When Igeon disappeared, everyone inside was thrown into panic.
“Uncle?!”
“Igeon!”
And it wasn’t just that he vanished.
“The Scorpio Saint kidnapped him!”
“!!”
It wasn’t teleportation, of course.
Only the Gemini mage or Cheon Seongjae could use teleportation.
But since she was a Saint as well, she recognized it instantly.
‘That just now was a Saint’s skill…!’
Then there was only one destination.
‘The Scorpio Sanctuary!’
But the problem was that the opponent was the Scorpio Saint.
‘The Scorpio Sanctuary’s location is hidden.’
Unlike herself, whose main temple buildings were renowned worldwide, Scorpio was different.
As a Thief Saint, Scorpio, like Cancer, had always concealed its sanctuary.
In other words, unless one was a Saint, no one could know its location.
Which meant that she had deliberately set out to kidnap Igeon.
Thanks to that, apart from the Cheon siblings, who were practically breathing fire, both Yeonu and Hyugo could only panic.
Especially, the most astonished in this situation was Hyugo.
‘I-I never imagined that Haili would snatch Igeon away.’
But that wasn’t the real issue.
Hyugo had definitely heard it.
Right before Haili disappeared with Igeon—
“If you don’t claim him, he’ll be snatched. If you don’t claim him…”
Those words she had muttered as she took Igeon’s hand!
Of course, she probably had said that because she was bothered by what Simyeon had said, but still.
‘No way… could it be?’
Could he finally see Igeon’s children?!
Hyugo covered his mouth.
Would he finally get to meet adorable nieces and nephews with 600% faith in Uncle Hyugo?!
But the one who had actually had Igeon taken away was wearing an incredibly furious expression.
[I don’t know what you think you’re doing right now.]
“!”
Ominous power surged around Simyeon, who had even dressed up prettily to come.
[You dare snatch the Snake God right in front of me?]
“No, wait…”
[And then disappear before my very eyes?]
“No—!”
[I came only to receive a fair reward!!!]
At Simyeon’s rage, Hyugo shouted angrily.
“Argh, just put some clothes on first!! And get out of my house this instant!”
But whether she listened or not, a menacing shadow smashed everything around. At that sight, Hyugo widened his eyes.
“Hey! Can’t you hear me telling you to leave?!”
[I can’t hear you, you bastard!! No matter what the first generation requested, I won’t tolerate this!]
At those words, Hyugo flinched, and the Cheon siblings tilted their heads.
“First generation?”
“?”
They shot questioning looks, but there was no time to ask.
Boom!!
“Ugh!”
Simyeon, who had taken the form of a human woman, reverted to her familiar original form.
Rumble!
It was the form of a whale—the same one seen in the Pacific and in the Divine Realm.
The enormous whale bellowed violently and began destroying the building.
Clearly, she meant to take revenge on those who had interfered.
Of course, the barrier of Ophiuchus was in place, so the building didn’t turn to dust instantly, but Hyugo shouted furiously.
For twenty years, he hadn’t received proper treatment as a member of the Twelve Heroes, and the only remaining asset was this building.
‘Now, thanks to Igeon, my wealth has piled up beyond what I deserve, though…’
Anyway, seeing his precious house being wrecked, Hyugo ground his teeth.
“Don’t destroy my house! The mortgage was just paid off, you bastards!”
[Shut up! Before I send you to your grave, get out of my— Mmph!!]
Hyugo, having struck Simyeon’s face as if telling her to shut up, shouted as if he had made up his mind.
“Then let’s negotiate, using Igeon!”
[What?]
“With Igeon. That’s what you want, right? I’ll make it happen!”
[!]
At Hyugo’s cry, the expressions on the children and Yeonu were a sight to behold.
But ignoring that, Hyugo continued boldly.
“But first. As you saw, Igeon has people targeting him.”
Simyeon, whose face had just been struck, furrowed her brow.
[Those targeting the Snake God—you mean the ones after the Creator?]
“Yes. If you help us take care of those bastards, I’ll arrange a meeting with Igeon!”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Hyugo felt killing intent behind him.
“Dad?”
Under the three fierce glares, Hyugo was terrified to look back, but he held firm as if telling them to watch.
“Yeonu-ssi. Those guys, they’re dangerous enemies to Igeon, right?”
At Hyugo’s whisper, Yeonu’s eyes widened. He was undoubtedly asking about the ones who had appeared earlier.
Indeed.
“There were times before when Igeon couldn’t move. It’s probably because of them… They’re dangerous, aren’t they?”
Yeonu nodded, and Hyugo followed up.
