Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 464
Seeing the system notifications, Su-ho’s lips slid into a wide grin.
At the same time, system messages kept pouring out.
[ Your understanding of ‘Void Striking Style’ surpasses that of anyone else. ]
[ The system has fully acknowledged both your skill and effort regarding the Void Striking Style you have mastered. ]
[ As a result, your ‘Void Striking Style’ has now fully attained the qualifications required to advance to a higher realm. ]
[ ■■ nods at your growth and bestows a blessing upon you. ]
[ ■■’s Continuance takes root within the Void Striking Style. ]
[ Some information regarding the Void Striking Style has changed. ]
[ You have mastered ‘Void Striking Style, 6th Form – True Severance: Sky Cleave (S+).’ ]
[ Your understanding of sword aura has increased further. ]
[ Your sword aura has grown stronger. ]
Joy welled up in Su-ho’s eyes as he read the notifications.
At last.
He had finally mastered it.
The sixth form of the Void Striking Style—Sky Cleave.
Su-ho raised his Blood Sword.
Then, once more, he wrapped himself in sword aura.
[ Sword Aura is activated. ]
“Tsaaaaah!”
As he activated sword aura, vivid blue mana gathered along the crimson blade, and a sharp, bluish afterimage began to rise.
It was far stronger and denser than before.
Seeing that, the bronze birds let out another collective shriek.
- Kyaaaaaaak!!
[ The Bronze Bird of Stymphalos uses ruler-grade Fear. ]
[ Dragon Blood is activated. ]
[ Due to the Dragon Mind effect of Dragon Blood, the Fear is not applied. ]
[ Due to the effect of ruler-grade Fear, all buff effects on Players are removed. ]
Ruler-grade Fear was cast once more.
However, this time, the sword aura did not dissipate.
That was because Su-ho’s understanding of sword aura had increased, strengthening its power even further.
“Haha. So this is your best, huh?”
The corners of Su-ho’s mouth split upward to the extreme.
Seeing that, Hera’s eyes widened.
Su-ho pulled back the Blood Sword, as though drawing a bowstring.
Gooooo!
Violent energies converged.
From the very moment he resolved to use ‘Sky Cleave,’ mana and the system itself responded to his will, manifesting visibly.
- Kiaaaaaaaaah!
Sensing the overwhelming killing intent, the bronze birds finally rushed toward Su-ho to stop him.
But—
“Too late.”
Su-ho’s sword swung out.
[ Sky Cleave is activated. ]
Suaaak!
A blindingly fast slash.
The sword swept upward diagonally, and some of the onrushing bronze birds froze in place for an instant, as if time itself had stopped.
It was the moment Su-ho brought his blade back down.
Piiiiing—
Long sword marks were carved into the bodies of the bronze birds caught in Sky Cleave.
And from that point on—
Crack— craaack—
Cracks began to spread.
Paaang!!
The Bronze Birds of Stymphalos burst apart explosively, as if it were all a lie.
[ You have successfully slain the Bronze Bird of Stymphalos. ]
[ You have successfully slain the Bronze Bird of Stymphalos. ]
[ You have successfully slain the Bronze Bird of Stymphalos. ]
[ You have successfully slain the Bronze Bird of Stymphalos. ]
......
Bronze birds exploded apart in a cascading shower.
Seeing it, Su-ho’s expression grew brighter than ever.
“Let’s end it already.”
- Kiaaaaaaah!!
Hera hurriedly resumed direct control of the bronze birds in response to the overwhelming attack power.
But at this point, even if she grabbed the reins again, there was nothing she could do through the bronze birds anymore.
[ Sky Cleave is activated. ]
[ You have successfully slain the Bronze Bird of Stymphalos. ]
[ You have successfully slain the Bronze Bird of Stymphalos. ]
[ You have successfully slain the Bronze Bird of Stymphalos. ]
......
[ Sky Cleave is activated. ]
[ You have successfully slain the Bronze Bird of Stymphalos. ]
[ You have successfully slain the Bronze Bird of Stymphalos. ]
[ You have successfully slain the Bronze Bird of Stymphalos. ]
......
Su-ho simply swung his sword.
There was no need to concentrate intensely like with Origin Severance.
Just as he always had—by pouring strength into his arm and detonating sword aura in an instant, like performing sword techniques he had swung tens of thousands of times before.
Of course, it wasn’t truly that easy.
As the saying went, when someone makes something look simple, it is only because they are an absolute master of that field—and Su-ho had swung his sword an uncountable number of times across both his past life and this one to reach that point.
And finally, the moment the last bronze bird split in half and exploded.
[ You have successfully slain all Bronze Birds of Stymphalos. ]
[ You have leveled up. ]
[ All stats have increased by 1. ]
[ You have acquired 1 bonus stat. ]
[ You have successfully completed the 6th task. ]
At last, Su-ho had succeeded in completing Hera’s sixth task.
“Already the seventh?”
Right after clearing the sixth task, Su-ho couldn’t help but mock Hera under his breath.
Hera’s eyes nearly rolled back at the sight, but she barely managed to keep her composure.
[ ■■ gives you the remaining tasks. ]
The next task was assigned.
Looking at the system notification, Su-ho thought,
‘What was the seventh task again?’
Ah, right. He remembered.
Hercules’s seventh labor was to capture the Cretan Bull alive.
‘And that bull wasn’t just any bull.’
The bull selected for the seventh labor was none other than the famous Minotaur’s father.
In simpler terms, it was the bull Poseidon had given to King Minos, telling him to offer it up in sacrifice.
Recalling the myth, Su-ho’s eyes narrowed.
