Chapter 22

Chapter 22 – Got Something Interesting (2)

Hugo became surprised by the item Lee Gun took out. “Hey! That’s...”

Lee Gun had taken out the golden crate. The crate emitted chaotic magical energy, shocking Hugo into action. He immediately used his ability.

Paht!

The door shut as Hugo released a large amount of magical energy.

[The barrier around the Archer Saint’s holy ground has been activated.]

[’s holy ground. It is the Sagittarius's Pit of Hell.]

[Holy Ground Characteristics: Scorching Heat, Foresight, Hero Training, Hero’s Grave]

[Caution! You may receive burns if you are not careful.]

[The Serpent Bearer’s holy ground is needed to protect you.]

[Your qualification and level are too low to make this corresponding area into the Serpent Bearer’s holy ground.]

[You feel the energy of an envoy.]

Hugo put up a barrier to stop the power from leaking out of the crate. He then grabbed the back of his neck. His reaction was warranted. “Hey! Why the hell would you steal a Saint’s treasure?”

That was right. The golden crate in front of him was an SS rank holy item called .

It was unequivocally a divine treasure that couldn’t be replaced.

“Do you know what kind of item that is? Why would you bring that!”

Lee Gun sneered. “What? I found out Oh Taeksoo is poorer than I thought. I’m going to use this as my wallet instead of taking resources from the Poverty Saint.”

“What? Why am I the Poverty S…” Hugo tried to glare at his friend, but he understood why Lee Gun had stolen this particular item. It was an item Lee Gun coveted in the distant past.

Why?

‘Gun can create anything if he has that holy item.’

It took a boat load of ingredients to create a weapon or a holy item. As if to make matters worse, the ingredients were normally hard to acquire.

The ingredients included items from monsters and national treasures that were valued around the world.

However, they couldn’t steal a national treasure because they needed it as an ingredient.

Normally, a country would receive the manufactured item as a price for loaning out their national treasure. That was why not many of these items were made.

‘That problem becomes a moot point if he has a holy item that can multiply other items.’

That’s right. The Royal holy item was called the .

As expected of a possession of the Wealth Saint, the item was shaped like a safe. It could store anything and was capable of multiplying the items contained within it.

It was a very special storage item.

In other words, it could increase gold, skills, and soldiers.

‘This is a treasure even other Saints covet.'

How did he get a hold of this?

Lee Gun shook the box as he laughed. “Anyway, I’ll open this and multiply the ingredients. Then, I’ll use it to screw over everyone.”

“How?” Hugo asked.

Lee Gun confidently laughed. “I’ll use this to siphon off their fortunes.”

“!”

The safe was a treasure that the other twelve Zodiac Saints liked to use frequently.

It could store anything. The size, weight and quantity didn’t matter. Moreover, it could multiply those stored items. There was no way the other twelve Zodiac Saints would pass on using it.

It was used to trade amongst themselves in addition to expanding their wealth.

‘This infinite storage item contains their goods.’

Lee Gun let out wicked laughter.

“Aside from you, I heard the rest of the Zodiac Saints are receiving monetary support from the asshat. I can cut off their financial support.”

“How?”

“Did my words go in one ear and out the other? I’m going to open this crate, and I’ll cut off their funds…”

“How are you going to pull that off? There’s no one here who can activate this holy item,” Hugo said.

A momentary silence ensued in the room. Lee Gun furrowed his brows as he looked at his friend. “What? You can’t use this?”

“Dude, I’m the Archer Saint!”

Not anyone could use a holy item. In short, Saints were humans blessed by the Zodiacs. This meant the holy item of the Sheep Saint could be used by only humans the Aries favored. As for the low-rank holy items sold on the market, they had a general use contract.

‘Of course, some Zodiacs allow anyone to use their holy items.’

An SS rank holy item was a treasure that represented a Zodiac’s pride. There was no way anyone could use these items.

‘Well, this guy is an exception.’

