Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 407

Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!

[ The Sun God Amaterasu Omikami uses Sun Slash. ]

[ The Sun God Amaterasu Omikami uses boss monster-grade Fear. ]

[ Enhancement is activated. ]

[ Recovery is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is applied. ]

[ The power of Recovery becomes even stronger. ]

Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!

......

The fight dragged on longer than he thought.

Amaterasu thrashed nonstop, and Su-ho clung to her like a mountaineer, hanging on by the blood sword.

Still, it wasn’t totally ineffective.

Every time the stacked, enhanced Recovery accumulated, the black flames that blanketed Amaterasu’s entire interior gradually faded to a whitish, washed-out hue.

Then it happened.

[ The Sun God Amaterasu Omikami summons a Black Flame Dragon. ]

Black Flame Dragon?

What the hell is that now?

You’re just going to summon a dragon out of nowhere?

Startled by the system alert, Su-ho jerked his head around.

There, above the blazing, scorching zone, a massive flame dragon wreathed in black fire was summoned.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a true summoned entity, but a kind of huge magic ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) shaped like a dragon.

‘Yeah, “thankfully” my ass!’

Su-ho bit down hard on his lip.

With high probability, the thing would swoop straight at him.

Since Amaterasu summoned it, it wouldn’t harm Amaterasu at all, and the damage would pile up solely on him.

But at this point, letting go would waste all the Recovery he’d layered to the max.

So there was only one conclusion.

‘Just tank it raw!’

While using Recovery, Su-ho triggered an additional skill.

[ Blood Armory is activated. ]

With Blood Armory, Su-ho formed a blood suit that wrapped his entire body.

And behind that, he created and strapped on a massive kite-shield-grade blood shield.

Even if the Black Flame Dragon was a flame-attack skill, that only reduced fire damage; it didn’t erase the special offensive power baked into the skill itself.

Fwooooooosh!

Scorching heat pressed in from behind.

Su-ho ground his lips between his teeth.

And as if to psych himself up, he used the skill.

“Recovery!”

[ Enhancement is activated. ]

[ Recovery is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is applied. ]

[ The power of Recovery becomes even stronger. ]

Before long, the Black Flame Dragon crashed over Su-ho like a tsunami.

Kuwaaaaaaaaaah!!

Is this what it feels like to take a nuclear blast head-on?

Agony surged over his entire body, especially his back.

‘If I hadn’t tuned my fire resistance, I’d have been wrecked for real.’

While casting Heal on himself, Su-ho kept firing off Recovery.

Amaterasu’s assaults continued after that as well.

[ The Sun God Amaterasu Omikami uses Sea of Fire. ]

[ The Sun God Amaterasu Omikami summons a Black Flame Dragon. ]

[ The Sun God Amaterasu Omikami uses Black Phoenix. ]

A sea of fire, a flame dragon, even a phoenix—quite the variety of skills.

But each time, Su-ho endured.

[ Blood Armory is activated. ]

[ Heal is activated. ]

And then.

[ Enhancement is activated. ]

[ Recovery is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is applied. ]

[ The power of Recovery becomes even stronger. ]

He used Recovery incessantly.

If the goal had been to destroy the Rune of the Sun, things would have been far simpler.

No, it would have ended long ago.

But what Su-ho sought was not destruction, but salvation.

Besides, once begun, there could be no quitting halfway.

Time slipped by as he waged a long, lonely resistance all by himself.

Flash!

Suddenly, a flare of light burst inside Amaterasu.

A pattern he’d never seen before.

Second phase?

Absolutely not.

There was no system alert—the absolute guarantor—to proclaim it.

Su-ho triggered Enhancement and Recovery once more.

And at that moment, the sight he had so badly wanted to see began to unfold before his eyes.

[ Enhancement is activated. ]

[ Recovery is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is applied. ]

[ The power of Recovery becomes even stronger. ]

[ ??? of the Sun God Amaterasu Omikami is purified. ]

The last line of the system alert.

At the same time, a pure-white radiance detonated, and the newly bursting brilliance swallowed all the black flames.

Fwaaaaaaash!

The brilliance was so intense Su-ho couldn’t open his eyes.

But even without seeing, he knew with certainty that what was happening was flowing exactly as he wished.

Because he felt no pain anymore.

In time, the light subsided and Su-ho could finally open his eyes properly.

His flickering vision normalized by degrees, and when his sight fully returned, he realized he had been pushed back a few steps from Amaterasu.

At the same time, he could see it.

Amaterasu in her complete form, no longer curled up in pain, without sorrow or rage.

She was no longer a tainted being huddled at the center of Amano-Iwato, saturated with blackness and grief.

Snow-white—no, beyond snow-white, so sacred as to seem holy—she undulated as though shaped of light like a spirit.

Slowly, Su-ho lifted his head and looked at her name card.

Liberated Sun God Amaterasu Omikami Lv.???

Seeing the name card, Su-ho smiled.

Right.

She was truly saved.

Otherwise, there’s no way the epithet “Liberated” would have appeared. In that instant—

Paaaaaaaaah!

