Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 379

Su-ho grinned, a thrill running through him at the notification.

Right.

At last, it meets the unlock conditions.

The moment he saw the notification, Su-ho pulled up the related information before his eyes.

[ Giant’s Bloodline ]

# A pure bloodline said to be passed down only to the primordial giants.

# Lv.1 - Giant’s Strength : Strength (S)

# Lv.2 - [ ??? ] : Locked.

└ Unlock Conditions

① Reach level 200.

② Defeat a boss monster with the Giant attribute once.

# Lv.3......

Within the great upheaval the system created, there are countless other races.

Naturally, races like goblins, orcs, and gnolls exist, and they commonly share a barbaric attribute and are relatively easy to find.

But giants are rarely seen.

One can say it’s simply because of their size, but to be more precise: a gate’s concept is often influenced by local culture, and there aren’t many countries with a culture centered on giants.

So if you need to find giants for giant-related matters, it’s far easier to seek out beings with the giants’ massive bulk attribute—in other words, those with the “Giant attribute”—than to look for pure-blooded giants.

In that sense, once he entered the second phase, the Sutoku Tennō who had become a Great Tengu acquired the giant race attribute.

He had begun in the form of a spirit, but to wield greater power he had to discard that form.

At last, having fully transitioned into the second phase, Sutoku Tennō began to roar.

- Kheoooong!!

[ Great Tengu Sutoku Tennō uses Boss Monster-grade Fear. ]

[ Dragon Blood activates. ]

[ Due to Dragon Mind effect of Dragon Blood, Fear does not apply. ]

He opened with Boss Monster-grade Fear.

Naturally, it didn’t work.

Whether he was Japan’s Great Demon King or bore the Giant attribute, his rank couldn’t be higher than a dragon’s. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Su-ho immediately summoned Cheolma.

“Stay sharp, Cheolma.”

“Hiiiiiing!”

Cheolma took to the air.

Bearing the Giant attribute, Sutoku Tennō seemed fully ready for battle, glaring at Su-ho with a keen, vicious gaze.

Great Tengu Sutoku Tennō.

His whole body was dyed crimson by yokai power, and his face bore a bulging nose like Japan’s distinctive tengu masks.

And that wasn’t all.

At his waist hung a yokozuna rope like the ones worn by sumo champions, and his bright red body showed off armor-like muscles.

Sutoku Tennō hurled his voice into Su-ho’s mind as Su-ho ascended.

- You will never die easily.

“Funny.”

KRAAACK!!

Almost before Su-ho’s retort finished, Sutoku Tennō clapped his hands together like swatting a mosquito.

A staggering force.

The speed was so great that even Su-ho failed to react for an instant.

But the superb steed Cheolma did react.

Not only did the iron horse slip from his grasp like an annoying gnat, it rode the gust born of that clap to open the distance far away.

“Guiyeong, Dokryong.”

Srrrk—

At Su-ho’s call, Guiyeong and Dokryong each appeared on his shoulders.

Dokryong was small to begin with, so no problem; the same was true for Guiyeong.

Born of shadow, Guiyeong had no constraints on size, so it poked only its head out alongside Dokryong from Su-ho’s shoulder.

“From now on, you two move as one. Guiyeong, your job is to never get caught by Tennō. Dokryong, your job is to coat Guiyeong’s every strike with your poison. That’s your mission. I’m not saying kill him. It’d be nice if you did, but your task is to torment him for a long time. You can do that, right, Guiyeong? You’re not just a spear stuck in place anymore.”

Nod—

“Good. Then let’s go.”

Orders given, Su-ho thrust the Guiyeong Spear at Sutoku Tennō.

[ Throwing Spear activates. ]

[ Shadow Pierce activates. ]

[ Shadow Shackles activates. ]

[ Shadow Bleed activates. ]

Crack!

No need to create a shadow on purpose.

Big ones sometimes don’t even realize what they’re doing wrong.

Like now.