Lee Gun had never revealed how he had done it, but in the past, he had nonchalantly stolen and used SS rank holy items of the twelve Zodiac Saints. Hugo had been no exception to this. In the past, Lee Gun had taken his bow without saying anything. He would come up with a flimsy excuse saying, “I borrowed it for a bit.”

Since Lee Gun could use items of other Saints, was he assuming Hugo could do the same? It seemed that was the case.

“Why can’t you use it?” Lee Gun couldn’t understand why Hugo was unable to do it, and this made Hugo’s eyebrows twitch.

“Why are you trying to make me use it?” Hugo asked.

“It uses a crap ton of magical energy.”

“!”

'This bastard is trying to use me as a battery for magical energy.' Hugo had a baffled expression, but Lee Gun remained shameless.

Saints received magical energy from the Zodiacs, but Lee Gun’s magical energy came from himself. If he used this item, he would fall over from exhaustion. He would be crazy to use it.

“You're the only one of the twelve Zodiac Saints who I recognize and accept. I don’t know why you're incapable of doing something so easy.” Lee Gun looked at him.

“Your standards are insane. Are you never going to admit that?”

“Jeez! I already sent a declaration of war to the broadcasting station. The guy that is supposed to stand next to me is of no help.”

“What? What did you send?”

“Ah Whatever. Be quiet and get out of my way.”

“What did you send to the broadcasting station!”

Hugo became uneasy.

Lee Gun just laughed as he lifted the crate.

***

Right now, all the media outlets were making a lot of noise. It was all about the Sheep Saint.

Of course, Yang Wei was missing. There was the incident where Yang Wei ordered a live burial. There were many reasons why there was unrest, but that wasn’t the case right now”

“What? Did a quick delivery service deliver this?”

The PD who had received the package tilted his head in puzzlement. He held an unknown item.

“What is this?” The PD became surprised when he took a closer look at the box.

‘This signature…!’ He was sure of it. It was Lee Gun’s signature. Of course, the PD knew what his signature looked like; Lee Gun was currently the most talked about awakened being on this planet. Moreover, he was already a legendary figure around the world.

The flustered PD read the shipping label and found something very surprising.

[Sender: Lee Gun]

[Address: Devil’s Tower]

“…!”

That was right. Lee Gun had sent this item.

The PD quickly opened the box. As soon as he saw its contents, he started to scream.

“Ahhhk!” The PD screamed in fright. His scream rang throughout the broadcasting station.

“PD-! Are you ok?”

“What’s wrong?”

The hysterical PD pointed towards the box.

“M…Monster…!”

“!”

A slime was jiggling as it slowly crawled out of the box.

“What the hell! Is that a monster?!”

It was a strange creature that no one had seen before, so everyone was about to scream and run away.

“Uh, uh?”

The slime had something in its mouth. It was a gray plastic envelope.

It expanded its body as if to say it would swallow them if they didn’t quickly take the envelope.

Everyone reared back in fright.

“PD-!”

In the end, the trembling PD extended his hand. At the same time, the sound of someone screaming like a dolphin rang out.

“Kyahhhk! What the hell is that!”

“Is that a monster?!”

The people coming into the room became frightened when they saw a pudding crawl across the ground. That wasn't all. For some reason, the slime seemed to travel underneath the skirts of K-POP idols. It seemed to like that kind of thing.

“P-PD. Something's written on the envelope.”

?”

“Hurry up and open it!”

The PD quickly opened the envelope, and they became surprised.

“Picture…”

That’s right.

The envelope contained a picture, and it was a picture of Yang Wei.

“Is he the one that caused commotion, because he went missing?

“You're right! He dropped off the grid after letting the Spider Queen loose in Korea…”

Their faces turned pale when they saw the picture. It was to be expected. The picture showed a problematic scene. It was a picture of Yang Wei, and he was a bloody mess. There was no way the Sheep Saint would send them this photo unless he had lost his mind.

‘There are words written on it…!’

The words were written with a broad pen, and there was power behind them.

Only one sentence was written on the photo's back.

Everyone covered their mouths in shock.

