Meanwhile, on the first floor of the Demon Tower.
[Good heavens, what on earth…]
[Can such a thing even be possible?!]
Scorpio. Haili’s lesser gods were rubbing their eyes in disbelief at the sight before them.
Though they now fell under the category of lesser gods, these beings had once been generals of the unknown civilization.
And in the distant past, they had been tasked with assassinating saints, only to betray their side after discovering Haili in the human camp—over twenty years ago.
They had thought they knew the capabilities of human awakened better than anyone.
But.
[I-Is this truly the work of a human?]
[Hmm. Calling that guy human is a bit of a stretch, isn’t it?]
Before their eyes lay monsters that had been utterly shredded.
Of course, even as monsters, they weren’t comrades.
They were traitors now, enemies.
But.
[Wh-What a gruesome sight…!]
Even for enemies, the scene was so horrific it stirred pity—a field of mangled corpses scrambled into a mess!
Some had their bones and hide stripped away, while the useless ones were literally crushed into pulp.
Likely a thorough disposal to ensure they couldn’t regenerate and emerge from the tower.
Once reduced to that state, it was true the monsters couldn’t move.
In fact, the pulped remains, under the tower’s power, were trying to revert to their original form.
[Uwaaah… save me, it’s agony.]
[My body won’t go back…!]
Their original forms were so destroyed that the tower seemed unable to recognize them as living creatures.
But that’s precisely what baffled them. For disposal, simply burning them would have sufficed.
[Why on earth such a gruesome act…]
At that, the lesser god averted their gaze.
[Well… he said if he burned them, he couldn’t kill them again, and left it at that.]
[Wh-What? Can’t kill them again??]
[That man Lee Geon fixed this tower to use as a leveling ground for his own saints. He said he’d make the slain ones super-regenerate… using them as endless fields of experience points…]
Thanks to that, Haili’s lesser gods shouted in terror.
[Princess!!!! That man is truly dangerous!!!]
[A demon you must never go near!!]
[You absolutely must not fall for h-Guhk!!!]
“Shut your mouths! Wh-Who said anything about falling for someone!”
The monster lesser gods were struck down by a thrown knife and collapsed.
It was Haili.
Her face flushed, she was rising from the underground.
[Princess! Have you finished the investigation Lee Geon requested?]
“Yes.”
Indeed.
Haili had come to the Demon Tower at Lee Geon’s request.
After all, Lee Geon wanted to make his enemies taste the same fate as himself.
Hadn’t he acted that way when the saints asked about Zhang Rui?
-So. How will you deal with Zhang Rui now?
To that question, hadn’t Lee Geon answered like this?
-How do you think?
Instead of answering, Lee Geon smiled meaningfully. A very dangerous smile it was.
And for his sake, Haili had come to decipher the records left in the tower, which was all well and good, but.
“Anyway, it seems the Lord of Seo is targeting Lee Geon.”
[What?! That Seo?]
“Yes.”
The subordinates looked panicked.
After all, Seo was a being who held the position of Grand Lord among the lords.
‘Moreover, that bastard is connected to the Princess…!’
‘He’ll try to kill the Princess.’
Meanwhile, Haili, who had been analyzing the unknown civilization’s records, spoke with a worried tone.
The problem was precisely the enemy Lee Geon and Cheon Seongjae had defeated in this tower.
“It had to be the Lord of Seo, one of those belligerent ones.”
[!]
The unknown civilization’s camp was broadly divided into three stages.
Stage 1 were the ones who had appeared in the human camp so far, monsters ranging from Green Zone to Red Zone level. To use a simple analogy, they were the foot soldiers.
And from Stage 2 began the Lord camp, the general-level and above. Their foot soldiers were at the Black Zone level.
But.
‘In twenty years, the Lord camp has never once moved directly.’
The only time they personally intervened was with their pet, the Red Eyes.
But now it was different.
‘A Lord-level will invade.’
Well, it didn’t matter either way.
Haili’s loyal followers, watching her meticulously check things, fumed.
[Anyway, Princess, aren’t you being too devoted to that enemy deity?]
[You’re even working without any compensation! You must receive payment!]
At that, Haili let out a hollow laugh.
“Payment, for Lee Geon?”
Thinking of Lee Geon, she coughed.
“M-Merely being able to converse with him through this commission is payment enough.”
Her subordinates were frustrated.
[No! You can’t do that, Princess! If you like him that much, you should get closer to him!]
Then Haili, as if asking what nonsense they were speaking, got angry instead.
“We’re already close enough!!”
[What are you saying, when you haven’t even seen his face!]
“We are close! One meter apart is close enough!”
They fumed as if exasperated.
