Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant
Chapter 218

[ Mark of Agony ]

– Rank: A

Crusader-exclusive skill.

Once a weapon marked with this skill strikes a target, the target remains under the effect of “Mark of Agony” until the caster removes it.

Targets afflicted by the mark cannot recover HP or regenerate physically in any way.

Each time the mark blocks a healing attempt, the caster consumes mana equal to 20% of the health that would have been restored.

If the caster’s mana is fully depleted, all Marks of Agony are automatically dispelled.

Su-ho smiled as he reviewed the upgraded skill.

The mana consumption, which had been 120% at F-Rank, was now down to just 20% at A-Rank.

In simpler terms, each rank-up had reduced the cost by 20%.

‘If I had just a few more Skill Enhancement Pills, I could’ve pushed it to S-Rank...’

But he’d used a good number already on upgrading Recovery, so for now, A-Rank was the limit.

Still, this was more than enough.

From 120% down to 20%—that was huge.

Now, for Sylphian to fully deplete Su-ho’s mana through healing alone, it would need to work five times harder.

With that, Su-ho finally imbued his Blood Sword with the Mark of Agony.

[ Mark of Agony activated. ]

As the skill activated, a skull icon with a scale symbol appeared at the tip of his sword.

It was an enchantment-type skill, but it still required a successful hit for the effect to activate—so that one crucial strike mattered.

And getting one clean hit?

For Su-ho, that was child’s play.

“All right, let’s begin.”

He activated Tactical Warfare.

[ Tactical Warfare activated. ]

With the skill triggered, Mirror Soldiers began to spawn.

Unlike the original Su-ho, all the Mirror Soldiers carried Blood Spears.

Because their only goal was to land one effective hit.

So naturally, each of their Blood Spears was also imbued with the Mark of Agony.

After summoning a sufficient number of Mirror Soldiers, Su-ho turned his gaze to Sylphian outside the portal.

He really wanted to hurl a spear from inside the Pocket-Dimension, but that wasn’t allowed.

‘Yeah, that would’ve been too broken.’

A shame, really.

Damn system.

Why couldn’t it just let him cheat once?

Anyway, to attack Sylphian, he had to step outside the Pocket-Dimension House.

That’s why he’d summoned the Mirror Soldiers.

And the timing was perfect.

Sylphian had completely dropped its guard.

It made sense.

The serpent storm had ended, but there was still no sign of Su-ho anywhere in the boss chamber.

And with the rain still pouring, conditions were ideal.

Su-ho began dispatching Mirror Soldiers out the portal like special forces diving out of a helicopter.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Each Mirror Soldier exited with a distinctive pulse.

They poured out, dropping down like paratroopers.

– ...!

At first, Sylphian didn’t notice.

Because of its own summoned rain.

But when they got within striking distance, Sylphian finally sensed the Mirror Soldiers approaching.

– Tch!

Startled, it immediately activated its evasion skill.

Several Mirror Soldiers were sent crashing to the ground below.

However, with the soldiers falling at irregular intervals and spears launching from the ground, the chaos made it impossible for Sylphian to dodge them all.

Its evasion skill had a limit—it couldn’t stay in a deconstructed state too long without losing form.

So eventually, it had to rematerialize.

And at that moment—

[ The Half-Sylphian has been afflicted with the Mark of Agony. ]

Sylphian was finally hit.

“Nice.”

Su-ho was still inside the Pocket-Dimension House.

There was no need for him to jump in just yet.

Maybe, if luck held, he wouldn’t have to at all.

From inside the safe space, Su-ho calmly observed Sylphian and continued dispatching his Mirror Soldiers.

And little by little, they began to chip away at its health.

How much time passed? How much HP had they stripped away?

[ The Half-Sylphian uses Wind of Healing. ]

Once its HP dropped below a certain point, Sylphian finally activated its self-healing.

And the moment it did, Su-ho could feel his own mana beginning to drain.

‘It’s begun.’

Now it was a war of attrition—mana versus mana.

That’s when Sylphian’s eyes widened.

It had realized.

Just moments ago, healing had worked just fine—but now it wasn’t having any effect.

It furrowed its brow in disbelief.

As if to say, "How?"

That expression alone sent a rush of satisfaction through Su-ho’s veins.

‘Go ahead, try healing again.’

Desperate, Sylphian poured mana into healing attempts, trying to brute-force the regeneration.

But it was useless.

For Sylphian to recover 1 HP, it had to spend 2 mana, while Su-ho only sacrificed 0.2.

An absurdly lopsided exchange.

Even if Sylphian had more mana overall, unless it was overwhelmingly ahead, this battle could only end one way—Su-ho’s victory.

Sylphian kept trying to heal.

Realizing something was wrong, it finally tried to stop.

But before it could—

Su-ho launched the next wave.

‘Not so fast.’

The second strike team.

The first batch of Mirror Soldiers had been unsummoned to conserve mana.

Now, wave two began.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The same pulsing sound echoed—the signal of war drums.

– ...!!

Sylphian’s eyes flew wide open.

It thought it was over—but from the sky, more damn challengers rained down.

