‘Green?’
Zhang Rui felt disgusted by the faint green glow emanating from Kevin’s body.
And no wonder—green was the symbol of Yigun.
And the Virgo, which should be silver, was green?
Of course, there was a suspicion that came to mind.
‘I heard that the Ophiuchus almost became Yigun’s saint briefly.’
It was absurd, but Hugo was a die-hard fan of Yigun, after all.
And it was just then, wondering if Kevin might be the same.
The green light disappeared soon after.
So Zhang Rui narrowed his brow.
‘Did I see wrong?’
Well, it didn’t matter either way.
Having discovered the Virgo, Zhang Rui wore a deeply displeased expression.
It couldn’t be helped.
“Do you have any idea? How harshly I was treated by my client Giselle because of you?”
Because Kevin sided with Yigun and disrupted the plan, he had endured every form of torture imaginable.
Not that the Cancer was weaker than the Libra, mind you.
It was just that as a saint serving the gods, he afforded him treatment befitting his station.
But unpleasant was still unpleasant.
“So when I met you, I thought about making that pretty face of yours look like Yigun’s past face.”
“Ha, Yigun’s face? That’d just be your just deserts, you bastards who plotted to kill Yigun.”
“!”
Just then.
The sudden burst of green light made Zhang Rui’s expression worth seeing.
‘As I thought, he seems to react to stories about Yigun.’
But it was right then.
“Well, enough of that crap.”
The moment Kevin raised his sacred weapon high, a fierce cold surged skyward.
[Biting Wind of January]
Zhang Rui was startled by that skill.
Crrreeak!
It was like a waterspout.
And the diameter of the whirlwind shooting into the sky was measured in kilometers.
‘!’
The pillar dyed the sky black and summoned a great freezing calamity.
Whoooosh!
Truly, it was an ice storm that turned even desert lands into frozen wastes in an instant.
At this, Zhang Rui reverted to his original form.
He had been traveling in the guise of the Cancer’s saint leader to avoid notice, but even so, he couldn’t block that attack in the form of an S-rank saint.
And revealing his true self, Zhang Rui used his ability.
[Devouring Star (SSS)]
At the same time, a dark-brown light burst from Zhang Rui’s eyes. The dark-brown light absorbed every last bit of the Virgo’s power.
Should one say it was like a black hole?
At last, the powers of the two saints collided.
Kaboom!
And even while absorbing, Zhang Rui laughed at the ice storm growing ever more ferocious.
‘As expected of the second-ranked Zodiac seat.’
Of course, part of it was that Kevin was also exerting himself fiercely.
As expected.
Kevin, on the verge of becoming the Cancer’s saint, was grinding his teeth.
‘These bastards who were always frantic to tear Yigun apart.’
He himself had been one of them, but that was because Yigun always took his first place—not that he hated him enough to kill him.
Rather, he thought of Yigun as a necessary existence for humanity.
But the others were different.
Taurus, Capricorn, Aries, Aquarius, Pisces, Gemini.
The ones who uniquely viewed Yigun as a thorn in their side.
Well, since Yigun’s personality was prickly and arrogant it was possible to hate him, but still, he never imagined they’d resort to such cowardly murder.
Anyway, Kevin was grinding his teeth to catch the culprit who killed Yigun.
He was hateful, but he had also admired him—that was the truth.
And that was why Kevin pursued the most suspicious one.
To be honest, he had suspected Hugo for 20 years, and also Scorpio, but those had gone awry so absurdly it couldn’t be helped.
It was while their powers were locked in a struggle.
‘!’
The Virgo flinched.
It was because Zhang Rui had suddenly appeared right in front of him while he was exerting his power.
And not just one—ten of them!
‘Division!’
At last, the ten Zhang Ruis smiled and drew their daggers.
[Star That Kills Heroes (SS)]
-Sacred Weapon
-Drives the opponent to complete death in an instant. Effectiveness increases the higher the opponent’s achievements.
Of course, one might think that since Zhang Rui is a crime coordinator, he wouldn’t have much fighting skill.
But he was not the chief of criminal saints for nothing.
His skill in underhanded ambushes already surpassed Kevin’s level!
As expected.
“Ugh!”
The ten Zhang Ruis threatened Kevin from all sides.
‘……!’
Of course, Kevin was the strongest swordsman in humanity.
He could read the presence and block such attacks in an instant.
But.
“As expected, missing one arm is too great a handicap.”
‘Ah.’
A blunt force struck Kevin’s right temple.
Crack!
“Guhk!”
It was the Cancer’s elbow. And the moment Kevin’s head swayed, staggered, Zhang Rui continued his attack.
Stab!!