“P-PD-?”

The PD quickly got up after reading the words.

Kwahng!

“Let’s go live right now!”

“What?”

“What are you doing? Send out the notice for breaking news! We’ll also run a special feature during prime time!”

“Uh? We're running a special on the twelve Zodiac Saints at that time slot—”

“Who cares about the twelve Zodiac Saints!”

“What... what will be the title of the show?”

“Message sent by Lee Gun! This is an exclusive!”

“What?”

“Lee…Lee Gun is back.”

***

At that moment in time, the broadcasting station was in an uproar after receiving Lee Gun’s surprise present.

As if sending the picture wasn’t enough, Lee Gun had stolen the treasure of a Zodiac. He laughed.

[Intruder! You aren’t a disciple accepted by the Aries!]

Tuhng!

“Gun!”

A fierce rebound suddenly knocked his hands away as red magical energy emanated from the crate.

[Caution. The Sheep Saint’s Guard skill has been placed over it.]

Hugo became flustered, and he quickly summoned his auxiliary bow. “Gun! Get back!”

Despite the warning, Lee Gun smirked. There was no way he would back off. He imbued powerful magical energy into the item.

Lee Gun’s personal attribute called allowed him to mimic another person’s technique and magical energy to a certain extent. He had used this skill to develop holy items and nonchalantly borrow the holy items of others.

In the past, he had to be mindful of not stepping on the toes of others, but there was no need for that now.

‘The god of wealth ran away, so what's he going to do?’

Kwahng!

Two incredibly huge magical energy waves clashed against each other. Lee Gun was trying to brute force the crate by destroying the divine barrier.

Kwahng!

Was it because the god of wealth had gone into hiding? Whatever the reason was, the wind pressure generated by the rebound dissipated in no time.

‘!’

Lee Gun quickly retracted his hands in desperation. It was to be expected.

‘My hair...’ The wind blew off several strands of Lee Gun's hair, surprising him. At the same time, he heard a familiar voice.

[Your hair will be sacrificed when you use the Aries’ holy item.]

[Caution! If you pursue wealth too much, you might become bald.]

“…!” Lee Gun bit his tongue.

When one borrowed the power of a Zodiac through a holy item, one needed to give a tribute or fulfill a requirement. It meant payment had to be paid for borrowing the power. Of course, the rental fee differed depending on the Saint. Some Zodiacs gave power to the humans who needed it. However, some liked to put their own amusement above all else.

‘No wonder that asshat had thinning hair!’

It seemed Hugo was also shocked by this scene. The disciples of his Zodiac also had to pay tributes, but it wasn’t this type of thing. He wondered if the disciples of the Aries knew about this.

Soon, Lee Gun’s eyes flashed in anger. “Are there any disciples of the Aries nearby?”

Hugo looked fed-up as he gazed at Lee Gun. “Just give your hair as tribute, asshole.”

Lee Gun grumbled as he glared toward the trunk with Yang Wei’s corpse. “Are you sure he’s dead?”

Hugo burst out laughing. Was he being serious? “You used your ignorant power to pierce his heart! Even I would be dead!”

This remark caused Lee Gun to lash out in anger once again. “He’s a Saint! Why's he so weak? How could he die from just that attack?”

Hugo was dumbfounded. “He’s not weak! You're the weird one for expecting him to live after being stabbed like that!”

“Whatever! Just bring him back to life, Taeksoo.”

“Hey!” In the end, Hugo massaged his forehead. “Even if you kidnap a disciple of the Aries temple, it won’t be possible. You need the secret code to use the crate to its full potential.”

“Secret code?”

“Yang Wei had a distrustful personality, so he put secret codes on many of his holy items,” Hugo explained.

“Secret code?”

Hugo let out a bitter laugh. He seemed like a father looking at a troublemaker of a son. “I understand what you must be feeling right now, but you should give up on it. You won’t be able to use it…”

It happened at that moment.

Suddenly, Lee Gun kicked Yang Wei's corpse in anger.

[You have acquired special data.]

“!”