Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 417

‘Of course.’

Yeah, if you didn’t bite, who would?

Su-ho had come here with the big event right around the corner to do the Hercules-candidate trait quest.

No matter how he thought about it, at this timing there was nothing better to kill time with.

In particular, the Bambi Gate wasn’t that far from Mexico, which made it an even more attractive choice.

And sure enough, Hera took the bait exactly as Su-ho intended.

‘Ordinarily, it would’ve been enough to muddle through in some gate where deer-type monsters appear.......’

Now that Su-ho’s full ability had been revealed, she could no longer sit back and watch like with that nine-headed incarnation of Jealousy.

So she personally moved to improve the Gate.

If she didn’t go all-out from the start, it really felt like Su-ho would complete all the proofs of Hercules.

‘Well, even so, ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) nothing particularly changes.’

It got a bit more annoying, but this was a trial he could easily digest.

No—hardly even a trial.

At worst, all he’d do was beat up monsters and clear a Gate.

Of course, in the existing Twelve Labors of Heracles, the third labor was a bit different in nature.

‘In the original tale, it was to capture Artemis’s Golden Hind alive.’

But would there be such a small, cute, adorable Golden Hind here?

The Mega Elk Gate’s nickname was the Bambi Gate, but nothing that actually resembled Bambi came out of it.

This was where shaggy-furred monsters with angular antlers appeared.

Just then.

Whoooooosh!

[ The cold of the snow mountain becomes even more brutal. ]

The wind grew harsher and the temperature dropped further.

As the cold suddenly intensified, Su-ho knit his brows.

It looked like Hera had even meddled with the Gate’s climate.

‘She’s really doing the most.’

Ordinarily, he could lightly chew through this level of cold on the strength of his high stats.

But a system notification like this meant a warning that status ailments like ‘Frostbite’ or ‘Cold,’ ‘Hypothermia,’ could be induced.

It’s fine.

Then I’ll just raise my stats more.

[ Blessing is activated. ]

[ Mana Perception is activated. ]

[ Endurance is activated. ]

With three self-buffs wrapped around him, the cold enveloping his whole body vanished.

It was a cold he’d already been resisting with stats; if the day got colder, he’d just raise stats further and that would be that.

Su-ho didn’t stop there and used Heatstorm.

[ Heatstorm is activated. ]

Fwoooosh......

He kept the intensity at the lowest. He radiated Heatstorm like a heater was on.

Then the snow piled around Su-ho began to melt, and the rough blizzard also failed to touch Su-ho’s skin, producing an excellent warming effect.

As winterization goes, this much was enough.

Su-ho looked up at the sky and gave a thin, fishy smile.

He didn’t know where Hera was, but she was surely watching him, so this was his answer to her spite.

Su-ho then summoned the Iron Horse and rose into the sky.

“Neigh!”

It was a famous steed that had kept its balance even in the eye of a hurricane.

To such an Iron Horse, this little rime was no big deal.

Su-ho too felt the temperature drop further at the higher altitude, but thanks to the lightly activated Heatstorm, he could instead look around in warmed conditions.

Just then.

Shuaaaah!

A sound of something tearing the air through the blizzard.

The Iron Horse reacted even faster than Su-ho.

Twisting its body, the Iron Horse dodged the source of the sound—what grazed past Su-ho and the Iron Horse was none other than an icicle.

“An icicle?”

No—could you even call that an icicle?

What kind of damn icicle is as big as a pillar?

Su-ho turned his head and looked down.

Down on the ground, he saw countless deer aiming at him from the snowy field with icicles in hand.

But they weren’t ordinary deer.

They were bipedal, not quadrupedal—deer-type beastkin, precisely what was called demi-humans: ‘deer beastkin.’

Good grief.

Looks like that woman Hera really put in a lot of thought.

The Bambi Gate Su-ho knew had been a simple Gate where Mega Elk came out in swarms.

And suddenly deer beastkin?

Demi-humans were fairly rare even in the mid–Great Cataclysm; evidently Hera had exerted some power to stop Su-ho somehow.

Maybe that was why—Su-ho suddenly felt irritated.

‘There are still nine labors left, and you’re already pulling out demi-humans—what are you going to pull out later?’

Truly, she was vicious.

Su-ho looked around more.

He realized that a great many deer beastkin, slyly hidden in the snow, were targeting him.

‘Hm.’

No matter how he looked, he didn’t see a Golden Hind, but he’d have to fight for now, right?

Sure, it was a Gate modified by Hera so there was hardly any information, but the essence of Gates was mostly similar.

In the end, if you keep cutting and cutting, you’ll reach the answer.

Su-ho immediately summoned the Blood Sword into his hand.

Then he began swinging his blade toward the deer warriors scattered over the ground.

[ Yeolhwageom is activated. ]

KWA-GWA-GWA-GWA-GWA!!

The pouring hot slashes shot toward the ground and, as soon as they erupted, parted the snow piled thick on the earth and crashed toward the deer warriors. But—

“Kkweeeeeeeek!”

A grotesque cry.

Letting out a cry like a water deer’s, they began to lightly evade the Heat-Transmuting Blade.

‘Huh, will you look at that?’

They were indeed deer of the snow mountain.

Even with snow high enough to bury their ankles, they bounded over the surface with light footwork as if wearing snowshoes.

They were so fast that Su-ho’s Heat-Transmuting Blade could hardly give chase.

And that wasn’t all.

Even as they performed evasion maneuvers, they kept pelting Su-ho with icicles the size of ice pillars.

