Boom!

A killer beetle, which was larger than a human, fell from the sky. The menacing beetle opened its mouth and tried to eat Lee Gun. However…

[The requirement to unlock Suicidal Instinct (F) has been met!]

[Requirement: Feel Very Threatened!]

[You can now use the Suicidal Instinct (F) skill. It allows you to partially activate a locked-away physical ability.]

At the next moment, Lee Gun vanished. To everyone’s surprise, he reappeared above the beetle’s head!

Ba-gahk!

“Kyahhhk!”

Screams erupted as blood splashed into the surroundings.

Lee Gun had ruthlessly crushed the beetle’s head with one punch. This development left everyone surprised. Lee Gun had killed the killer beetle without a weapon; only a few people in the world could accomplish such a feat.

“What… what the hell? Does he belong to one of the combat temples?”

“S rank?”

“I’ve never seen him before!”

Lee Gun looked at the greenish-blue magical energy emanating from his hands. It seemed different from his usual power. ‘This feels like a god’s power.’

He had felt this sensation before when the twelve Zodiacs had borrowed magical energy from the gods to use their skills. However, he still couldn’t feel the presence of the thirteenth god. He also felt like this power was his own.

That was, by no means, the only difference. He had executed a battle-type skill that he had used in the past. The skill temporarily boosted his physical abilities. However, the skill seemed different today.

‘It did evolve.’ His reaction speed had changed. He had yet to test it out, but his other skills felt different too.

Lee Gun laughed. ‘I didn’t want this to happen, but…’ He suddenly disappeared. It seemed he could unlock his skills and test them. It would be killing two birds with one stone.

“It’s the calamity!”

“Shit! Bugs!!”

As soon as the screams started, a dark swarm of bugs erupted out of the cracked floor. At a glance, they looked like a swarm of black beetles. They were much smaller than the killer beetle Lee Gun had killed. However, they were somewhat different. These beetles were horrifying bugs that burrowed into the organs of their prey.

“Why did they have to be the hatred-type!”

“What?

Calamity monsters were classified into various types, such as hatred-type, mischievous-type, fear-type, disease-type, deception-type, and etc. The danger level and the way to deal with them differed as per the type. Most hatred-type monsters were capable of wiping out a city.

The beetles clacked as their heads emerged from the cracks. Suddenly, the light in the store blinked out, and pandemonium broke out.

“What the hell! Why is this happening in a safe zone!”

“That’s right. This place is a green zone!”

“It’s so strange. Our local government bought protection from the Saints!”

Hahn Jimin suddenly yelled, “Ah! Sungjae! Behind you!”

“!” Hearing the warning, Chun Sungjae whipped his head around in surprise. A large centipede was crawling toward him. To make matters worse, four more were behind it! The centipedes were so large that he lost his cool despite being a high-rank disciple.

‘What the hell is this!’ He froze for an instant.

Ba-gahk!

The centipede’s head blew apart. With its head gone, the centipede staggered before falling to the ground.

Boom!

Chun Sungjae was shocked. A piece of frozen meat had come crashing from the air and blown off the centipede’s head.

“If you don’t keep your cool, you’re going to die.” Lee Gun advised Chun Sungjae. He was sitting on top of the meat refrigerator and stacking frozen meat in front of him. Tenderloin, sirloin, and other cuts of beef were in front of him.

This scene shocked Sungjae even more. ‘D-did he just blow off a high-rank monster’s head with that?’

There was a wide range of danger from calamity level to safety level. The danger was differentiated through color. Green was [Safe Zone], yellow was [Full Alert], orange was [Evacuation Advisory], red was [Evacuation Order], and black was [Completely Off Limits].

Chun Sungjae had tried attacking one of the centipedes, but his attacks had failed against the monster. It meant the centipedes were high-rank monsters from the Red Zone. Every time the S-rank Users had tried to clear a Red zone, they had failed. ‘How could he!’

Lee Gun let out a savage laugh as he tossed the frozen meat between his hands. “You bastards! Do you have nothing to eat that you’re going for kids?”

A scary amount of strength entered Lee Gun’s arm, then he threw it! Infused with magical energy, LA Galbi[1] flew through the air. They flew in a straight line.

Kwahng!

“Ggeeeeeeek!”

The noise sounded as if cannonballs had exploded. Flying like bullets, the LA Galbi obliterated the heads of four centipedes.

Kwahng! Kwahng!

