Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 414

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The Rune of Lust, speared on the sword tip, pounded violently.

Its throbbing was so fierce it was like a fish just hauled up alive.

Su-ho reshaped the tip of the blood sword into a hook, then tried to wrench it out by force.

Khuuuuuuaaaang!!

Then Lust howled like a beast and burst a red aura, and with ultra-high-speed regeneration, the flesh sealed itself up, fusing shut together with the blood sword driven in.

But Su-ho still did not let go of his sword.

“Struggle harder.”

Die!!

With a voice choked in malice, Lust detonated her energy.

The red energy washed over Su-ho, and right after, his whole body felt as if doused in hydrochloric acid.

In fact, something like smoke or steam rose from Su-ho’s body.

But Su-ho only narrowed his eyes and still gripped the sword hilt tight.

When the gale of red energy passed, Su-ho laughed.

“Heh-heh.”

Lust wasn’t seeing things wrong.

Su-ho really was laughing.

Which made it strange.

Why was he laughing?

Had he gone insane?

Yet the laugh sent a chill down the spine in a peculiar way.

Because there was a strange “composure” in Su-ho’s smile.

As ominous hunches always land true, the expectation hit the mark.

Still clamping the hilt, Su-ho spoke.

“If the best you can do, clawing to live, is just this, how pathetically weak are you?”

What nonsense!

“Shh. Let’s just finish this.”

Su-ho swung his sword as-is and used a skill.

[ Yeolhwageom is activated. ]

Swinging with the blade still embedded, he used Yeolhwageom; along the line of the hewn part, a blade-strike belched forth, and the belched strike shredded everything in its own wake.

It didn’t merely rip and tear.

The blood sword had been lodged in the Rune of Lust from before, and swinging in that state sliced the whole thing; the rune’s flank was grievously damaged.

On top of that, the high heat of Yeolhwageom seared the flesh crisp, making even the Authority of Regeneration work sluggishly.

Su-ho swung a few more times and mashed Fernando’s body to pulp.

Ggggghhh...!

Lust groaned in pain.

She had no strength left to resist.

The damaged Rune of Lust had sharply reduced all of Fernando’s functions.

Su-ho looked back into the churned-up mess inside him.

Then he saw the Rune of Lust, lodged in the body like a kidney stone.

Like harvesting hemp, Su-ho reached out a hand instead of the sword and grabbed the Rune of Lust.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

He felt the rune’s pulsation across his entire palm.

But the pulse was far slower than before.

Beside it he saw the wound left by the earlier swing.

He tightened his grip and yanked the rune out like tearing it free; blood vessels tangled with the rune clung to it desperately like a mother robbed of her child.

But in the end, they had no choice but to yield it to Su-ho.

Su-ho looked at the roiling Rune of Lust.

Whether it was a heart or a rune was hard to tell—its shape was more wicked and murky than the heart of any creature.

“Give... it... back...!”

Fernando’s voice.

From the moment his heart was exposed to Su-ho, Lust stopped intervening in Fernando.

As they say, an expert recognizes an expert; after crossing a few exchanges with Su-ho, she judged that with the hand she had now, she could never beat him.

Simply put, she abandoned her contractor.

That was why the voice was no longer Lust’s, but Fernando’s.

‘It’s over.’

Su-ho looked at Fernando with a cold gaze.

Even apart from the deal with Grid, he was one of those who absolutely had to be hunted down and erased.

Fernando had gone past paraphilia into “mass-murderer.”

Fssshhh...

At that point, Fernando’s body—robbed of the Rune of Lust—blackened, mummified, and then burned black.

When Su-ho pushed him, he crumbled away like turning to brittle powder.

Boom-boom! KWAANG!!

An explosion.

All around was still at war.

Su-ho had approached Fernando disguised as a Mexican amid the civil war.

No one came to interfere.

Setting aside that he’d pushed them back with Mini Fear and Heatstorm, everyone participating in this civil war was a Player; the instant they sensed the two men’s blazing presences, they deliberately kept their distance to stay alive.

‘No one deliberately wants to die in the middle of a war zone.’

That’s why, at times, a battlefield is easier to tidy things up.

All the more since Su-ho was currently using a transformation skill to appear as a Mexican. The chance of his identity being exposed was zero.

Then Su-ho tried to stow the Rune of Lust into his inventory.

[ Cannot be stored in the inventory. ]

But the system refused storage.

Apparently Lust’s and Fernando’s will-thoughts were still clinging to it.

If he weren’t a regressor, he’d have had no reason to know this.

No wonder—the Rune of Lust right now didn’t even display item information.

But there was a way.

Su-ho opened the door to the Subspace House, tossed the Rune of Lust inside, and closed the door.

‘Strictly speaking, the Subspace House is an inventory for me too.’

Having succeeded in retrieving the Rune of Lust, Su-ho immediately called Cheolma.

“Cheolma.”

“Hihihing!”

Su-ho mounted Cheolma and soared into the sky.

According to original history, this Mexico City civil war ends with New New Mexico’s victory.

Right now New New looks inferior, but that’s because the rampaging Fernando, to sate his desire, would have wiped out the Calavera Family like a madman.

But Fernando just died a moment ago.

Then this civil war will likely end with New New’s defeat, and if so, starting from this civil war, New New Mexico will be gradually eaten by the Calavera Family, turning into the Mexico of old where mafia cartels overflowed.

No, the odds were high it would be a hell even beyond that.

‘That would be a problem.’

So just this once, he intended to give New New a hand.

