Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 598

Boom! Boom! Boom!

How much time had passed?

While Su-ho continued increasing his pace, quite a large number of Monks had retired.

Su-ho was doing it on purpose.

Not a full sprint, but faster than a jog—a pace that would wear down even trained experts in a strangely exhausting way.

As a result, only a few Monks remained now.

Sweat poured from their entire bodies like madness, and their faces had long since stiffened.

But Su-ho still looked relaxed.

“Should we go a little faster?”

“Excuse me?!”

“Here we go.”

The remaining ones had to be the elites.

Then he should increase the pace even more.

And just as expected, before long, new dropouts began appearing, until eventually only one Monk remained.

It was the Monk who had spoken with Su-ho earlier.

‘So you’re the team leader type.’

Right.

If you were the leader, you should at least be this capable.

Su-ho maintained the pace instead of increasing it further.

Because he had become curious how long the Monk could endure.

“......”

Master Pyo, who had been watching all of this, was dumbfounded.

True, he had never explicitly said they all had to cross together, but he had attached his disciples to Su-ho in order to make the desert crossing more difficult for him.

Because he knew better than anyone how painful and oppressive it was to bear the burden of countless people following behind your back.

And yet instead of suffering under it, Su-ho’s eyes lit up whenever he saw a disciple fall behind.

Then he accelerated further and intentionally created even more dropouts.

It was astonishing.

Not merely Su-ho’s stamina, but the fact that he could be this cold-hearted.

“......”

Master Pyo’s thoughts grew complicated as he watched Su-ho.

Pop!

Around then, even the last Monk dropped out and disappeared.

Only after absolutely no one remained did Su-ho finally stop running.

“......”

With a faint sense of expectation, he looked around and waited briefly.

They had not crossed the desert yet, but since everyone had retired, he wondered whether Pyo might appear.

But in the end, Pyo never showed himself.

‘So that was wishful thinking.’

After confirming the trial was still not over, Su-ho resumed crossing the desert.

This time, he walked instead of running.

There was no longer any reason to run.

Nor did he take separate rests.

Since he possessed a body that did not particularly require sleep, he decided it was better to walk than lie down and rest.

As he walked, he continued thinking over the same questions.

What exactly did Pyo want from him?

But since all he had been told was to cross the desert, Su-ho simply kept walking.

And as he continued walking, the sun set once more, and night fell again.

It was a truly strange place.

There was no wind, no sound—only temperature.

During the day, the sun devoured his flesh.

At night, the cold bit into his bones.

Yet it did not bother him very much.

Though this place contained nothing but heat, cold, and sand, unless the temperature became truly extreme, to Su-ho, it was merely a sandy walking path.

Occasionally, he stepped onto weak ground and his foot sank, but that was all.

And after the sun rose several more times, there was not much left for him to think about anymore.

Perhaps because he was no longer impatient, his sense of time gradually dulled.

Did they not say that beings who lived for a thousand years perceived the flow of time differently from creatures that lived for only a single day?

Not that Su-ho was some thousand-year existence, but with his impatience gone and his body having transcended ordinary limits, the sensation felt somewhat similar.

It was a strange feeling.

Then the sun set once more.

The cold was severe enough for his breath to fog, but Su-ho felt nothing in particular.

He walked for some more time before a thought finally arose.

‘Ah, I’m bored.’

He still did not know what Pyo wanted from him.

Since he had been told to cross the desert through pure physical effort to gain the Monks’ acknowledgment, he had simply intended to cross it.

For example, since he had been forbidden from receiving any assistance whatsoever, he had no intention of using recovery skills or riding transportation.

But separate from all that, he was undeniably bored.

True, he had acquired a new goal in indie games, but that was merely a goal, not a source of worry.

‘Besides, I was never the worrying type to begin with.’

That was why he became bored.

As Su-ho wandered aimlessly, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘Wait a second. Doesn’t this only mean I can’t receive help with movement?’

Time was gold, and this was a trial with no known end.

In that case, instead of simply crossing the desert passively, Su-ho decided to make the most of this time.

‘And there’s nothing better for killing time than training.’

Especially swordsmanship training!

The moment that thought crossed his mind, he immediately activated a skill.

[ Blood Armory has been activated. ]

Su-ho summoned a blood sword into his grasp.

Then he assumed a stance and began advancing while swinging the blade.

Whoooosh!

The sword sliced cleanly through empty air.

There was nothing to cut.

That was fine.

There were many forms of swordsmanship training, and what Su-ho intended to do did not necessarily require an opponent.

Fwooom!

Su-ho’s sword cleaved through the air.

Fwaaash!

Each time, the sword wind blasted sand into the air.

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