Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 430

Wow lolololol

Insane lololol

The Sword God’s swagger is fucked;

It’s my first time seeing the Sword God talk like that

For real, he’s always humble—he must be seriously confident

Isn’t this a rigged setup?

Bullshit—do they look like people who’d be bought with money?

If money can’t buy them, that just means there wasn’t enough money...

Rebuke and smite! Where do you spew such blasphemy! Be silent!

The chat window exploded.

But leaving behind the soundless wails of the chat, the friendly match really began.

Su-ho stood still in place.

And he quietly looked toward the opposing formation.

He was yielding the initiative.

And the Korea–Japan party knew it too.

This wasn’t something coordinated beforehand.

The only thing arranged in advance was simply to attack with their utmost.

Thus Su-ho’s silence was nothing more and nothing less than a master yielding the first move to the lesser.

“I knew it, but actually going through it is fucking infuriating.”

Ban Yu-il ground his teeth.

As Korea’s former #1 ranker, he had boasted fame beyond anyone’s, but after Su-ho’s appearance he’d become practically a cold dish no one reached for.

Just as there is only one sun under the sky, there is only one superstar in the same line of work.

But he hadn’t dared to challenge Su-ho.

Like Na Hyeon-il had experienced, on the day he went to the Grand Hunter Association over the Gate monopoly issue, Ban Yu-il too had once been unable to even breathe in the face of Su-ho’s spirit.

“But the me back then and the me now are different.”

Ban Yu-il’s eyes gleamed.

He had been Hexagon’s marquee.

His honor hadn’t fallen, but his stature had plunged compared to the past.

Ban Yu-il wanted to reclaim his former glory.

When Ban Yu-il met eyes with his same-guild mate Na Hyeon-il, both men nodded at once.

Boom!

[ Will of Kalak is activated. ]

[ Surging Fighting Spirit is activated. ]

The moment their heads dipped, the two kicked off the ground and wrapped themselves in the highest-level self-buffs that represented them.

The other players did the same.

Their opponent was the Sword God.

Though this was a stage to certify the Sword God’s dignity, they had not a shred of intention to stand there like a folding screen and take it meekly.

Among those present here, there was not a single person without pride in themselves.

Boom! Boom!

Their various self-buffs wrapped around them one by one, and the players finished preparations while also using the items they had brought.

Su-ho was still watching them with his arms crossed.

And after a while, as a strange current flowed between both sides—

“Go!”

At nearly the same time as Hiro and Ban Yu-il’s shout, the players of both countries began to charge furiously toward Su-ho, just as pre-coordinated.

Watching the hunters rush him, Su-ho grinned inwardly.

“Let’s see how much you’ve grown.”

Su-ho didn’t use any skill.

Even now, with no skill at all, they were hard-pressed to face him; he knew well that if he added even a single thing that raised his stats, it really wouldn’t be a game at all.

So he was looking forward to it.

To how long they would endure against him with no buffs whatsoever.

The instant their dash picked up acceleration, Su-ho finally raised the corners of his mouth, arms still crossed.

[ Intimidation is activated. ]

Skill activation.

In that moment, formless energy spread out in all directions centered on Su-ho. And—

“......!”

“......!”

“......!”

The twenty-one players who were running at Su-ho stopped moving as if it were a lie.

No—like they had met Medusa’s gaze, their entire bodies seized up.

Thud! Thuddump! Boom!

The immense sense of oppression stiffened the whole bodies of the twenty-one players.

As a result, their bodies, still carrying the inertia of their run, rolled across the ground as they were, and the twenty-one players disgracefully wound up covered in dust.

“This is fucking—”

“Ah...”

“Urgh...!”

All they could move were their eyelids, their gaping mouths, and their trembling vocal cords—at best.

It was truly an unbelievable sight.

From the mouths of the toppled players leaked things you couldn’t tell were screams or curses.

Only one.

Except for Hiro, that is.

“Hahaha...”

Hiro, too, had sprinted from the very front line.

He hadn’t held back his body.

On the contrary, he even used auxiliary items in secret from Su-ho, pouring in every last ounce of strength.

Separate from knowing Su-ho’s strength, he too had wanted to clash with Su-ho at full power at least once.

But the moment Su-ho revealed a portion of his power and that unique oppressive force covered his whole body, Hiro understood.

His own existence was nothing but a mere wretch who could do nothing before a dragon.

“Ha ha...”

All he could do was laugh.

His pride wasn’t wounded.

He rather felt relieved.

If he had endured Su-ho’s first move, then surely the second move would have been far more painful.

Of course, that generous interpretation belonged only to a few people, including Hiro and Kenji.

The rest gnashed their teeth or failed to comprehend the present situation.

Just like the chat windows, rampaging.

??????

What was that?

What did he do?

Why did they all fall over suddenly?

What did the Sword God just use?

They were running fine—why’d they all drop at once?

Wow, don’t tell me he suppressed them all with some aura-type skill?

What is this, some cult leader—he subjugated twenty-one top-tier players with a single glance?

lololol does this even make sense?

It made sense.

Because it was really what had happened before their eyes.

