Actually, just a moment ago.
Igeon had heard something from Asran, who had come to his senses.
- is not an opponent to be taken lightly. He is the strongest among gods. That's why I couldn't kill him in the end either.
-!
-It's certain that he has some kind of secret, but I haven't been able to figure it out either. So honestly, I don't know how to kill him.
He said it was a god that even the Ancient God could not kill.
-It will probably be a difficult task.
Asran was worried about Igeon.
But right now, Igeon's own safety wasn't the priority.
"Die, you treacherous bastard."
"Aaaah!!!!"
Hugo screamed at the incoming Heavenly Punishment.
But as if it would stop at a scream.
Bang!!!
The punishment fell right beside Hugo's ear.
Hugo, having narrowly dodged the axe blade, felt as if his body parts were shrinking.
But Igeon's eyes flashed. He wasn't smiling like usual.
Flustered by that sight, Hugo shouted.
"Ack! No, wait, let me just say—!"
Yet Igeon, as if it wasn't worth hearing, slammed the axe down.
Crunch!!!
"Aaaack!"
Hugo felt like he was going to die.
Isn't it a weapon that becomes even stronger against monsters than usual?
When it faced him, it roared more madly than ever.
Crack!!
"Damn it!"
In the end, Hugo screamed, throwing his head back, twisting his legs to dodge, and swerving his waist, barely avoiding the Heavenly Punishment.
But seeing Hugo dodging like a mole in a whack-a-mole game, Igeon seemed to be getting pissed off.
"You little shit, dodging everything?"
"I can dodge! Who do you think taught me!"
It was meant to score some points in his own way, but it didn't seem to get through to Igeon at all.
"AAAAAH!!!"
In an instant, black flames shot up from Igeon's body.
And realizing that was the Stage 6 mode's [ ], Hugo screamed.
He wondered if he was really going to use the power of a Great God against a mere fly, but apparently Igeon was mightily pissed.
[What you say to me, you little shit, doesn't matter.]
"!"
[But you go around causing trouble for the people around me?]
"……!"
It didn't matter what Hugo said, whether he badmouthed him or betrayed him.
After all, Igeon was used to being cursed at, used to hearing bad things.
Besides, would it bother him one bit to add another case of betrayal to the list now?
That was a problem that could be solved simply by killing the bastard.
But if he spread that pain to his family and the people who supported him, the story was different.
[Burning the family photo to drive nails into your wife’s heart, making the people around you worry?]
"No! That's—!"
[Well, I'll give you a chance to make excuses.]
"Yeah. So I'll—"
[Yeah. Not worth listening to.]
"Hey! I haven't even said a word ye—... Ke-heok!"
As if he never intended to listen from the start, Igeon twitched his finger.
[Humanity's side. Or that side.]
"!"
[Just answer that.]
"……!"
It was a question that cut to the core.
No excuses, no explanations, no trivial reasons were worth hearing, just pick your side properly, it meant.
At the same time, it was a wordless implication that that single word would be enough.
But Hugo did not open his mouth.
At that silence, Igeon's eyebrow twitched with fury.
'That bastard.'
Did he think it was okay to still spare and watch the monarch scum who attacked humanity, coming from a position of protecting humanity?
If it were up to his temper, he would have turned him to ashes already, but the faces of his nieces and nephews flickered in Igeon's mind.
Igeon released the Stage 6 mode.
"I'll give you one last chance. Will you come back or not."
At that, Hugo sighed.
"Fine."
"… You bastard, then that's…"
"I have no intention of coming back."
"……???"
Igeon raised his eyebrows as if doubting his own ears.
"What, you punk?"
"What's so good about that place to go back, you bastard. Like I said before, you piss me off so much I want to knock your jaw off."
Surge.
Igeon's eyebrows twitched as if stiffening with shock.
What did that bastard just say?
But Hugo continued, as if dumbfounded himself.
"And what? A chance? Look at you, becoming a Great God and getting all high and mighty, you dumb bastard."
"……."
"Originally, I was just going to follow you, leisurely infiltrate, and turn the human camp into a wasteland, but even that's over. Looking at your disgusting face, I can't even stomach doing that."
