Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

Chapter 518

The world blinked.

At the same time, three things came crashing down on Su-ho.

Pitch-black darkness, water that stuffed every breathing hole, and finally, a powerful pressure that bore down on his entire body.

Even in the pain of being squeezed tight, Su-ho opened his eyes at once and began to assess the situation.

‘So it is the Mariana Gate?’

Gurgle!

Bubbles burst out of his mouth. Even if this wasn’t the Mariana Trench, it definitely had to be underwater.

Why was he so sure it was underwater?

Because for “just water,” it tasted way too salty.

Either way, it didn’t matter.

He hadn’t come in here without a plan.

Su-ho immediately used the Subspace House.

[ You cannot enter the Subspace House. ]

But the Subspace House didn’t activate.

He had no idea why.

This had never happened before—so why all of a sudden?

He panicked.

This Mariana Gate was infamous for “bathing” you in high-pressure seawater as an opening greeting the moment you entered, and most players died right here.

But Su-ho had been confident.

In his previous life, maybe not—but the current him had the Subspace House.

And yet, his first plan—the Subspace House—had been blocked.

‘What the...!’

It was a little infuriating that his skill use had been shut off out of nowhere for no reason, but he couldn’t just keep panicking.

Forcing down the pounding excitement in his chest, Su-ho immediately searched for another solution.

Around then, the Vampire effect activated too.

[ You are not affected by darkness restriction effects due to the Original Vampire effect. ]

Whash!

The darkness restriction effect was lifted by the Vampire effect.

The instant his vision cleared, Su-ho had no choice but to be shocked again.

‘There’s nothing?’

There was nothing.

In a brightly inverted field of view—like one of those mental wards with nothing but white walls—what he could see was, literally, nothing at all.

What he could feel instead was only the cold seawater pressing down on his entire body.

The Undersea Hell he remembered wasn’t a place like this.

But what did that matter right now?

First, securing breathing time mattered.

To secure that breathing time, Su-ho started by using skills.

[ Blessing is activated. ]

[ Endurance is activated. ]

A combination optimized for hanging on.

With transcendence-grade physicality to begin with, he could dive for an unimaginable length of time even underwater, but putting insurance in place to prevent any unforeseen situation was a good habit that had set in like a callus.

Calming his racing heart, Su-ho slowly looked around.

‘There really is nothing?’

Was this not the Mariana Trench?

Su-ho activated additional skills.

[ Mana Detection is activated. ]

[ Night Captain’s Eyes is activated. ]

Once the skills activated, things he hadn’t been able to see began to appear.

For example, strands of mana flowing like wind, and grid-patterned cells for finding any potential weak points.

Su-ho narrowed his eyes and examined them carefully.

Night Captain’s Eyes didn’t help much.

There wasn’t even anything that could be called a wall—and even if there was, it was too far away.

But Mana Detection helped.

‘Down?’

The waves of mana flowing like convection currents were, surprisingly, moving from above down below.

What was it?

What was down there?

But below was pitch-black darkness, so he couldn’t see anything.

Normally, for it to be bright under the surface, sunlight had to fall and light the depths—but here there wasn’t a single speck of light, so it was only dim.

‘That’s why the Vampire effect activated.’

Still, if there was one lucky thing, it was this.

I have the Vampire effect—so even without light, as long as it enters my range of vision, I can see it.

Su-ho followed the flowing mana waves and moved downward for now.

He could swim.

No—he was as confident as a seal.

If you were a member of humanity’s final suicide squad, this much was basic.

But the moment he actually started flailing his limbs, Su-ho realized this wasn’t an ordinary place.

Because the instant he began moving his arms and legs to swim, the water here felt heavier than he’d expected... in other words, the density was so tightly packed that fatigue began to surge in an instant.

‘It tasted salty so I thought it was normal seawater—what other bullshit did you set up this time?’

Yeah. This isn’t some normal gate—it’s a Big Gate, is that it?

And one just for me?

No time to complain.

This was a place with no information at all.

He had to ram his head into it and pry information out.

Su-ho immediately summoned Cheolma.

“Neighhh!”

The summoned Cheolma screamed.

Unlike Su-ho, Cheolma was free from breathing.

Cheolma was a horse made of iron—more like a metal statue that moved alive like a living creature, not a real horse.

That was why Cheolma’s principle of flight wasn’t frantic wingbeats, but Cheolma’s own inherent flying ability.

‘If I exploit that in reverse, then underwater, it becomes a damn good submarine.’

When Su-ho grabbed Cheolma and gave the order to move, the quick-witted Cheolma immediately began descending toward the depths.

Swaaash!

Cutting through the dense current, the heavenly horse headed downward.

Fast, too.

As expected of Cheolma.

Su-ho widened his eyes and scanned below.

Dark water.

A place like the deep sea where not a speck of light reached, but if something entered his range of vision, the blackish haze did become visible.

But astonishingly, the more his view expanded, the more what he saw was—

‘Nothing?’

Nothing but empty darkness.

‘What the hell is this place even for?’

At the very least, shouldn’t some monster show up?

Yet as if mocking Su-ho’s thoughts, this place showed him nothing but endless darkness. After cutting across this hollow abyss for a long time and descending further and further, Su-ho finally began to see the bottom of the deep sea.

‘That is....’

In the darkness that had been nothing but black haze, what finally revealed itself was a round door.

