Chapter 1187. Fierce Fighting (2)

Chapter 1187. Fierce Fighting (2)

“Stop messing around with these kids and have a go at someone your size, you stinking son of a b*tch!”

Kazuhiro’s glare zeroed in on Bang Jin-Hun strutting toward him.

‘This bastard...?’

The Korean’s aura seemed rather extraordinary.

That face made him look like a senior member of Yakuza. No one would suspect his Korean identity if he got some tattoos and loitered around in Japan’s backstreets. Anyone with eyes would think he was a seasoned Japanese thug!

However, the aura he emitted was... Surprisingly pure.

Kazuhiro couldn’t sense any tainted

vibe

usually associated with people involved in criminal enterprises from this thug-like Korean.

Should he say this Korean had the face of a villain but the air of a Taoist hermit? Something like that?

Kazuhiro growled menacingly. “Insolent fool! I let you live for a reason, yet you dare offer yourself up to me?”

“What the f*ck are you yapping on about, you Jap punk?”

Bang Jin-Hun, who didn’t speak a lick of Japanese, grumbled unhappily while shaking loose his fists and closing the distance. His demeanor was exactly that of a drunk neighborhood thug looking for a brawl.

Kazuhiro subtly clenched his teeth.

‘This bastard dares to...?!’

The way this thuggish Korean strutted toward Kazuhiro indicated he was looking down on the Japanese warrior.

However, just who was Kazuhiro? Wasn’t he the captain in charge of Yamashiro-gumi’s army, the ruler of Kanto?!

Even if the entirety of Kanto was searched with a fine-tooth comb, there shouldn’t be that many who were stronger than Kazuhiro. As a matter of fact, he could proudly say he was the strongest warrior in Kanto if the bosses from various organizations, the ones who were too old to fight in wars, were excluded from the consideration.

So, to think this lowly Korean would dare behave this way in Kazuhiro’s presence!

“It looks like you’re too full of yourself!”

“I dunno what you’re saying, but yeah, even I can tell you’re insulting me.

Hah

, this b*tch...!”

Bang Jin-Hun grumbled while rolling up his sleeves.

“You already deserve a beating for invading someone else’s country, but you even insult the people trying to defend the place? Listen here, you dipsh*t! You ain’t walking out of here alive, got that?!”

Bang Jin-Hun’s expression hardened as he got into his stance. At the same time, he sneakily scanned the surrounding situation.

The fierce fighting had somewhat mellowed out. Of course, they weren’t shooting a movie or something here. There was no way all the combatants fighting tooth and nail would suddenly cease all hostilities and become spectators just because the bosses decided to duke it out.

Having said that, Bang Jin-Hun was confident of weakening the intensity for a bit. After all, buying time would count as his victory. Because that meant Vator and Wiggins would get to wreak havoc on these Japanese for longer!

This Japanese bastard must’ve understood that, too, and that was why he deliberately targeted what must’ve looked like the weakest link. He even led the charge on top of that!

If Bang Jin-Hun could stop this bastard right here, he could minimize the losses to the Koreans and end this battle in victory.

‘Man, I’m getting goosebumps.’

Although Bang Jin-Hun looked calm outwardly, he was definitely not calm inside. After all, he had never fought a life-or-death battle where everyone’s fate hung in the balance... in front of said everyone!

‘Then again, that’s the same for everyone here, isn’t it?’

If the war against the Yeongnam Group had gotten serious, or the purging of Lee Jung-Geol and his faction had spiraled into a full-blooded war, things might have been different. However, right now? Not many in South Korea could claim to have experienced a warfare like this in their lives before.

Even Bang Jin-Hun’s experience amounted to getting involved in minor skirmishes here and there. That was about it, really.

“

Fuu-woo

...!”

Bang Jin-Hun sucked in a deep breath.

‘Man, the more I think about it, the more amazing the Assembly Master gets.’

The mere thought of taking responsibility for all these lives and stepping up to fight a life-or-death battle had his legs shaking pitifully. And even his heart was pounding madly away, too. Yet Kang Jin-Ho had fought several battles just as important as this one.

Bang Jin-Ho slightly cracked his neck from left to right.

His condition was top-notch. In fact, he could say it was nearly at its peak right now. He should be able to unleash 100% of his skills at this rate.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

‘That Jap should be strong.’

That was practically a given.

Less than a year ago, Bang Jin-Hun wouldn’t have dared to stand in front of this Japanese expert. He might have ranked in the list of the top ten strongest in South Korea, but that list only included Koreans and no one else.

Everyone pretty much acknowledged that the gap in strength between South Korea and Japan was extreme.

However, Bang Jin-Hun oddly didn’t think he’d lose this fight. And the Japanese expert, Kazuhiro, didn’t look all that strong, either.