Countless daggers pierced Kevin’s body.
“Keuk…!”
Of course, ordinary swords would not have been able to pierce a saint’s blessing, but it was a different story with the Cancer’s sacred weapon.
‘The Cancer’s sword that devours divine power…’
Simultaneously, the ten scattered clones of Zhang Rui merged into one.
It was a sight as if writhing oil was moving.
And what remained was just one Zhang Rui, his blade plunged into Kevin’s stomach.
Then Zhang Rui grabbed Kevin’s throat and laughed.
“What use is being the strongest swordsman? If your dominant arm is cut off, you’re a toothless tiger.”
“Keuk…!”
“Anyway, thank Yigun for cutting off that arm so neatly. Guards that normally wouldn’t be pierced are now wide open.”
At Yigun’s name, the green light flared again.
But even that was fleeting, and Kevin grabbed the Cancer’s arm on his throat and smiled.
“After me, the next one to lose an arm to Yigun will be you.”
And at that blazing glare, the Cancer smiled oddly.
“Me?”
“Of course. You made Yigun rot in that tower, yet you still hope for his favor?”
At those words, Zhang Rui burst into laughter as if he couldn’t hold back any longer.
“What are you talking about! It was you who stabbed Yigun.”
“What?”
Kevin looked dumbfounded, but the Cancer merely laughed heartily.
“It was truly hard to bear. How comedic it was, the very one who stabbed Yigun soon trailing after him like a lovesick fool.”
“…What?”
“Don’t you know? It was you who stabbed Yigun 20 years ago.”
At those words, Kevin gathered magic power into his hand in disbelief.
“Don’t bandy words, what more nonsense…!”
But.
“You have no memory of the Tower of Demons, do you?”
The hand laden with power trembled slightly.
And at that reaction, the Cancer laughed sharply.
“The collapse of the 12 Zodiac system would be troublesome, so I kept my mouth shut. But I saw it that day.”
“……?”
“After securing the Red Eyes, you stabbed Yigun in the back.”
“……!!”
“Of course, since you were unconscious in the eyes, you seemed controlled by something, but still…”
At that, Kevin’s hand trembled.
But whether he did or not, the Cancer smiled nonchalantly and added.
“This is the incident of the great Yigun being murdered. Do you think we haven’t investigated since then?”
The color had already drained from Kevin’s face.
“It’s not certain, but the mastermind is probably an unknown civilization or a star god. Because no one under that level can control a saint-class being.”
“……!”
“But.”
The Cancer slyly raised the corner of his mouth.
“Whether you were controlled or not, the fact remains that you stabbed Yigun and pushed him into the trap.”
At those words, Kevin’s expression completely froze.
Of course, he wasn’t reacting purely based on Zhang Rui’s words.
It was also because, just after Yigun left the Virgo sanctuary, one of the Virgo’s saint members had come to him with strange questions.
Jinmyeong, an SS-rank appraiser, was one of the two SS-rank saints in Virgo.
He was close to Cheon Seong-jae and usually stayed at the sacred item exchange, but as an extreme fan of Yigun, Kevin remembered him well.
Anyway, he had come and asked this.
‘Uh, Kevin-nim. Did you perhaps fall under a monster’s control spell in the Tower of Demons?’
‘No, I didn’t. Why do you ask?’
‘No, it’s just… I wondered if you might have attacked allies after falling under an illusion or control spell…’
‘You must have seen something while appraising an object’s memory again.’
‘Huh? Ah, yes! While appraising an item from the Tower of Demons you asked me to investigate…’
‘Then you saw wrong. In the first place, all saints are under a star god’s blessing. If they fall under a control spell, the star god wouldn’t sit still.’
Certainly, his subordinate had said such a thing, but no way.
At those trembling eyes, the Cancer smiled as if understanding.
“Of course, a star god wouldn’t stand idly by while their saint is controlled. So the only possibility is a being of such stature that even the star god didn’t notice, on the level of a ruler—or else the star god’s own doing.”
“…….”
At Kevin’s expression, the Cancer smiled with satisfaction.
This was surely a moment where shock, wounded pride, self-loathing, and all sorts of emotions were crossing simultaneously.
“Well, I purposely didn’t tell you because it’d be meaningless and too shocking, but now you have no more questions.”
The Cancer whispered to Kevin.
“Now you know who the one who stabbed Yigun is.”
In the end, the sword fell from the hand of Kevin, lost in shock. It was a sword he had never once dropped as a swordsman.
At the same time, Zhang Rui unleashed his magic power as if he’d been waiting.
[Star God’s Descent]
Along with a menacing dark-brown magic power, an immense energy surged behind Zhang Rui’s back.
