Duat, the world of the dead, was one of the few places in the Divine world that gods avoided. Once a being fell into Duat and became a citizen, its identity didn’t matter. They had to work for Ennead. This included humans and gods. High-rank gods weren’t an exception either.

The guards who kept them in line were the Ammuts. They extracted and ate the hearts of the sinners who ran away. They were the ones who maintained discipline within the underworld.

This was why the Great Spirit looked kindly on them. They were beloved.

‘What? Ingredients?’

Anubis, the messenger of death, was dumbfounded by what he saw. He looked again and again, but the sight of his compatriots groaning with their hide ripped off was still there!

“Bastard! How dare you do this to the gods of Ennead!”

The Serpent Bearer Constructs within Lee Gun’s shadow felt miserable when faced with Anubis’s rage.

‘Ahhhk! Master!’

Although this was better than the afterlife of rebirth, Duat was known for being dreadful within the Divine world.

‘How can he do that to the gods of Duat…!!’

‘Ahh, Master. They aren’t monsters. You did it to gods…!!’

‘You will receive divine punishment!’

Gods never laid hands on the bodies of other gods. They didn’t dare to. This was why Anubis wondered if this was a new type of torture instead of an attempt to gather ingredients.

However, Yooha and Lee Gun diligently picked up the skinned leather that they had chopped up. That wasn’t all.

“Don’t you like alligator meat, Uncle? I heard it’s good for your stamina.”

They planned on using the Ammuts as a food ingredient!

Anubis’s eyes flashed. “How dare you do something so unspeakable! You dare use violence in the holy garden of kings!!”

Lee Gun brushed off his hands as if he had done nothing wrong. “I asked them to tell me the location of Taeksoo, yet they ignored me.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry! Although I skinned them, I didn’t kill them. Since the quality of the ingredients was great, I was thinking about making them into my Constructs.”

The Zodiac Anubis exploded in anger. “Bastard!”

He spoke words of power with murderous intent infused within them. A powerful Divine power exploded forth.

Koo-goohng!!

Yooha’s eyes turned round when she saw this. It was because the surging power felt similar to Lee Gun’s power.

‘Death.’

It was to be expected. Anubis was a god of death that guided the dead. He was the conductor of souls.

[Divine Name: Judge of the Dead]

[Divine Status: Anubis (Zodiac/Construct)]

[Affiliation: Owner of the Underworld (Osiris)]

The power that fiercely surged forth was similar, yet completely different from Lee Gun’s power. This power was capable of turning a clear sky into a night sky.

[Your enemy has released the Divine status of the “Master of the Dead.”]

[Warning! He’s a high-rank god with high Divine status.]

[You cannot withstand it with a low-rank Divine status.]

The warning didn’t seem to be wrong. It was a powerful energy.

However, Lee Gun smirked. He looked at Anubis with contempt. “So you have no intention of taking me to Taeksoo too?”

Anubis’s eyes turned sharp as he burst out laughing. “He’s excellent food. He’s such excellent nourishment that the Zodiacs drool over him.”

Then, the master of the Dead unfurled his arms.

[Summon Laborers of the Underworld (4 star)]

Accompanying the savage energy, spirits were summoned behind him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Lee Gun’s eyebrows slightly rose when he saw this.

‘Humans?’

No, they were a mixture of low-rank gods. These beings that looked like ghouls were the residents of the underworld.

They looked like dead fish. Their flesh was pale and white, and they looked like spirits that would be dispersed by the wind. Moreover, they numbered in the tens of thousands!

The master of the underworld savagely bared his teeth.

“This is the underworld where even gods lose their power. I’ll make sure you never return to sunlight.”

The next moment, the residents of the underworld started using a particular skill on Lee Gun.

[They are the residents of the underworld.]

[Warning!. They are under the order of the master of the underworld. They are stealing the life and energy of their opponent.]

“Against their numbers, it doesn’t matter if the opponent is a god. They can instantly turn a low-rank god into a mummy.”

