It was immense power.
That power swirled like a vortex and enveloped the monster.
At the same time, the walls of the sanctuary touched by the black power vanished.
Kugung!!
More precisely, they reverted to the time before the sanctuary was created.
So Heily could only furrow her fine brows.
‘If they’re using power of that level, they aren’t a weakling.’
Compared to humans, at least the level of a holy order general!
Surely, someone close to their master had come here for the master’s sake.
Simultaneously, the monster that had been in human form changed its appearance.
Horns sprouted from its head, and its eyes became monster eyes.
And.
[Hand over the shed skin of the Snake Lord! It belongs to my master!]
In the end, under the wind pressure, they were sent flying with screams.
“Ugh!”
“Black Zone level…!?”
And perhaps the Virgo subordinate gods sensed something from that power.
They urgently shouted.
[Kevin! That’s the aura of the one felt at the vault!]
At that shout, Kevin realized who the culprit who had robbed the vault was.
“You were the one who took the item from the vault! Following the shed skin, even that item!”
There was no doubt.
‘They are after Igeon’s body.’
But that made it even more incomprehensible.
“Why on earth are they after Igeon’s body?”
At that, Cheon Seongjae, holding Igeon’s shed skin, raised his blood pressure.
“Of course, it’s because he’s our uncle! More importantly, how could you keep uncle’s shed skin so carelessly that it was almost stolen! Ack! Even wrinkles formed on the face part?!”
Kevin paid no attention.
Well, he understood why the Cheon siblings or the ten sages would covet Igeon’s body.
For devoted fans, anything belonging to Igeon would be precious.
‘It didn’t look like grisly skin; at a glance, it resembled a wax doll with closed eyes…’
It was literally a 1:1 large-scale realistic figure.
Well, for now it was broken into large pieces like statue fragments, but still.
‘Using Sagittarius skill, repairing the broken parts seamlessly is a piece of cake.’
Anyway, to Igeon’s fans, it was an item worth collecting just as it was.
But.
“Why is the monster after that?”
At Kevin’s words, the Virgo apprentice goddesses shouted.
[Couldn’t they be trying to make it into a familiar? For young snake sir, it would be valuable enough!]
“No. At best, it’s an inferior version of Igeon! No matter how well you modify it, you can only use it as a moving mascot!”
[!]
But they soon understood why the enemy was after Igeon’s body.
Flash!
[That is material my master will use! Hand over the shed skin!!]
“!!!”
When the monster gestured, light emanated from the shed skin Cheon Seongjae was holding.
And that was the skill of !
[Time Rewind (Radius 1m)]
As if rewinding, the shed skin tried to return to the monster’s hand.
It was attempting to go back to the time when the monster had held it.
Sure enough.
[I will take back the shed skin!]
But that moment.
“Not so fast!”
Heily unleashed the same ’s skill, and the force trying to return and the force trying to stop it collided.
Boom!
And as if to prove they were no easy opponent.
The monster glared at Heily and ground its teeth.
[Do you dare betray the master!]
“Shut up!”
Finally, a huge spark erupted, and everyone in the space groaned.
And then.
From the shock of the two powers colliding, Cheon Seongjae accidentally dropped Igeon’s shed skin that he had been holding tight.
“Ah!”
At that sight, the monster smiled.
And without missing the chance, the monster tried to grab the flying shed skin, but.
“Don’t do as you please!”
Cheon Yuha flew in, hugged Igeon’s shed skin tightly, and snatched it away.
[Ugh!]
In the end, what the monster got was just a few strands of Igeon’s shed skin hair!
Cheon Yuha glared fiercely.
“Do you think you can take this right in front of us?”
But at those words, the monster lifted the corners of its mouth as if disgusted.
Well, until now it hadn’t used much power for fear of damaging the shed skin, but it was unavoidable.
[Fine. Originally it’s something to offer to my master, but if it’s just a very small amount, the master would approve.]
“……?”
No sooner had the words ended than the monster infused the ’s power into Igeon’s hair.
Simultaneously, something astonishing happened.
“!?”
The few strands of hair that received the ’s power began to melt down like slime liquid.
And the melted substance transformed into a form they recognized.
Sreureuk!
The melted substance grew larger and transformed into a powerful figure.
“Th-that is!”
And finally, at the sight that appeared, everyone’s faces turned pale.
It couldn’t be helped.
[Kieeek!!]
“I-it’s a monster!”
That’s right.
What the hair, which could be considered part of Igeon’s body, had turned into was a monster.
Should I say it was like seeing a giant mud golem?
The golem roaring toward the sky somehow resembled the howling sound of .
Thus, they couldn’t help but tremble.
“Wh-what is it? Is it transformation magic?”
Taylor and Gote thought so, but the quick-witted Cheon Seongjae immediately thought of something else.
It was the bodies buried in .
‘They said the unidentified corpse pieces left there were surely the original inhabitants.’
Surely, the Pisces holy god with Isis’s divinity had buried the bodies of the original inhabitants they killed in that land to dispose of them and handed them over to the lords.
That wasn’t all.
‘It’s not certain, but is a monster made using the bodies of these original inhabitants.’
Well, even if the original inhabitants’ power was unknown, the monster born from those remains was lord-level.
Then what did this mean?
“Those bastards, they said it was material. Don’t tell me they were trying to make a monster out of Uncle’s shed skin?!”
“!!!”
And as if that was correct, the side’s monster laughed.
[Yes, as you can see from , the bodies of holy gods make excellent materials for our master! Though, other factions like might treat it as mere food!]
“……!!”
Heily also realized it in hindsight.
‘Indeed, Igeon’s shed skin could definitely be considered the body of a holy god.’