“Those guys, what exactly are they?”
“Simply put, they’re fallen gods. Gods who were banished from the Divine Realm on charges of killing the Primordial God, the king of the gods, and selling the Primordial God’s power to Kruder.”
“!”
In other words, they were a corrupt coup faction.
But Yeonu glanced at Hyugo as she spoke.
“…That’s the story. The first-generation Lord overthrew the Primordial God, and they took advantage of the Primordial God’s weakened state to cause that incident…”
The Primordial God was the king of the gods, the highest-ranking god in the Divine Realm who even commanded the Great Saints.
At the same time, the Primordial God was the god whom the Creators followed.
And while vassal gods were subordinate to Saints and received power through them, one could say Saints and Great Saints received their power from the Primordial God.
That was the scale of that existence.
Of course, even that Primordial God had been killed by them and had his power stolen.
“But they failed to completely steal the Primordial God’s power. Afterward, they were caught and executed, but…”
“Wait. Isn’t that power Igeon uses also one of the Primordial God’s powers?”
“Yes. The Great Saints recovered the other torn powers from the Lord and them, but only that one and one other couldn’t be found.”
Therefore, the Great Saints and Saints had struggled to revive that power.
Of course, everyone had failed, and despite every prominent faction failing, Igeon alone succeeded in reviving it, which turned the Divine Realm upside down.
And—
“The survivors continue to covet the Divine Realm. And they intend to use the Creator to achieve their goal.”
After all, even the corpse would become an immense power.
Indeed, hadn’t Asran’s corpse been taken advantage of?
Specifically, by creating a Lord.
‘Perhaps it was them who advised using Creators to make Lords.’
Lords were born from various bases—trash, fragments, beasts, insects, corpses, chaos—but the third-generation Lord was created using Asran’s corpse as a base.
And similarly, the second-generation Lord had been created using the corpse of a Creator from Asran’s parent generation.
And who would have leaked that a Creator’s corpse was useful for making a Lord?
‘It’s definitely them.’
They were beings who had been obsessed with Creators from the start.
And this time, perhaps they planned to use Igeon’s corpse to create a new Lord.
‘That would make sense. A Lord was already produced from the master’s corpse.’
There was no telling what kind of Lord would be born from Igeon’s corpse.
And perhaps reading those thoughts,
Hyugo whispered secretly.
“Anyway, those guys want to kill Igeon and use his corpse to make a Lord. And the reason Igeon can’t move is also…”
“Yes. They know a lot of forbidden arts no one should touch, so they seem to know well how to neutralize a Creator. That’s probably why Igeon can’t move…”
“So let’s use Simyeon.”
“!”
“No matter what you say, a god is a god. Lords are her natural enemies, and seeing how she blew them away earlier, she’s useful.”
That wasn’t all.
‘There’s no way she’ll stay still.’
That creature was already obsessed with raising a Lord. It wouldn’t be strange if she wanted to kill Igeon and create a fourth-generation Lord.
‘It’s better to suppress a Lord with another Lord.’
But—
“Dad?”
At the mention of arranging a meeting with Igeon, the children looked ready to shoot beams from their eyes.
At that glare, Hyugo scolded them as if he had no such intention.
“What do you take me for? Obviously, I’ll just toss that whale a clone of Igeon or something.”
With Hyugolodite’s power or Igeon’s power, making a clone would be easy.
So right now, eliminating the obstructers came first!
“Now! Whale! What will you do? Will you accept the condition?”
But Simyeon, clearly furious, raised her voice.
[Fine. Well, if you send a clone in his place, I’ll just eat you instead.]
Gulp.
Hyugo nearly choked.
[And before that, it looks like finding that Scorpio Saint of yours comes first, no?]
At Simyeon’s look, Hyugo flinched.
“Ah. That one will be fine. I know the destination, so we can find it right away.”
Find it they could…
But Hyugo broke out in a sweat, knowing what might happen in the meantime.
Because of the women giving off murderous glints beside him.
‘Yeonu-ssi is going dark… going dark…’
* * *
In truth, several dozen minutes earlier.
Haili had come to Igeon after sensing Simyeon’s presence.
Of course, even though she sensed a Lord’s energy at first, she hadn’t been too concerned.
Simyeon was always roaming freely; she’d probably just be passing through.
But that Lord was heading for Igeon?
Feeling something strange, Haili had arrived at Igeon’s sanctuary…
And there was a naked Simyeon.
And just by seeing that sight, Haili understood Simyeon’s purpose.
She knew better than anyone what went on in the minds of Kruder.
