Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 481

“......?”

What?

What did I just hear?

With his mouth still hanging open, Su-ho’s eyes widened even more, and Shiva let out a sigh.

“Ugh, what you heard is ri—”

In that moment.

Smaack!

A rough slap.

The source of the slap was Su-ho himself.

With both hands, Su-ho smacked his own cheeks hard.

“Ah. Now I finally feel like I’m thinking straight.”

“Huh?”

“Ah, sorry. I’ve had plenty of brutal experiences in my life, but this is my first time meeting a Transcendent in person. But I’m fine now. I just hit myself once and my head cleared. So... you came here to have a round with me?”

“What? Pwahahahahaha!”

Shiva laughed.

But Su-ho was serious.

He’d been out of it this whole time because it was such a brutal experience, and he decided he couldn’t stay like that—so he slapped himself to snap out of it.

Shiva found Su-ho’s behavior amusing.

Shiva, who’d laughed ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) hard enough to get tears in the corners of his eyes, wiped them away and said,

“Ah, you’re really entertaining. Yeah, I get it. For a normal player... no, for most players, when they meet us, they can’t do anything at all. Yeah. I came here to have a round with you.”

“Is that the condition for succession?”

“Nope.”

“Pardon?”

“Whether you fight or not, I’m going to make you my apostle. I came because I just want to fight.”

“What the—”

What is this guy even saying?

Is this old man insane?

It’s not even a condition of the succession rite, and he’s saying he came purely because he wants to fight?

When Su-ho stared at him in disbelief, Shiva laughed like he was embarrassed.

“Hey, if you keep staring like that, I’ll get shy. But so what? The system allowed it.”

“The system allowed it?”

“Yeah. If fighting me were a condition of succession, it would never allow it. Even if it’s a succession rite, how could an ordinary player ever beat me? Even if I’m not my main body and this is just an avatar.”

“Then I refuse.”

“What?”

“If you make me dizzy just by showing up, that means you’re already controlling your power by a ridiculous amount. What do I get out of fighting someone I can’t even ‘play the game’ against in the first place?”

“Kekeke, I figured you’d say that. Still, you’ve got guts. What if I say I won’t appoint you as my apostle then?”

“Then I’d be disappointed, wouldn’t I?”

“Hm?”

“It’s obvious to anyone that I’d be a better apostle than your current ones. And if you try to find another candidate instead of me, you’ve already seen me—so nobody else is going to satisfy you anyway.”

“Hahahaha! You really do only pick the right things to say. But isn’t it the same for you? You wanted my power more than anyone, so you caused all that chaos on the islands and in Infinity. And now you’re going to try to play hard to get?”

Mm.

Honestly, that was true.

He’d gotten other Transcendents’ powers easily enough, but only Shiva’s had been difficult.

'And I suffered and invested in this. It’d be a shame to give up now.'

Thinking about it, it wasn’t a deal where he lost out badly.

All he had to do was fight once.

But even so, he didn’t want to fight because there was literally nothing in it for him.

No matter how much Su-ho had walked the path of a warrior and had a competitive streak—no matter how stubborn he was, the type to run into a dead end even knowing he might die—those were still things he did when there was at least the faintest hope.

'When the gap is this ridiculous, it’s a meaningless act.'

He absolutely refused a pointless death.

His goal was humanity’s salvation.

Ah, sure—someone could take a different view and say this:

If you fight someone strong, you learn something.

But that’s when you’re trading martial skill purely. If someone makes you dizzy just by appearing, you’re already mismatched from the most fundamental gap in power. What could you possibly learn from someone like that?

'This isn’t the domain of technique. It’s the domain of the foundation itself.'

If a mouse fights an elephant, is there anything it can learn technically?

No.

Their physical conditions are different from the start.

That was why he refused.

It wasn’t that he feared death.

Even if Shiva killed him in some subspace like this while he took a test-like trial, it would probably revive him again, like the Infinity program.

Shiva liked him, to begin with.

Which made him want to do it even less.

This was basically a courtesy match.

But you can’t live life doing only what you want.

Su-ho let out a sigh and said,

“Alright, fine. Just once, right?”

“Pwahahahaha! The way you’re talking, it’s like you’re humoring me.”

“I don’t usually do fights where the outcome is obvious. But if you say you still want to fight, then I’ll do it. What do I gain from being on bad terms with you?”

“Kekekeke, you really are impossible to pin down. The way you act, you’re like a madman—like a wolf that can never be tamed. But sometimes you look like a well-socialized puppy, too.”

“Wolf or dog, I’m a person first. And I’m a civil servant. It’s not like I’ve only been dealing with complaints for a day or two... But don’t tell me I have to fight you barehanded too?”

“As if.”

Shiva smiled brightly.

Then he snapped his fingers, and the moment Shiva snapped, the number 100 floated above both of their heads.

Wait—don’t tell me...?

Su-ho asked,

“That thing above our heads... is it what I think it is?”

“Yep. I got a hint from the program you made. You called it Overall Combat Power, right? I’m not that petty. We need at least a minimum balance. Otherwise it won’t be fun to fight.”

“If that’s the case, then no matter what buff skills I use, it won’t mean much.”

“It won’t be completely meaningless. Your combat power value itself won’t increase, but you still get the effects of your skills, right? You’re a player who can only show special power by using skills.”

“Understood. Then I won’t hesitate.”

[ Summoning Heracles’s Club. ]

[ Blood Armor activates. ]

Su-ho summoned the two weapons he used the most and merged them into one in his grip. And besides that—

[ Blessing activates. ]

[ Holy Enchant activates. ]

[ Mana Detection activates. ]

[ Endurance activates. ]

[ Enhancement activates. ]

[ The Blacksmith’s Eye activates. ]

[ Sword Aura activates. ]

He used every skill he could.

Su-ho’s gaze went up to the number above his head.

The Overall Combat Power was still 100.

'Because now this isn’t just a free courtesy match.' 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

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