Twenty minutes before the Alps were destroyed.
“Argh! This is insane! What is that?!”
Cheon Seong-jae was screaming.
And right now, he was in the Alps.
It was the power source where the Pisces divine being had imprisoned Awakened ones and was siphoning their magic power as if sucking through a straw.
In short, the Alps were one of the Pisces god-throne’s main facilities.
As such, its defenses would be beyond imagination, but due to the sheer size of the Alps, there existed blind spots where its power was less concentrated.
So the Cheon siblings had teamed up to target one of those blind spots.
‘Getting in and out isn’t difficult!’
Because the Serpent Bearer already possesses its [Authority]!
‘With that, we can sneak in and out.’
Of course, the Sagittarian holy followers who had departed for the Alps first were captured by Selvia, but my friend with them had luckily succeeded in entering the Alps!
So Cheon Seong-jae used magic on the friend who’d gone inside.
To be precise, he used a sacred artifact his uncle had made.
[Not Made for You to Peep (SS)]
- Creator: Lee Geon
- Made with data from the Gemini divine being
- Possesses a designated target (living or inanimate)
- The target must be something the user has touched at least once
- Beware: the user’s body takes damage equal to the damage the possessed target receives
- Base duration is 10 minutes
- Don’t use it for shady things ^^
Anyway, possessing his friend’s body with that sacred artifact was all well and good—
“Argh! Crazy! Why is that human here?!”
That’s right.
He’d been uneasy when his friend said over the phone, “The monarch is here!”
“The monarch was that woman?!”
The one who was chasing Han Ji-min—no, Cheon Seong-jae—was none other than Giselle.
Though she didn’t look like the Libra divine being he knew.
“You, I won’t let you get away with this!!”
“Argh! Where did you sell half your face?!”
She looked like something out of the Terminator.
The skin on half her face was completely torn off, exposing the muscle, and half her body was monster arm and leg.
Of course, even with the skin torn away, the muscle wasn’t red like a human’s.
And maybe that was the original form of the [Sloth] monarch.
Ominous magic power emanated along with black muscle and bone. Red light blazed from her eyes, as if beams would shoot out.
And then.
“You, die!!”
“Ugh, I said I’m not your uncle!!”
But heedless of that, the corners of the [Sloth] monarch Giselle’s mouth rose.
Didn’t matter if anyone connected to Lee Geon was involved?
At the same time, as if perfectly timed, an explosion erupted in the Alps.
“Argh!!”
[The Alps mountain range is being destroyed]
The power was terrifying.
Because of that, he urgently blocked the explosion with a defensive skill, but—
[Warning. Under the influence of [Libra], all achievements are reduced by -90%]
[Defense authority’s effectiveness dropped to -90%]
[Attack power is also at -90%]
[If we don’t handle this quickly, our Seong-jae might really die.]
At his uncle’s alert voice, Cheon Seong-jae almost wept.
At the same time, he grasped the whole situation.
‘Damn it, so that’s how the fish was able to use the [Libra] authority!’
That was it.
No matter how much a contract was made with a monarch, a divine being couldn’t use the authority unchanged.
‘To put it simply, the energy they use is different.’
Even if you run the same car (authority), it’s like they can run theirs on coal while the unknown civilization side can run theirs on oil.
His uncle also obtained authorities from monarchs, but those had already transformed into Serpent Bearer skills and could be used with the Serpent Bearer’s magic power.
But the fish?
‘Damn, those bastards. They shoved a monarch in here and are using the [Libra] authority with that woman’s magic power.’
Come to think of it, when Kali and Kevin went looking for Giselle—
Hadn’t they said she seemed locked in a [Pisces] prison?
After that, she was said to have gone missing, so it seemed the fish that contracted with [Pisces] had dumped her here.
Well, none of that mattered.
“A holy follower of Lee Geon’s comes crawling before me of his own accord!”
“!!!”
Flash!
Another explosion.
And as a sinkhole hundreds of meters wide appeared in a single strike, Cheon Seong-jae gritted his teeth.
‘Damn! Ji-min’s body is only C-rank, so even a graze means death!’
Though thankfully the Alps were in shambles everywhere, that alone was still weak.
‘I need to land a critical hit here fast.’
It wasn’t for any other reason.
[Danger to the divine being. The Serpent Bearer’s power is weakening.]
Cheon Seong-jae bit his lip at his uncle’s dwindling protection.
