Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 595

‘Damn.’

He had belatedly dodged the sword that had dug through his opening and flown toward his face, but unfortunately, his timing was just a little too late, and he ended up allowing it to reach his face.

Blood flowed.

It was warm.

That warmth felt like a hand consoling the loser, and it was humiliating.

Once the first wound and blood appeared, the fight fell into a lull again.

Roland said,

“Do not get excited. You are still hasty and emotional.”

“I know I shouldn’t be, but it isn’t as easy as saying it.”

“That is because you lack practice. I do not know your entirety, but anyone whose foundation is swordsmanship should devote more time to swordsmanship than to any other art. Otherwise, a swordsman will one day have no choice but to lose to a swordsman stronger than himself.”

“That......”

For a moment, anger surged up in him.

Lack practice?

Who in the world worked harder than I did?

But when those words rose all the way to his throat, Su-ho forced himself to swallow his anger down.

Because, when he thought about it carefully, it was not wrong.

‘Master said the exact same thing.’

He still remembered it clearly.

That if a swordsman did not use the sword he was supposed to use and instead kept using all kinds of side arts, there would be no growth no matter how much time passed.

Back then, he had let those words go in one ear and out the other.

Honestly, his power was no longer limited to swordsmanship.

But whenever he was placed in a situation like this, those words came back to him as if someone had struck the back of his head.

When he thought about it, there was no such thing as absolute or eternal. So why had he trusted his other skills and not trained his swordsmanship as desperately as he had in his life before regression?

Roland smiled.

“You look as though you have many thoughts.”

“Yes. I’ve heard something similar before.”

“Then that must be your representative weakness.”

“......I won’t deny it.”

“Accepting it is important as well. If you do, your swordsmanship will naturally grow. However.”

Roland raised his blade a little higher as he spoke.

“Most swordsmen die before they can even gain that realization, which is why there are so few strong swordsmen.”

“Aren’t you frightening me too much? That means I might die today.”

“Just as a position shapes a person, great power comes with a great price.”

What a gentleman.

To the point that the Paladins he had seen until now seemed not like holy knights, no, not even like people.

Was this what the dignity of a Master was?

Around then, Roland closed the distance again.

Kaaang!!

Force stronger than before.

Su-ho’s brow furrowed on its own.

What?

Was this man seriously hiding his strength on purpose?

That was the answer.

Roland was the first Paladin.

And Paladin did not mean a knight who used sacred arts, but was what they had called the outstanding knights of that era.

Among them, Roland, who had held the chief seat, had certainly not bought his swordsmanship with money.

Kwaaaang!!

The friction changed.

Now it felt as if a boulder had been ripped out and swung at him.

It was not some lucky punch.

This was Roland’s true power.

‘Don’t tell me this man has higher base stats than I do?’

But he had never seen any system notification related to that.

Of course he had not.

Because there really was a difference in stats.

After the phase changed, Su-ho was busy just parrying Roland’s sword.

No, he was not merely parrying. His sword was being pushed back.

His breath caught as if it had been cut off, and his arms grew heavy.

At this rate, he would be the one to fall.

What should I do?

He had to find a breakthrough somehow.

At that moment, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘Why am I getting caught up in this man’s pattern?’

Kaaang!!

As soon as his thoughts reached that point, he pushed the sword back hard and opened up some distance.

Then, with his gaze fixed on Roland, he kept thinking.

‘Let’s admit what needs to be admitted. Roland is stronger than me. He has greater strength, more experience, and higher evasion ability. On top of that, as a ghost, he has no fear of death, while I, as a living person, have at least a tiny fear of death somewhere in the corner of my mind.’

And the few words he had thrown out had made Su-ho think of Sword Demon, causing Roland and Sword Demon to overlap in his mind.

That fact had unknowingly made him shrink back.

After all, the current him could not even reach the tip of Sword Demon’s toes.

Everything was unfavorable.

And he had lost the psychological battle too.

That was only natural. From the moment Roland had begun to overlap with Sword Demon in his eyes, he had started mistaking this fight not for a duel to the death, but for a place where he was receiving instruction.

All of this was Roland’s design.

As a seasoned old veteran, he tried to take every advantage from even the smallest things, like a tiger doing its utmost even when catching a rabbit.

The psychological battle was exactly that kind of example.

‘I have to think differently.’

Su-ho emptied his mind.

No, he tried to empty it.

He erased Sword Demon from Roland’s face, which had been overlapping in his eyes, and abandoned his desire to beat him with strength and technique.

‘The conditions are different. Trying to fight as if they’re equal conditions is stupid in itself.’

Still keeping his eyes fixed on Roland, he exhaled.

The air changed.

Roland noticed it as well and smiled.

Because Su-ho had realized it faster than expected.

Was that why?

He felt anticipation.

If Su-ho had realized something, then in the next exchange, he would show him something new.

‘If he can’t show me anything, then that is as far as he goes.’

Roland’s eyes smiled coldly.

At that moment.

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