“Uncle!” Yooha quickly looked at Lee Gun.

Until now, physical attacks had worked on their opponents. However, this time, their enemies were deceased spirits. Physical damage didn’t work against ghosts.

Of course, Lee Gun knew this, yet he nonchalantly extended his hand as he checked his skills.

[Currently, you are under the penalty of the Divine world.]

[There is a restriction placed on your freedom of movement. Since you are under debt and obligation to do forced labor, your abilities are restricted.]

[Currently, you can use the following abilities.]

[Life: a 3-star ability and two others]

[Death: a 3-star ability and two others]

[???: a 5-star ability and one other]

Lee Gun smirked when he checked which skills were available for use. They would be enough.

Koo-goo-goong!

Yooha forgot to breathe at that moment. It was as if a storm was trying to swallow up the desert.

Anubis smirked. Lee Gun was the owner of Pushover. The deceased spirits would extract vitality from Lee Gun, and Anubis would share it when he had drinks with the other Zodiacs. It would at least be enough to be a snack.

However…

“Uh?”

Anubis flinched at that moment. It was inevitable since the energy of the murderous deceased spirits behind his back instantly disappeared.

Finding it bizarre, Anubis turned his head, but he found out that he wasn’t mistaken. “Where did all the residents go?”

“Where are you looking, idiot? They are here.”

“!!”

Anubis flinched again when he looked at Lee Gun. “Those bastards?!”

The residents summoned by Anubis were all summoned behind Lee Gun. The eyes of the deceased spirits flashed as they stood behind Lee Gun.

[Summon the Dead(2 star) has been used.]

[Summon the Dead (2 star)] (Death)

- Summons souls

- When more Divine power is used, the range from where the dead could be summoned expands. If you have a clue, you can call forth a specific soul.

Summon the Dead was a skill that had appeared when the Divine status of Death had reached stage 2. However, the skills that Lee Gun had used often had turned into abilities when he arrived in the Divine world.

It was merely a guess, but abilities seemed to be higher in rank than skills.

‘One star is the lowest rank, and 5 star is the highest rank.’

That wasn’t all.

[Warning! Magical Energy is a substitute. It’s the Divine power modified specifically for the earth.]

[Warning! In the Divine world, Divine power is used instead of Magical energy.]

[Divine Power: It is the power of a god. It is Divine energy.]

[When Divine Power reaches 0%, you will perish.]

[Current Divine Power of the Serpent Bearer: 70%]

Magical energy was a power filtered so that Divine energy could manifest on the earth. It meant Divine power was the true power of a god.

While he had seen this before, Lee Gun would have had to come to the Divine world at least once anyhow.

After using the power of a god, Lee Gun cracked his knuckles. On the other hand, Anubis was dumbfounded.

‘He used Summon the Dead!’

That was clearly an ability under necromancy!

‘Hmmph. It seems he does possess the Divine status of Death.’

That was how he and his companion could safely enter Duat when this place smelled like the dead.

Soon, Anubis feigned laughter. In the end, Lee Gun was a god on the side of Death.

‘He basically told me his weakness.’

In the underworld, one could make money by renting out the deceased spirits. Therefore, Anubis was well aware of the weakness of the necromancer-type gods, who used the dead spirits.

‘It’s obvious. He summoned the deceased spirits to turn them into his power.’

Anubis smiled. While Lee Gun may have been able to summon them, he had taken the wrong deceased spirits.

‘They are residents directly under the rule of the Owner of the Underworld.’

They were the souls of humans yoked and ruled directly by the king of Duat. Moreover, according to the rules, they couldn’t become anyone else’s underlings while they were yoked to Duat.

“You lost once you summoned them to your side!” As a proxy for the owner of the underworld, Anubis supervised the deceased spirits. His eyes flashed. “Bite into the neck of the snake god!”

The absolute order of Anubis caused the deceased spirits to charge toward Lee Gun, but…

[Return]

When Lee Gun spoke those words, something frightening happened.

Flashed!

