Chapter 368 - That isn't it! (2)

Light exploded forth from Hugo’s body. Everyone was surprised when the Divine status was absorbed into Hugo’s body. The one shocked the most was the one who had eaten the Divine status.

“Kuhk-oohp—! No!!”

Realizing what he had eaten, Hugo tried to spit it back out. However, Lime jumped above his head and slammed itself down toward Hugo’s head.

Bbah-gahk!

The impact caused the Divine status core in Hugo’s mouth to pass through his throat.

“Kuhk! Oohp!”

A Divine status could be used in two ways.

The first one was just using the Divine status by possessing the core. Of course, this allowed one to temporarily use the Divine status.

However, there was a limit to how much of the Divine status’s power one could use. Moreover, one could not inherit the god’s Constructs. Then there was the danger of having the Divine status stolen.

The second method was to eat the Divine status. It was to take possession of the Divine status as your own. This basically meant that when Hugo ate the core, he had inherited the Divine status.

“Why? Of all the ones it chose to feed me...!!”

Lee Gun had given Hugo three Divine statuses.

[One that incites riots and fighting: God of War Ares.]

[All locations exist under his feet: Messenger god Hermes.]

[One in charge of beauty: Goddess of beauty Aphrodite.]

What Lime had shoved into Hugo’s mouth was the core belonging to the master of beauty!

This was the reason for Hugo’s surprise. Lime usually did a lot of strange things, but it never did things that would cause harm to Lee Gun. If one dug into it, Lime always worked toward helping Lee Gun.

Still, that bastard...!

“How can you feed me Aphrodite— Kuhk!”

Hugo felt pain as the Divine status started to spread throughout his body. As the Divine status was transferred, Hugo was connected to the power and Constructs.

[Divine Status: Aphrodite (Master of Beauty)]

[Divine Name: Praise the Absolute Beauty]

[The power is being transferred.]

[Vision of Beauty(5 star) and 6 others]

The goddesses of fate laughed as they clutched their stomachs. They had read Hugo’s Karmic debt, so they knew very well what he was like in the past. Right now, his past was locked, so they couldn’t view all of his past. However, Hugo had been a Construct who had killed gods like bugs, including the snake god.

Aside from the master he had served, he didn’t care if it was a human or a god. He treated everyone like insects. His power was elite, and it allowed him to act that way.

An incompatible Divine status could naturally be extracted after killing the god possessing it. However, the Master of Beauty was a precious Divine status. Discarding it would be a shame.

“My god! I’ve never seen a male god take possession of that Divine status!”

“What kind of mutant will this produce?”

“He’s not a mutant. Anyway, it’s a powerful Divine status of a pillar god. He probably can’t use that power...”

“In the first place, how is a human withstanding the Divine status of a pillar god? His body should have exploded—”

Pahng!!

“!”

The eyes of the goddesses of fate turned round when a ferocious arrow flew toward them. The power of a pillar god, which they assumed Hugo would be unable to use, flew toward them.

“That bastard...!”

“Shit! Block it!”

The goddesses raised their guards when the arrow of Absolute Accuracy flew toward them.

Puhng!

“...!!”

The arrow violently flew through the air and struck the head of one of the goddesses, then the arrow changed into light, which was shaped like a heart.

Puhng puhng puhng!

Hugo’s eyes turned round when his arrow lost power.

The goddesses laughed when they saw a trick usually performed at parties.

“Shit! You surprised me for nothing!”

“Woo! Shoot one more at us!”

“Hmmph! It doesn’t matter how many you shoot. It is useless—”

The goddesses were about to mess with Hugo’s fate when...

Boom!

They felt chills run up their spines as they felt a terrifying wave of energy.

‘What is this feeling?’

It was a murderous intent strong enough to pressure them.

They flinched as they looked at Hugo.

‘Is it him?’

The flustered goddesses were about to get rid of Hugo when they became surprised for an entirely different reason.

“W-Wait a moment! That’s...!”

The reason was the slime, which was on top of Hugo’s head.

Lime held an enormous substance made out of light. It was the Creator’s large and girthy object, which Lee Gun had brought out earlier.

To revive the Creators, the goddesses of fate had kept this item inside their research lab. It was the power of a Creator.

When Lime tried to give it to Hugo, the goddesses reacted in fright.

“No! Do you realize what we went through to take it from Ennead?”

“Capture it! It doesn’t matter if you kill him!”

The goddesses tried to take down Hugo.

Koohng!

However, they froze when they felt the power leaking out of Hugo’s body. When they saw his face, the goddesses were surprised.

Hugo’s pupils had changed. Now, they were like the pupils of a beast that ate gods.

‘...!’

That wasn’t all.

Kwahng!

When the latent brutal energy surged forward, the goddesses of fate forgot to breathe for a moment.

‘That’s the energy of a predator!’

‘How....’

Lime didn’t care about their reactions. It pushed the Creator’s long and girthy object into Hugo’s head.

This made Hugo scream, but he soon heard an odd auditory hallucination.

