Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

Chapter 63



Chapter 63

‘So, the queen has finally appeared.’

This was the reason why the Union’s advance team had ultimately failed to conquer this place.

The towering height of Sky Mountain was a challenge in itself, but once they fought through the swarm of wyverns, they had to face the true ruler of Sky Mountain—the Sky Wyvern Queen.

– Roar!!

As the egg-laying queen, the Sky Wyvern Queen was far larger than the Sky Wyvern King, a characteristic typical of females.

The relief was that, unlike the Sky Wyvern King or other Sky Wyverns, the Queen couldn’t fly.

Additionally, her top priority was protecting her eggs, meaning that she would never descend from the peak as long as no one approached too close.

‘But if someone gets near the peak, the Sky Wyvern King will go berserk.’

It was a father’s instinct to protect his family.

And that was exactly what Suho was aiming for.

He effectively provoked the Sky Wyvern King, who was already tired and cautious, into making bolder attacks.

That was how progress could be made.

He could deal with the Sky Wyvern Queen later, but his primary target was the Sky Wyvern King.

Suho carefully calculated the distance that would keep the Sky Wyvern Queen from approaching, marking a clear line on the ground to set a boundary.

Only then did he turn his attention back to face the wyverns.

At that moment.

Boom!!

The Sky Wyvern King charged forward recklessly, colliding with him.

As expected, the Sky Wyvern King now attacked with a renewed ferocity.

It was exactly as Suho had anticipated.

He began to distract the approaching wyverns, cutting and trampling them one by one.

After a while of this.

‘It’s about time for them to change their tactics.’

Suho deliberately refrained from killing the wyverns in a single strike.

He inflicted minor wounds, allowing even the injured ones to rejoin the battle if possible.

Soon, just as he expected, the wyverns began to alter their attack pattern.

– Screech!!

When the Sky Wyvern King roared, the wyverns vanished momentarily, only to reappear holding large rocks beneath their claws.

They dove toward Suho, rocks in tow.

Seeing this, Suho let out a slight grin and began to swing his sword in earnest.

[Draw Slash activated.]

Slash!

He didn’t use the Severing Steel Technique.

He relied solely on Draw Slash.

As Suho’s blade sliced through the air horizontally and diagonally, it started cutting through the rocks.

The summit of Sky Mountain glowed with bursts of red light.

These were the sword lights generated from Suho’s Draw Slash.

After repeatedly wielding Draw Slash for some time, another howl echoed through the air.

[The Sky Wyvern Queen has initiated a rock-rolling attack.]

The source of the howl was the Sky Wyvern Queen.

Unable to watch any longer, the Sky Wyvern Queen joined the fight.

From her perch at the summit, she began rolling massive rocks down at Suho from an unknown origin.

Seeing the descending boulders, Suho laughed again.

He welcomed challenging environments.

The tougher the terrain, the faster he could achieve his objective.

And once more, Suho refrained from using the Severing Steel Technique, relying solely on Draw Slash to slice through the rocks.

A monotonous back-and-forth battle continued for quite a while.

At some point, the wyverns adapted to Suho’s Draw Slash range, cleverly dropping rocks just outside the reach of his sword.

However, Suho didn’t get angry.

Instead, he laughed.

Even when they evaded his sword, merely dropping rocks before retreating, he laughed.

And he swung his sword once more.

[Draw Slash activated.]

Once again, Draw Slash carved a long trajectory through the air, aimed at a wyvern retreating after dropping a rock.

The wyvern scoffed upon seeing it.

It thought, ‘I’ve fully figured out your swordsmanship by now.’

‘This time, I’ll dodge it with ease.’

It was sure of that.

Right up until the tip of its nose got sliced off.

“……!”

A searing pain flared on the tip of its nose.

Simultaneously, a sharp sting set in.

It was unmistakable.

It had been wounded by a sword.

Blood splattered in the air, and the nearby wyverns soon began getting their noses cut too.

“Screech?!”

“Squawk?!”

“Shriek!!”

The wyverns that had been struck merely stared wide-eyed in shock.

Hadn’t they calculated the distance correctly?

The wyverns with sliced noses suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to flee.

But fear of the King kept them from running away.

“Shriek!”

Determined not to repeat the same mistake, the Sky Wyverns moved back a bit to drop the rocks from a farther distance.

That should be safe.

Thinking this, they dropped rocks from an even greater distance.

And just as they were about to rise back up.

[Draw Slash activated.]

Slash!

Once again, a flash of red light slashed across them, leaving cuts on either the tips of their noses or the undersides of their bellies.

“Shrieeeeeek!!”

The wyverns began to panic.

Why!

Why!

Why on earth!

They were sure their distance calculations were perfect, so why!

Despite their rage, none dared to charge at Suho.

He was a monster.

Even at this distance, it was still quite dangerous, and approaching him any closer would surely mean meeting the same fate as their fallen comrades.

Just as the Sky Wyverns were hesitating, unable to use the rock-drop tactic any longer.

Flash!

A brilliant red light flared once again.

The red light that accompanied Draw Slash when wielded with a blood sword.

And the moment they noticed that light.

Slash!

One wyvern’s head, suspended high in the air and keeping a safe distance from Suho, was sliced off cleanly.

“……!”

