[Breaking news! The Blood Fog, which had appeared north of the Western Dome, dissipated at 3 pm.]

[The casualty number had reached 200. It has been 10 years since the incident when the third dome was threatened. That was a shocking incident.]

[However, something odd happened this time. The people who were considered dead are waking up!]

[Experts believe these people had been trapped within the Blood Fog...]

Cheongdam-dong, Korea. The entire Cheongdam-dong area was the Gemini temple’s territory. Today, shouts of dismay erupted here.

“What? The Blood Fog got defeated?”

The Gemini temple’s magic library!

This breaking news left Yoon Siwoo, who had been confronting Chun Sungjae, flustered. Until a moment ago, the reports said that the third dome was in danger of falling; there were mass casualties. The newscasters made the situation seem like a grave matter!

So what had happened?

“Did something happen? Who was it? Who killed it!” Yoon Siwoo looked like he wanted to break his phone.

All the news being broadcast right now was about the disappearance of the Blood Fog and people celebrating. The identity of the one who had killed the monster was still unclear. The name hadn’t been released yet. Of course, there was no way it was the Virgo Saint.

‘He would leave it alone because he wants Lee Gun dead!’ Yoon Siwoo was about to lose his mind. “Skills don’t work on that monster! Which crazy bastard killed it without any skills?”

In contrast, Chun Sungjae’s face brightened. It was his uncle; the young man was sure of this. His father could never accomplish that. Only one person in the world could.

Yoon Siwoo was in a bad spot. He didn’t even pay attention to Chun Sungjae. ‘There is no way Lee Gun killed it, right?’

He started sweating. This was to be expected. ‘If it’s so, I’m in a bad spot.’

This was the monster from ten years ago. To cover up the sins of the two brothers, a special item had been brought out. The situation had also been doubled as a type of experiment.

Hugo had failed to kill the monster back then, and it had reappeared after ten years. This made Yoon Siwoo’s situation difficult.

‘Shit! We went through so much to bury that incident!’

Five thousand people had died instead of the two brothers. The only witness had been the Archer Saint’s wife, and they had taken care of her.

Things were supposed to turn out their way. The monster should’ve disappeared after destroying the domes. However, someone had killed it. This changed everything.

‘If they analyze the corpse, they’ll find the evidence...’ If a memory reader or an analyst caught wind of what he had done, Yoon Siwoo would be done for.

The anxious Yoon Siwoo continued to sweat profusely. However, he soon started laughing. ‘If Lee Gun killed it, he must have the body, right?’ He had to snatch the corpse away from Lee Gun before the man handed it to the media.

With that idea, Yoon Siwoo quickly turned his head. “Chun Sungjae! You need a magic tome related to souls, right? I’ll lend you the magic tomes I borrowed. In return, I want you to introduce me to your uncle—”

The sight in front of him shocked Yoon Siwoo. “What the hell? Where the hell did he go?”

Chun Sungjae was no longer there. However, that wasn’t the important part. “Wait a minute! What happened to the magic tomes?”

Chun Sungjae had run away with the magic tomes Yoon Siwoo had borrowed.

***

[You have completed the Trial of Strength!]

[You will now receive the trial’s reward.]

[Body Upgrade Stone]

[Your new achievement has been added to your bible.]

[Achievement 2]

– A great Saint called the Archer Saint was deeply moved by the Serpent Bearer.

[Achievement 3]

– After you killed the monster that eats gods, the human souls inside it were liberated.

[Legendary rank achievement (Achievement 2) has been engraved. Your divine status has increased further.]

[With the power of Achievement 2, you can borrow Constructs and disciples from the Sagittarius’s Saint. (Contingent on Consent)]

[Each achievement can be expressed as power for the owner and the disciples.]

Lee Gun was satisfied, especially so with the reward. The stone that would allow him to upgrade his body fascinated him. The stone had appeared in his pocket without him even realizing it.

[Body Upgrade Stone]

– A godly stone capable of evolving a human body into the body of a god

– The stone disappears after use. It upgrades a random part of the body.

Lee Gun immediately broke the stone.

[You have used the stone!]

[The upgrade, including the adaptation, will take a day!]

[There might be side effects during that time. Please be cautious.]

Did the effect of the item already start taking effect?

Lee Gun felt a bit of stiffness in his body, but he just laughed. ‘The only rewards left are the personal familiars of the Serpent Bearer, the Serpent Bearer’s Divine holy item, and a Divine rank awakened skill.’

Each trial gave a reward after its completion.