[Put down your instinct to kill!]

It was the voice of a master reigning in his underling. At that moment, Hugo’s transformed energy and pupils returned to normal. Then something surprising happened.

[Beauty has undergone taxidermy.]

A very strong power surged forth.

[Your Divine status has leveled up.]

[The Serpent Bearer temple has leveled up.]

The strong power Hugo emitted struck the goddesses.

The powerful light made Lachesis (Present) flinch, but she laughed when she realized nothing had happened to her. “Hmmph! It doesn’t matter what your past life was. You are a mere human now—”

However, she froze when she turned her head. Klotho (Past), who had trapped Lee Gun in the past, had become frozen like a doll.

“Unni!”

Lachesis suddenly had an understanding.

‘That bastard...!’

Master of Beauty could perform taxidermy on whatever they considered beautiful and cool. If the Master of Beauty thought someone bleeding looked beautiful, it could cause one’s opponent to get hurt.

“...!”

The fallen Klotho’s (Past) appearance changed into the appearance of Lee Gun! It was the version of Lee Gun when he had wild long hair!

Hugo became angry when he saw this. Virgo seemed surprised, but Sagittarius had an understanding expression on his face.

“Ah! That’s how Lee Gun looked when he met Hugo for the first time.”

“What?!”

It was what Lee Gun had looked like when he had saved Hugo from being torn and eaten by a monster.

From Hugo’s point of view, Lee Gun had looked the coolest when he had ripped apart the monster. Hugo had been so impressed with that, that he had asked Lee Gun to become his teacher.

“But why does he look like a woman with long hair?”

“Ah! Hugo met Lee Gun for the first time when he was dying. So he mistook Lee Gun for a woman because Lee Gun was wearing a monster’s fur on his head.”

“Ah!”

That wasn’t all.

[Pushover has advanced to become a new high-rank Construct.]

[You have received a new attribute.]

[Every disciple of the Serpent Bearer temple is influenced by this.]

[Faith (Love, fanaticism) has increased.]

[A new affiliate Construct has been formed. As the construct grows, the rank of the Serpent Bearer increases.]

Klotho (Past) changed into Lee Gun when the latter was in his prime. She immediately attacked Lachesis (Present).

Kwah-jeek!!

“U-Unni!!”

“Die!!”

“?!”

Klotho (Past) embodied Hugo’s abstract form of Lee Gun. She registered Lachesis as an enemy and attacked her. Moreover, she was as strong as Lee Gun!

Lachesis ground her teeth.

‘If I attack her, she’ll die.’

The power of the Master of Beauty allowed one to change the form of the enemy into what one considered the most ideal form.

The previous Master of Beauty loved to see her enemies in a bloodied state. In the case of Hugo, his enemy took on the form of the Strongest Ally Doll. That was how his ability manifested.

When Virgo saw this, she had a thought.

‘We really might be able to take the Rule Book.’

Virgo was the one who had told them about the existence of the Rule Book.

Zodiacs tried to flatter the Great Spirits for a reason. There was a reason why they gave their treasures and earned profits to the Great Spirits.

[The Great Spirits have worked on the laws.]

[The goddesses of fate have added the laws to the Rule Book.]

The Zodiacs were afraid of the cozy relationship between the Great Spirits and the goddesses of fate. Therefore, they could do nothing against the two groups.

That was why Virgo thought the only one who could steal the Rule Book was Lee Gun, since the Serpent Bearer didn’t care what others thought.

Virgo furrowed her brows as she looked at Hugo. “Did you know about his past life before picking him, Louis?”

“What’s it to you?”

“!”

Reincarnation of life was under the domain of the Divine world.

“I knew he had some Karmic debt, but the only ones capable of knowing his past are Mahabharata, who run the Reincarnation Hell, and the goddesses of fate.”

“!”

The gods who incurred Karmic debt were sent to the Reincarnation Hell, and they were reborn as different creatures. It allowed them to get rid of the Karmic debt, and they would be reborn as a god again.

“If it’s a human, it’s the lowest rank of the Divine world’s wheel of rebirths. They are the ones that have no hope of becoming gods again.”

While one lived as a beast, one didn’t incur any Karmic debt. This wasn’t true of humans.

Humans were creatures of greed, so they continued to incur Karmic debt throughout their lifetime.

This was why humans returned to being dirt after their deaths. They were the lowest-rank beings who could merely become the structural ingredients of the Divine world.

Therefore, the gods avoided reincarnating as that rank. It was why Sagittarius wasn’t interested in Hugo’s Karmic debt. He picked Hugo as his Zodiac Saint. A god could use and throw away a human without suffering any consequences.

“The power from earlier...” Virgo furrowed her brows as if she had a thought, but it was a passing thought. “That isn’t important right now.”

“What?”

Virgo immediately flicked her finger. “Family Shield (Serpent Bearer Rental Skill)!”

Lifted into the air, Sagittarius became Virgo’s shield.

