Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

# A rune that can evolve a living being into an existence one rank higher.

# It can only be used on living beings.

# It cannot be used on living beings whose rank is too high.

There was nothing different.

The only thing he could trust was his own elevated player rank.

At that moment, a notification appeared before Su-ho's eyes.

[ The evolution of Hollow Jack, King of the Shadow Divine Beasts, is beginning. ]

"...!!"

It worked.

At last, the system had acknowledged it.

That Su-ho's rank was now higher than Jack's.

At that moment, Jack's voice rang through Su-ho's head.

- Heh heh heh, congratulations, Master.

- Yeah, thanks. You hang in there too.

With those words, the conversation was cut off.

The light intensified further, and the light that had burst out gradually seemed to begin stabilizing, and after more time passed, Jack's silhouette slowly started to become visible.

Paaat!

The light disappeared completely.

In the meantime, Jack was standing upright with his eyes closed.

Without saying a word, Su-ho stood in front of him and waited for Jack to open his eyes.

At that moment, Jack's eyes suddenly snapped open.

- Haaah....

A sigh exhaled as though releasing a lump stuck inside.

Strangely enough, when he breathed out, something that was neither clearly steam nor smoke came out of his mouth.

Then, starting with his fingers, he slowly began moving his body and looked at Su-ho as he said,

- The evolution was a success.

"Really?"

- Definitely.

That was when it happened.

[ The evolution has ended. ]

[ Hollow Jack, King of the Shadow Divine Beasts, has succeeded in fully absorbing the Rune of Life Evolution. ]

[ Hollow Jack, King of the Shadow Divine Beasts, has his abilities greatly enhanced. ]

[ Hollow Jack, King of the Shadow Divine Beasts, has his information changed. ]

[ You have accomplished a truly remarkable achievement that no player has ever achieved. ]

[ The system recognizes your noble achievement and gifts you 20 bonus stat points. ]

A stream of notifications appeared.

They were system notifications guaranteeing Jack's successful evolution.

Only after seeing the notifications did a bright smile finally spread across Su-ho's face.

"It really worked?"

- So when I tell you, you don't believe it, but when you see a system notification, then you believe it?

"It's not that I didn't believe you. The timing was just like that. Anyway, congratulations. I was seriously nervous, wondering what we'd do if it failed again this time."

- Krrk, that's why I told you it had succeeded before the evolution even started.

"But do you really get that kind of feeling right away? Like, a feeling that you're about to evolve?"

- You do. Because I've felt something similar once before in my life.

"When?"

- When I was reborn as a Shadow Divine Beast.

"Ah."

Well, when you really thought about it, that had basically been a kind of evolution too.

Su-ho nodded and asked,

"So what do you think changed specifically? From the outside, it doesn't look like anything changed."

- Really?

At those words, Jack began releasing his energy.

Then, a dark violet aura that Su-ho had never seen before wrapped itself around the outline of Jack's body.

"Oh, the outline color changed?"

- Outline color? I see. But now that you put it that way, it feels like I've become some kind of object.

"It's just how it came out. What else?"

- There's no outward change. But I can feel it. The energies I possessed have become even purer and stronger. And....

As he continued, Jack stretched out his hand.

- I can also feel that my ability to utilize Spirit Energy and the shadow magic I knew have both grown even stronger.

"Hmm, so it was evolution, but instead of an outward change, it feels like the inside grew."

- I'm already a shadow summon. What would there even be to evolve on the outside? It's better for the inside to evolve instead.

"That's true too."

With this, the use of the Rune of Life Evolution, which had been postponed again and again against his intentions, was finally over.

The 20 bonus stat points he had just obtained were all invested into True Demon.

Only after even finishing stat distribution did Su-ho call Jack in a casual tone.

"Jack."

- What?

"My player rank became High, and you also evolved another step. My True Demon stat color turned Gold too, so shouldn't it be possible now?"

- What should?

"The summoning of a Shadow Divine Beast."

Summoning of a Shadow Divine Beast.

To be exact, he meant summoning Typhon as a Shadow Divine Beast.

The reason he hadn't made use of the Typhon corpse he had secured before was that back then, he had lacked confidence in the level of power he possessed.

But now that he had achieved growth across the board, didn't it seem possible now?

Jack stroked his chin and began to think.

- Hmm....

"Why? You think it'll be hard?"

- To be honest, I can't be certain. Judging by the way things feel now, it seems like it should succeed, but I think this is another kind of problem altogether.

"You chickening out? Your tongue's gotten a little long."

- Ho ho, chickening out?

At the words asking if he was scared, Jack flicked his finger.

Then a large wormhole formed before the two of them, and Typhon's corpse rose out from inside it.

Typhon's corpse was warm, as though it had just died.

- Fine then, I'll show you. Just how incredible a one-step-evolved King of the Shadow Divine Beasts is. Riding this momentum, I will definitely make it succeed.

"As expected of the King of the Shadow Divine Beasts!"

Jack immediately attempted the challenge, acting as though he had been provoked by the taunt.

In truth, he had not been provoked.

It was just that he couldn't keep putting off Typhon's summoning forever, pushed back by the psychological battle known as fear of probability, so he was acting as though he had been goaded and trying it right away.

Since they said momentum was eighty percent of the battle, momentum mattered in everything.

After bringing out Typhon's corpse, Jack immediately began releasing his energy.

Naturally, he was using Su-ho's energy.

Hwaaa!

Su-ho's True Demon was drawn out and wrapped around Typhon.

Jack began chanting shadow magic, and the incantation became visualized and wrapped around Typhon.

