[Kee-ehhhhhhhk!!]

Letting out an extremely loud roar, Red Eye finally fell.

Boom!

Lee Gun also fell as well.

“Huh-uhk...!”

If he were being honest, he could only describe it as good luck.

‘It was the strongest monster that I’ve killed to date.’

His still being alive was a miracle. It was understandable as the plan that he had created for Red Eye had gone into the dumps when the ten Zodiac Saints beside him had run away. He had no items and no healer, and his body was a mess, on the verge of breaking down.

Lee Gun had used all of his abilities, and he hadn’t held back at all. He coughed up blood.

‘I’ve almost used up all my magical energy.’

His body was such a mess that even walking was hard for him. Despite this, Lee Gun felt great.

“This is it. I’ve done it.”

Feeling a sense of accomplishment, he tapped the severed head of Red Eye. He had killed the biggest threat to humanity. The only thing left was to kill the remaining monsters, which had consolidated under Red Eye.

‘Those monsters can be cleaned up in stages.’

While he did disparage the Zodiac Saints, they were capable of getting rid of these monsters. These monsters’ boss was now gone, so their morale would be at a low. Defeating them would be much easier.

‘I can be at ease and rest now.’

Lee Gun had killed Red Eye. He wondered if he was eligible for some form of pension.

‘I hope what I did will be recorded in textbooks and Wikipedia.’

Anyway, he’d live off Taeksoo after leaving this place. He would eat and play for the rest of his life.

If Taeksoo married, Lee Gun would reveal the black history of his friend while officiating his wedding. He would reveal that Taeksoo used to follow him around as a student.

Of course, it was a shame that he had been unable to find Yeonwoo’s corpse, but he would take his time in searching for it.

For the first time, Lee Gun chuckled out loud. Feeling unencumbered, he left Red Eye’s room.

Clank!!

However, when he came out of the room, he shocked and frightened the people before him.

“L...Lee Gun?!”

The ones shaking outside the door were none other than Ivan and Sergeyevich. Then there was Jean-Louis, who had transformed into Kevin, and Jean-Louis’s clone.

“Y-You’re Lee Gun, right?”

“Y-You haven’t changed into a monster, right?”

Lee Gun became enraged. With a wicked smirk on his lips, he said, “You guys decided to run away to the other side of the door??”

“L-Lee Gun!!”

“What?! Once you decided to run away, you should have left the earth! You guys forgot about the plan and ran away. How dare you come back here!”

“It isn’t ...!”

Ivan, who was always full of bluster, was at a loss for words. He had been pompous and was the first to charge toward Red Eye, as if Red Eye were nothing.

The other Zodiac Saints had also confidently stepped forward, but they had run away from the battlefield when they became afraid of Red Eye.

In the end, Sergeyevich and Ivan spoke as they stole glances at Lee Gun.

“W-What about Red Eye? It’s quiet right now. Did you make it fall asleep?”

“Are your eyes there for decorations only? What do you think I’ve brought out here?”

“What do you mean— Ahhk!!”

They were shocked when they saw the item Lee Gun was dragging out.

“W-What the hell? Red Eye?!”

“You guys all ran away and abandoned the plan. That’s why I had to kill it.”

“C-Crazy...! You killed that on your own?”

“If you knew killing Red Eye would be hard, why didn’t you come back earlier? It took me almost three days because I had to kill the monster on my own.”

“That’s...”

They trembled. They had run away into the corner of the hundredth floor in fright. However, Red Eye continued to roar like crazy, and they had been unable to open their eyes.

It was like a normal human being paralyzed from hearing the roar of a tiger. Red Eye’s roar had paralyzed these Zodiac Saints’ minds and the ability to reason.

This was why they had waited for the sound to subside.

‘Red Eye is dead. That’s why we could no longer hear it...!’

They were in disbelief as they looked at Lee Gun.

They had been in denial regarding Lee Gun, but even they had to admit it. At that moment, they felt the difference in the skill level between Lee Gun and them. They felt it in their bones.

“That is... I’m sorry. We were...”

“You guys can get bent. What about the others?”

Everyone had run away in fright and scattered in all directions. Yang Wei had made a hole to hide, yet his butt was sticking out. He was shaking in fear.

“Hey, hurry up and come out. The one in charge of food shouldn’t run away! I’m starving right now!”

“Ahhhk! I’m sorry! Spare me, Red Eye! Ahhhk!”

The one to run away first was Stevens, and he was found in a storage room containing weapons for the monsters.

“Y-You killed it? You did? O-On your own?!”

“Yes, I did. You realize how hard it was since the one in charge of immobilizing Red Eye ran away first?”