A huge body casts a huge shadow—even if that shadow drapes over its own body.

Su-ho drove the Guiyeong Spear into the shadow formed by the monster’s forearm, and the instant it sank in, Guiyeong and Dokryong burst out at that spot.

Dokryong coiled around Guiyeong.

From that moment, Guiyeong’s sprint began.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

Claws bared to the fullest, Guiyeong dashed over Sutoku Tennō’s body like it was a sports field.

And each time, traces of the poisons brewed by Dokryong were smeared on.

- How laughably pointless.

Sensing Guiyeong, Sutoku Tennō snorted.

But he only felt Guiyeong’s claws—he didn’t feel Dokryong’s poison at all.

Of course not.

Sutoku Tennō’s frame was simply too massive to notice Dokryong’s toxins yet.

When Sutoku Tennō tried to seize Guiyeong, Su-ho blew a quick breath toward his face.

[ Mini Breath activates. ]

Fffffffffffff!!

Mini Breath roared out hot.

Compared to Sutoku Tennō’s trunk, Mini Breath’s size wasn’t especially threatening, but that didn’t mean its flames weren’t hot.

Having reached S+ grade, Mini Breath’s temperature was molten lava.

Unable to withstand the heat, Sutoku Tennō reflexively raised an arm to block.

Then, scowling hard, he yelled—

- You damned bastards!!

[ Great Tengu Sutoku Tennō uses Boss Monster-grade Fear. ]

[ Great Tengu Sutoku Tennō uses Yokai Power Emission. ]

Fear, and then a burst of yokai power.

Fear he could endure.

[ Dragon Blood activates. ]

[ Due to Dragon Mind effect of Dragon Blood, Fear does not apply. ]

He had Dragon Blood.

But the yokai power emission was a different matter.

At Sutoku Tennō’s rage, the yokai power that ran through his body like a magnetic field suddenly erupted in all directions like thornbushes.

But Su-ho, who had already analyzed Sutoku Tennō’s patterns, anticipated this and gave an order to Guiyeong a beat early.

“Hide!”

Shrrrk!

Guiyeong dove into the monster’s shadow.

At the same time, Su-ho unfolded Blood Armory and formed a Blood Circle that wrapped around himself and Cheolma.

Kagagang!

The clang of iron on iron.

It was the thornbush-like yokai eruption striking Su-ho’s Blood Circle.

Having blocked it, Su-ho immediately put the Blood Circle away. Noting that his mana and blood reserves were barely touched, he smiled.

“Great Demon King—nothing special.”

- ......!!

At Su-ho’s sneer, veins popped on Sutoku Tennō’s brow.

What was this naked whelp prattling on about?

- Fine. Let’s see if you can block this as well.

Sutoku Tennō pressed index and middle fingers together, forming the peculiar mudra of a Taoist art.

[ Great Tengu Sutoku Tennō uses Descent of Darkness. ]

With the notification, a dense fog of darkness began to billow from Sutoku Tennō.

It was darkness, literally.

Of course, not ordinary darkness.

Chiiii... chiiii...

Thickly toxic.

The moment it touched skin, a prickling sting—and like a cigarette burn, sparks and smoke rose.

And it obscured vision.

That’s a basic option of the darkness attribute: restricting sight in the dark.

Of course, for Su-ho, darkness was no great problem.

[ Due to Original Vampire effect, you do not suffer vision restriction from darkness. ]

He had the skill.

His vision cleared at once.

Sutoku Tennō wore a fishy grin.

Ridiculous.

He was strutting over a mere domain skill laid down?

At best, it would tick for a bit of poison damage.

In truth, Sutoku Tennō had some right to swagger.

The toxicity generated by his Descent of Darkness dealt damage close to hydrochloric acid and carried a venom as vicious as deadly poison.

It was only bearable because the target was Su-ho.

And Su-ho knew it.

But so what?

It might be lethal to others—if it doesn’t work on me, it’s useless.

After a brief thought, Su-ho hit on a fun idea and used a skill.

