Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 390

“Huh?”

He hadn’t misread it.

The system had precisely announced the start of the Second Cataclysm.

At the same time, the world began to shake.

The Second Effect had begun.

Kugugugugugung!

The Second Effect is the catch-all term for all phenomena that occur when the Second Cataclysm breaks out.

Naturally, the first cataclysm is the First Effect.

Of course, the terms “First/Second Effect” are labels that only got attached after all these events had passed, so only Su-ho, the regressor, knew them.

Kwoooooo!

It started with a sky dyed black and with crustal shifts.

Thankfully, the blackened sky only darkened the face of the heavens; it didn’t drop rain, hail, or any stray projectiles.

Same for the crustal shifts.

The crustal shifts occurring during the Second Effect didn’t trigger massive earthquakes that would cause tsunamis.

Just minor quakes.

Of course, depending on the region, some places might suffer avalanches or landslides, and unlucky small islands might collapse.

But in most areas, the ground merely trembled.

Yet even that level of rumble and the change in the sky were enough to throw people into terror.

“What is this?!”

“The Second Cataclysm?”

“T—the phones aren’t working!”

“The internet is down too!!”

“Damn it!!”

“Are we all going to die?!”

The entire world descended into chaos.

How could it not?

It had only been, at most, a dozen-odd years since the First Effect, the first cataclysm.

People still hadn’t escaped the fear of that time, and now, without warning, the Second Effect had erupted; how could there not be bedlam?

But if others didn’t know, at least Su-ho remained calm.

With knit brows, he did some quick math in his head, then coolly summoned the Iron Horse and mounted up.

“Let’s go! Move!”

“Neighhh!”

The moment he was astride, Su-ho infused mana into the Iron Horse and pushed its speed to the limit.

Shuaaaaa!

The Iron Horse, injected with mana close to the purple color, was a jet, plain and simple.

And as impressive as the Iron Horse was, just as impressive was Su-ho riding at that speed without even a helmet.

But the rider himself had no leisure to care about any of that.

‘I didn’t expect the Second Effect to blow all of a sudden, but now that the Second Cataclysm has begun, this is the optimal timing.’

Su-ho was the only person in the world who had actually gone through the Second Cataclysm.

So unless variables he didn’t know cropped up, he figured the cataclysmic effects themselves would be the same as before his regression.

And as he expected, the Second Effect unfolding this time was identical to what he’d experienced.

For example, the blackened sky and the light crustal shifts.

If there was anything to watch out for a bit more, it was that the Gates spread around the world would be strengthened, and with that, monster levels would rise as well.

For the moment, that was the only change.

Gates seen only in the middle phase of the Cataclysm would appear step by step after the Second Effect.

That was why Su-ho could stay calm and act at once.

A mere Second Effect that did little more than scare people wasn’t frightening in the least.

“Faster!”

“Neighhh!”

At Su-ho’s spur, the Iron Horse poured on the power. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

His destination: none other than Beijing.

Su-ho’s reason for heading to Beijing was simple.

Right now, the people it would be hard to assassinate naturally at any other time were all in Beijing.

Those Su-ho intended to assassinate were China’s top leader, Chairman Li Jinping, and the seven Standing Committee members he was part of.

Su-ho had calculated the timing of the coming Second Effect and prepared a few plans.

Assassinating China’s high-ranking officials was one of those plans.

So he considered it a stroke of luck.

At least the Second Cataclysm had begun within the scope of what he’d planned.

‘The timing’s even good.’

He had been about to move on to the next step—raids on major cities inside China.

It was for the people of Dandong and Yuanbaogu who had been driven out without any countermeasures.

By striking megacities unrelated to the Yalu River, Su-ho would make the Chinese government judge that evacuating the people was meaningless and send the folks of Dandong and Yuanbaogu back to their hometowns.

‘Follow-up care or neglect—sending them home is far better.’

And right at that timing, the Second Cataclysm suddenly began.

So he hurriedly changed plans and decided to execute the prearranged operation to assassinate the top officials.

The reason for killing them was simple.

Li Jinping and the seven Standing Committee members were utterly useless—no, a tremendous hindrance—to the salvation of humanity and the ending of the Gates, including for their own country, China.

‘To be blunt, as useless and obstructive as Xiang Yu.’

No... at least until the ultra-large Gates blew, Xiang Yu did personally go into Gates and clear near-impregnable ones, didn’t he?

These bastards weren’t even Awakened—they were trash who merely wielded power.

Not only that, they didn’t just wield power; they pushed all kinds of outlandish schemes, one of which was the “Necromancer Project.”

‘After the middle phase of the Cataclysm, feeling the shortfall in military force, Li Jinping gathered Necromancer Players and began training them in earnest.’

What is a Necromancer?

Also called a one-man army, it is a conditional top-tier class that, if conditions are met, can command an infinite undead legion.

Truly.

If all sorts of conditions were aligned, there was no Player theoretically stronger than a Necromancer.

But the problem lay in the conditions required to meet that top-tier status.

‘Grinding for skill leveling, of course, and there’s a numerical limit to an undead legion summoned purely by mana.’

So the tactic chosen by the Chinese government was to opt for a manufactured undead legion rather than a summoning type.

A manufactured undead is, as the name implies, an undead made directly by gathering materials.

In other words, as long as capital and materials were secured, they could create as many strong undead as they wished.

Hence Li Jinping launched the Necromancer Project.

