Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 481

“......?”

What?

What did I just hear?

With his mouth still hanging open, Su-ho’s eyes widened even more, and Shiva let out a sigh.

“Ugh, what you heard is ri—”

In that moment.

Smaack!

A rough slap.

The source of the slap was Su-ho himself.

With both hands, Su-ho smacked his own cheeks hard.

“Ah. Now I finally feel like I’m thinking straight.”

“Huh?”

“Ah, sorry. I’ve had plenty of brutal experiences in my life, but this is my first time meeting a Transcendent in person. But I’m fine now. I just hit myself once and my head cleared. So... you came here to have a round with me?”

“What? Pwahahahahaha!”

Shiva laughed.

But Su-ho was serious.

He’d been out of it this whole time because it was such a brutal experience, and he decided he couldn’t stay like that—so he slapped himself to snap out of it.

Shiva found Su-ho’s behavior amusing.

Shiva, who’d laughed ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) hard enough to get tears in the corners of his eyes, wiped them away and said,

“Ah, you’re really entertaining. Yeah, I get it. For a normal player... no, for most players, when they meet us, they can’t do anything at all. Yeah. I came here to have a round with you.”

“Is that the condition for succession?”

“Nope.”

“Pardon?”

“Whether you fight or not, I’m going to make you my apostle. I came because I just want to fight.”

“What the—”

What is this guy even saying?

Is this old man insane?

It’s not even a condition of the succession rite, and he’s saying he came purely because he wants to fight?

When Su-ho stared at him in disbelief, Shiva laughed like he was embarrassed.

“Hey, if you keep staring like that, I’ll get shy. But so what? The system allowed it.”

“The system allowed it?”

“Yeah. If fighting me were a condition of succession, it would never allow it. Even if it’s a succession rite, how could an ordinary player ever beat me? Even if I’m not my main body and this is just an avatar.”

“Then I refuse.”

“What?”

“If you make me dizzy just by showing up, that means you’re already controlling your power by a ridiculous amount. What do I get out of fighting someone I can’t even ‘play the game’ against in the first place?”

“Kekeke, I figured you’d say that. Still, you’ve got guts. What if I say I won’t appoint you as my apostle then?”

“Then I’d be disappointed, wouldn’t I?”

“Hm?”

“It’s obvious to anyone that I’d be a better apostle than your current ones. And if you try to find another candidate instead of me, you’ve already seen me—so nobody else is going to satisfy you anyway.”

“Hahahaha! You really do only pick the right things to say. But isn’t it the same for you? You wanted my power more than anyone, so you caused all that chaos on the islands and in Infinity. And now you’re going to try to play hard to get?”

Mm.

Honestly, that was true.

He’d gotten other Transcendents’ powers easily enough, but only Shiva’s had been difficult.

'And I suffered and invested in this. It’d be a shame to give up now.'

Thinking about it, it wasn’t a deal where he lost out badly.

All he had to do was fight once.

But even so, he didn’t want to fight because there was literally nothing in it for him.

No matter how much Su-ho had walked the path of a warrior and had a competitive streak—no matter how stubborn he was, the type to run into a dead end even knowing he might die—those were still things he did when there was at least the faintest hope.

'When the gap is this ridiculous, it’s a meaningless act.'

He absolutely refused a pointless death.

His goal was humanity’s salvation.

Ah, sure—someone could take a different view and say this:

If you fight someone strong, you learn something.

But that’s when you’re trading martial skill purely. If someone makes you dizzy just by appearing, you’re already mismatched from the most fundamental gap in power. What could you possibly learn from someone like that?

'This isn’t the domain of technique. It’s the domain of the foundation itself.'

If a mouse fights an elephant, is there anything it can learn technically?

No.

Their physical conditions are different from the start.

That was why he refused.

It wasn’t that he feared death.

Even if Shiva killed him in some subspace like this while he took a test-like trial, it would probably revive him again, like the Infinity program.

Shiva liked him, to begin with.

Which made him want to do it even less.

This was basically a courtesy match.

But you can’t live life doing only what you want.

Su-ho let out a sigh and said,

“Alright, fine. Just once, right?”

“Pwahahahaha! The way you’re talking, it’s like you’re humoring me.”

“I don’t usually do fights where the outcome is obvious. But if you say you still want to fight, then I’ll do it. What do I gain from being on bad terms with you?”

“Kekekeke, you really are impossible to pin down. The way you act, you’re like a madman—like a wolf that can never be tamed. But sometimes you look like a well-socialized puppy, too.”

“Wolf or dog, I’m a person first. And I’m a civil servant. It’s not like I’ve only been dealing with complaints for a day or two... But don’t tell me I have to fight you barehanded too?”

“As if.”

Shiva smiled brightly.

Then he snapped his fingers, and the moment Shiva snapped, the number 100 floated above both of their heads.

Wait—don’t tell me...?

Su-ho asked,

“That thing above our heads... is it what I think it is?”

“Yep. I got a hint from the program you made. You called it Overall Combat Power, right? I’m not that petty. We need at least a minimum balance. Otherwise it won’t be fun to fight.”

“If that’s the case, then no matter what buff skills I use, it won’t mean much.”

“It won’t be completely meaningless. Your combat power value itself won’t increase, but you still get the effects of your skills, right? You’re a player who can only show special power by using skills.”