That wasn’t all. Whenever the insects tried to move against the nearby humans, Lee Gun deftly threw an item to draw their attention and then slaughtered them.

Ba-gahk!

“Ggeeeeeeek!”

‘Does he have x-ray vision?’

Chun Sungjae’s legs turned to jelly. The man in front of him was accomplishing something impossible unless he knew the vital parts of each type of monster. Chun Sungjae’s father was the Archer, so he had the opportunity to see several Saints and S-rank disciples at work. However…

‘Is this guy for real!’ The man in front of him was different. He was on an entirely different level. ‘What is he?’

Chun Sungjae trembled. His friend, who had almost died, panted as he quickly moved away from the centipedes’ corpses. However, it was too early to express his thanks. “H-hyung! Be careful! They aren’t normal monsters!”

Lee Gun liked the fact that these monsters weren’t normal as it would allow him to test his physical abilities, yet he came to a halt. It was rare, but he agreed to heed the warning.

Why?

‘Insect type..’ Monsters always brought along change and uncertainty. Some types of monsters had the talent of causing the most mayhem to humans. One of them was the parasitic monsters. They could cause abnormal changes within the bodies of humans and animals, leading to diseases.

“They don’t care if the host is a human or an animal. The parasites make the hosts kill themselves or harm others!

“I know. That’s why I hate them.” Lee Gun said.

“Huh? I guess you know about it. If you get the parasite…”

“I couldn’t eat chicken for a month thanks to those bastards. They even killed all the baby chicks.” Lee got angry.

“?!”

“Moreover, they also killed all the baby pigs. That was my bacon!” The enraged Lee Gun once again threw frozen meat toward the bugs.

Kwahng! Kwahng!

This time, he threw beef leg bones, which were used to make bone broth.

Kwahng!

It was clear that Lee Gun was venting his anger and getting his revenge. The two young men looked at each other with baffled expressions. In the past, there had been an incident where insect-type monsters had almost wiped out all the livestock. However…

‘That was more than 20 years ago.’ Unlike the current society, humanity didn’t have the protection of domes back then. Chun Sungjae only knew about it because his dad had reminisced about the matter. Now, livestock was reared inside the dome of the gods. Therefore, humanity wasn’t completely defenseless against calamities anymore.

It was the reason Lee Gun’s words were out of place.

‘Why is he talking about something that happened when Lee Gun-nim was still alive?’ Although he had his doubts, Chun Sungjae didn’t have the time to be confused.

“Kyahhhk!”

A scream rang out not too far away.

* * *

“Help!”

A scream rang out near the butcher’s shop where swarms of small black spiders had gathered. The spiders weren’t very strong, but they were strong enough to make around twenty people shrink away in fear. This group of people was huddled inside a translucent ball that exuded a golden light. It seemed that the group had rented a protection skill.

The relevant information about this skill appeared in front of Lee Gun’s eyes.

[Scent of a Beast! (Rank D)! (Leo)!]

– Duration: 00:13:54

– It emits an odor that repels monsters.

– Caution! It only stops monsters from getting close. It’s highly effective, but it can’t physically defend against monsters.

– Protection Type

Rent: $1000 (Each person)

Lee Gun furrowed his brows. With a glance, he could tell this skill hadn’t come from those disgusting bastards. They couldn’t come up with something like this. He found the smell and the description familiar.

‘What the hell? Why does it emit the same smell as the item I made?’ He had needed a special process to make that item, so there was no way this other skill could have the same smell as that of his item.

In the end, Lee Gun let out a burst of laughter in disgust. ‘Those bastards… They even stole this skill and made money off it!’ It was absurd, but that wasn’t important right now.

“It ate the child!” the civilians shouted.

Chun Sungjae and his party looked in the direction pointed out by the group. An enormous spider was shuffling around the wall. The other little spiders, which were as big as a person’s finger, couldn’t hold a candle to this spider. This spider’s size and level were much higher than normal. Most importantly, a child’s leg was sticking out of the monster’s mouth.

“Shit! The kid!”

The child who was struggling for his life seemed to be an elementary school kid. It looked like the group was safe only because the monster had the child in its mouth. The spider looked to be at a similar level as the monsters found in a red zone.

The child’s mother was inside the skill’s protection, and she was losing her mind. If not for the others holding her back, she would’ve rushed toward her child.

Chun Sungjae quickly ignited his flame and rushed to rescue the child. However…

Kwahng!

