Around that time…
“Ha ha ha. It is truly a mess!”
Many gods laughed as they watched the destruction of Olympus. While the Divine world has as many gods as there were stars, the forces of Olympus had a reputation!
‘Amongst the eight great forces, they are the most like hucksters!’
To become the number one force in the Divine world, the gods of Olympus took all the money away from various dimensions. They acted as brokers and used questionable and cheap tactics. They took profit from other forces as the middleman and easily took credit for everything.
This was why the entire Divine world was having a party. Countless gods just laughed as they partied. In a roundabout way, they were the victims who had suffered damage.
The gods of Kunlun and Valhalla had different reactions.
“Isn’t this bad for us?”
“I never expected the ones with the liabilities to disappear.”
They had been trying to make a bid for Pushover through Hades and had even made the payment, yet they hadn’t received the product.
Moreover, Lee Gun had intruded upon the party on the ship and sent important figures hovering between life and death.
“The ones that have to pay the debt are gone and insolvent. Where are we supposed to get our money?”
“Damn it! We can’t expect anything from the refugees! We have to worry about accommodating the refugees instead of the money!”
“What about the damages we requested from Olympus?”
“Shouldn’t we be receiving it from the snake god?”
“He’s the one who destroyed Olympus. What if we aren’t careful and suffer the same fate?”
“Do not compare us to that cub that usurped the seat of the Great Spirit.”
“We can be compensated in an easier way. We’ll be able to receive interest on top.” A god smirked as he shook a paper. “The snake god has a bounty placed on him. They must be aiming for his valuable Achievements.”
“I heard the snake god can’t use his abilities and weapons because of the debt.”
“It’ll be a jackpot for us.”
At that point, Valhalla and Kunlun gave them fresh orders.
[Track down the snake god.]
This was how the Divine world was turned on its head. Of course, the ones in the most uproar were…
“Find them! I saw the pillar gods of Olympus nearby!”
They were the gods of Olympus, who had suddenly become humans. Having received the biggest blow, they felt like dying.
“They are humans now! They can’t use their Divine power! We just have to kill them!”
“Amazing! They are giving a bounty of a billion for turning in two of us!!”
“It’s ten billion Talents for Zeus!!”
“This is nuts! Sagittarius has a price of fifty billion Talents on him!!”
They were in disheveled states as they hid inside the warehouse of a defunct factory, grinding their teeth.
‘Damn it! At this rate, we’ll be killed.’
They had never expected their Divine statuses and abilities to be sealed by the power of Cycle. The price of underestimating Lee Gun turned out to be steep.
“Can’t we do anything about the bounty? We won’t be able to go out in this environment!”
“Shit! Human bodies are smelly and itchy!”
“Why the hell is Louis’s bounty higher than that of the Great Spirit??”
At that moment…
“Why the hell did you summon the pillar gods? Are you an idiot?”
“!”
Two beings entered the warehouse of a defunct factory with food in their arms.
[Divine status: Hephaestus]
[Divine status: Dionysus]
The god of the craftsmen, who was known as the Divine world’s greatest blacksmith, snorted. These two were the lucky ones who hadn’t been inside Olympus. They hadn’t suffered any damage, which meant they hadn’t lost their Divine status.
“Had you not summoned all of us at once, Olympus wouldn’t have fallen in such a merciless manner.”
Poseidon had the right to act as a proxy for the Great Spirit. So, he became angry when he heard the words from the god of the craftsmen. “Shut up! You guys don’t have the right to say such a thing since you ignored the summons.”
Poseidon had summoned the pillar gods to capture Lee Gun, yet four out of the twelve pillar gods had sent dolls that looked like them. They had sent their Constructs as proxies.
The god of wine shrugged his shoulders. “The fact that we didn’t lose our power allowed us to pay the price to the goddess of fate. It’s the only reason your lives have been spared. Shouldn’t you be thanking us instead?”
The god of beauty got angry at that. “You merely manipulated the records of the Divine world to briefly pause our lifespan.”
“That’s why we can’t receive any help from the Divine world. We can’t even use the basic system.”
The gods laughed when they saw their expressions.
“Who cares! We’ll be able to recover everything if we bring back the snake god’s Divine status of Cycle.”
“Are you sure it’s one of the strongest Divine statuses, which went extinct? Are you lying to us?”
“How can I be lying? Pillar gods became human!”
“I guess that’s why these guys agreed to make a deal.”
As those words rang out, more gods appeared in front of them. They were the gods of Ennead, numbering thirty and including Anubis and Osiris. They had received orders to assemble.
