Chapter 440 - One Solution (3)

Corpses had fallen in front of them. And they belonged to none other than the Chun siblings and the disciples of the Sagittarius temple!

A shocked Hugo looked toward the sky. He saw a familiar face there.

“You...!”

[I never expected you to leave like that.]

“...!!”

Wind was there, and he didn’t look like his normal self. All the skin on his body was peeled, and his face was incredibly damaged.

Hugo was surprised, but Lee Gun merely raised his eyebrow. The marks all around Wind’s body made it look as if his body parts had been stitched together.

“What the hell? Why does he look like Frankenstein?”

“When I left, I killed him by chopping him into pieces!” Hugo seemed to be telling the truth.

Wind’s expression was that of someone who had been betrayed. He glared at Hugo.

[In the end, that was your choice? I never expected you to ruthlessly chop up your only sibling.]

Sibling, my ass! Hugo ground his teeth. He immediately realized what was going on. The gods had appeared alongside the monarchs. What else could this imply?

“Damn it! I was close to finishing him, yet that bastard saved him.”

Yes, Eternal Change and Wind were siblings. They were intimately familiar with each other’s abilities and weaknesses. That was why Hugo was able to get rid of Wind. This didn’t mean that Wind was weak.

This was the reason Hugo had fully committed to his acting and had been thorough in his preparations before unleashing the fatal blow.

‘I ripped him into pieces and incinerated him like the trash of the universe.’

It seemed Ennead’s Great Spirit had discovered Wind and revived his tattered self.

Ennead’s Great Spirit smiled.

[For some odd reason, our goals alight. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I thought we could help each other.]

Wind, the leader of the Cluders, had joined hands with the gods. He laughed.

[This is the price of making me feel pain.]

“...!”

Hugo looked at his children and the disciples of the Sagittarius temple. Wind had thrown their corpses in front of him.

He ground his teeth. The earth was destroyed, and his children and precious underlings were dead. It was a familiar sight; it was one of the two prophecies that he had seen before.

‘Is this what I saw at that time....’

Was it this moment?

The scale of this invasion from the unknown civilization was completely different from the ones that they had experienced before. It was a scene of chaos.

Of course, he had seen the prophecy when Sungjae was still a short kid, so he hadn’t put much thought into it. But this was no longer the case.

This was the same scene where his children and the Archer disciples were dead. And an unknown monarch who looked like a young man spoke these very words.

[The plan was a success.]

“!”

Wind continued,

[That attack right now just destroyed the barrier of the Serpent Bearer. We ate all the Constructs that you turned into proxy Zodiacs around the world. It seems you guys didn’t pay attention to them because you were too focused on protecting normal humans.]

Hugo glared at him. Until not too long ago, Hugo had worried he would cause this event when he turned into Eternal Change.

‘But it was him?’

As if this was settling debt for betraying him, Wind had purposefully chosen Hugo’s family members and close ones.

The monarch laughed.

[How is it? Do you feel some of the pain that I went through?]

“That bastard...!!”

Hugo couldn’t hold back the uncontrollable anger surging within him. He was about to use his power.

But Lee Gun smirked. “Hey. How long are you guys planning on lying there like that?”

“!”

“Don't pretend as if you guys are dead. Get up.” Lee Gun spoke as if it was no big deal.

“Kuh-huhk!”

Chun Sungjae was the first as everyone started to cough and get up.

Wind looked a bit surprised.

“That bastard is a psycho! He suddenly got rid of air to torture us!”

“I guess so. If it weren’t for Ms. Yooha, we would have been in deep trouble.”

“!”

Yes, while they had been getting rid of the monsters, their group had come across Wind. They had tried to put up a resistance, but Wind had let out a chilling laugh.

- If you want to blame someone, blame your father. I’ll torture you guys in front of his eyes.

Yooha had immediately realized what Wind planned to do when she heard that. She also could guess why.

There was no way this monarch would let them die easily. He’d inflict continuous pain until the end. This was why she had quickly used Death to put everyone into suspended animation.

She knew that the only one who had the ability to bring the dead back into this world was her uncle. Since this being had a grudge against her dad, he would take them in front of her father. That was what she chose to do.

As they were his disciples, Lee Gun had immediately realized that they were in suspended animation, so he laughed. “A mere monster like you shouldn’t underestimate my subordinates.”

His mocking laughter made Wind move, but Hugo decided to step forward.

‘He is my responsibility.’

However, Lee Gun blocked Hugo. “It’s fine. Don’t use your power.”

“Why?”

Lee Gun leaned in and whispered, “If you use more of your power as a monarch, your Karmic debt will activate. You will cease to exist on the spot.”

“!”

It seemed Hugo’s Karmic debt had been deferred because he had been a human. Moreover, he had been destined to die tens of thousands of times under the hands of Time like a bug.

