Twenty minutes before the Alps were destroyed...

“Ahhk! That’s crazy! What the hell is that?” Chun Sungjae was screaming in the Alpine range.

Pisces had imprisoned awakened beings in this place. She was sucking out their magical energy with something akin to a straw. It was like a power station.

In other words, this place was one of Pisces’s bases of operations. It had an unimaginable defense but was too large. Dead zones where less power reached also existed here.

This was why the Chun siblings made teams to attack through these dead zones.

‘It won’t be too difficult to find a way to enter that place!’

The Serpent Bearer temple already had the power of Space!

‘We’ll be able to enter in secret if we use it.’

Of course, the Archer disciples had left earlier for the Alps and gotten caught by Silvia. However, in a stroke of luck, Sungjae’s friend had successfully entered the Alps!

Therefore, Chun Sungjae used Possession magic on his friend, who had entered the Alps. To be precise, Sungjae had used a holy item made by his uncle.

[I didn’t give this to you so that you can peep (SS)]

– Manufacturer: Lee Gun.

– Made by putting in Gemini’s data.

– Possess a designated target (both organic and inorganic targets).

– Target has to be something or someone you have touched once before.

– Caution! Your original body will take the same damage if the target of the possession takes damage.

– Standard Duration: 10 Minutes

– Don’t use it in the wrong places.

Anyway, it was well and good that he was able to possess his friend’s body using the Possession holy item. However...!

“Ahhhk! This is crazy! Why is that person here?”

When his friend had called and said that a monarch was here, Sungjae had been worried.

“The monarch was that woman!”

Hahn Jimin... No, the one chasing after Chun Sungjae was none other than Giselle. Of course, she didn’t look like the Libra Saint that he knew.

“You are dead, Lee Gun!!”

“Ahhhk! What the hell did you do to the other half of your face?”

She looked like the terminator. The skin on half of her face had been ripped away, and he could see the muscles. Moreover, half of her body, including her legs and arms, was that of a monster.

While her skin had been ripped away, she didn’t possess red muscles like a human.

This seemed to be the true form of the Negligence[1] monarch.

As chaotic magical energy flashed, black muscles and bones were revealed. Her eyes were red, as if they would shoot beams of light.

“Die, Lee Gun!!”

“I’m not my uncle!!”

The Negligence monarch didn’t care about that; she smirked. She just cared that he was related to Lee Gun.

At the same time, an explosion occurred within the Alps, as if it had been waiting for this moment.

“Ahhhk!!”

[The Alps mountain range has been destroyed.]

It possessed incredible force. Therefore, he urgently blocked the explosion with his defense skill.

[Warning! The influence of Negligence has cut all bonuses by 90%.]

[Effectiveness of the defense ability has fallen by 90%.]

[Your attack ability has become -90%.]

[If you don’t hurry up and get rid of her, our Sungjae might really die]

Chun Sungjae almost cried when he heard the notification spoken through Uncle’s voice. Then, everything fell into place for him.

‘Damn it! I was wondering why Pisces was able to use the power of Time!’

Even if a Zodiac had made a contract with a monarch, it couldn’t directly use the power of the monarch.

‘In other words, different energies are being used.’

Taking the analogy of moving a car (ability), the Zodiacs could move the cars using coal, and the unknown civilization was able to move it using oil.

While his uncle was able to acquire abilities from the monarchs, these abilities had to be converted to the skills of the Serpent Bearer temple. Only then could those skills be used with the magical energy of the Serpent Bearer.

But what about Pisces?

‘Shit! Pisces trapped a monarch here, and she can use the ability of Time by using that woman’s magical energy.’

If he thought about it, Carly and Kevin had gone looking for Giselle before. They had returned, saying Giselle was put in prison by Time and had gone missing.

It seemed Giselle had been transferred to this place after Pisces had made a contract with Time. In the end, it didn’t matter.

“A disciple of Lee Gun voluntarily came to me!”

“!!!”

Flash!

Another explosion occurred. A single attack caused a several-hundred-meter deep sinkhole to appear on the ground.

Chun Sungjae ground his teeth.

‘Shit! Jimin is C rank, so he’ll die just from having that attack graze his body!’

Thanks to Giselle, various locations within the Alps were being destroyed, but that wasn’t enough.

‘I have to quickly deliver the fatal blow here.’

The reason was simple.

[Your Zodiac is in danger. The Serpent Bearer’s power is weakening.]

