Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 216

The first Guiyeong Spear—and the first Su-ho—had been a fake.

A misdirection using Military Tactics and a mirror clone.

All thanks to that rocky pillar.

‘I just needed a moment of concealment. That pillar did the job perfectly.’

Just before the rock collapsed, Su-ho released his mirror clone outside.

It wasn’t just a distraction or bait.

He had programmed it with a specific action: to attack Sylph.

And it worked.

The clone precisely targeted Sylph, which reacted by using its evasive skill.

Then, the moment the evasion ended, Su-ho struck with a real attack aimed directly at the spirit’s core.

“Grrrr...!”

Spirits were strong.

Their power lay in their attack strength, their movement skills, and their evasive abilities.

But their health? Practically nonexistent.

Or rather, it was more accurate to say they didn’t have health in the usual sense.

Born of nature itself, the only way to kill a spirit was either to completely exhaust its mana, or to destroy the core anchoring its form.

So whether it was a regular spirit or a mini-boss, if it had a core—it was vulnerable.

Su-ho didn’t give Sylph a chance to recover.

[Spear Throw is activated.]

As the creature staggered, he threw another spear.

[Spear Throw is activated.]

[Spear Throw is activated.]

He kept throwing.

Given the distance, long-range throws were the most efficient option.

One by one, the Blood Spears pierced Sylph.

And when the fifth one hit—

[You have slain Sylph.]

Sylph was dead.

Its core burst apart with a pop, releasing a gust of wind as a magic stone dropped from the air.

“Alright, time to finish the rest of you.”

Now that the most annoying one was down, the rest would be easy.

Su-ho finished off the remaining spirits with Cloud Cutter, then grabbed Sylph’s magic stone.

And with that, he sprinted toward the boss room.

The distance wasn’t far now.

Eventually—

[Entering the boss room.]

He finally crossed into the boss monster’s domain.

Right after the system alert—

FWOOOOOOSH!

A massive gale howled through the chamber.

Su-ho raised one hand to shield his face.

Then—

[Boss Monster has appeared.]

An alert popped up to signal the boss’s arrival.

The landscape around him changed.

Dark clouds blanketed the sky.

And at the center of it all stood the lord of the Marado Gate—watching Su-ho from above.

—Half Sylphian Lv.191

Half Sylphian.

To be precise, its name was Sylphian.

“Whoa...”

Su-ho murmured in awe at the sight of it.

In his past life, Sylphian had ranked as Jeju Island’s number one monster—at least until 2-Star Gates began appearing.

After all, Marado Gate was Jeju’s only sealed Gate at the time.

Its level reflected that status.

The Gate had an entry cap of 190—but the boss was level 191.

And that wasn’t all.

The Half in its name meant that Sylphian was on the verge of becoming a Mid-Grade Spirit.

Which explained a lot.

Its aura alone was on another level compared to anything Su-ho had faced so far.

Like Sylph, it had no visible lower body—its form billowing with wind.

But its sharp gaze and seaweed-like flowing hair made it clear:

This was the undisputed ruler of this place.

“You were one of the ones I really wanted to meet.”

Just then, water began to flood into the ground beneath Su-ho’s feet.

He let out a short, incredulous laugh.

This was the center of Marado, and it was flooding?

He leapt to a nearby rock formation.

‘This is why the Marado Gate was so damn difficult.’

It wasn’t enough that the boss was a spirit approaching Mid-Grade level.

Now, even the ground was being taken away from him.

And if that weren’t enough—

A horde of Low-Grade Wind Spirits began swarming in around Sylphian.

“Wow...”

Seriously, System?

You expect six people to clear this?

Su-ho scanned his surroundings.

The tide was rising—but slowly.

There were no flat surfaces left, but plenty of stone pillars to stand on.

So that was the plan, huh?

Leap from pillar to pillar while fighting an airborne boss?

Su-ho shook his head.

“Good thing I’m not your average swordsman...”

A regular swordsman would’ve been retired on the spot.

He buffed himself again.

[Holy Enchant is activated.]

The blood-drenched sword in his hand gleamed with white light.

From what Su-ho knew, the water at the base of those pillars would continue to rise—gradually flooding the entire field.

Just like the Titanic.

So he had to finish the fight before that happened.

‘I don’t have a clear movement skill yet.’

Meaning—this was a race against time.

So from the start, he planned to go all in.

He activated another skill.

[Military Tactics is activated.]

As it activated, multiple images of Su-ho began to appear.

One... two... three... four...

He kept increasing the number—forming dozens of clones.

It drained a lot of mana, but he didn’t care.

Winning was all that mattered.

All the mirror clones carried spears—not a coincidence.