Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 380

- Guaaaaaaaaaah!!

Done.

It went in clean.

Having driven the blood pillar deep, Su-ho couldn’t help the corner of his mouth from lifting.

But it wasn’t over yet.

No—he was still a long way off.

Sutoku Tenno, who bore the Giant attribute, wasn’t the kind to be subdued just because one pressure point had been struck.

“Cheolma!”

“Hihihing!”

At his full-throated call, Cheolma responded to its master and charged back toward Su-ho.

The keen-witted horse succeeded in catching its master again midair, and Su-ho changed his trajectory and began flying to the other side.

- You thrice-cursed wretch...!

Sutoku Tenno raged.

But there was nothing he could do.

The spot where Su-ho had hammered the blood pillar in like a stake was none other than the paralysis point that induces full-body paralysis.

Ddddddd—

When the giant’s body trembled, even that sound rang with grandeur.

Su-ho began flying to the other side—to strike the pressure point he had marked earlier.

The reason he hadn’t attacked and had just buzzed around like a fly till now was to read the bastard’s pressure points.

‘Well, his body is just that huge.’

Any organic being with blood flowing through it has pressure points.

That was something a Player who’d been a master of point-striking in his past life had said.

The positions of those points differ by species and traits, but if you pick the ones most similar to humans, of course primates are representative.

‘Strictly speaking, I mean creatures whose body structure is similar to a human’s.’

In that sense, the pressure points of the giant-typed Sutoku Tenno matched a human’s.

He didn’t have two heads like some giants, nor four arms.

So Su-ho had hammered the blood pillar in without hesitation.

“Let’s go that way!”

“Hihihing!”

[ The Great Tengu Sutoku Tenno uses Prison Whip. ]

- Hrrgh!

- Hrrgh!

- Hrrgh!

Sutoku Tenno’s body was bound, but that didn’t mean everything else was bound with it.

His muscles were locked, but neither his mind nor his mouth was restrained.

Thus Sutoku Tenno used Prison Whip, a technique that could keep an enemy in check without moving.

The summoned Prison Whips clung to Sutoku Tenno’s body and chased the flying Su-ho like schools of flying fish skimming over waves.

‘Relentless, seriously.’

The Prison Whips that burst out from every side as if lying in wait were nothing short of hell’s own maws. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

But the sharp Cheolma shook off the dull-witted Prison Whips and gave its master safe flight in the direction he wanted.

Then, just as his target point came into view, Su-ho prepared a second stake.

[ Blood Armory is activated. ]

Swaaaaa!

A crazed volume of blood was drawn out of the Great Blood Orb.

All of it pooled together, became a mighty pillar, and the tip was sharpened into a stake.

Su-ho supported a blood stake several times longer than his own height with a single slender Blood Chain.

Then, as Cheolma closed in on the target point, Su-ho rotated his body atop the horse to add centrifugal force to the blood stake.

“Here we go!”

Vwoong!

With a wind-splitting sound, the blood stake flew.

And, as before, with a fierce, wet thud of blood-into-flesh, it drove into the skin of Japan’s Great Demon King.

Kwajijijijik!!

[ Pressure Point is activated. ]

Seeing the system alert, Su-ho’s lips curled in a sly grin.

Another success.

This time he had pierced a Qi Point—the node that cuts off the internal flow of qi.

‘In Sutoku Tenno’s case, that corresponds to yokai power.’

Perhaps because of that—

The Prison Whips chasing Su-ho no longer burst forth.

Having successfully cut off the qi, Su-ho immediately kicked Cheolma.

“Let’s pull out!”

“Hihihing!”

Objective achieved; he retreated without regret.

As he pulled back, Su-ho headed straight for the next position.

- You... damned... cur...!

With various points suppressed and his movement restricted, Sutoku Tenno ground out the words in a stiffened voice, chewing Su-ho’s name.

Stubborn bastard.

Most people—no, even monsters—if you press just two of their pressure points, they wouldn’t be able to croak, much less spit curses. But a Great Demon King of Japan is apparently still a Great Demon King.

Which is why this had to end quickly.

‘There’s only one shot at this.’

He wasn’t counting on being able to keep driving in blood pillars forever.

This was the guy who shrugged off [Weaken] in one go.