[ Art of Storm and Rain activates. ]

Fwoooooosh!

As the Art of Storm and Rain activated, it tangled together with the dark mass of Descent of Darkness.

Sutoku Tennō narrowed his eyes.

He suffered no vision restriction from his own darkness.

So he’d watched Su-ho in silence, only to find the man not writhing but instead casting the Art of Storm and Rain—an irksome sight.

He moved on to his next action at once.

Default: close combat.

Sutoku Tennō’s massive hand parted the darkness, reaching for Su-ho.

Seeing him move, Su-ho guided Cheolma at once.

Guiyeong was still fighting alongside Dokryong, the two of them together.

In that case, his job was to hold the monster’s attention as much as possible.

Su-ho used another skill.

[ Heatstorm activates. ]

Ffffffff!!

When Heatstorm surged, a powerful blast of hot wind poured out from Su-ho in all directions.

Thanks to that, the darkness of Descent of Darkness could not approach him.

No more poison damage now.

Of course, the storm and darkness still wrestled together, tangling like grapplers.

That was fine.

He’d lured it on purpose.

Meanwhile, Su-ho swung to the side on Cheolma.

Sutoku Tennō’s hand still chased him, but the clever iron horse dodged as if it had eyes in the back of its head, guarding its master’s safety.

“Let’s head there.”

“Hiiiiiing!”

Calmly giving directions, Su-ho sought Sutoku Tennō’s openings.

His Blood Sword, even enlarged, wasn’t ideal for cutting something this big.

Without “that skill,” ultra-large monsters like this had to be carved down methodically, like an old craftsman whittling a bat.

Hence pairing Guiyeong with Dokryong, and binding the Art of Storm and Rain to Descent of Darkness.

But even that still wasn’t nearly enough.

- Skittering around so nimbly!!

Watching Su-ho flee like a fly, Sutoku Tennō unleashed yokai power again.

At once, as the thorny burst fired, long worm-like things emerged from his body, striking at Su-ho from all sides.

[ Great Tengu Sutoku Tennō uses Prisoners’ Scourge. ]

- Huooh!

- Huooh!

What spewed from his body were called the Prisoners’ Scourge—the souls of countless criminals who had sinned against Sutoku Tennō in the past.

They were trapped within him, doomed to neither die nor live for all eternity.

“Yeah, how long was I going to keep trading punches like a fool.”

BOOM!

Sutoku Tennō’s fists and the Prisoners’ Scourge collided, making a tremendous din.

Cheolma did his utmost to evade in the midst of it all.

After circling Sutoku Tennō’s body a couple of times, a spark finally lit in Su-ho’s eyes.

“Cheolma, that way!”

“Hiiiiiing!”

Cheolma flew where Su-ho pointed.

Sutoku Tennō’s fists and the Prisoners’ Scourge chased after Su-ho and Cheolma.

They were fast.

They were going to catch up.

At that critical moment, Su-ho said something to Cheolma, then hurled the Guiyeong Spear into the sky.

Cheolma went into a steep dive, and the pursuers followed the horse.

The instant their trajectories dipped, Su-ho used a skill.

[ Shadow Shift activates. ]

Shashak!

Su-ho vanished from atop Cheolma.

He was at the point where the Guiyeong Spear had flown up.

He immediately unsummoned Cheolma.

- ......!

Sutoku Tennō’s eyes widened.

The Prisoners’ Scourge and his hands lost their bearings.

He sensed Su-ho’s presence a beat late—but by then, it was over.

Soaring into the air, Su-ho summoned a massive, needle-tipped blood pillar from Blood Armory.

He leashed its end with a Blood Chain and, with all his might, flung it at Sutoku Tennō.

Kkwwa-jijik!!

The blood pillar drove into his flesh.

At the same time, a skill activated.

[ Acupoint Strike activates. ]

“Got you!”

At last, Su-ho had succeeded in ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) pressing the monster’s acupoints.