Thanks to that, Haili eventually lost control and ended up kidnapping Igeon. And while kidnapping him was all well and good…
‘I was too hasty with the abduction!’
After using the skill, Haili groaned and lifted her head.
Originally a skill she used alone, but because she’d moved with Igeon in a rush, she’d stumbled.
‘Did Igeon get hurt? Where is he…’
But as she looked around, Haili nearly screamed.
‘?!’
She’d thought the texture of the floor felt strange—and she was lying on top of Igeon.
Moreover, because she had stripped off Igeon’s upper clothes, Igeon was only in his pants and unconscious.
At that sight, Haili froze.
“I-Igeon!!”
Flustered, she hastily checked him, but mercifully Igeon was merely asleep.
It had to be the effect of the Scorpio Saint’s authority placed on the sanctuary.
But Haili couldn’t calm down.
‘I-I really didn’t plan to bring him here.’
Just as Haili hugged Igeon tight and was about to return him, her subordinates screamed from the shadows.
[What are you doing? Claim him, quick!!!]
“?!”
[This is your chance!!]
Wh-what chance!
Haili’s mind went blank.
[It’s your chance! Isn’t that why you brought him here?!]
No, she’d just recklessly brought him because it seemed dangerous to leave him with Simyeon!
She’d had no plan at all!
[No plan?! If you return him now, he’ll be snatched again!]
[That’s right! You know what Simyeon is like!]
[You have to claim him!!!]
At those words, Haili flinched.
“That…”
Hesitating, Haili looked at Igeon. She moved closer, stopped; moved closer again, stopped.
And just as she mustered her courage and brought her face close to the lips of the peacefully sleeping Igeon—
“What are you doing?”
“……!!!”
Haili screamed.
But Igeon yawned and looked around.
“Is this the Scorpio Sanctuary? Looks like the default defense skill here is sleep.”
As if he’d gotten a bit of rest thanks to that, Igeon gazed steadily at Haili.
“So. Why did you bring me here?”
“?!”
At the unexpected question, Haili panicked.
No, she’d impulsively kidnapped him because of those words about claiming him or losing him…
Just as Haili was agonizing over what to answer—
“Ah. You kidnapped me because of Simyeon, right? Well, it wasn’t necessary, but thanks.”
As if pricked by conscience, Haili touched her face.
And then it happened.
Igeon looked around the Scorpio Sanctuary with interest.
‘It’s my first time in the Scorpio Sanctuary.’
Unlike other temples, it wasn’t an open sanctuary.
‘Is this the Saint’s room?’
It was a temple-like, serene, and incredibly beautiful building.
But then.
The moment Igeon touched the wall of the sanctuary building, he witnessed a strange sight.
[Receiving a portion of the Scorpio Saint’s power.]
[Receiving a portion of the Scorpio Saint’s memories.]
“!”
It was a memory from the Divine Realm.
—Ah. Is this the new guest the master spoke of?
A father and son appeared.
A father and a very young son. And upon seeing the face of that three-year-old boy, Igeon was startled.
‘The previous Ophiuchus Saint.’
The son was Asran.
And the owner of the memories, who appeared to be the Scorpio Saint, spoke to the father and son.
—Yes. This is … who will be staying with us from now on. I’ll have to entrust him to you.
And when Igeon saw the man the Scorpio Saint introduced to the father and son, he was surprised for a different reason.
‘Taek-su.’
It wasn’t an exact match, but it was a man who resembled Hyugo.
And that man was a Creator.
It was undoubtedly when he had joined the Creator clan.
At the same time, watching the memory, Igeon realized an important fact.
‘So the Scorpio Saint was a Creator. A fellow kin.’
Moreover, the first head of the Creators—likely the one who had been a Great Saint.
And after that, a scene appeared where the owner of the memories, the Scorpio Saint, seemed to be overpowered by a smiling Taek-su.
With that horrific sight, the flowing memory stopped.
At the same time, Igeon removed his hand from the wall and furrowed his brow.
‘Could it be that’s why the Scorpio Saint hates Taek-su?’
Well, it didn’t matter.
Igeon was about to ask Haili to let him meet the Scorpio Saint for a moment.
“Haili. There’s something I want to ask…”
But just then.
“!”
Haili grabbed Igeon’s hand as he tried to rise.
Thinking she had something to say, Igeon looked at her—
“!”
Haili brought his hand to her chest.
At the same time, Igeon was startled.
“……??!”
Along with a shadow, Haili’s face drew close.
Their lips gently overlapped.
With a pleasant fragrance, Igeon toppled backward in an instant.
(Continued in the next chapter)