“Ugh!”
Lee Geon opened his eyes, clutching his painful heart.
‘Damn.’
He had entered the body of ___ as a gamble.
And his primary goal was to evade that spot using ___’s ability before being swept away by the disintegration!
Of course, there was no way he could know how to handle ___’s ability, or rather, a monster’s ability.
But.
‘Whether human or monster, it can’t be that different!’
So Lee Geon had simply released his mana at full power, however he could.
Then, perhaps because it reacted to Lee Geon’s mana, ___’s power activated.
Flash!
What followed was a relentless bout of nauseating motion sickness.
It felt like being trapped inside a giant weightless ball and tumbled wildly in all directions.
And when it stopped, Lee Geon opened his eyes in an unfamiliar place.
“Damn. Doesn’t look like hell, though.”
What appeared before him was a wasteland.
And perhaps because he wasn’t actually dead, a notification rang out.
[You have used ___’s ability]
[You have crossed over into a different timeline]
Of course, he didn’t know why the notification was still audible even now that he was inside ___’s body...
‘I don’t know what vermin this voice belongs to, but it’s probably from the throne of the Zodiac.’
And the throne, the seat of the constellation gods, felt like a contract with a god’s soul, so the notification must still be sounding.
Well, that wasn’t what mattered right now.
‘The important thing is that I can use ___’s ability.’
That bastard would surely try to master ___ by raising his power through killing and resurrecting his own holy knights.
In other words.
‘I need to strike first before that happens.’
And though he still couldn’t handle ___ well, the opponent, with experience, would be adept at wielding it.
‘I have to hurry.’
So Lee Geon quickly scanned his surroundings.
But just then.
[Is this the best place you could run to?]
“Cough!!”
Along with an unfamiliar voice, Lee Geon spat blood.
The voice came from right behind him.
And the sensation of sharp talons piercing his chest bored into him.
[You little chick. How dare you.]
“……!!”
Lee Geon turned his head and couldn’t believe his eyes.
He had no choice.
‘This bastard is…!’
Standing behind him was a monster, entirely black.
And Lee Geon remembered this creature vividly.
‘…!’
There was no mistaking it.
It was the monarch who had been imprisoned as a corpse underground, ruled by ___—the very same one he had infinitely reset to extract experience and abilities.
‘That’s his active appearance from when I saw ___’s past.’
Indeed, ___ grinned as he pulled his hand out of Lee Geon’s chest.
[You thought you could defeat us, barely hatched chick?]
At the same time, Lee Geon, kicked aside with contempt, let out a groan.
‘Damn. Judging by what that bastard’s saying, I must’ve come to a really ancient time.’
Of course, he didn’t know if this was a timeline where he existed or not.
What was certain was that it must be one of the 18,732 worlds where the bastard had regressed.
And this was likely the distant past, before the monarch of ___ became a squishy corpse locked in the Demon’s Tower!
But regardless, the monarch of ___ smiled unpleasantly.
[You tried to overstep your bounds. How dare you try to kill the parents who gave birth to you.]
Those words made Lee Geon flinch.
‘Parents who gave birth to me?’
But the doubt was brief, as ___ attacked Lee Geon viciously.
Boom!
Lee Geon reflexively deflected the bastard’s arm.
Clang!
That wasn’t all.
“You corpse bastard. Where do you get off acting so high and mighty?”
In an instant, Lee Geon vanished and appeared above ___’s head.
The monarch of ___ seemed a bit surprised.
[This guy?]
Could it be that he was flustered by ___’s movements, which he knew nothing about?
As if realizing something, ___’s eyes turned menacing.
[Who are you?]
But Lee Geon, appearing above his head, laughed.
Well, he had no weapon, but this body belonged to a future monarch.
‘It must have decent specs!’
As expected, something astonishing happened.
Crunch!
“!”
His right arm, which had been a human arm, transformed as if into a monster’s limb.
And feeling the power, Lee Geon curled his lips upward and aimed straight for ___’s head.
“Die!”
He had no weapon, but Lee Geon was a monster hunter who had survived the Demon’s Tower without weapons.
‘With this much, no problem.’
Just as expected.
Bang!!!
Lee Geon’s powerful fist was about to pierce ___’s face...
[You don’t know your place.]
With that sneer, Lee Geon’s monstrous arm reverted to a human arm.
“!!”
That wasn’t all.
“Cough!”
He couldn’t use mana in front of the monarch of ___.
The reason was unknown.
And then.
___ cleanly severed Lee Geon’s head.
“……!!”
The sensation of his head being cut off was truly horrifying.
And that was unmistakably the feeling of death.
In the end, Lee Geon collapsed to the ground and couldn’t move.
He didn’t die immediately, but soon his consciousness faded.
But right at that moment.
Perhaps because Lee Geon reflexively tried to use his ability,
[You use ___]
Maybe the method of using the Serpent Bearer’s and time’s power was quite similar.
His severed head was reattached by divine authority.
And.
[Damn, that bastard!]
Along with the sound of him grinding his teeth in pursuit, Lee Geon was swept into a flash of light.
And when he opened his eyes, it seemed like an even more ancient time.
“Ugh…!”
But as Lee Geon surveyed his surroundings, he was startled.
Because it was a familiar sight.
[The great 12 Constellation Gods have gone mad!]
[It’s okay! Their followers killed the mad masters!]
[Peace has come!]
“……!!”
That was it.
The time period he had moved to was none other than when the original owners were being murdered by the current 12 Zodiac Gods.
It was exactly the same scene the throne of Ophiuchus had shown.
‘Then is this the divine realm?’
The place where Lee Geon had landed was an uninhabited forest.
But it was familiar.
It couldn’t be helped.
‘The sanctuary of the old Ophiuchus.’
