Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

I narrowed my eyes and checked the bastard’s name.

- Great Demon of Rage, Satan Lv.???

The first one to step forward was Rage.

His name was Satan.

He had the body of a man and the head of a wolf, like some kind of beastman, and somehow it suited him perfectly.

‘Definitely Rage, all right.’

There was a reason anger management issues were called that.

The bastard rose from his carriage, summoned a pair of distinctive battle-axes into both hands, and then swung them savagely toward the area where Rage Field was spread out.

[ Great Demon of Rage, Satan, uses Infernal Asura Strike. ]

Kwaaaaaaaar!

The Infernal Asura Strike he unleashed smashed straight into the Rage Field.

He did not care in the slightest about the flying monsters or the Demon King’s army caught in it.

A massive scar of destruction was carved into the path the Infernal Asura Strike passed through, and Leihian, seeing it, stamped his feet in alarm.

“I-is it okay to just leave that alone?”

“No, it’s not.”

“Huh?”

“I said it’s not okay. Judging by the size of that thing, a few more Asura Strikes and Rage Field will break.”

“Then what do we do?”

“What do you mean, what do we do? If there’s a hole and water’s leaking out, what would you do?”

“I’d plug the hole?”

“You know that much. Then why are you asking?”

Right about then, Satan used Infernal Asura Strike again.

[ Great Demon of Rage, Satan, uses Infernal Asura Strike. ]

A system notification.

The moment I saw it, I summoned the Blood Sword into my hand and swung it swiftly.

[ Sky Cleave is activated. ]

Slice—! KWA-BOOM!!

For an instant, it sounded like the air had been cut apart, and then the flying sword strike collided head-on with the Infernal Asura Strike, producing a huge explosion.

Everything caught between them was swallowed by the blast, and an enormous cloud of dust billowed up. By the time the dust settled, the only thing left there was a massive crater.

Satan laughed when he saw it.

“So that’s all you’ve got?”

He had not even used twenty percent of his power.

And looking at how things were going, it seemed obvious that if he used his full strength, he could completely shatter the formation of those foolish worms.

“That’s right. I’ll take the lead myself, cut down the enemy commander, and be the first to—”

At that moment—

Crunch!!

Satan could say no more.

Something long and black had flown in from somewhere and pierced straight through his head.

And that wasn’t all.

Writhing!

The long black thing that had skewered Satan’s head suddenly moved and took the shape of a beast.

A black beast.

It was Guiyeong.

“Come back.”

At my command, Guiyeong’s main body returned at once to my shadow.

[ You have defeated Satan, Great Demon of Rage. ]

Right on cue, the message announcing Satan’s death appeared.

Even with his head pierced clean through, he had only died now. Apparently, he’d had more life in him than I thought.

But separately from that, a flicker of unease crossed my eyes.

‘If one spear throw is enough to kill them, I might not even hit Level 400 before the war ends...’

That was the only thing I was worried about.

The six Great Demons?

The Demon King?

None of that could ever be a real concern for me.

The East-West War might have been the biggest event in the Demon Realm, but that was only a big event to demons. Now that I was experiencing it firsthand, it did not feel all that worth making such a fuss over.

Especially since I’d just killed one of the six Great Demons and didn’t even gain a full level from it. Since the war began, that was the most chilling thing I’d seen yet.

‘At this rate, I need to speed things up.’

While I was thinking that, the other Great Demons, having seen Satan die, also seemed to grasp how serious the situation was and began rising from their seats one by one.

“L-Lord Avatar! The other Great Demons are moving!”

“I can see that.”

The enraged Great Demons each began using their own skills.

Most of the techniques they used were skills that upgraded the power of their soldiers.

As dazzling skill effects rolled over the Demon King’s army like a wave, Leihian started panicking.

“S-shouldn’t we do something too?”

“I am.”

“As expected of you, Lord Avatar! Are you going to buff our allied forces too?”

“No. I’m just going to kill them.”

“Huh?”

I took hold of the Guiyeong Spear again and said,

“Stay calm and pick off the ones at the top, one by one.”

[ Blessing is activated. ]

[ Paladian is activated. ]

[ Sword Energy is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is activated. ]

And then—

[ Spear Throw is activated. ]

[ Enhancement is applied. ]

[ The power of Spear Throw increases further. ]

Once again, I hurled the heavily upgraded spear straight at the head of one of the Great Demons.

Crunch!

[ Shadow Pierce is activated. ]

[ Shadow Binding is activated. ]

[ Shadow Bleed is activated. ]

[ You have defeated Asmodeus, Great Demon of Lust. ]

[ Your level has increased. ]

[ All stats have increased by 1. ]

[ You have acquired 1 bonus stat. ]

“Oh.”

The one I’d killed this time was Asmodeus, Great Demon of Lust.

And this time, my level went up immediately.

Apparently, it was about one level for every two Great Demons.

But Asmodeus’s death became the trigger for the Demon King’s army to go berserk.

Leviathan, Great Demon of Envy, shouted,

“Go! Kill every last one of them!!”

“Kiaaaaaah!!”

“Kill them!!”

“Avenge the Great Demons!!”

“Don’t let a single one live!!”

What incredible momentum.

They were fired up.

But I did not panic. I activated the next move immediately.

[ Frenzy Valhalla is activated. ]

Frenzy Valhalla.

A mental curse even stronger than Rage Field.

The moment the skill activated, the Valkyries of Rage were summoned and began their performance of madness.

Bwooooooo!

The curse carried through sound swept through the Demon King’s army in an instant, like a great plague breaking out.

The Great Demons, however, were not bewitched by the Valkyries.

Seeing that, I let out a faint chuckle.

