[The Serpent Bearer's Awakening Skill (SSS) is being used.]
[Gluttony (SSS)]
-Devours and recreates everything within sight.
Effect: The effect varies depending on the target devoured (person, god, beast, sanctuary, etc.).
-Usable when Divinity is at 70% or higher.
A magic circle appeared, as if a serpent were drawing a circle.
Like a giant snake chasing its own tail, it traced a perfect ring.
And when the circle’s boundary finally encompassed Giselle and all the subordinate gods she had summoned.
A bolt of greenish-blue lightning plummeted from the sky.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!
A thunderous roar erupted, accompanied by a blinding flash of light.
Everyone screamed at the light and the shockwave.
Hugo was no exception. But amidst the brilliant flash, he saw something.
Within the flash. Lee Geon vanished from the rooftop, and in his place appeared a beast.
‘A snake?’
How should he describe it?
The lightning descending from the sky was like the maw of a serpent.
It was as if a snake larger than the building itself was swallowing a wild beast in a single gulp.
At the same time, a tremendous gust of wind swept through.
Ku-gu-gu-gung!
“Aagh!”
The wind was powerful enough to shake the Han River and Olympic Expressway visible from the Sagittarius building.
“Kyaaak!”
Even the youngest holy knights of Sagittarius, who were inside the sanctuary building, screamed and crouched by the windows, covering their heads.
Ku-gu-gu-gung!
It was truly akin to a catastrophe wrought by a colossal god.
Those nearby couldn’t even keep their footing.
And that wasn’t all.
Kung!
The floor split apart, and Kevin and Hugo plummeted beneath the ground.
“Kkek!”
“Kreuk…!”
Hugo, who had fallen underground thanks to that, gritted his teeth.
‘He took in a scribe and supposedly gained some new skill!’
It seemed to be a wide-area skill Lee Geon hadn’t possessed before, but regardless, he had never imagined it would be such an overwhelming skill.
Besides, with this level of magical power, wasn’t it practically a skill of the divine realm?!
As if on cue, the screams of Giselle and her subordinate gods echoed from above the hole.
[Aagh!]
[Master!]
The Scales, swallowed by the light, spat out blood.
[You damn bastard!]
As the Scales raged, Lee Geon, who had leaped down from the rooftop, sneered.
“What? Did you think you could just barge into my sanctuary and walk out scot-free?”
“!”
Giselle ground her teeth in fury. Hugo, who had fallen into the hole, was even more enraged.
“Hey! Since when is this your sanctuary!”
But Lee Geon ignored him, picking at his ear. As the light subsided, Giselle’s body could be seen dispersing.
[A portion of the Power of Absolute Order has been devoured.]
[The devoured power is being recreated anew within the belly of the Serpent Bearer.]
Along with that, the gate of the Scales that had been opening in the sky closed again.
The power of the Scales had been severed.
[Master!]
In the end, the Four Guardian Gods of the imperial court, who were about to be summoned, failed to manifest and were reverse-summoned back to their own sanctuaries.
Ku-gu-gung!
At the same time, Giselle writhed in agony.
[Keo-heok!]
[Master!]
At this sight, the remaining subordinate gods glared murderously at Lee Geon.
[That wretch dares!]
[This is a declaration of war against the gods!]
[How dare a rootless, baseless creature lay a hand on our lord!]
The subordinate gods of the Scales emitted killing intent, their magical power surging as if to slay Lee Geon.
But.
[Aagh!]
They flinched at Giselle’s scream.
For all the power of the subordinate gods came from their constellation god.
Even their act of drawing upon their own power must be a burden to Giselle in her current state.
Ultimately, the subordinate gods withdrew their power, grinding their teeth.
[You will come to regret this deeply, for a long, long time.]
Soon, a gate opened, accompanied by the sigil of the Scales.
And as the subordinate gods and Giselle were about to vanish into it, the moment came.
“You little shits, where do you think you’re going?”
[?!]
Lee Geon appeared before their eyes, radiating light.
And in that instant!
Ppak!
Lee Geon threw a punch, and Giselle was sent flying into the distance.
[Master!]
She flew so far the distance was immeasurable.
What was certain was that it was in the direction of the West Sea.
[Master!]
Having sent Giselle flying, Lee Geon raised the corner of his mouth for some reason.
But that wasn’t the end.
“And you lot, don’t ever show your faces on my land again.”
[?!]
Grabbing the subordinate gods by the scruffs of their necks, Lee Geon kicked them into the gate.
[Aagh!]
[That mutant!]
And just as the gate was closing, Lee Geon picked up something and threw it in.