A bright light swept up the tens of thousands of deceased spirits surrounding him.

Koo-goo-goo-goong!

The holy light surged up from the god and cleansed the summoned residents.

[You have used the power of stage 5 of Life.]

[With the power of life, you have forcefully revived the dead spirits into living beings.]

“?!!!”

Wait a moment! What the hell did it say? Anubis screamed. However, it was too early to be surprised.

[New flesh has appeared on the body of the dead.]

[Vitality has appeared within the body of the dead.]

[The dead have received yin and yang energy, and they are moving in an energetic manner.]

[The affiliation of the dead has changed.]

[Since they are living, the rules of the underworld no longer work against them.]

In a flash, the dead spirits turned into normal humans.

“What the hell! My body is…!”

“I’m alive!!!”

Anubis’s expression was a sight to behold.

Lee Gun merely smirked. “The orders from the god of the underworld are useless against living beings, right?”

“What?!”

“What would happen if I turned all the residents of this world into living beings?”

Anubis screamed when he heard this. “No!!”

The population of Duat would decrease by the number of people Lee Gun revived.

‘Shit! At this rate, Master will punish me!!’

The dead were considered the assets of the underworld, and they could be lost now. The true ruler of Duat wouldn’t stand still.

This was why Anubis was taken aback.

‘What’s going on? That bastard isn’t a necromancer-type Death god? Why does he have the Divine status of Life, the antithesis of the underworld? Was my information wrong?’

That couldn’t be true.

‘Could it be? Does he have two Divine Statuses?’

Anubis’s shock lasted only a moment.

Koo-goo-goohng!!!

Lee Gun’s red eyes flashed as the revived diseased spirits started a riot.

Kwahng! Kwahng!

“You guys tortured us and used us with no regard for us, bastard!”

“We are no longer shackled by Duat!”

The diseased spirits started to destroy the buildings of Duat. They started stealing the fallen Ammuts to sell them.

The flustered Anubis tried to stop them, but it was useless.

[The revived deceased spirits are affiliated with the Serpent Bearer temple. They are destroying Duat.]

“Ahhk!!”

Lee Gun laughed when he saw this. Although he had revived them using a 5-star ability, they were revived humans. Moreover, there were restrictions on the revival.

[Your Divine status is lacking. There is a limit to how long you can maintain their lives. Duration of Life: 239 days]

[Since you are using your 5-star ability, you are consuming a lot of Divine power. You need to recharge it.]

[Current Divine Power: 20%]

Lee Gun scoffed. 

‘I just used it once, yet it consumed over 50% of my Divine power.’

This was to be expected since the Zodiacs on the earth had a hard time filling up their Divine power. Of course, Lee Gun had beings under him with faith over 100%, so his Divine power refilled quickly despite him using a lot of it.

‘Is that why they want Taeksoo?’

Well, it didn’t matter.

“No, Owner of the underworld! I didn’t dispose of the residents— Kuh-huhk!”

Lee Gun grabbed Anubis’s neck as he was talking to someone. 

Kwahk!

Angry, Anubis looked at Lee Gun, who was letting out a menacing laugh. “You bastard— Kuh-huhk!!!”

“Lead me to Taeksoo before I turn you into an accessory.”

“Why the hell would I— Kuh-huhk!!”

Bbah-gahk!! Bbah-gahk! Bbah-gahk!

His fists were faster than his words.

* * *

Lee Gun was dragging the bloodied Anubis somewhere.

Anubis wanted to use his power, but he couldn’t because of Lee Gun’s threat.

‘If you get smart with me, I’ll revive all the residents of Duat.’

If Lee Gun caused the entire population of Duat to disappear, it would be a death sentence for Anubis! This was why Anubis gave up on using his powers.

At that moment, they arrived at the entrance of Duat, where the Great Spirit would be receiving his goods. It was an underground city connected to Osiris’s private residence.

Yooha and Lee Gun clearly saw him there.

“Dad!”

“!”

It was a shocking sight.