Hugo was startled by the object Igeon had taken out.
"Hey! You, that thing!"
What Igeon had produced was none other than Yang Wei’s golden chest. It was an object that radiated sinister demonic energy. Because of this, Hugo panicked and immediately used his ability.
Fwoosh!
Boom, crash—the doors slammed shut along with a surge of considerable demonic energy.
[The barrier of the Sagittarius Sanctuary, the Inferno Pit, is being activated.]
[Traits of the Sanctuary Centaur Palace: Intense Heat, Foresight, Hero’s Training, Hero’s Tomb]
[Warning. A powerful barrier is activating. You may suffer severe burns.]
[The Ophiuchus Sanctuary is required for protection.]
[Due to insufficient conditions and levels, this area cannot be designated as the Ophiuchus Sanctuary.]
[The aura of the dead (死者) is felt.]
And Hugo, who had cast the barrier to prevent the chest’s power from seeping out, clutched the back of his neck.
He had no choice but to react that way.
"Didn’t you only steal common-grade treasures from the Aries territory?! I told you to leave this behind!"
"What are you talking about? Do you think my castle will fill up with junk like that? It needs to be at least Saint-grade."
Indeed.
The golden chest that appeared before him was none other than the Saints' SS-grade item.
It was the ultimate symbolic weapon of the Saints, a divine treasure that could never be replaced by anything else.
In short, it was the representative treasure of each Zodiac. Stealing this was essentially an act of war.
But.
"What do you think you’re doing, bringing the highest-grade item! If the other Saints catch wind of this—!"
At that, Igeon sneered.
"Why not? Since Otaeksu was such a pitifully poor Zodiac, I brought it to use as my own wallet."
"What? A poor Zo—"
Hugo was about to shoot beams from his eyes, but at the same time, he understood why Igeon had stolen this.
This was an item Igeon had been eyeing for a long time.
Why?
‘If he has this sacred item, Igeon can create anything.’
Crafting weapons or sacred items required an insane amount of materials, and even those materials were nearly impossible to obtain.
The materials included monster parts, as well as globally precious national treasures.
But they couldn’t just steal national treasures for materials. Usually, they would borrow them and donate the finished product to the state. That’s why they couldn’t craft things often.
‘But with a sacred item that duplicates, none of that matters.’
That was it.
The official name of this royal sacred item was the Infinite Vault of Heavenly Wealth.
True to the Wealth God Zodiac, it was a vault-shaped sacred item that not only could store anything but also duplicate the stored goods—a truly special storage.
In short, it meant it could duplicate materials, gold, skills, and even soldiers.
‘That’s why other Saints covet it like crazy.’
But how on earth had he gotten his hands on it?
"And from the looks of it, there’s already something inside?"
Igeon shook the chest and grinned.
"Anyway, I’ll open this, duplicate materials, and screw those bastards over."
"How?"
Igeon smiled confidently.
"By siphoning off their assets with this."
"!"
That made sense, as this vault was a treasure frequently used by the other twelve Zodiacs.
It could store anything regardless of size, weight, or mass, and depending on the item, even duplicate it. There was no way someone like Yang Wei would have missed out on it.
He was the type to use it as a middleman dealer and to grow his fortune.
Meaning.
‘So the assets of those guys are probably inside this infinite vault.’
Igeon smirked viciously.
"Besides, I heard most of them, except you, are receiving funds from Ddongteol. So I’m cutting off their money supply too."
"How?"
"What did you take my words for? I’m saying I’ll open this chest and—"
"Exactly how? There’s no one who can activate this sacred item."
A brief silence fell.
Igeon narrowed his brow and stared at his friend.
"What? You can’t use this either?"
"Look here. I’m the Sagittarius Saint!"
Sacred items weren’t something just anyone could use to begin with.
Simply put, only humans who had received the baptism of each Zodiac God could use them.
That is, the sacred item of Aries could only be used by a human who had caught the Aries God’s eye.
Of course, lower-grade sacred items sold on the market could be bypassed with usage contracts.
‘Sure, there are Zodiac Gods who allow anyone to use their sacred items.’
But regardless of a God’s disposition, items at the royal sacred item level were treasures akin to the God’s pride.
