Ch 86 – Trial of Reputation (6)

Lee Gun laughed as he saw the coin shine inside his pocket.

[Missionary (Special) is in progress]

[Completion Rate: 80%]

He had prepared these coins for his second trial.

‘Since Taeksoo would have objected to it, I kept it a secret.’ This change meant the situation over there was going smoothly.

‘So I just have to take care of business here.’ Lee Gun’s eyes flashed.

When Pelio made eye contact with Lee Gun, the prince trembled. In truth, he had been looking down on Lee Gun. It was to be expected.

He had met Lee Gun before, over twenty years ago

Lee Gun had come to Belgium after receiving a contract from the Belgium government.

“Why are you looking at me? I thought this place was famous for its chocolate? Do you want to get hit with the chocolate?”

At the time, Lee Gun had been twenty-six years old. He had been wearing a mask to hide his hideous face, and he had no hair.

Of course, Pelio thought Lee Gun was a weirdo, but he didn’t feel any fear toward him. Why?

At a basic level, the prince felt Lee Gun was fighting for humanity. Lee Gun wasn’t someone to do things at a loss, but when it came to saving people, he didn’t quibble with profit and loss. That was why his body was in such a terrible state.

In fact, Lee Gun had gone searching for a squad left behind in a monster’s cave. He had done it despite knowing there would be no reward. Everyone thought he had lost his mind.

Regarding how Lee Gun had treated him, Pelio just assumed Lee Gun had a screw a bit loose.

However, he now realized that wasn’t the case. Back then, Lee Gun didn’t think he was an enemy. It was that simple.

However, this realization came to the prince only when Lee Gun truly regarded him as an enemy.

“Hey. Someone can control that monster?”

Pelio was having a hard time breathing when he heard Lee Gun’s cold laughter. Did he always look at his enemies like that?

Pelio felt his knees wobble, but he told himself that he had no reason to be afraid. “Lee Gun! You are merely on the Saint rank, so don’t look down on them!”

After his shout, light erupted from the floor.historical

[Equivalent Exchange—Tunnel Formation]

When he paid the price, a round formation appeared. A round summoning circle appeared, and black flames erupted. Soon, a hand emerged out of the summoning circle.

Kwahng!

The hand was larger than a person.

This made Hugo raise his guard. “Shit! He’s summoning pets!”

It wasn’t just one or two. Several hundred unknown hands emerged out of the circle.

Boom!! Boom! Boom!

They were unknown beings, but Hugo’s intuition was telling him something. ‘Shit! We have to end them before they can fully emerge from that place!’

Even in their surprise, Hugo and Goat pulled back on their bows.

Tahng! Tahng!

Hugo wasn’t called the strongest long-ranged Saint without reason; all his arrows hit their marks. Like lasers, they shot through the hands.

“Kee-ehhhhhhhk!”

However, the hands coming out from the summoning circle were too many to shoot!

‘Shit! How many are there..!’

However, the bigger problem wasn’t their number.

“Kee-ehhhhhhk!”

“!!”

Hugo and Goat were surprised by the faces that emerged next. Kevin, who was usually hard to surprise, was shocked as well.

“No way!”

“Those aren’t pets..!”

Yes, those were monsters from the unknown civilization! People also called them Calamities.

There was no mistaking it. They could feel fear and hatred just from being close to the Calamities.

‘Monsters.’

They felt entirely different from the pets summoned using a skill. That was the reason for this chaos.

‘A human summoned the enemies of humanity!’

Moreover, he did it within the dome under the Zodiacs’ protection!

Goat suddenly realized something. ‘This is exactly like what happened ten years ago.’

Ten years ago, in a region protected by the Sagittarius, the toad had appeared out of nowhere. The incident had resulted in the death of the Archer Saint’s wife and general and put five thousand people in vegetative states.

Due to that, the entire world had criticized the Archer Saint for his ineptitude. People had wanted to take him out of the twelve Zodiac Saints.

‘That is why he’s still known as the last place Saint.’

At the time, everyone had criticized Hugo for not being able to notice the monster’s attack. However, the narrative would change if people found out that monsters could be summoned anywhere and anytime.

‘Does this mean that incident was..!’

It was probably a plot to get rid of the Archer Saint, who tried hard to clear Lee Gun’s bad name.

Goat didn’t have the luxury to analyze this situation anymore.

Kwahng!

“Koohk!”