They smiled at the hawk used for communication.
“God of Sun. Thank you for agreeing to get rid of the snake god instead of attacking Olympus.”
[I don’t mind. I have some debt to settle with the Serpent Bearer and Sagittarius.]
“Debt?”
They furrowed their brows. The one speaking through the hawk was a Great Spirit. He was a powerful being known as one of the three great generals.
‘He was part of the past nine great forces, and he was the one to take the territory of the fallen Creators…’
This was why they felt fear despite speaking through the communication bird.
The Great Spirit of Ennead let out a cold laugh.
[Three of the twelve Zodiacs originated from Ennead. They may have left my nest, but they were like my children. They were consumed by the snake god.]
“…!”
That snake god had already eaten three Zodiacs?
[Who do you plan on sending? Do you have someone useful?]
“We plan on sending the ‘Fighting god’ of Olympus.”
[Oh! You are sending that famous fighting god. Was he not influenced by the registry?]
“It’s because he’s a god beloved by the Divine world.”
The Great Spirit of Ennead laughed as if he was amused.
[Where are the goddesses of fate right now? I am unable to sense them either.]
“I apologize, but we didn’t see them directly. The goddesses of fate are existences that no one can locate.”
This made the Great Spirit of Ennead laugh lightly.
[Since you guys kept in touch with us, we will respond in kind. We will send those with the rank of ‘fighting god.’]
The god of wine smiled at those words.
“We will appreciate that gesture.”
[I’ll send Anubis and Osiris too.]
These two gods had returned home while hiding that they had become Lee Gun’s Constructs. So they flinched at those words. What the hell did he just say?
[The two of them will be of great help in the hunt for the snake god.]
The two gods started to sweat. They couldn’t do it!
* * *
“Ah! It’s that child who liked you, Nephew.”
Hugo’s eyes turned round. “Giselle liked Gun? What the hell are you talking about?”
Lee Gun laughed.
“I’m sure you’re mistaken. Giselle was the swindler that chased after you because she liked you.”
“That was Johnny.”
It seemed he remembered his full name. He wondered if he should shed a tear in thanks.
Anyway, Giselle was the Libra Saint, who had been eaten by a monarch (Negligence) who had snuck into the earth and had her body stolen. She was the human who had almost become their comrade.
It was unclear as to when her body had been swapped with the monarch, but there was a chance that by the time they had met her, that monarch was already occupying her body. It didn’t matter in the end.
“Giselle? She’s a human. How did a human come to the Divine world?”
“I don’t care about that! What do you mean she liked Gun?”
Sagittarius laughed as he said something unexpected. “It’s nothing. She gave up her life to save you guys. In the process, she fell into the Divine world.”
“She gave up her life?”
“Yes. After that child died, she remained near the Zodiac Saints as a soul. She tried to help in making sure your relationship with Hugo wasn’t severed. That was why Jean-Louis chased her away, and she fell into the Divine world.”
“He tried to sever our relationship?” Lee Gun looked at Sagittarius as if the latter was talking nonsense.
Sagittarius scoffed. “You don’t remember it? Twenty-five years ago! You guys were going to be excommunicated. At that time, Jean-Louis had tried to sever the relationship between you two.”
“Ah!” Hugo recalled it. This incident had taken place when he was Lee Gun’s student.
Jean-Louis, the Zodiac Saint of the Cancer temple, was the one to stab Lee Gun in the back, and in the past, he had tried to sever the relationship between Lee Gun and Hugo.
If he had cut the ties between the fate of those two men, Hugo would have been left with only negative emotions toward Lee Gun. Sagittarius was referring to that incident.
“Anyway, Jean-Louis tried to kill you, and he tried to sever the ties between you and several of the twelve Zodiac Saints. Anyway, Giselle tried very hard to repair those ties in her spirit state. She wanted to protect Lee Gun, whom she believed was humanity’s only hope.”
This surprised Hugo. “Wait a moment. Can it be…”
“Yes. They used to be amicable toward Lee Gun, yet they suddenly turned against Lee Gun.”
“!”
“This was true for even the servant of Virgo. Then there was the Gemini Saint who almost had a thing with you…”
Hugo had been nodding along when his eyes turned round. What? He almost had what with Heiji? What nonsense was he talking about?
On the other hand, Lee Gun found the talk disagreeable, so he cut them off. “Whatever! I know whom you are referring to. So how do you know about these nuggets of information?”