One way or another, he had to take responsibility for Fernando’s absence.

Next, Su-ho used [ Colorless Solitude ] and completely slipped out of people’s sight.

Then he slowly surveyed the surroundings.

Boom! KA-CRASH! Boom!

Explosions blooming here and ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) there.

Indeed, New New’s side was at a disadvantage.

But he judged that if he just punched through a few key spots, the tide would flip in an instant.

In that case, what Su-ho had to do was obvious.

[ Art of Wind and Rain is activated. ]

Fwhoooo!

First, the Art of Wind and Rain.

When he used it, the sky turned slate-colored, rain fell, and wind began to blow.

People were startled by the sudden climate shift, but soon, focused on the fight before their eyes, they paid it no mind.

That was exactly the intent, so the Art of Wind and Rain functioned successfully.

Su-ho then raised his blood sword.

Then he swung toward the Calavera gang members huddled in a corner preparing a joint skill.

[ Yeolhwageom is activated. ]

Fwaaaah!

With a single swing, a single blade-strike launched.

It looked few in number, but that was fine.

It was one swing, but he had loaded it with a heaping of mana and fired off a blade-strike at bombardment level.

KABOOOOOM!!

A massive blade-strike exploded among the gang members.

After that, Su-ho sent blade-strikes in turn at every spot he’d marked.

“Crazy!!”

“What the hell?!”

“A bombing is pouring down from the sky!!”

Caught off guard by the sudden air strike, the gang members lost their wits.

They screamed and called for rescue.

But more than any of that, the greatest fear to them was that they couldn’t tell the source of the bombardment.

Even using mana-detection skills was the same.

By default, detection skills have reduced odds of detecting a being higher than oneself.

Let alone that Su-ho’s level was 252.

Players above level 200 were rare to see, and he was a monster who had reached the apex of humanity with even his stat totals overwhelmingly massive.

‘This should be enough.’

He’d meant to send just a few shots here and there, but he ended up killing more than he expected.

It was fine.

No matter that life has no hierarchy of weight—Su-ho wasn’t the type to parse that one by one.

‘How could the lives of mafia scum weigh the same as those of good citizens.’

He’d even healed New New Mexico’s leader; the rest was up to the surviving New New.

Su-ho used shadow movement and slipped out of the battlefield.

 After getting a fair distance from Mexico City, Su-ho finally released the transformation skill and entered the Subspace House.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Fortunately, the Rune of Lust was still thumping alone on the Subspace House floor, in the exact tossed-aside state.

“Grid.”

Yes, I’ve been waiting.

At Su-ho’s call, Grid appeared at once.

Then, like a jackal eyeing a freshly grilled steak, he prowled around the Rune of Lust with an endlessly covetous look.

Su-ho picked it up and said,

“Name what you want. You want it destroyed, right?”

There exists only one Rune of a Great Demon in this world.

In other words, a Great Demon whose rune is destroyed loses forever the chance to exercise their will in this world.

When that happens, they can no longer explosively increase their power and will naturally be weeded out of the Demon King race.

Grid nodded.

Right. To be precise, you can give it to me.

Saying so, Grid rubbed his hands together like a fly.

At that, Su-ho grinned and said,

“Let’s say it straight. Me destroying it myself and you collecting the rune are problems on entirely different planes.”

...And what is that supposed to mean?

“Oh? Playing dumb? Should I just smash this myself? Or toss it back outside?”

W-w-wait!

When Su-ho raised his hand like he might act, the flustered Grid hurriedly grabbed Su-ho’s hand.

I can’t get a word in. Just how much do you know about us?

“A question? Is that perhaps a trade proposal?”

...I really should hold my tongue. You’re relentless, relentless.

“From a demon, ‘relentless’ is a compliment. I’ll take it gratefully.”

Ugh... So, what do you want?

A Great Demon’s rune, at any rate, only needs to disappear from this world.

But if a Player doesn’t destroy it directly and it falls into another Great Demon’s hands, the demon who collects it can absorb another demon’s rune and explosively boost their own power.

So when Su-ho said he’d destroy it himself, Grid freaked.

‘No one would throw away such a golden opportunity.’

Su-ho said,

“Good. Then let’s properly start the transaction. First, set the table, will you?”

Of course I should set the table for you.

At the request for table setting, Grid snapped his fingers.

A tea table set with tea was summoned, and Su-ho sat down at ease.

Lifting the teapot he’d summoned, Grid poured into Su-ho’s cup and said,

Name what you want. I am always prepared.

“Before that, there’s something we have to get straight. In this deal, you’re paying me the price of the goods three times. You accept that, right?”

Three payments.

At that, Grid knit his brows.

Not once or twice—why three?

“I killed a Great Demon’s contractor, that’s once; then I didn’t discard the rune but collected it, that’s twice; and lastly, as a condition of handing this rune over to you, that’s thrice. I think I’m being quite conscientious in asking the price of the goods, don’t you?”

It wasn’t wrong.

If he had killed Lust’s contractor but not collected the rune, Lust would have, by virtue of the surviving rune, installed a new contractor.

Grid sighed.

Fine, I accept it. So what do you want?

When Grid accepted without fuss, Su-ho smiled and said,

“First is about information. You did say you’d provide any item or any information as long as the price is paid, didn’t you?”

I did, yes?

“Then here’s my first demand. I want to make the Sun Fragment absorbed into my body blossom. But they say it’s impossible because the Moon Fragment is already latent in my body. I don’t think so. So find me a way—on my behalf.”