Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

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.

Su-ho’s plan was simple: he’d use all the clones as spear throwers.

“Let’s begin.”

At Su-ho’s command, every clone looked up at the sky.

Their targets—Sylphian and the swarming spirits.

Su-ho leapt first, and the clones followed.

They each locked onto a different target and hurled their Blood Spears.

No overlaps.

These were all Su-ho’s clones—they shared one consciousness.

They wouldn’t screw up something that basic.

[You have slain a Low-Grade Wind Spirit.]

[You have slain a Low-Grade Wind Spirit.]

[You have slain a Low-Grade Wind Spirit.]

[You have slain a Low-Grade Wind Spirit.]

...

Some of the Blood Spears struck true, taking down a good number of spirits instantly.

The rest either missed or grazed through their wispy, breeze-like forms.

And a portion—about 30%—aimed directly at Sylphian, with staggered timing.

Naturally, none of them landed.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Just like Sylph, Sylphian had a top-tier evasion skill.

Which was exactly why Su-ho ordered the clones to attack.

“So I can take my shot!”

The emerald glow of Sylphian’s body turned pitch black—

Su-ho’s shadow.

He had jumped even higher than Sylphian—closing the gap between them in an instant.

Ordinarily, it would’ve been impossible.

Even with an S-rank Leap skill that boosted his jump by 500% and let him double-jump in midair, Sylphian floated higher than that range.

So Su-ho created new platforms in the sky.

Platforms made of—himself.

More precisely, his mirror clones.

That was the true reason he’d summoned so many of them.

Each clone used the same skills and leapt to their limits.

Then Su-ho, at the peak of his leap, stepped on one of them and launched himself even higher.

That gave him two additional leaps—enough to finally reach Sylphian.

As one of the Blood Spears brushed past the boss, Su-ho slashed.

[Iron Cutter is activated.]

His crimson blade—wreathed in holy light—struck with explosive force.

Perfect timing.

Proof?

His sword cleaved halfway through Sylphian’s body.

Sylphian narrowed its eyes.

Not in pain—

But in irritation.

The creature was a Wind Spirit—almost completely without a physical form—so it couldn’t feel pain in the first place.

But the fact that Su-ho’s attack had dealt considerable damage was undeniable. That was why it raged now.

Having landed a solid hit, Su-ho plummeted downward.

One of the mirror clones, already waiting below, leapt up toward him.

It offered its shoulder, and Su-ho stepped on it, using it to cushion his fall and reduce the impact of the landing.

Tap—

Standing firmly atop a stone pillar, Su-ho lifted one corner of his mouth and looked up at Sylphian.

Seeing Su-ho’s smirk, Sylphian ground its teeth.

Its face said it all: “You dare, you insignificant wretch?”

“Yeah, I figured you’d be pissed. But I bet it pisses you off even more that you can’t curse me out. You need to be Spirit King-class to speak, don’t you?”

But they could understand speech, at least.

As if in response to Su-ho’s taunt, Sylphian raised its arms.

Fierce winds surged from around its body, forming violent hurricanes in an instant.

Kugwagwagwa!

The hurricanes twisted into towering waterspouts.

Sylphian summoned five or six of them, then spun them around its body like a cyclone shield.

It was forming a defensive perimeter—an answer to Su-ho’s aggressive advance.

Su-ho didn’t care.

If that was Sylphian’s method, then Su-ho would simply use his own.

“I dare you—let’s see how long you can hold out.”

Sylphian raised its arms again.

Then—

Dozens of Wind Rings, far larger and more numerous than any that Sylph had conjured, formed in the air and rained down like a monsoon.

“Let’s go!”

But Su-ho didn’t retreat.

With a battle cry, he leapt once more, the clones following suit.

Countless Blood Spears rained down in turn, piercing through Wind Spirits.

That was fine.

There were far fewer than before now.

With their numbers reduced, more Blood Spears could target Sylphian directly.

Once again, Su-ho stepped on one of the airborne clones and launched himself toward Sylphian.

At that moment, one of the spinning waterspouts near Sylphian slammed into Su-ho.

Kwagwagwagwagwa!!

It struck him full-on.

Then, the rest of the waterspouts joined in, wrapping around him.

All six merged into a single massive vortex, locking Su-ho in a tight grip before erupting into a colossal explosion powered by extreme wind pressure.

BOOOOM!!

SPLAAAASH!!

The waterspouts exploded violently, sending seawater flying in all directions.

But in the aftermath—there was nothing.

No Su-ho.

Only a single, strangely out-of-place crimson pillar remained, standing upright where the explosion had occurred.

Sylphian narrowed its eyes in confusion.

A pillar? Where did this come from?

And then—

“Up here!”

The voice came from above.

Sylphian instinctively looked up—just as Su-ho, already closing in, descended toward it with his blood-red sword drawn.

The pillar... was a Blood Spear.

At the moment the vortex had hit, Su-ho had abandoned his sword and pulled off his trusty "Ruyi Staff" trick.

He’d conjured a thick, sturdy Blood Spear—too solid for a mere waterspout to break—and launched himself skyward atop ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) it.

Then, once the vortex exploded, Su-ho had dropped from the spear, targeting Sylphian directly.

— ...!!

Sylphian’s eyes widened more than ever before.

Evade!

But it was too late.

Too close.

It couldn’t activate its evasion in time.

SHUKK!

Su-ho’s blade pierced straight through the center of Sylphian’s forehead.