[Life's level has risen]
[Death speaks to you]
Unlike Death, a warm light appeared.
And at that sight, Death, who was trying to raise Igeon as a calamity god, screamed.
[Death tells you to quickly use his power]
[Death ignores Life and tells you to just go home, wash your feet, and go to sleep]
But despite Death's efforts, another expression like a scream emerged from the golden-green magic power.
Of course, it was quite different from Death's expression.
Death's expression was, so to speak, like that of a demon.
With half-moon-shaped sinister eyes and a mouth torn wide like a red mask, if one tried to find it cute, it felt like a mischievous child.
Compared to that, Life had a very quiet and gentle expression.
In that unsmiling face, there was even a solemn dignity, as if repelling evil.
And that was the 2nd stage of Life.
In the end, this triggered a competition.
[Death despairs]
[He screams that because the Serpent Master just happened to swallow Life, the damned Life has opened its eyes]
At that notification, Igeon sneered as if disgusted.
That bastard. So that's why he's been making a fuss about not making Life an offering since earlier?
'Well, I had a hunch.'
Though, I understood his reasoning.
'Because Death and Life are hard to coexist.'
And as expected.
[Death intensely dislikes Life]
[Death suppresses Life's rampage]
[Under Death's energy, Life grows even more]
[Life's power becomes even stronger]
[Life's power becomes even stronger]
[Life's power becomes even stronger]
[Due to Life's growth, related authorities and traits also grow together]
Cheonseongjae's cheer, affected by that energy, rang out.
"Jackpot! I feel the power boiling! Uncle, you're the best!"
At any rate, Life is a force related to vitality.
It becomes a considerable strength for Cheonseongjae.
And inevitably, it would also affect Cheonseongjae, the saint of life.
Indeed, the effect was substantial.
[Spirit Pressure's power rises]
[Forced Intimidation's power rises]
[Spatial Leap's power rises]
[The base stamina of the subordinate gods belonging to the Serpent Master's seat increases]
[Mobility increases; the subordinate gods do not tire easily]
[The base defense of the subordinate gods belonging to the Serpent Master's seat increases]
[The total amount of the Serpent Master's magic power has slightly increased]
Truly, as Life rose, the stats related to protecting life rose sharply.
Representatively, they were stats related to defense, stamina, magic power, etc.
When Death had grown, what had risen were mainly things related to damage or curses.
'Then Death is the spear, and Life is the zombie... no, the shield.'
That was not all.
Just as new skills appeared when Death reached the 2nd stage, new skills appeared for Life as well.
[Resurrection]
Anyway, thanks to Life, the chronic issue of lacking magic power amount also increased a bit.
So if he kept raising Life like this, he could also eliminate the magic power shortage.
But what was this?
In truth, Life seemed to be full of dissatisfaction toward Igeon.
As expected.
[Life says he is disappointed in his master]
"......!"
Since it was a different reaction from Death, Igeon flinched.
Well, it wasn't that he couldn't guess the reason.
Recently, he had used Death's power a lot and killed quite a few.
Moreover, he had killed hundreds of millions of lives in an instant, so from Life's standpoint, he would be very dissatisfied.
As if meeting those expectations, solemn Life expressed his dissatisfaction.
[Life says you shouldn't kill living things with a single stroke like that]
[He says that if you kill them instantly, they can't feel pain]
[He says that living beings only realize they are alive when they feel pain]
[He grumbles that next time, you shouldn't kill them all at once]
"?!"
Igeon's eyes widened. No, did he hear that wrong just now?
But it seemed he hadn't heard wrong, as Death screamed.
[Death says, 'See?' and tells you to choose him. He claims Life has a broken personality and doesn't suit his master]
[Life is displeased. He argues that emotions and senses are precious things that can only be felt because one is alive. He says Death, who kills all of that, is an irreconcilable demon bastard and gets angry]
[Death is indignant, asking which one is the demon bastard]
[Death says to just destroy everything, including Life!]
In the end, as they fought, each insisting they themselves were the ones helpful to the Serpent Master, Igeon was dumbfounded.
No, Life or Death.
What kind of crazy things were these?
But then, a voice asked Igeon if he thought it shouldn't be expected.