[Princess!!! Human men and women do other actions when they get close!]
“What?”
[Listen well! What human men and women call being close is!]
They whispered something to Haili.
And Haili, who had been listening to her subordinates’ words with a composed, expressionless face, gradually turned redder and redder.
[Do you understand now, Princess! This is what they mean by being close…!]
“Wha-What an obscene thing! Isn’t that just mating!”
[Correct! That’s exactly it! Human men and women who are close, they mate!]
[Therefore, Princess, you too with Lee Geon… Guhauk!]
The subordinates were struck and sent flying again.
And it was when Haili, who felt like dying just from the imagination, was turning her head.
‘!’
She spotted something and was startled.
It was a corpse that looked exactly like Lee Geon.
* * *
Meanwhile, around that time was when it happened.
Flash!
An immense light spread throughout the workshop in Hawaii.
There lay the body of Cancer.
Lee Geon’s few lesser gods had brought it in, struggling all the way.
And before the blazing flames, Lee Geon, stripped to the waist, was working on the Judgment of the Heavens.
Clang! Clang!
First, the remnants of the Judgment of the Heavens were melted in the solar flame.
It was to upgrade the body.
And now, he was processing the Lion’s Fang that had even pierced a god’s body.
Of course, being a god’s tooth for a reason, he couldn’t sharpen it beyond a certain point.
So, what he used was the Elixir of Lubrication provided by the Scorching Master.
[You can turn a god’s body into material with the Elixir of Lubrication]
It was said that from the God’s Body rank (SSS) and above, this material was absolutely necessary.
It was a kind of meat tenderizer. As proof, the material changed.
[The part touched by the tears has softened. The part touched twice has turned into liquid]
[The Skill of the Creation Workshop takes effect]
[Experience increases]
Of course, being a god’s body for a reason, the power emanating from the material itself was no joke.
Perhaps because of that.
Lee Geon smirked.
‘Once it’s complete, it’ll be stronger than the original Judgment of the Heavens.’
At this level, wouldn’t it be worth going to pull out more Lion’s Fangs to make multiple weapons?
But even as he thought that, Lee Geon furrowed his brow.
The body upgrade felt great, but the other side…
[Failed to Super-Regenerate the material]
[The level of Super-Regeneration is too low]
[It is contaminated by the Dark Star. Purification is required]
Lee Geon, using the leveled-up Super-Regeneration (S), clicked his tongue.
The target he was using Super-Regeneration on was none other than the core of the Judgment of the Heavens.
The heart and skeleton of all holy artifacts; if that part wasn’t broken, it could be repaired over and over.
It was especially crucial for those with an ego.
But the Judgment of the Heavens had that part broken.
‘Without that, even with an upgrade, it’s just an empty shell.’
And just when the Super-Regeneration skill leveled up from this incident, allowing him to regenerate inanimate objects as well.
‘The core is too tainted, making regeneration difficult.’
Simply put, contaminants were blocking the regeneration.
Meaning, what he needed was Purification.
But.
‘Purification is a unique skill of Aquarius.’
Of course, Lee Geon had always appreciated the skill.
Purification, which removed toxicity and contamination, was essential for materials from monsters.
So, in the old days, he used to pay to borrow it, but this time, he had beaten Sophie to a pulp and obtained a ton of data.
Though he used it well thanks to that, the supply was visibly running low.
[Purification (SS) (1 use)] X 4 units
That wasn’t all.
‘SSS-rank (Godly) contamination can’t be purified with SS-rank data.’
As he was struck down by the Cancer saint, the Judgment of the Heavens needed saint-level purification.
Perhaps because of that.
Lee Geon quickly called someone.
“Hey, Oh Taeksu!”
But the person he called was drawing on the ground.
“Geoni’s helmet… Geoni’s helmet.”
Had becoming a subordinate been that shocking?
Dressed in a black sleeveless top, he wore an expression of utter despair.
And Hugo looked at the tattoo on his left shoulder and sighed as if the ground should swallow him up.
“…A snake has been added to the constellation. Now it’s really confirmed.”
But perhaps knowing or not knowing her father’s feelings.
“Dad! It’s amazing! Since Sagittarius entered as a subordinate, even the magic I kept failing at succeeded! The power of the Snake Handler must have gotten stronger because of Sagittarius’s contribution, right?!”
“!”
Commemorating becoming a saint, Cheon Seongjae, who was developing a skill, cheered in triumph.
“Look! It’s a moving uncle figurine! Want me to pat its head too? Anyway, Dad, quickly pump up your contribution so I can fill my collection of 1,000!”
At that sight, Hugo finally clutched his face.
