Chapter 1

 

Dark red blood spewed from Ahn Suho’s mouth.

His vision was blurry, and his breathing was labored.

His heart felt like it was burning, and his internal organs seemed to be twisting.

Despite this, Suho stood upright, holding the broken hilt of his sword.

It was a pathetic resistance.

Even if he was called the world’s greatest Sword God, a Sword God without a sword was neither a god nor anything else.

Moreover, the ones he faced were all S-rank awakeners.

No, they were beyond typical S-rank players—they were strong enough to be called heroes in the world, and they were the ones who knew him best… no, they were his former comrades.

Alex Morgan, known as the world’s strongest tank, smirked at Suho’s pathetic appearance.

“A broken sword, yet still putting on airs. You should have joined us from the beginning. Now I know why people say that civil servants are so inflexible.”

Civil servant.

Surprisingly, that was Suho’s official ‘occupation’ in society.

Despite having the skill considered the strongest in Korea and even the world, Suho, a civil servant under the Korean Hunter Association, chose the path of a public servant instead of a private guild.

There was only one reason.

In the past, Suho had lost his entire family to a gate, and he genuinely wanted the complete end of gates in this world.

Then someone laughed loudly.

“Indeed. No matter if you’re called a Sword God, if your inherent capacity is only that much, it’s no surprise things ended up this way. That’s why I detest bureaucrats.”

The woman laughing was Suzuki Endo.

She was the world’s strongest magician, also called a witch.

Archmage, sage, and many other titles, but among them, the reason she was called a witch?

It was because her specialty was deadly poison.

What would happen if her ultimate poison, ‘All Poison,’ was used on a human?

Suho didn’t want to find out.

Especially not by experiencing it firsthand.

The skin touched by the arrowhead smeared with All Poison had already melted away, and the pain of his entire body being cut up continued unabated.

Despite this, the reason Suho could still stand was thanks to the immunity to all poison he gained from consuming the heart of Venom, the demon of poison.

‘If it weren’t for that, my body would have melted away long ago.’

Of course, even the witch’s poison wasn’t completely untreatable.

Even though S-rank recovery potions, called elixirs, couldn’t heal the poison, there was one person in the world who could—Isabella, a saint-level healer with the ability to cure all diseases and poisons.

Therefore, Suho glanced at Isabella.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m here because I agreed to this operation.”

Suho said nothing in response.

He hadn’t expected anything in the first place.

If she had normal thoughts, she would have treated my wounds initially.

But Isabella didn’t.

As she said, she agreed to their proposal.

He thought it was hypocritical.

Spouting words like hope, love, and dedication daily, yet blinded by greed and doing this.

Suho, gasping for breath, asked.

“Aren’t you ashamed? How are you any different from monsters?”

“At least we don’t slaughter humans.”

The man who answered Suho’s question.

Hex Hood, called the divine archer and the hero representing England, spoke with a regretful expression.

“Suho, even now, join us. I actually like you, you know.”

Like hell you do.

Would someone who likes me shoot an arrow into my back?

Without Hex in this operation, they could never have put Suho in this state.

That’s because Hex’s arrows assassinated targets silently, without any sound or wind.

Suho quietly closed his eyes.

He was reaching his limit.

Damn it.

This time, I thought I could finally clear all the gates called disasters.

No, I had cleared one of the five great disasters.

Suho was hit by All Poison right after defeating one of the five disasters.

He thought he could clear the remaining gates and finally bring peace to humanity.

And now, betrayal.

The reason was absurd.

They said that if peace came to the world, they would lose their place.

Does that even make sense?

When he first received the proposal, he laughed it off as a joke, never imagining it was true.

He was careless.

He should have prepared properly back then.

“Huu…”

But it was already too late.

It’s too late crying over spilt milk.

Suho let out a long breath.

There wasn’t much time left.

No one knows my body better than I do.

The possibility of surviving here is zero.

So, he calmly regulated his breathing and took his stance again.

He overlaid calmness over his anger.

What he could do now was take as many of them down with him for the sake of the remaining humanity.

That is the last duty of a hero of humanity.

‘…I must succeed.’

Suho focused his mind.

The sword was broken.

There was no sword left.

His stamina was already at its limit.

But there was still one hidden move he hadn’t shown anyone.

Originally, he planned to reveal it only after it was perfected, but there was no other choice in this situation.

At that moment, an unbelievable pressure started to emanate from Suho.

“Ugh!”

“Don’t be scared! It’s all just a bluff! It’s the Sword God, after all!”

Feeling the threat, Alex immediately raised his shield and frowned, but Suzuki scoffed as if she wasn’t scared at all.

Yeah.

Think that way.

Think that and be sure to let your guard down.

Suho slowly raised his arm.

He held the hilt of a bladeless sword, and his raised hands quickly slashed down.

At that moment.

Slash!

A sharp cutting sound.

At the same time, the witch’s head fell to the ground.

“Aaaaah!!”