Soon, Hugo revealed his true colors and launched an attack at Igeon.
As if it wasn't worth dealing with, Igeon lightly struck the ground with [ ].
Tap!
Then Hugo's body was lifted into the air, as if drawn by magnetism.
"Ke-heok!"
As expected, the Divine Weapon of Death, [ ], was a weapon that dominated the opponent's fate.
First, it robbed him of his physical freedom.
And as Hugo was slammed into the ground, Igeon put power into the pincer-like Gacheon's Shackles.
The sword instantly turned into a blade spewing black flames.
At the same time, having summoned [ ], Igeon grabbed and pressed down Hugo's head with murderous eyes.
"Is that all you have to say?"
Then, Hugo, unable to overcome Igeon's strength, laughed in empty resignation.
"Kill me. But before you kill me, I have one last request."
Though it wasn't worth listening to, Igeon narrowed his brow.
"What is it."
"Just don't let the world know that you killed me."
Hearing that, Igeon let out a hollow laugh. It was a scoff as if it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.
But that was only for a moment; he glared murderously, looking more pissed than ever.
"You little shit, I wondered what you'd say."
On the contrary, Igeon seemed to be even more enraged.
Sure enough,
"What, embarrassed that you were done in by me?"
"It's a request. You can say I died causing trouble on my own, or that someone else took care of me. But not you, no. Even if you kill me, just make sure the kids and Jiwoo never know for the rest of their lives. After all, I'm Jiwoo's husband, and the kids' dad."
Igeon let out a hollow laugh again.
"What, your pride won't allow it? You want to be remembered as a cool dad until the end?"
Then Hugo said,
"Because I want you to remain an eternal hero to those kids, just you."
"……?"
Igeon blinked.
For a moment, he couldn't understand what Hugo was saying.
But soon, Hugo spoke as if in pain.
"Of course, since it's something you do, the kids will accept it. But still, you killed their father. They might accept it in their heads, but not in their hearts."
"……."
No matter how much they acknowledged it with their minds, they were only human.
Could they ever fully love the person who killed their dad? Could they truly guarantee that not a shred of hatred would arise?
And Hugo hated the idea of Igeon being hated because of something so trivial as this.
"They're kids who genuinely liked you since they were little. I hope you'll remain a hero to them forever, just like now."
No, not just those kids.
How had Igeon managed to return as a hero again?
"I hate even the thought of you becoming gossip for the world. The one in the wrong is me, so please, I'm begging you."
Igeon was silent.
It wasn't the face of someone lying.
No, rather, it was a face he knew well.
'Yeah.'
A friend who, for twenty years, had believed in him alone and waited, like an idiot.
When everyone said he was dead, when they sold him out for wealth and power, the friend who alone had stubbornly kept his conscience.
Monarch or whatever, this bastard was the bastard he knew.
So he could only look at Hugo as if he couldn't understand him.
"Taeksoo. Why the hell are you doing this."
"……!"
Igeon released Hugo.
Hugo looked at Igeon in surprise. Even the killing intent had vanished.
Igeon couldn't understand.
The way he acted was definitely the pushover he knew, so why did he keep doing things that didn't suit him?
Then Hugo tried to object.
"Ha. It's easy to deceive like thi—"
"Cut the crap and spill it, you bastard. I just heard from Seongje via telepathy. He said you pulled out a parasitic monster that had invaded his body."
"……."
There was no way to deceive him.
In the end, Hugo sighed as if giving up.
"Because if I didn't do this, I couldn't deceive [ ]."
"?"
"Yeah. I knew they secretly attached a watcher to me without [ ] knowing."
At that, Igeon, as if he had never let go of his bloodlust, furrowed his eyebrows.
Because with those words, he understood the whole situation.
"You bastard. Don't tell me you burned the family photo because of that???"
When Igeon moved to stomp him as if asking if he wanted to die, Hugo screamed and latched onto Igeon.
"Anyway, if it's you, Geon, you can restore the burned photo!!! And I'm a person who's going to disappear anyway! I hate the thought of our Jiwoo crying while looking at my photo!! Ke-heok!!"
