Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 402

‘Damn it!’

With Susanoo rushing in so fast it was like the ground folded beneath his feet, Su-ho had no choice but to stumble back and hastily summon the Blood Sword.

Kaaang!!

Luckily, he managed to draw his sword in time to block Susanoo’s sudden strike.

Planting strength into his back foot, Su-ho regained his balance with practiced ease and locked blades with Susanoo.

As their swords pressed together and their faces drew close, Susanoo’s eyes flashed with that familiar gleam as he grinned.

— You’re still good, huh?

“Bullshit.”

Kaaang!

Su-ho shoved hard, throwing Susanoo off and opening the distance.

Then, right away, he cast his buffs.

[ Blessing is activated. ]

[ Holy Enchant is activated. ]

[ Mana Perception is activated. ]

[ Endurance is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is activated. ]

[ Eye of the Blacksmith is activated. ]

Seeing the swirling cascade of skill effects, Susanoo laughed.

— Yeah. You’ll have to pull out everything you’ve got again. Otherwise, you really will die this time.

Susanoo raised his sword.

[ Sea God Susanoo-no-Mikoto uses the Domain of the Sea God. ]

The moment he triggered his skill, an overwhelming surge of water burst outward from Susanoo in every direction.

The blood rivers and corpses of slain gods around them were swept up like a flood, dragged and drowned within the torrent.

‘Figures. Of course the Sea God’s domain would look like this.’

Still, if possible, the best tactic was always to twist the terrain to his advantage.

When the water reached his ankles, Su-ho lightly leapt.

[ Gyeongshinbo is activated. ]

At the same time, the Clear Flow Step option of Gyeongshinbo triggered, allowing him to skim atop the water’s surface. Following that path, Su-ho charged straight toward Susanoo.

To stop him from casting more skills.

— Haha, good call.

Realizing Su-ho’s intent, Susanoo laughed and swung his sword.

Then, from the surrounding sea water, a long water dragon leapt forth and shot toward Su-ho.

[ Sea God Susanoo-no-Mikoto uses Water Dragon Slash. ]

Shaaah!

The watery dragon-shaped form was called Water Dragon Slash.

It hurtled at Su-ho like a bullet train and crashed down, but Su-ho twisted his body deftly, sliding through the narrow gap between the surging waves as if surfing—avoiding the attack without contact.

— Hooh?

Even after evading the Water Dragon Slash, Su-ho’s speed didn’t drop in the slightest.

Perhaps because of that, seeing Su-ho’s agile evasion, Susanoo ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ smirked and raised his hand once more.

[ Sea God Susanoo-no-Mikoto uses Water Dragon Slash. ]

System alert.

This time, over ten Water Dragon Slashes erupted and surged toward Su-ho.

Now, there were no gaps.

In that perfect dead zone, Su-ho furrowed his brow.

But he didn’t stop running.

Instead, he flew.

Jumping high, Su-ho lingered in the air just long enough to draw every Water Dragon Slash’s attention.

The bait worked.

The dragons lunged for him all at once—just as they closed in, Su-ho kicked off the air again, forcing them to collide with each other.

Kwooooom!!

Boomboomboomboomboom!

The maneuver succeeded.

With that double jump, Su-ho blew apart several of the dragons. Closing the distance decisively, he swung his sword without hesitation and triggered his skill.

As his body spun forward, a sword arc burst forth.

[ Cloud Severance is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is applied. ]

[ The power of Cloud Severance intensifies. ]

The skill he used: Cloud Severance.

A long wave shot toward Susanoo.

Susanoo saw it and laughed.

Whoosh!

He swung his sword, Ame-no-Habakiri, like a conductor’s baton.

From it, a massive fan-shaped sword aura erupted, colliding head-on with Su-ho’s Cloud Severance.

Kwooooom!!

The two sword strikes clashed in midair, exploding in a tremendous blast that filled the air with thick smoke.

— Hah! This won’t do at all. You’ll have to try harder than that.

A taunting, mocking laugh from Susanoo.

Su-ho answered,

“I was planning to.”

At that moment—

Whoooosh!!

Through the thick smoke, a raging pillar of flame roared out.

[ Mini Breath is activated. ]

The furious blaze shooting diagonally upward was none other than Su-ho’s Mini Breath.

Unleashed in an ambush, the Mini Breath carried his full mana output—on the verge of reaching Purple—and its firepower was no weaker than a young dragon’s breath.

Kwagwagwagwagwagwa!!

The maximum-output Mini Breath exploded toward Susanoo.

Unfortunately, the attack never touched him.

Just like with Tsukuyomi, a transparent barrier flared to life, bursting with dark-red sparks as it absorbed the damage in his place.

Behind that shimmering veil, Susanoo frowned.

— For a human, you sure love imitating lizard tricks.

Su-ho didn’t answer. He simply kept firing Mini Breaths, one after another.

This was the longest, most powerful barrage of Mini Breaths he’d unleashed since learning it.

He exhaled as long as he could—and moments later,

Boooom!!

A massive detonation.

The transparent barrier couldn’t withstand it and finally blew apart.

‘Got you!’

Su-ho’s eyes widened.

He’d never believed the barrier was infinite or absolute.

If it were, that would be total balance collapse, and the system wouldn’t tune difficulty that way.

As expected, his prediction hit dead-on, and Susanoo’s eyes widened.