Was it because he was getting too full of himself? Of course not.

Bang Jin-Hun was well aware of how powerful Kazuhiro was. But the Japanese’s strength wasn’t enough to cower him in the slightest. The people he’d been interacting with in the past year had been too absurd for that.

After seeing what Kang Jin-Ho and Vator were capable of, how could Bang Jin-Hun get scared by an expert at Kazuhiro’s level?

Crack, craaack!

Bang Jin-Hun leisurely raised his fists. The time to prove how diligent he had been until now had finally come!

Shuffle!

Kazuhiro took on the

jodan-no-kamae

stance while glaring at Bang Jin-Hun.[1]

“Insolent Joseon bastard! Die while lamenting your pathetic limitations!”

“Hah, you sure love the sound of your own voice, don’t you? You smelly Jap f*cker,” Bang Jin-Hun retorted while standing firm in his spot.

Although he tried to sound confident, he knew this Japanese expert was no pushover. Just the mere act of raising a sword like that was enough to make Bang Jin-Hun feel like his skin was being sliced into pieces by the Japanese’s sharp aura.

Kazuhiro rapidly roused his qi. There wasn’t enough time for either of them to test each other out first. Even now, the battles around them were racing toward a terrible ending. He needed to kill this Korean man as quickly as possible to carve open an escape path!

Bang Jin-Hun slightly shifted his center of balance to the back foot as if he saw through Kazuhiro’s intentions.

‘No need to go overboard here.’

Didn’t he mention this to the Assembly members earlier? That martial arts belonged to the weak?

The weak invented martial arts to oppose the strong’s violence and suppression. The path of martial arts was all about enduring, holding firm, and eventually emerging victorious in the end.

As long as Bang Jin-Hun held his ground, his side would win.

Paaaaaahng!

Kazuhiro’s feet kicked the ground. Broken bits of concrete flew in every direction. He closed the distance at the speed of lightning before chopping down with his katana.

The blade containing the pure-azure aura came down on Bang Jin-Hun’s head at a speed naked eyes couldn’t follow.

What a soul-tensing clean strike that was!

It proved how long Kazuhiro had trained in the ways of sword up to this moment. With how picture-perfect it looked, this sword strike must’ve contained every bit of Kazuhiro’s soul he had poured into his training.

However...!

Rumble, wuuoong...!

Bang Jin-Hun infused pure-white strengthened qi into his hands and smoothly brushed aside the incoming blade.

Strength versus strength; speed against speed. Bang Jin-Hun knew this principle well. Maybe this was the true nature of martial arts no one could get away from.

Even if that was true, those who couldn’t win in either strength or speed still needed a way to survive using martial arts.

Could Bang Jin-Hun win in a contest of brute strength with Vator? Could he match up to Kang Jin-Ho’s speed? Not in a million years.

However, that didn’t mean he was giving up on his pursuit. He couldn’t stop chasing after those men.

A martial artist would be as good as finished once they willingly accepted their limitations. Only those who continued to chase after their dream, no matter how unrealistic it was, were given the opportunity to reach the higher realms.

Most people would give up climbing a mountain after witnessing how tall it was and how precipitous its cliffs were. However, only the brave morons willing to risk their lives to scale the cliffs would conquer the summit.

The path Bang Jin-Hun had discovered for himself was... Essence!

Paaaaht!

The katana’s blade slipped past Bang Jin-Hun’s shoulders with nary a room to spare. The sharp cutting qi contained in the blade alone was enough to split his skin and draw blood, but he didn’t even bat an eyelid.

As the blade missed its target, Bang Jin-Hun extended his free hand to exploit the opening. His palm strike landed on the elbow of the Japanese’s arm holding the katana. However, his attack was not overpowering or over the top.

Bang!

After lightly deflecting Kazuhiro’s katana further away from his torso, Bang Jin-Hun shoulder-charged right into the Japanese’s wide-open side.

BOOM!

Kazuhiro was sent flying away.

“What?! You!”

Even as he got flung away, Kazuhiro still somehow took a brutal swipe with his katana and cut through Bang Jin-Hun’s face. The latter subtly bent backward to dodge the incoming blade, but his evasion wasn’t completely successful.

The flesh near his cheekbone split apart, and blood splurted out.

Boom

!

Kazuhiro landed ungainly about three meters away, then glared murderously at Bang Jin-Hun, his rage clearly on display.

Bang Jin-Hun wiped the blood trickling out of his cheek. His facial bone would’ve been sliced apart had the blade cut one centimeter deeper.

‘Yeah, he’s no pushover, alright.’

