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Chapter 136: Mutant Zodiac Saint (3)
Chapter 136: Mutant Zodiac Saint (3)
Chapter 136: Mutant Zodiac Saint (3)
Lee Gun suddenly clutched at his stomach as if he was having a stomach ache.
[The consumed power of a god will be remade.]
Lee Gun fell over while clutching his chest.
“Koohk.”
“Gun!”
Surprised, everyone rushed toward Lee Gun.
“Lee Gun!”
“Are you alright, Gun? Gun!”
They held Lee Gun in shock. This was especially true for Hugo, who felt his heart sink. His reaction was to be expected as a very long time had passed since he had seen Lee Gun in pain.
Before they had gone to the Devil’s Tower, Lee Gun’s bodily functions had deteriorated to the point where he suffered pain like a patient with terminal cancer.
This situation was similar to that time.
When both of these friends had reunited after twenty years, Lee Gun had looked healthy. Therefore, Hugo hadn’t paid attention to his friend’s health. However, he knew Lee Gun had been a patient at death’s door before he had died.
With his heart at the bottom, Hugo looked at his friend. “Are you alright, Gun? Do you need some medicine? Heart medicine? Do you need a pain killer?”
Hugo quickly searched his pockets. Whenever Lee Gun suffered in pain, feeding him medicine was Hugo’s job.
“My stomach is so full. Feels like it’ll burst!”
“What?”
“I want to go to the restroom.”
“What???”
“I feel like throwing up!”
“…?!”
Hugo wondered what nonsense Lee Gun was talking about.
[Danger! Your body can’t withstand the absorbed divine power.]
As the voice gave that information, Lee Gun’s body flashed.
“Gun!” Hugo, who was holding Lee Gun, let go in surprise.
‘He is hot.’ Lee Gun wasn’t in a normal state.
As for the man himself, Lee Gun bit his lips. He wasn’t sure, but it felt like a snake was going nuts in his stomach. The serpent-like thing was clearly the power of the Libra. In the end, it was a Zodiac’s power, which was trying to destroy his body.
As expected, he could hear a desperate voice.
[The act of a god eating a god is a deadly sin.]
[You cannot digest the divine power at your current level.]
[The power of the Absolute Order will consume you before you can recreate it.]
Accompanying those words, Lee Gun’s body started to tear apart. A yellow light emanated from him and tried to erase his existence.
“Koohk.”
“Gun!”
The reason for all this was the Gluttony skill. Lee Gun had experimented with it since it allowed him to eat anything. However, eating a god was too difficult.
As a consequence, Lee Gun was having the mother of all stomach aches. This was why sanitation was important. How rotten was that woman that he became like this?
At that moment…
[The Absolute Order’s Internal Force is too high.]
[If you do not want to be eroded by this power, you need a powerful divine power.]
[The Serpent Bearer’s Internal Force is considerably lower than the Absolute Order’s Internal Force.]
Lee Gun furrowed his brows. Internal Force?
He wasn’t certain, but this meant the Serpent Bearer’s temple was way too small compared to the Libra temple.
His opponent was the number one-ranked Zodiac Saint. That statement was true in terms of the size of the temple, the number of disciples it possessed, and its storied history. They all contributed to Internal Force, and the Libra temple possessed that in spades.
That temple couldn’t be compared to a newly born temple like Lee Gun’s.
The situation was like a baby serpent had tried to eat a large alligator. That was why Lee Gun’s stomach felt like it would burst.
As if to confirm this, the Virgo Saint’s Constructs spoke.
[The Serpent Bearer was born only a short while ago. That’s why you can’t swallow the enormous power of the Libra temple as someone with a newly established temple.]
[Your Internal Force is weak as a fledgling Zodiac…]
Hugo screamed at the words of the goddesses. That was to be expected.
“Internal Force” meant the provenance of the gods, which was composed of faith and legends. Internal Force became more profound with more entanglement to certain items and figures. Moreover, this was the power that allowed a god to exist and maintain its existence.
At the same time, Internal Force was a reflection of a Zodiac’s size and build. It reflected the size of the Zodiac’s power.
In other words, more achievements made the Zodiac being more well-known. As a result, records would be left behind, and the number of disciples following the Zodiac would grow. That was how a Zodiac grew stronger.
A god couldn’t exist without the belief of humans.
This was why the Zodiac Saints continuously tried to convert new disciples and steal each other’s disciples. As Internal Force decreased, the Zodiac’s power and defense decreased as well.
What if the Internal Force of a more powerful Zodiac was offered up to a Zodiac with a weaker Internal Force?
Hugo spoke in anger, “Hey! You shouldn’t have offered such a thing! Do you want to kill your benevolent Zodiac? Why the hell would you pick up and offer something so odd? You shouldn’t have just eaten anything! They said your amazing Zodiac is newly born! It’s a baby serpent!!!”
