At Ig-eon's smile, the expressions of those around him shifted in an instant.
My sacred object?
A sacred object was, quite literally, an item.
But Min Seong-hun, who found himself at the center of attention, could only let out a scoff.
"What are you talking about? Why would I have your stuff?"
"It should have a marking engraved like this."
"What?"
Soon, everyone's gaze followed the tip of Ig-eon's finger.
A line curving upward, then a straight stroke downward. As that pattern repeated twice, the onlookers' faces gradually twisted.
They couldn't help it. The shape was peculiar, like two number 2s drawn in reverse.
And that was something no one in the world could fail to recognize...
"Hey, wait! Isn't that talking about Ig-eon's sacred object?"
"Yeah, that thing."
"Hey!"
It was Cheon Seong-jae who shouted first in the end.
No, seriously, what nonsense was this guy spouting?
"How is Ig-eon-nim's sacred object your thing!"
Of course, he'd flinched momentarily after seeing the man's swordsmanship, but this wasn't the real Ig-eon.
But regardless, Ig-eon completely ignored everyone and shamelessly held out his hand.
"You've got it, right? My item. Hand it over, quick."
Ig-eon could sense the aura of things he'd made as long as they were within the same building.
But Min Seong-hun just found it utterly absurd.
'Is this bastard insane?'
Of course, as the guy claimed, he did indeed currently possess Ig-eon's sacred object.
'If it's Ig-eon's sacred object, its fame is no joke, and it'd be a massive boost to my career too.'
But.
'I can't even figure out how to use it, so I'm just holding onto it.'
In fact, he didn't even know its true nature. That might have been why the Twin Serpent Seat's Saint had casually bestowed it upon the Order's Commander without much thought. And that had flown his way as a promotion reward.
But Ig-eon raised his sword sharply.
"Enough, just hand over my stuff already. I'm not in the mood to be frisking some guy's body."
"......!"
Min Seong-hun couldn't help but tremble at the sudden shift in Ig-eon's gaze.
Of course, at first he'd wondered if the guy had simply escaped from a mental hospital or something, but having seen his skills with his own eyes, there was no way that was the case.
More than anything, Ig-eon's eyes, aimed straight at his throat, gnawed at him.
A smile was plastered on his face, but there was an eerily palpable pressure.
'...Could he actually be the real Ig-eon?'
But Min Seong-hun nearly slapped his own head after even entertaining the thought. It was a ridiculous notion.
'Right. The age alone is totally different.'
Ig-eon's recorded age at death was 25. Even factoring in him being a superhuman, he should look at least in his forties to be normal.
'Besides, his appearance was originally in his sixties.'
Of course, the Twelve Saints were the apostles closest to the Holy Gods among all the Awakened.
And perhaps thanks to that, the Saints aged far less than ordinary Awakened.
Thanks to that, there were even peerless beauties among the Saints who never seemed to age, like vampires...
'But I've never heard of a Saint getting younger!'
Even so, for an apparent age in one's fifties or sixties to shrink to look like a late teenager at minimum—wasn't that a bit too much?
Moreover, Ig-eon didn't receive the same special grace as those twelve.
'Right. His height, build, voice—all completely different.'
Min Seong-hun kept denying it, yet despite all that, the thought that it might actually be true continued to nag at him.
But it was right at that moment.
Kugugugung!
Suddenly, the ceiling collapsed, and Ig-eon clicked his tongue and swiftly leapt back.
Kung!
"Argh!"
Kugugugung!
Chunks of stone rained down from all sides, pillars crumbling.
As the building shook violently, Ig-eon narrowed his brow and looked outside.
'Is that Yang Wei?'
That wasn't all. Outside the building, it was teeming with the aura of Awakened.
As if on cue.
BZZT-
The sound of a radio transmission came from within Min Seong-hun's chest.
—Freeze, get out of there, fast.
At the familiar voice, Cheon Seong-jae's eyes widened.
The voice's owner was unmistakably the Order's Commander of the Twin Serpent Seat, their direct superior. At the same time, he glanced outside the building.
'Could he be commanding the Holy Dwellers out there right now?'
But soon, the content of the Commander's words was even more shocking.
—Get out of there immediately. Together with the White Sheep Seat's members, we're going to bury that place.
At those words, Ig-eon smiled as if disgusted, while Cheon Seong-jae and Min Seong-hun were horrified.
"Bury us...!"
What on earth was going on, they wondered, but they soon learned the reason.
Kugugugung!
