[The Aquarius requests a negotiation.]

Lee Gun scoffed at the notification. What? Negotiation?? His eyes turned menacing.

Since only Lee Gun could hear the notification, Sophie was puzzled.

‘What nonsense is this?’

Lee Gun’s reaction was expected. When he had tried to eliminate the Cancer, the Aquarius had shown up and said the Cancer was a contracted partner.

‘I’m pretty sure it was one of the five that appeared.’

Those five Zodiacs were the Taurus, the Aquarius, the Capricorn, the Gemini, and the Pisces. They were embarrassed, so they had done their best to hide their appearances. The Zodiacs had even hidden the colors of their magical energies.

That might have worked on everyone else, but Lee Gun could differentiate their energies. The incident had established something. The Aquarius had a contract with the Libra and the Cancer, and it had helped in trying to kill Lee Gun.

And what did it dare say now?

‘Negotiation?’

Lee Gun ground his teeth. Then, he heard the notification again.

[The Aquarius says that an opportunity like this rarely comes again.]

[Accepting the negotiation will also look good for the Serpent Bearer.]

Veins popped out on Lee Gun’s forehead. “Fuck! What the hell did you just say?”

Grabbing Sophie by the head, he activated the Serpent Bearer’s special characteristic.

[You have used the Serpent Bearer’s attribute.]

[Serpent Eater], [Finder of Death], [Reviver of Death], [Venom]

Unique attribute was something each temple possessed. In simple words, Special Characteristics were like attributes; they were like passive abilities.

The “Special Characteristic skill” was an active skill that used special characteristics as a base.

For example, the Sagittarius possessed special characteristics like heat tolerance and accuracy compensation, and Tracking skill and Movement Speed Increase skill were the Zodiac’s “Special Characteristic skills.”

Currently, the Serpent Bearer’s temple didn’t have much Divine status; it was a hardly established small temple.

Therefore, it didn’t possess many special characteristics.

[You have used the “Serpent Eater” special characteristic.]

“Serpent Eater” special characteristic

– All items have received the “Critical Hit” attribute.

– All items have received the “Sharpness” attribute.

– All items have received the “Hunt” attribute.

– Basic Damage Increase (+20%)

– Capture attribute

[With the Zodiac’s authority, the special characteristic have temporarily been changed into “Special Characteristic skills.”]

Lee Gun’s eyes changed into red snake eyes.

[“Serpent Eater” special characteristic skill is dragging out the Aquarius.]

Sophie almost screamed. She felt as if steel was being pierced through the top of her head to her toes, as if her innards were being pulled out.

Lee Gun clenched his hands as he pulled upward!

“Huh-uhk!!”

Unable to breathe, Sophie felt like a fish caught in a net. It was the effect of the “Serpent Eater” skill, which had become an active skill.

[You have successfully grabbed the Aquarius’s arm thanks to the Capture attribute.]

[The Serpent Eater skill is forcefully dragging out the contracted Zodiac.]

It was unmistakable. The contracted Zodiac was being forcefully dragged out of the divine world.

This change shocked Sophie. The man in front of her knew everything about the connection between a Zodiac and a Zodiac Saint...!’

Yes! Lee Gun had given the Taurus Saint to Red Eye as a chew toy, but he had taken the Goat Saint alive. He had a reason for that.

Lee Gun had conducted all kinds of experiments regarding the Zodiacs and the Zodiac Saints. He did it all to the Goat Saint since the Goat Saint had planned on making him a test subject. While doing this, he had learned how to apply the special characteristic.

[The Zodiac Saint is connected to the Zodiac through a contract. You are dragging out the Zodiac through her.]

Lee Gun laughed.

‘It’s a shame that this consumes too much Divine status. The skill is very useful.’

Unlike the Constructs and disciples, a Zodiac could use a special characteristic as an active skill.

In the case of the Capricorn, the Zodiac’s sympathetic link to the Goat Saint was too low to forcefully drag it out.

‘The Aquarius has a strong sympathetic link because it is trying to heal its Zodiac Saint.’

That meant this was a great opportunity to use the skill. In fact, Lee Gun could feel the sensation through his hands; he felt as if he were holding a cold slime.

At that moment, Lee Gun’s eyes flashed as he suddenly pulled back with his hands. It was as if he was pulling something out of the field!

Flash!

As a light flashed, Sophie vomited blood. Then, the color of her eyes changed. Her blue eyes changed to red. That wasn’t the most surprising part.

