Chapter 263: Talk to me straight (4)

Twenty-five years ago, three people lived together. They were Lee Gun, Yeonwoo, and her younger brother.

“Gun hyung! Hyung is here?”

“Hey, Hyung is tired. Go away.”

“Really? Should I go and buy some chicken? You want to eat with Noona?”

The young man liked to follow Lee Gun as if Lee Gun were his biological brother. He really liked Lee Gun.

It was also true that the younger brother sometimes acted a bit odd. The look in his eyes at times felt inhuman. Lee Gun had wondered how a child could have such scary eyes.

Despite being a child, he had been familiar with death. At the time, Lee Gun had thought the kid was a courageous yet laid-back person.

However, Lee Gun still couldn’t forget about the day when the monsters had invaded. For the first time, he had felt killing intent from a family member he had been living with.

‘They came here.’

His younger brother always had an idiotic smile on his face, but for the first time, Lee Gun had seen him grind his teeth.

“Did they call them here?”

At the time, Lee Gun hadn’t understood his younger brother’s words. However, this didn’t change that, that kid was the kind little brother who tried to look after Lee Gun and his older sister.

Lee Gun had continued to spend happy days with them for another year. However, that happiness came to an end when the siblings were murdered by the monsters.

On the day he was murdered, the child had let out a sigh of relief for some reason when seeing Lee Gun.

“Ah! What a relief! They didn’t go toward you.” He had then grabbed Yeonwoo. “Be careful of the twins, Noona. They are looking for us.”

After speaking those puzzling words, the child had passed away.

Both Yeonwoo and Lee Gun had been in grief.

At that point, the only family member Lee Gun had left was Yeonwoo, and even she had departed after a couple of months. His only family had disappeared from the world.

***

[The hidden item has revealed itself.]

[Serpent Bearer’s Construct (SSS) is reacting to the item.]

Lee Gun’s eyes turned round when he sensed a nostalgic feeling.

Koo-goo-goong!

[The Nameless Land has regained its original owner.]

[It has transformed into the holy ground of the Ruler of Serpents.]

“!!”

The change surprised everyone. They wondered what would show up.

As the ground shook, buildings started to emerge from the ground.

“That’s..!”

“That’s the palace of a Zodiac!”

Yes, these buildings were part of a holy palace; they could be called the heart of a temple.

Each Zodiac possessed a main palace. Normally, it was located in the Divine world. The Zodiac Saints could see it only when the Zodiacs granted them an audience.

The palaces could be seen on earth only if they were replicas or the Zodiac had purposefully called it here.

“That symbol..!!”

“Serpent Bearer?”

“What the hell? Why would the palace of the Serpent Bearer be in a land that was owned by a monarch?”

While everyone was confused..

“Ahhk! It’s coming out!” Chun Sungjae, who held the egg, didn’t know what to do. He was flustered. “Hot! Hot! Hot!!!!!!”

“Hey! Don’t drop it!”

Yooha and Hugo quickly grabbed Sungjae’s arms when light erupted from the egg.

[The new Construct has accepted the power of the Serpent Bearer and is opening its eyes.]

“Koohk!”

Finally, blinding light surged forth. Even Lee Gun had to close one eye.

This egg was a reward that Lee Gun had received for going through the trials for his first awakening. For some odd reason, it wouldn’t hatch, so he had entrusted it to Iaso (Disinfectant).

[Kyahhhk! It hatched!]

[My god!!]

Lee Gun’s eyes turned round when the egg broke. A small black snake hatched from the egg. It was a tiny baby snake.

“Wow! Look at its size..!”

“Is this really a snake?”

Its body was as long as a finger and its head the size of a fingernail. It was a baby snake, but it was unmistakably a Construct!

[My god! Baby snake-nim had a baby!]

The Virgo constructs swooned, while Hailey and her Constructs looked surprised.

[It’s an infant, yet it’s a very high-rank god.]

[That’s Lee Gun-nim’s Construct..!]

Hugo, who had been watching this scene, became surprised.

‘The power I can feel from it is different.’

If it were the magical energy that could be felt from this land, hatching the egg would have been hard.

“Ahhk!! Uncle!!!”

“!!”

At that moment, Chun Sungjae trembled. It looked like he was about to cry. “U-Uncle! It isn’t moving..! It isn’t breathing!”

“What?!”

Everyone was surprised.

While the ground shook, the snake gasped as it was having a hard time breathing.

The notification told Lee Gun how serious things were.

[The newly born Construct’s life energy is quickly weakening.]

[It needs emergency healing.]