‘The only things left are to find my disciple and secretary.’ Lee Gun had to complete the Trial of Intelligence and Reputation. Of course, the two trials weren’t important right now.

‘It’s as I expected.’ Lee Gun’s sharp gaze headed toward the toad’s corpse. To be precise, he was looking at the toad’s back. The monster’s back was overgrown with thick vines, and Lee Gun could see a familiar tattoo engraved there.

[An unknown wicked energy has been left behind at the place!]

Lee Gun was sure of it. This was the symbol on the blade that had stabbed him. He had thought he had seen it through the fog, and he had been right. Therefore, he found the situation abominable.

Why?

The blade that was the reason he fell into the trap had the same symbol engraved on it as the monster that had eaten Hugo’s wife.

‘That means the culprit is the same person.’ The appraiser’s information piqued Lee Gun’s interest again. ‘He said the Virgo Saint has a connection to that symbol.’

The appraiser had informed Lee Gun that the Virgo Saint’s storage was full of blades with that symbol. Moreover, the appraiser had searched the memory of the blade. The one to stab Lee Gun was the Virgo Saint.

‘It’ll be faster if I ask him myself.’ A harsh light appeared in Lee Gun’s eyes. He swung his scissor blades.

Chul-puhk!

After carving out the region with the tattoo, Lee Gun quickly called forth his holy item.

[Book Containing Anything] S-rank

Lee Gun put the evidence on page 44, then turned around.

“Ooh, ooh-ehhhk...!”

“!” The Archer disciples, who had watched him work, kept retching.

“Ah! I don’t think I can eat for a while— Oohp!”

Lee Gun found them pathetic. “You guys are making such a fuss after seeing only that?”

“?!”

‘Only that! What kind of psychopath would do such a crazy thing to a Calamity rank monster?’

“The under the Libra Saint is known to be the cruelest, yet even he wouldn’t do this!”

‘Who the hell is that?’ Lee Gun hadn’t even heard of the term. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Your subordinates are weak like their Saint. Ah!

“I’m going to have Beef Tripe Hot Pot today for dinner!”

When Lee Gun mentioned Beef Tripe Hot Pot, the Archer disciples recalled the carnage once again and covered their mouths.

Lee Gun once again approached the toad that was the leader with his scissor blades. This made the disciples rear back in fright.

“Is he planning to put that in the hot pot?”

Lee Gun was crazy enough to do it.

“Huhk! No! You shouldn’t— Uh?”

Contrary to their expectations, Lee Gun unexpectedly walked past the body.

“Why are you walking past it? Don’t you need the ingredients?”

When Lee Gun had killed Thousand Legs, he had cheerfully dismantled its corpse. The animated gif of him fileting the monster had been passed around the world.

However, Lee Gun turned the scissor back into its slime form. “I don’t need that. Hugo can wrap things up.”

“!”

This surprised the Archer disciples even more.

“Even if the monsters that he turned into slush aren’t mature trees...”

“They all looked good enough to use!”

Most of the monsters that Lee Gun had turned to slush were still in their growth phase; the ingredients collected from their corpses would lack durability.

Lee Gun had probably decided he didn’t need those ingredients, and so, he had ground them into a pulp.

“What about the vines and their bodily fluids? If we sell them to the Goat Saint’s , we can make a lot of money!”

“We can make millions of dollars just by putting them up for a quick auction!”

“Isn’t that the reason you didn’t make it into a shake?”

Lee Gun acted as if he hadn’t heard them. He had eyes for only one person.

On Hugo’s lips was a smile full of complicated emotions. ‘Thank you.’

There was only one reason Lee Gun wasn’t being greedy.

‘He’s doing it for me.’ This monster was Hugo’s nemesis. It had eaten his wife and subordinate.

Lee Gun was calmly saying that he didn’t want to make a weapon with the body of his friend’s nemesis. He was also allowing his friend to do as he liked with the corpse.

Hugo called forth his bow. The arrow on it was an arrow composed entirely of fire.

“Oh, yeah! Hugo!”

“...?” Hugo wondered why Lee Gun was calling his name in such a scary manner.

“Kuhk!”

Lee Gun tossed something. The item hit Hugo on the head, and he fell.

“Hey! What the hell are you—” Hugo became surprised when an item came to a stop next to him. It was a burning gem.

[Sagittarius’s Power]

Unlike Lee Gun, Hugo couldn’t pull up the information about an item. Yet, he immediately recognized what this rock was. It was the power of his god, which the monster had stolen from him. Hugo exclaimed, “My god! How could this...”