[Death says that, after all, Life is a part of the god. Naturally, he takes after his master's disposition]
[He mocks with a toothless grin, saying the new godhead is exactly like them]
[Life says he has had a good look at the Serpent Master's temper and to quickly come over to his side, scratching the floor]
Igeon's eyebrows twitched in anger.
But well, it was fine.
Whatever the gods said, if he kept evolving the deities like this,
then when he reached the final stage, wouldn't he eventually have the strongest offense and the strongest defense?
But then, it was at that moment.
[Only one of the two deities can reach the final realm]
[The one who reaches it first will undergo the final awakening in that disposition]
At those words, Igeon was quite intrigued.
'So in the end, only one is to be chosen.'
That was why the two deities were so desperate for him to choose them.
But then.
"!"
Igeon raised his eyebrows at the thing squirming beneath his foot.
It was small and hard to see, but it was definitely the Monarch of Abundance!
The monarch, who had been hit by the Gluttony skill, was desperately crawling, sneakily trying to escape from Igeon.
And the monarch was grinding its teeth.
The unbearable pain was a secondary problem.
'To have my authority stolen... this is serious.'
After all, it was the Monarch of Abundance, who creates monsters from unknown civilizations.
It was the king of life, whose maddening reproductive power, like that of cockroaches, had made even the 12 Star Gods abandon their strategy of capturing it.
It had raised its young to adults, and its adults to Ancient-class, and was the very cause that broke even their will to fight.
But if it couldn't use the ability to create?
'The 12 Star Gods and humans will dare to nurture thoughts of conquest.'
The greatest reason why those bastards wouldn't come out of the dome and only insisted on a defensive battle was because of troop numbers.
It was because of the constant replenishment of soldiers through the power of Abundance.
But if the forces of those monsters were to become limited?
'Not good.'
The difference between a war where the end is visible and a war where the end is not visible is very great.
Humans, who had been confined inside the dome like a cage, would open the dome themselves and rush out.
And they would dare to challenge them!
Therefore, it had to escape from here.
But then, it was at that moment.
Crunch!
[Cough!]
Igeon, who had stepped on it like a flea, laughed.
"You little bastard, trying to slip away. Well, this turned out well."
At the news that the monarch was still alive, the power of the two deities shot skyward.
[Both deities are very pleased]
[Life is elated, saying that this time, he can make it feel the pain of being alive]
[Death is excited, saying he gets to kill it one more time]
As the two forces swirled, the monarch ground its teeth.
[Don't underestimate the power of Abundance]
No sooner had the words fallen than the barrier cast over Seoul shone.
"The barrier!"
It had wavered, but the barrier of Abundance was not yet broken.
And indeed, as expected.
The monarch laughed as if everything was going according to plan.
[See! This light! This barrier is created by my clone. And this light! It consumes the subordinates you sent and brings me nourishment! Even if they are humans, SS-rank really is something else!]
At those words, Hyugo's expression changed.
After all, the only SS-rank Igeon had sent was Goteu.
That's why Hyugo hurriedly tried to contact Goteu.
Crunch!
Suddenly, a strange light began to emanate from the barrier.
Igeon smirked.
* * *
Meanwhile, around that time.
Bang! Bang!
Hundreds of holy warriors who had entered Seoul to capture the Abundance and offer it to the star gods couldn't hide their bewilderment.
"Th-those are Sagittarius Seat members, right?"
"Y-yeah."
Their gazes were fixed on the wide four-way intersection plaza.
The plaza was already a field of monsters, and there were archers engaged in battle.
Of course, the reason they were surprised was not simply because they saw the famously beautiful and rare holy warriors of the Sagittarius Seat.
"Hey. What's this? They weren't this strong before!"
"The monsters are melting away!"
Indeed.
There were Goteu, Lee Jaewon, and even the youngest holy warriors who liked Igeon—five in total.
Just five of them were killing monsters that would require hundreds to rush at.
[Experience increases drastically]
[Experience increases drastically]
[A portion of the experience is offered to the Serpent Master's seat]
It was truly a terrifying skill.
Even with SS-rank Goteu and S-rank Lee Jaewon, this wasn't normal.
"What's with that destructive power!"
"It's totally different from before!"
It was a destructive power beyond common sense to simply attribute to the growth of a star god.
Indeed, Joesep, the ten-star saint of Taurus who had led the holy warriors of the combat-star seats, furrowed his brow.