“Kyahhk!”

“T-That’s...!”

As if a soul had been dragged out of Sophie’s body, Lee Gun’s hands caught something and pulled it out. It was the Zodiac.

[The Aquarius has been forcefully dragged out.]

[Abnormal Status has occurred thanks to being captured by the “Serpent Eater” special characteristic.]

[Bleed] [Paralysis]

The Aquarius was a being tinged with purple light. Was it because it had been forcefully dragged out? At a glance, it looked like a human, but unlike the Virgo, it didn’t look completely human.

Of course, Lee Gun hadn’t seen the real self of these two gods. However, Kevin and Hugo had said they were incredibly handsome and beautiful.

When the Aquarius was halfway out, Yang Wei fell on his butt. Seeing Lee Gun drag a Zodiac by its head was too shocking.

‘You crazy bastard! What are you doing?’

Was it because he was within the body of a general of the unknown civilization? Yang Wei could see the magical energy of the human camp through visualization. It was in the form of an aura. At a glance, he could see the Zodiac had taken damage.

‘I heard that bastard killed the Cancer...!’

Yang Wei didn’t know if this was true or not, but Lee Gun seemed to have planned on hunting down the Aquarius!

This made Yang Wei gulp.

In the case of Serpent Eater, the “serpent” might be referring to the gods.

This situation lasted only a moment. Lee Gun, who had been dragging out the Zodiac, quickly jumped back.

Kwahng!

The reason was the magical energy that the Aquarius’s eyes had emitted. Naturally, Lee Gun had dodged because it was more than a simple attack.

‘Skill Cancel.’

[The Serpent Eater skill has been canceled.]

[Capture has been canceled.]

[Special Characteristic Skill has returned to being a special characteristic.]

Lee Gun furrowed his brows.

‘I guess this is the problem if I try to drag it out by force.’

He opened his fist. His skin was all gone from his hand, revealing all of his muscles.

[Your opponent’s Divine status has damaged your hand.]

[Super Regeneration(S) has been activated.]

[Super Regeneration is not working because of the god’s wrath.]

[You cannot recover from this injury.]

[Masochism attribute has been activated.]

Lee Gun shook his injured hand as he accepted something.

‘Good skills like this have huge risks.’

Serpent Eater was a useful capture skill, but it had its problem. Moreover, Lee Gun hadn’t leveled up his Super Regeneration to its max level, so this was to be expected.

However, it didn’t matter since a pain of this magnitude only increased his adrenaline! But hitting a Zodiac without a weapon seemed dangerous because of Divine status.

Nevertheless, Lee Gun knew if he couldn’t catch the Zodiac directly, he just had to catch Sophie! The Aquarius was connected to her. Therefore, he moved to grab Sophie’s neck, but...

Flash!

“!”

A purple light appeared from the sky, and a familiar item appeared out of it. This item was none other than the Golden Chalice!

The Chalice’s appearance surprised the nearby disciples and the fallen monsters.

“T-That’s the Chalice!”

The light in everyone’s eyes changed. The Chalice was an item worth causing such reactions.

[God’s Miracle(SSS)] – Royal holy item

The Chalice was a “miracle” in itself. The water contained within the Chalice worked differently depending on the user. It could create a variety of miracles depending on one’s faith and the tribute given.

The miracle could be anything, whether it was poison, skills, heavenly taste, power, immortality, and life creation. The Chalice could even bring the dead back to life.

Normally, Sophie gathered the ingredients needed to be put into the Chalice, and the Zodiac activated the item.

Twenty years ago, Lee Gun had once been hopeful that the Chalice could fix his body. He had even given ninety percent of his pay and offering to the Aquarius.

Back to the present.

[If you negotiate with the Aquarius, you can use the Chalice.]

[Unlike twenty years ago, the Aquarius won’t ask for anything. It laughs.]

[This is a matter of course for the thirteenth Zodiac, a colleague.]

Lee Gun laughed in dismay. What? Colleague? “Fuck off with that.”

“!”

“Didn’t you work so hard to kill me because I’m a Zodiac like you?”

As those words fell, Sophie immediately screamed. To be precise, it was the Aquarius.

[You have acquired Divine rank(SSS-rank) data – Purify.]

Lee Gun had punched Sophie in the face.

The Zodiac took all the damage. It glared at Lee Gun as if it wanted to kill him.