An ordinary, run-of-the-mill martial artist wouldn’t have thought of counterattacking while flying away. It seemed that the Japanese warrior didn’t become the leader of Yamashiro-gumi’s army through a game of poker but with his capabilities, after all!

The ‘old’ Bang Jin-Hun wouldn’t have had a chance to dodge the second attack. Why? He’d have died from the initial strike, after all! Or, at the very least, gotten heavily injured.

However, this brief exchange confirmed something for him.

‘I am... strong!’

Bang Jin-Hun created a new martial art to teach the younger generation of the Martial Assembly. But that process helped him more than the intended audience.

By reorganizing and re-establishing what he knew, what he should’ve known, and the direction he should be aiming for, Bang Jin-Hun’s martial prowess improved dramatically.

Not only that, but...!

‘For sure, the Assembly Master is extraordinary.’

All of Kang Jin-Ho’s nagging during the creation of the martial art proved he had accurately assessed Bang Jin-Hun’s situation.

Back then, Bang Jin-Hun found all the nagging rather uncharacteristic of Kang Jin-Ho. However, all those words of ‘nagging’ remained engraved deeply in Bang Jin-Hun’s mind to create the current him.

“You... You bastard!” Kazuhiro roared. He glared in a pure rage at Bang Jin-Hun.

His anger was understandable, however. The Japanese martial arts focused on ending things in one strike. In Japanese swordsmanship, one must cut the enemy down in one clean strike, otherwise they’d be exposed to a counterattack.

Letting Bang Jin-Hun land a hit on his elbow and the side must’ve been an unspeakable humiliation to Kazuhiro. He would’ve been dead meat by now had Bang Jin-Hun been wielding a sword of his own.

‘However, life can’t be that easy.’

Although it was true that using a sword could have changed the outcome, different people were good at different things. Bang Jin-Hun was a fist fighter. A man who could shine the brightest when he was empty-handed!

“You dare?! You dare! You stinking son of a dog!”

Bang Jin-Hun’s glare grew cold as he watched the Japanese rage on. He suddenly began recalling what Kang Jin-Ho said to him.

"A man fighting in a war getting angry, resentful and hurling insults of rage is nothing to be surprised about. It’s impossible to kill your emotions because you’re a human being. However, letting those emotions control you is something else. If you wish to kill your opponent, stay calm. That is what your anger should truly be.”

Kang Jin-Ho was right about that.

“If the enemy is fuming, wait. The angry enemy is bound to attack you in a straightforward manner. If you can guess how the enemy will attack and patiently wait for your chance...! That battle is already as good as over.”

‘Well, it’s time to confirm if that’s true or not.’

Bang Jin-Hun spread his dukes slightly wider than before.

His enemy was getting impatient about killing him. The Japanese must’ve been itching to cut Bang Jin-Hun down in a single strike to regain his warrior’s honor.

Since that was the case, where would the Japanese try to aim next?

It should be the ‘central line’ that started from the top of a person’s head and ended at the groin area. That line contained all the fatal points that could kill a person in one hit.

Now that he had a good guess about where the next attack might target, Bang Jin-Hun opened his dukes wider to expose his central line.

Such an obvious ‘temptation’ shouldn’t work in a normal setting. However, what if the opponent was Kazuhiro, who had become somewhat blinded by the rage and the battlefield’s urgent situation?

“I will kill yooooou!”

Kazuhiro pointed the sword at his enemy and charged forward at the speed of light toward Bang Jin-Hun.

‘Yup! There you go!’

Bang Jin-Hun inwardly cried out in elation while getting ready to welcome Kazuhiro.

The blade thrusting toward him was certainly ultra-sharp. However, knowing where it’d aim made it easier for Bang Jin-Hun to respond. All he had to do was tilt his torso, and...!

That was when this happened.

The incoming sword suddenly spun to the side to change the trajectory in the blink of an eye. Now, it was scything through the air from the side to slice Bang Jin-Hun in half through his waist!

Bang Jin-Hun’s eyes opened wide.

‘Huh?!’

Soul-chilling sword aura could be seen permeating the blade slicing through the air. That pure, uncorrupted azure aura indicated how powerful this strike would be.

In that brief moment, Bang Jin-Hun’s gaze collided with Kazuhiro’s. And when he saw the Japanese’s cold, calculating eyes with not a speck of agitation in them, Bang Jin-Hun felt his blood run cold.

‘This f*cker, he fooled me...!’

Just as he thought that, Kazuhiro’s sword began digging into Bang Jin-Hun’s side.

Splaaaash!

Bang Jin-Hun’s blood spewed into the sky like a crimson fountain.

1. Jodan-no-kamae, sometimes shortened as jodan-gamae or jodan, is a basic kenjutsu stance. It literally means high/upper degree posture. ☜