“How else? The Libra Saint was one of the candidates whom I wanted as my Zodiac Saint. Libra took her first, so I had to pick up someone like this guy over here.”
Hugo glared at Sagittarius.
Lee Gun’s eyebrows rose. “Why did you keep silent about this for the past twenty years?”
“Hmm. Why else? I was having coffee time to recharge my sensibility— Kuh-huhk!!”
Hugo ruthlessly stepped on him. “Whatever. You should go out and make some money! This is an order from your Zodiac!”
“What? Haha! I’m one of the great central gods of the Divine world! There is no way the Divine world would allow me to do a lowly task befitting a low-rank god…”
Before he could finish, a paper fell in front of Sagittarius.
[Pushover/Sagittarius: Customized recommendation from the job center to pay off debt.]
1) Loki’s hostess bar
2) Odin’s Coliseum
3) Dionysus’ bartender
4) Uriel’s Miner
…
21) Get hit instead of me
“…?!” Sagittarius looked at the paper in fright.
Virgo snickered. “What will you do?”
“!”
The Rule Book of the Divine world was great enough to change the rules of the Divine world. It was an item that all gods coveted. However, no god knew where it was. Even the Constructs didn’t leave behind any data.
“If we find Giselle, we can steal the Rule Book. Even a strand of her hair would suffice to track her.”
“Hair??”
Giselle (Negligence) had been killed by Lee Gun. Her body probably didn’t exist.
“We might be able to find it if we go to the earth….”
Sagittarius smirked. “Nephew, I’ll help you. Just make it so that Hugo doesn’t become my master…”
He couldn’t finish his sentence again as…
“I’ll go bring it!”
“!”
Yeonwoo stepped forward. She was well acquainted with the Divine world. “If it’s sent as an offering, it will be recorded at customs. The gods might notice what you are doing. That’s why I’ll go and get it myself.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m actually possessing this body.”
“!”
Yeonwoo had possessed a god who was already present in the Divine world. She had just coated her outer appearance over the body.
Possession allowed her to travel faster instead of entering and leaving the Divine world.
“You did say you came here to give me the weapon.”
Yeonwoo looked a bit guilty when she heard that. In truth, she had come here to monitor the situation, because Yooha and Hailey had chased after Lee Gun.
‘It seems Hailey didn’t come to the Divine world.’
Yeonwoo let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Yes. I’ll leave it to you. Don’t do anything too dangerous.”
Yeonwoo nodded as she disappeared with a flash of light. In her place, a Construct of Sagittarius appeared instead.
Sagittarius clicked his tongue. It seemed Yeonwoo had used his Construct.
Then Hugo asked, “Alright. Miss Yeonwoo will take care of that. What are you going to do, Gun?”
“I have to go and recover the ability of your junior.”
Hugo almost cleared his throat. “Cough. Have you lost your—”
“What? Fuck off with the platonic relationship. If push comes to shove, I’ll take it from a different male god and give it to you.”
“I don’t need anymore!! You should pay off your debt instead!! Your debt grew to 50 billion Talents!”
“I guess so. Being unable to use my abilities and weapons because of the debt is very inconvenient.”
The abilities currently available to Lee Gun were limited. In fact, he wasn’t even able to use Super Regeneration. When he accrued debt, all his rights had been restricted. This was true no matter where one went on the earth.
On the other hand, Sagittarius looked worried. “If you want to make 50 billion Talents, you’ll take 300 years even if you take the fastest route to make money…”
“Why would I do something so stupid? This is why you’re poor.”
“What?”
Lee Gun smirked. “You said bounties were placed on the gods of Olympus, who ran away. They are handing out a couple billion dollars for a pair. I’ll just catch and sell them.”
Sagittarius grabbed the back of his neck. When it came to Zodiacs, the ones with numerous powerful Constructs held the decisive edge.
‘Does he not realize how many Constructs work under the Zodiacs of the eight great forces?’
They were as many as the stars. Then there was the initial problem.
“While they might have lost to you, do you really think they’ll be found so easily? They cut contact with me before they went into hiding. We won’t be able to find them.”
“I’ll help you with that!”
“!!”
The eyes of Hugo and Lee Gun turned round when they heard the familiar voice.
“I’ll be able to smell them.”
“You…!” Hugo’s mouth fell open as he looked at Hailey, who had worn an animal mask. Did she change her mask?
Feeling his gaze, Hailey turned her head slightly as she spoke. “I…I’m the Red Scorpion…”
Did she think she won’t be found out, because she added another word to the name?
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