It wasn’t just his uncle’s energy.
‘Even the Ocean’s Punishment…!’
The sacred treasure his uncle made was cracking. And that meant his uncle was in danger.
‘I have to hurry.’
But Giselle smiled viciously.
“You seem to have come here to eliminate the last remaining divine being. Do you think I’ll let you go easily?”
At that, Cheon Seong-jae channeled magic power, grinding his teeth.
Well, originally he hadn’t intended to use it so as not to burden his friend’s C-rank body, but—
“Come out.”
Light shot upward with his voice.
And what Cheon Seong-jae summoned was none other than the Fairy King [Mimir]!
‘Well, originally he was half a corpse.’
It was because his uncle had torn the Bible out of his body when dealing with Gemini.
But.
‘You’re useful, so I’ll spare you.’
In the first place, due to the influence of the merger, all the fairies had passed over to the Serpent Bearer’s side.
Anyway, that was how Mimir was spared.
‘Well, Frey went straight into the furnace without mercy.’
However, seeing Mimir, Giselle suddenly laughed.
“Good heavens, you still left that wretch alive instead of killing him?!”
“!”
Giselle, being a spy, seemed to know all the behind-the-scenes affairs of the divine beings.
And sure enough.
“He’s the one who told the fish how to kill the 13th and the original inhabitants! He can be called the chief culprit of the usurpation. And yet you….”
But Cheon Seong-jae paid no mind.
It was information his uncle had already verified, after all.
‘Mimir didn’t willingly give away the original inhabitants’ weaknesses.’
In fact, before he became a fairy, Mimir had been someone’s subordinate god.
But the fish had broken through the Holy Region’s barrier, invaded, and torn the information out of Mimir.
‘As expected of the fish. Truly the divine being that survived to the end.’
Well, since his uncle would know immediately if he lied, it was certain to be the truth.
But at those words, Giselle, looking at Mimir, smiled suspiciously.
“Well, fine. Perhaps it’s inevitable that Lee Geon takes that wretch in.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“What do I mean.”
Giselle said something.
And hearing it, Cheon Seong-jae was shocked, but soon frowned.
He had no choice.
[Time remaining until possession: 3 minutes]
Hardly any time was left.
And as if reading that in his eyes, Giselle laughed.
“Do you think a mere human can run from me?”
It seemed her grudge against Lee Geon wouldn’t be satisfied unless she tore Cheon Seong-jae to shreds.
But at her ferocious attitude, Cheon Seong-jae let out a hollow laugh.
“Idiot. Who said I’m running?”
“!”
“Mimir!”
With that shout, the Fairy King roughly seized Giselle. Giselle looked dumbfounded.
“Hah, your idea was the Fairy King? A lowly subordinate god-class weakling…!”
Giselle tried to erase Mimir’s power with the [Libra] authority.
But then it happened.
Flash!
“!”
A powerful golden-green light blazed up from Mimir’s body.
And that was the power of [Ophiuchus]!
[Magic Power Ophiuchus]
[Ability Ophiuchus]
Even if afflicted with debuffs, it was useless before the [Serpent Bearer].
That wasn’t all.
Rumble!
The [Sloth] monarch, Giselle, was startled.
Because of the golden-green light rising from Han Ji-min—no, Cheon Seong-jae’s body.
And that was the third-stage power he’d gained after killing the bull!
[Drawing on this power]
[Summoning a new skill]
Whenever Death or Life evolved a stage, a new skill appeared.
And the skill that appeared when Life was at stage 2 was [Bountiful].
And the stage 3 skill was one Cheon Seong-jae had always wanted!
[Creation]
- By expending a price, one can create anything desired.
- Can only create what the structure of is understood. Cannot be made from a simple image.
Of course, as soon as the skill appeared, he’d lit up his eyes trying to create his uncle, but all attempts failed.
But thanks to his efforts, he could now manifest other things perfectly.
Maybe that was why.
“!”
Cheon Seong-jae immediately ran to Giselle and touched her stomach.
And.
[Activating skill Bountiful]
Light shone from Giselle’s stomach. At that sight, Giselle’s eyes blazed.
“What is this little brat doing…!”
Cheon Seong-jae raised the corners of his mouth.
“I’ve already dealt with a monarch in a human body before.”
“Wai…!”
At the same time, a tremendous scream erupted along with a flash of light.
The quiet Alps shook violently.
BOOM!!!
It was an impact like a meteorite falling.