Chun Sungjae bit his lips as his uncle’s blessing grew smaller. It wasn’t just his uncle’s energy.

‘Even the Retribution of the Mighty Ocean is...!’

The royal holy item made by his uncle had developed a crack. This meant his uncle was in danger.

‘I have to hurry this up.’

Giselle let out a harsh laugh. “It seems you came here to get rid of the last remaining Zodiac. Do you really think I will let you go so easily?”

Chun Sungjae gnashed his teeth and activated his magical energy. He hadn’t been using it because he didn’t want to put too much pressure on the body of his friend, a C-rank awakened being.

“Come out.”

A light surged forth. What Chun Sungjae had called forth was none other than the Fairy Monarch Mimir!

‘It used to be half-dead.’

When his uncle had been getting rid of the Gemini, the bible had been ripped away from Mimir’s body.

‘I’ll spare you since you’re useful.’

Through the influence of the merger, all the fairies had been transferred to the Serpent Bearer temple. Anyway, Mimir’s life had also been spared at the time.

‘Of course, Frey was ruthlessly put into the blast surface.’

Giselle broke out into laughter when she saw Mimir. “My god! You still haven’t killed it! You let it be!”

“!”

As expected of a spy, Giselle knew all the background information about the Zodiacs. “It is the one who told Pisces how to kill the thirteenth and the other original owners! It was one of the main culprits behind the usurpation. So why...”

Chun Sungjae didn’t pay attention to her. He had already checked out the story through his uncle.

‘Mimir didn’t voluntarily reveal the weakness of the original owners.’

Before becoming a fairy, Mimir had been a Construct for a god. Pisces had pierced through the barrier of his holy ground and ripped away the information from Mimir.

‘As expected of Pisces. It’s something I would expect of the Zodiac left standing last.’

Of course, his uncle could tell if Mimir was lying, so it was probably not a lie.

Giselle looked at Mimir and let out a suspicious laugh. “Yes. It might have been inevitable that Lee Gun picked it up.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“What else?” Giselle said something.

Chun Sungjae became surprised by her next words, but he soon furrowed his brows.

[Three minutes until possession ends.]

He didn’t have much time left, and Giselle seemed to have read his eyes.

She laughed. “Did you think a mere human will be able to run away from me?”

She held a grudge against Lee Gun, and she wouldn’t be satisfied until she ripped apart Sungjae.

However, Chun Sungjae scoffed at her behavior. “Are you an idiot? Who said I’ll run away?”

“!”

“Mimir!”

As the shout rang, the fairy monarch roughly took hold of Giselle. Giselle looked taken back. “Hmmph. Is this something you came up with, Fairy Monarch? You’re merely a Construct-rank servant...!”

Giselle planned on getting rid of Mimir’s power using the power of Negligence.

Flash!

“!”

At that moment, Mimir emanated a powerful golden green light. It was the power of Life!

[Magical energy Revive]

[Ability Revive]

Even if one had received a debuff, it was useless in front of Life’s Revive ability. That wasn’t all.

Koo-goohng!

Negligence, Giselle, was surprised.

Hahn Jimin... No, Chung Sungjae also emanated the golden green light. This was the power of the third stage of Life! It was a power that had evolved when Lee Gun had taken down Taurus!

[Power of Life is being pulled up.]

[A new skill is being called forth.]

Whenever Death or Life evolved toward the next stage, a new skill developed. When Life had reached the second stage, Revive had appeared. And when it reached stage three, Chun Sungjae acquired a skill he had always wanted!

[Creation]

– If the price is paid, anything can be made.

– You may only create something if you understand its underlying structure. You cannot create something with a simple image.

Of course, Sungjae had tried to make his uncle when he had first developed the skill, but all his attempts had failed. However, those efforts weren’t in vain. He was able to perfectly recreate other things.

“!”

Chun Sungjae ran toward Giselle and touched her stomach.

[Creation has been used.]

A light appeared within Giselle’s stomach. Her eyes flashed when she saw this. “What are you doing, you brat?”

Chun Sungjae smirked. “I’ve already eradicated a monarch that went into a human’s body before.”

“Wait—”

The scream was accompanied by the spread of light. The quiet Alps started to violently shake.

Kwahng!!!

It was as if a meteor had hit the range.

* * *

Around that time...

Boom!!!

The expressions of Chun Yooha, Carly, and Hailey brightened when they heard the roar coming from the Alps.