However, Time was dead, and Hugo’s power and memories had returned. It meant his Karmic debt would be returning at a frightening speed. His Karmic debt would make itself known once again.

This was why Lee Gun said, “Just wait. After I get rid of them, I’ll use Exoneration on you.”

“But...!”

“It’s fine. Use my abilities. I’m a Great Spirit now. Your Faith is 1000%. You probably powered up.”

“!”

Hugo was a Construct of the Serpent Bearer temple, and he also had the Divine status of Hugo-rodite. Lee Gun was telling him to use either one of them. Hugo was worried nonetheless.

‘Exoneration should be saved for a later time. He might need it.’

Lee Gun was going up against psychotic foes. It wasn’t as if Hugo didn’t trust Lee Gun’s plan, but if it failed, there had to be a contingency plan. That wasn’t all.

‘I’m sure of it. Gun plans on using Exoneration on Hailey and me.’

Lee Gun planned on sacrificing himself. While Lee Gun might deny it, Hugo had observed him for a very long time. He could see it.

- Why do you keep wanting to put me into an early grave?

Twenty years ago, the day before Lee Gun had gone to kill Red Eye, Hugo had seen the same expression.

- I have a plan. Trust in hyung.

They had promised each other that both of them would come back alive, yet Lee Gun inwardly had a feeling that it would be his last journey. He had known his life was on borrowed time.

Since Lee Gun had the same expression on his face now, Hugo didn’t believe him.

He was glaring at Lee Gun when...

Zzuhng!!!

“!!”

Ennead’s Great Spirit, Wind, the countless Cluders, and the gods attacked at the same time. It seemed they planned on causing as much havoc on the earth as they could.

[There is no need for two kings under the sky!]

[Kill the snake god! Take him away from the humans!]

[Get rid of the traitor Eternal Change! We'll turn humanity into our food!]

As soon as the troublesome foes joined hands, Ennead’s Great Spirit changed his form.

Woosh!!

Ennead’s Great Spirit, who had looked like a young man, transformed into an enormous giant made out of flames.

At the same time, white flames surged into the air. It was Lee Gun’s Cycle. The white giant of Cycle clashed against the red giant.

As if a signal had gone off at this moment, the disciples stepped forward and countless Constructs surged out of Lee Gun’s shadow. There were countless pillar-rank gods.

[Do not fear death!]

[If we die, we can go through the process of inheritance! We will be able to fight again!]

[Protect Master!]

[Let’s see who wins even if this takes several hundred years!!]

Yeonwoo and the enormous serpent Junwoo (Apophis) threatened Ennead’s Great Spirit.

Ennead’s Great was displeased by the presence of the two of them. From the start, they had a Divine status that wasn’t compatible with him.

Ennead’s Great spirit smirked in disdain.

[I was merciful in breaking your Divine status in two. You guys should have been graceful enough to die. You keep crawling back out like maggots.]

When the gods and the disciples clashed against each other, several Cluders laughed as they secretly disappeared.

Hugo furrowed his brow. While the gods were fighting, the Cluders were showing odd movements. It was as if they had a different plan.

Of course, Hugo could guess what it was. This was why he glanced at Lee Gun before using Wind’s ability to secretly disappear. He kidnapped one of his kind and read its memories. Then he moved to a suspicious location.

Hugo scrunched up his brows.

‘It’s as I had expected.’

He had arrived at the colony of Ennead. The problem was the buildings built within the underground cave.

‘These are all items that steal power from the Serpent Bearer.’

In other words, the more Lee Gun used his power on the earth, the more this system would leech his power from him.

Moreover, Lee Gun wasn’t fighting by himself. He was currently protecting the humans and imbuing countless Constructs and disciples with his power.

As this was happening, some beings were eating away his power bit by bit?

‘I have to get rid of them.’

At that moment...

[What the hell! Why is that traitor here!]

The Cluders bared their teeth when they located Hugo.

As he looked at them, Hugo smirked. The heads of the Cluders exploded.

Poo-hahk!!!

[Kuh-huhk!]

[Kuhk!]

In a flash, all the Cluders there were killed. Hugo planned on killing all the Cluders even if his body burned out.

After getting rid of the enemies, he frowned.

‘Well, there is a way I can get rid of all the monarchs.’

He didn’t know about the naturally occurring Cluders, but he might be able to get rid of the monarchs created by Wind.

This was fine because most of the remaining monarchs were those that were created by Wind. But if he wanted to do this, he had to...

[They were desperately calling for me, so I came. I should have known it was you.]

Hugo smirked when he saw the figure that had appeared in front of him.

‘I need his heart.’

Wind had come here after receiving news of an intruder, and he had an expression of betrayal on his face as he looked at Hugo.

[You disappeared after ruthlessly cutting me apart. You have business with me?]

“Yes. This time I’m going to take your Core.”