Louis was struck by the lightning sent forth by Lachesis. He fainted as he foamed at the mouth. “Die!”

Hugo and Virgo rushed forward to get rid of Lachesis (Present), who was the last one left.

* * *

Lee Gun looked at the slumped form of Time in dismay.

‘He died.’

It was rare for Lee Gun to be this flustered. He started slapping Time’s cheek. “Hey, you aren’t supposed to die so easily. Stop pretending to be dead. Hurry up and get up!”

If Time died here, his future would change. In other words, Lee Gun as the thirteenth hero would disappear. Any relationship with that as the basis would change.

Moreover, Time was the leader of the monarchs that came here. There was a chance that without him, the monarchs would all disappear from the earth, but...

‘There is no way the other monarchs would leave the earth because Time is gone.’

In fact, a new monarch might try to invade the earth instead. It meant Lee Gun’s future as the thirteenth hero might still exist.

It had to exist if he wanted to kill Red Eye. He had to kill the monarchs twenty years later and save humanity.

This was why Lee Gun was shocked.

‘Why the hell is he so weak?’

Of course, Time hadn’t become weaker. Lee Gun had become stronger.

Lee Gun furrowed his brows.

‘Is it related to the fact that I killed 18,732 versions of Time in all the other dimensions?’

That wasn’t important right now.

“Clone! Clone!”

Since he had taken Time’s ability, the future might have changed. This was why Lee Gun used the Divine status of Life stage 3. He used Creation to replicate Time. It was a complete copy, so his abilities and memories would remain.

“You are—”

Bbah-gahk!!

Lee Gun rendered the clone unconscious and swapped out the dead Time with the clone. He had put in a substitute and erased the clone’s memories using the data of Oblivion.

As if he wasn’t satisfied with this, Lee Gun put the original Time over his shoulder. It was the Time whose face Lee Gun had kicked in.

Since he had acquired Time’s ability, Lee Gun quickly got out of there before the clone could wake up.

‘I can just use the ability of Time to go back to my original time, but...’

Lee Gun suddenly became worried about his family. Today was the day when Junwoo had died for him and Yeonwoo. This was why he headed toward the location where Junwoo would die.

‘Junwoo died in an alley in the opposite direction of the house.’

Lee Gun was lightly jumping across the top of the buildings when his eyes turned round.

‘I found them.’

He lightly landed on top of a telephone pole and discovered Junwoo, who was being chased by the Constructs of the magic-type temple.

It seemed Junwoo was purposefully leading them away so that the existence of Yeonwoo and Lee Gun wouldn’t be revealed.

Lee Gun’s heart felt a pang when he saw this. If he had his way, he would kill all the Constructs. He wanted to save Junwoo, but he had to hold himself back.

‘I’ll find you again. Soon.’

It would be like how he had found Yeonwoo. He’d revive Junwoo, who was the other snake. It was also the reason he was here. He wanted to see where Junwoo’s soul went after he died. He’d be able to find that information now.

“What the hell? You’re a god I’ve never seen before. Which faction do you belong to?”

“...!”

Suddenly, Lee Gun heard a familiar voice as a strange group appeared behind him. When he saw them, his eyes turned round.

They were neither the twelve Zodiacs nor the forces of the unknown civilization.

‘Hermes!’

He saw the gods of the Divine world and recognized a familiar face in Hermes. Then there was...

[Divine status: Valkyrie (Valhalla/Construct)]

[Divine status: Thoth (Ennead/Zodiac)]

[Divine status: Anubis (Ennead/Zodiac)]

Aside from Valkyrie, they all looked like young boys. Clearly, they were using incarnate bodies.

‘They are the Zodiacs of the Divine world.’

Lee Gun’s eyes turned into the menacing eyes of a snake.

‘The ones to leak the location of Junwoo and Yeonwoo were...’

It made sense.

The ones to find and kill Junwoo and Yeonwoo were the Zodiacs of the Gemini and Pisces temples. The magic-type Zodiacs had been affiliated with Valhalla and Ennead. Moreover, why would Zodiacs be here instead of Constructs?

‘The other members of the twelve Zodiacs would have gone crazy if they knew these Zodiacs were here. They would have chased the other gods out.’

It meant Pisces and Gemini had turned a blind eye to these Zodiacs. Furthermore, these gods had gotten involved with what had happened here.

At that moment, Valkyrie asked, “What is your affiliation? Since you smell like a human, you must be a low-rank Construct, who was just passing by.”

“What’s that across your shoulder?”

Lee Gun glared at them when he heard Anubis’s question.

‘Anubis is an underworld god, who guides souls to the underworld.’

Despite him trying to summon Junwoo, the reason why he was unable to find Junwoo’s soul was...

Lee Gun was about to go crazy at the thought when they harshly asked him the questions.

“Oh, low-rank Construct, we asked you, where are you from?”

“How dare you not answer the questions from Zodiacs?”

Lee Gun laughed at those words.

“What?”

“!”

“Are you curious?”

Lee Gun smirked.