The light scattered and spread, and the body that had been wrought of light regained its proper colors like Susanoo and Tsukuyomi.

She had long black hair and wore garments of golden cloth, far more exalted-looking than those of the other gods.

At the same time, her floating body touched down, and upon landing she slowly opened her eyes.

Like the other gods, her eyes were suffused with a glow—golden in her case.

Amaterasu spoke.

So it was you. The one who helped me.

Amaterasu’s voice was quite a clear, beautiful one.

Yet there was a strangely overpowering, religious force in it that made him feel as though he ought to worship for some reason.

Su-ho managed a nod and said,

“Yes, that’s right.”

Su-ho observed proper courtesy.

Amaterasu, too, bowed her head in thanks.

Thank you. Thanks to you, I’ve been freed from a torment that might have lasted forever.

“No. I acted out of necessity as well, so you needn’t be overly grateful.”

Out of necessity?

At her question, Su-ho spoke frankly.

“Exactly as I said. I saved you because there is something I wish to obtain from you.”

Something you wish to obtain from me... and what would that be?

“I want to obtain a small sun.”

A small sun?

At the words “small sun,” her brows drew together for an instant.

But Su-ho continued, unbothered.

“Yes. Through the Moon’s Seed, I became someone who possesses a small moon. So, if the process is the same and a similar seed actually exists, I want to acquire the Sun’s Seed and obtain a small sun as well.”

A small sun... the Sun’s Seed...

She rolled those two names around in her mouth for a moment.

Then she asked on.

Where did you hear that you could obtain the Sun’s Seed from me?

“From Lord Tsukuyomi.”

From Tsukuyomi?

“Yes, I made a deal with Lord Tsukuyomi. That’s why I saved you.”

Hearing the source was Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu fell silent for a moment.

Soon, she nodded and asked,

...I see. And what did you give Tsukuyomi in return?

“I didn’t give anything—just agreed to grant a request.”

What request?

“The condition was that I not become Susanoo’s Apostle.”

Ah...

Hearing Tsukuyomi’s condition, Amaterasu half-closed her eyes. Somehow, her gaze seemed to dip downward.

Then she raised her head again.

Her expression said she understood everything.

Su-ho said,

“By promising that, Lord Tsukuyomi told me to save you as the way to obtain a small sun. Of course, Susanoo told me to destroy your rune.”

...Susanoo told you even that?

“I played a bit of word games. Anyway, I want to keep my promise to Lord Tsukuyomi. So please, will you help me do so?”

He had chosen candor precisely for this reason.

There was no need to take the hard road when the easy one lay open.

Of course, depending on the listener, it could sound like a threat.

At Su-ho’s request that wasn’t quite a request, Amaterasu pondered briefly, then asked him,

Then may I know why you wish to obtain a small sun?

“Is that an important issue?”

To me, yes.

“I need power. I’m a Player, and I’m someone whose goal is the end of the Gates.”

If that’s the reason, becoming Susanoo’s Apostle could be a way as well, couldn’t it?

“You could think that, but Susanoo’s Apostle isn’t the kind of power I seek. No—more precisely, it’s not that I don’t seek the power; it’s that if I became an Apostle, I’d have to carry that god’s will, and I don’t particularly like Susanoo’s ilk. That’s why I accepted Lord Tsukuyomi’s offer.”

It wasn’t a lie, but his true feelings.

Susanoo was too cruel and base.

Perhaps that was why—

A smile bloomed on Amaterasu’s face upon hearing Su-ho’s answer.

Understood.

“Does that answer suffice?”

More than enough. Separate from this, in any case you saved me, and if I think about what my younger brother would have had to bear through that deal, inserting my personal opinions into this trade would be to stain my brother’s honor. But thanks to your answer, my heart is much lighter. I’m very grateful for that.

“I’m glad to hear it.”

As expected of Amaterasu.

She was a god who knew faith, duty, and honor.

If it had been Susanoo, he would probably have sneered with something like, “Why are you coming to me to gripe about a deal you made with Tsukuyomi?”

‘How could I even compare them.’

At length, Amaterasu brought her hands together and exhaled—hoo—toward Su-ho.

[ You have obtained the ‘Sun’s Seed.’ ]

[ For achieving a great feat, the system gifts you 10 bonus stat points. ]

Su-ho’s eyes widened at the system alerts.

‘At last...!’

He immediately checked the information of the Sun’s Seed stowed in his inventory.

[ Sun’s Seed ]

Grade: S+

# A fragment of the Sun received from Amaterasu Omikami, one of the deities who symbolize the Sun and the great Sun goddess.

# Only one who has been granted qualification may ingest the Sun’s Seed, and only one who is qualified may sprout an inner sun.

Su-ho’s eyes widened at the info.

Because the description resembled what he’d seen before for the Moon’s Seed.

In that case, there was no reason to hesitate.

Su-ho swallowed the Sun’s Seed on the spot.

The moment it entered his mouth, the seed vanished like cotton candy.

[ You have ingested the Sun’s Seed. ]

A welcome alert.

Heart pounding, Su-ho awaited the next alert.

But then—

[ The fragment of the Sun failed to take root in your body. ]