Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

Chapter 538

Even while I was away in the spirit realm, the world kept turning just fine on its own.

The moment Su-ho left the Subspace House, he summoned Cheolma and flew straight to Africa.

Jack spoke.

- There’s sky here too, and an ocean and all that.

“Told you it wouldn’t be anything special.”

- Still, it’s another world. If I said I wasn’t curious, I’d be lying.

“Is that so?”

Well, fair enough.

It wasn’t just “somewhere else”—an otherworld was an entirely different world. Not being curious would be weirder.

When I first entered the fairy realm and the spirit realm, my heart had been pounding like crazy, too, hadn’t it?

After flying for a long time, Su-ho arrived in Africa and swept his gaze around.

'It’s been a while here too.'

The vast, endless African continent.

But this place had become land where humans no longer lived.

'The first land to be swallowed by monsters and Gates.'

That was why it had been abandoned to the end.

Originally, once the work in Madagascar was finished, the plan had been to unleash a massive monster army—led by Grand General Il-yong—and wipe it clean.

'And then deploy the Save the World team members to exterminate the Gates.'

That way, we could clear as many Gates as possible with minimal damage.

But now, we didn’t have to.

No—more precisely, we could drastically reduce the sacrifices of other monsters as well, starting with the lizards.

“Start.”

- As you command.

[ Umbra’s Shadow Legacy is activated. ]

[ The king of shadow divine beasts, Hollow Jack, summons the Black Army. ]

Reading Su-ho’s intent, Jack raised the Black Army.

A chunk of mana was siphoned out of Su-ho’s body, and the countless shadow knights he’d seen inside the Subspace House appeared again, radiating red eyes.

“You guys too. Come out.”

“Yes!”

At Su-ho’s nod, the vampire quartet—starting with Roynan—burst out.

Su-ho said to Jack and the vampires,

“The objective is to eliminate every monster on the African continent, excluding the Gates. Can you do it?”

“Yes!”

“Leave it to us!”

“We will carry out the order!”

“We will obey your command!”

The vampires answered bravely.

And then—

- It’s been a while since we had a proper shadow charge! Go raise hell! My faithful shadow knights!

Jack, happier than anyone, shouted as he deployed the shadow knights.

Kwaaaaaaang!!

At Su-ho’s command, every being under him surged out like a storm.

***

[ You have slain Melgarin’s Orc. ]

[ You have slain the Gray One-Eyed Mugari. ]

[ You have slain Aujikvelung. ]

[ You have slain Melgarin’s Goblin. ]

[ You have slain the Vengeful Elephant. ]

[ You have slain the Continental Rhinogwi. ]

......

Notices pouring down without end.

Their names were all different, but they shared one very clear common trait.

They were field-type monsters occupying the African continent.

Umbra’s Black Army was even stronger than expected.

Because it wasn’t just about numbers. Having gone through countless battlefields alongside Umbra, every one of them had capabilities on par with veteran warriors—so it wasn’t simply a mindless numbers rush.

'They really live up to the name—knight-class skill.'

If you judged by pure swordsmanship alone, modern humanity wouldn’t even be able to compete.

But among them, the one I thought was the most impressive was Jack.

- Krahahaha! Good! Good! Kill them all!!

A laugh soaked in madness.

But it didn’t take long after the African landing operation began for me to realize that this was just Jack’s normal laughter.

Jack’s momentum never broke even once.

And that fierce momentum always drove the shadow knights’ morale to the absolute limit, and somehow—how he even saw it—I don’t know, but he intervened in almost every battlefield, minimizing the shadow knights’ losses.

And that wasn’t all.

Just like I’d predicted from the start, Jack didn’t just run the shadow knights like an all-purpose AI assistant—he also efficiently collected the monsters’ shadows on his own.

- What are you staring at?

“Just thinking you’re impressive.”

- Hmph. I am pretty impressive. You think I would’ve come out as the final trump card when I tested you for no reason?

“I’ll give you that. But considering how you fought me back then, it feels like you’re better suited to being a manager who runs the troops than someone who actually throws hands.”

- What? Seriously—how absurd. How many beings do you think could go toe-to-toe with me in my complete form? And back then you showed me a martial art you’d never used in your life!

That was true.

I’d slapped an unhealable debuff on Jack, then used boxing in barehanded combat.

So what?

“Then you should’ve used fistfighting too. Don’t tell me the spirit realm doesn’t even have something as common as fist techniques or boxing?”

- Ugh. If you can’t talk, don’t. Guiyeong, is your master always like this?

“Woof!”

At Jack’s question, Guiyeong barked loudly.

Honestly, this was the most surprising part of Jack’s abilities.

His ability to handle Guiyeong.

Jack would summon my Guiyeong on his own and control it freely like a subordinate.

At first, I couldn’t understand it.

Guiyeong had signed a loyalty contract with me—and yet all of a sudden it was wagging its tail at Jack.

Later, I found out it was because he was the king of the shadow divine beasts.

'If you really get down to it, Jack is basically Guiyeong’s workplace boss.'

Which meant he had command authority almost on par with mine.

Shaking his head, Su-ho asked,

“So, how’s it been—getting a taste of my world for a while?”

- It’s nothing special. The mana in the air is thin, and the air quality is bad. The scenery is better back in my home, the spirit realm. How have you even lived in a place like this?

“Just fine.”

- Is that why you’re strong? Creatures raised in harsh places tend to be tougher.

“You want to die?”

- That was a compliment. Anyway, the monsters here are low-level overall, so the collected shadows aren’t very nutritious either. At this quality, I’d need at least boss-monster-class shadows to use things in the style I used to.