The beautiful Constructs of the Virgo Saint discreetly looked toward Lee Gun. Baby serpent?
‘Well, I guess he is a baby serpent.’
The problem was that it was the type of serpent with a potent venom that could ruin even a god.
It was unclear whether Hugo knew this or not. He continued to rage. “How can you call yourself a Zodiac Saint who serves a Zodiac?”
Anyway, Lee Gun would fall in danger at this rate.
“Hurry up and spit it out, Gun! Spit! Ptooey! Ptooey!” Hugo looked worried as he pounded Lee Gun’s back. He was sure that Lee Gun’s Gluttony skill must be a skill that allowed him to pay tribute to his Zodiac.
Yet, before he could pay the tribute to his Zodiac, Lee Gun had indigestion. Therefore, Hugo said, “Hurry and throw it all up! You shouldn’t kill your amazing Zodiac!”
Lee Gun wanted to hit Hugo.
In the end, Hugo was about to use his fingers. However, the shocked Constructs of the Virgo Saint held him back.
[Apostle of the Archer! We… We don’t recommend you use that method!]
[That is correct. The Serpent Bearer has already absorbed the power!]
The Virgo’s goddesses looked at Lee Gun.
[The fact that he was able to absorb all that is amazing, but…]
A normal god would never think about doing something so absurd as eating another god. It was something impossible to do even before it became a taboo.
[In the first place, there’s a better method that could be used instead of throwing it all up.]
Hugo looked at them in surprise. “What method is that?”
[The Serpent Bearer’s divine status should be raised so that he can swallow the Libra’s power.]
“!”
Basically, Lee Gun had to become stronger than the power he had swallowed.
[The divine status of a normal Zodiac is 90% at most.]
[It can blow up to 100% for a short time, but facilitating that is very difficult.]
[If the divine status is 100%, most powers can be dominated for a moment.]
This meant the ingested power could be converted to the Serpent Bearer’s power.
[That will allow the Serpent Bearer’s Internal Force to increase.]
Moreover, the Libra Saint was the first-ranked Zodiac Saint. If Lee Gun could absorb that power, he would acquire an incredible amount of power.
Therefore, the friendly Constructs of the Virgo Saint spoke to Lee Gun.
[The fastest way to raise a Zodiac’s divine status is Missionary and Achievements.]
Kevin moved immediately. “Missionary is the easiest. I’ll gather people.”
However, this only angered Hugo. What? Missionary was easy?
“Hey! You just need a written oath. That’s why it is easy for you to do Missionary!”
The Virgo Saint’s Missionary condition was to take an “oath.” Of course, the oath differed by the individual. Some had to pledge to not overeat or abstain from sex. It forbade certain actions, so the clause in the contract differed for each person.
However, the basic format was the same. One would not betray the Zodiac, and one would abstain from sexual desire.
Of course, the status of the Virgo Saint’s disciples depended on them maintaining that condition. Therefore, the Missionary process wasn’t that difficult for Kevin.
As for the Archer Saint, the Missionary condition was facial features. Therefore, gathering disciples was incredibly difficult for Hugo.
However, someone was even pickier than the Sagittarius. It was the Serpent Bearer, who was brutal about “Missionary.”
“Gun’s condition is 100 percent faith!”
“?!”
The expressions on the Virgo Saint’s goddesses were a sight to behold. It was as if they couldn’t believe such a condition could exist. Horrified, they looked at Lee Gun.
[Why did the Serpent Bearer choose such a condition?]
[Aren’t the conditions chosen by the Zodiac?]
Unless the Serpent Bearer was a masochist, it wouldn’t choose this condition. Of course, the more difficult the Missionary condition was for a temple, the more Missionary EXP it received. The EXP would be incredible if the condition was nearly impossible. Moreover, the disciples would awaken much stronger.
Therefore, some Zodiacs went with 80% Faith requirements, but this was a preference. Some Zodiacs had decided to intentionally scrap that condition.
One could make the Missionary condition easy and fight with quantity, or one could purposefully make it difficult to fight with quality.
[Still, I’m not even sure a 100% faith is achievable!]
[It… It might be possible? If the disciples value the Zodiac more than their lives…]
[?!]
Kevin furrowed his brows when he heard the commotion amongst his constructs.
‘However, it isn’t as if Lee Gun chose that condition.’
Even a rumored masochist like Lee Gun wouldn’t purposefully make such a condition to suffer pain.
Like him being unaware that he became the thirteenth Zodiac Saint, the Missionary condition might have been auto-selected. The probability was high. Then that meant…
‘The Serpent Bearer made sure he’ll never bring in a traitor.’
The Serpent Bearer had awakened when Lee Gun was betrayed. In the end, this didn’t matter.
