Igeon frowned at the sight of them.
They were eerie bastards, like ghosts.
Most of them had forms like human shadows, but every face was bizarre.
Of course, there was a reason.
‘Masks.’
The bastards were all wearing strange masks.
Some masks had fur attached, and some had nun-like cloth rags sewn on.
And the majority wore white masks, each with a different expression.
There were solemn expressions, screaming expressions, expressions like Munch’s The Scream, and expressions like goblins or beasts.
A thousand faces indeed!
And though their expressions were hidden by the masks, one thing was certain.
‘Greedy bastards.’
Hidden by masks, their desires could be felt on the skin.
And the aura was too powerful to be just minor gods.
‘So they’re the ones with power but no honor.’
[Is that the snake brat?]
[I heard it was newly born this time.]
They put on airs of nobility and purity, but inside they were filled with desire and greed.
And I could guess why they had been hiding in this land and why Aries had brought the gods.
They must have thought Igeon was a fledgling, easy to kill.
[Take it. Ophiuchus is a position worth taking!]
At the same time, a powerful divine magic burst forth.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Along with that magic, clouds shot up into the sky.
[Warning: In 1 minute, the force of pursuit will detonate.]
It was a dense barrage that left no time to flee.
They even circled the sky to avoid missing.
It was clearly a formidable attack.
If not blocked, everyone would die.
But.
‘Drachma was only recently made into a sanctuary, so it hasn’t gathered enough energy to use sanctuary defense skills yet.’
Just as Igeon was about to test Taurus’s defensive authority.
[The higher authority of the swallowed Taurus cannot yet be used.]
[To use that authority, a process with Ophiuchus’s skill is required.]
[______ is a special act that changes the order of the universe. A power higher than Constellation Energy is needed.]
[Using it requires a price (talent).]
Igeon narrowed his brows.
The owner of the Full Moon had clearly told him.
[______ is a power that surpasses the star gods. Roughly, the magic of the universe.]
In short, it required the power of the divine realm.
One could say that followers borrow the power of the star gods, and star gods borrow the power of the universe.
Simply put, this was not easy, meaning he had to pay a corresponding price.
‘I suppose that’s a rule to prevent gods from fighting each other.’
Well, that wasn’t important right now.
[Not enough talent for ______.]
[Current Ophiuchus talent: 100]
[Required talent: 10,000]
I didn’t know what level ten thousand talents was, but anyway, the story was that I couldn’t use the bull’s defensive authority, which Red Eyes liked.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’
Igeon actually raised the corners of his mouth as if it were a good thing and immediately took off his gray jacket.
And just as he was about to activate super regeneration, Kevin screamed.
“You perverted bastard! Even so, a frontal breakthrough against that is insane! Super regeneration only works if there are parts left, you know!”
“Then what? I don’t have any defensive skills.”
Ophiuchus is the only one of the 13 constellations with absolutely no defensive skills.
Was it because of his trait of enjoying pain?
No matter how many skills he unlocked, purely that type never appeared.
In other words, a constellation that just gets beaten up(?) and resurrects like a zombie.
The reason he had swallowed Taurus, a defensive constellation, this time was entirely for the safety of his cute nephews.
“Ah, whatever. Thinking is a hassle. I’m just going frontal breakthrough.”
“Ah, come on!!!”
Kevin grabbed his head and screamed.
How on earth had Hugo gone on subjugation raids with such a reckless bastard?
And then.
“Kuk!”
“Dangerous!”
As a meteor-like light fell from the sky, Haley immediately extended both fists.
And fists that crossed as if swapping positions!
[Object Swap (SS)]
- Swap the positions of a possessed target and a desired target.
Scorpio was originally a thief constellation. Swapping attacks was nothing.
If the conditions were met, it was a blow that could even swap a human soul!
At the same time, the meteors pouring from the sky changed into sparkling steel.
At that moment, the startled Kevin reflexively fired a sword aura!
Splat! Splat!
“Ack! What is this!”
A black liquid poured from the sky.
“It’s all cola!”
Those were the items Haley had prepared for Igeon. And the number of cola cans was a whopping ten thousand!
It was like a cola rain.
And since they were items stored in Scorpio’s subspace, the swapped gods’ attacks would detonate in the subspace.
Of course, Scorpio’s property damage would be considerable, but as long as Igeon wasn’t hurt, that was all that mattered.
In the end, as Igeon jumped off Drachma, Kevin, drenched in cola, fumed at Haley.
“You, if you were going to do this, you should’ve said so!”