Several layers of magic circles spread across the ground as the preparations for summoning began, and Jack focused his mind more than ever before.

- A great deal of Spirit Energy is going to drain out at once. Focus your mind, Master.

At those words, Su-ho quickly sat down, set his posture, and began Un-Gi-Jo-Sik.

[ Un-Gi-Jo-Sik is activated. ]

Wooong!

As time passed, more and more magic power began draining out.

As expected, it was Typhon.

This was not easy.

But he had no intention of giving up.

Su-ho concentrated on recovery, and Jack concentrated on the summoning.

Once time had passed and all the preparations were complete, the incantation and the magic circles began resonating with each other.

[ Umbra's Shadow Legacy is activated. ]

[ Hollow Jack, King of the Shadow Divine Beasts, uses Summoning of a Shadow Divine Beast. ]

The summoning of a Shadow Divine Beast began.

The Spirit Energy, layered together with everything else, began wrapping Typhon and pulling him beneath the ground, and the surrounding air slowly began vibrating in a crescendo.

Hwaaaaa!

Another massive chunk of True Demon drained away.

A dizzy spell hit him.

Even though the magic stat rank of his True Demon had turned Gold, he was still dizzy. Just how much magic power did the summoning of Typhon as a Shadow Divine Beast devour?

'Ugh.'

The dizziness intensified.

He felt lightheaded.

It had been a very long time since he had felt like this.

But he could not give up.

And he did not want to lose.

Typhon was something he might never get a second chance to have.

Thinking not only of the East-West War that would soon arrive but also of the Independent Game he would participate in later, Typhon was absolutely an existence he wanted to have.

That was when it happened.

Hwaaaaaaa!!

Another burst of light.

It was on an enormous scale.

It was like a flash grenade... no, like what came right after a nuclear bomb had gone off, as an immense mass of light swept over everything in all directions.

"W-What the hell is this?!"

Even Pi Seong-yeol, who had been working the Mega Crusher in one corner of the Subspace House, was startled.

He had deliberately summoned Typhon far off in the distance, but the burst of light generated by the summoning of a Shadow Divine Beast was just that powerful.

Then, after some time, the mass of light slowly began to diminish.

The light that had spread outward retreated as though backpedaling, returning all the way to where Jack and Su-ho were, and soon condensed where Typhon had been lying.

[ Reconstructing the target. ]

A short system notification.

At the same time, something slowly began rising from the place where Typhon had sunk down.

Like when a transforming robot appeared, it began rising from the head first, and its identity was Typhon.

Jet-black Typhon.

Like Jack, his entire body was composed of a pitch-black shadow spirit form, and his size was every bit as enormous as the original Typhon had been.

'It worked!'

When Typhon's body was reconstructed, Su-ho clenched his fist in joy.

Un-Gi-Jo-Sik was still continuing as it was.

Because the amount of True Demon draining away was still monstrous.

He focused his mind all the way to the end, and at last, when even Typhon's toes had been fully summoned, Su-ho was able to see the notification he had longed so desperately for.

[ You have succeeded in the summoning of a Shadow Divine Beast. ]

[ You are the first to succeed in the summoning of a Shadow Divine Beast. ]

[ You have succeeded in the summoning of a Shadow Divine Beast with a target of high rank. ]

[ You have accomplished a truly remarkable achievement that no player has ever achieved. ]

[ The system recognizes your noble achievement and gifts you 20 bonus stat points. ]

[ Would you like to name the newly summoned Shadow Divine Beast? ]

Success in summoning the Divine Beast.

Its price was 20 bonus stat points.

But even more pleasing than that was the fact itself that he had succeeded in a complete summoning without wasting Typhon's corpse.

"I'll name him Typhon."

[ The newly summoned Shadow Divine Beast is being given the name 'Typhon.' ]

[ Typhon will swear loyalty to you. ]

"Grrrrooooooar!!"

He did not change the name.

Because the name Typhon itself carried weight and power.

As if Typhon too was grateful for that fact, the moment the name was bestowed, he let out a full-throated roar so loud it seemed like it would blow the Subspace House away.

"Wow... it worked."

Thud.

After succeeding in the summoning and even giving him a name, Su-ho finally let the tension leave him and flopped backward onto the ground.

Everything was spinning before his eyes.

It felt like this was the first time he had used this much True Demon in such a short span of time.

But he did not regret it.

It did not feel like a waste.

Because he had succeeded in obtaining none other than Typhon as a Shadow Divine Beast.

Jack flopped down beside the sprawled-out Su-ho.

- Whew, let me lie down too.

"Haha, good work."

- I told you, didn't I? That I'd pull it off. Who am I? I'm the King of the Shadow Divine Beasts, no less.

"Now that Typhon's here, shouldn't you be giving that title back?"

- Oh, please. Why would I, to some guy who's only bigger than me but loses to me in seniority?

"So the position of Divine Beast King is decided by seniority?"

- Do you think it's decided by seniority? Anyway, good work. That was perfect teamwork.

Still lying down, the two of them exchanged a high five.

Then, after catching their breath for a while, Su-ho said,

"Then now that we've summoned Typhon, should we go there once?"

- Go where?

"Tartarus."

- What?

At the word Tartarus, Jack, who had been lying down, sprang to his feet.

- Why there?

Still lying down, Su-ho said,

"Why are you so surprised? Now that I've got Godslayer and Typhon, it's time to go gather some heavyweights on the level of the Six Great Demons under my command. Are we not preparing for the East-West War and the Independent Game? As far as I can tell, the only heavyweights on that level are the Olympian gods."

As he answered, Su-ho grinned.