“If the Missionary condition is that bad, he has to increase his divine status through achievements,” Hugo said as if he was overwhelmed.
It was to be expected.
“He just has Sungjae. It’ll be hard for him to make an achievement…”
Achievements! One had to use disciples to kill monsters, or the rental skills had to be spread to a large population, and they had to make contributions.
In other words, one had to make a contribution in the name of the Zodiac.
However, Hugo knew better than most about his son’s skill set. Even if his son killed monsters, it was unknown whether such an act would be considered a contribution.
‘He’ll have to kill a Saint rank.’
At the very least, he would have to make a contribution worthy of being recorded in the bible. That would allow it to become a source of strength for a Zodiac.
As if he had read his friend’s thoughts, Lee Gun crooked his finger toward Hugo.
When the surprised Hugo got closer, Lee Gun whispered something as if it were his dying wish. The words enraged Hugo. “What? You want me to resign as the Archer Saint and become your disciple?! Have you lost your mind?”
“Why not? If you don’t want to, why don’t you pray for me?”
“Have you lost your mind? Do you not realize what a Zodiac Saint’s prayer means? Why would I do something that’ll weaken the Sagittarius? What if something goes wrong—”
“Ah. I don’t care. Just pray! It says it’ll treat that as an achievement!”
Lee Gun seemed to have some energy still left since he was spouting such nonsense.
In the end, Hugo tried to search for a way. He was looking toward Red Eye when…
[Danger! The power of the Absolute Order is eating away at the Serpent Bearer’s body.]
[Danger! The Serpent Bearer’s body is breaking down.]
Lee Gun’s body turned rigid like stone. Cracks appeared on his arms.
The surprised Kevin clasped his hands. “Move aside, Archer Saint! It’s only a prayer! I’ll do it!”
“?!”
Hugo looked at Kevin in shock. The Constructs of the Virgo Saint screamed.
Zodiac Saints were proxies for their Zodiacs. A Zodiac Saint’s prayer could direct the power of a temple. Of course, this cut heavily into the contribution of the temple. Therefore, they shouldn’t think about doing the prayer so easily. It was something they should use only for their Zodiac and their temple.
So what was this?
The Constructs of the Virgo Saint became angry.
[Oh, apostle of the goddess! Are you saying you will use the Virgo’s power on that man?]
“Who cares? Do you think I don’t know that the goddess is keeping her eyes on Lee Gun?”
[?!]
“Just shut up! Tell her to continue watching Lee Gun!”
[Kevin!]
In the end, Kevin got on one knee and made his holy sign with his left arm. Then, something surprising happened.
Flash!
[The effect of a Saint-rank prayer is coming in.]
[The Virgo Saint’s vast power is flowing into the Serpent Bearer.]
[You have acquired an Achievement.]
[The Serpent Bearer’s divine status and internal force have increased.]
[A part of the Virgo Saint’s power is coming in.]
Lee Gun’s body stopped cracking. However…
[Your divine status has risen by 15%.]
[Current divine status: 40%.]
Kevin reared back in shock. “That isn’t enough?”
It seemed Lee Gun’s temple could take on more power than he had expected. The Constructs of the Virgo Saint were shocked too.
‘That’s the power of the second-ranked Zodiac Saint…!’
At that moment, since Sungjae had been contacted, his contribution had come to Lee Gun.
[Chun Sungjae has attained an achievement. Your divine status has increased by 15%.]
The magical energy flowing through Lee Gun’s body became explosive. It seemed Sungjae had also made a call, so the contribution from the other disciples came in too.
[Chun Jiwoo has attained an achievement. Your divine status has increased by 10%.]
What kind of achievement did they attain that was on par with the prayer of the second rank Zodiac Saint? However, that didn’t matter.
‘This is to be expected since they have high faith.’
It seemed Lee Gun would soon gain enough power to recreate the power of the Libra. However…
[You have earned 0.00000001% divine status from the Secretary.]
Lee Gun’s face distorted. It seemed he would have to teach the Secretary a lesson.
[You were successful in your Missionary. You have acquired a new disciple. Your divine status has explosively increased.]
[Current divine status: 85%]
[You need 15% to reach 100% divine status.]
Lee Gun furrowed his brows at the unexpected notification. Missionary? Who was it? His confusion lasted only a moment.
“Damn it.”
Hugo seemed to have gotten worried when he saw his friend in pain.
[The Archer Saint’s vast power is flowing into the Serpent Bearer]
[Your internal force has increased.]
As if he had given up, Hugo took a knee and gave a prayer as a Zodiac Saint.
[You can use a portion of the Archer Saint’s power.]
[Your divine status has reached 150%]
“!”
[You can recreate the Libra’s power.]
Accompanying a massive light, a change occurred to Lee Gun’s body.