Haley clicked her tongue and looked at Kevin.
“I didn’t think you’d try to block a god’s attack so stupidly. Anyway, Kevin, listen well. Using power like that only causes damage to Igeon….”
But then.
Boom!
Part of Drachma exploded.
It was the lower level.
Surely the swapped god’s attack had destroyed Drachma.
And Haley’s eyes widened, wondering how this had happened.
[Princess! Don’t worry! We moved all the cola!]
From Haley’s shadow, Scorpio’s monstrous follower gods sparkled their eyes.
[We heard rumors that you and Igeon-nim would eat lamb skewers!]
[We moved them to Igeon-nim’s room on Drachma so the two of you could share them intimately!]
[Things turned out this way, but thanks to that, our warehouse is safe!]
At those voices begging for praise, Kevin sneered.
“You’re the same! You’ve damaged Igeon’s sanctuary!”
Haley was devastated.
She had no face to see Igeon.
[Princess! Quick, praise us!!]
Haley’s eyes flashed and she drew her sword with a shing.
“I’ll kill you all and then die myself.”
[What?!]
But Igeon, the sanctuary’s owner, actually raised the corners of his mouth.
“I’ll get to enjoy cola to my heart’s content for a while.”
As if the cola cans had come at a good time, Igeon smiled.
And infusing the power of [______], he threw and kicked the cans at the gods.
Boom!!! Boom!!
The effect was excellent.
[Kuk!]
The cans that flew like missiles erased the mysterious light the enemies were emitting.
The gods seemed flustered.
[That bastard, he’s erasing the ______.]
[A mere fledgling knows this?]
Igeon laughed.
He was right.
To put it simply, ______ is an automatic attack range.
The owner of the Scorching Master had said it’s a defensive technique gods always have deployed.
- It’s an authority of higher gods, simply put, an aura wrapping the body. If you get within a certain distance, it automatically attacks you.
- ______!
He said the shapes varied: oval, rectangular, beast-shaped, lines.
And because of that defensive technique, gods never approach each other.
‘Because you never know what authority it might contain.’
If unlucky, it could even contain an authority that turns the enemy into a slave.
That’s why the Scorching Master and Full Moon had said:
- Ophiuchus, if you meet a god, never engage directly. Just run away.
- Your level aside, a god’s line is troublesome because it’s invisible.
- Wasn’t Ophiuchus already not specialized in close combat? They won’t approach easily, and their defensive technique is just hopeless.
And now.
Boom!
As Igeon infused the cans with [______] and threw them, the gods seemed a bit flustered.
Of course, it wasn’t because of Igeon’s attack.
[Wait. Can that bastard see the divine line?]
[Yes, he’s precisely avoiding only those spots and attacking.]
[What? That’s nonsense!]
But Igeon, who had leaped into the sky, raised the corners of his mouth.
He was right.
To Igeon’s eyes, their automatic attack ranges were clearly visible.
Like red fan shapes or red circles.
And just as Igeon was about to evade them and attack the bastards.
The masked gods grinned.
[Well, still a young snake brat.]
With those words, Igeon’s body heated up.
‘!’
It felt as if a fire had been lit using his innards as a wick.
Igeon immediately dodged into the air.
[We were surprised by the ability, but that’s all.]
“!”
At the same time, a magic circle that had been invisible appeared on the ground, and Igeon vomited blood.
“Kuk!”
And a warning sounded.
[Warning. The current body at level (29) cannot resist ______.]
[Due to body level, super regeneration has no effect.]
[The body’s destruction speed is faster than super regeneration.]
[You must undergo a second molting to raise the body’s grade.]
Igeon’s body began to break down.
Seeing that, the gods approached him.
Just as the Scorching Master had said they did not prefer close combat, they had kept their distance until now.
But.
[We’ll take the core well. Let your divinity be destroyed and die.]
[The seat of Ophiuchus’s star god is ours!]
They approached the ragged Igeon to rip out his heart.
But then.
Igeon grinned as if things were going according to plan.
“I was waiting for you to come closer. Bastards.”
[!]
It was a demonic glint as if he had discovered a monster.
[!]
The gods panicked at that look, and Igeon’s eye color turned red as a golden-green light burst out.
And that was the power of life, not his usual death!
[Pain Revival]
Unexpectedly, Igeon had used [______] on himself.
[!!!]
The gods were startled.
[Move back! We’re getting caught up!]
[No, he’s not using it on us!]
Igeon was releasing a portion of all damage onto his own body.
The gods were dumbfounded.
