Cheon Seongjae still couldn’t forget the sight of that day.
It was a day of immense happiness, meeting his mother after a year. The day he pestered his father’s closest subordinate to take him to the airport.
On the way back, he was so hungry. And since he was so happy to see his mother after so long, it was the day he whined a little more for no reason.
“Ma’am!”
The creatures that appeared with the red mist let out grotesque sounds and attacked them.
The first to be swallowed was his mother, who had tried to hide him in the car.
“Seongjae!”
The next to be swallowed was his father’s subordinate, who had cut off the arm of the monster that found him.
The subordinate was swallowed while protecting him, telling him not to be scared because his father would surely save him.
The happiest birthday became the death anniversary of the people he loved in an instant.
Still, Cheon Seongjae did not lose hope.
He believed his father would save the two who were taken.
Because his father was one of the invincible Twelve Saints, praised as heroes by the world.
Moreover, other Saints were also present there.
“Seongjae, it’s okay. Dad and the other Saints will definitely save them.”
But.
“Hugo! No way!”
“Ah, that bastard’s insane! He’ll have his power drained!”
The Saints fled.
Though it wasn’t known to the world, Cheon Seongjae knew it was a clear desertion.
And among them, only one person saved his father.
Eventually, watching his father silently suffering at the funeral, Cheon Seongjae realized.
That he had taken away the people precious to his father.
So, despite opposition, as soon as the age limit was lifted, he entered the Gemini Seat.
It was a single-minded determination to catch the ones who took those two with his own hands.
At that time, the strongest Sacred Seat in Korea was the Gemini Seat, and he was the one who had caused the death of the Sagittarius Seat’s Saint Leader in the first place.
He had no face to see the unit members who followed the Saint Leader like an older brother to join the Sagittarius Seat.
That wasn’t all.
‘The Gemini Seat is the Sacred Seat that deals with souls.’
Perhaps an application of summoning souls. Maybe he could even call back the souls of the dead.
Indeed, in the Gemini Seat’s magic library, it was there.
[Conversation with the Dead]
If he could at least summon the souls of those two.
He wanted to let his father and sister, and the followers of the Sagittarius Seat, meet them.
So he desperately accumulated merits, gathered points, and finally managed to enter the SS-ranked magic tome, accessible only to Saints and Saint Leader-level individuals.
And at last.
‘With this.’
Cheon Seongjae carefully picked up one book.
A sound came from the sign.
[Would you like to rent the Magic Tome of the World Tree (SS)?]
[The contribution points required for rental are 187,000p.]
[The current contribution points of the Archbishop rank are 187,483p.]
Points he hadn’t spent for three whole years.
Three years of eating minimally and sleeping with friends.
All those points were vanishing in an instant, but he didn’t care.
Besides, with this many points, you could get ten 100-pyeong penthouses, but who cares?
[Rental complete. All points have been used.]
[Remaining points: 483P]
And the moment the lock of the magic tome was released, Cheon Seongjae immediately flipped to a specific page.
There were dense magic formulas, full of SS-ranked spells that other mages would covet.
[Warning. 9 minutes and 57 seconds remaining until rental ends.]
Moreover, with a time limit, one would struggle to learn an SS-rank spell, but Cheon Seongjae didn’t even see them.
Anyway, these things. He could memorize them with a single glance.
And what was important now.
‘Page 1,467…!’
A month ago.
As a reward for his special achievement, he had gotten to open this book instead of a penthouse, but the time limit then was 3 minutes.
Back then, he could only memorize half due to time, but today was different.
‘I can memorize it all.’
And finally, the moment Cheon Seongjae opened page 1,467.
“……!”
Cheon Seongjae’s face twisted.
‘It’s gone.’
There were traces of the pages being forcibly torn out with magic.
And it was at that moment.
“You’re one step late.”
Someone was shaking the torn pages.
Cheon Seongjae was startled.
‘Yoon Siwoo!’