“...!”

Liv had transformed herself into a dead monster. She looked at Lee Gun as if she had seen a ghost.

“H-How are you still alive?”

“Why does it sound as if you’ve been hoping for my death?”

“!”

Heiji, who had used teleport to hide, couldn’t bring herself to raise her head.

“Hurry up and come out. You have to open the gate if we want to leave.”

Sophie, the only healer in their party, was on a floor below, crying. “The path suddenly closed itself! I couldn’t get back up!”

“What about the Scorpio Saint? Wasn’t she with you?”

“S...She saved me when I was falling. We were split up when the monsters attacked her. For some odd reason, the monsters only attacked her...!”

“What? Where is she right now?”

“I have no idea. However, I did see the Scorpio Constructs take her out of the tower when she suffered a grievous injury...”

“Is that so? I’m glad she was able to exit this place.”

After finding all the Zodiac Saints, they returned to the room of Red Eye. They were going to use the magical energy of Red Eye to teleport themselves out of there.

“The floors below us are full of monsters that we bypassed. I can’t guarantee our safety if we encounter the middle bosses that are located every ten floors.”

Lee Gun’s plan had barely allowed them to bypass those monsters, and he kept moving them to the next floor. However, the same plan wouldn’t work twice.

“That’s why we have to leave from this floor.”

Then, they would do as planned. They would permanently seal the tower, and the Zodiacs would wrap it up by sending the tower to a pocket dimension. Also...

“You guys are all dead when we get out of here.”

“!”

Everyone shook from fear when they heard Lee Gun’s angry voice.

Lee Gun was furious because he had to kill Red Eye on his own. Still, he didn’t think the Zodiac Saints hadn’t been trying to do anything nefarious.

At the end of the day, the group was able to climb to the hundredth floor because everyone had pooled their power and worked together. The only bad part was that they were useless in the end.

So Lee Gun planned on working them to the bones. “I killed the most problematic monster. I’m going to retire, and the only role I’ll play from now on is to make plans for you guys. That’s why you guys will work for the next five years without pay to kill the remaining monsters. You guys also have a lot of work to do to take back our lands.”

“...!”

“I’ll work you guys very hard from the back. Be prepared to shed blood, sweat, and tears.”

The Zodiac Saint froze at the same time.

‘We ran away as soon as we saw Red Eye..’

They had done it in an unsightly manner, and when they left this place, the truth would spread across the world.

The media would have a field day. They would write the headlines saying Lee Gun had killed Red Eye on his own.

‘If it’s Lee Gun, he might give them all the details.’

Ivan’s hands shook since he had said he didn’t care about humanity. He had said saving their own lives was more important.

‘We will be labeled cowards who messed up the plan. Lee Gun will become the hero who cleaned up everything.’

Of course, some among them looked favorably on this development.

Stevens was the first to run away. Heiji had run away alone in fright. Then there were the support units Yang Wei and Sophie, who could deflect the blame from themselves.

‘Damn it...! We can’t let that bastard leave this place.’

On the other hand, Ivan, Sergeyevich, and Liv were shaking in fear. Ivan was afraid of the criticism that would be directed at him. Sergeyevich and Liv had each done something they shouldn’t have.

‘If it’s Lee Gun, he might notice the holy item that I installed inside the city.’

‘He might notice that I changed Jean-Louis into Kevin.’

Their eyes flashed menacingly, but the rest of the group didn’t notice this.

Finally, Heiji was close to finishing her teleportation portal when...

Koo-goo-goong!!

[Kee-ehhhhhhk!!!]

“Ah!”

The monsters on the lower floors started to ascend.

Kwahng!!

It seemed they didn’t want to let the Zodiac Saints leave unscathed.

Kwahng!!

“Damn it! They destroyed the exit gate!”

“I need you guys to buy me some time! I’ll remake it in no time— Ooh-oohk!”

All of a sudden, a strange black hole appeared on the floor

“W-What the hell? Is it a trap?!”

The dark hole, which was akin to a black hole, started to drag in the Zodiac Saints, letting out an enormous power.

“Ahhhk! Help!”

The structure started to fall as monsters rushed toward them. The hundredth floor was turning into a scene of absolute mayhem.

Then, a smirk appeared on the face of Jean-Louis, who was disguised as Kevin and who had called the monsters here.

As if he had been waiting for this moment, he took out a dagger hidden in his breast pocket.

At that moment, everyone’s gaze was off Lee Gun, and Lee Gun had lost all of his senses!

Poohk!

“Kuh-huhk!”