“Ahk!”

Lee Gun tripped Chun Sungjae.

Chun Sungjae, who had fallen to the floor, expressed his anger toward Lee Gun. “What the hell are you—”

“If you use your fire, you’ll harm the kid too. I’m saying this nicely. Extinguish it.”

Chun Sungjae realized his mistake. “If we don’t rescue him quickly…”

Lee Gun laughed. “It’s fine. This monster doesn’t eat its prey immediately. In fact…” It seemed Lee Gun was planning to do something with the frozen meat. It looked as though he was well versed in dealing with this spider monster. However…

Kwahng!

Something got in Lee Gun’s way. It was a terrifying ice wall.

[Caution! It’s a powerful magical energy spell!]

[The two-faced Gemini’s power can be felt.]

Then, he heard a voice. “Hey. I told you a worker ant shouldn’t act out of line.”

Lee Gun didn’t react, but Chun Sungjae furrowed his brows when he heard the sharp voice. Unsurprisingly, the other S-rank disciple stood in front of them. It was Frost Min Sunghoon, who had been with them inside the store.

‘He became an S rank just a while ago, yet he’s acting arrogant.’ Chun Sungjae looked at Ming Sunghoon as if he were a cockroach.

Unlike him, his friend was overjoyed; Min Sunghoon was a hero praised widely within Korea. So, Hahn Jimin immediately requested, “Please help us! We have to save the kid! A red zone level monster showed up in a green zone!”

However, the young man flinched when Min Sunghoon looked at him with contempt. “Red zone? Stop spreading that bullshit.”

Min Sunghoon unsheathed a knife. It seemed he was going to try and rescue the child. “The blessing of the gods protects downtown. Red rank? How dare you look down on the twelve Zodiacs like that!”

“Hey, idiot ostrich egg head. You can’t do anything against it. Get out of the way!”

When Min Sunghoon heard Lee Gun’s words and his laughter, he glared at the ice wall. “What… what did you just say?”

“Fuck off, bitch!” Lee Gun cussed.

Kwahng!

The ice walls, which had penned Lee Gun in, fell apart in an instant.

“…!” When Min Sunghoon met Lee Gun’s murderous eyes, he became frightened. ‘How could he destroy the ice from the gods like that!’

* * *

At the same time, in Incheon…

The Sheep Saint had arrived in Korea to solve the problem around the constructs. As soon as he got in the car, Yang Wei heard something hard to believe.

“What? What did you just say?”

– A calamity appeared in a large store near the Bucheon area.

“That’s not important right now. Tell me what kind of calamity appeared there.”

– It… It might be a Spider Queen.

Yang Wei cursed. It was to be expected. ‘We failed to kill that bastard in the red zone not too long ago!’

The twelve Zodiacs were officially dispatched near Bucheon, but they had come back with their butts kicked. Amongst the calamity-type monsters, the spider types were easy prey for Lee Gun; in contrast, Yang Wei was incapable of killing them. The best he could do was seal them.

‘Did it escape?’ The media didn’t know that the Zodiacs had failed the raid. Officially, they had advertised that they had killed the Spider Queen. This truth couldn’t get out to the media; there could be no witnesses.

If the monster he failed to kill showed up in Korea, it would cause a massive headache for him. Yang Wei had only one option left. “I want you to gather all of our disciples in Korea. Tell them to bury that place alive, and inform the media that everyone inside died.”

– What? The people inside!

“Bury them alive.”

– W-what if someone inside kills the Spider Queen? The press is going to be all over the place….

Yang Wei burst out laughing. It was the funniest joke he had heard in recent days. “That’s not possible. Even one of the twelve Zodiacs failed to kill it, so who else can?”

– I stuck my own foot in my mouth. It isn’t as if Lee Gun is inside that place.

“Do not bring up his name.”

– I’m sorry.

Yang Wei didn’t pay much attention to the words again and ended the call. His driver then asked him, “Where should I take you, Saint? Do you still want to go to the auditorium?”

Yang Wei laughed without hesitation. “No! Let’s go toward the location where the calamity broke out. I want to make sure they clean up the mess.”

“Understood.”

Yang Wei looked out the window in a carefree manner. He had no idea what would happen if he were to meet Lee Gun there. ‘As expected, Korea is a great place without Lee Gun.’

Under a delusion, he hummed to himself.

1. Korean BBQ meat <i class=”far fa-hand-point-left”>