“What style is that?”

- If I tell you in advance, it won’t be fun. Still, you should look forward to it. Umbra’s shadow magic will exceed anything you can imagine.

“I see. So how long will it take to clean up the whole African continent? A few days?”

- A few days? Look at the size of the land. It’ll take at least a few more weeks.

“That long?”

- Want to talk nonsense? You think if you say that I’ll get all heated and finish faster?

“So that doesn’t work?”

- Who do you take me for... Try handling this with living creatures sometime. This is only possible because our guys don’t need to eat, sleep, or take dumps. If it were your world’s people, it would take months and you still wouldn’t finish.

“I’ll admit that.”

Honestly, even if I ran the entire Madagascar monster force, led by the lizard army, I didn’t think I could match this pace.

Because the difference between the shadow knights and my monster army came down to one thing: living versus non-living.

Of course, that was under the assumption that Su-ho participated directly either way.

Even if the Black Army’s shadow knights were overflowing, there was no reason for Su-ho alone to just slack off.

Jack said,

- If you’re running your mouth, you’ve rested enough. Stop resting and go work too.

“You really don’t hold back with your master, do you? I was going to get up soon anyway.”

- Master, my ass. We’re only master-and-servant on paper. If you get technical, we’re partners. Partners. Got it?

“Yeah, yeah. Keep acting like you’re my equal.”

He talked like that, but he didn’t actually think of Jack as a mere subordinate.

As Umbra’s great legacy, Jack was essentially Umbra’s proxy—someone you wouldn’t get to meet twice.

Sitting on Cheolma, Su-ho stretched and said,

“I really was about to get up.”

- Sure you were.

“You’re mistaken about something. No matter how much you replenish shadows, to maintain this insane number of troops, my mana still has to support it. So even when I’m ‘resting,’ I’m not really resting.”

That was true.

If he didn’t have a True Demon Horse stat over 200—Silver grade, and even synthesized up several stages—he would’ve long since run out of mana and passed out.

'From now on, I’ll probably have to keep raising True Demon Horse nonstop.'

After finishing his stretch, Su-ho activated a skill.

[ Dragon Mode is activated. ]

[ You have succeeded in transforming into Dragon Form. ]

[ Due to Quarter Blood, only part of your body has transformed. ]

[ Your physical abilities increase drastically. ]

[ Your recovery abilities increase drastically. ]

Physical ability and recovery ability skyrocketed explosively.

Originally, he’d planned to sit on Cheolma and just scatter wind, rain, and lightning—but after slaughtering monsters spread across such an enormous land, that kind of skill spam caused mana consumption too quickly, and this was the alternative he’d found.

In Dragon Form, Su-ho immediately started firing a skill.

[ Mini Breath is activated. ]

Kwakwakwakwakwa!!

Mini Breath fired in rapid succession.

This was the optimal cooperative hunting method Su-ho could use.

The effect was, of course, outstanding.

It was Breath used in Dragon Mode, after all.

[ You have slain Melgarin’s Orc. ]

[ You have slain the Gray One-Eyed Mugari. ]

[ You have slain Aujikvelung. ]

[ You have slain Melgarin’s Goblin. ]

[ You have slain the Vengeful Elephant. ]

[ You have slain the Continental Rhinogwi. ]

......

And so, for a long while, without anyone on Earth knowing, Su-ho carried out the quietest mass slaughter in the world.

***

......

[ You have slain the Ash-Extinction Dragon. ]

Killing the Ash-Extinction Dragon—one of Africa’s field monsters.

The moment it died, Su-ho met Jack’s eyes.

“That was the one just now, right?”

- Yeah. That was the one.

“Finally...!”

It was finally over.

The long march of the African genocide.

Su-ho immediately checked his Status Window.

[ An Su-ho ]

Lv : 329

Class : Blood Cardinal

Rank : Middle Player

Betting : ＜Umbra＞

Traits▲ : ＜New Blood★＞＜Hercules▲＞＜King of a Ruined Nation＞＜Grid’s Partner＞＜Sun-Moon Body＞

Mighty Strength(S) : 27

True Demon Horse(S) : 221

Super Senses(S) : 19

Command(N) : 149

Bonus Stats : 18

A multi-week campaign had ended.

I didn’t even know how many monsters I’d killed during that time.

As a result, even though Su-ho was already over level 300, he managed the feat of gaining eighteen levels.

'Numbers are terrifying. Even over level 300, I still gained eighteen levels.'

In a way, it was only natural.

Even a huge dinosaur would get full if you fed it truckloads of cherry tomatoes.

In that sense, Su-ho monopolized all the experience from every field monster spread across the African continent.

And in any case, that was because he hunted using only the summons under his command, not other Players.

And that wasn’t all.

It wasn’t just experience he’d gained.

'Shadows, blood, magic stones... Even the extra things I secured add up to a lot.'

It was an entire continent’s worth.

Of course, he didn’t clear a single Gate stationed across the continent.

It would’ve taken far too long to clear those too.

But after a cleanup on this scale, the rest could be left to others.

To begin with, none of this was a single-player game Su-ho played alone—it was party play being carried out by all of humanity working together.

After finishing the long march of slaughter, Su-ho assigned all his bonus stats into True Demon Horse, then took out his phone and {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} sent a few photos somewhere.

Not long after, his phone rang.

- C-Chief? What is all this?

The caller was none other than Jo Jin-hwi.

At his stunned question, Su-ho said with the clearest expression he’d had in a long time,

“Hey, Reporter. Long time.”

- W-what... what is it?

“A cleanup. I just finished wiping it all out.”

- W-wiping out what?

“Africa.”