Chapter 222: Spicy Fish Stew

Lee Gun’s Creation Workshop had a blast furnace that was the size of a building. It was his first workshop, where he had designed a large vase where he could melt down raw materials.

[Creation Workshop]

– Lv. 7 (Can make equipment for fighters)

– Current Size: 200 ㎡ (Big enough to make some stuff)

– Blast Furnace Status: Good. Manager: Torch.

– Workbench 1 Status: Good

– Workbench 2 Status: Dirty

– Warehouse Ingredient Status: 80% Full (33 m2)

Normally, the molten steel was extracted through a pipe. The ceiling of the blast furnace was where the materials were broken down, so it wasn’t usually open. However, it was different right now.

“G..Gun.”

“What?”

“Are you really planning on putting her in that?”

“Do you have a problem with it?”

“Of course, I have a problem with it!!”

Hugo looked at Liv, who was chained to the ceiling and was hanging over the opened blast furnace. Liv was like a food ingredient that was about to go next into a boiling pot.

The Pisces Saint was tied up and suspended using Lee Gun’s magical energy of Death. Normally, magical energy couldn’t act as a rope, as it was in this situation. However, Death had reached the second stage, and it could take a physical form. And there was more.

[“Death” says Disassembly will help in raising Death’s EXP.]

[Disassembly is more effective if it uses good quality material.]

[“Death” grumbles, asking how long it has to hold her.]

“Good. If I disassemble that, Death will grow by a lot.”

Hugo was baffled. “Hey! I can’t believe you‘re thinking about putting a soul into the blast furnace!! It’s too cruel!” He didn’t want to hear her scream.

At that moment, as if she was reacting to Hugo’s words, a voice came from the blast furnace.

[It’s fine. This is all so annoying. Just hurry up. Kill me by boiling me.]

“Hey! You’re supposed to ask him to spare your life!”

Hugo became angry, but it seemed Liv really felt that way. She knew Lee Gun had his eyes on her, so she was well aware of the fact that she won’t be able to escape.

‘Lee Gun was like that in the past.’

Liv would be sleeping, and Lee Gun would show up. He would grab her by the collar and toss her onto the battlefield. Whenever she hid, he found her using his supernatural senses.

This was why it was annoying to run away or put up resistance; hence, Liv asked Lee Gun to hurry up and kill her.

Hugo clicked his tongue. “Jeez! I should’ve expected this from you! You made a contract with your Zodiac so that you can sleep!”

Of course, Kevin had a role in Liv giving up the prospect of escaping. The nature of their powers clashed. Liv couldn’t do anything thanks to the ice around her.

Lee Gun said as he pushed Liv toward the boiling blast furnace, “If I use frozen fish as an ingredient, it isn’t going to be as fresh. Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to make Taeksoo’s weapon with her.”

“Yes, my weapon— What?! You are going to use her as an ingredient?!”

“Yeah. I need water-type data. Also, you don’t have a decent bow right now. Your royal holy item is only SS rank. You don’t want an EX-rank weapon?”

“No! Wait a moment!!”

He didn’t want to use a weapon containing the corpse of a Zodiac Saint.

As if it didn’t care about that, Life appeared above Lee Gun’s shoulder with a solemn expression on its face.

[“Life” is excited at the prospect of eating spicy fish stew.]

[“Life” says you should put in some red meat too.]

[The Leo likes that idea.]

The excited slime changed into a kitchen knife and got ready to put in more ingredients.

Hugo was shocked by this pandemonium.

Boom!

Lee Gun had pushed Liv into the blast furnace, but he suddenly stopped her. Liv was just one centimeter away from falling into the liquid inside the blast furnace.

Cheeeeek!

Her long hair fell into the molten steel and started to melt. Liv trembled. She seemed scared of dying.

[Ingredients have entered the Creation Workshop’s blast furnace, and 0.000001% has been disassembled.]

[You’ve acquired Disassembly EXP.]

[You have acquired the Pisces Saint’s data (Ocean Walking).]

[The power of the water is starting to melt into the blast furnace.]

[You can now make equipment related to the ocean.]

He knew it was possible, but this showed the blast furnace was good enough to melt a soul.

‘Even the Capricorn was unable to create such a workshop. What the hell did he use to make it?’

Moreover, one could also see body parts of the Cancer within the blast furnace.

Lee Gun laughed after stopping Liv. In truth, he had another reason for capturing Liv.

