Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 416
“......?”
Hump’s eyes went as wide as saucers.
A person?
What fell from the sky was a person?
He hadn’t seen wrong.
The thing that had dropped like lightning was definitely a person.
An East Asian at that, with black hair and black eyes.
Why is an East Asian here?
But even more shocking, that East Asian looked at him, gave a relaxed grin, even waved a hand, then turned his body back toward the Mega Elk.
He couldn’t make sense of it.
What is that bastard trying to do right now?
Only for a moment did all those questions and shocks pile up—then a tremendous roar that shook the Rocky Mountains pounded Hump’s ears and whole body, and he snapped back to himself.
“W-what are you doing!”
So startled that he even shoved aside his kite shield, Hump grabbed Su-ho.
More precisely, he yanked. Trying to pull him behind his own kite shield.
But contrary to kindhearted Hump’s urgent intent, Su-ho didn’t budge.
Like someone with a nail driven through the instep, Su-ho stayed fixed on the spot, like a mountain.
When Hump tugged on him, Su-ho finally looked back at Hump and spoke.
“Just wait a bit.”
The words out of the East Asian’s mouth were in English.
And with a pretty native accent at that.
Maybe that was why—thanks to the very local-sounding diction, Hump oddly felt reassured, and just like the man said, he took his hands off Su-ho.
By then, a Blood Sword had been summoned into Su-ho’s hand.
Hump’s eyes went wide again.
“A sword?”
But before he could ask anything more about that, the Mega Elk had come right up to their noses.
“Muuooooo!!”
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!
What had been dots turned into a tidal wave that crashed right up to their noses.
Ah.
So this is the end.
No, it’s fine.
Something bizarre happened at the very last moment, but I just have to do what I can do.
The instant he thought that and raised his shield—
Srak!
Another bizarre thing unfolded right before Hump’s eyes.
“......!”
Hump’s eyes went even wider than before.
Because the tidal-wave-like Mega Elk wave had been split cleanly in two as if that were a lie.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!!
The bisected Mega Elk corpses, driven by the momentum of their charge, sprayed in all directions and tangled together in a heap.
By then, the earth-shaking roar also ended.
Tap.
The base of the kite shield settled lightly onto the ground.
He’d been so shocked that the strength left Hump’s hands, and he set the kite shield down.
“.......”
Hump couldn’t get his mouth to close.
What on earth is ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ happening?
Is this a dream?
Do they show you delusions instead of a flashing life review these days?
While thoughts like that filled his head, the mysterious East Asian walked up to him and held out a hand.
“Take it.”
“W-what?”
“I said take it.”
A man he was seeing for the first time.
And suddenly he was telling him to grab his hand?
But not taking Su-ho’s hand was impossible.
The instant Hump reached toward Su-ho, Su-ho summoned the Iron Horse and set him on it.
“H-huh?”
“Iron Horse, do me a favor. You—hold on tight so you don’t fall.”
“What?!”
“Neigh!”
There was no way to continue with questions, or thanks, or any more conversation.
Whatever they said, the Iron Horse took off, and Hump had no choice but to cling to the Iron Horse’s reins so he wouldn’t die.
“Neigh!”
The Iron Horse floated up into the air.
*
“Hrrk, hrrk.”
Geoffrey swallowed the sobs bursting out and floored the accelerator for dear life.
So his friend Hump’s death would not be in vain, he used the mana from the mana supply device to go even a little farther.
Maybe that was why?
At some point, the damned elk cries stopped being audible.
Right.
We did it.
I knew you would pull it off, Hump.
So don’t worry.
I’ll take responsibility for your family somehow.
And so, the only thing Geoffrey could do was to stomp the accelerator like a madman and drive home.
If he ran short on mana, he intended to run and walk the rest of the way and make it back no matter what.
He drove on for quite a while with that in mind.
BWAAAAANG! Tick— tiri-ri...... pfffft......
The sound of power fading.
Damn it!
The mana of the mana supply device had run out.
Geoffrey bit down hard on his lip and swallowed the sigh that was about to burst out.
But soon enough he couldn’t help but spit a curse.
“Goddammit!”
Bang!
He slammed the steering wheel hard.
God damn it.
So there really is no way?
Geoffrey leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes for a moment.
No.
Let’s not get angry.
It was something we foresaw anyway, wasn’t it?
Thinking that, Geoffrey gathered his things and got out of the car.
Checking the map, it looked like he’d have to walk at least 100 km.
“Hoo.......”
It’s fine.
At that distance, I can make it just fine if I keep my head on straight.
He was just about to take a step with that in mind when—
“Neigh!”
A horse’s cry sounded from somewhere.
Wait, a horse?
In this dead of winter?
Nah, can’t be.
It’s got to be an auditory hallucination my brain conjured up in despair.
While he was thinking that—
“Neigh! Hey!”
The horse’s whinny rang out once more.
And with a very familiar voice to boot.
Geoffrey lifted his head toward the direction of the sound.
Up there was the sky.
And in the sky, Hump was on some huge horse, waving at him.
“Fucking.......”
Good lord.
My friend who went ahead of me showed up on horseback to personally take me away?
Geoffrey just stood there with his mouth hanging open, frozen in place.
In the meantime, Hump landed in front of Geoffrey together with the Iron Horse.
“Geoffrey!”
Hump dismounted.
The moment he dismounted the Iron Horse, Hump immediately ran up and hugged Geoffrey.
“My god...... oh, my god.......”
Good lord.
My friend is alive.
How did all this happen?
Just then—
“Ptui!”