China maintains a one-party dictatorship—an ideal place for a dictator to limit the freedom of the press, assembly, and expression, and do whatever he wants.

‘Xinjiang Uyghur or Tibet are prime examples.’

In practice, China used the Cataclysm to grind down many prisoners and ethnic minorities for the growth of the authorities.

Not “exploited as labor”—literally ground down.

That’s what the Necromancer Project was.

So he was going to kill them now.

If Xiang Yu brought about China’s ruin, then the current chairman and Standing Committee members were the ones who, right up to the brink of ruin, caused a cataclysmic man-made disaster birthing grief and screams.

Thus the Iron Horse streaked toward Beijing like an arrow.

*

Zhongnanhai, Beijing.

Zhongnanhai is the core residential and working compound of the Party and government in Beijing, where the principal leaders live and work.

That’s why he came here.

By now, Li Jinping and the Standing Committee members would be here.

Su-ho cloaked himself and the Iron Horse with Colorless Solitude.

Beijing was an inferno of chaos.

The sky remained dusky-black, the crust trembled as if in an earthquake, some places had landslides or avalanches, and the sea was churning with whirlpools and waves.

Naturally, communications, power, and transport were paralyzed.

There were casualties as well.

Some of that came from people trying to flee first, and some from crimes erupting out of the pent-up emotions of those who had been waiting for the world to end.

But Su-ho didn’t care in the least.

All his attention was on Li Jinping and the Standing Committee.

[ Mana Perception activates. ]

Seated on the Iron Horse, Su-ho surveyed every corner of Zhongnanhai.

He had come to Zhongnanhai because, at this hour, those bastards would be working here.

Also, there existed, unbeknownst to the world, a super-large underground bunker in Zhongnanhai where key top officials could flee and hide at any time—another reason for coming here.

The bunker’s name was Tianzicheng (Heavenly Son City).

At that moment, an abnormal concentration of mana came into Su-ho’s view.

‘There.’

Tianzicheng was a bunker where China’s best magi-tech was concentrated.

But that was only “best” by the standard of the present moment; from Su-ho’s future vantage, it was crude to the point of laughable.

For example, just look at the abnormal amount of mana that had begun to pool now.

‘If this were the late phase of the Cataclysm, they’d have found some way to mask the mana flow so monsters wouldn’t detect them; not knowing that crucial point, they must have designed it like that.’

Thanks to that, it was quick to pinpoint Tianzicheng.

“Bulgasari.”

“Bul-bul.”

At Su-ho’s call, a tiny Bulgasari peeked its head out over his shoulder.

“Let’s dig a tunnel for old times’ sake. Think you can do it?”

“Bul-bul!”

“Go.”

“Bul-bul!”

Like tossing a grenade, Su-ho hurled Bulgasari over Tianzicheng.

As he shared mana with it at the same time, Bulgasari instantly grasped its master’s intent and used its skills.

[ Bulgasari uses Gigantification. ]

Shuaaaaa!

Suffused with navy-colored mana, Bulgasari grew as big as a polar ice sheet in no time.

Then it curled into a ball and began “Hyper Rotation.”

[ Bulgasari uses Hyper Rotation. ]

Wiaaaaaaaaang!!

Falling from the sky, Bulgasari began to spin like a grinder.

And the instant Bulgasari struck the ground above where Tianzicheng lay hidden—

Ku-gwagwagwagwagwa!!

An unprecedented “earthquake” began in Beijing.

“It’s an earthquake!!”

“Everyone take cover!!”

“KyAAAAAA!!”

Of course, it wasn’t an earthquake that caused crustal shifts—just a metaphor—but the effect was certain.

“Wh—what is this?”

“What’s happening up there?”

“Go find out, fast!!”

Tianzicheng was built, they boasted, sturdier than even the secret bunker of the U.S. White House.

And its very existence was unknown to all but a few involved.

So when a roar loud enough to collapse the ceiling erupted above such a place, fear was inevitable.

But Bulgasari’s assault didn’t end there.

[ Bulgasari uses Earthquake. ]

[ Bulgasari uses Earth Flip. ]

Kwa-gwagwagwagwagwagwa!!

Earthquake, Earth Flip, and Hyper Rotation.

At this moment, Bulgasari was a grinder, an excavator, and the charges that blast tunnels.

And as a result, Tianzicheng—the pride of China and its last bastion—finally fell to Bulgasari with Su-ho on its back.

“Everybody run!!”

“Gyaaaaaaah!!”

“Save me!!”

Tianzicheng collapsed.

At the same time, soil poured ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) down over it, and Bulgasari, still spinning, smashed down atop them.

There was no outsider to care about them.

Tianzicheng was a place ordinary people didn’t know, and outside, thanks to the Second Effect, no one was in any position to care about anyone else.

“A perfect day for a dog’s death.”

Still seated on the Iron Horse, Su-ho looked down below.

And after a short while, once he confirmed that every spark of life existing underground had been snuffed out, only then did Su-ho begin to leave China.

There was no need to check if anyone had survived.

Their deaths would be reported by international news, and the reason he didn’t worry even about the one-in-ten-thousand chance was that Li Jinping and the Standing Committee, though ordinary people, were set up to be instantly transported into Tianzicheng via movement stones if anything happened.

“Let’s head back now, Iron Horse. It’s about time to return home.”

“Neighhh!”

After reverse-summoning Bulgasari, Su-ho finally returned to Korea.