The general’s head exploded and scattered in front of their eyes. Everyone turned silent. The seemingly unbreakable head of the general had shattered before them.

The monster’s body fell and became a lump of flesh. Then, a shadow appeared from the general’s neck and mutilated the body. The mutilated flesh scattered across the ground.

Koohng!

It no longer had a discernable shape.

Hugo flinched at this sight, but said nothing.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

‘I’ve never seen him this mad.’

Lee Gun had no expression. What made it even scarier was that he wasn’t even verbalizing his anger. There was no smile on his face, and his eyes flashed. A boiling murderous intent could be sensed from him.

This surprised the Chun siblings. To them, at the end of the day, Lee Gun was always the kind uncle. However, they couldn’t breathe now. It was as if he were a different person.

Kwah-jeek!

The magical energy Lee Gun instantly emitted and started to distort in shape.

“...!”

Everyone was frightened out of their wits. It was as if an emotion that Lee Gun had been suppressing was leaking out.

The Divine status of Death fluctuated violently.

[Warning! The Divine status of Death is becoming uncontrollable.]

[The second stage of the Divine status of Death is going on a rampage.]

Even Hailey flinched in front of the dark power. This power was too dangerous. In some ways, it was more dangerous than the monarchs. It was a power that could destroy the world in an instant.

The first stage of the Divine Status of Death was dangerous, but it became much more dangerous as it climbed in stages.

The power made even the nearby Zodiacs restless.

[The Sagittarius says it is as expected. This power is too dangerous.]

Hugo flinched at the Zodiac’s agitation. His Zodiac had wanted him to monitor Lee Gun closely. This was the reason.

With his Divine status increasing, Lee Gun’s power would become much more powerful, and controlling it would become harder as well. It would become a frightful, double-edged sword.

[The servants of the Serpent Bearer are afraid of the owner’s power. They are shaking.]

[The Sagittarius says it is a power that no one can control.]

[The Virgo says they must run away.]

The power expanded like a black hole, and it was about to swallow Hailey’s trap.

Boom!

The extremely dangerous power was about to spread into the surrounding area, but the Zodiacs could no longer stand back and watch. They stepped forward.

[The Virgo has used Zodiac Saint Summon.]

Normally, a Zodiac would use this skill when it wanted something from its Zodiac Saint or when it wanted its Zodiac Saint to do something. This was a compulsory summon. The skill cost energy, but the Zodiac had no choice.

[All members of its household will be forcefully moved to its abode.]

[It is trying to summon the disciples of the Serpent Bearer.]

They seemed to have realized they couldn’t stop this power on their own. Instead of stopping Lee Gun, they chose to escape.

The Sagittarius quickly tried to summon Hugo in front of it.

[The Sagittarius is about to use Zodiac Saint Summon—]

However, Hugo’s eyes flashed as if he wanted to say the Sagittarius to fuck off. This shocked the Zodiac.

[The faith toward the Sagittarius has plunged below the threshold.]

[The Zodiac Saint Summon skill has failed.]

[The Sagittarius despairs. It tells you to stop doing this.]

Soon, the magical energy of the Divine status of Death started to melt away Lee Gun’s skin.

[Warning! This power cannot be handled by Super Regeneration.]

It was why this Divine status was dangerous. It threatened the world, but it also ate away its own god.

Therefore, she quickly tried to use the power of Time despite that being dangerous.

Suddenly...

“Gun!”

Hugo grabbed Lee Gun’s shoulder. However, as soon as his hand touched Lee Gun, his face became distorted. The power of Death made Hugo’s hand hard like a rock. Then parts of his hand started to crumble as if his hand was being eroded.

However, Hugo endured it. “Gun!”

When Lee Gun heard the voice that was trying to keep the pain at bay, his brows furrowed. Then something surprising happened.

Koo-goo-goong!

The Divine status of Death had surged forth as if it would destroy everything, yet it started to calm down.

