Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 442

“Man, that stings.”

In front of the Big Gate.

Just standing near the massive portal that resembled a black-violet black hole made his skin tingle and prickle.

‘I didn’t say that for nothing.’

If the mana felt on his skin was like this, how hard would it be once inside?

At the very least, average... no, below-average Players would all pass out without even being able to breathe.

Su-ho quietly approached the Big Gate.

[ Loading Gate information. ]

[ First Big Gate ]

Entry Conditions: Level 200 or higher, ???

Variable Condition: Set the maximum number of entrants to 10, but lower overall difficulty by 10% each time the number of entrants decreases by 1.

[ Do you wish to enter the Gate? ]

Seeing the Gate information, Su-ho let out a faint snort.

Level 200 or higher, and three question marks.

On top of that, even the variable condition increased the maximum entrants by five compared to existing 2-star Gates.

‘Max is 10, minus 10% per person... then if I clear it solo, difficulty drops by 90%.’

Could there be better terms than this?

He was going to clear it alone anyway.

Of course, this condition was the same in his previous life.

Only, the first Big Gate of his past life had been left alone long enough that, while the entry condition was indeed Level 200 or higher, the monsters inside were by no means merely 200.

Without hesitation, Su-ho stepped into the Gate.

[ Entering the Gate. ]

As Su-ho entered, the aura, which had been black-violet, shifted to red.

*

His vision flickered, and he felt the flow of the air change.

And the first sensation Su-ho grasped was a suffocating tightness and a pressure that constricted his whole body.

Was it just in his head?

Absolutely not.

Su-ho was literally being pressed in on all sides by unknown things.

He immediately used skills.

[ Blessing is activated. ]

[ Heatstorm is activated. ]

Fwooooooosh!!

Buffing his stats with Blessing, he blasted Heatstorm at maximum output.

The things enveloping him couldn’t withstand the powerful wind pressure and were scattered outward.

Fwaaaaaa!!

Dust billowed away.

What had wrapped around him was none other than sand.

‘For a 2-star Gate, that’s quite a welcome ceremony.’

As with other Gates, trials usually begin immediately after entry from 2-star Gates onward.

For example, starting by falling from the sky, starting underwater, or being surrounded by monsters from the outset.

In that sense, in this first Big Gate—presumed to be a 2-star Gate—he started buried alive in sand from the very beginning.

‘Well, it’s far better than in my previous life.’

The start was a burial, but judging by the depth he was buried, it was far better than that past start.

In his previous life, it hadn’t been this shallow; he’d been buried nearly ten meters deep.

‘And the sand had the weight of placer gold.’

From the massive crater Heatstorm created, Su-ho walked out slowly and surveyed his surroundings.

All he could see was a barren desert zone and a brutally blazing sun.

This place, called nothing more than the First Big Gate, had been dubbed the Desert of the Apocalypse in his previous life.

Because the whole region had undergone desertification—a literal desert-type apocalypse.

Su-ho immediately began his preparations.

[ Holy Enchant is activated. ]

[ Mana Perception is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is activated. ]

[ Eye of the Blacksmith is activated. ]

[ Blood Armory is activated. ]

Once ready, a blood-forged blade settled into his grasp.

Then it happened. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Kugugugugugugu!

The trembling earth.

At the same time, something gigantic began to surge up from the ground.

[ Sand Golems are being summoned. ]

Those things sculpted of yellowish sand were Sand Golems.

Their levels weren’t displayed.

That was one of the traits of the Big Gate.

But there was no need to be afraid.

No matter that Big Gate monsters didn’t show levels, the system wouldn’t spawn things that were literally unkillable.

Only, separate from the system’s pattern, the size and headcount of the Sand Golems were plenty to be wary of.

‘Of course, I’m the exception.’

Just in his field of view, there were a dozen or so.

Once fully summoned, they began to bellow.

“Guoooooo!!”

[ Sand Golems use Fear. ]

[ Dragon Blood is activated. ]

[ By the Dragon Mind effect of Dragon Blood, Fear does not apply. ]

Quite the set of lungs.

So they do have the dignity of belonging to a Big Gate.

They charged Su-ho and yelled without rest at the same time.

It was fine.

He had Dragon Blood.

But for ordinary people, it would have been rough.

‘That’s why you need a healer to cleanse CC.’

Early- to mid-game healers could get by looking after themselves and throwing heals and buffs from the rear.

But from the mid-to-late Cataclysms onward, healers had to spam purifications until their heads burst to clear relentless crowd control.

Su-ho rushed the Sand Golems and began to swing his blade.

Slice! Slice!

There was no need to use Steel Severance or Cloud Severance.

From the start, the inherent hardness of Sand Golems was inferior to his blood blade, which was empowered by his mana.

‘At present, my blood-forged blade is among the strongest metals on Earth, all told.’

So if he had enough strength and stamina, these clods of sand could be cut down as much as he liked.

Besides, the weakness of Sand Golems was to destroy the core at the center.

With movements devoid of any waste, Su-ho cleaved through their cores and bodies together.

[ You have slain a Sand Golem. ]

[ You have slain a Sand Golem. ]

[ You have slain a Sand Golem. ]

[ You have slain a Sand Golem. ]

......

Sand Golems toppled.

However, whenever he was close to killing off most of the Sand Golems, new Sand Golems would surge up from the ground.

‘This’ll turn into a tedious marathon.’

