Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 528

After leaving Namuel Village, Su-ho headed straight for Demon King Mountain, where they said the Demon King was.

Of course, he didn’t walk—he used Cheolma.

There was no reason to go on foot when he could fly.

As he flew toward Demon King Mountain, Su-ho thought,

'This is driving me insane, seriously.'

The spirit world.

He’d imagined something like a Shadow World ruled by the Shadow Lord, but the spirit world he’d actually experienced was darker than he’d expected.

So he was curious.

What kind of quest would even trigger when he met the Shadow Lord who was being called the Demon King?

'I want to clear this quest with as little fighting as possible, if I can.'

But something about it felt bad.

Like foreshadowing, the residents’ request kept sticking in his mind.

Demon King Mountain was nearly in sight.

It was farther than he’d expected, and he was glad he’d flown.

When he reached the summit, sure enough, a huge castle that looked like Demon King Castle to anyone sat on the mountaintop.

Landing at the entrance, Su-ho looked up at it and muttered,

“Looking at it like this, it really does look like a Demon King Castle.”

It had a pretty eerie vibe.

But the funny thing was, it looked eerie because its owner was the Demon King—there was none of that gloomy, dark Demon King Castle atmosphere at all.

Because the sun was still blazing, and the sky was still blue.

Going by the mood alone, it felt like the moment right after you’d already beaten the Demon King and come back out.

Before entering, Su-ho slowly examined the area around the castle.

But strangely enough, even here, there still wasn’t a single shadow anywhere you’d expect one to be.

'Did he even sweep up the shadows of residences, too?'

Why?

Was the Shadow Lord that greedy?

Next, Su-ho activated his skills.

[ Eye of the Night Commander is activated. ]

[ Mana Detection is activated. ]

Skills optimized for detection.

The moment those two activated, Su-ho was startled.

There were no red grid squares detected by Eye of the Night Commander, but the amount of mana gathering was substantial.

'At this level, yeah... there really could be a Demon King here.'

After turning the skills off, Su-ho pushed the castle gate.

Surprisingly, it opened smoothly without a sound.

And the inside of the castle, which he’d expected to be pitch-dark, was brightly lit, as if someone actually lived there.

Su-ho looked around and slowly walked deeper inside. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

'No one here?'

Just as he thought that and turned his head the other way, a young handsome man was standing five steps away in complete silence.

Seeing him, Su-ho spoke lazily.

“Whoa, you startled me. Who are you?”

“.......”

Tall, black hair, pale skin—no dark circles, but deep-set eyes and a hollow gaze.

Instead of answering, he just stared at Su-ho with those distinctive eyes.

No name card appeared.

Rather than press him, Su-ho closed his mouth and stared back just as quietly.

After a moment, the man finally spoke.

“An outworlder?”

“So what if I am?”

“I see... that’s why you had a shadow.”

Looks like they judged outworlders by whether or not someone had a shadow.

Su-ho asked,

“Are you the Shadow Lord?”

“The Shadow Lord, huh....”

At Su-ho’s question, the man lowered his gaze to the floor with an even hollower look, then looked back at Su-ho.

“If that’s what you want to call it, then sure. Out there, they call me the Demon King.”

“Don’t give me ‘if that’s what you want to call it.’ Are you or aren’t you? I came all the way here to meet the Shadow Lord.”

“Why?”

“I came because of a quest, but... ah. You probably don’t know what a quest is either.”

“Quest!”

The moment the word quest came up, the man’s hollow eyes suddenly came alive.

“Is it a special quest?”

“Yeah, it is. How do you know?”

“At last...!”

That instant—

Fwoooosh, fwoooosh, fwoooosh!

An enormous amount of energy began pouring out of his body.

[ The ‘Demon King of Shadow Castle’ reveals its existence. ]

[ A boss monster has appeared. ]

Along with the system notice, it suddenly announced the appearance of a boss monster.

“What the—!”

The moment that ominous presence erupted, Su-ho immediately pulled back.

He hadn’t expected a boss monster to appear this suddenly.

As soon as Su-ho opened distance, the one called the Demon King of Shadow Castle slowly lifted his body up into the air.

“I don’t know how long I’ve waited for an outworlder like you. But at last...!”

A voice swollen with emotion.

That was unmistakably joy.

'He’s been waiting for me?'

That made even less sense.

Why would he wait for me?

Who the hell am I?

He even knows special quests exist.

What is that bastard, exactly?

'I’ll ask after I subdue him.'

For now, the system had labeled him a boss monster.

Su-ho armed himself immediately.

[ Summoning Hercules’s Lion-Head Helmet. ]

[ Summoning Hercules’s Club. ]

[ Blood Armor is activated. ]

[ Blessing is activated. ]

[ Paladin is activated. ]

[ Divine Aura is activated. ]

[ Mana Detection is activated. ]

[ Endurance is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is activated. ]

[ Eye of the Night Commander is activated. ]

[ Sword Aura is activated. ]

A storm of skill effects.

Holding the blood sword, Su-ho looked up at him and asked,

“Things are real nasty. We fighting?”

“Haha! It’s not even worth asking twice! Do you know how long I’ve waited for this moment? Please—live up to my expectations!”

Right after the Demon King finished speaking—

[ The Demon King of Shadow Castle uses boss-monster-grade Fear. ]

[ Dragon Blood is activated. ]

[ Fear does not apply due to the Dragon Spirit effect of Dragon Blood. ]

The Demon King used Fear.

But it wasn’t ruler-class Fear—just Fear.

'What?'

You could use Fear without shouting.

With high-rank monsters, that happened all the time.

But seeing a high-rank boss monster use ordinary boss-grade Fear was a first.

'Is this guy... actually not that big a deal?'

If so, thank you very much.

If he can’t even use ruler-class Fear, subduing him might be as easy as killing him.

Ah, or not?

If my opponent is the Shadow Lord and he’s nothing special, doesn’t that mean the reward will be nothing special, too?

While Su-ho was thinking that, the Demon King’s attack began.

[ The Demon King of Shadow Castle uses Curtain of Fire. ]

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