Seeing the monster’s faces, the humans raised their weapons. Hugo and Goat let out fierce attacks. The Virgo Saint, who had been trying to stop his blood loss, picked up his sword with his left hand. When the Virgo Saint raised his sword, streaks of light descended from the sky.

[Meteors of July]

Kwahng! Kwahng! Kwahng!

The meteorites fell on the heads of the monsters trying to emerge from the summoning circle.

“Kee-ehhhhhhhk!”

“..!!”

The humans realized none of their attacks were working. When the monsters opened their eyes and roared, everyone’s face turned pale.

“Shit! These are the unkillable types..!!”

These monsters were called the <13th species>. These were the same type of monsters as the one that had tried to take away Lee Gun’s bone at Drachma.

These were monsters that the Zodiac Saints couldn’t kill, and so they scared the hell out of everyone. They were so strong that no attacks worked against them.

In the end, Hugo and Kevin put down their weapons at the same time.

“Retreat!”

“What?! We are retreating?”

“We can’t fight them!”

This change surprised Goat. He never expected two Zodiac Saints to put down their weapons at the same time! However, they meant what they said.

“We saw them at the Devil’s Tower! We avoided fighting them at that time! We have to retreat—”

At that moment..

Poo-hahk!

“..!” Kevin, who had been raising his voice, saw blood erupt from the side. The surprised Kevin turned and saw one of the monsters fall to the ground while choking on its blood. The Virgo Saint didn’t even have the time to be shocked.

Poo-hahk!!!

He could only see the long handle and the blade of the ax surging into the air. In between the gory fountains of blood, a man laughed like a wraith.

“Gun!”

“It has been a while, you bastards!!”

As he let out a simple exhalation, the giant’s head was split open.

Pah-gahk!!

The headless corpse of the giant fell next to Kevin.

Boom!!

Lee Gun was on a different level compared to when he fought with his fists or a blade. As a blacksmith, he was well-versed in all weapons, but there was a clear difference in his movements when he used his main weapon.

“Good! I kept meeting subpar opponents, so I felt my body had become a bit stiff!” Lee Gun surged into the air and spun amongst the cluster of monsters.

Kwah-gah-gah-gahk!

“Kee-ehhhhhhhk!”

“Kuh-ha-ehk!”

He fell on top of the monsters’ heads like a meteorite.

Entranced, Goat held his bow. Hugo once again felt pleased. On the other hand, Kevin was unsettled.

Of course, Kevin knew Lee Gun was skilled. The others might have denigrated Lee Gun, but the Virgo Saint recognized Lee Gun as a man. That was why he wanted to defeat him.

Kevin had also mourned Lee Gun’s deterioration. He had secretly met with the Aquarius Saint and spent a lot of money to find a way to help heal Lee Gun. He even secretly put expensive restorative medicines in Lee Gun’s food in an attempt to regenerate Lee Gun’s body.

However, what he saw right now was a completely different story!

Lee Gun was a completely different man than the one Kevin had known twenty years ago! ‘He is much stronger!’

It seemed Lee Gun wasn’t just trapped inside the tower.

‘I guess the report that said all the monsters within the Devil’s Tower are dead is true!’

When the thirteen of them had gone to kill Red Eye twenty years ago, Lee Gun had dodged these same monsters too.

Kevin watched Lee Gun laugh as if he was enjoying himself.

[As a reward for the Trial of Strength, your body is being upgraded.]

It did say the upgrade would take a day.

‘I can feel a bit of a change.’ Lee Gun’s eyes flashed. This was a great chance to test out his still-changing body.

He grabbed his ax to take a powerful swing. He had been about to decapitate a monster when..

“Huhk! Gun!”

“?!” Lee Gun, who had been pouring strength in his arms, was surprised. His biceps and triceps were swelling to ridiculous proportions.

Taken aback, Lee Gun slapped at his arms, and they returned to their normal sizes. He let out a sigh of relief. “My body is finally getting warmed up!”

His ax created blood to erupt into the air. This scene looked like a whale spouting water into the air.

Happy at the return of its owner, Heaven’s Punishment let out a roar.

* * *

Pelio was seeing something unbelievable.

Kwah-jeek! Kwah-jeek!

A person was going berserk in front of his eyes. This person wasn’t human. His entire body was painted with blood as he extracted his ax. This man looked like a wraith from hell. No, he was an Asura.

The Asura walked toward him immediately after killing all the summoned monsters in short order.

Fifty meters!

Thirty!

Ten!

One..

