to the Libra Saint?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Carly! I’m talking about Carly. Her abilities look more and more like yours. It isn’t as powerful as yours, but... What if she did something with her Chalice? Carly might be your clone.”

Lee Gun became interested. “Oh! That’s very interesting.”

It could be possible with the Chalice. And if the Chalice were used, a Zodiac had to be behind it.

Aside from that, Lee Gun had felt something when he fought the undead monarch. They were all powerful.

‘I have to get rid of all of them from the lands of humans.’

That was why he had to revive Heaven’s Punishment. To accomplish that, he needed an overall upgrade of his weaponry. It meant the Aquarius was a must.

- We’ll give you a day before she dies. If you want the Saintess returned, we want ten general-ranks and goods.

Lee Gun furrowed his brows when he saw a familiar figure on TV. The problem was the energy this monster possessed.

‘It feels similar to the general Sungjae killed.’

In fact, their appearances looked similar, too. The notification spoke up as if it were in agreement.

[The warlike Golden Legion is threatening the Aquarius.]

[The warlike Golden Legion is aiming for the Aquarius’s healing ability.]

[The warlike Golden Legion is looking for a young Zodiac Saint.]

At that moment, news came out.

- Breaking news! The European alliance is stepping forward to negotiate with the enemies.

- An advance party is already there for a different negotiation.

- The European alliance is requesting help from other governments.

The unknown civilization was a common foe for the governments of humanity. It was expected of them to receive a request for rescuing the Saintess.

“Contact the governments. Tell them don’t even think about doing anything.”

“Will they agree to it? The Saintess is very popular. It has to do with the Saintess’s Chalice, but... They’ll want to rescue her at all costs.”

Lee Gun grinned as if his worries were unwarranted. “Tell them I’ll go and rescue her myself.”

* * *

Around that time...

- Help me!

The world was surprised to see the Aquarius Saint Sophie suddenly appear on the news.

“What? They want us to go and save that woman? Have they lost their minds?”

The Zodiac Saints looked at the TV screen with baffled expressions.

Then there was Kevin, who occupied and defended parts of Europe. He had received a commission to rescue the Saintess as he was a Zodiac Saint too, but he had turned down the offer.

The captive Sophie shed large drops of tears. “I’m sorry, Lee Gun! I’m sure you can hear me. Please deactivate the ring!”

She seemed to think Lee Gun was still monitoring her and activating the ring constantly. The Aquarius Saint had no idea that the ring was an automatic type.

Suddenly, she clutched at her stomach in pain. “Lee Gun! Please! I don’t know what you’re planning, but I’ll give you whatever you want! Please!”

[Give up. There is no way he’ll come to save us.]

The words angered Sophie.

Yes, another person stood next to her, a man wearing a helmet. It was none other than Yang Wei.

In the beginning, Sophie had been ecstatic to find out that this man was Yang Wei. She had no idea what had happened to him, but in the end, he was an ally!

‘Yang Wei! Thank you! You came to save me!’

‘Uh? I was captured too?’

Yang Wei turned out to be useless. Sophie banged her head as she cried. Amongst the twelve Zodiac Saints, she and Yang Wei were farthest from being fighters.

Moreover, the monsters that had captured them were special as well. The others might not be a problem, but the man wearing the black armor was a different story.

‘I smell a general-rank.’

He was a dangerous opponent.

Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!

Suddenly, flame arrows fell from the sky, surprising Sophie and Yang Wei.

[What the hell! Can it be!]

Sophie was moved. This was undoubtedly Hugo’s ability. Her face turned red. “Hugo! You came to save me after you saw me on the news!”

As if reacting to her voice, a black shadow dropped from the sky.

“Hu—!”

“!”

Sophie and Yang Wei were both shocked to see this person.

“L-Lee Gun!”

The one to walk across the plains was none other than Lee Gun.

[What the hell? Why is he here?!]

Sophie wept aloud. She seemed to have suffered for a very long time.

“Lee Gun! You came to save me!”

Lee Gun grinned.

At this time, the entire world was abuzz as they watched the live feed from the news.

- Breaking news! The Zodiac Saint of the Serpent Bearer has gone to rescue the Saintess!

- As expected of Lee Gun! He’s so cool! He knows camaraderie!

- The Saintess will be rescued— Uh? Uh? Something is wrong! What is this? Lee Gun is attacking the Saintess!