Everyone approached the snake in surprise.

“It really isn’t breathing. Is it sick?”

“Is it innately weak because the egg was handled roughly?”

Chun Sungjae turned deathly pale at those words. “U-Uncle!!”

“What the hell? It’s just hungry.”

Hugo became angry at Lee Gun’s nonchalant attitude. “Hey! Do you think that’s you? It’s convulsing because it’s having a hard time breathing. How can you say it is hungry—”

Koo-goo-goong! Koo-goo-goong!!

The earthquake rang out once again!

Hugo was taken aback since the fierce earthquake made it hard for him to center himself.

“Hey! Are you sure it’s making this noise because it’s hungry?”

“There might be a chance that its body is unwell. I’ll bring the Aquarius..!”

At that moment..

“Ahhhk!” Kevin, who had been approaching them, screamed.

The baby snake, which had been gasping in pain, had jumped at him. To be precise, it attacked a small box located within his jacket.

“That box is..!”

“It’s my snack box. It contains emergency food.”

Hugo replied, “As expected of a rich asshole Zodiac Saint! You put diamonds on your snack box?”

“Who cares? I’m swimming in gems donated to me.”

“Ahkk!!!”

The snake started chewing on the box even though it didn’t have any teeth.

Kevin understood what was going on, so he took out a biscuit. “I’ve never seen a snake that likes cookies—”

However..

“Ahhhk!! That’s not food!”

Yes, the baby snake’s target was something entirely different. It didn’t even look at the biscuit. It started eating the holy item that had stored the biscuit.

This made Lee Gun laugh as if he was amused, while the others screamed.

“What the hell! It’s eating a holy item?!”

“No. It seems to eat whatever is expensive.”

“What? What are you—” Kevin started screaming again. “Ahhk! Don’t eat my phone!!!”

That wasn’t all.

“Hey! My royal holy item is off-limits! Don’t eat it!!” Hugo desperately tried to hide the bag attached to his belt.

The snake had smelled the royal holy item of the Sagittarius temple within the bag.

“This guy is aiming for only high-rank holy items!”

When Hugo desperately tried to protect the Archer Saint’s bow, Lee Gun clicked his tongue. “You’re part of the Serpent Bearer temple. You can’t use it anymore. Just let my kid eat it.”

“Have you lost your mind? I’m going back to the Sagittarius temple! This is off-limits! Don’t eat it!”

Hugo snatched away Lee Gun’s Heaven’s Punishment. The weapon was in a newly made stage 0 form. It looked like a necklace.

“If you want to eat something high-rank, eat this! This is an EX-rank item!”

The move made Lee Gun glare at Hugo, but the snake decided to bite Hugo’s finger.

“Ahhhk!”

To its credit, the snake seemed to recognize its owner’s item.

[(Nameless) says how dare you touch the noble item. It expresses its anger.]

[It angrily says Master’s items aren’t food.]

Since it was like a worm without teeth, it didn’t cause serious damage. However, it was still a high-rank Construct!

Hugo’s finger swelled up.

[(Nameless) has been designated as the Serpent Bearer’s Construct.]

[Will you name it?]

“Name?”

Hugo furrowed his brows when he heard the murmur.

‘He is probably talking about the name of the Construct.’

Lee Gun’s naming sense was terrible.

“I’m sure he’ll name it as Worm.”

“No way, Dad. If it’s uncle, he’ll name it as King Crawler.”

“What are you saying? He’ll call it Alcohol Ingredient.”

“What about Black Poop?”

“Black Rope.”

When Hailey joined in, the Virgo Constructs reacted in anger.

[How dare you look down on Baby snake-nim!]

[That’s right! It’ll definitely be named Aphrodisiac!]

“Joonwoo.”

[See! It’s Joonwoo—]

“?!!!”

Everyone was shocked. It was as if something that could never happen had happened.

“I can’t believe Gun gave a normal name to the baby Construct..!”

“W-What’s wrong with him?”

“Did we do something wrong, Noona?”

“Did it find out that we secretly ate chicken without Uncle?”

They looked at Lee Gun with serious expressions.

On the other hand, Lee Gun nonchalantly stroked the baby snake’s chin with his index finger.

[(Nameless) has received the name “Joonwoo.”]

[Divine Status (True Name) can be checked.]

Lee Gun smirked when he realized the identity of the newly born god. “Anyway, I’ll let you guys feed it. It won’t eat anything I made, so I have no choice.”

“What? You want us to feed it? Doesn’t it eat only holy items?! How would we acquire those..”