Simultaneously, Zhang Rui, having activated the skill, smiled in relief.
‘Fortunately, that green light from before didn’t activate.’
Whatever it was, that light felt ominous.
Perhaps because of that.
‘I’ll finish this before that green light activates again.’
With that thought, a star of darkness swiftly revealed itself.
It was a colossal star of darkness that could reduce a saint to nothing in an instant.
And then.
“I hope the next Virgo saint isn’t a man.”
At last, the star of darkness pierced the heart of the Virgo saint.
Thrust!
It was the moment one great star was about to return to ash.
* * *
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
[The power of the Ophiuchus that went outside is activating]
Yigun narrowed his brow at the incoming alert.
It was because he realized what the notification was.
‘The one I attached to that bastard activated.’
Well, that wasn’t important right now.
“Found it.”
Yigun was raising the corner of his mouth.
He was currently in the underground of the Tower of Demons.
Of course, the paths leading underground were all destroyed, but well.
[The tower is under the influence of the Ophiuchus’s power]
[The tower is regenerating]
Indeed. Perhaps because of his own power, the path leading underground was regenerating.
Still, it was strange.
‘Super regeneration is supposed to be a skill that only works on living things.’
If that were true, had the range of his super regeneration expanded as his level rose?
Well, it didn’t matter either way.
Having descended the stairs, Yigun had entered the [Administrator’s Office] located underground.
And there was one reason Yigun was interested in this room.
[The core power of the Gatekeeper is insufficient to restore up to the 100th floor]
[Restoration is limited to the 10th floor with the core power]
[Another method is required]
Indeed.
To use the borrowed tool, he needed to go to the 100th floor, but that was currently impossible.
But amidst that, what he’d discovered was this underground space.
‘If this is the administrator’s office, perhaps the records from that day remain.’
This tower’s administrator was the bastard who treated him like a test subject and blabbered about all sorts of things.
‘And he definitely said there are recording media like CCTV.’
And, as expected.
“Bingo.”
Having entered the [Administrator’s Office], Yigun raised the corner of his mouth.
What Yigun was looking at was a giant crystal orb in the center of the room.
[Tower of Demons Record Memory]
-Records from the 1st to the 100th floor
Of course, it would seem unusable without the [Key], but that didn’t matter.
[The Tower Administrator’s Pocket Watch (SS)]
-A sacred totem possessed by one of the [Gatekeepers].
Perhaps thanks to the loot from the one he’d killed last in this place?
[Administrator authentication complete]
[Which memory would you like to retrieve?]
The crystal orb produced a voice and reacted.
And the crystal orb, as he’d expected, seemed to be a tool holding the tower’s records.
It even appeared capable of playing back detailed records of each floor by date, like CCTV.
‘With this, I won’t have to bother going up to the 100th floor.’
Yigun smirked.
It actually seemed much more useful than the tool the diehard fan appraiser had lent him.
But.
“I can’t access the records.”
Because he didn’t know the language of the unknown civilization at all.
Thus, it seemed he would need Haeli’s help for now.
‘Let’s take it out first.’
Yigun felt it instinctively.
The malice he sensed in the touch of the bastard who pushed him into the trap in the tower that day.
And that malice was far more immense than he’d imagined.
‘I’ll use this to capture everyone connected to my death.’
Of course, the crystal orb seemed to have a lock, so even Haeli might not be able to activate it right away.
But it was just then.
[No response. Retrieving last memory]
[Record: January 7, 2005]
[12 human intruders confirmed]
“!”
At the unexpected voice, Yigun’s eyes could only widen.
Because that date was the day they had gone on the Tower of Demons raid.
The 12 human intruders must refer to themselves.
Indeed, the crystal orb brought up familiar information.
[Star God’s contract detected from intruders]
[Identity confirmed based on information]
That familiar information was exactly their faces from 20 years ago.
But that was why it was strange.
‘What is this. Thirteen of us definitely entered the Tower of Demons.’
At least up to the 90th floor, everyone had been present and accounted for.
Yet 12?
But his moment of doubt was brief.
Because at the face information of the 12 that appeared, Yigun froze.
He couldn’t help it.
‘That pity-virgin bastard isn’t there.’
As expected, the memory spoke.
[Virgo contractor among intruders unconfirmed]
At those words, Yigun’s eyes widened exceptionally.
‘If this record is true…’
It means Kevin never even entered the tower at all.
‘In other words, he’s excluded from the suspects.’
And if this was the situation…
Yigun’s thoughts sank for a moment.
And it was at that instant.
Yigun’s eyes flashed murderously.
“Ah, now I know who the culprit is.”
(To be continued in the next episode)