Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

Of course, Su-ho did not recognize her.

There was no name card above her head.

Su-ho asked,

"Who are you?"

"I am Persephone, the queen who rules the underworld. I came here in my husband's stead because of your threat."

Her voice was sharp.

It could not be otherwise.

A stranger suddenly appears and says that if the door is not opened, he will kill your pet dog. What wife would possibly like that?

Still, it felt a little unfair to be treated like nothing but an unwelcome guest.

To begin with, Hades's side had been the one to try to kill him first.

Su-ho shrugged and said,

"You're the ones who tried to have the boatman kill me first, aren't you? I just kept things as polite as I could within reason."

"I'm sure you did."

"I'm serious. To be blunt, considering I was almost killed just a moment ago, the fact that I didn't take it out on your dog should count for something."

"......"

At Su-ho's blunt rebuttal, Persephone furrowed her brow.

Su-ho continued,

"So now I'd like to be formally invited in. What do you think?"

"......Follow me."

Persephone sharply turned her back first and began walking.

Su-ho hurried after her, and the Cerberuses quietly watched him pass by.

Haha, count yourselves lucky, puppies.

If it hadn't been for your mother, you'd have been in serious trouble already.

Before long, after taking a few steps after her, the scenery around them suddenly changed, and a splendid castle interior was revealed.

And Su-ho could see it.

The being seated on the throne at the end of the hall.

It was Hades.

There were two thrones at the end of the hall, and the empty one was Persephone's.

She, having brought Su-ho in, soon sat in her empty seat, and Su-ho stood before the two of them.

No matter how many times he looked, the one sitting on the throne and staring at Su-ho with frightening eyes was definitely Hades.

Time had passed and he had grown a beard, but Su-ho had seen him during the Titanomachy, so there was no way he could fail to recognize him even without a name card.

Su-ho said,

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is An Su-ho."

"What brings you here?"

"I introduced myself first, and that's all you have to say? Isn't that a little harsh? Even if you are the most famous one here."

At Su-ho's sarcasm, Hades furrowed his brow.

Seeing that reaction, Su-ho gave a short grin and continued,

"It's nothing much. I definitely opened the door to go to Tartarus, but when I actually arrived, I ended up in some completely different place. But seeing how the boatman came out to receive me, it seems like you deliberately pulled me over here, Lord Hades. Is that right?"

"That is right."

"Why did you do that?"

"All of the underworld, including Tartarus, is my domain, the realm under my jurisdiction. So why should I allow the likes of you, an unwelcome guest who sent my brothers into Tartarus, to enter Tartarus as you please?"

"Because I have business with them."

"And what business would that be!"

"Shall I be honest? Or..."

Unable to endure Su-ho's continued sarcasm, Hades grabbed hold of his spear.

Then Su-ho held out a palm, showing it to him as if calming him down.

"Oh, that's scary when you get angry. Then I'll just speak plainly. And honestly, since you probably already know everything, I'll speak comfortably too. To get straight to the point, I came to give them a chance."

"A chance?"

"Do you know why your brothers, and the Olympian gods as well, were imprisoned in Tartarus?"

"......Keep talking."

"I trust you know about the system too, so I'll speak freely. They tried to kill me, a hero of war. Whether that was the system's scheming or whatever else, they still tried to kill me, and I fought all of them in order to survive. But as you know, my rank at the time fell short, so I could not kill the divine race, and as the next best option, I threw them into Tartarus."

"You don't need to tell me things I already know! Just get to the point!"

"I told you. I came to give them a chance. I'm about to fight a great war. And I thought it would be a huge help if the Olympian gods took part in that war, so I came to give them a chance to earn forgiveness on the condition that they join it."

"Ha!"

At Su-ho's words, Hades snorted.

Apparently it was the sort of thing that could draw nothing but a snort, no matter how one thought about it.

But Su-ho was serious.

"Why are you laughing?"

"So you must think the Olympian gods are a joke. Do you think they are beings who must come when you call and leave when you tell them to?"

"Then what?"

"What?"

"That's enough honorifics. I wasn't even planning to treat you with respect in the first place, since you didn't participate in the Gigantomachy, but later the other bastards stabbed me in the back, so you ended up benefiting from that and getting treated with respect as a result. But if you keep being rude like this, I can't keep putting up with it."

"And then? You, who still fall short and cannot even kill a god—are you saying you plan to throw me into Tartarus, my own territory, this time as well? Do you think that would work on me?"

"Oh, come on. Do I look like I'm on the same level as those Olympian idiots?"

As he continued, Su-ho summoned the Blood Sword into his hand.

"During the Olympomachy, my rank fell short, so I couldn't kill the divine race. But because of what happened back then, Heracles became a Constellation and gave me the power to kill gods."

Su-ho, who had been smiling faintly, had his eyes sharpen in an instant.

