Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 218

[ Mark of Agony ]

– Rank: A

Crusader-exclusive skill.

Once a weapon marked with this skill strikes a target, the target remains under the effect of “Mark of Agony” until the caster removes it.

Targets afflicted by the mark cannot recover HP or regenerate physically in any way.

Each time the mark blocks a healing attempt, the caster consumes mana equal to 20% of the health that would have been restored.

If the caster’s mana is fully depleted, all Marks of Agony are automatically dispelled.

Su-ho smiled as he reviewed the upgraded skill.

The mana consumption, which had been 120% at F-Rank, was now down to just 20% at A-Rank.

In simpler terms, each rank-up had reduced the cost by 20%.

‘If I had just a few more Skill Enhancement Pills, I could’ve pushed it to S-Rank...’

But he’d used a good number already on upgrading Recovery, so for now, A-Rank was the limit.

Still, this was more than enough.

From 120% down to 20%—that was huge.

Now, for Sylphian to fully deplete Su-ho’s mana through healing alone, it would need to work five times harder.

With that, Su-ho finally imbued his Blood Sword with the Mark of Agony.

[ Mark of Agony activated. ]

As the skill activated, a skull icon with a scale symbol appeared at the tip of his sword.

It was an enchantment-type skill, but it still required a successful hit for the effect to activate—so that one crucial strike mattered.

And getting one clean hit?

For Su-ho, that was child’s play.

“All right, let’s begin.”

He activated Tactical Warfare.

[ Tactical Warfare activated. ]

With the skill triggered, Mirror Soldiers began to spawn.

Unlike the original Su-ho, all the Mirror Soldiers carried Blood Spears.

Because their only goal was to land one effective hit.

So naturally, each of their Blood Spears was also imbued with the Mark of Agony.

After summoning a sufficient number of Mirror Soldiers, Su-ho turned his gaze to Sylphian outside the portal.

He really wanted to hurl a spear from inside the Pocket-Dimension, but that wasn’t allowed.

‘Yeah, that would’ve been too broken.’

A shame, really.

Damn system.

Why couldn’t it just let him cheat once?

Anyway, to attack Sylphian, he had to step outside the Pocket-Dimension House.

That’s why he’d summoned the Mirror Soldiers.

And the timing was perfect.

Sylphian had completely dropped its guard.

It made sense.

The serpent storm had ended, but there was still no sign of Su-ho anywhere in the boss chamber.

And with the rain still pouring, conditions were ideal.

Su-ho began dispatching Mirror Soldiers out the portal like special forces diving out of a helicopter.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Each Mirror Soldier exited with a distinctive pulse.

They poured out, dropping down like paratroopers.

– ...!

At first, Sylphian didn’t notice.

Because of its own summoned rain.

But when they got within striking distance, Sylphian finally sensed the Mirror Soldiers approaching.

– Tch!

Startled, it immediately activated its evasion skill.

Several Mirror Soldiers were sent crashing to the ground below.

However, with the soldiers falling at irregular intervals and spears launching from the ground, the chaos made it impossible for Sylphian to dodge them all.

Its evasion skill had a limit—it couldn’t stay in a deconstructed state too long without losing form.

So eventually, it had to rematerialize.

And at that moment—

[ The Half-Sylphian has been afflicted with the Mark of Agony. ]

Sylphian was finally hit.

“Nice.”

Su-ho was still inside the Pocket-Dimension House.

There was no need for him to jump in just yet.

Maybe, if luck held, he wouldn’t have to at all.

From inside the safe space, Su-ho calmly observed Sylphian and continued dispatching his Mirror Soldiers.

And little by little, they began to chip away at its health.

How much time passed? How much HP had they stripped away?

[ The Half-Sylphian uses Wind of Healing. ]

Once its HP dropped below a certain point, Sylphian finally activated its self-healing.

And the moment it did, Su-ho could feel his own mana beginning to drain.

‘It’s begun.’

Now it was a war of attrition—mana versus mana.

That’s when Sylphian’s eyes widened.

It had realized.

Just moments ago, healing had worked just fine—but now it wasn’t having any effect.

It furrowed its brow in disbelief.

As if to say, "How?"

That expression alone sent a rush of satisfaction through Su-ho’s veins.

‘Go ahead, try healing again.’

Desperate, Sylphian poured mana into healing attempts, trying to brute-force the regeneration.

But it was useless.

For Sylphian to recover 1 HP, it had to spend 2 mana, while Su-ho only sacrificed 0.2.

An absurdly lopsided exchange.

Even if Sylphian had more mana overall, unless it was overwhelmingly ahead, this battle could only end one way—Su-ho’s victory.

Sylphian kept trying to heal.

Realizing something was wrong, it finally tried to stop.

But before it could—

Su-ho launched the next wave.

‘Not so fast.’

The second strike team.

The first batch of Mirror Soldiers had been unsummoned to conserve mana.

Now, wave two began. ƒreewebɳovel.com

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The same pulsing sound echoed—the signal of war drums.

– ...!!

Sylphian’s eyes flew wide open.

It thought it was over—but from the sky, more damn challengers rained down.

It activated its evasion skill again.

But like before, it couldn't maintain the form for long.

And another blow landed.

The same cycle repeated.

Failed healing. Incoming assault. Forced evasion. A successful hit.

Over and over.

Eventually, even the torrential rain began to fade.

The roaring waves settled.