"Urk!"
The building suddenly shook, and the floor began to split apart.
Simultaneously, a massive sinkhole yawned open beneath them.
Thanks to that, Cheon Seong-jae and Han Ji-min almost plunged into the sinkhole as well.
"Keuk!"
But Ig-eon swiftly grabbed both of them by the heads and hurled them backwards.
Kwak!
"Agh!"
It was an utterly brutal display of force.
But they had no time to feel the pain, screaming involuntarily instead.
Because something was crawling up from within the suddenly formed sinkhole.
"Wh-what is that!"
From inside the sinkhole, a colossal leg was emerging, wreathed in black mist.
But though only the legs were visible so far, the overwhelming pressure was suffocating.
"Th-that thing...!"
At the same time, Cheon Seong-jae, who made eye contact with the creature crawling from the sinkhole, was aghast.
'No way, why is that thing here!'
It was.
Inside the sinkhole was a gigantic purple spider with a woman's upper body!
And there was no way Cheon Seong-jae or Min Seong-hun could fail to recognize it.
'That's definitely the Spider Queen...!'
That thing, not long ago.
It was the Red Zone monster they'd encountered during a joint assault operation, definitely on Manchuria land, led by China's White Sheep Seat.
They'd met it during a subjugation battle that even had the Twelve Saints stepping in for the first time in ages.
That was why Cheon Seong-jae, who had participated in that subjugation, couldn't help but be shocked.
He had no choice but to be.
'That Spider Queen was definitely dealt with...!'
He'd heard they had successfully eradicated it.
Of course, the ones who finished it off back then were the Saint of the White Sheep Seat and the Saint's direct adjuncts, the SS-ranks.
Because of that, he hadn't seen the process of the Spider Queen being captured, except for what those individuals witnessed.
And while he could accept that other spiders might have remained as leftover mobs, the boss monster itself was different.
"The Saint definitely cut off the Spider Queen's head and killed it, they said..."
The corpse was confirmed, and even the media had chattered on and on about it being the Saint for generations.
But unlike Cheon Seong-jae, Min Seong-hun actually knew the truth.
'I heard that the Spider Queen wasn't killed, it was sealed.'
Even the officially recognized strongest of humanity had found it too difficult to deal with and had given up midway.
Such was the caliber of that monster.
But why was it here?
'Could the seal have been broken?'
So Min Seong-hun could only backpedal involuntarily.
But only for a moment.
Min Seong-hun, who had been trying to flee, flinched in surprise.
While everyone else was frozen in terror merely at the sight of the Spider Queen, Ig-eon alone was looking at the creature and smiling.
And with the most pleasured expression he'd shown so far, no less!
So, just at the moment one might have thought that bastard had lost his mind.
Ig-eon suddenly vanished.
'!'
Startled, Min Seong-hun scanned his surroundings, but the voice from his radio crackled back to life.
—Freeze, are you listening? As you know, no one can capture that thing in there right now. It's special.
At those words, Min Seong-hun's face hardened.
Indeed, who could possibly capture something that even the Saints, humanity's most powerful, couldn't handle?
If someone could, the world would be turned on its head.
Only then did Min Seong-hun grasp the full situation.
'The reason they intend to bury this whole building whole is because of that Spider Queen.'
They planned to shove it into the earth, building and all, to seal it.
A literal live burial.
And in that case, this entire area would become a dead land where no life could survive.
As if on cue, the radio voice continued.
—So, I'm asking. How many survivors are there in there?
"!"
Min Seong-hun's eyes flickered.
Survivors?
His surroundings were filled with dying people. It was because of the poisonous gas emanating from the sinkhole.
Those of higher rank like themselves could endure a little longer, but it was different for anyone below.
—Are you listening? The number of survivors...
At that, Cheon Seong-jae, who had been listening alongside him, urgently stepped forward.
"Well, about that, there are many people trapped inside... Urk!"
Min Seong-hun kicked Cheon Seong-jae away. And immediately shouted.
"There are no survivors."
"?!"
"I'll be exfiltrating shortly."
With those words, Min Seong-hun cut off the radio. At the same time, Cheon Seong-jae protested, asking what he was doing, but Min Seong-hun yelled.
"Are you an idiot? Do you not understand what it means when they say they're gonna bury this place right now!"
"!"
"It's obviously to shut us up! If the monster that the Saints supposedly dealt with reappears! They can't predict how the media will react, can they?"
Cheon Seong-jae was dumbfounded.