Lee Gun’s eyes were more terrifying, however, as he walked toward the fallen Sophie and her Zodiac. The smoke of Death Instinct started to emanate from his body.

“Now that I think about it...” he said.

“!”

“You were in charge of treating my body with the Chalice. However, my body didn’t heal all that well. Also, my face seldom improved.”

“...!”

“According to the bedwetter, you always said I didn’t pay enough tribute. You said I had to pay more tribute for you to make a more effective healing potion, right?”

This development surprised Yang Wei.

“Hey! Lee Gun! You’re talking to a Zodiac—”

“Apparently, you’re one of the gods that wanted to kill me. Right?”

Yang Wei, who had been about to hold back Lee Gun, shook.

Lee Gun finally arrived in front of Sophie... No, he arrived in front of the Aquarius. “That means you purposefully refused to treat me, right?”

His eyes once again changed into the red eyes of a snake. An abundant amount of black magical energy was already circling his body. Lee Gun was about to extend his hand when...

Flash!

A pillar of water fell from the sky as roars reverberated in the surroundings.

“Kee-ehhhhhhhk!!”

The monsters Lee Gun had defeated raged as they got back up. The disciples witnessing this screamed.

[Water of Life!]

[The Aquarius has revived the monsters.]

[The power of the Aquarius has healed the monsters.]

It was different from Super Regeneration, but the Aquarius was basically a healer Zodiac. Like the white blood cells that automatically appear when a virus enters the body, all creatures possess an innate healing ability. The Aquarius boosted this self-healing ability to the extreme to heal wounds.

A healing skill used directly by a Zodiac was frighteningly effective, and monsters possessed much better self-healing abilities compared to humans. Therefore, this healing ability was close to Super Regeneration.

The revived monsters started attacking Lee Gun and the other humans.

[Kee-ehhhhhhhk!!]

The disciples screamed in fright, and a commotion broke out amongst the Zodiacs.

[The Zodiacs are disturbed.]

[The Zodiacs are angry. They ask how it could even think about healing the monsters.]

The Aquarius’s eyes flashed.

[To kill the god of calamity, it is willing to do anything.]

That wasn’t all. Was it because it had been dragged around by the Capture skill through Sophie?

[The Aquarius is done with its Zodiac Saint.]

[It throws away the Saintess.]

[The Aquarius temple has suffered a massive loss.]

[The Saintess has become the debtor.]

The Zodiacs’ actions made Sophie scream. “G-God! How!!! What are you doing?”

[The Aquarius says you are the reason it can’t win against the Serpent Bearer.]

[The Aquarius says the Capture skill, which is a thorn to its side, won’t work against it now.]

[The Aquarius says it has many useful chess pieces to use instead of the Saintess.]

The healed monsters rushed toward Lee Gun, but Lee Gun cut them down in contempt.

Kwah-jeek!!

“Kee-ehhhhhhhk!”

“Kee-ehhhk!”

He was swinging an enormous greatsword. Since he didn’t have Heaven’s Punishment, he had borrowed this weapon for temporary use.

As expected, the blade became dull in no time. However, it didn’t matter.

[You have gained EXP.]

[You have gained EXP.]

[You have gained EXP.]

Lee Gun’s eyes flashed as he killed the monsters in no time. “Is that all?”

Suddenly...

“!”

Someone appeared behind Lee Gun’s back to grab him like a koala. This person was powerful, powerful enough to keep Lee Gun in place!

Lee Gun wondered what was going on. “What kind of monster is—”

His eyes turned round when he saw his opponent.

“!”

The one grabbing him from behind was none other than Hugo!

“I’m sorry, Gun.”

Of course, it really wasn’t him.

[The Aquarius has activated its skill.]

[Soul Reflected On Water (SSS)]

– Everything reflected on the water will be copied.

– It will create the same being biologically and with the same abilities.

It was a water clone made by the Aquarius.

Hugo, who had followed after Lee Gun, became surprised.

‘That is...!’ He saw himself holding Lee Gun. ‘Shit! Why did it have to be that dangerous skill?’

Worried for Lee Gun, the Archer Saint quickly moved toward him.

It was unclear if the Aquarius realized this. It kept its attention on the immobilized Lee Gun.

[The Aquarius asks if you can kill someone who has the face of your friend. It laughs.]

Lee Gun laughed back.

[It is a complete replica of the Archer Saint.]

[You have acquired an explosive amount of EXP and data.]

He had the brightest smile ever on his face.