Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

Su-ho was serious.

Not just the Olympian gods—if possible, he was planning to meet even the sub-Constellation-class gods on Earth and bring them all into subjugation.

'It's not like I'm planning to take all the shadows of everyone on Earth the way Umbra did.'

But he would have to put in even more effort than that if he wanted to win the Independent Game.

So the thought that came to him the moment he obtained the Godslayer skill was simple: meet the indigenous sub-Constellation-class gods that existed in each world and force them into his service.

'And if they refuse to submit, then I'll have to turn them into Shadow Divine Beasts like Typhon.'

It was another moment when Grid's words—that he should invest everything into his magic stat—hit home once again.

Jack asked,

- But that place called Tartarus, are you sure it's okay to go there alone?

"What do you mean?"

- If it's the place where you imprisoned the Olympian gods, then it means it isn't some easy place. I'm asking whether your current power is enough for you to survive if you visit it recklessly.

"Don't know? I don't have detailed information either. But unlike the Olympian bastards, I can leave Tartarus whenever I want."

- Huh?

Now that, he hadn't known.

Only after recovering the rest of his magic power through Un-Gi-Jo-Sik did Su-ho finally get to his feet.

The fact that he had invested all the bonus stat points he had obtained into True Demon also helped with the faster recovery.

"Man, now even when I use Un-Gi-Jo-Sik, my mana pool is so huge that it takes forever to recover."

- Still, be satisfied that you can recover at all. Spirit Energy doesn't recover like that.

"That's true too."

- Then what's the next step?

"Going to Tartarus."

- There's nothing else you need to prepare first?

"In order of urgency, this comes first."

There was plenty to do, but priorities existed for a reason.

His plan was to go to Tartarus first, achieve what he wanted there, and then spend the remaining time doing the rest.

For example, meeting the Constellations.

Su-ho recalled the system notifications that had been generated when he became a High Player.

[ ■■ requests a meeting with you. ]

[ ■■■■ requests a meeting with you. ]

[ ■■ requests a meeting with you. ]

[ ■■■■ requests a meeting with you. ]

......

Countless meeting requests.

They were the requests that had come the moment Su-ho became a High Player.

The reason they were requesting meetings was easy enough to predict as well.

'They're all my sponsoring Constellations, so they probably want to place bets on me like Heracles did.'

And in the process, he would obtain their power as well.

'I'm looking forward to it.'

So there was no need to hurry.

They would meet him even if he didn't rush, so for now he intended to go to Tartarus first, since he had no idea how much time that might take.

Su-ho snapped his fingers.

[ Tartarus is activated. ]

Tartarus, the skill he had copied from Typhon.

He didn't know why that guy had this skill, but one of the old traditions said that Typhon was imprisoned at the very bottom of Tartarus.

Maybe that was why Typhon possessed the Tartarus skill.

When the door leading to Tartarus opened, sinister energy and ghostly energy came pouring out of it like mad.

A dreary aura so eerie that an ordinary person would faint just from standing in front of it.

Honestly, he didn't want to go.

When he was a kid, he hadn't even liked haunted houses.

But he had to go.

At some point, his life had become nothing but things that absolutely had to be done, regardless of whether he liked them or not.

Su-ho slowly walked into Tartarus.

[ Moving. ]

***

His field of vision changed, and everything became dark.

Then a single road appeared before him. Nothing else could be seen—only a well-paved road lying there by itself.

'Is it originally supposed to feel like this?'

He switched on Mana Detection and looked around.

Nothing else was particularly detected.

There was no visible concentration of magic power.

The only thing in sight was a straight road stretching ahead.

Then there was no choice.

The only option was to keep going straight forward.

He obediently walked straight ahead.

After walking for quite a long time like that, he finally saw a door in the distance.

Standing before the tightly shut door, Su-ho slowly examined it.

There was no gatekeeper in sight.

He didn't sense any traps either.

At the same time, there was no bell or anything like that.

'Guess I just open it?'

So he just opened it.

He placed both hands on the door and pushed with force.

Kugugugugu-

Apparently it wasn't just a normal door, but a stone gate.

When he opened the door, all he saw was pitch-black darkness.

Even so, he just pushed through and went in.

Thunk!

Right after he entered, the door automatically slammed shut with a thunk.

The interior was still pitch-black.

It was just as the Vampir effect was about to activate.

Hwaak!

Suddenly his vision brightened, and a huge river appeared.

The river was brimming with magic power, and just as he was wondering where exactly this was, someone appeared from far away riding a ferryboat.

Clunk-

The boatman brought the ferryboat to the riverbank and stepped off.

Su-ho naturally went over to him.

No name card appeared.

Meaning he wasn't an enemy or a monster.

The man politely bowed his head in greeting.

"My name is Charon. I work here as a boatman."

Charon.

Rolling the name over in his mind, Su-ho recalled his existence from documents he had read in the past.

He was one of Hades's subordinates, responsible for ferrying the dead across rivers of the underworld like the Styx.