They also saw smoke emanating from the nearby mountain range.

“Sungjae succeeded!”

They looked at Goat, who held Sungjae’s body. Goat appeared relieved. He had heard Hugo’s prophecy a while ago, so he had been very worried.

‘He saw a future where the Sagittarius temple had been eradicated.’

However, with this development, that might no longer be a problem.

“Koo-oohk!”

“Saint-nim!”

They were surprised when blood suddenly flowed out of Sungjae’s mouth. However, it lasted only a moment.

“Huhk...!”

“Sungjae!”

“Are you ok, Saint-nim?!”

“What happened inside there?”

After Possession was dispelled, Chun Sungjae climbed down from Goat’s back and urgently yelled.

“Negligence is inside the Alps!”

“What?! Negligence is Giselle, right?”

Everyone turned deathly pale. Carly’s expression was especially a sight to behold. She reflexively tried to reach for her blade.

“Ah. It’s fine for now. I took care of her. Since I was in my possession state, I couldn’t use 100% of my power. However, she won’t be able to get up for a while.”

“What? You took care of her? How?”

“Like the time with Abundance, I created a clone of Uncle within her stomach.”

“...!”

Of course, he couldn’t clone Lee Gun, so he had passed up on that. Instead, he had created the enormous serpent that he had met in the baptismal space.

‘Tsk! I wanted to get a closer look, but there wasn’t enough time left.’

Anyway, the damage would be significant since it had been pushed out of her stomach. That wasn’t all.

“The power of the monarch was leaking out, so I used it to damage the Alps holy ground.”

Carly’s mouth fell open. “You were successful in using it?”

“I used Mimir.”

Carly furrowed her brow. “But Mimir is....”

Mimir was the being that had provided the knowledge that allowed the thirteenth and the original owners to be killed.

“Why would you let someone so dangerous... What if it betrays Lee Gun-nim?”

“It’ll probably be fine.”

“!”

Chun Sungjae furrowed his brows as he thought about Giselle’s words.

The woman had spoken these words as she looked at Mimir.

– Before becoming a fairy, Mimir was the Construct of the thirteenth original owner.

As Chun Sungjae made a complicated expression, Hailey laughed. “Anyway, you did well.”

When the knockout Hailey let out a beautiful smile, the faces of Goat and Chun Sungjae turned red.

However, Chun Sungjae bit his tongue. “Ah! We do have to go back into the Alps! I placed Jimin in a safe place when the possession was canceled, but we have to go get him... Also, the Negligence isn’t completely dead.”

“Yes. However, the effects of your actions will be great.”

The 14 “Against God’s Will” spells used by Pisces needed a significant amount of magical energy.

That power was being extracted from Giselle, and she had suffered damage now. Thus, Pisces would have suffered a lot too.

Moreover, Hailey’s assessment seemed correct.

Koo-goo-goong!

“Pisces’s holy ground is...!”

The power of Pisces that blanketed Italy was dissipating.

[The Pisces holy ground has taken a critical blow.]

[Pisces’s power is weakening.]

Hailey said when she confirmed this, “If we destroy the Alps, Pisces won’t be able to use her power. However, you won’t have an easy time destroying that structure, Sungjae—”

Suddenly...

“Leave it to me!”

“!!”

Hailey was surprised by the familiar voice. The Serpent Bearer disciples reared back in shock when they saw who had appeared in front of them.

“G-Gemini Saint?”

“Heiji!”

Heiji was one of the twelve Zodiac Saints, and she was a magician who was called the two great beauties alongside Hailey.

They had no idea why she was here.

“I’ll destroy the Alps’ barrier. Leave it to me.”

“?!”

Everyone was surprised by her words.

At one point, Chun Sungjae had been her student and Hailey her fellow Zodiac Saint. Yet, both of them looked like they couldn’t accept Heiji’s words.

This was especially true for Hailey.

‘What? There is no way Heiji would step forward to help Lee Gun.’

Was it part of some plan? Was she trying to get revenge on him??

Chun Yooha, Hailey, and Carly all immediately raised their guards.

Heiji’s face turned red in a shy manner. “I will be the one to catch Pisces. If I do it, Lee Gun-nim, who I yearn for, will look at me.”

As soon as she spoke, several expressions changed. Goat felt four nightmarish murderous intents emanate within the pub.

1. Term change: “Neglect” to “Negligence” ☜