Alex, who was holding the shield, had his arms severed.

But there was clearly no blade.

It was a sight hard to believe even seeing it firsthand.

“W-What is this?!”

A shocked Isabella tried to heal Alex belatedly.

But.

“Huh? Why? Why?”

The healing didn’t work.

It was indeed strange.

She was the healer who could even cure the witch’s All Poison, after all.

Seeing this, Suho drew a heaving breath and lifted the corners of his mouth.

 

 

A flood of notifications.

Seeing them, Suho’s eyes widened.

The body becomes the sword.

The sword becomes the body.

The realm of Body and Sword as One, envied by all who pursued the sword.

At the same time, the first SS-rank skill in human history.

That was it.

Suho’s hidden move.

It was the supreme realm called the Heart Sword, or the Formless Sword.

A true Sword God’s realm, capable of cutting even space once mastered.

‘Finally, I’ve mastered it.’

Seeing the notifications, Suho smiled grimly.

He had reached the long-desired realm.

But it just had to be now.

It was regrettable.

And it was infuriating.

He succeeded in cutting the witch’s neck and Alex’s arms, but his strength permitted no more. Suho staggered backward.

Just before falling off the steep cliff, he cursed them all as a warning.

“I will never forget today.”

The allotted time had run out.

Suho threw himself off the cliff.

Simultaneously, the pain subsided and his consciousness faded.

However, the system notifications continued.

 

 

 

***

 

The world turned black.

Was he dead?

But it was somewhat noisy.

Screams, and the sound of destruction.

Is this the afterlife?

Suho slowly opened his eyes to the noise.

Bright light entered through his barely open eyes, along with a foul smell and piercing screams that stimulated his senses.

“Excuse me!”

It was then.

Someone picked him up and started running.

That rough handling jolted Suho awake.

The man he saw was a firefighter.

The firefighter, who made eye contact with Suho, spoke.

“You’re awake? An irregular gate has occurred. We’re evacuating you, so please understand!”

Irregular gate?

Why?

I’m sure I died.

Suho quickly scanned his surroundings, thinking it was a dream.

Uprooted asphalt roads and half-broken streetlights.

And under them, green monsters about 100cm tall scurrying around.

Goblins.

‘Goblins?’

That wasn’t the only surprise.

A sign in the distance.

It was the sign of a subway station no longer in existence.

‘Sindorim Station?’

How is that still there?

Wasn’t it contaminated when the gate went out of control?

At that moment, Suho remembered.

The moment he awakened as a player.

‘Could it be?’

It was then.

“Argh!”

The firefighter screamed.

Simultaneously, he fell forward, dropping Suho.

He had been hit by an arrow shot by a goblin.

The goblins, grinning widely, began to approach the two.

“Run away quickly!!”

The firefighter, who had been rolling on the ground, urgently got up and pulled out a fire axe from his belt.

But his arm was trembling due to the embedded arrow.

Seeing this, Suho got up without hesitation and snatched the axe from the firefighter’s hand.

“Let me borrow this for a moment.”

“W-What are you doing…!”

But before the firefighter could stop him, Suho hurled the axe and smashed the head of one of the approaching goblins.

Crunch!

The goblin’s skull shattered and it died.

At that moment.

 

 

A notification window appeared before his eyes.

It was the player-specific system window.

Seeing it, Suho couldn’t help but chuckle.

Everything was exactly the same as when he first awakened.

 

 

The system prompts appeared in succession.

Yes.

When you awaken as a player, you must choose a class.

Suho naturally tried to select warrior. He had chosen warrior in the past and walked the path of a swordsman.

But.

“I’ll postpone the choice.”

Suho didn’t choose immediately.

Instead, he picked up a metal rod nearby and stood ready to face the approaching goblins.

The firefighter, seeing this, asked.

“What are you doing? You should run away now…”

“Shh.”

Suho pressed his index finger to his lips.

Run away? Why?

The enemies were just low-level goblins at best.

A gleam of determination flashed in Suho’s eyes.

If this wasn’t a dream and he really had returned to the past, there were many things he needed to confirm.

But first.

‘I’ll deal with these guys.’

Suho charged towards the goblins.

A craftsman does not blame his tools.

The same applied to Suho.

Having reached the realm of Body and Sword as One, anything he held became a sword if he thought of it as such.

However, his body felt heavier compared to the past.

He had awakened as a player, but he hadn’t chosen a class yet and his stats weren’t what they used to be.

But so what?

The enemies were just goblins.

Complaining about facing goblins was just making excuses.

At least, that’s what Suho thought.

Closing the distance to the goblins in an instant, Suho raised the rod and struck downwards.

Screech!

A sharp slicing sound.

Although he had swung a blunt metal rod, a long gash appeared on the goblin’s face.

He had used the corner of the rod’s end to attack.

At that moment.

 

 

Along with the system message, a notification appeared stating that he had mastered the skill Vertical Slash.

Seeing this, Suho couldn’t help but smile.