He’d wondered where they got icicles that big—turns out they flung the snow on the ground high into the air and, in an instant, froze it with their unique mana to make giant icicles.

Done that way, they didn’t need to carry icicles like arrows; they could source weapons anytime, anywhere and throw them.

In many ways, tricky customers.

‘Mm.’

Su-ho stopped swinging his sword.

No matter that he held the advantageous position in the sky, he didn’t want to fight a battle of waste against numerous enemies on a vast snow mountain.

He didn’t even know how many more of them there were; if he just cut whatever came, that would be nothing but a waste of force and stamina.

Su-ho began to seek a more efficient method.

And it didn’t take long to derive it.

Smirking, Su-ho activated a skill.

[ Art of Wind and Rain is activated. ]

Rumble!

The skill used was the Art of Wind and Rain.

On the rime-swept snow mountain, thunder and lightning suddenly appeared, black clouds rolled in, and sheets of rain began to scatter.

Swaaah!

Of course, Su-ho still hovered quietly in the sky.

He got rained on, too. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Heatstorm was only being emitted enough to play the role of a hand warmer; it couldn’t play umbrella.

Doesn’t matter.

It’s not like this is acid rain...... No, even if it were, now that he’d reached the realm of a superhuman, getting rained on a bit wasn’t going to give him a cold or make his hair fall out.

Maybe that was why?

The deer warriors cocked their heads.

Rain falling on a snow mountain where it should absolutely never rain—clearly it was the enemy’s trick, but they couldn’t grasp the intent.

So they only cocked their heads for a moment, then went back to making icicles and throwing them at Su-ho.

But after that repeated a few times, the deer warriors finally realized something was wrong.

“Kkwek?”

The reason for the deer warriors’ dismay.

It was because the rain Su-ho had brought down had mixed with the snowfield and frozen solid.

When the deer warriors could no longer make icicles from the snowballs, Su-ho finally smirked.

“This is why sleet is such a pain.”

Why else do winter icy roads form?

Winter black ice forms when snow that had half-melted for a bit freezes hard again.

And the icy roads formed that way cause countless traffic accidents.

No matter how sturdily built the car.

Same for the deer warriors.

On snow, they were nearly like the wind.

But on ice, the deer warriors fell to the level of prey thrown before a predator—like newborn giraffes that could barely keep their balance.

And at this very moment, Su-ho, who had become a god of rain accompanied by thunder and lightning in the sky, reigned as the lord of terror that all the deer warriors dreaded.

“Kkweeeeeeeek!!”

The deer warriors bellowed like water deer.

Noisy.

Part of him wanted to press the ear acupoint and turn his hearing off for a while, but there was too little information here, so he intended to keep his ears as open as possible.

Su-ho swung his blade.

[ Yeolhwageom is activated. ]

KWA-GWA-GWA-GWA-GWA-GWA!!

[ You have slain the Snow Mountain’s pure-white and nimble horned warrior. ]

[ You have slain the Snow Mountain’s pure-white and nimble horned warrior. ]

[ You have slain the Snow Mountain’s pure-white and nimble horned warrior. ]

[ You have slain the Snow Mountain’s pure-white and nimble horned warrior. ]

......

The Snow Mountain’s pure-white and nimble horned warrior.

That was the deer warriors’ name.

‘Too far to see the name card.’

But how important is that?

They were going to be all mowed down in a single Heat-Transmuting Blade anyway.

Just then, as Mana Perception was shaving down the ones hidden here and there—

Dududududududu!

A tremendous roar that shook the snow mountain.

With a crackling shatter, it was breaking the icy road Su-ho had made.

It was that very herd of Mega Elk he’d seen in front of the Gate.

Indeed, unlike the deer warriors who tread lightly like ninja, a herd of Mega Elk with powerful stomps would make the icy road meaningless.

But looking closely, the Mega Elk herd wasn’t just an ordinary Mega Elk herd.

Deer warriors were mounted on the Mega Elk like Mongol horsemen.

What’s more, on their shoulders they carried something huge—sword or club, who knew—and at that sight, Su-ho’s lips curled.

Obviously melee-type monsters.

Just then—

“Kkweeeeeeeek!!”

One deer warrior at the vanguard let out, true to form, a water-deer-like cry.

Then system notifications began to pour before Su-ho’s eyes.

[ The Snow Mountain’s heavy and powerful horned warrior uses Gakrok Wave. ]

[ The Snow Mountain’s heavy and powerful horned warrior uses Gakrok Wave. ]

[ The Snow Mountain’s heavy and powerful horned warrior uses Gakrok Wave. ]

KWA-GWA-GWA-GWA!!

Energy waves began to spew from their horns.

“Damn!”

As laser-like Gakrok Waves blasted out, the Iron Horse hurriedly twisted its body.

Seeing them coming with blades on their shoulders, he’d assumed they were, of course, melee-type—and what do you know, they could shoot beams from their horns.

Not one or two, but dozens, in a group!

‘Looks like that woman Hera really is pissed.’

The absurd difficulty made him click his tongue.

Even so, he figured he could somehow grind through by toughing it out.

Just then—

Bang!!

A sudden collision.

It wasn’t that they were hit by a Gakrok Wave.

The Iron Horse had been dodging those for sure.

But the Iron Horse had definitely struck something, and from the colossal shock it momentarily lost balance and fell for a bit.

Luckily, it succeeded in regaining balance, and only then did Su-ho see what had rammed past them.

“......What is that?”

What came into Su-ho’s view.

It was none other than a golden deer, in midair, scraping the ground like a raging bull as if to charge out.