“Argh! That saint is truly my enemy! I tried so hard not to end up like Kevin’s family…!”
But it was then.
“Guhk!”
Hugo screamed at a glass bottle that suddenly flew at him.
It was from Lee Geon.
“How long are you going to be like that? I said I’d make all your equipment from scratch.”
“No, I mean… it’s a matter of feelings…”
“Forget it, and call your saint. I’ve got something for them to do.”
“What? They’re a subordinate now, so even without going through me, they’ll come if you call, won’t they?”
“No. Even if I call, they can’t come out.”
“What? Why?”
Why do you think.
[The Scorching Master fainted at the sight of a fallen hair]
[The Scorching Master despairs, saying everything is dead]
In the end, Lee Geon shook the empty Divine Tears (SSS) and said,
“Enough. This meat tenderizer your saint gave me. This is Sagittarius’s stuff, right? I used it all up, got any more?”
“Ah, that’s not ours. It comes from the Aquarius saint’s royal sacred artifact, the Holy Grail.”
“!”
Lee Geon’s eyes widened.
The Aquarius saint, definitely…
‘One of those enemy bastards who appeared when Cancer was executed.’
Well, this was convenient. Didn’t he need a god-rank skill from Aquarius anyway?
But a saint couldn’t be pulled out from the divine realm.
‘The only way to summon a saint is through a holy one.’
That’s why he had separated and stored the holy ones’ souls and bodies.
Revenge aside, the saints were connected to the holy ones, making them excellent avatars that could mess with the saints depending on how they were used.
‘And they’re great witnesses, too.’
Whatever the saints tried to pull.
At the same time, Lee Geon recalled what Zhang Rui, whom he had dealt with, said.
- It was the saints who trapped you in the tower, who laid hands on your precious family. It was at the saints’ instigation.
He wondered how much of that could be believed, but it was probably almost true.
‘In the first place, without Aquarius’s royal sacred artifact (the Holy Grail) and Purification, Cheongongi can’t be revived.’
Perhaps because of that.
Lee Geon smiled devilishly.
“Where’s our little bed-wetter right about now?”
At that, Hugo scoffed.
“You’re planning to beat her to a pulp again to summon the saint? Back then, you could do that because you met her in Dracma where the saint couldn’t descend. This time, the saints won’t just sit still.”
Besides, hadn’t he even killed a saint this time? There was no way the saints would watch peacefully.
But Lee Geon sneered.
“I don’t care. The one who’ll come looking is you, anyway. And if it’s your request, she’d probably hand over Aquarius’s entire fortune.”
“Me?? Why??”
“Why do you think? She’s had a crush on you since old times.”
At those words, Hugo’s expression was quite a sight. It was as if asking what bullshit he was spouting now.
At that look, Lee Geon scoffed.
“What, you didn’t know? It’s not for nothing that she hates me.”
“???!”
“Seems like it’s still ongoing even after twenty years; at the auction house, she was oozing delight at seeing you, not knowing what to do with herself.”
Thanks to that, Hugo’s mind flew off to Andromeda.
No, there, she said he’d become an old man and subjected him to all sorts of humiliation?
“Wait, more importantly. Can you even find her? You threw her from the atmosphere!”
At that, Lee Geon clicked his tongue.
“Tch, are the search parties idiots? They still haven’t found her?”
“You do realize normal people don’t think of throwing a person from the atmosphere, right?”
Lee Geon completely ignored him.
“And that bed-wetter, she’s ridiculous too. Fell from the mere atmosphere and hasn’t shown up for a month?”
“Argh! Normally, not surviving is the normal outcome!”
At the same time, Hugo sighed.
‘From the start, it’s better that Geoni doesn’t find Sophie.’
Hadn’t he seen the state last time?
And it was a hero image he’d painstakingly restored.
‘If that brutal scene gets broadcast again….’
Hugo shuddered in disgust.
‘Let’s avoid that at all costs.’
Besides, they probably couldn’t find her anyway. Moreover, this time, the situation was different from last time.
“Anyway, we’re also customers of Aquarius for now. We’ll spend money and place an order for the desired items, so give up on finding Sophie….”
But it was then.
- Please, save me!
At the familiar voice, both Hugo and Lee Geon were startled.
It was the voice coming from the TV that Lee Geon had turned on to search for Sophie’s whereabouts.
And at that moment, shocking news was being reported on TV.
- Did you hear that! Breaking news! The unknown civilization has appeared with the missing saintess as a hostage!
- And they demand one hundred million human prisoners in exchange for her safe return…
The screen showed precisely the Red Zone where Lee Geon had been about to head.
Lee Geon laughed as if dumbfounded.
What the, why is she there?
(To be continued in the next episode)