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.

“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.