[The unruly Death has been wrangled and pressed down.]

[The unruly Death has been wrangled and pressed down.]

In the process, a black light also went wild, but it didn’t matter.

Kwah-jeek!

[The second stage of the Divine status of Death is now under control.]

[The status of the temple has increased.]

[The Constructs have gained the opportunity to evolve.]

[You have developed a new skill.]

The power of death had almost swept through his holy ground, and it might have swept through his disciples too. However, Death now started to move according to Lee Gun’s will.

Hugo let out a sigh of relief, while the Zodiacs looked shocked. They had no idea an out-of-control Divine status of Death could be controlled like this. Moreover, the most surprised person was the still-alive Time general.

‘Even if he was able to control it, that power...!’

There was a reason its monarch had taken its underlings to Seoul twenty-four years ago to look for this power.

‘When it went out of control, he should have devoured his holy ground and disciples.’

In theory, controlling it through mental strength was possible, but...

‘His mental strength is frightening.’

This was the first time the general had seen the god of calamity’s power with its own eyes. It now understood why the monarchs had put this power under a separate category of Calamity.

‘It makes sense why the undead Monarch coveted this power.’

They had locked up the undead monarch within the Devil’s Tower. However, the undead monarch, who had died at Lee Gun’s hands, wasn’t someone normal.

Old Ones! Amongst the monarchs, some beings were especially powerful. They were ancient special beings that had lived for a very long time.

Anyway, although this being had told Lee Gun to become a monarch, it secretly coveted Lee Gun’s young body and power.

‘I knew he wasn’t normal, but this is...’

Soon, the general’s gaze headed toward Hugo.

‘Someone is capable of anchoring his mind.’

Therefore, the Time general tried to sneak out of the trap. Its monarch would be very happy to learn these facts from it.

‘They can become his weakness.’

Lee Gun’s Zodiac Saints didn’t seem to have truly awakened.

God’s Vessel! They didn’t know how to capture the overflowing power of their Zodiac. They were decadent beings who knew only how to use a copious amount of power.

In truth, all Zodiac Saints were like that. The difference between the Knights and the Zodiac Saints was stark since the Knights knew how to store the power of the Monarch. If one had to make a comparison, all the Zodiac Saints were on level 1.

‘Even if they awaken, I doubt they can become vessels capable of containing that much power.’

Anyway, this was a golden opportunity to attack Lee Gun in his current state.

‘I have to hurry up and tell the monarch about his weakness.’

Of course, the Time general had barely sent half of its body to invade this Zodiac’s holy ground. However, that might be to its advantage now.

‘Only half of me entered this place, so it’ll be easy for me to exit.’

The Time general was one of the thirteen Knights, which were important cards for the monarchs. Unfortunately, another one was killed, but that couldn’t be helped.

‘I’ll return to my master and....’

Suddenly, the Time general felt a chill. It started shaking. It couldn’t move its body. From head to toe, it felt like a skewer had fixed it in place. The general felt like a small larva in front of an enormous being.

Boom!

The red-eyed Lee Gun approached it. “Are you going to run away by yourself?”

[...!]

The Time general looked taken aback as it tried to use its power once again.

[The Serpent Eater attribute is active.]

A green chain appeared from beneath Lee Gun’s feet and squeezed the neck of the blue shadow.

“You didn’t even try to retrieve the corpse of your comrade. It seems you guys have no sense of honor.”

The Time general ground its teeth. In the first place, there was no corpse left to retrieve...!

[Kuhk!]

The Time general screamed. While it had its guard down, the Secretary had stealthily walked up to it, and she had stabbed it in the back. “I found their Commandment!”

[!!]

“Uh. It’s similar to the seal engraved into the blade that stabbed God-nim.”

Yes, a commandment was like a bible for the Monarchs.

The Zodiacs grew in power as they forever transcribed their story. In comparison, the monarchs followed a strict rule of strength to strengthen their powers.