Moreover, was an outstanding mage who had wandered past and future and accumulated all sorts of knowledge.
They were skilled enough to lend the power to kill the original inhabitants to the fish that planned the usurpation.
Anyway, there might be precise methods, but making monsters from gods’ bodies would be no trouble for !
Moreover, Igeon’s basic ability stats were not ordinary.
‘Probably a monster above will appear…!’
And sure enough.
[Kieeek!!!]
The mud golem made from the hair roared fiercely.
And the moment they heard that sound, the group thought their hearts would stop.
Just a roar.
That was all.
But.
Kugung!!!
They collapsed as if their fuses had blown from an unknown force.
“Cough!”
They couldn’t even tell what had happened.
When they came to their senses, they were lying fallen, covered in blood.
“Ugh…!”
Surely, if Virgo hadn’t been under the Ophiuchus, they would have died instantly.
[Saints’ injuries detected.]
[Sanctuary power automatically activated.]
[]
After barely regaining consciousness, they got goosebumps.
‘Black Zone…’
‘No, it’s beyond that!’
It was completely incomparable to ordinary monsters.
On the other hand, the side monster laughed heartily.
[Good heavens, truly amazing. To think something made from the most useless part could be this powerful!]
And yet, it wasn’t even made by directly, but hastily and clumsily by me, and still this powerful!
[Now I understand why the master is interested in the 13th!]
Simultaneously, the bleeding Kevin ground his teeth and glared at the monster.
“What is ’s objective!”
[!]
Kevin had hardly ever fought the side before, so he didn’t know well.
But at this moment.
Facing that fellow from the faction, Kevin became certain.
“’s power and Zhang Rui’s power are very similar. And it was Zhang Rui who imprisoned Igeon in the Demon Tower.”
“!”
Although he had felt a piercing pain in his heart, Kevin had directly confronted Zhang Rui unleashing his full power.
So he was speaking from that experience.
“ sent Zhang Rui as a spy to the human side, didn’t they? And ordered Igeon to be imprisoned in the Demon Tower.”
At that, the side monster laughed ‘hahaha’.
[You stupid humans! You still don’t know!]
“!”
[Zhang Rui, as you know him, was the past appearance of our great master !]
“……!!!”
Everyone seemed shocked.
But regardless, the monster smiled coyly and said.
[Our master is a time traveler. He even uses past existences for his purpose. Well, wouldn’t have known about himself.]
“……!”
[The master needs the power of the 13th. So he went back to the past several times but couldn’t achieve what he wanted.]
Even after hundreds, thousands of times, seemed unable to attain their goal.
Moreover, even up to the 18,732nd time.
But.
[This time line is different. Unlike the likes of you, Igeon is a unique existence that has never appeared in any time line.]
“!”
[For the master, he is the only existence he has never met, seen, or knows the identity of. So he is intensely interested.]
In countless repetitions, there had never been a time when the first awakened ones were 13.
The sages were always 12.
Of course, it’s not that the 13th holy god didn’t exist, so Yeonwoo kept dying, but still, Igeon’s existence wasn’t there.
Therefore, could not help but be interested in Igeon’s appearance now.
Because an anomaly had occurred.
Because the one existence he didn’t know had appeared!
And perhaps the reason he had been unable to achieve his goal until now was because this existence wasn’t there.
And knowing the master’s intent, the monster smiled.
‘That guy is the key with which the master can achieve his goal.’
[Well, although differently from the previous cycles, Zhang Rui couldn’t devour the sages and holy gods, it doesn’t matter. This time too, the master plans to consume everyone and become the Archlord!]
There is absolutely no way to kill the time traveler .
[So you too, become food for the master!]
Along with that voice, the golem made from Igeon’s hair roared.
Then, when everyone was trembling in fear—
Boom!!!
Suddenly, a black flash flew in, and the Igeon golem screamed.
Kung!!!
An unknown black flash suddenly blew off the Igeon golem’s head.
“Wh-what!!”
It was tremendous power.
And it wasn’t ordinary power. It was a bizarre force that seemed to extinguish existence itself rather than being a simple strike!
The Cheon siblings’ faces lit up, and Kevin’s eyes widened.
“W-wait! Isn’t this Igeon’s power?”
[Yes! It came from the Star Palace!]
“Star Palace, you say... Argh!! Where did the palace that was over there go!!”
There was no time to be surprised at the sudden disappearance of the palace.
[Damn, this power…!]
The side monster ground its teeth and looked toward the Star Palace.
At the same time, it glared at the shed skin Cheon Yuha was holding.
‘First, I must take it to the master!’
Because it was inside the human sanctuary, there were restrictions on power, and in many ways, they were at a disadvantage.
And reading that thought, Heily and the other sages immediately launched an attack.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Boom!!!
Powers clashed, and the side monster clicked its tongue.
[Seems you’ll come to your senses only after being knocked down once more.]
It seemed it intended to pluck Igeon’s hair again and make a golem.
Then Kevin and the ten sages protected the shed skin.
“You think we’ll let you make another one?!”
But regardless, the side monster smiled and released power.
“Ugh!”
Simultaneously, the ground collapsed, and Igeon’s shed skin floated up into the sky.
“Ah!!”
And in an instant, the side monster snatched Igeon’s shed skin and grabbed a handful of Igeon’s hair.
[That was with just a few strands. If I use all of this, something that could blow away the continent will emerge!]
The master will surely forgive this much.
Finally, the moment the monster was about to yank out the hair—!
Crack!!!!
“I’ll kill you!! You son of a bitch!”
A furious kick sent the monster flying.
(To be continued in the next episode)