Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 409

[ You have defeated the Sun God Amaterasu Omikami. ]

[ Your level has increased. ]

[ All stats have increased by 1. ]

[ You have obtained 1 bonus stat point. ]

The first thing that popped up when he crushed the heart was the alert that he’d defeated Amaterasu.

At the same time, he gained a level.

She was a leader-class among the Three Noble Children-level gods, so it was only natural.

Then more alerts rose up.

But they weren’t the usual Gate-related alerts he was used to seeing.

[ You have reached Level 250. ]

[ The system wants you to become even stronger. ]

[ The system gifts you a higher power. ]

It was the alert for reaching Level 250.

The same alert as when he’d reached Level 150.

‘That makes the second skill of Rage Crusader mine.’

More alerts rolled in after that, but Su-ho ignored them and checked the second Rage Crusader skill first.

Then he smiled in satisfaction.

‘As expected of Rage Crusader.’

The second singularity branches by Player disposition.

There, based on his sharp objective and wrath, Su-ho became a Rage Crusader.

Accordingly, all the related skills were offensive skills.

‘From here to Level 300 again, I’ll get skills in the same pattern and the remaining skill ranks will rise.’

After checking the skill info, Su-ho looked at the other alerts queued behind it.

[ The Gate has been cleared. ]

[ The MVP of the Gate clear is ‘An Su-ho.’ ]

[ Additional EXP is granted for MVP selection. ]

[ 1 bonus stat point is granted for MVP selection. ]

[ Your level has increased. ]

[ All stats have increased by 1. ]

[ You have obtained 1 bonus stat point. ]

Since he cleared the Gate, he gained another level on top of it.

But that wasn’t the end of the alerts.

[ You have succeeded in clearing a multi-Gate for the first time. ]

[ Your level has increased. ]

[ All stats have increased by 1. ]

[ You have obtained 1 bonus stat point. ]

[ For achieving a great feat, the system gifts you 10 bonus stat points. ]

Su-ho grinned at the alerts.

Right.

He’d wondered why this hadn’t shown up yet.

The Gates he’d cleared this time might look like separate Gates, but in fact he’d entered the “Takamagahara” region via the Stone Fragments of Takamagahara, so from the system’s perspective it counted as a single “Takamagahara Gate.”

‘And the system calls this a multi-Gate.’

Multi-Gates are truly rare.

In the mid-Cataclysm period, they were hard to see at all.

Because most multi-Gates require complicated conditions like this Japan case, and there weren’t many Gates with such conditions.

‘Well, by the late period, multi-Gates pop up all the time.’

His vision flickered, and he found himself back in the cavern where he’d first arrived.

The three-branch path was gone, and only an exit portal was summoned before his eyes.

‘In the end, I didn’t obtain a small sun.’

A pity.

But it wasn’t as if he’d never be able to get it at all, so it didn’t matter.

‘At least I got a hint.’

Thinking that, Su-ho shifted his gaze toward the portal, and before stepping out, he checked his status window.

[ An Su-ho ]

Lv: 252

Class: Rage Crusader

Traits: ＜New Blood＞＜Hercules Candidate＞＜King of Ruination＞＜Power of the Sun＞＜Power of the Moon＞＜Guest of Grid＞

Might (N): 45

Mana (P): 15

Sense (B): 16

Leadership (N): 71

Bonus Stat Points: 14

Level 252 and a generous pile of bonus stat points.

Seeing the status window, Su-ho beamed.

Really now, what Player could look at this and not smile?

After a moment’s deliberation, Su-ho invested all the bonus stat points into Mana.

‘If I think about balance, I should put them into Might, but I can’t help being curious about what comes after purple.’

Just so.

For balance, raising the stat color of Might to purple would be correct, but Su-ho wanted to see the tier after purple as soon as possible.

‘And “balance” is only balance by my standards. Compared to the Player average, I’m already busted.’

In other words, from here on it was closer to a matter of taste than of selection and focus.

When he stepped out through the portal, a ring of bright light subsided and the interior of the Cheongdam House where he lived came into view.

‘Back again.’

Su-ho checked the time first.

But when he saw it, he started.

“Eh? What’s with this?”

It felt like he’d been in Takamagahara for quite a while, but when he checked the time, only a few minutes had passed compared to before he entered the Gate.

‘I see. There’s a time discrepancy with Takamagahara.’

Some Gates create time discrepancies like this.

So it wasn’t that surprising.

Presently, Su-ho picked up his phone to check for messages.

‘Since not much time passed, there probably won’t be any... huh?’

Wrong.

The phone he’d thought would have few messages was lit up like a fire.

The most frequent caller, in particular, was Yasuda Hiro.

(Missed) Yasuda Hiro

(Missed) Yasuda Hiro

(Missed) Yasuda Hiro

(Missed) Yasuda Hiro

......

A slew of missed-call alerts.

Below that were missed calls from Jo Jin-hwi and Jeong Cheol-min, but they didn’t really catch his eye.

After a brief hesitation, Su-ho called Hiro.

Master!

A frantic voice burst out the instant the call connected.

Su-ho asked calmly,

“What is it? Why did you call so many times?”

Did you not get any system alerts? A moment ago a wide-area system alert popped up limited to Japan, and Japan as a whole is in an uproar right now.