Their reunion barely begun, the horse Hump had ridden hawked something up and spat it in front of the two of them.
Phlegm?
No.
It was some kind of stone—on closer look, a mana stone.
Geoffrey’s eyes went round when he recognized the mana stone.
“T-this is!”
“Neigh!”
The Iron Horse that had spat out the mana stone let out a loud whinny and soared into the sky.
Fwooooosh!
The Iron Horse receded into the distance.
Seeing that, the two men, still dazed by the absurdity that hadn’t worn off, spoke slowly.
“......Hump, what on earth is going on?”
“......Hard to believe, but when I was a hair’s breadth from being nose-to-nose with the Mega Elk, some East Asian appeared, cut down the Mega Elk in a single stroke, put me on his Pegasus to bring me here, then even gave us a mana stone to use, and left.”
“......?”
Geoffrey looked at Hump like he was insane.
But Hump could only laugh.
“It’s true.”
*
“Neigh!”
“Oh, you dropped him off? And gave them a mana stone too?”
“Neigh!”
Su-ho patted the Iron Horse once and praised it.
He’d come to the Rocky Mountains because there was still time left until the big event that would explode after the Second Effect, and right as he arrived here he happened to witness something interesting.
A man getting out of a car and solemnly squaring up against the Mega Elk.
No matter how you looked at it, it was the kind of thing a man does when he intends to sacrifice himself.
So he helped.
Mana Perception told him the man was at a level where he absolutely could not take on a Mega Elk, and since the vehicle had mana it hadn’t had before, it looked like it ran on mana power as well.
[ You have slain a Mega Elk. ]
[ You have slain a Mega Elk. ]
[ You have slain a Mega Elk. ]
[ You have slain a Mega Elk. ]
......
And judging by the system notifications, he’d come to exactly the right place.
Su-ho sucked up and stored the dead Mega Elk’s blood and mana stones, then mounted the Iron Horse and searched for the Elk Gate that would be somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.
Luckily, finding the Elk Gate wasn’t all that difficult.
From the sky, all he had to do was look down like a recon craft and find the place with the most intense mana.
Of course, besides the Elk Gate there were several other Gates that bore powerful mana, but for now the Elk Gate took priority.
“Anyway, this place is really an elk field.”
The Elk Gate must have been generated quite a while ago; the portal itself had grown to an enormous size.
And around the Gate, Mega Elk that had poured out from the explosively increased Gate portal were swarming in droves.
It was inevitable.
Among the countries that had not perished and survived after the Great Cataclysm, only those whose infrastructure was still intact could use Squares and the like to manage Gate portals.
‘If not, everything got nibbled away.’
Africa was the representative example.
Riding the Iron Horse, Su-ho alighted lightly in front of the Gate.
Then the Mega Elk stared at Su-ho with expressions like, What is this?
At the elk staring blankly, Su-ho swung the Blood Sword.
[ Cloud Severance is activated. ]
Chajajajak!
“Muuoooo!”
It’s not like we know each other—no need to exchange greetings.
Without a word, Su-ho began cleaning up the elk.
[ You have slain a Mega Elk. ]
[ You have slain a Mega Elk. ]
[ You have slain a Mega Elk. ]
[ You have slain a Mega Elk. ]
......
Once again, a deer massacre without a drop of mercy or tear was complete.
There was one reason he personally killed Mega Elk he didn’t strictly need to kill.
Because if it wasn’t Su-ho, there wouldn’t be anyone in Canada who could take care of these monstrous things.
‘This is still a place where people live, in the end.’
After collecting the mana stones and blood again, Su-ho finally set foot into the Gate portal.
[ Loading Gate information. ]
[ Warriors with Horns ]
Entry condition: Level 200 or higher. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
Variable condition: Cap maximum entry personnel at 5, and for each person fewer upon entry, lower the overall difficulty by 20%.
[ Would you like to enter the Gate? ]
Seeing the Gate information, Su-ho let out a short laugh.
Warriors with Horns, and a mid–Great Cataclysm–type Gate option.
He’d found it properly.
No wonder—this place was the one once called the “Bambi Gate,” and in his previous life it boasted the highest difficulty among Gates where cervine-type monsters appeared.
That was why he’d come here.
Because given that woman’s nature, this seemed like the level that would meet the conditions in her mind.
So Su-ho stepped in without hesitation.
[ Entering the Gate. ]
The moment he entered, his vision flickered and the surroundings changed.
Whoooooosh!
As soon as he opened his eyes again, what Su-ho saw was windblown rime.
And somewhere on a snow mountain where his feet sank deep.
It was cold enough to make teeth chatter, but Su-ho lightly ignored the cold with his characteristically high stats and looked around.
Just then—
[ ■■ takes an interest in the ‘Warriors with Horns’ Gate. ]
[ ■■ makes a proposal to ???. ]
System notifications.
Seeing them, the corner of Su-ho’s mouth curled up. And then—
[ ??? accepts ■■’s proposal. ]
[ A new quest occurs. ]
[ Gate information is altered. ]
[ The Third Labor ]
Grade: S
# You are beginning the third of Heracles’s Twelve Labors.
# As a labor proposed by ■■ and permitted by ???, by utilizing a preexisting Gate, you will carry out the third labor in the newly configured ‘Warriors with Horns’ Gate.
# Slay the owner of the Gate and prove your qualifications in the third labor.
# However, as this is conducted in quest format, in this labor there will be no changes of conditions or new proposals during progression or after the clear.
Seeing the system information, Su-ho smiled brightly in satisfaction.
That woman... that is, Hera, had taken the bait.