Just then, a black object flew straight toward Susanoo’s face.

It was the Guiyeong Spear.

[ Shadow Movement is activated. ]

Swish!

Su-ho appeared in place of the spear.

Now face-to-face, he rested the Blood Sword at his hip, ready to unleash.

— You!

“Too late.”

Susanoo tried to swing Ame-no-Habakiri—

But Su-ho was one beat—no, two beats—faster.

[ Foxfire is activated. ]

[ Rage Mode is activated. ]

[ Weakening is activated. ]

[ Steel Severance is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is applied. ]

[ The power of Steel Severance intensifies. ]

Flash!

A blinding combo poured out all at once.

And with it, his sword struck.

He couldn’t use Heart Slash—there wasn’t enough setup time, since the chain had to connect immediately after the Mini Breath.

So he filled the gap with other skills instead.

This would be enough.

It was, after all, Su-ho’s signature finisher.

Screeeech!!

A coarse sound like a jagged saw grinding through thick paper.

He felt the weight at his fingertips—he’d hit cleanly again.

Dragging his blade through to the end, Su-ho spun once more and slashed.

— Guh!

[ Sea God Susanoo-no-Mikoto uses Sea God Slash. ]

Fwoooosh!

The first strike had landed perfectly.

But Susanoo wasn’t about to allow a second.

His hand moved even faster than his sword; extending his palm, he invoked Sea God Slash, summoning a violent surge of water and wind that pushed back Su-ho’s follow-up.

“Whew.”

[ Heal is activated. ]

The Sea God Slash detonated right in front of him, stronger than expected.

Still, it wasn’t fatal; blown back, Su-ho immediately pressed Heal to the wounded area.

Ignoring the system alerts, Su-ho looked at Susanoo.

Unlike before, this time Susanoo was visibly hurt—like an actual person.

A long diagonal wound split across his torso, leaking something—blood or otherwise—and more importantly, that perpetually smug expression on Susanoo’s face had finally hardened. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Which made Su-ho smirk in turn.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?”

— Haha, does it look that way?

“Don’t bother pretending you’re fine. You’ve already given it away. Let’s finish this.”

— Fine. Let’s.

Maybe he really was angry; his answers had grown much shorter.

When he raised Ame-no-Habakiri again, a familiar skill activated.

[ Sea God Susanoo-no-Mikoto uses Song of the Raging Sea. ]

The alert for Song of the Raging Sea appeared, and whirlwinds of water erupted everywhere.

They rose straight to the sky, linking above, forming massive obstacles that whirled around Susanoo.

— Looks familiar, doesn’t it?

“More than familiar. There’s still one left, isn’t there? Go on, pull it out.”

— Fine, I was planning to anyway.

[ Sea God Susanoo-no-Mikoto uses Song of the Tenacious Sea. ]

[ Sea God Susanoo-no-Mikoto uses Song of the Rough Sea. ]

More songs layered on.

When Song of the Tenacious Sea activated, sharp arrows of seawater shot out from the whirlpools, orbiting around Susanoo.

Song of the Rough Sea summoned another swarm of Water Dragon Slashes.

Kwagwagwagwa!

Having finished his summoning, Susanoo drew up a towering pillar of water and rode it high into the air.

Looking down on Su-ho from above, Susanoo kicked the water column beneath him.

[ Weakening is dispelled. ]

One kick, and the debuff was gone.

Right.

He’s a higher level—of course a measly debuff won’t last long.

Still, that wasn’t disappointing.

He already knew Susanoo’s resistance capability was that strong.

Susanoo laughed.

— Well, is this enough for you?

“More than enough.”

— Then let’s enjoy ourselves once again.

Finishing his words, Susanoo swung his sword.

At once, the whirlpools, the arrows, and the countless Water Dragon Slashes orbiting him all stormed toward Su-ho.

[ Gyeongshinbo is activated. ]

Su-ho dashed forward immediately.

He circled wide, tracing an outer line around Susanoo’s formation.

[ Wave Strike is activated. ]

He wasn’t only dodging physically.

At key moments, he drew up waves to block incoming dragons and arrows.

At first, he’d fled as if chased—but now he could read the pattern clearly.

With that breathing room, Su-ho observed something else.

His focus locked onto one thing: the wound he’d inflicted on Susanoo.

After circling for some time, Su-ho finally grinned.

‘The wound isn’t healing.’

He’d given it time just to be sure—and it really wasn’t.

Good.

He’d been worried it might regenerate.

Having found his exploit, Su-ho began aiming for Susanoo’s openings.

‘God or not, this is just a mid–Great Cataclysm-tier clone. Judging from the system’s allowed power range, his reaction speed isn’t even that sharp.......’

Then there was no reason to struggle anymore.

After finishing his mental calculations, Su-ho activated a skill he hadn’t used in quite a while.

[ Army Tactics is activated. ]

Boom!!

He unleashed his mana without restraint.

Hundreds of phantom soldiers appeared, all capable of Clear Flow Steps. Then—

[ Blood Armory is activated. ]

Shkk—

Each of the phantom soldiers gripped a weapon forged from Su-ho’s mana—massive blood-forged arms.

Through sound transmission, Su-ho laughed toward Susanoo.

— Let’s see you block this.

And all at once, hundreds of phantom soldiers charged at Susanoo.