The man, who was one head taller than him, stopped right in front of him. “Are they all you got?”

“..?!” Pelio felt the strength leave his legs.

“The only thing left is to take your head.”

Shit!

The prince crumpled to the floor. However, the next second, his shadow wavered.

[It seems this was too much to ask since you’re facing Lee Gun.]

“!”

A young man’s voice came from the shadow.

[Do you want some help?]

Pelio laughed when he heard the voice. ‘As expected, the Libra hasn’t abandoned me..!’

[Since Lee Gun is your opponent, I’ll help you. This is a special case.]

Pelio was deeply moved. However..

Poo-oohk!

“Kuhk..!”

The shadow turned into a spike and pierced Pelio’s heart.

Vomiting blood, Pelio looked backward. “What..what are you..!”

[I just gave you a little bit of a power up]

“!”

The new voice surprised both Hugo and Kevin. Of course, they knew the voice.

“The Crab Saint..!”

The voice belonged to Jean-Louis Morain, the Crab Saint.

Amidst their surprise, Pelio’s shadow stood up like a person.

Hugo sent an arrow flying.

Kwahng!

The arrow ruthlessly broke apart the shadow, but soon, the shadow gathered once again.

[You didn’t even say hi before you shot me.]

“Fuck off? You are a cockroach that eats trash others throw away!”

Hugo hated the Crab Saint. If he was being honest, he didn’t like any of the other Zodiac Saints.

‘He is nicknamed the Crime Coordinator.’ The Crab Saint only showed up at scenes of murder and crime.

When Hugo heard Jean-Louis had appeared at the press conference, this news had creeped him out.

Jean-Louis was the one who had told Hugo the news of Lee Gun’s death and his wife’s death. And he had done it with a smile on his face.

Hugo replied, “Nothing good happens when you show up! Fuck off, you dirty & disgusting bastard!”

[You’re too much. We love the antics when the two of you pair up.]

Jean-Louis had appeared at both the funeral of Lee Gun and Hugo’s wife in a fancy party outfit.

“I’m pretty sure Gun stole your power,” Hugo said.

[Yes. That’s why I can’t use my abilities. I have to move using this form..]

Suddenly, a large explosion erupted.

Kwahng!

Lee Gun had planted his ax on the ground as if he were trying to shut Jean-Louis up.

The shadow was taken aback as it was stuck between the ax and the floor.

[Lee Gun!]

“You’re merely the sidekick of the Libra Saint.”

The Libra Saint and the Cancer Saint were the Saints of the south. Even though they dominated the south, they had endlessly worked to obtain the Virgo Saint’s lands. It wasn’t strange to see them involved in this venture either.

“You showed up of your own volition to pay tribute to me.”

Kevin’s complexion worsened as desperately yelled, “Lee Gun! Don’t do it! Don’t put your hands on the shadow! Human hands won’t be able to take it!”

“Then it’ll be fine if I’m not human?”

The shadow flinched when it saw Lee Gun’s cold smile.

Poo-hahk!

Lee Gun used his hands to smash the shadow.

[You have acquired data]

The Crab Saint was baffled. His shadow was made out of poisonous substance; it should’ve decomposed any body part that touched it.

[What kind of body do you possess?]

Lee Gun laughed.

[You’re shedding the body of a human.]

[Body Upgrade: 80%]

“You don’t need to know anything.”

The shadow flinched when Lee Gun moved closer. The Cancer Saint was flustered.

[I don’t know what you’ve done, but even you won’t be able to do anything.]

“What?”

[The times have changed. The Zodiacs’ powers change depending on their disciples’ actions. As Saints, we receive those powers straight from the Zodiacs. What about you? You don’t even have any disciples. What can you really do?]

The Cancer Saint then disappeared as if he were running away. An enormous magical energy surrounded Pelio’s body.

It was darkness. After the darkness swept him up, Pelio’s appearance changed. He looked like the devil. There was no way to call him a human anymore.

“You are first, Lee Gun!”

The incredible magical energy destroyed the Virgo Saint’s holy ground.

Boom! Boom!

“Koohk! As expected of the number one Zodiac’s magical energy..!”

At that moment.

[You have cleared the Trial of Reputation]

[The Serpent Bearer has gained the first disciple.]

Lee Gun grinned. He was sure who it was. However, that wasn’t the end.

[Your disciple’s rank has increased.]

[The name of the disciple was written in the Serpent Bearer’s bible.]

[You can use the bible from here on out.]