Moreover, the Commandment was engraved like a tattoo on the souls of all its brethren. The Commandment was proof that they had received power from the monarch, and it was the source of their power.

If one were to analyze the Commandment, one would learn the information about its abilities and the power of the monarch. It could also be assigned to a weapon for it to be given power.

This was why the Time general wanted to kill the Secretary, who had stolen its Commandment.

“You did well in bringing what is mine.”

The chaotic black light spread throughout the trap. Death swallowed everything.

* * *

“What? You provoked the Monarchs?!” After a quarter of a day in the Leo Saint’s holy ground, the Leo Saint was shocked by what the person before him said. “You even killed the remaining general?”

Lee Gun sat on the other side, and he laughed when he saw Stevens’s expression. “It doesn’t matter since I plan on eradicating them.”

A serious expression appeared on Stevens’s face.

Yes, for some reason, Lee Gun had come to Stevens’s holy ground, and they were having a conversation.

Stevens learned for the first time how the forces of the unknown civilization were structured, and he also learned that all the generals of a particular Monarch had been killed.

‘One was killed by that brat, Chun Sungjae. The other one was killed by Lee Gun.’

If what Lee Gun said was true, the generals were Saint-ranks. There was no way the Monarchs would stand back and do nothing at this time.

‘Moreover, he ignored its request for a negotiation and killed the general.’

That was like Lee Gun to do such a thing, but....

“Anyway, I’m going to start attacking them in earnest. That’s why I’m here to take some battle-type disciples.”

Stevens became apoplectic when he saw Lee Gun’s smile. “Why does it have to be our kids? You have already acquired the Virgo temple and the Aquarius temple as affiliates!”

Lee Gun furrowed his brows. “Affiliate disciples are completely different from direct disciples.”

The quality of his temple had considerably improved thanks to the affiliate disciples. However, Lee Gun wanted to grow the size of the Serpent Bearer’s temple. He didn’t even have the minimum number of members.

‘I can lay the basic foundation if I have a couple more disciples.’

Currently, his Zodiac Saints were doing all the dirty work. Sungjae and Yooha didn’t have any disciples to guard them. Lee Gun felt a bit bad for it.

‘There is a difference between the EXP brought in by the affiliate disciples and the EXP brought in by the Serpent Bearer disciples.’

“Anyway, I’ll take that Muffin guy. I planned on taking him before. My temple has magicians and close-range fighters, but no tankers.”

“Fuck off! You already have a lot of people gathering at your temple!”

“No! My Zodiac Saint turned them all down.”

Sungjae, who was the interviewer, kept his eyes sharp. He kicked out anyone with an ulterior motive toward Lee Gun.

Stevens was baffled by those words. “Anyway, your temple needs 100 percent faith. You can’t pick them unless they are fanatics—”

Lee Gun suddenly activated his bible.

[Psalm of Sungjae]

Chapter 71

[The Serpent Bearer’s greatness seems to shine with light.]

– Effect: Light Effect (Faith is temporarily increased)]

The light extended outward, and spirited shouts immediately came from outside.

“Lee Gun-nim! Huzzah!”

“Lee Gun-nim! We love you! Die Stevens!”

“...?!” Stevens froze when he heard the sounds.

Lee Gun let out a menacing smile. “I’ll pick amongst them, alright?”

The Leo Saint let out a soundless scream.

‘Bastard!’

As if to make it worse, his Zodiac, the Leo, was still waiting for Lee Gun. It would ask why Lee Gun wasn’t coming to the Divine world and when he would come. Stevens was tired of being asked those questions!

‘Why did he have to come here...!’

His disciples were going to be stolen. Stevens clutched at his face as he said, “Is your business with me done now?”

“No? Of course not.”

“What?”

“Call forth your Zodiac.”

“W-what? Why do you— Koohk!”

With his arms crossed, Lee Gun slammed his legs on top of the table. “If I said to call for it, you call it here.”

There was killing intent in his eyes.