“It isn’t my problem. You come up with what to do.”historical

“Hey!!”

“Anyway, its adult body is supposed to be huge. It’ll eat an ignorant amount.”

“What? What is its identity?”

“I’m not sure, but at the very least, I know it’ll grow as big as the earth.”

“What?!”

At that moment..

Koo-goo-goong!

“!”

The newly emerged palace emitted light, and something surprising happened.

“That’s..!”

Beings that looked like ghosts started to head toward Lee Gun.

[The servants of <Ruler of Serpents> feel the presence of their owner. They are approaching.]

[The servants cannot believe their eyes when they feel the presence of their master. They are approaching.]

Virgo Constructs became surprised by their presence.

[M..My god!]

[They are the old Constructs of the Serpent Bearer..!]

Lee Gun’s eyebrows rose at their words.

“What? They are the old Construct of the Serpent Bearer temple?”

[Yes! They are the Constructs that existed during the time of the 13th original owner!]

“!”

Everyone was surprised.

The Constructs of the Virgo temple couldn’t close their mouths. Even Aries was appalled.

It was to be expected.

[My god. They were taken by the other Zodiacs when the 13th was killed...!]

“What? The other Zodiacs took them?”

[Yes..! The 13th original owner was famous in the Divine world for ruling over the strongest Constructs!]

Unlike the surprised Virgo Constructs, Aries was sweating.

‘Shit. They should be trapped within the prisons of the other Zodiacs..!’

Despite Aries being a slave now, it still coveted those Constructs. They were special even in the Divine world.

‘If he is able to recover them, the Serpent Bearer can’t be messed with.’

There were those that were powerful, and there were those that were weak in power. There were also ones that possessed special abilities.

They were very diverse.

Virgo Constructs spoke.

[Amongst the Constructs ruled over by the 13th, there are a lot of legendary beings.]

“That means they are..”

[Yes. They aren’t all of them, but when the Serpent Bearer’s temple was revitalized, they were summoned through his will.]

The Constructs looked like smoke, and they looked longingly at Lee Gun.

Of course, they couldn’t properly see his appearance, but they were sure of it.

[The true owner of the <Seat of Power..!]

[Owner of the Serpent Bearer temple..!]

When they saw this, the Chun siblings had a realization.

“Ah..! Is this why the Zodiacs didn’t want to lose this land to Uncle? This place held the main palace of the old <Serpent Bearer>?”

At Chun Yooha’s words, Virgo Constructs nodded their heads.

The current 12 Zodiacs were excellent, but the era of the original owners was like the height of their power.

[I believe that temple is the old main palace that existed during the time of the 13th original owner.]

Lee Gun smirked.

“You are talking about the one that used to be in the Divine world?”

Hugo and Kevin were taken aback.

“This land is the old territory of the Serpent Bearer??!”

“Why would a monarch occupy such a land?”

It happened when the astral bodies tried to approach Lee Gun.

Boom!!!

“!”

The ground shook greatly.

“W..What is it?”

Everyone was surprised by the alarming earthquake.

Flash!

“!”

Light erupted from the doll that Yeonwoo left behind.

* * *

It was around when Lee Gun was meeting his new Construct.

At the heart of the Sagittarius temple’s holy ground, Sagittarius immediately realized that the Serpent Bearer had occupied a new holy ground.

Since it had to do with the lead temple, he inevitably knew about it.

[It seems Lee Gun recovered the old holy ground of the Serpent Bearer.]

The land had been given to a monarch by the < Zodiacs of Magic>.

Of course, <Abundance> had hidden it from its peers, and it had used the land for its own power.

[From what I hear, you interfered with Aries]

[!]

Sagittarius became surprised when a Zodiac of Magic stood behind him.

It was one of the two remaining Zodiacs of Magic.

It was the Gemini that Lee Gun held a grudge against.

[You didn’t want to kill Lee Gun in the Devil’s Tower. Your love for your nephew is amazing.]

[..!]

[Of course, you have no memory of him, so it isn’t as if you protected him knowingly.]

The Zodiac smirked.

[Well, we were surprised. We never expected that bastard to eat the original owner so quickly. It produced a hybrid like you.]

The Zodiac spoke.

[Well, it doesn’t matter. You will make the right choice again. You will choose whether you stand with them or us.]

However, the Zodiac soon shook its head from side to side.

[No. You chose the other side once you decided to interfere with our work.]

An enormous magic circle appeared, and the magic attacked the Sagittarius.

It caused an enormous earthquake to manifest around the world.

[<Oblivion> revealed itself]