All the mana waves flowing from above down below—visible through Mana Detection—were heading into that door.

When Su-ho tapped Cheolma twice, Cheolma dove sharply down and settled on top of the door.

Like a giant sewer manhole cover, it was large enough that its size alone seemed like it could swallow a whole pond, and for some reason it was constantly sucking in mana.

‘The one saving grace is that it’s only absorbing the mana in the water and not touching my mana.’

If it were absorbing my mana too, my head would already be spinning.

After leaving Cheolma parked to the side, Su-ho began properly exploring the seafloor.

‘Hmm.’

There wasn’t a single thing you’d normally expect to see underwater—sand, coral reefs, nothing.

Then was this not the Undersea Hell Gate I knew?

It seemed like it wasn’t.

Then, on the premise that this was an unfamiliar place, he had to observe.

Su-ho lowered his body and touched the floor.

It felt like glass.

But for glass, there was nothing visible penetrating beneath it.

Just a cloudy floor.

Su-ho activated Night Captain’s Eyes again.

Then grid-patterned cells appeared beneath the solid floor.

‘Huh?’

At last, Su-ho received one piece of welcome news in this unknown space.

It was that the cell by the mana-sucking door was glowing red.

‘So this is the weak point.’

There were no instructions and no hints.

But if only this spot was shining red as a weak-point cell, that meant destroying this was the best option.

Su-ho’s mouth curled upward.

‘This takes me back.’

Back then, all the hard gates with no information were like this—you slammed into them crudely and forced results out.

But most of the gates he’d encountered since regressing were ones he already knew, so there’d been no tension at all.

Smiling at the tension he was feeling for the first time in a while, Su-ho began preparing.

[ Summoning Hercules’s Lion-Head Helmet. ]

[ Summoning Hercules’s Club. ]

[ Blood Armor is activated. ]

[ Paladin is activated. ]

[ Divine Aura is activated. ]

[ Enhance is activated. ]

[ Sword Aura is activated. ]

Whooosh!

In the thick darkness of the deep sea, the effects of Su-ho’s various skills shone dazzlingly.

Gurgle!

Bubbles leaked from his mouth.

He’d been diving for quite a long time now, but he was still fine.

Taking his stance, Su-ho swung his sword downward.

[ Diamond Cut is activated. ]

[ Enhance is applied. ]

[ The power of Diamond Cut becomes even stronger. ]

Whung!!

The sword swung.

The motion was perfect.

And yet Su-ho’s brow furrowed.

Because it hadn’t swung cleanly.

The result was the same.

All the swung sword left behind was a tiny sword mark.

Su-ho’s brow sank even deeper.

‘As expected, because it’s underwater... I can’t get a proper motion.’

The water was dense to begin with.

Even in normal water, you can’t swing properly—so in a place even denser than that, how much worse would it be?

‘Then should I stab instead?’

No, stabbing was the same.

The key was drawing out strong damage by using movement force, but whether slashing or stabbing, both were limited by arm motion—so no matter how much he layered Enhance skills on, there was a limit to pulling out the original damage.

Gurgle—

Bubbles leaked from his mouth.

Su-ho lifted his head and looked up.

A ceiling at an immeasurable height.

After looking at the sky, Su-ho used the skill again.

[ You cannot enter the Subspace House. ]

As expected, it didn’t work this time either.

He didn’t know why.

It just said no, so for now all he could do was nod.

At that moment, one ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) decent method popped into his head.

‘If I can’t use the Subspace House and my movement is restricted, then I just need to create an environment where I can move freely.’

Su-ho raised his sword again.

Then he closed his eyes, condensed mana, and used a skill.

[ Wavebreaker is activated. ]

The skill he used was Wavebreaker.

A technique he had copied into Bloody Hand long ago.

Depending on how you used it, it could create a massive tidal wave, and sometimes it could even split water apart like the Red Sea.

That was why he’d chosen it.

No matter how dense the water is, if the water isn’t touching me in the first place, then it doesn’t matter, right?

But this place was a pseudo–deep sea packed full with dense water.

To split all this water—even for just a few seconds, until he could swing his sword—would require an enormous amount of mana.

But he wasn’t afraid.

He would do it.

So he gathered mana and used the skill.

When he swung his sword upward like he was raising a flag, the activated Wavebreaker received Su-ho’s will and began to split the water along the path of the sword’s swing.

PukwAAAAAK!!

The water roiled.

Water that had never once been separated began to split for the first time, by the will of a single player.

“Kgh!!”

Mana drained away in chunks.

Truly an enormous amount.

It made him dizzy, but it was fine.

The moment Su-ho raised Wavebreaker by drawing his sword upward, he immediately steadied his mind and focused on the red grid-patterned cell on the floor.

[ Enhance is activated. ]

[ Diamond Cut is activated. ]

[ Enhance is applied. ]

[ The power of Diamond Cut becomes even stronger. ]

The sword swung.

Skrrt!!

A clean strike.

As much as the painstaking preparation, the desired result—no, the process toward the desired result—was created.

Kuuuuwoong!!

As proof, the shock wave unique to Hercules’s Club also functioned properly.

Now all that was left was to watch the result.

That was when—

Crack!

The sound of a fissure forming.

Sssirk—

At the same time, Su-ho’s mouth curled upward.

Kwaaaaaang!!

The door that seemed like it would never break began to shatter without restraint.