Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 375

“Ha, hahaha...!”

Pouring rain.

Under it, Otakemaru sprawled out.

Lying there, Otakemaru let out a hollow laugh.

Otakemaru couldn’t believe the present situation.

All his life, he had never known defeat.

Strength for strength, sword for sword—no one had ever surpassed him, nor even managed to fight him to a draw.

That held true no matter how many opponents there were.

Yet the man before his eyes, amid a battlefield lashed by wind and thunder, had pressed him down with overwhelming force as if playing swordfights with a child.

Sweeping back his wet hair, Su-ho said,

“Did you come here to hang out? How long are you going to lie there?”

“Ha...!”

At Su-ho’s prodding, Otakemaru felt an unprecedented shame.

Of course he did.

Having spent a lifetime looking down on others, he had no resistance to being spoken down to like this.

Excited, Otakemaru drew a deep breath.

“Fine. I’ll do as you wish.”

Otakemaru rose to his feet.

Then he began to unseal the yokai power he’d kept locked inside his body.

[ Otakemaru grows enraged. ]

[ Otakemaru unleashes his yokai power. ]

Fwoooosh!!

The instant Otakemaru’s yokai power was released, a massive torrent of violet energy burst from his body.

After he had poured out that ominous violet energy, Otakemaru slowly straightened up.

His height swelled.

His frame thickened.

His skin reddened.

Two massive horns budded from either side of his brow.

His eyes, yellowed to the point of gold.

The power he exuded was so intense that the armor across his upper body burst apart.

Su-ho checked the name card above him.

- Great Evil Transfiguration Otakemaru Lv.265

Great Evil Transfiguration Otakemaru.

That was the full name of Otakemaru upon entering his second phase.

Having become a perfect, nonhuman specter, Otakemaru picked up the two swords he’d planted in the ground and said,

“I’ll give you everything I’ve got, just as you asked.”

With that, Otakemaru drove Daitoren and Shotoren into his own shoulders.

Crunch! Crunch!

A chilling sound.

Yet there wasn’t the slightest wince on Otakemaru’s face.

He pushed the two swords in deep—until only the hilts remained visible.

[ Great Evil Transfiguration Otakemaru uses Sword-Body Unity (Geomshin-Ilche). ]

[ Otakemaru’s first sword, “Daitoren,” becomes one with Great Evil Transfiguration Otakemaru through the effect of Sword-Body Unity. ]

[ Great Evil Transfiguration Otakemaru’s physical damage reduction and special damage reduction increase by 33%, and bodily regeneration increases by 100%. ]

[ Otakemaru’s second sword, “Daitoren,” becomes one with Great Evil Transfiguration Otakemaru through the effect of Sword-Body Unity. ]

[ Great Evil Transfiguration Otakemaru’s physical damage reduction and special damage reduction increase by 66%, and bodily regeneration increases by 200%. ]

Fwoooosh!

Violet yokai power flared again.

At last the two swords became one with Otakemaru, and just as Su-ho had seen and heard in his past life, the man gained an incredible 66% total damage reduction and 200% bodily regeneration.

Finishing the Sword-Body Unity, he narrowed his eyes and asked,

“Don’t tell me you knew about my Sword-Body Unity and stole one of my blades in advance?”

“And what if I did?”

“Hah! What a tedious joke.”

“Joke? I’m being sincere.”

“Don’t talk crap.”

“Hey, you’re the one who asked first—what is this... this is the problem. Even when I tell people honestly, they don’t believe me.”

At Su-ho’s reply, Otakemaru furrowed his brow again.

Then, with that grotesque specter’s hand unique to his kind, he reached behind his neck, parted his spine, and pulled out a new sword.

“Ugh, that’s nasty.”

Perhaps because it was drawn from the spine, the blade itself was white.

What’s more, cerebrospinal fluid dripped from its steel; just watching it made one’s face twist in disgust—and ruined one’s appetite besides.

“Things will be quite different from here.”

“Of course they should be. You just put on a whole one-man circus.”

Su-ho glanced sidelong at the cluster of icons at the edge of his vision.

Then he gave a slight smile and took up Kusanagi no Tsurugi, overlaid with Blood Skin.

“Then I’ll get ready too, okay?”

Thud!

Speaking lightly, Su-ho kicked off the ground.

[ Blessing is activated. ]

[ Holy Enchant is activated. ]

[ Mana Perception is activated. ]

[ Endurance is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is activated. ]

[ Eye of the Blacksmith is activated. ]

[ Rage Mode is activated. ]

[ Foxfire is activated. ]

Skill effects bloomed.