It was the place he now used as his own sanctuary.
And wasn’t the sanctuary that ___ had tried so hard to prevent other constellation gods from taking originally the sanctuary of Ophiuchus’s original owner?
Well, that didn’t matter.
What mattered was the scene unfolding before his eyes.
[Dig up the corpse of the constellation god buried in this land]
They appeared to be the monarch of ___ and other monarchs.
These were likely different from the six monarchs who had invaded Earth.
And they were probably in disguise.
Their faces were the same as before, but their bodies were in divine form.
Then the monarch of ___ gave an order to a subordinate who had accompanied him.
[Hurry and dig it up. We must finish this secretly before the followers who killed the 13 Constellation Gods return from the festival.]
[Yes!]
Simultaneously, the subordinate dug up a corpse from the ground of Ophiuchus’s sanctuary.
And seeing the face of that corpse, Lee Geon was shocked.
‘The original owner of Ophiuchus!’
There was no doubt.
The corpse the subordinate dug up was the original owner of Ophiuchus that the throne had shown.
Even more startling was the next scene.
[With a constellation god of this caliber, surely a fine child will be born.]
With those words, ___ turned the original Ophiuchus’s corpse into lumps of flesh.
At the same time, when ___ gestured, a single insect emerged from the flesh lump, and that insect devoured the entire corpse of Ophiuchus’s original owner.
Then, the insect that had consumed all of the original owner’s corpse grew larger and let out a savage roar.
At that sight, ___ laughed.
[Don’t be so impatient. There’s more food.]
He looked at the subordinate who had dug the ground, and the subordinate flinched in surprise.
[M-Master?]
But without even time to scream, the insect devoured even the subordinate.
And the writhing insect soon transformed into a form Lee Geon recognized.
‘That’s...!’
It was ___.
In the form of a child, but there was no way he could fail to recognize that face.
At the same time, Lee Geon realized everything.
‘___ was a monarch born from the flesh of the 13th original owner as a base.’
Could it be that the reason that bastard possessed ___’s ability was because he was influenced by Ophiuchus, who could use ___’s power?
‘Well, their abilities do feel somewhat similar.’
Also, the reason he could use the power of Ophiuchus, a constellation god...
‘Because he used Ophiuchus’s original owner as a host?’
___ was a monarch born using the corpse of Ophiuchus’s original owner as a base.
That was why he could wield Ophiuchus’s power.
That wasn’t all.
[Now, next is this one]
When the monarch of ___ gestured, another corpse fell from the void.
It was a constellation god he had never seen before, but Lee Geon immediately realized who he was.
[That bastard is the original owner of the Leo constellation]
For some reason, the notification’s tone was extremely cold, but that wasn’t important.
Flash!
The original owner of Leo, just like ___, turned into lumps of flesh, and soon another monarch was born.
And that was none other than...
‘___.’
So those two were born like that.
It seemed ___ had taken advantage of the incident where the current 12 Constellation Gods murdered their masters and usurped their thrones.
But soon, Lee Geon sensed something strange.
‘Wait a minute?’
Even if ___ and ___ were born that way, what about the other monarchs?
‘Weren’t ___, ___, ___, and ___ all monarchs created using the original owners’ corpses at this time?’
But if ___ was born in this era, creating other monarchs from the original owners’ corpses should have been impossible.
Then, a chill ran down Lee Geon’s spine.
‘That bastard, could it be he went back in time?’
Come to think of it, when he saw ___’s memories, hadn’t there been someone fighting the monarch of ___ who said exactly that?
- Ancient beings, do not be arrogant. You are dull creatures who can never defy time.
- !
- You are mere insects that can only live on a single rail.
___ had definitely gone back in time and slightly manipulated the past.
If ___ had secretly infiltrated and caused the births of ___ and ___ using the constellation gods’ usurpation, then ___ had openly approached the constellation gods.
And under the pretense of lending wisdom, he must have demanded the original owners’ corpses, even though it was bound to happen anyway.
No, he probably even helped ensure the usurpation was more perfect.
‘Using these constellation gods’ corpses to create other monarchs was no coincidence.’
And he likely knew the secret of his own birth.
‘Anyway, I get it now.’
What ___ was aiming for, and why he couldn’t attack the monarch of ___.
‘___ must have placed certain suggestions when creating ___.’
So that he couldn’t attack the parents who made him.
That was why he was after ___’s power.
‘With that, it’d be possible to kill the other great monarchs, whether by returning them to before their births or turning them to death.’
Well, before that, the monarch of ___ had somehow managed to turn him into a corpse and lock him in the Demon’s Tower, it seemed.
‘Then could that appearance have been a form already returned by ___?’
Probably.
Since that bastard had regressed 18,732 times, collecting the souls of Yeonu and Junu to use a weakened ___’s power.
As a result, the monarch of ___ had become a corpse.
‘But because ___’s power was weak, that form was his limit.’
So he wasn’t satisfied, and he tried to obtain a perfect ___ through him.
Well, that wasn’t the important part.
‘I’ve roughly figured out how to kill ___.
Lee Geon’s eyes flashed as he glared somewhere.
And while ___ was looking away for a moment, Lee Geon instantaneously charged at the newborn ___.
___ seemed utterly shocked.
[W-What! That bastard!]
But there was no time to be surprised.
Crunch!!!
Lee Geon burst the head of the newborn ___, killing it.
___ was extremely taken aback.
[That bastard!]
But Lee Geon grinned fiercely.
“That’s the first one down.”
Actually, what had been the biggest hindrance for Lee Geon in dealing with ___ was the flood of timelines rushing in all at once.
So what would he do about it?
“I’ll just kill them all.”
All the ___ across every timeline.
“All 18,732 of them.”
(Continued in the next episode)