Su-ho narrowed his eyes and asked,

"My name is An Su-ho. But isn't this Tartarus?"

"No, it is not. This is the underworld, the land of the dead ruled by Lord Hades. I came under Lord Hades's orders to escort you."

"Hades did?"

Charon nodded.

Why did he want him?

No, before that, Su-ho had intended to go to Tartarus, so why had he ended up in Hades's underworld instead?

'I'll have to meet him to know the details.'

He didn't have any particularly strong feelings toward Hades.

Surprisingly, Hades had never participated in either the Gigantomachy or the Olympomachy.

'He only participated during the Titanomachy. Back then, it had been something very important to him too.'

Su-ho silently boarded the boat.

Then Charon boarded after him and slowly began rowing.

The boat set off.

For a river flowing through the underworld, the sound of the current was rather pleasant to hear.

While riding the boat, Su-ho did not ask any questions in particular.

Apart from not wanting to cause unnecessary trouble, he just couldn't be bothered.

But apparently Charon was different.

"Have you ever come to the underworld before?"

"Why would I come here when I haven't even died?"

"That's true. The living are not supposed to come here. Then what brought you here?"

"Like I said before, I came thinking it was Tartarus."

"Tartarus lies within the underworld governed by Lord Hades. So by the rules, you too ought to be one of the dead."

"But you said Hades told you to escort me."

"Yes, in accordance with the rules."

At that instant, Charon's atmosphere changed.

Well, would you look at this bastard?

Su-ho gave a short laugh.

"So according to the rules, you need to turn me, a living man, into one of the dead and take me in?"

"Yes, that is correct. But before that, I will give you a chance."

Clink!

He pulled a dagger from his clothes and tossed it over.

It meant Su-ho was supposed to take his own life.

Then he could become one of the dead.

Picking it up, Su-ho asked,

"Did Hades happen to say anything else?"

"He did not."

"That's strange. Hades should know perfectly well how things are turning out... don't tell me, Charon, are you hated by Hades or something?"

"Surely not."

"If that's not it, then I guess he thinks you're stronger than Zeus's bunch. But if he really thinks that, then this is kind of a major incident."

At those words, Charon also gave a small laugh this time.

"I understand well enough what you're trying to say, but it will be different from what you think. Because I am bound to this place, and even if I die, I will endlessly revive again and again."

"But that doesn't mean it won't hurt."

"Yes, of course I would feel pain. But there is something you should understand. In this place, no one but me can properly cross the river."

In other words, if he wanted to go where Hades was, he should do as told.

That was how it was in the actual legends too.

If you did not pay the boat fare to Charon the ferryman, you would wander the river of the underworld for a hundred years.

But what Charon demanded was not a fare, but Su-ho's life.

Su-ho let out a sigh.

"Right. You're the ferryman, so you're the only one who knows the waterways here. In that sense, Mr. Ferryman, look over here for a second."

Su-ho snapped his fingers to draw Charon's gaze, and in that instant Su-ho's eyes met Charon's.

[ Enthrallment is activated. ]

Su-ho did not miss the moment and immediately used Enthrallment.

Charon's face twitched, then he soon stood still like a stone statue.

Su-ho watched Charon for a moment, then asked,

"Hey."

"Yes."

"Sit."

Charon sat down immediately.

Yeah.

No way it wouldn't work.

Honestly, for a moment, because he had just stood there motionless, Su-ho had thought it hadn't taken hold.

But Charon wasn't even a sub-Constellation-class character, so how could it possibly fail?

"Stand up."

"Yes."

"Sit."

"Yes."

"Stand up."

"Yes."

"It definitely worked. Then now let's quietly head to where Hades is."

"Yes."

Charon quietly began steering the boat.

The boat moved for a long time before finally reaching land.

"This is the place."

"Alright. Good work. I just head straight up from here?"

"That is correct."

"Good, thanks."

Just as he was about to leave after saying that, Su-ho turned his head back and snapped his fingers once more.

Then Enthrallment was released, and Charon came back to his senses.

"...?"

A blank expression spread across Charon's face.

Then he recalled his memories from while he had been enthralled, and his eyes widened.

"How...!"

"What do you mean how? Like this. Thanks to you, I got here comfortably."

"......"

"What, that's your whole reaction? I thought you'd feel wronged, pull a blade, and come at me."

"My duty is to guard this place."

"Yeah. I hope that excuse works on Hades too."

What a shame.

If he had pulled a blade and come at him, Su-ho had been planning to test the effect of the Godslayer skill once.

Su-ho moved along the path Charon had shown him.

After a short while, he soon spotted a huge demonic beast in the distance.

The demonic beast was enormous, and at a glance he could tell exactly what it was.

Because in this world, there was only one being with three heads attached to a dog's body.

"So I get to see the original Cerberus like this."

As the distance between him and Cerberus narrowed somewhat, Cerberus, having caught the scent of an unwelcome visitor, raised its heads.