Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

“......!!”

Leihian’s eyes widened.

The Great Demons, who had shown no sign of appearing until now, had suddenly entered the field.

And not one at a time, either. Six of them had appeared all at once in a cluster.

Startled, Leihian immediately relayed the fact to Su-ho.

But Su-ho’s reaction was flatter than expected.

“Six? Not seven?”

“Yes. I counted again. There are six.”

“Looks like they use a system where one of the Great Demons gets elevated to Demon King over there too. So which of the Seven Great Demons is missing?”

“Uh......”

When he counted again, Pride was missing.

“Pride.”

“Oh. So Pride ended up taking the Demon King’s seat over there.”

Looks like wherever you went, the demon of Pride was the strongest.

By then, following the system notifications, the remaining six Great Demons aside from Pride revealed themselves.

Ruuuumble!!

A tremendous sound that shook the very axis of the earth.

Even from a distance, anyone could tell those were Great Demons.

Because not only were they conspicuously enormous, they were also the only ones riding in carriage-like vehicles.

Grid said,

- The six Great Demons have shown up. In terms of position, they’d be the equivalent of grand generals. Naturally, the Demon King’s army under their command is an upper-grade elite force, not even worth comparing to those low-grade troops.

“Thanks for the advice. But no matter what, they’re still weaker than the Demon King. If the quality just got upgraded a bit from low-grade troops, do you really think that’s going to make things difficult for me?”

- No. But from here on out, things are going to get annoying in a lot of ways. Because now they’re going to appear.

“They?”

At that moment—

“Kiaaaaaaaaah!!”

A shrill cry.

The source of that growling was the sky.

The heavens were now filled with flying monsters that definitely had not been there a moment ago.

Those creatures were the troublesome issue Grid had meant.

Anything coming by land, simply by virtue of having to keep its feet on the ground—walls and waterways or not—could never be completely free from floods or earthquakes.

Grid laughed.

- So what are you going to do now?

“What do you mean what am I going to do? I’ll stick to the plan. Just watch.”

As for flying monsters, he had already been warned about them before the East-West War even began.

That was why the idea of preparing for the war alone had seemed absurd in the first place.

But would Su-ho not know that?

Especially after being warned in advance?

He had prepared for all of it.

He had already shown the Olympian gods as the countermeasure.

After answering, Su-ho gave the signal to all the gods.

- Time to get started.

At Su-ho’s signal, the rest of the gods, who had been watching only Zeus and Poseidon’s performance until now, finally loosened up and began to move.

“So now you move.”

“There sure are a hell of a lot of them.”

“They’re still just vermin, in the end. Tsk.”

Each of them offered their own running commentary as they looked at the Demon King’s army.

Su-ho was the one who started.

He raised a hand.

[ Saint Dome is activated. ]

Shuaaaaaa!

The skill he used was Saint Dome.

It created an enormous protective barrier within a designated range to protect the targets the user wanted to shield.

Su-ho poured in all the mana he had and expanded Saint Dome as far as possible.

Even so, there was a limit.

That was why he had prepared the gods.

The other gods, seeing Su-ho’s skill, each raised a hand as well.

Then something astonishing happened.

The moment they raised their hands, the dome-shaped barrier spread outward widely and transformed into a broad shield-shaped barrier, like Phaidiak.

And that wasn’t all.

Its range had also grown to a size incomparable to before.

Grid’s and Leihian’s eyes widened at the sight.

What was this now?

Phaidiak?

No, it wasn’t Phaidiak.

But for a moment, it looked like Phaidiak.

With the corners of his mouth raised, Su-ho said,

“Looks like Phaidiak, right? But it’s not Phaidiak. If I had to compare it to something, I’d call it an improved version of Phaidiak. So the name is Phaidiak 2.”

“Phaidiak 2?”

“Yeah. It can’t cover the entire Western Demon Realm, but I made it sturdy enough to hold out for one turn in the East-West War. I got the idea from Phaidiak. So I named it Phaidiak 2.”

“Isn’t that way too slapdash of a name?”

“Yeah, it’s slapdash. So what? I’m only going to use it once. Do I really need to waste brainpower on naming it too?”

“I mean... no, but...”

Leihian once again found himself impressed.

But then, looking at Phaidiak 2—which was smaller in scale than the original Phaidiak—he spoke in a slightly worried tone.

“But is it really okay? Compared to the original Phaidiak, it’s way too small.”

“It’s fine. That’s why I added a special feature.”

“A special feature?”

“Yeah. Watch carefully.”

Su-ho raised a finger and pointed somewhere in the sky.

There, unlike the ones flying toward the gorge, were flying monsters approaching from another direction far away.

No matter how you looked at it, they were positioned outside Phaidiak 2’s range.

If left alone, they looked like they would simply bypass Phaidiak 2 and enter the Eastern Demon Realm.

That was when it happened.

“Kirik?”

“Kaaak?”

“Karrrk?!”

Suddenly, their heads snapped around, and their eyes locked onto Phaidiak 2, which Su-ho had prepared.

Then, like zombies that had discovered humans, they began charging toward Phaidiak 2 at incredible speed.

Before long, the charging flying monsters crashed into Phaidiak 2.

Kwa-jijijijit!!

The instant they hit Phaidiak 2.

A violent crashing sound rang out, and then a shower of enormous sparks burst out. The flying monsters that struck Phaidiak 2 plummeted downward.

“Ooooh!!”

The monsters that had been spread out over a wide area were flying into the barrier and crashing into it on their own.