"So you burned it??? And what's this crap about disappearing?"
"That is..."
Hugo hesitated, then answered.
"[Rimei]."
"?"
"I found out after regaining my memories. The [karma] attached to [Rimei] is considerable."
[Rimei] had mercilessly slaughtered and devoured countless gods, and was dragged to the tribunal for it.
And once, though he was captured by the Creator, as he had lived as a resident in the divine realm, the karma system applied to him.
That wasn't all.
Hugo remembered clearly.
Even if it was for revenge, what he did was too treacherous and inhumane to dismiss as mere predatory instinct.
The weight of those grudges and sins was too heavy.
Well, perhaps the Great God of Mahabharata knew what [Rimei]'s motive was. Or perhaps, in his own way, he still carried guilt for killing the Ancient God and the Creator.
But he had imposed [ ] on him, not [ ].
-If [ ] is imposed, the divine realm will also take a hit.
In simple terms, [ ] means receiving all the [ ] and disappearing, just as Great Gods like Tongcheonju vanished when they couldn't overcome their own [ ].
But with a God, maybe, but if a monarch-class being receives that karma back, no one knows what kind of monster might be born or what phenomenon might occur.
Since it was unprecedented, after all.
Unlike gods, because his flesh is strong, he might not vanish but become a great monster, or the divine realm could shatter with his disappearance, or a catastrophic event could occur.
-Therefore, the highest punishment of the Wheel of Hell is imposed, and the [ ] is suspended as long as you are human.
It meant it would be better to die in a human state, humiliatingly, insignificantly like a bug, and painfully.
But now it was different.
He had regained his memories and power, and had returned to [ ].
"All the karma that was suspended for thousands of years will soon activate."
In short, he was a bomb.
So how could he stay by his friends and family?
It was better to deal with the troublemakers before that, and disappear paying for his sins in a place unrelated to Earth.
But at those words, Igeon raised an eyebrow as if it was preposterous.
"So you were planning to die anyway. Were you going to make the kids grow up in a single-parent home? Even with a newborn baby?"
"Better than them getting caught up in the karma and getting hurt! And my death insurance payout and pension will be more than enough anyway!! And!"
"And what!!"
"You're the Creator God, Geon, who can make anything! I figured if it came to it, you'd keep my death a secret and leave a clone of me!"
"What are you saying, you dumb bastard!!!"
Enraged, Igeon swung his fist straight at the ground next to Hugo's head.
"… Fine. Let's say that's what happened."
"……?"
"In that case, I can just solve it, you dumb bastard. Don't worry about that karma or whatever tied to you."
"Huh?"
"Because I have an indulgence that can completely absolve all of it."
"Wha, what? But..."
The amount of karma was too vast.
No matter what indulgence it was, it shouldn't be able to pardon it all.
As if reading that thought, Igeon snorted.
" [ ]. "
"…!"
Igeon was a god who could kill one to save ten thousand, and kill ten thousand to save one.
Whoever it was, however heavy the karma, erase all that piled-up karma and be done with it.
"Saving one bastard like you isn't hard."
At that, Hugo collapsed, covering his face.
[Hugo Otters's faith increases]
[Snake Lord's Faith 1000%]
Flash!
Along with the notification, light burst from Igeon's body.
Hugo, having suffered a heart attack(?), apparently couldn't hide his faith any longer.
And with the rising faith, a change occurred in Igeon's body.
"!"
His body, whose soul and even divinity had been destroyed, regenerated in an instant.
The pain-ridden body instantly felt lighter.
'As expected, a cheat key.'
It was an incomprehensible faith from the start, but maybe it was possible because of the accumulated history from the [ ] days.
Soon, as Igeon coolly accepted it and turned around, Hugo got up joyfully.
"So I can really go back?"
"Yeah, you dumb bastard."
Igeon nodded readily and stood tall, stopping.
"However."
"……However?"
Igeon smiled brightly.
"Let's go back after you die once."
Hugo's scream echoed.
(Continued in the next chapter)