Jean-Louis stabbed Lee Gun in the back.

Lee Gun lost all strength as he faltered on his feet. He was being sucked into the black hole.

“Lee Gun!!”

He barely grabbed a nearby pillar. It was for a moment, but the twelve Zodiac Saints had a chance to grab Lee Gun.

[Kee-ehhhhhhk!!!]

“!!”

However, they all froze when they heard the monsters’ cries, and they were unable to catch Lee Gun. Moreover, the ones nearest to him, Ivan and Sergeyevich, didn’t even think about grabbing him.

After a few seconds, Lee Gun lost his hold on the pillar and fell into the black hole.

“Lee Gun!!”

A flustered Stevens and Heiji intended to chase after Lee Gun when Jean-Louis yelled, “What are you doing? Hurry up and jump into the gate!”

“But...! What about Lee Gun!”

“Take a good look at our current situation! It’s too late for him!”

“That’s right! We should prioritize our lives!”

In the end, the Zodiac Saints jumped into the teleport portal as if they were being chased. Then, they appeared in front of the entrance to the Devil’s Tower.

“H...Huh-uhk...!”

They were in disbelief since they had barely escaped from the mayhem. They looked up at the familiar sky.

At the same time, they heard familiar voices.

“T-They came back out!”

“It’s the Zodiac Saints!!!”

“!”

The reporters cheered when they saw the item that the Zodiac Saints had dragged out.

“Red Eye! That’s the head of Red Eye!!!”

“Huzzah! The heroes did it!!”

The people were happy, but their joy lasted only a moment.

“Uh? Where’s Mr. Lee Gun?”

“You’re right. I don’t see Mr. Lee Gun.”

“...!”

“Ah! Did he come out earlier like the Archer Saint and the Scorpio Saint?”

“No way! The Archer Saint would have known already since they are friends.”

“Where is Mr. Lee Gun right now?”

The faces of the Zodiac Saints froze.

* * *

- Red Eye is dead!!

- Humanity is saved!

- The heroes exited the tower after decapitating Red Eye!

Around that time, Hugo had successfully protected the city. He had killed tens of thousands of monsters on his own, and he had fallen from exhaustion. He woke up inside the hospital.

As soon as he woke up, he moved to go back into the Devil’s Tower. However, he saw the breaking news on TV at that moment and let out a sigh of relief.

“Great! They killed it...!!”

The group had succeeded in the raid, so Hugo called Lee Gun in a great mood. However, Lee Gun didn’t answer his phone.

Hugo let out a chuckle.

“He must be worn out.”

It was understandable since they had gone through a lot of hardship to reach the last floor.

“If I ask Mr. Stevens or Mr. Kevin, I’ll be able to find out where he is hospitalized.” Hugo laughed as he was about to call Stevens.

- What? Lee Gun was unable to make it out of the tower?

- What do you mean? Why wasn’t Lee Gun able to come back out?

Hugo’s face hardened. Frozen in shock, he watched the breaking news unfold. He was about to leave his hospital room when...

“!”

As soon as he opened the door, he met eyes with a man trying to enter the hospital room. It was none other than Jean-Louis.

He looked like the grim reaper as he wore a suit worn for a funeral. Jean Louis smiled as if he pitied Hugo.

* * *

“Wait a moment! What happened to Mr. Lee Gun? What happened to the thirteenth? Why did only twelve of you return?”

“I’m pretty sure thirteen people went into the Devil’s Tower! Lee Gun! What happened to Korea’s awakened Lee Gun?”

The world was in turmoil. It all had to do with Lee Gun.

“Are you sure Lee Gun voluntarily jumped into the trap on behalf of mankind?”

“He did it to save the other Zodiac Saints?”

“Are you sure Mr. Lee Gun is really dead?!”

Aside from Hugo and Hailey, all the Zodiac Saints were present at the press conference.

Yang Wei and Sophie were unable to look into the camera. Giselle and Liv were trying to hide their tears. Heiji and Stevens could only look down at their knees. Kevin sat there as if his soul had left his body.

This press conference was heated more so than ever, and Ivan spoke with a sad tone in his voice. “Our thirteenth member chose death of his own accord.”

Sergeyevich shed tears as he continued, “We will not let Lee Gun’s noble sacrifice go to waste. Please trust us and leave it up to us.”

“Please praise our noble hero, who chose to sacrifice himself to save his comrades...”

Boom!!!

“Ahhk!!”

The door to the press conference room was suddenly destroyed.

“Stop lying, you bastards!! Stop trying to scam us!” An angry Hugo held a bloodied Jean-Louis by the neck and stormed into the room.