“System alert? Japan-limited? What are you talking about? Explain calmly.”

Takamagahara, sir! The one you said you’d challenge! Alerts about it popped up across all of Japan!

“What?”

Su-ho’s mouth dropped open for a second.

He thought he’d cleared it quietly and come out, but alerts he didn’t even know about had popped up in the meantime?

Why on earth?

He hurriedly ran his mind and searched the Library of Memory for information.

But before he could find anything related, Hiro sent an SOS.

Master, could you come rescue me first? Ever [N O V E L I G H T] since the alert popped up, starting with Miyamoto, calls have been pouring in from all over Japan. I don’t know anything, so I’m worried sick!

Crap.

He’d forgotten about that.

Su-ho answered quickly.

“I’m coming. I’ll come right now! You’re at home, right?”

Yes!

“I’m on my way!”

Su-ho immediately used Shadow Movement.

[ Shadow Movement is activated. ]

As the skill triggered, his Mana drained, and in an instant he moved to Hiro’s mansion.

“Master!”

At Su-ho’s arrival, Hiro rushed to him with the expression of someone who’d just seen a savior.

“You okay?”

“For now, yes, but I don’t know how long this peace will last. Would you take a look outside?”

“Outside?”

At the word “outside,” Su-ho went to the mansion window and looked out.

And he couldn’t help but gape.

“What is this....”

The building was so high the scenery looked small, but even so, Su-ho could clearly see it.

The crowds from all across Japan who had started rushing over the moment they got the system alerts.

“Reporters, government officials, YouTubers... For now it’s private property and a private residence, so we’ve posted staff and are blocking them, but I don’t know how long we can hold. Look—Miyamoto is calling again.”

With a fed-up expression, Hiro showed his buzzing phone.

It was true.

On Hiro’s phone, the words “Paranormal Ability Agency Vice Minister Miyamoto Nobuo” were displayed.

‘Ha, yeah. Of all people, Miyamoto would be the most urgent.’

Wasn’t he the one who had come in person, even taking Su-ho’s hands, to beg for Japan?

Su-ho asked,

“Let me see the alerts first. What exactly popped up?”

“That...”

Hiro showed Su-ho the notes where he’d written down the alerts he’d seen.

[ A multi-Gate has been cleared for the first time. ]

[ The story of Takamagahara has begun. ]

[ With the beginning of the story of Takamagahara, several conditions within Japan have been fulfilled. ]

[ With the beginning of the story of Takamagahara, several ??? within Japan have been liberated. ]

[ As a privilege for the first multi-Gate clear, the options of some ??? are enhanced. ]

[ The wrath of ??? has begun. ]

“.......”

Su-ho kept his mouth shut at the alerts.

Because these were alerts he hadn’t seen in his previous life.

Probably no one—including Su-ho—had seen them.

Naturally.

If such alerts had popped up, no matter how much the Japanese government tried to keep it secret, there’d be no hiding it.

‘Which means the Japan raid party in my previous life failed to clear the Takamagahara Gate.’

That’s why they pretended it was a secret to the end.

Even if they’d wanted to tell, there was nothing they could have told.

‘It’s not that they wouldn’t tell—it’s that they couldn’t.’

Jeez, you guys.

Why not just be honest?

What a disgrace.

Su-ho stared at Hiro’s notes for a while.

Focusing on the last three lines, he asked Hiro,

“You wrote these in the order you saw them, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Okay...”

Su-ho’s eyes scanned the last three lines.

[ With the beginning of the story of Takamagahara, several ??? within Japan have been liberated. ]

[ As a privilege for the first multi-Gate clear, the options of some ??? are enhanced. ]

[ The wrath of ??? has begun. ]

Of those, the first and second gave him no ideas no matter how he thought about it.

Takamagahara itself was a place he’d cleared for the first time, and there was too little information about it.

But the last line could be inferred somehow.

‘There’s only one guy who’d rage through Takamagahara.’

That would be Susanoo.

He’d glared with both eyes and cursed that he’d surely take revenge on Su-ho.

After a brief hesitation, Su-ho said to Hiro,

“I can’t keep pretending I don’t know anything. I’ll have to do an interview first.”

“You personally, Master?”

“Or do you want to do it? I’d be grateful.”

“N-no. How could I? Please do the interview yourself, and if there’s anything you want me to handle like last time, give me separate instructions.”

“That’s better, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Then call your secretary and have them set up an interview spot right now. I’m coming down immediately.”

“Understood.”

Hiro contacted his secretary at once, and shortly thereafter a makeshift interview area was swiftly set up in front of Hiro’s mansion. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Su-ho changed his appearance into Hiro with his transformation skill, then borrowed the Dojigiri Yasutsuna he’d gifted Hiro and wore it at his waist.

As he belted on the Dojigiri Yasutsuna, Su-ho said,

“You’d better keep good care of this from now on. After today’s interview, I have a feeling the price of swords is going to skyrocket.”

“Since you gave it to me, I’ll keep it like my own life.”

“Don’t go that far. At the end of the day, it’s just a sword.”

In any case, as time goes by, plenty of items better than this will come out.

So don’t baby it too much—that’s what he meant.

“Alright, I’m off.”

Ready, Su-ho boarded the elevator and headed for the interview area.