“……!”

“……!”

The Sky Wyverns’ eyes widened in disbelief.

How?

This was a distance even out of Draw Slash’s ambiguous reach, wasn’t it?

Was it some other technique?

It wasn’t.

That was indeed the Draw Slash technique that had been tormenting them just moments ago.

A coincidence?

No.

It was definitely no coincidence.

And why was that?

Slash!

Just as they thought so, another Sky Wyvern was split in half and killed.

The massacre continued after that.

The wyvern next to it.

And the one next to that.

Even the one that had been watching from a distance.

They were all cut in half and killed, despite keeping their distance.

All of it was due to that damned Draw Slash!

– Screeeeech!!

The Sky Wyvern King let out a howl.

Sensing the severity of the situation, the Sky Wyvern King commanded a retreat.

The Sky Wyverns, upon hearing the command, all shot upward at once.

Slash!

But Suho’s red Draw Slash, relentless as a determined pursuer, effortlessly cut through even the wyverns that soared higher and higher.

At that moment, Suho’s face shone brighter than ever since he’d entered Sky Mountain.

[Your understanding of swordsmanship surpasses anyone else’s.]

[The system recognizes your exceptional swordsmanship and fully acknowledges your ‘Draw Slash.’]

[As a result, your ‘Draw Slash’ has reached a higher level, attaining the supreme realm and is now worthy of evolving into a new technique.]

[Congratulations! The rank of your ‘Draw Slash’ skill has been elevated to S-rank.]

[Your Draw Slash can now even cut through clouds spread across the sky.]

[Sword Understanding activated.]

[The nameless sword spirit within the Suho Sword responds to your enhanced swordsmanship.]

[■■ nods in approval of your growth and blesses you.]

[The essence of ■■ imbues the Suho Sword.]

[The details of Draw Slash have changed.]

[You have acquired ‘Empty Void Style, Second Form – Cloud Slash (S+).’]

[You have achieved a great feat; the system rewards you with 10 bonus stats.]

It was at the moment he killed the fleeing Sky Wyverns.

System notifications flooded his vision.

At last, Suho saw the system messages he had long awaited.

‘Finally!’

The reason why Suho hadn’t used the Severing Steel Technique and had relied solely on Draw Slash.

It was to master the second form of the Empty Void Style—Cloud Slash.

‘With Cloud Slash, I won’t have any issues with long-range attacks!’

One of the greatest weaknesses of close-range fighters was their inability to attack at a distance.

This was why close-range fighters were at a severe disadvantage against airborne monsters, but Suho had found the answer through relentless swordsmanship training.

The solution was to evolve Draw Slash.

Originally, the Draw Slash technique was limited to quickly unsheathing the sword and attacking, which was the limit of human skill.

But someone had discovered a peculiarity in the Draw Slash skill.

When activated, even for a brief moment, the attack range extended.

Suho obsessed over that fact.

No, he had no choice but to obsess over it.

As a pure swordsman, his entire arsenal consisted of Horizontal and Vertical Slashes.

In other words, he had only Decapitation and Draw Slash, so he trained both techniques relentlessly.

‘Then, I met the Nameless Sword and acquired the current Empty Void Style.’

From that moment, Suho’s combat style transformed completely.

With just a single sword, he began to handle all battles with ease.

That was why he had volunteered to tackle Sky Mountain alone.

Flying monsters were the best opponents when practicing Draw Slash, and to train freely without concern for anyone else, there had to be no one around to interfere.

And now.

Suho had finally achieved the Cloud Slash he had yearned for, so there was no longer any reason to delay or waste time on the conquest.

– Screech?

As Suho stood silently for a while, the Sky Wyvern King narrowed its eyes, sensing something odd.

But it soon reacted sharply as it saw Suho moving again.

– Roar!!

The Sky Wyvern King roared and unleashed its aura.

But it was futile.

The roar of a mere dragon imitator was nothing more than the noise of a cicada.

After gazing up at the roaring Sky Wyvern King, Suho steadied his stance.

He brought the blood-red sword to his left hip, took a short breath, and swung his sword horizontally as if pulling a trigger.

Then.

[Cloud Slash activated.]

A notification different from the previous ones appeared as Suho’s sword briefly glowed red.

– Screech?

The moment after he swung his sword, the Sky Wyvern King furrowed its brows.

What?

Did he just swing his sword?

Why would he do something so foolish?

But at that moment.

Slash!

The Sky Wyvern King’s face was sliced in half.

And it wasn’t just its face.

Its body, from its long neck down to its chest, was cut at an angle, causing it to slip apart diagonally in different directions.

“……!”

“……!”

“……!”

The Sky Wyverns witnessed it clearly.

This was the high sky, where his sword should never have reached.

But his sword had definitely reached their leader.

And it was the sharpest slash they had ever seen.

At that moment, the eyes of the leader wyvern watching from below bulged wide.

At first, its gaze was fixed on the sky where its leader had been cut.

But when the Sky Wyvern King’s body split in two and began to separate, the leader wyvern could clearly see it.

Behind the severed Sky Wyvern King, the massive cloud that should have been whole was now neatly sliced, revealing the blue sky beyond.

In that instant, a flash of red light appeared once again.

[You have defeated the Leader Wyvern.]


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