If Course 1 among those the Big Gate had prepared was the buried-alive start, Course 2 was to face these damned Sand Golems ad infinitum.

Usually, many Players died here, or gave up and fled.

Because in the Desert of the Apocalypse, Sand Golems spawned to the point of disgust.

‘Which is why running a party of ten was a mistake.’

A Gate whose difficulty dropped 10% per head.

Just as every safety rule in the world is written in blood, what people learned after countless attempts was: if a 2-star Gate caps at 5 people, then 3 is optimal; if it caps at 10, then 5 pulls the best efficiency.

The reason the very last human strike team in his previous life was five strong was all of that.

‘But right now I’m alone.’

A full 90% difficulty reduction.

Besides, he had cleared out every surrounding Gate the Big Gate might absorb, so this much he could handle solo just fine.

[ Sand Golems are being summoned. ]

[ Sand Golems are being summoned. ]

[ Sand Golems are being summoned. ]

[ Sand Golems are being summoned. ]

......

Sand Golems summoned again.

But Su-ho’s eyes only gleamed all the brighter as he charged at them.

*

A long while after he’d been cutting down Sand Golems.

How much time had passed?

Even so, Su-ho felt no impatience.

He simply repeated the simple work, bounding about and slicing Sand Golems.

[ You have slain a Sand Golem. ]

Another Sand Golem fell.

How many had he killed?

By now, it would be about time for a level to go up, yet it stubbornly didn’t.

‘It’s about time that guy showed up.’

Right then—

Kugugugugugu!

[ The Gatekeeper of the Desert appears. ]

Speak of the tiger and it arrives: at last, that one showed itself.

‘There you are.’

The ground quaked, and a colossal mountain rose.

Its name: the Gatekeeper of the Desert.

Literally a gatekeeper guarding some kind of gate; only by killing it could he move on to the next stage.

- Gatekeeper of the Desert Lv.???

As expected, there was no level display on its nameplate this time, either.

Its height easily exceeded ten meters, casting a delicious shade.

Another striking feature: while its appearance was similar to the existing Sand Golems, it had six arms.

Once it fully descended, the Gatekeeper of the Desert began its opening shout.

“Guhhhhhhh!!”

[ The Gatekeeper of the Desert uses Fear. ]

A peal of Fear that rang to the marrow.

The sound was so loud it was like hundreds of Sand Golems screaming at once.

[ Dragon Blood is activated. ]

[ By the Dragon Mind effect of Dragon Blood, Fear does not apply. ]

Naturally, Su-ho was fine.

No matter that it was a named monster of the Big Gate, its majesty did not outrank a dragon’s.

He swung first, a half-beat faster than the thing could move.

[ Cloud Severance is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is applied. ]

[ The power of Cloud Severance grows stronger. ]

Given the sheer bulk, he chose Cloud Severance instead of Steel Severance, which cuts shorter lines.

Sand spread cleanly as the thing’s ankle was neatly severed.

Did the attack connect?

No.

[ The Gatekeeper of the Desert receives the Blessing of the Desert. ]

At the system alert, sand-winds whirled between the severed ankle and, as if merging, the leg regenerated in an instant.

It was the Blessing of the Desert effect: as long as it was active, the creature’s body would be restored ceaselessly, approaching an undying state.

But Su-ho didn’t so much as bat an eye, nodding blandly.

‘Same as in my previous life.’

No need to be flustered.

It had been like this before, too.

Inevitable.

Though called the Gatekeeper of the Desert, its fundamental attribute was no different from a Sand Golem’s.

Meaning: you had to destroy the core to ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) finish it off for good.

Narrowing his eyes, Su-ho watched where mana was concentrating.

‘As expected, the chest.’

The core was in its chest.

Su-ho swung again, sending a slash toward the creature’s chest.

[ Cloud Severance is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is applied. ]

[ The power of Cloud Severance grows stronger. ]

Swick!

The blade, swung at high speed, carved a massive crescent and pierced the creature’s body in an instant.

His aim was true.

A huge diagonal slash was engraved across its chest.

He hit the core properly, too.

But—

[ The Gatekeeper of the Desert receives the Blessing of the Desert. ]

With the system alert, the creature’s split body and core began to restore as if it had been a lie.

“Hm.”

This too was the same as in his previous life.

If the core itself remained inside its body, no matter how many times he destroyed it, the core would receive the Blessing of the Desert and regenerate without end.

So his brows naturally drew together.

‘I’m pretty sure I heard the difficulty was adjusted, but why does everything feel the same?’

Was this really a 90% reduction?

At that moment, the enraged Gatekeeper of the Desert thrust out its six fists in a flurry.

“Yikes.”

Kwagwagwagwagwang!!

Six punches detonated toward Su-ho.

Of course, none of those fists struck him.

Even with a body over ten meters tall and with six fists now, to Su-ho the creature’s punches were far too slow.

‘In my previous life, Alex and I would have drawn aggro, and Suzuki and Hex would have comboed to shatter the core in one go...’

Right now, there was no one to combo with.

All he could rely on was himself.

Even so, he had nothing to worry about.

If the Gatekeeper of the Desert’s patterns were all as he knew them, its end was as good as decided.

‘If the Blessing of the Desert is the key to the gatekeeper clear, then I just have to keep any more sand from condensing onto it.’

In that case, there was one method.

Dodging the six fists, Su-ho activated a skill.

[ Art of Wind and Rain is activated. ]