‘In the invasion of Seoul twenty-four years ago, the Leo had been there.’

However, the Leo had stated that it hadn’t been there. This meant it was someone from the Pisces temple, who were the masters of transformation. However, it was very difficult for a Saint rank to transform into a Zodiac. The probability of the culprit being the Pisces was high.

The Pisces Saint was the bait being used to draw out her Zodiac.

‘I need high-quality bait to catch the big fish.’

Therefore, Lee Gun let out murderous intent as he sent a signal to the slime.

The excited slime had the spicy fish stew in mind as it spat out something large.

Flash!

[Warning! The imprisoned Construct of the Pisces has been brought out.]

[The Construct of the Pisces is trying to escape the Serpent Bearer’s holy ground.]

The Pisces Construct captured at the hot spring turned into gas and tried to run away.

Naturally, Lee Gun wouldn’t just stand by. He quickly took a silver crystal out of a bottle and crushed it.

Pah-jeek!

[Virgo’s Frost Data] x37

– Northern Wind of January (SS)

– A blizzard containing the extreme cold energy is summoned

– The power and the range of the skill differ in proportion depending on the restriction one places on it.

This was the data he had collected whenever he kicked Kevin. Of course, Lee Gun was the head Zodiac, so there was no rental fee for him. He just had to take the skill. However, this skill wasn’t up for rental, so he had to beat up Kevin to take it.

[The lowest restriction: Cuss out Hugo Otis for 10 minutes.]

[The smallest blizzard has been summoned.]

[Diameter: 2 m]

Koo-goo-goong!

[The overpowering ice has frozen the Construct (Low-rank).]

The Construct that had been trying to run away in its gaseous form fell to the ground in its frozen state.

At that moment, Lee Gun extended his hand. Despite him not calling its name, Heaven’s Punishment appeared in his hand!

Lee Gun was about to break apart the frozen Construct.

‘!’

But for some reason, he didn’t. He instead said, “Open the gate to the holy ground.”

“!!”

Hugo reacted in fright when he heard the unexpected shout. “Hey!”

The “Open the Gate” command completely removed the barrier around the holy ground.

[According to the Serpent Bearer’s will, the barrier around the Serpent Bearer’s holy ground has been removed.]

The flustered Hugo became angry. “Have you lost your mind?! The Zodiacs and the monarchs are all aiming for you!”

A Zodiac’s energy was very powerful. The holy ground being open meant the barrier no longer hid Lee Gun’s location. His enemies could sense where he was. He had basically opened the front door to his house.

Many enemies were looking for Lee Gun, and there was no way they would sit still now. And as expected..

Paht!

When the holy ground’s barrier disappeared, a large star flashed in the sky. The dome around the holy ground dissipated like sand as a shooting star fell.

Koo-goo-goo-goong!!!

“Koo-oohk!”

The incredible power split the ground and swept away the objects within the Creation Workshop.

Koo-goong!

It was like a calm wave meeting a storm. The energy surged several meters into the air. This menacing energy was surely the power of a god!

‘Zodiac Descent!’

A Zodiac had invaded. As proof, an incredible wave of magical energy flashed above the Serpent Bearer’s holy ground. If one saw the color, it would become clear who one was dealing with.

The Gemini’s color was a deep blue. This blue was much lighter. It was sky blue!

‘Pisces!’

Surprised, Kevin and Hugo quickly got ready for battle.

With a flame, a sword appeared in Hugo’s hand. As for Kevin, silver particles appeared around him. Then, silver armor with a blue cape appeared above his clothes. The two of them were ready for war!

On the other hand, Lee Gun was calm in this tense situation. “I knew the head would come if I tried to kill your Constructs with my door wide open.”

His red eyes flashed below his black hair. Then he smirked.

[Close the Gate!]

It was as if he had been waiting for this moment. The barrier was activated once again.

The eyes of the trespasser flashed when it saw the barrier.

[You are very underhanded, snake god!]

At a glance, the floating Pisces looked like a woman. However, she was different from the Sagittarius and the Virgo. She looked more like a fairy. In truth, her body looked closer to liquid.

The Pisces was about to fly toward Lee Gun to kill him, but..

“It’s best if you don’t move.”

[What nonsense are you—]

“You’ll do it unless you want to see your Zodiac Saint melted.”

The Zodiac followed Lee Gun’s finger, and she screamed.historical

[Ahhhk! Zodiac Saint-nim!]

Her solemn expression instantly changed. She had discovered Liv, who was about to get melted by the blast furnace.