There was no way they’d let another Zodiac use them.
‘Well, this guy is different.’
He never revealed how he did it, but Igeon would brazenly steal and use the SS-grade sacred items of the other twelve as well.
He’d used Hugo’s divine bow without a word, then casually said, ‘Just borrowed it a bit,’ and modified it as a matter of course.
Anyway, since he himself could freely use other Zodiacs’ items, did he just assume Hugo could naturally do the same?
Not surprisingly.
"Why can’t you use it?"
At the look that practically screamed, ‘Why can’t you do something so simple?’ Hugo’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
"Then what about you? Why do you insist on making me use it?"
"Because the mana consumption is insane?"
"!"
Was this bastard treating him as a mana shuttle?
Hugo stared at him in disbelief, but Igeon was utterly shameless.
Saints receive mana from their Zodiac Gods, so it would be fine for them, but he had to be self-sufficient.
After using something like this, he’d collapse from exhaustion—like hell he’d sit down and use it himself.
"You’re the one among the twelve I actually acknowledge. So I don’t get why you can’t do something this easy."
"You’ll never admit that your standards are completely psycho, will you?"
"Geez, I even sent a declaration of war to the broadcasting station, and the guy next to me is totally useless."
"What? Sent what?"
"Ah, whatever, shut up. Move."
"No, what did you send to the station!"
Hugo felt a sudden surge of unease, but Igeon just grinned and placed his hand on the chest.
* * *
Meanwhile, around that same time, the broadcasting station was in an uproar.
Of course, there was the disappearance of Yang Wei, the incident where Yang Wei ordered a live burial, and all sorts of other chaos, but that wasn’t the reason right now.
"What’s this? A quick delivery?"
The PD who received the mysterious delivery tilted his head.
It was a single package of unknown origin.
"What’s this?"
But as the PD examined the box, he was startled.
‘This signature is…!’
It was unmistakably Igeon’s signature.
There was no way he wouldn’t know about him. Right now, the most talked-about issue in the world was the Awakened.
Moreover, wasn’t Igeon currently the most legendary figure in the world?
When the flustered PD scrutinized the shipping label, something astonishing was written on it.
[Sender: Igeon]
[Address: The Demon Tower]
“……?!”
That was it.
It was an item sent by Igeon.
The PD hastily tore open the box.
And finally, upon confirming its contents, the PD screamed.
"Ahh!"
People came rushing at the deafening scream.
"PD! Are you okay?"
"What’s going on!"
Eventually, the PD, who had been having a fit, pointed at the box.
"A m-monster...!"
"!"
A wriggling slime was slithering out of the box.
"What the! Is that a monster?!"
At the sight of the bizarre, unfamiliar creature, people screamed and tried to flee, but it was only for a moment.
"Huh, huh?"
The slime was carrying something in its mouth.
It was a gray plastic bag. And as if telling them to quickly take it before it swallowed it whole, the slime expanded its body.
People were horrified.
"PD!"
In the end, the trembling PD took the item. At the same time, a dolphin-like shriek rang out beside him.
"Kyaa! What is this!"
"Is it a monster?!"
People entering the room were terrified at the sight of the pudding-like thing crawling on the floor.
As if that wasn’t enough, for some reason the slime seemed to deliberately crawl only under the idols' skirts, but no one cared about that right now.
"P-PD. There’s something written on the envelope."
"?"
"Hurry, open it!"
When they frantically tore open the envelope, they were stunned.
"A photo…?"
That was it.
Inside the envelope was a photo. And it was a photo of Yang Wei at that.
"Hey, wasn’t there a huge commotion about this guy going missing?"
"Right. They said after releasing the Spider Queen in Korea, he got caught trying to bury someone alive and just went into hiding..."
But the faces of those who saw the photo turned deathly pale.
That was only natural, because the scene captured in it was the problem.
It was an image of Yang Wei drenched in blood.
And unless he’d lost his mind, there was no way Aries would have sent something like this to a broadcasting station.
‘On top of that, this phrase…!’
On the photo, a phrase written boldly with a thick pen was present.
There was only a single line written.
But upon seeing it, people clapped their hands over their mouths.