"This bastard's really lost his damn mind..."
"Anyway, no one can kill that thing right now. Frankly, even if the Ig-eon you love sucking up to showed up, it'd be impossible! Got it?"
"......!"
"So shut up and follow me. I happened to rent a two-person teleport in advance. You're an arrogant little shit, but your ability is decent enough, so I'll at least take someone like you..."
At that, Cheon Seong-jae immediately spat out a curse.
"Then what about my dying friend! He's poisoned!"
"Burn him."
"Excuse me?"
"Once you're poisoned by that miasma, you die. Don't you know what kind of thing that Spider Queen is? So burn him and save your own skin. What good is it saving guys like that? It's high-rankers like us who have to survive to be of any help to humanity."
"......?!"
"Well, if you don't like it, stay here and die together?"
With that, Min Seong-hun turned and activated his phone.
He was about to use the single-use spatial movement skill he'd rented in advance. Soon, the moment Min Seong-hun drew a sign in the air.
Flash!
The rental skill activated, and a rippling opening appeared in the void.
Min Seong-hun reached his hand inside and sneered.
"Then die well on your own, brat. I'm leav—"
"Leave, where the hell do you think you're leaving to, you son of a bitch."
Ppagaak!
"Kurgh!"
Min Seong-hun was sent flying as someone struck him.
It was Ig-eon, who had briefly disappeared moments before.
At the same time, the phone Min Seong-hun was holding slipped toward the sinkhole, and the teleport portal vanished along with it.
But Ig-eon, now standing before them, was clenching his fist in visible irritation.
"Where do you think you're skulking off to?"
At that pissed-off expression, Min Seong-hun shrieked.
No, considering the current situation, the sole means of escape had just disappeared!
"Y-you insane?! Do you realize what you just did?"
"What's that? You still haven't handed over my stuff. Where do you get off trying to sneak away? Cough it up, bastard."
"?!"
Min Seong-hun was so outraged he couldn't even form words.
"No, this is not the time to talk about crap like that...!"
Right on cue, it was at that very moment.
Kugugung!
As the Spider Queen writhed and began ascending fully from the sinkhole, the terrified Min Seong-hun could only curse.
"Look, you bastard, you not seeing that? Because of you, I can't even escape! What the hell do we do about that th—!"
"What's the problem? Just capture a measly thing like that and it's done."
Min Seong-hun was dumbstruck.
"What? Hey! What means do we have to capture something even the Saints couldn't handle!"
"Enough, you just watch that thing for one minute."
"What the hell is this bastard blathering abou—!"
But as he turned his head, Min Seong-hun could only sputter again.
"Argh, where the hell did that bastard go now!"
But in that instant, Min Seong-hun's face froze solid.
A sinister shadow was cast over his head.
* * *
"Damn it, I'm going to kill him. That psychopath bastard."
How much time had passed?
Cheon Seong-jae was guarding his dying friend within the thick, swirling fog.
Of course, the fog made it impossible to see Ig-eon or Min Seong-hun, but their location wasn't what mattered to Cheon Seong-jae.
"Ji-min! Get a hold of yourself!"
His collapsed friend had stopped breathing. So Cheon Seong-jae could only squeeze his eyes shut.
'Damn it, if only Ig-eon-nim were here at a time like this...!'
The Ig-eon he'd only ever seen in old videos was definitely a great hero who had saved people dying from poison.
But no matter how much he wished in his heart, that legendary hero was no longer in this world.
But it was right then.
"What, you're still perfectly fine?"
"!"
Cheon Seong-jae was startled by Ig-eon's voice coming from behind. But soon his brow furrowed.
It was because Ig-eon, who had disappeared and reappeared in that short span, was spouting nonsense again.
"If you're fine, go rifle through your collapsed friend's bag or something. There's bound to be something valuable."
Finally turning around, Cheon Seong-jae fumed, voice cracking as if about to cry.
"Wow, this fake is seriously unbelievable. First, someone says to burn him, and now someone's straight-up picking the pockets of a guy about to di—!"
"What are you on about? Not money, a mask, I'm talking about a mask."
Huh? A mask?
Cheon Seongjae hurriedly rummaged through his friend’s bag and pulled something out. He was startled to see the mask inside.
‘Why is this thing here…!’
Indeed.
What Cheon Seongjae had taken out was the mask Igeon had been wearing when he came out of the tower.
It was an item that had become Igeon’s trademark even now.