'No matter how much the star god's blessing strengthens, they can't suddenly become this strong.'
He knew that the Sagittarius Seat was considerably skilled for their low number of holy warriors, but still.
"What's this? A week ago, they weren't at this level..."
But they soon noticed the secret.
"Weapons!"
The holy warriors were startled by the weapons those beings were holding.
"Crazy, those are SS-rank weapons!"
Indeed.
The new bows Goteu and Lee Jaewon were holding were SS-rank.
"Definitely! It's showing SS-rank!"
Someone wearing appraisal holy artifacts in the shape of glasses was aghast.
And SS-rank is the highest quality, with only ten existing in the whole world, excluding the imperial holy artifacts.
That's why it was bewildering.
"Ridiculous! Wasn't SS-rank a patented product that can only be made at the Capricorn Seat's genius workshop?!"
Even that was incredibly expensive and difficult to make, so the artisans of the Capricorn Seat were notoriously haughty.
They were beings whom even saints had to grovel to in order to barely get a weapon made.
But those bastards from the bottom-rank star seat had those?
That wasn't all.
"What's this? The others are holding S-rank, too...?"
"What? Are you kidding? Those bastards don't have money to buy B-rank equipment! Do you know how expensive S-rank is!"
"Ah... Come to think of it, I think I heard that Igeon-nim made weapons for the Sagittarius Seat..."
"What?! Then those were made by Igeon-nim?"
They were thrown into a mental breakdown.
Because they had all chuckled dismissively at the rumor that Igeon made weapons.
"As if, the beggars had no money, so they entrusted it to someone who's not even from Capricorn..."
But what was that destructive power?
Maybe because of that?
"...Hey. Honestly, at that level, isn't it more powerful than the genius workshop?"
"Are you kidding? Do you know what the genius workshop is!"
The genius workshop and the Capricorn Seat are responsible for all of humanity's weapons.
"The genius workshop is where the star god of Capricorn personally inspects... Whoa, shit! They even blocked monster teeth with a bow! What kind of durability is that!"
And that was the moment.
Goteu, who had received an unknown civilization version of the Bible from Igeon and identified the enemy's weaknesses, furrowed his brow.
'A Bible, huh? It's similar to ours, isn't it?'
Of course, the stats and authorities were completely different.
Anyway, it was fascinating, but the opportunity was here.
'Take them all out.'
And as if on cue.
Crunch!
Along with Goteu's bow, the barrier of Abundance was shattered.
And at the same moment.
The monarch, realizing the barrier was shattered, could only be flustered.
[...Th-this is!]
Simultaneously, Igeon laughed.
"Looks like all the remaining tricks are finished now?"
[......!!!]
The monarch was flustered, and Cheonseongjae, as if something had occurred to him, shouted.
"Right, Uncle! That guy had the soul of the Pisces saint inside his body!"
"What?!"
Hyugo was surprised, but Igeon seemed to have guessed.
"I felt a familiar energy anyway, so I was thinking of tearing his stomach open."
"Wasn't it to make a bag?"
At the word 'bag', the monarch's body trembled.
'Damn it, I underestimated these guys too much.'
It was a problem that he had infiltrated quietly because the time wasn't right yet.
It was a problem that he had come to secretly sow the seeds of nourishment in the humans' territory, possessing a human body.
'I thought even a human body would be enough.'
He was in a state where he had sealed himself in a human body to perfectly deceive the dome.
Unable to escape, it was quite a dangerous situation.
But.
'No. If something goes wrong with me, the invasion plan will be disrupted.'
Perhaps because of that,
Abundance shouted to find an opening.
[That's right! That woman! Judging by the looks, she's your lover, isn't she?]
"!"
The bastard laughed.
[It was Death who killed that woman! I'll summon him for you! So just let me... kuh!!]
Before the words fully ended, Abundance's collar was seized.
At the same time, Abundance seemed greatly flustered.
[W-wait...!]
But.
[Death activates. He kills the function of the possession spell so that he cannot escape the human body]
[He annihilates the imprisoned soul]
And.
[Wait! This way, you gain nothing either! Wai... cough!]
Before the words even fully left, Igeon's fist flew.
Crunch!
Along with that, Abundance burst into a pulp.
It was humanity's first great achievement toward victory.
(To be continued in the next episode)