[What is that crazy bastard doing!]
[Releasing pain on himself instead of the enemy!]
[At that level, wouldn’t his divinity collapse! Is he insane?]
Indeed, Igeon groaned from the pain surging through his body.
From the first time he caught a monster, through the Devil’s Tower that had been reset tens of thousands of times, to recently being bitten by [______].
It was all the pain accumulated in his body until now.
Of course, what he released now was barely 1% of that.
Thanks to that, the gods, who could see Igeon’s physical condition just by looking, thought this bastard was crazy, but then they flinched.
[[______] trait activates.]
[The more pain you feel, the higher your combat power.]
[Pleasure increases.]
[Combat range increases.]
[You have gained an awakening effect.]
[That’s…!]
And [______] was a kind of drug and stimulant only Igeon could use.
Well, if he slipped just a little, he’d really die, but anyway.
This was his own buffing method he’d used since 20 years ago!
It was the way he could draw out power without the star god’s protection.
And then.
With the buff applied instantly, a black light shot up.
[Fighting God Instinct]
Boom!!!
It was on a different dimension from when he faced [______].
The attack power of [______] with the buff was far stronger than before.
Clearly, all his previous actions had been for this.
And at that sudden turn of events, the gods thought “Oh no” and were about to retreat greatly.
Boom!!!!
The outer gods surrounding Igeon collapsed.
The Heavenly Judgment, filled with black power, had rotated 360 degrees and blown off the heads of the nearby gods.
[The Frost Giant falls.]
[The Earth God falls.]
[The God of Houses and Fire falls.]
[The God of Tea falls.]
[Experience increases.]
And in this moment!
Igeon mercilessly struck down the gods with the Heavenly Judgment.
Crunch!
[Aaack!]
[Kuk!]
[(SSS) grade / Material grade 2 / Legendary]
[(SS) grade / Material grade 2 / Rare]
[(S) grade / Material grade 3 / Heroic]
[(SSS) grade / Material grade 2 / Legendary]
But Igeon seemed dissatisfied with the obtained materials.
They said that if gods without constellations came, both strong and weak would swarm together.
‘Tch, I had expectations, but it really is a gamble.’
Just as Igeon was frowning.
[(SSS) grade / Material grade 1 / Chief god level]
“!”
At the top-tier material, Igeon raised the corners of his mouth and looked at the gods in the back row.
‘So there was someone with a bit of a name mixed in.’
And the gods in the back row who saw that look seemed startled.
It wasn’t because they saw the gods collapse.
Of course, that was surprising too, but that feeling.
That look!
That smile mixed with ecstasy as if enjoying the pain!
[Insane, could it be those masochists…!]
[What are you talking about, sadists!]
No, that wasn’t the important thing right now.
That feeling was…!
[Surely the original owners of the 12 zodiac constellations…!]
[Yes, that mutant creation clan with the trait of making and creating everything!]
At that cry from someone, most of them stirred.
They seemed extremely flustered.
It couldn’t be helped.
[Wait! The original owners of the 12 zodiac constellations? They all went missing…!]
[And because they disappeared, Capricorn and other blacksmiths took their place…]
[Then is that the survivor?!]
Then the gods in the back row sneered.
[Stop talking nonsense. That can’t be possible.]
[If there were a survivor of that clan, the universe would already be in an uproar!]
At last, as the gods rushed in as if telling them to stop spouting nonsense, Igeon was about to quickly defend.
Crackle!
“!”
An ominous sound was heard.
At the same time, Igeon looked at his hand.
And although the plan had succeeded, perhaps the body’s level hadn’t kept up.
“……!”
The body that had taken the attack began to crumble away.
At that sight, Haley and Kevin on Drachma realized something was wrong.
They had been keeping the gods in check and guarding the Capricorn throne that Igeon had entrusted to them.
But.
[Warning. The body is collapsing.]
[Super regeneration cannot keep up.]
In the end, Igeon’s body completely collapsed like a statue.
His legs disappeared, his body crumbled, and even his head fell off.
“Igeon!!”
At that sight, the two saints tried to head toward him.
At the same time, from somewhere, the laughter of the Aries star god was heard.
That was the death of a god’s physical body.
[Now, this is the moment! Quickly rip out that bastard’s core.]
[With this, the seat of Ophiuchus’s star god is ours!!]
The outer gods laughed and approached.
But then.
Flash!
[A holy city follower with 500% faith has sent a massive amount of experience.]
[Level has become 30.]
[Beginning molting.]
(To be continued in the next episode)