Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 521

Zgeok—

The sword swung slowly once again.

It was so slow you’d wonder if that even counted as swinging a sword.

It was too slow and too monotonous a pattern to even call it a sword dance, yet unbelievably, Su-ho was swinging it while thinking of it as a cut.

And as time passed.

Zgeok—

The nick that had started out smaller than a fingernail was, at some point, easily surpassing the size of a thumbnail.

After another long stretch of time like that, another groove was carved into the door.

And then, at that moment.

Cheu-geogeok—

A different sound.

At that sound, Su-ho’s motion halted for a brief instant.

At the same time, the corner of his mouth lifted.

‘Almost there.’

In his previous life, Su-ho chose the Swordsman class and walked the path of the sword for his entire life.

The trait he obtained was called the Path of the Sword.

But among all the swordsmen who walked countless paths of the sword, the only person who ever saw the end was Su-ho alone.

The realm of the Formless Sword, called SS-rank for the first time, was proof of that.

Of course, even before he reached the realm of the Formless Sword, the countless processes he went through to get here—most of those were also at a level where Su-ho was the first, or the only one to reach them.

For example, the Cross Cut was like that.

Up to Cross Cut, the principle behind Soul Cut and its prior stage, Heart Cut—other swordsmen managed to perform it somehow, or at least imitate it.

But the one who grasped the principles beyond Cross Cut, to this day, had been no one but Su-ho.

‘It couldn’t be otherwise. The principles after Cross Cut were things only I learned—things I practically created myself through my own research.’

Why had it turned out like this?

Because Su-ho loved swordsmanship too much?

No.

Amazingly, that result was for the sake of dealing with those damn gates.

Because for Su-ho, who had nothing but swordsmanship, the only thing he could do was research and hone swordsmanship.

So the door in front of him wasn’t that big of an obstacle to Su-ho either.

No, he saw it as an opportunity.

‘To think the timing to learn this would come here.’

The corner of Su-ho’s mouth rose.

If he had to create something out of nothing, maybe. But what he was doing now was something he’d researched and practiced until he was sick of it in his previous life—something he’d obtained with his own hands.

He was only recreating that as it was, so what was so hard about it?

So he drew it out through repetition.

This technique hadn’t been turned into a skill yet, but if it triggered properly even once and “happened” to land, then just like his other techniques, it would be acknowledged by the system and become a technique he could pull out and use anytime.

That was when it happened.

Zgeogeogeok!

The sword swung slowly once again.

But this time, it left a huge, heavy sword mark that was on a completely different level from everything he’d heard—and everything he’d scratched out—until now.

Su-ho’s eyes shone.

Now the summit was truly right in front of him.

He calmed his excitement and swung his sword again.

Nothing changed.

The same stance, the same power, the same trajectory.

All of it repeated several more times without a hair’s breadth of error, and at that moment.

Gagagagagagagak!!

A sound like an iron door crumpling rang out, and then a result occurred that was hard to believe had come from slowly swinging and cutting at it.

Along with that, Su-ho could finally see it again.

[ Your understanding of swordsmanship is higher than anyone else’s. ]

[ The system has acknowledged your outstanding swordsmanship and has decided to fully acknowledge your efforts. ]

[ Understanding of the Sword is activated. ]

[ Congratulations! You have mastered Slow Cut (B). ]

A reunion with a technique he’d learned in the past.

“Ah, I finally learned it.”

Swordsmanship, if you really break it down, has only two things.

Cut and thrust.

If you go a bit further, there are actions like blocking or throwing too, but in the end, cutting and thrusting are the foundation and the entirety of swordsmanship.

This isn’t a particularly difficult technique.

An act that’s too obvious.

And that’s because a weapon called a sword has technical limits in the first place.

That was why swordsmen—no, why everyone, including swordsmen—had the habit of always trying to swing a sword fast and hard, and beyond that, safely.

‘Even a being that has never swung a sword even once in their life, too.’

That was only natural.

That stronger kinetic energy produces stronger damage is something people instinctively understand, even without swinging a sword or learning it in school.

That was why the Slow Cut Su-ho had just mastered was a technique—no, a technique close to a divine art.

Su-ho swung his sword again.

[ Slow Cut is activated. ]

Gagagagagagak!!

A sword swung slowly.

Now, even without deliberately setting his stance, just swinging the sword slowly produced even stronger damage.

Because it had been skill-ified.

Of course, he still had to pay at least minimal attention.

Because the principle and secret of Slow Cut lay in the overwhelming muscle strength he had compressed into the slow cutting motion.

And finally.

Kwagwang!!

Ku-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa!!

The door, unable to withstand the stacked damage of repeated Slow Cuts, shattered as if crumpling, and the water poured in through the opening.

“Hoo.”

Finally, the water drained.

It felt like unclogging a blocked sewer.

Su-ho took a huge breath and enjoyed the fresh air inside the sealed room like it was loot.

Inside the opened door was, sure enough, dark again.

His eyesight was good, and thanks to the vampir effect he wasn’t restricted by darkness—but even so, he couldn’t see inside.

It was probably the kind of format where it only became visible, as if being pioneered, once he stepped in.

Maybe that was why it was so absurd.

‘This is seriously ridiculous.’

A Big Gate, you said?

Then how could a Big Gate have not a single monster in it?

Sure enough, this place wasn’t like the Big Gates he’d seen and experienced in his previous life.

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