"I was the one who still couldn't win even when the entire Olympian pantheon came at me. But now I've even gained the power to kill gods. You think I can't kill one like you? If you're curious, why don't you find out for yourself."

When Su-ho openly released his killing intent without hiding it, Hades's eyes narrowed.

To be honest, Hades could not guarantee victory.

No, though it was not something befitting the king of the underworld, he had no confidence.

Because no matter how much he might be the being who ruled the land of the dead, he did not have the confidence to face the entire Olympian pantheon alone the way the man before him had.

Even if his wife helped him, and even if the battlefield was here in the underworld.

And yet, for him to fight Su-ho out of pride and honor, there was far too much that he had to do here.

To put it bluntly, if he died, those who were supposed to die would no longer be able to come to the underworld, and {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the order of the world would become twisted and fouled.

It was infuriating.

But he had nothing he could say in rebuttal, and after a brief moment of thought, he answered,

"Fine. But I cannot personally bring them out from Tartarus. That place is my territory, yes, but at the same time, it also lies beyond my influence."

"You're not lying, are you?"

"Nonsense!"

"Then it doesn't make sense. If Tartarus belongs to the underworld, how can it be beyond your influence?"

"You'll understand if you go there!"

Hades suddenly flared up in anger.

Judging by the feeling of it, it did not seem to be a lie.

So Su-ho nodded.

"Hm... fine. But what you're saying now had better not be a lie. Otherwise, order of the world or whatever be damned, I'll catch you first and turn you into my Shadow Divine Beast. If a married couple both became Shadow Divine Beasts together, that'd be a pretty entertaining sight in its own way."

Talking like this made him sound very much like a villain.

Of course, he was not sincere.

But if he returned what he had received, shouldn't he make sure to return the price for the rudeness shown to him as well?

Su-ho slashed through the empty air beside him with the Blood Sword.

At once, the place where the sword had passed tore open, and the door leading to Tartarus opened once more.

"I'm not going to end up somewhere strange this time, right?"

"Right."

"It had better be. Ah, since we've already met, why not throw in one more bit of service?"

"What?"

"It's my first time in Tartarus. So to keep from getting lost, and so I can meet the Olympian gods quickly, attach a guide to me."

"Ha...!"

At the outrageous demand, Hades let out a deep sigh.

But apparently he did not want to drag the conversation out any longer, so he snapped his fingers, and soon a single bat appeared before Su-ho's eyes.

"Follow it. It will guide you."

"Thank you, O King of the Underworld."

Grinning as he finished speaking, Su-ho walked back into the door connected to Tartarus.

Before long, when the portal closed, Hades looked at the trace it had left behind, shut his eyes, and let out a sigh.

"Zeus, you idiot...!"

***

The moment he entered Tartarus, he finally got the feeling that he had come in properly this time.

Because unlike Hades's underworld, Tartarus was certainly devoid of any human smell or feeling, and was instead full of deathly energy and ghostly energy.

Fortunately, Hades's bat seemed unaffected by the deathly and ghostly energy, and it still kept flapping along just fine.

After thinking for a moment, Su-ho said to the bat,

"Take me to Zeus first. You know where he is, right?"

Flap flap!

The creature answered in place of words with a beat of its wings, then immediately went shooting off somewhere.

Su-ho mounted Cheolma and followed it.

He did not want to run after it like a child chasing a disinfectant truck.

Shiaaa!

Driving while cutting through deathly energy and ghostly energy.

It was cooler than he had expected.

The sky of Tartarus was dyed pitch-black, and with neither stars nor moon in sight, only pure darkness spread out, making anyone who looked at it feel a strange sort of suffocation. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

The ground was no different.

The land of Tartarus looked as though it were made of coal, so harsh and barren that not only grass or flowers, but even the stubborn life of weeds seemed unable to grow there.

How long had he traveled following the bat like that?

Kwa-reung!!

A tremendous explosive crash.

But the sound was quite familiar.

The corners of Su-ho's mouth rose.

Because he could tell that the sound just now had clearly been the sound of Zeus's lightning striking down.

'That bat's pretty impressive.'

To think it really found him in one go.

Su-ho moved quickly in the direction the sound had come from, and not long after, he was able to witness an interesting sight.

It was Zeus fighting countless monsters with Hera behind him.

"Huff... Huff...."

Zeus was breathing hard.

In his hand he held his beloved weapon, the lightning spear Astrafe.

But what stood out even more than that was Hera, badly wounded and catching her breath behind him.

'Are the other gods not here?'

No.

He did not see them.

Where had they all gone?

He had sent them in together, yet this was strange.

Still, monsters.

He had not known there were monsters like that in Tartarus.

They had jet-black bodies like Shadow Divine Beasts, but their lower halves were like snakes, and their upper halves were muscular men, while their heads were half snake and half human.

Just then, name cards rose above their heads. freeωebnovēl.c૦m