“It was stuck to his bladder like a urinary stone.”

“!”

“Hurry up and eat it. Regain your power.”

“Gun...!” Hugo looked moved as he gazed at his friend. Lee Gun always acted indifferently, but he was a thoughtful friend. “Gun! Thank you so much! I only have you—”

“Fuck off, idiot! You’re dead,” replied his best friend.

Hugo froze. “What?”

“You’re inept! How can you lose to that lousy monster? How could you let it steal your power?”

“...!”

Lee Gun let out a harsh laugh. “I can’t believe someone I taught got his pocket picked like that. You wanna die?”

“It... it isn’t like that!” The monster wasn’t lousy. “I couldn’t help it!” Hugo started taking a beating.

“Saint-nim!?”

Lee Gun cracked his knuckles. “Also, you never told me what happened to your wife? You also lost a general-rank subordinate?”

“That is...!”

“It seems I need to train you again. It has been a while, right?”

Lee Gun’s hand had just reached Hugo when...

Brrr!

Hugo quickly answered the phone. “G-Gun! W-wait a moment! Phone! I got a phone call! This is important business!”

Normally, this was his work phone, on which he rarely answered calls. However, he had to accept this call to save his life. Acting busy, Hugo turned around. “Yes! This is Otis! What’s going on— What?”

Hugo’s expression changed. He had been running away from Lee Gun up to this point, but now, he came to a complete stop.

“They woke up?” Hugo could hear crying through the phone.

The nurse, who had called him, continued.

– Yes! The patients are awake!

This phone call had come from the hospital Hugo had secretly been supporting for the past ten years.

Most people couldn’t manage the expenses that came with long-term care of patients in vegetative states for ten years. To keep the patients alive, the hospital needed a massive amount of money. Moreover, many had pressured the hospital to cut off the funds to the patients.

Therefore, the Archer Saint had supported this hidden hospital. It was how most of the patients were able to stay alive. Above all else...

‘That’s where my wife and subordinate are hospitalized.’ Of course, Hugo hadn’t told about it to his children or the Archer disciples. In fact, he had told no one.

Everyone thought that the patients’ bodies were burned after the funeral.

– I don’t know why, but the patients have awakened after ten years!

“...!”

– Anyway, Hugo-nim, you’re our hospital’s benefactor, so we wanted to notify you first!

The Archer Saint’s mouth became dry at the news. It was great that people had woken up, but Hugo had only one question to ask. “What about the two of them?”

– What?

“Did those two wake up?” Hugo’s voice was shaking a lot. Then, he heard the person answer in a small voice.

– Ah....

This was enough of an answer.

– I’m sorry! The two of them haven’t woken up yet...

Hugo’s expression turned a little morose. “Thank you for calling me! I’m glad the others woke up. Yes. If anything changes—”

“Who is it?” Lee Gun suddenly asked.

Hugo ended the call and acted as if it was nothing. “The European Alliance— Kuhk!”

“It was the hospital, right?”

‘How did he know that?’ Hugo was about to turn his incredulous gaze toward Lee Gun, but...

“Uncle!”

He heard a familiar voice coming from a short distance. It was Chun Sungjae’s voice. The young man held a bag that looked full of items resembling books.

“Uncle! Uncle killed it, right?” As soon as he had seen the broadcast, Chun Sungjae had used the teleporter to come here.

Teleportation cost a lot of money, so it was something unimaginable for most people.

The light in Chun Sungjae’s eyes lasted only a moment. He came to a stop when he saw the toad Lee Gun had killed.

“...!” Ten years had passed, but Chun Sungjae recognized it. An unspeakable amount of joy and sorrow appeared on his face. “Uncle really killed it...!”

Hugo happily stood next to his son, but he couldn’t hide the bitterness in his expression. With the monster’s death, the patients in the hospital had awakened. After all, the monster had eaten their souls

However, his wife and subordinate were different. The monster had swallowed their bodies too. The situation seemed like it was too late to do anything.

This made Hugo glad that he hadn’t told his children about his actions. Otherwise, he would’ve felt sorry for giving them false hope.

“Sungjae,” Lee Gun suddenly said.

“Yes?”

“Take this. We are past your birthday, but this is your birthday present.” Lee Gun tossed something toward him, and Chun Sungjae’s eyes turned round. “Uncle went through a lot to find this.”

Chun Sungjae grabbed something. It was the people he had wanted to see the most for the past ten years.