‘This time too, the objective probably won’t actually be capturing it...’
At that moment, Su-ho recalled the Golden Hind.
‘Don’t tell me she’s trying to draw Poseidon in this time?’
Back then, the objective had also originally been the capture of the deer—but that had been a trap set by Hera.
The hind had been strong, and there was no way to avoid injuring it.
Of course, he had managed to get through by negotiating directly with Artemis with the system’s help, but the process had been undeniably annoying and troublesome.
‘The same trick might not work twice.’
That was why, if the mission really did end up being something like capturing the bull alive again, he planned to settle it properly this time.
Just then—
[ ■■ temporarily suspends the task. ]
‘Hm?’
Su-ho’s eyebrows lifted at the notification.
Suspends the task?
All of a sudden?
‘What’s this?’
Did something go wrong?
However, the system notifications fell silent for quite a while, and only after waiting much longer did the next instruction finally appear.
[ ■■ changes the task. ]
[ The system grants approval. ]
[ All remaining tasks are merged into a single task. ]
[ The next task begins. ]
“Huh?”
All of them merged into one task?
What does that mean?
Before he could even question the change, the surrounding scenery began to shift.
Ts-pat!
Light flickered, and in an instant, the scenery transformed.
The new location was a massive field covered in darkness on all sides, with a marble floor stretching out beneath his feet.
There were no torches or glowing objects in sight.
And yet, everything was visible as clearly as if it were broad daylight.
‘What is this?’
The labors were originally twelve in total.
He had completed six—meaning six remained.
And yet now they had all been combined into a single task?
It was absurd.
‘Did she pull this because she thought I might actually clear all the tasks at this rate?’
It certainly seemed that way.
Otherwise, there was no reason for things to suddenly turn out like this.
But seriously—did the system really approve this?
At that moment—
[ A boss monster appears. ]
Boom!
At the same time as the boss appearance notification, a presence was summoned onto the previously empty marble field.
The figure took human form, and given the flow so far, there was a high probability that this was the boss monster.
‘What is it?’
Su-ho examined the figure carefully.
A thick, powerfully built, well-trained muscular body.
Covering it was the typical white cloth garment associated with Greek men.
Over his shoulders hung something like a mantle made of leather—and then, the man suddenly pulled something from behind and pulled it over his head like a hood.
What he donned was none other than a lion’s head.
“...Huh?”
A lion-head mantle?
Looking again, it wasn’t just leather—it was the hide of a lion.
Because of that—
Someone inevitably came to Su-ho’s mind.
“No way...”
At that moment, a nameplate appeared over the boss monster.
- Unknown Hero Lv.???
“...Damn it.”
Seeing the nameplate, Su-ho let out an involuntary sigh.
It was listed as “unknown,” but regardless, it was clearly a hero.
And that made the identity obvious.
There was only one hero in the world whose signature look was like that.
Su-ho summoned and gripped his Blood Sword, muttering,
“Bringing out ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Hercules like this... how cheap.”
That damn bitch Hera.
I’m the Hercules candidate—what’s she thinking, bringing Hercules himself?
No, putting that aside—how does it make sense for someone who hates Hercules more than anyone else to bring him in as a replacement for the remaining tasks?
It was ridiculous.
And yet, at the same time, it was oddly funny.
No matter how much she despised Hercules, the fact that she brought him out meant that even Hera herself acknowledged the power Hercules possessed.
‘But is that really Hercules?’
It wasn’t.
Hercules had been a demigod who later became a true god; by that logic, he would belong to the same transcendent category as Hera herself.
No—that much was certain.
After all, the Black Hercules in his past life had received Hercules’s blessing.
‘Which means this isn’t the real thing, but just a dummy avatar created for the task, modeled after the original.’
If that was the case, then it was manageable.
As Su-ho drew his Blood Sword, Hercules likewise summoned his signature club into his hand.
It was highly likely an olive-wood club.
Soon, the Hercules replica let out a roar.
- Uraaaaaaaaah!! 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
[ The Unknown Hero uses ruler-grade Fear. ]
[ Dragon Blood is activated. ]
[ Due to the Dragon Mind effect of Dragon Blood, the Fear is not applied. ]
[ Due to the effect of ruler-grade Fear, all buff effects on Players are removed. ]
“Damn, that’s one hell of a shout.”
So the opening move was ruler-grade Fear again.
Still, for an avatar modeled after Hercules, he sure screamed like a beast.
Of course, the raw presence behind it was on a completely different level from the bronze birds.
Even if it was just a replica, there was still the dignity of the original it was modeled after.
‘By the way... can it not talk?’
Didn’t matter.
Whether it screamed or raged, since it wasn’t the real deal and was just a replica made for this task, it wasn’t important.
Su-ho immediately applied his buffs.
[ Blessing is activated. ]
[ Holy Enchant is activated. ]
[ Mana Detection is activated. ]
[ Endurance is activated. ]
[ Enhancement is activated. ]
[ Blacksmith’s Eye is activated. ]
[ Sword Aura is activated. ]
And then—
[ Weakening is activated. ]
[ Seal of Pain is activated. ]
[ Enrage is activated. ]
[ Blessing of Rage is activated. ]
[ Curse of Rage is activated. ]
He opened by stacking a whole bundle of debuffs in rapid succession.
- Uaaaaaaaah!!
It was right after the rage-based debuffs took effect.
The Hercules replica roared.
Around its eyes—previously nothing more than white sclera—red lines appeared, and they began to glow crimson.
Boom!!
- I’ll kill you.
The enraged Hercules replica charged at Su-ho like a furious bull.