A blood relative of the Libra Seat’s Saint, and one of the third-generation chaebol brothers who came to study abroad at the Gemini Seat.
But Cheon Seongjae’s eyes grew fierce.
It couldn’t be helped.
‘The enemy who killed those two.’
Indeed, ten years ago, they were high school brothers who fled from the scene where the Blood Mist appeared.
In effect, the Blood Mist had appeared because of those two.
Soon, Yoon Siwoo shook the torn magic tome pages and said.
“Unlike a genius like you, I can’t even read this difficult shit. But what to do? If I destroy this, you won’t be able to read it either.”
At that moment, the magic tome pages he was holding burst into flames.
It was the magic power of the Libra Seat, not the Gemini Seat.
“I heard the greatest follower of the Gemini Seat wasn’t buying a penthouse and only rented some old magic tome. I wanted to tease you.”
At this, Cheon Seongjae let out a scoff as if it were ridiculous.
Tease my ass.
“Are you scared I might take this to Uncle?”
“!”
Yoon Siwoo was startled.
Cheon Seongjae spoke.
“What. Did you think I wouldn’t remember your faces? The Blood Mist appeared because of you bastards.”
At this, Yoon Siwoo frowned, seeming flustered.
It was a case handled by a proxy, so there was no way his face was revealed.
They only underwent a brief questioning at most.
‘This is why smart brats are annoying.’
“Fine. Keep trying. Seems like you were planning to take that magic to the uncle you trust so much. Anyway, this man you’re so fond of will be dead soon too.”
“What?”
“If the Blood Mist is caught, we’ll be in trouble too. The Saint went to such lengths to cover up that incident.”
Saying this, Yoon Siwoo pulled out his cell phone.
What he showed was a TV screen.
“Can you see this! The outside of the Belgian dome is thick with red mist!”
“Investigation results confirm it’s the same calamity that appeared near the Incheon Airport fast-food restaurant 10 years ago.”
“At that time, about 5,000 nearby residents collapsed from that mist and still haven’t woken up.”
“Could it be that the mist from back then has also landed in Belgium?!”
“Currently, with Domes 5 and 4 destroyed, the defense forces have headed to Dome 3.”
“This is extremely dangerous. According to incoming reports, people who inhaled the mist are collapsing from unexplained fainting spells…”
“Ah! Wait a moment! There are reports of Yigeon being seen outside the dome!”
Cheon Seongjae was shocked.
‘That’s the place Uncle went after receiving a request.’
Then could it be that the monster Uncle went to catch was that thing…!
Cheon Seongjae’s heart sank.
Of course he believed in Yigeon, but even so, that thing was…!
At the same time, he regretted naively handing the request form to Yigeon.
If nothing else, that monster, at least, would be a trauma for both him and his father.
Seeing his face, which rarely contorted, Yoon Siwoo smiled with satisfaction.
“The Virgo Seat probably knew the truth and made the request to your uncle. To the Saint, that monster is like poison.”
“……!”
“The idol you love so much, will he end up just like your father?”
* * *
“Who cares.”
With Yigeon’s laugh, an arrow flew out.
The arrow tore through the air at ferocious speed. Its trajectory was unmistakably aimed at the enemy’s body.
But Gott, seeing that trajectory, flinched in surprise.
It couldn’t be helped.
‘No way! It missed after all!’
He knew it from the moment he shot without even aiming properly.
‘I told you…!’
Of course, it was inside this kind of mist. And Yigeon wasn’t even a long-range Sacred Seat follower.
So it was only natural to miss…
“Kieeek!”
“!?”
Everyone was startled by the sound coming from the mist.
The other followers also panicked.
“What the. It hit? It hit them?”
“What?! Are you kidding me? The trajectory was off just now!”
Moreover, the place Yigeon shot at was completely off from the direction they had pointed.
That’s why they too, like Gott, had noticed and were preparing a secondary shot.
At the same time, the red mist grew thicker.
[Caution. It is a special mist.]