“They’re better than the Olympus lot.”

It reminded me of the Olympomachy, when they had been enthralled by Frenzy Valhalla and started slaughtering one another.

Compared to that, these bastards at least had the edge in mental resistance.

But that was all they had.

I called Guiyeong back once more, prepared another spear throw, and calmly started sniping them down one by one, piercing their heads in succession.

Crunch!

[ You have defeated Baalzebub, Great Demon of Gluttony. ]

Crunch!

[ You have defeated Leviathan, Great Demon of Envy. ]

[ Your level has increased. ]

[ All stats have increased by 1. ]

[ You have acquired 1 bonus stat. ]

Crunch!

[ You have defeated Mammon, Great Demon of Greed. ]

Even amid the chaos, my spear-throwing accuracy was flawless.

Leihian, seeing that, could not close his mouth, and a few of the gods watching from the sky even snickered and applauded.

“Whether it’s the Eastern Demon Realm or the Western Demon Realm, the Great Demons really aren’t much.”

In truth, it was not that the Great Demons were unimpressive.

I was just too strong.

In fact, every time I threw a spear, the Great Demons sensed the killing intent and immediately prepared to defend themselves.

But no matter how they prepared, my spear throw was simply too powerful.

Eventually, only Belphegor, Great Demon of Sloth, remained, and I raised the Guiyeong Spear to aim at him as well.

Belphegor had the face of a donkey and the bloated body of someone morbidly obese.

His red eyes rolled, and then he summoned a dagger into his hand.

And then, without warning, he drove it deep into his own throat.

“Huh?”

Was he suddenly committing suicide?

But it was not simple suicide.

[ Great Demon of Sloth, Belphegor, uses Grand Summoning Circle. ]

It was not suicide.

It was preparation to use a skill.

Its name was Grand Summoning Circle.

What was he trying to summon?

The instant the notification appeared, red blood gushed out of Belphegor like a waterfall.

But instead of pouring downward, it shot upward as if gravity had reversed, and the spilled blood soon formed a gigantic magic circle.

Rumble!

The moment the enormous magic circle appeared, the sky turned black.

Centered on the circle, things that looked like lightning—or something close to it—rumbled and spat sparks, and around then, all the demons of the Western Demon Realm who had been killing each other in madness suddenly stopped what they were doing as if it were a lie.

It was a bizarre phenomenon.

They had all stopped at exactly the same time.

And that was not all.

The rage-soaked expressions unique to them vanished, replaced by blank looks, as though they were staring vacantly at someone. No matter how hard the Valkyries of Rage played, they did not even pretend to hear them.

‘What exactly are they trying to do?’

The air felt wrong.

I turned my head and looked at Grid.

- What is this? What the hell is happening?

- What do you think? Since they can’t resolve this on their own, they’re trying to call in a higher being.

- A higher being?

A being above the Great Demons?

Wasn’t there only one such existence?

- They’re calling the Demon King?

- That’s right.

- Is this how they normally summon the Demon King? Isn’t the Demon King their boss? Then why are they calling him by sacrificing their own lives?

- Because that makes the Demon King stronger.

- Stronger?

- Under the normal sequence, like you said, he would descend on his own. But if one of his subordinates calls him forth by offering up his own life, then through black magic he can descend in a stronger form.

- What are you talking about? Does that even make sense?

- It has to. Which one of them is missing from the Great Demons right now?

- If one’s missing... the demon of Pride?

- Exactly. And because it’s Pride of all things, this is possible.

Because it was Pride?

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Just as I was about to ask—

- In the end, if I do not take the field myself, you vermin can accomplish nothing.

A voice so cold and dreadful it made the hair on my neck rise spread through every corner of the battlefield like a snake slithering over the ground.

At the same time, system notifications appeared.

[ Another king of the Demon Realm responds to his subordinate’s earnest plea. ]

[ A boss monster has appeared. ]

The notifications rose one after another.

At the same time, the blood-red magic circle, which had been rotating slowly counterclockwise, dropped a tremendous quantity of crimson lightning and triggered a gigantic explosion.

Whoooooosh!

The wind blew.

A bitter, ice-cold gale.

That gale was being generated by the existence inside the explosion.

At last, when the wind died down, the true master of the Western Demon Realm appeared from within.

[ Lucifer, Demon King of Pride, responds to the Grand Summoning Circle and reigns over the battlefield. ]

Fwaaaash!

A flashy entrance effect.

Just as the system had said, the king of the Western Demon Realm and Demon King of Pride, Lucifer, had descended.

And I understood.

I understood why Belphegor, Great Demon of Sloth, had sacrificed himself to summon Lucifer.

“So he offered up his life to amplify Lucifer’s pride.”

- Correct.

It was a fitting buff for the Demon King of Pride.

Lucifer was bigger than I expected.

The six Great Demons had each been two or three times larger than ordinary soldiers of the Demon King’s army, but Lucifer was several times larger even than those Great Demons.

That said, he was not grotesque the way the other six Great Demons were.

He was dressed like a broad-shouldered gentleman, and on his back he had no fewer than three pairs of black wings.

Of course, like the other Great Demons, his face belonged to an animal.

Lucifer’s face was that of a lion.

Once his descent was complete, he snapped his fingers.

Boom!!

An explosion rang out.

And what exploded, unbelievably enough, were the Valkyries of Rage who had been playing their performance of madness.

“What?”

He dealt with it like that?

It was right after the Valkyries of Rage exploded.

“Kiaaaaaah!!”

“Let’s go!!”

“Kill them all!!”

“Long live the Demon King!!”

The soldiers of the Demon King’s army, who had been standing there blankly like zombies, suddenly began charging forward again as if nothing had happened.