Immediately after the gate shut, a tremendous flash erupted from within.
Kwang!
The screams of the subordinate gods were a bonus.
And so, the yellow magical power completely vanished from the sanctuary of Sagittarius.
At last, the forces of the Scales constellation had retreated from the land of Korea.
It was then.
Kevin, who had fallen underground, stepped on Hugo’s back and leaped nimbly up to the surface.
Hugo flared up in anger, but Kevin seemed not to care in the slightest.
“To blow away a constellation god… incredible….”
But then Kevin, emerging from the hole, flinched.
It was because of the sight unfolding before his eyes.
Unaware of this, Hugo climbed up after him, fuming.
“Anyways, Lee Geon, you! Who said you could wield your power like this in our sanctuary! We have to fill in the ground again now! I’m sticking you and Taurus with our building repair bill, you hear me!”
At those words, Kevin looked at Hugo with an odd expression.
“Well, I don’t think building repairs will be necessary.”
“What? What kind of bullshit is that….”
But upon seeing his building, Hugo screamed.
“Aack!!!”
Hugo’s face turned pale, and he trembled violently.
And for good reason: the sanctuary building of Sagittarius had been transformed into an entirely different form.
[The sanctuary of Sagittarius has been swallowed by the power of the Serpent Bearer.]
[The devoured sanctuary building has been recreated anew.]
The five-story building had turned into a sixty-three-story one.
The lower floors that Taurus had shattered were now pristine, with walls restored and ceilings reattached.
Even the old, cracked exterior walls, battered by the shock, were replaced with gleaming, full-panel glass windows.
Thanks to this, the youngest holy knights of Sagittarius inside the building screamed.
“Oh my god, what is this! Our building!”
“This view is insane, is this for real!”
In any case, it was a splendid, state-of-the-art tower building anyone would admire, but what did that matter?
[Lee Geon Tower]
Lee Geon’s name was emblazoned in giant letters on the building.
In reality, everything that had been in the Sagittarius sanctuary was gone, replaced by Lee Geon’s workshop.
And the structure, grand and imposing, looked just like a demon king’s castle at first glance.
The architecture, complete with a snake bearing horns, clearly reflected Lee Geon’s eccentric taste, visible to anyone.
The horse statues that had originally been there were now lined up on the first floor.
And their appearance was unmistakably that of gatekeepers.
Unable to watch any longer, Kevin finally spoke.
“At this point, it’s not the Sagittarius building anymore, it’s completely the Serpent Bearer’s building.”
“Aaaack!!!!!”
Screaming, Hugo grabbed Lee Geon by the collar.
“Hey, you son of a bitch! What the hell have you done!”
Lee Geon smiled as if proud.
“How about it? The building’s fixed, and it’s way cooler, right?”
It seemed his skill devoured something and recreated it anew.
On top of that, since it had swallowed even the power of the Scales this time, the energy used for creation must have been more than sufficient.
Although the recreated form seemed to reflect his latent desires.
“Right. If a holy knight owns a building, it should be at least sixty stories. Honestly, the old building was way too shabby.”
Hugo screamed in the language of beasts.
“Neu-a-neo-a-na-eo-a!!!”
“So what? Feeling any respect yet?”
At that, Hugo spat flames from his mouth as if asking what the hell this bastard was saying.
The inside had been filled with interior decorations made for Sagittarius’ constellation god.
Of course, it wasn’t that Lee Geon had destroyed them all, but still, that bizarre and monstrous form was too much!
“You bastard, aren’t you going to restore it right now?!”
“Ah, whyyy? Who said I was going to take it all like some thug? You can even use up to the tenth floor. The rest is mine, though.”
“Shut up and restore it!!! You bastard!”
“Ah, whyyy? Going from five floors to sixty is a steal, isn’t it? Can’t you see your holy knights over there rejoicing!”
“That’s not the point! Shut up and restore it to normal! Or I’m seriously cutting ties!”
At those words, the youngest holy knights of Sagittarius protested vigorously from the windows.
“We object! Objection! Honestly, the old building was old and crappy! Even the bathrooms were crappy!”
“That’s right! We’re in favor of lending the upper floors to Lee Geon-nim and using the tenth floor for ourselves! In favor! In favor!”
“Honestly, we wanted to redo the interior, but we were too broke! Lee Geon-nim is the best!”
Those little…!
Shocked by the outcry of the youngest members, Hugo seemed to faint on his feet.
But it was only for a moment.
Kung!
A loud noise was followed by screams.
[Let go! Why are you trying to drag me away!]