[Cannot identify the enemy with the God’s Gaze or the 13th Sense.]
[Caution. Cannot identify the number and location of the enemies.]
But Yigeon laughed as if it were nothing.
“What do you mean ‘can’t identify.’”
Simultaneously, Yigeon’s storm of attacks continued.
The first was a triple shot!
A sound like a cannon burst out.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
“Keeaack!”
“Keeaaeck!”
“Keeaack!”
Because of this, the followers of the Sagittarius Seat could only drop their jaws.
Same bow and arrows, but the power and speed were completely different from when Gott shot them.
But that wasn’t the end.
“Four of them, five, six! Ten!”
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
“Kkyiek!”
It was insane speed. Moreover, seeing his posture, it looked like some thug was shooting recklessly.
But the funny thing was, all those hastily shot arrows hit their marks.
It was then.
As if bewildered by Yigeon’s bombardment, the enemy reacted.
“Dammit, they hid!!”
“Can’t see them even with skills!”
Complete stealth of the enemy.
However, Yigeon pricked up his ears.
‘The location of those things…’
He was someone who could identify things by sound alone without skills from the get-go.
If he heard a sound, he could even grasp the object’s size, movement, and path.
Sure enough.
Splish.
At the faint sound of sand, Yigeon smiled sharply.
And once again, arrows flew like crazy!
Thwack!
“Kieeek!”
Thwack! Thwack!
“Eek!”
“Eeeek!”
Gott was surprised.
Not for any other reason. The 100% accuracy rate was amazing, but his posture was very familiar.
‘Clearly, it’s the same as the Saint Leader’s…’
But wasn’t Yigeon a close-range ability user!
Finally, when the screams from within the mist disappeared, something astonishing happened.
“Ah! The mist…!”
The thick mist began to slowly disperse.
And what was revealed were a total of thirty creatures. No, thirty things.
“Tree branches…?!”
They were all monsters sliced apart by Yigeon’s arrows.
The dead trees all had sharp teeth. The creatures must have spewed mist from their mouths and devoured people.
And curiously, from where they were sliced, something floated up into the sky.
Whatever it was, it was fine.
“The ones making a racket are all taken care of now.”
“……!”
As if his view was finally clear, Yigeon headed somewhere.
“Now I can rip into the main body.”
“Huh?”
The moment the words fell, Yigeon drove his fist into the ground.
Crunch!
The instant his fist embedded deep into the ground.
An incredible thing happened.
Rrrrrumble!
A massive earthquake.
Along with it, the creature burst through the ground.
Gooooooo-
Bang!
A monster the size of a building surged upward.
And as if this root creature was the main body.
The thing roared from the ground.
[Warning. A god-devouring monster.]
[It grows by feeding on divine magic power.]
It was like a toad. But its appearance was terribly grotesque.
Above all, the aura of its magic power was completely different.
“Ugh…!”
The followers of the Sagittarius Seat instinctively covered their mouths.
A horrific visage that made them want to vomit just by looking.
Something wriggled toward them like a snake’s tongue.
Gott also broke out in a cold sweat.
It was certain.
It was the same creature that took Hugo’s wife and their Saint Leader ten years ago.
A creature that steals divine power, making skills ineffective.
Getting close meant having your magic power drained and dying. The Saints said so.
But it was alright.
‘If we attack from afar with arrows that have strong physical destructive power without using skills…!’
But it was at that moment.
Bang!
“?!”
Yigeon threw his bow without hesitation. And then he walked toward the creature.
[Something is felt inside.]
At this, Gott shouted in surprise.
“Yigeon-nim!!!”
He was genuinely shocked.
Approaching without even a weapon was a suicidal act.
“You mustn’t! If you touch that thing…!”
But Yigeon didn’t care.
Crunch!
Yigeon grabbed the creature’s face with his bare hands.
“!”
And then.
“Are you the bastard that made my friend and my nephew cry?”
Crunch!
He ripped its maw apart.
(Continued in the next episode)