Su-ho urged Cheolma straight up.

At the same time, he checked the blood volume in the Great Blood Orb.

Not much blood left.

He had thought he’d accumulated a fair amount, but the opponent was a giant.

To forge stake-like pillars to drive into that body, he’d burned through an enormous amount of blood.

So if he made anything now, he could make exactly one more.

That was why he said there was only one chance.

Su-ho placed himself squarely before the bastard’s gaze.

- You... thrice... cursed... wretch...!

Look at that bastard’s eyes.

Those eyes could kill a man.

Su-ho drew a deep breath.

And once more began stacking his own buffs.

[ 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. ]

He wrapped himself in every buff he could.

But not yet.

Standing on Cheolma, Su-ho fixed a cutting glare on Sutoku Tenno and cast a skill.

[ Weaken is activated. ]

Fwooooooosh!!

As [Weaken] fired, the skill’s effect burst and wrapped around Sutoku Tenno.

His bulk was more massive than ever, but [Weaken] is single-target; it doesn’t care how big you are.

- You...!

Realizing the debuff, Sutoku Tenno’s eyes bulged red, ready to pop.

The capillaries swelled as if they might burst, but he could not throw off [Weaken].

Piercing the Qi Point had paid off.

Su-ho stood atop Cheolma.

Yeah, he knew.

The bastard had been a spirit-body to begin with—cutting off a mere head wouldn’t kill him.

Even so, the reason Su-ho had cut off Sutoku Tenno’s head was because removing that one head would sharply reduce his power.

‘No more Fear or any of his cheap tricks.’

Which meant what remained was a brute body that couldn’t use techniques.

But though he could no longer use techniques, the bastard’s body was still a threat.

For example—

Fwawawawa—BOOM!! Fwawawawa—BOOM!!

Perhaps because of the energy erupting wildly, the two blood pillars driven into the body popped out.

Blasted away under immense pressure, the blood pillars flew so far he couldn’t even think of retrieving them.

- Guaaaaaaah!!

The thing roared.

What a joke of a monster.

Even with the vocal-corded neck gone, the whole body howled like a beast.

Still, with no head, the Fear effect did not apply.

Vwooom!!

With its pressure points freed, Sutoku Tenno’s body was a dump truck with its steering blown.

There are no eyes in a fist swung blind, and the destructive power of blind violence was beyond imagination.

Puh-oom!!

The air itself blasted apart with a single punch.

Even so, Su-ho felt not the slightest concern at that brute, weapon-like body.

Instead, he grinned and stroked Cheolma.

“Good work, Cheolma. Let’s clock out.”

“Hihihing!”

With his declaration of clocking out, a door opened in front of Su-ho.

[ Entering Subspace House. ]

Exactly as said.

With his “off work” call, Su-ho slipped neatly into the Subspace House.

Now the only thing left here was a headless ghost’s body.

Vwoom!! Puh-oom!! Vwoom!! Puh-oom!!

The ghost’s body still shredded the air, blasting it with wild flurries of punches.

The Great Demon King’s rampage would not stop.

Unless the flesh itself was completely ruined, the yokai power gushing from the whole body would keep feeding it near-infinite strength like a bottomless well.

Even so, Su-ho cleanly declared an early clock-out.

He had done everything he needed to do.

All that remained was to wait.

Because still out on the field, tirelessly running across the yokai’s body as if it were a plain, obeying their master’s command, was a certain duo.

Kwachik! Kwachik! Kwachik!

Driving in his claws like a pickaxe into the yokai’s body as he ran—

None other than Guiyeong.

And alongside Guiyeong, scattering his inventions like sowing seed—Dokryong.

There was nothing left that could stop the two’s charge.

With the head gone, the Prison Whips were gone, and with no eyes the body couldn’t pursue them.

The headless body could only flail at the air in a mindless frenzy.

How much time passed like that?

Hesitation—

The headless ghost’s body halted.

It creaked like a rusted tin robot, then—thud!—collapsed with a colossal crash to the ground.

There was only one cause.

At last, Dokryong’s poison had spread through the entire body.

“It’s over, huh?”

As Sutoku Tenno fell, a beaming Su-ho emerged from the Subspace House.