“Understood. Then I won’t hesitate.”

[ Summoning Heracles’s Club. ]

[ Blood Armor activates. ]

Su-ho summoned the two weapons he used the most and merged them into one in his grip. And besides that—

[ Blessing activates. ]

[ Holy Enchant activates. ]

[ Mana Detection activates. ]

[ Endurance activates. ]

[ Enhancement activates. ]

[ The Blacksmith’s Eye activates. ]

[ Sword Aura activates. ]

He used every skill he could.

Su-ho’s gaze went up to the number above his head.

The Overall Combat Power was still 100.

'It really doesn’t change.'

But he could still use the inherent power of the skills themselves.

Su-ho shifted his gaze to Shiva.

But he couldn’t get anything from it.

He’d hoped the Blacksmith’s Eye would reveal some weakness in Shiva, but he couldn’t see a single one.

'Maybe that’s only natural.'

Yeah.

It’s just an avatar body.

Before starting, Su-ho asked,

“But can I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

“What do I get out of this spar?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Come on. Are you going to keep messing with me? At best I’m a mid-tier player, and you’re a being way above my grade. You know the system isn’t the type to allow this fight just because you’re giving me apostle status regardless of win or loss.”

It was a rational suspicion.

What kind of bastard was the system?

No matter how much it pursued entertainment, what kind of entertainment could it get from two beings with a gap like a mouse and an elephant?

So Su-ho suspected it rationally.

There had to be another offer—something that made that picky system agree.

At Su-ho’s question, Shiva’s lips curled upward deeper than Su-ho had ever seen.

“Kekeke, you really are entertaining. Yeah. There was another deal. But if I tell you ahead of time, it won’t be fun, will it? So go on. Show me. Prove your value.”

“If that’s the case...”

His rational suspicion was right.

Then the story changed.

'Because now this isn’t just a free courtesy match.'

Su-ho adjusted his stance.

Shiva was still standing casually.

He wasn’t spreading his feet, or lowering his waist, or raising his hands into a guard stance.

And yet—

'I can’t see an opening.'

Is that even possible?

Sure, even by Su-ho’s standards, if the opponent was a child or a beginner, he could suppress their attack even while standing completely exposed.

But Su-ho wasn’t a child or a beginner.

And yet Shiva was acting like this.

Which meant—

'In Shiva’s eyes, I look like a child or a beginner.'

Thinking that made him really pissed off.

But, well—this wasn’t even the main body. Just this avatar’s appearance made him dizzy. So it made sense that Shiva could think that way.

Ah, whatever.

The reward looked like it had two parts prepared for sure, so from here on out, he could only enjoy it.

To be honest, he was curious too.

Compared to Shiva, his power was microscopic—but under equal conditions, how much of it would actually land?

After thinking for a moment, Su-ho finished his calculations and used a skill.

[ Inferno Sword activates. ]

Fwahahahah!

A sword strike filled with Inferno Sword poured down toward Shiva.

Shiva didn’t move.

Yeah, he probably wouldn’t even count this as an attack.

Su-ho knew.

He hadn’t attacked because he thought he could deal damage with this, anyway.

Kwaaang!!

Inferno Sword detonated, creating a cloud of dust.

And right into that, Su-ho swung his sword in a wide arc.

[ Sky Cleave activates. ]

Hwaaak!

The wide swing became Sky Cleave, detonating into Shiva inside the thick dust cloud.

Only then did Shiva start moving.

More precisely, moving to evade.

He didn’t counterattack.

'So he’s not countering. He’s going to watch once first.'

Arrogant.

But if it was a Transcendent—and among them, the God of Destruction—then it was arrogance he could afford to have.

In the relationship between them, Shiva was the one giving rewards, after all.

Still, this attack did give him something.

'Inferno Sword is something he can endure, but Sky Cleave is something he has to dodge.'

With their Overall Combat Power set equal, that must be why.

Then what about this?

[ Army Technique activates. ]

In an instant, Su-ho created countless clone soldiers.

Then, all at once, they slammed the ground violently.

Kwaaaang!!

With a powerful boom, dust surged up throughout the entire subspace.

Vision blocked.

And then Su-ho’s next attack followed immediately.

[ Sky Cleave activates. ]

Fwahahahahaha!

The continued attack was Sky Cleave.

At Su-ho’s will, every single clone soldier swung a sword toward Shiva.

As a result, sword strikes poured in from every direction, cleanly filling every gap without a blind spot.

“Haha, you’re doing something fun!”

Shiva laughed at Su-ho’s attack.

And at the same time, Shiva—who’d been only maneuvering to evade—moved to attack for the first time.

“You thought such a petty trick would help?”

He moved toward the real Su-ho, hidden among the countless clone soldiers.

Shiva, fist pulled back, reached the real Su-ho in an instant, piercing through the thick dust.

And just as he was about to throw his punch—

Whooooooo!

The rushing air.

At the moment he tried to extend his fist, the dust that had blocked his vision cleared, and behind it, unlike the other clone soldiers who were swinging swords, Su-ho was visible—standing in a different preparatory stance, not swinging his blade at all.

Shiva and Su-ho’s eyes locked.

At the same time, both their eyes widened, and Su-ho’s lips curled upward.

“Too late.”

Just before Shiva’s fist detonated, Su-ho’s sword swung first.

[ Origin Cleave activates. ]