It activated its evasion skill again.

But like before, it couldn't maintain the form for long.

And another blow landed.

The same cycle repeated.

Failed healing. Incoming assault. Forced evasion. A successful hit.

Over and over.

Eventually, even the torrential rain began to fade.

The roaring waves settled.

The number of wind spirits in the sky sharply declined.

All to conserve its remaining mana.

Under the clearing sky, Su-ho let out a gleeful snicker.

“Heh... Beautiful.”

So what if you’re Jeju’s number one monster?

What could you possibly do against relentless siege tactics like this?

And then it happened.

Thwack!

Amid the repeated pattern, one Mirror Soldier’s strike connected outside of the usual rhythm.

This time, Sylphian didn’t dodge.

Why?

There was only one explanation.

Sylphian had run out of mana.

Su-ho saw it.

And without a moment’s hesitation, he leapt through the portal.

‘Now!’

Now was the moment to strike.

Gripping the Blood Sword in both hands, Su-ho dove straight down.

The crimson blade radiated divine ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) light.

By the time Sylphian noticed the original Su-ho, it was too late to dodge.

It could only brace for the blow.

[ Steel Slash activated. ]

Slash!

Su-ho’s sword accelerated with gravity, empowered by his colossal Strength stat.

The red blade cleaved Sylphian cleanly—from the crown of its head to its groin—and the glowing arc landed with a final impact on the ground.

[ You have defeated the Half-Sylphian. ]

[ Gate has been cleared. ]

[ MVP of the Gate Clear: An Su-ho ]

[ MVP bonus: Additional experience granted. ]

[ MVP bonus: 1 bonus stat awarded. ]

[ Level up! ]

[ All stats increased by 1. ]

[ You have gained 1 bonus stat. ]

Su-ho had successfully conquered the Marado Gate.

Tap!

He landed safely atop a stone pillar.

From there, he watched Sylphian’s bisected body plummet downward.

Its core destroyed, the body began to unravel as it fell.

Eventually, it splashed into the sea.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Soon after, the rising seawater that Sylphian had summoned began to recede like a draining tide.

As it cleared, the now-exposed wet seabed came into view.

At its center—Sylphian’s grotesquely collapsed corpse.

Su-ho approached in silence.

Sylphian’s body—

It looked like a pale, deflated snake skin.

And at its center was a cracked, ostrich-egg-sized stone: Sylphian’s core.

Su-ho stared at it for a moment.

Then summoned the Guiyeong Spear—

And drove it into the corpse.

......

Silence.

With no response, Su-ho narrowed his brow in mild disappointment.

‘As expected... spirits leave no shadows.’

A shame.

Especially since this one had been just shy of becoming a mid-tier spirit—it would’ve made excellent nourishment for the Guiyeong Spear.

But what's gone is gone, and there was no point dwelling on it.

Instead, Su-ho swept the deflated corpse aside with his Blood Sword, then gave the spirit core a few light taps.

Crack!

The cracked core let out a sharp sound as it split in two.

Or rather—it didn’t just split. The outer shell crumbled entirely into powder and scattered.

In its place, several items revealed themselves from within.

A total of four drops.

Su-ho picked them up and examined each one in turn.

“This one’s Sylphian’s Mana Stone, and this...”

He moved past the mana stone and picked up a light green gem, checking its information.

[ Essence of Powerful Wind ]

– Rank: A

An essence infused with powerful wind energy.

Contains a high concentration of wind elemental force.

The light green gem turned out to be an Essence of Wind.

The Essence of Wind was part of the rare “Essence of Nature” series, used in crafting high-grade equipment. An incredibly precious material.

‘Essences of Nature are so rare, they don’t even circulate in the general market.’

And now, he’d managed to get his hands on one.

Su-ho turned to the next item.

[ Feather Sealed by Unknown Power ]

– Rank: F

A feather sealed by an unknown force.

The seal will break once specific conditions are met.

Lacks sufficient power of strong wind.

Lacks sufficient power of strong volcano.

Su-ho tilted his head.

He had no memory of this item from his past life.

‘What is this thing?’

No matter how hard he thought, nothing came to mind.

Still, he had a pretty good idea of what the "power of strong wind" referred to.

‘Judging by the description, it probably needs the Essence of Wind...’

Should he really use it here?

The Essence of Wind was a rare and extremely valuable item.

After some deliberation, Su-ho made his decision: he would use it on the feather.

It felt wasteful, sure—but unknown information was worth more than a rare item he already understood.

The moment he brought the Essence of Wind near the sealed feather—

[ The Feather Sealed by Unknown Power reacts to the Essence of Powerful Wind. ]

[ Wind Seal has been released. ]

As expected, the seal broke.

That meant the “power of strong volcano” probably referred to the Essence of Volcano.

‘But I don’t have that right now...’

Oh well.

He would just have to find it later—even if it took some time.

Su-ho stored the feather and picked up the final item.

As he moved to inspect it, a smile curved across his lips.

Because the last item was, without question, the highlight of this entire drop.

He checked its information.

“Show item details.”