His usual self-buffs had grown by a few lines.

He’d built up enough gauge during Phase 1 to pop them all at once.

But that wasn’t all.

Su-ho lifted his sword and leveled it at the man.

[ Weaken is activated. ]

Fwoooosh!

Light condensed and wrapped around him.

Otakemaru’s expression tightened.

“You use a strange technique.”

Thud!

With the words, Otakemaru stomped the ground.

And the Weaken effect on him was dispelled.

“Phew.”

So it didn’t work on a higher-level opponent?

That’s how debuffs tend to be.

So, without much surprise or disappointment, Su-ho raised his blade.

“Good thing I stole a sword in advance.”

Rrrrumble! KRAK!!

Lightning crashed down.

That was the whistle.

The moment the bolt struck, Otakemaru leveled the spinal blade and charged Su-ho at full tilt.

Su-ho likewise did not dodge the man’s dash.

KRAAASH!!

Like dump trucks colliding.

With Su-ho right before him, Otakemaru grinned and said,

“You really do pick all the most annoying powers. How are you wielding that fox brat’s fire?”

“I took it, so I use it. Don’t worry, you’re going to have something taken from you too, before long.”

“Bullshit!”

KRAK!

For similar reasons, the gates in China, Russia, and India are among the strongest in the world.

The culture and population are simply on a different scale.

The United States is an exception.

Its history isn’t that deep.

But it’s true that its vast land and large population make for formidable difficulty.

What drew Su-ho’s focus, however, was less the gate’s overall difficulty than the difficulty of the single monsters within.

By his check, Japan ranked in the top three for single-monster difficulty within a gate.

Otakemaru was one of the monsters symbolizing that.

So, while he had other objectives here, Su-ho also wanted to verify his own power as he tackled the Bewildering Mountain gate this time.

If he met Otakemaru—a foe hailed as one of the very strongest current single monsters—then he’d face the first phase without self-buffs, and the second phase with every self-buff, just once.

But whether he wore buffs or not—whether it was the first phase or the second—Otakemaru hadn’t proved much of an obstacle to Su-ho.

Of course, he had weakened the man by stealing one sword in advance, but once they actually clashed, Su-ho felt sure he could have won even without stealing it.

In that case, the same should hold elsewhere.

Besides, the Great Upheaval hadn’t even entered its middle phase yet.

He could sense the middle phase would begin soon.

Still, even when the middle phase came, if he continued monopolizing growth alone as he had, he was confident he could wrap up all the calamities before the latter half of the Great Upheaval arrived.

“In any case, the important thing is ending the Five Great Calamities.”

War is something you prepare for ahead of time.

Which is why Su-ho had absolutely no intention of losing.

Thus Su-ho thought:

Once he secured everything he wanted from the Bewildering Mountain, he could cut loose a bit more roughly outside.

“Once Japan is wrapped up, I’ll have to hit China first.”

At last, Su-ho reached a hand toward Otakemaru.

[ Bloody Hand is activated. ]

Shuaaa!

[ Successfully copied the target’s “Art of Wind and Rain.” ]

[ There are already five copied abilities in the Great Blood Orb. ]

[ To copy “Art of Wind and Rain,” you must remove one of the abilities already copied. ]

[ Remove a previously copied ability? ]

“Hm?”

The skill copy went through.

But it was a skill he hadn’t expected at all.

“If it’s the Art of Wind and Rain...”

Otakemaru’s divine power that had conjured storm and rain under a clear sky.

After a brief consideration, Su-ho decided to erase Intermediate Synthesis and copy the Art of Wind and Rain.

In any case, Intermediate Synthesis was something he could reacquire anytime.

[ “Intermediate Synthesis” has been removed. ]

[ “Art of Wind and Rain” has been copied. ]

Still, it was better than Sword-Body Unity.

He didn’t have that many blades he could fuse with, anyway.

[ The Mountain Lord has been defeated. ]

[ You have received the mountain’s approval. ]

Next came the notice for the Mountain Lord’s defeat.

[ The Guiyeong Spear has completely absorbed Otakemaru’s shadow. ]

[ The Guiyeong Spear is strengthened. ]

A notification appeared saying the Guiyeong Spear had been strengthened.

No changes this time either?

So he thought, as he reached to claim Otakemaru’s final loot—

[ Mana supply has reached sufficient levels. ]

[ The consciousness of the Guiyeong Spear awakens. ]

“Hm?”

At last, the final consciousness of the Guiyeong Spear began to awaken.