* * *
And around that time.
BOOM!!!
At the roar coming from the direction of the Alps, Cheon Yu-ha, Kali, and Hayley’s expressions brightened.
They could see smoke rising from a not-too-distant mountain range.
“Seong-jae succeeded!”
They looked at Cheon Seong-jae being carried by Gote.
At the same time, Gote looked relieved.
He had been worried because of the prophecy Hugo had told him recently.
‘They said he saw a future where the Sagittarians are annihilated.’
But maybe now it would be all right.
And then.
“Ugh!”
“Holy Lord!”
They were startled when Cheon Seong-jae coughed up blood.
But only for a moment.
“Huk…!”
“Seong-jae!”
“Holy Lord! Are you all right?!”
“What’s happened inside?!”
Soon, released from the possession, Cheon Seong-jae climbed down from Gote and urgently shouted.
“The [Sloth] monarch was inside the Alps!”
“What?! Sloth? You mean Giselle?”
Everyone went pale.
Kali’s expression was especially something to see.
She reflexively reached for her sword, but—
“Ah, it’s fine. I roughly handled it. Since I was in a possessed state I couldn’t use 100% of my power, but she won’t be getting up for a while.”
“What? You handled her? How on earth…!”
“Like with Bountiful, I created a clone of my uncle in her stomach.”
“……!”
Of course, creating Lee Geon wasn’t possible, so skip.
He had created the giant serpent he’d met in the baptismal space.
‘Tch, I wanted to see its form closely, but there wasn’t enough time.’
Anyway, with something that big bursting out of her stomach, the damage must be considerable.
That wasn’t all.
“From that impact, the monarch’s power leaked out, and I used it to wreck the Pisces holy region too.”
At that, Kali’s mouth dropped open.
“You managed to use that?”
“I used Mimir.”
Kali frowned.
“But Mimir is….”
Hadn’t he provided the knowledge to kill the 13th and the original inhabitants?
“Why would you use such a dangerous one…! What if he betrays Lord Lee Geon?”
“No, it’ll probably be okay.”
“!”
Cheon Seong-jae narrowed his brow, recalling what Giselle had said.
Upon seeing Mimir, that woman had clearly said:
- Before becoming a fairy, Mimir was a subordinate god of the 13th original inhabitant.
As Cheon Seong-jae wore a complicated expression, Hayley smiled.
“Anyway, well done.”
At the stunning beauty Hayley’s lovely smile, even Gote and Cheon Seong-jae momentarily blushed, but Cheon Seong-jae soon came to his senses.
“Ah, but we do need to go back into the Alps! I released the possession from a safe place, but I have to go get Ji-min… and I didn’t finish off the [Sloth] monarch completely.”
“Right, but the effect will be substantial.”
The 14 magics used by the Pisces divine being.
That required immense magic power.
And since Giselle, who had been siphoning its power, had been damaged, the fish must be suffering a considerable blow by now.
And that guess seemed right.
Rumble!
“The Pisces holy region…!”
The power of the Pisces divine being that had covered Italy began to vanish.
[A critical hit inflicted on the Pisces holy region]
[The Pisces’s power is weakening]
Confirming that, Hayley said.
“If we blow up the Alps like this, the Pisces won’t be able to use any power at all. Though, well, the structure isn’t easy, so it might be tough even for you, Seong-jae….”
But then.
“Then leave that to me!”
“!!”
At the familiar voice, Hayley was startled.
The Serpent Bearer’s holy followers were shocked at the figure who appeared before them.
“Ge-Gemini divine being?!”
“Hayley!”
Hayley was a mage hailed alongside Hayley as the two peerless beauties among the 12 divine beings.
There was no way to know why she was here.
But.
“Leave the destruction of the Alps barrier to me.”
“?!”
Everyone was surprised at that.
Of course, Cheon Seong-jae, who was once her disciple, was surprised, but especially fellow divine being Hayley wore an expression of disbelief.
‘What? Hayley would never take part in helping Lee Geon.’
Was this some ploy?
Revenge??
Just as Cheon Yu-ha, Hayley, and Kali were about to go on guard—
Blushing as if shy, Hayley spoke.
“Catching the Pisces is my job. Then surely my beloved Lord Lee Geon will look upon me.”
No sooner had the words ended than several people’s expressions changed.
Gote felt four chilling waves of murderous intent bloom inside the tavern.
(Continued in the next episode)