Thus Su-ho thought,

“Good thing I didn’t use Blessing.”

At present, Su-ho’s Blessing skill doubles his existing stats.

The gap was overwhelming as it was; if he had used Blessing on top of that, the twenty-one players wouldn’t have suffered mere muscular rigidity—they would have fainted, unable to withstand the enormous pressure.

If there were going to be an accident, that would truly be an accident.

With several million watching the broadcast right now, fainting helplessly before their eyes would really remain as a nightmare he didn’t want to imagine.

Su-ho stood quietly in place and waited for their next move.

He didn’t deliberately withdraw the Intimidation skill either.

To withdraw Intimidation now would be to go easy on them, but the present match was not a coaching spar like he did with Hiro—it was a stage to prove the power he possessed.

He waited for another move, but there was no particular next phase.

Only then did Su-ho slowly withdraw Intimidation.

Because he knew no further anomalies would occur.

As Su-ho put away the skill, the twenty-one players finally began to twitch.

“Khack!”

“Pwah!”

“Haaah!”

As their blocked airways opened, each let out rough breaths.

Then, barely pulling themselves together, they got up.

Some players failed to get up in the end and plopped back down or sprawled on the ground.

That was how overpowering Su-ho’s strength was—beyond what they could bear.

It was truly fortunate that they had set ordinary staff far away in advance.

Otherwise, a major accident would have occurred.

Then Hiro, who had just managed to get to his feet, raised his hand and called the host.

“Are you all right?!”

Receiving the signal and rushing over, the host hurriedly asked after Hiro’s condition.

At that question, Hiro managed a faint smile.

“Ha... this is quite embarrassing. I knew there’d be a gap, but to this extent...”

“Pardon? Then you hadn’t expected it to be to this degree at all?”

“Haha... shameful as it is, yes. It seems when we crossed swords the other day, Su-ho went quite easy on me.”

“What do you ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) mean...”

This wasn’t “lowering himself”—it was a perfect and abject defeat to the point of inspiring suspicion of collusion.

So even though the host was interviewing him directly, he simply couldn’t believe it.

The others were the same.

At the mic, they let out awkward laughs as if dumbfounded or squeezed their eyes shut in embarrassment.

No way this makes sense

Not staged?

Insane lolol—if this is real then what even is the Sword God...

Wait, can there be this much of a gap in the world?

First time I’ve seen a case like this—seriously, isn’t this fabricated?

Then has the Sword God been hiding his power all this time?

The Sword God hiding his power?

nah— a civil servant hiding his power

nah nah nah—now a civil servant not hiding his power

Kneel. This is the eye level between you and me.

Ahh, I long for it, my liege...

The real-time viewer count, which had reached several million, finally broke into the ten-million range.

Of course it did.

Who wouldn’t want to witness this match of the century—no, this moment that would draw a stroke across history?

PBS truly felt fortunate they had decided to simultaneous-stream this as an internet broadcast.

And of course, not only top players of each country but also presidents, high officials, and everyone at the UN were watching the current broadcast.

UN Secretary-General Mac, who was watching together on an ultra-large monitor, let out a helpless laugh in disbelief.

“He said he could face America alone...”

It was a moment when one could feel in one’s skin that perhaps that wasn’t bluster.

Presently, Su-ho approached and asked,

“Hiro, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. But what was that just now? The air snapped different and every muscle in my body seized—no joke, I couldn’t breathe properly.”

At that question, Su-ho pondered a moment, then spoke.

“Normally, things like this shouldn’t be disclosed... But to help everyone understand, that just now was a skill called [Intimidation]. It’s an aura-type skill that preemptively suppresses the opponent based on the stats I have. Naturally, the strength and range can be adjusted. The grade is S, of course.”

“Good grief. I didn’t even know there was such a skill... Anyway, I’ve heard the highest skill grade is S; in that case, what happened to us is largely due to your stats, I suppose?”

“Yeah, essentially. [Intimidation] is affected by a player’s physical stats.”

Then the host interjected,

“E-excuse me a moment. Hunter An Su-ho, could we hear this in a bit more detail?”

“By all means.”

The host, being PBS’s flagship anchor, was deeply versed in knowledge about players.

Thus he asked in an excited tone,

“Then before I ask detailed questions—Hunter Yasuda, would it be possible to disclose your stats? If all is difficult, even a part. I’m saying this for a more accurate comparison.”

“Of course. The highest color among my current stats is Yellow, for Strength. Walking the path of a swordsman, Strength seems the highest virtue. Ah, naturally the others aren’t Yellow. They’re below that.”

“I see. And as far as I know, Hunter Yasuda’s current level is over 200... Then Hunter An Su-ho, how about your level and highest stat color?”

At the host’s question, Su-ho hesitated for a moment.

But soon he spoke frankly.

“I stopped revealing this at some point, but now I have to found Save the World, so I’ll be candid. My current level is 253. And my highest stat color is Purple. My lowest stat color is Blue.”

“Pardon?”

“Shall I say that again?”

Su-ho smiled and kindly asked back.

And the world exploded once more.