The scream of Taurus rang out.
Startled, they turned their heads to see the constellation god of Taurus being dragged away by his own subordinate gods.
The massive bull in its semi-divine state was being carried on the shoulders of the subordinate gods as they moved.
And for some reason, the subordinate gods of Taurus seemed to be urgently trying to evacuate their constellation god elsewhere.
As if they were wary of Lee Geon.
But unaware of this, Taurus, tossed upside down, shouted.
[What’s gotten into you all of a sudden!]
[Shut up, contractor of our lord! That man is extremely dangerous!]
[Indeed! Getting entangled with that calamity god, even slightly, puts us at risk!]
Just as they wondered what that meant, Hugo was startled.
Dudududu!
Lee Geon had zipped past his side in the blink of an eye.
Simultaneously, having foreseen Lee Geon’s action, Hugo turned his head, his face pale.
“Geon-ah! Don’t…!”
Before he could even finish shouting, a tremendous sound echoed.
Ppak!
A sound akin to a horn snapping rang out.
And sure enough.
“You stepped on my house, and you think you can just leave?”
As Hugo had guessed, Lee Geon, having kicked away Taurus’ subordinate gods, landed lightly.
With their formation broken, the subordinate gods of Taurus glared fiercely at Lee Geon.
[Damn it! Oh god!]
[You greedy fiend!]
They, who had been trying to spirit their holy knight away quickly, seemed extremely flustered.
And with good reason, for tales of Lee Geon were already quite infamous.
Perhaps it was rumor among the gods?
‘I definitely heard that the constellation god of Aries abandoned even her own holy knight and fled because of that wretch.’
What’s more, hadn’t it been said that on the Gemini side, the relationship between constellation god and holy knight had even been severed?!
What was even more terrifying was the words their own constellation god had blurted out, sounding flustered, after hearing of that incident.
[As expected, is he that calamity god?]
They didn’t know what those words meant, but what was clear was that all the other gods seemed to fear Lee Geon’s existence.
And hadn’t they just received instructions that it was best not to get involved?
But Lee Geon stretched out his hand.
The Heavenly Punishment flew into Lee Geon’s hand in an instant!
Tung!
No sooner had he caught it than Lee Geon swung the axe.
At the same time, the scream of Taurus echoed.
[Aagh!!]
The horn of the inverted monster bull had been severed.
“!!”
With that, the form of the Taurus holy knight changed.
When the horn was cut, he reverted to his original appearance.
“Heo-eok!”
Taurus spat blood and glared at Lee Geon.
But.
“You wanna die? Did you think I’d just let you go?”
Kwajik!
Lee Geon trampled on Taurus’ head. Simultaneously, Lee Geon glared at Taurus with enraged eyes.
“You talked a whole lot of crap on the news, didn’t you? Telling people if they didn’t want to be attacked by the Red Eye, they should follow you.”
At those words, Taurus ground his teeth.
Well, he had said that.
Honestly, he had never imagined Lee Geon would actually capture the Red Eye.
No, even if by luck it was captured, he truthfully thought the resulting damage would be greater.
The plan had been for Giselle to retrieve the Red Eye after a few countries were destroyed.
In the end, Taurus shuddered but soon smirked smugly.
“But still, not many holy knights actually saw you capture the Red Eye, right?”
“!”
“Right. Even if Leo saw the subjugation scene, do you think those proud Leo holy knights would meekly spread the word that you caught it? And the words of the Sagittarius holy knights, being the lowest-ranked constellation, wouldn’t carry any credibility at all.”
At those words, Lee Geon laughed as if disgusted.
“The scene of the capture doesn’t matter anymore.”
“What?”
Simultaneously, Taurus screamed.
Kwaaang!!!!!
The moment Lee Geon snapped his fingers, something burst out from his shoulder.
It was a gigantic hand!
And that hand writhed violently, trying to tear Taurus apart.
[Kieeeek!!!!]
Immediately, Taurus froze.
That was it.
The gate that had opened on Lee Geon’s shoulder was unmistakably the subspace of Capricorn.
The independent dimension he usually used like a pouch to carry his weapons.
But now, that wasn’t the important thing.
[Kieeeek!!!]
Those eyes, gleaming as if ready to burst out of the subspace and swallow him whole at any moment.
And those teeth, charging towards him, were unmistakably!
‘The Red Eye?!’
“Wha, what! Why is that thing!”
At that, Lee Geon raised the corner of his mouth and answered.
“Why are you so surprised? Never seen a pet like this before?”
“?!”
Pet my ass!
This crazy bastard!
(To be continued in the next episode)