"I-igeon has returned."
"Excuse me?!"
It was then.
The PD who read the phrase shot to his feet.
Bang!
"Book the broadcast immediately!"
"Huh?"
"What are you doing! Issue a breaking news alert right now! And arrange a special feature for tonight’s prime time!"
"Huh, huh? But a special on the twelve Saints is scheduled for that time..."
"Who cares about those twelve!"
"Wh-what should the title be?"
"A message sent by Igeon! It’s a scoop!"
"Excuse me?!"
* * *
And so it was around that time, when the broadcasting station was in an uproar over Igeon’s surprise gift.
Not satisfied with just sending a photo, Igeon, who was in the middle of looting a Zodiac God’s treasure, grinned.
[Intruder. You are not an apostle granted permission by the Aries God!]
Along with the unfamiliar voice, the box violently repelled Igeon’s hand.
Thud!
"Igeon!"
No sooner had the box flung his hand away than crimson mana rose from the chest.
[Danger. The Aries guard skill is applied.]
In panic, Hugo hastily summoned his auxiliary bow.
"Igeon! Fall back!"
But Igeon raised the corner of his lips instead.
Fall back, my ass.
Igeon forcefully imbued mana into it.
In truth, thanks to his own trait, Igeon could to some extent mimic the skills of others or the mana of other Zodiacs.
Because of that, he’d used it to develop skills and sacred items, and freely ‘borrowed’ the sacred items of other Zodiacs.
Normally, he would have played along and worked cautiously, but there was no need for that now.
‘With the Aries God having fled, what’s the point?’
Bang!
An immense amount of mana crashed. His intention was to just brute-force and shatter the God’s barrier.
Boom!
Perhaps because the Aries God had gone into hiding, the repulsive force accompanied by wind pressure quickly dissipated, but...
‘!’
Startled, Igeon hastily yanked his hand away.
It was only natural.
‘My hair.’
Igeon was quite shocked to see his hair fluttering down in the wind.
Simultaneously, a familiar voice rang out.
[Using the sacred item of Aries requires offering your hair each time.]
[Warning. Excessive greed for money may result in baldness.]
“……!”
Igeon realized he’d made a mistake.
All Apostles, when using sacred items or skills from the Gods, had to fulfill the Gods' requirements.
That is, they had to offer a rental fee known as a tribute.
Of course, the nature of the fee differed for each Zodiac. There was no way the Zodiac Gods all desired the same thing.
And while Gods gave power to humans out of necessity, some prioritized their own amusement.
Meaning.
‘Ddongteol, no wonder his hair is so thin!’
Hugo also seemed taken aback.
They too had tributes they had to offer, but it wasn’t this kind of thing.
It was questionable whether the Apostles of Aries even knew this fact.
Soon, Igeon’s eyes shot open.
"Is there no Aries Apostle around here?"
Hugo looked at Igeon with disgust.
"Offer your own damn hair, you brat."
At that, Igeon grumbled and glared at the trunk containing Yang Wei’s corpse.
"Did this bastard really die?"
Hugo, who had retrieved Yang Wei, let out an incredulous laugh. Was he seriously asking that now?
"Who was the one that stabbed his heart with brute force! Even I would have died!"
Then Igeon got angry.
"No, why do these so-called Saints die from just that? What’s so weak about them?"
Hugo was dumbfounded.
"Weak, my ass! In the first place, stabbing someone like that and expecting them to live makes you the abnormal one!"
"Ah, whatever, Taeksu. Try reviving this guy. And try offering your hair."
"Hey!"
In the end, Hugo pressed his palm to his forehead.
"Even if we kidnapped an Aries Apostle, it would probably be pointless. You’d need a password to use that chest 100%."
"A password?"
"His personality is so suspicious that he would’ve set a password on a sacred item. I heard it directly too."
"A password?"
At that expression, Hugo smiled bitterly, as if looking at a troublemaker son.
"I understand how you feel, but give up on a Zodiac God’s treasure class item. It was already asking too much for you to try and use it anyw…"
But it was then.
The moment the fuming Igeon kicked Yang Wei with his foot—thwack.
[Special data has been acquired.]
"!"
(To be continued in the next episode)