Its shape was a black leather mask with a zipper, covering the nose and mouth, leaving only the eyes exposed—concealing half the face.
Soon, Igeon laughed.
“It got all ragged, so I took it to the cleaners here yesterday to have it repaired. I told him he didn’t have to go that far, but the good kid.”
“Huh.”
But why this mask all of a sudden?
Ignoring the question, Igeon, who had taken the mask, put it on the boy.
And when he tapped the belt part, an amazing thing happened.
“Oh…!”
The black mask changed shape. It became like a half gas mask.
At the same time, the friend’s complexion, which had turned purple, changed.
It must be a detoxification effect.
So when Cheon Seongjae looked at Igeon in surprise, Igeon laughed as if it were nothing.
“Did you think I wore it just for style?”
But he immediately thought, ‘Oops.’
‘Ah, 99% of it is because of my face, so it is style.’
However, Cheon Seongjae just stared blankly at Igeon and the mask alternately.
No, of course he had heard from his father.
He had heard that the mask Igeon wore had a device that could detoxify the special poison emitted by monsters. That Igeon, who made his own antidote, had made it that way.
But that was information most people didn’t know.
‘But how…’
No way.
But regardless, Igeon headed somewhere.
‘The people around here should be fine since I threw them water bottles.’
In fact, the reason he had disappeared so quickly was because of the people trapped inside this building.
Although finding his belongings was urgent, it wasn’t more urgent than people who seemed about to die.
Moreover, with his accumulated experience, Igeon finished the measures in an instant and headed to where Min Seonghun was.
Now it was to take care of his own business.
But then.
“Ah. What the hell.”
Igeon, who had gone to where Min Seonghun and the Spider Queen were, sighed.
“Ah, you bastard. S-rank or whatever, you said he was some great special grade, but he couldn’t even last one minute while I gave out water.”
There, Min Seonghun was nowhere to be seen, only torn clothes and blood-stained shoes remained.
It seemed he had been dragged away by the Spider Queen and already devoured.
Indeed, the creature, perhaps having already eaten Min Seonghun, was glaring at Igeon with blood around its mouth.
“Looks like it ate my stuff.”
An overwhelming pressure that even a 12-star rank would have fled from.
But Igeon, far from feeling pressure, raised the corners of his mouth.
“Really, if it’s like this, I’ll have to cut open its belly.”
Igeon grinned fiercely and raised his sword.
Aside from the holy artifact, special byproducts were a bonus.
* * *
Meanwhile, around that time, outside the mart.
“What’s this, why is it still like that? Don’t tell me the closure hasn’t ended yet?”
Yang Wei, who had arrived at the scene of the incident, was frowning.
The large mart before his eyes was dyed red.
Even the building as big as a department store, the floor—everything was the color of blood.
It was proof that a red zone-grade monster had appeared. And outside the building, a crowd of onlookers had gathered.
Of course, most of them were his subordinates, but Yang Wei bit his lip in anxiety.
“Anyway, how long does it take to deal with one building…”
As Yang Wei gritted his teeth and drove his car toward the building, that moment.
Boom!
“!”
The building that had been under a magical barrier suddenly exploded.
Startled, Yang Wei jumped out of the car.
“What, what’s going on!”
Yang Wei couldn’t shut his mouth at the sight of the shattered building ceiling. Even the seal of his own castle’s forces had been completely ignored and shattered cleanly.
But there was something even more shocking.
“Kyaa! A spider came out from inside!”
People who were not supposed to come out of the building were pouring out.
And they were shouting shocking words.
“The spiders inside are all dead!”
“The purple human spider too!”
At those words, Yang Wei’s face couldn’t help but turn pale.
‘Purple human spider?’
It was undoubtedly referring to that Spider Queen.
And that spider was something they themselves couldn’t kill, so they had secretly sealed it, and he had ordered them to make a fake corpse.
‘But that thing that crawled out again is dead?’
At the same time, as reporters began to appear nearby, Yang Wei became desperate.
“Damn it!”
Eventually, as Yang Wei approached the building, his subordinates hurriedly stopped him.
“Castle Lord! You must not go inside!”
“It has weakened, but the venom still…!”
‘Shut up. This is no time for that!’
Yang Wei pushed his subordinates aside and hurriedly entered the building.
He was confused.
‘Damn it, what happened? Who on earth could kill that spider!’
But then.
Yang Wei heard a familiar voice from there.
“Hey. Long time no see?”
It was a spine-chilling voice.
(To be continued in the next episode.)