When the Zodiac discovered her Zodiac Saint, her voice got higher as she cried.

[Zodiac Saint-nim! Why are you in such a state?]

Liv sighed when she heard the voice.

[If you aren’t going to be of any help, why did you show up?]

The Zodiac screamed as she tried flying toward the blast furnace.

[I was wondering why I couldn’t contact you.. What happened.. No! Wait a moment! I’ll save you right now!]

However..

[Serpent Eater]

Boom!

The serpent chain extended into the sky.

Desperate, the Zodiac changed into a fish made out of water. She tried to absorb herself into the ground, but it was useless.

[Sun’s Tracking (S)] x 10538

– The tracking skill of the Sagittarius temple was taken by kicking Hugo Otis.

– The same skill can be rented from the Sagittarius temple.

The god was instantly caught when the tracking skill was used.

[Huh-uhk!]

When its location was discerned, Lee Gun’s Serpent Eater technique bore into the ground. The tracking skill allowed him to locate the Pisces even in the dark underground.

Kwah-jeek!

Lee Gun pulled back with his arms as if he was dragging a net, and the Pisces was dragged out.

[Ahhhk!]

The fish-shaped Zodiac screamed in desperation.

[Why are you doing this, Serpent Bearer? Isn’t she your old comrade? This is a bit..!]

Lee Gun’s eyes menacingly flashed. “Comrade?”

[I.. I mean.. You already know she isn’t the one who killed you.. She had already been killed before you were trapped inside the tower..!]

A frightening power surged next to them.

Boom!

Then a cold voice rang out.

[Was it you?]

It was Kevin.

[Did you render me unconscious? Did you steal my data to transform Jean-Louis, who stabbed Lee Gun, into me?]

It was as if his emotions were going to explode. He was about to unconsciously activate his Demigod state. Of course, the Virgo tried to play a trick by changing Kevin’s appearance.

Seeing this, Hugo slapped the back of Kevin’s head. “Hey, you said you don’t like turning into a woman. Get a grip.”

“Kuh-huhk!! Damn it! Anyway, Liv Rich was dead twenty years ago. That means the one I’m referring to is the Pisces!”

As if Kevin couldn’t let it pass, the wicked ice was about to surge forward.

Bbah-gahk!

However, a kick sent him flying.

“Kuhk!”

It was Lee Gun.

Kevin felt aggrieved as he yelled, “What the hell are you doing?”

“You want to die? Quality will suffer if you freeze it.”

“?!!”

At this moment, the Pisces spoke as if it was aggrieved.

[Do not get it twisted, servant of the Virgo. I wasn’t the one to render you unconscious. Another Zodiac conspired with Giselle to trap the Serpent Bearer in the tower.]

“What?”

[The Pisces temple has two Zodiacs.]

“!”

[He’s the culprit. Like Giselle, he tried to eat Zodiac Saint-nim, but he failed. This was why he sold Zodiac Saint-nim’s soul as food to a monarch.]

That was why the Pisces Saint’s soul was within the stomach of Abundance.

[Zodiac Saint-nim was taken hostage, so my hands were tied. I conspired against the Zodiacs and the monarchs— Huhk!]

Lee Gun’s eyes flashed as if he had enough. “You disguised as her to call me, right? You said your holy ground was in danger.”

[..!]

While her voice sounded like Liv’s, the Zodiac’s way of speaking had been different. This was why Lee Gun had completely ignored the request from the Pisces temple.

‘On the day I killed Cancer, four suspects were left. They were the Gemini, the Taurus, the Capricorn, and the Pisces.’

Of course, the energy of the Pisces had appeared back then, but it wasn’t this one. It was the other fish. He was the one who had called the monarchs into Seoul twenty-four years ago. That wasn’t all.

Jean-Louis did say it when he was dying.

“The true culprits who trapped you within the Devil’s Tower were the Zodiacs.”

This was why Lee Gun’s eyes flashed. “Why are the Zodiacs trying to kill me?”

[T.. That has to do with a truth that the twelve Zodiacs don’t want to get out..]

“Is that so?” Lee Gun grinned. “Anyway, I know now. You’re not the culprit. I now know that it was a misunderstanding.”

[Then..!]

Lee Gun let out a bright smile. “I’ll use both of you as ingredients.”

[Thank y— What?!!]

[!]

Kwahng!

When Lee Gun gave the signal, the Pisces Saint fell into the blast furnace.