Excited by a sight he could hardly believe even while seeing it with his own eyes, Leihian raised his voice.

“What’s going on? It’s like they suddenly got enthralled by something. They’re flying in on their own, crashing into it, and dying!”

“It’s a special option on Phaidiak 2. I added an aggro function like enthrallment. No matter how strong I am, I can’t cover something on the scale of the whole continent, so I rigged it so they’d come flying into the barrier on their own.”

“Ooooh...! I can’t believe something like that is even possible.”

“It wouldn’t have been possible if it were just me. I could do it because I had the support forces I brought.”

It was not false modesty. It was simply true.

To begin with, among the techniques Su-ho possessed, the only skill that could really draw aggro was Enthrallment. But strictly speaking, Enthrallment fascinated the target. It was not an aggro-pulling skill like the ones used by tanks in raid parties.

That was why he had borrowed the gods’ help.

Gods, by nature, could wield the power to disturb the minds of humans.

A representative example would be Hera and Heracles.

At one point, Hera had driven Heracles mad and made him kill his own family with his own hands.

Of course, it was not just that. Expanding the size of the original Saint Dome and changing its shape had all only been possible because the gods had helped.

At first, Su-ho had not known something like this was even possible, but Jack’s advice had taught him otherwise.

If certain conditions were met, Demi-Constellation-level beings could alter the conditions of a Player’s skills to a significant degree.

“Kieeeeeek!”

“Kaaaaaaak!”

“Krrrurrrrrk!”

Even after that, the flying monsters continued to slam into the barrier with heavy thuds.

Like mosquitoes drawn to a bug zapper, they hurled themselves into Phaidiak 2 on their own, were electrocuted, and then dropped to the ground below.

Watching the scene, Leihian’s eyes shone.

Ah, then there was no need to worry about aerial combat anymore.

That was what he had been thinking.

“Grrrurk......”

“Gurrrk......”

“Krrghhh......”

The monsters that had crashed into Phaidiak 2 and fallen below began groaning and twitching.

He had thought they were dead, but they were not.

They were just trembling all over in agony.

Seeing that, Leihian asked,

“Wh-why are they like that?”

“What do you mean, why are they like that?”

“They’re not all dead.”

“Yeah, they’re not dead. They just got electrocuted, so their muscles locked up a bit. Like paralysis.”

“Why?! If you’re going to deal with them [N O V E L I G H T] anyway, wouldn’t it be better to just kill them on the spot?”

“That would be nice. No, I’d like that too.”

“Huh?”

“Why are you so shocked? This is a war. A huge one, at that. So I have to fight as efficiently as possible. Because compared to the scale of the enemy, the energy we prepared is actually pretty limited.”

“What do you mean by that......?”

“Keep watching. You’ll see.”

The flying monsters that arrived first piled up in countless numbers before the wall.

All of them had been electrocuted by Zeus’s lightning and could not move for a while, but before long they would fly again.

But that was fine.

Because now it was Su-ho’s turn to step in.

Toward the place where the monsters had fallen and settled, Su-ho used a skill.

[ Rage Field is activated. ]

The skill he used was Rage Field.

The moment the skill activated, the eyes of the monsters, who had been trembling from the electric shock, turned red. Then, consumed by madness, they began twisting their bodies as they howled.

“Krrrraaaagh!!”

Overcome by fury and bloodlust, the flying monsters could no longer contain the boiling rage within them. They shook off the shock and paralysis and began rampaging.

Some of them took flight at once, while others tore into the ground.

But whatever the process, the conclusion was the same.

They had begun attacking one another indiscriminately, unable to distinguish friend from foe.

Seeing that, Su-ho grinned.

“Nice effect.”

“What in the...”

At yet another unbelievable sight unfolding before him, Leihian’s mouth fell open of its own accord.

Was this even possible?

Were Players in the 300s all like this?

“I’m the only one like this.”

“Huh?”

“It’s not that all high-level Players can do things like this. I’m the only one. So you can be even more shocked.”

“......”

Could he read thoughts now too?

Su-ho let out a small laugh, then looked at the flying monsters that were tangled up and fighting among themselves.

By that point, the elite Demon King’s army under the six Great Demons, arriving as a later wave, had joined the battlefield as well.

It was perfect timing.

No matter how thoroughly drilled an elite force might be, advancing in strict formation over terrain already ruined by Great Flood and Tsunami was practically impossible.

And since they were not flying monsters, they naturally avoided the waterways and converged toward the central gorge.

And there, the Rage Field Su-ho had laid down was active.

The moment the troops at the very front of the elite Demon King’s army stepped into the Rage Field—

“Grrraaaagh!!”

“Keeeeeerrgh!!”

“Gwaaaaaaah!!”

They were instantly contaminated by madness and began swinging their weapons wildly, unable to distinguish friend from foe.

It spread like a plague in an instant, throwing the entire formation of the Demon King’s army into chaos.

Watching the scene, Su-ho’s lips curled upward.

All right, Great Demons.

What are you going to do now?

If you don’t step in yourselves, this is only going to keep getting more tangled.

His mana was sufficient.

If anything, Great Flood, Tsunami, and the lightning strikes had cost much more mana than this.

At some point, the Great Demons had stopped advancing and were now seated on their distinctive vehicles—something between wheeled chairs and chariots—watching the Western Demon Realm troops fighting among themselves.

That was when it happened.

“Oh, one of them’s getting up.”

One of the Great Demons, apparently no longer able to watch any longer, rose from his carriage.