Chapter 1197. Cutting Down (2)

Chapter 1197. Cutting Down (2)

It was cold.

No, ‘chilling’ should be a better description.

It felt like the air had transformed into razor blades. The icy air of dawn seemingly shredded Tsukikage’s lungs and quickly froze his chest.

He glared at Kang Jin-Ho. His eyes couldn’t get any icier even if he tried.

‘He’s different.’

Without a doubt, Kang Jin-Ho was different from every other opponent Tsukikage had fought until now. Merely standing still with his two longswords lazily resting on either side of him was enough to suppress the surroundings.

‘For sure...!’

Kang Jin-Ho was a class above everyone here. Tsukikage could feel that simply by looking at the man.

Tsukikage had killed countless people. In fact, he stopped counting the number of his victims once it went past one hundred. And that happened over twenty years ago!

Among his victims were people far weaker than him and experts surpassing him in strength. He encountered many powerful individuals he could never defeat in a frontal assault.

However, Tsukikage managed to kill them all and survive to this day. How was that possible?

The answer was quite simple: fighting people and killing people were two different things.

In a fair fight, a weaker fighter would never win against a demonstrably stronger opponent. However, that story would change somewhat if the fight was to the death. As a simple example...

Even now, someone around the world must be dying from getting shot. Did that mean the victim was weaker than the shooter? Was that why that person died?

No. That wasn’t necessarily the case.

Plenty of methods existed to kill a stronger individual. One could create stronger weapons or target the opponent’s weakness. Waiting until the opponent let their guard down was also an excellent strategy.

There were no set rules in assassination.

Tsukikage resorted to any means possible to kill his targets until now. If money was the issue, he didn’t hesitate with spending as much as the mission required. If people needed to be used, he also used them unhesitatingly.

What about sacrifices from his side?

He didn’t care about that. Everything was justified as long as he could kill his targets.

And so, countless stronger experts had died in that manner by Tsukikage’s hands. He was a man who didn’t care about methods or sacrifices. The only thing that mattered to him was his victory. And his opponents’ defeat.

That was why he was confident. Confident of his abilities that could kill any opponent no matter how strong they were! This confidence of his made him feel ashamed for having to lead this many warriors to deal with one target.

But now...!

Such arrogant thoughts were quickly wiped away from his mind the moment he clapped his eyes on Kang Jin-Ho.

Tsukikage’s initial impression of Kang Jin-Ho was that the latter looked more plain than expected. However, he realized the Korean was a powerful expert once the battle started. And, after exchanging that one move, he revised his impression again. Kang Jin-Ho had to be an incomprehensible monster.

But now? His impression changed once more.

‘It’s like Kang Jin-Ho is a lifeform from another planet.’

This was no longer a question of whether he was strong or weak. Looking at Kang Jin-Ho lazily resting his swords like that, Tsukikage couldn’t help but wonder if they were from the same species.

No one on this planet would suit the ‘arrogantly staring at his enemies while relaxing’ mode more than Kang Jin-Ho!

He was... a king!

Although that term had lost a little bit of its luster in recent times, Tsukikage still recalled that word while looking at Kang Jin-Ho.

He suddenly grew curious about something. Was the idea of ‘king’ disappearing in the present era because it no longer suited the times? Or was it because people who fit the ideals of a king had gotten fewer and fewer these days?

Until today, Tsukikage would’ve said it was the former. But his answer would have to change now.

If this world had several more people like Kang Jin-Ho...! The idea of ‘king’ would’ve still possessed the necessary significance and life force to trample the world even now.

Blood trickled down Kang Jin-Ho’s bangs and dripped to the ground.

His appearance was savage. Untamed. Vicious. On the other hand, his eyes, visible through his blood-soaked hair strands, remained shockingly clear and disinterested.

What a disharmonious appearance that was. How could Kang Jin-Ho remain like that?

Tsukikage might have been a veteran of countless assassinations, but even he could only maintain the stillness of mind right up until he killed his target. No matter how hard he tried to stay unflustered, his heart would pound away after killing his target. Even he had trouble calming his excited mind and body.

However, Kang Jin-Ho remained relaxed like a man on a stroll even after building a small mountain out of corpses and creating a river of blood!

That was why he didn’t look like a human being to Tsukikage.

‘We must kill him right here!’

It wasn’t because of the order, however. Tsukikage could instinctively tell. Actually, any person who encountered Kang Jin-Ho would think the same as him.

A demonic entity was reviled and called as such because it devoured other humans. If Tsukikage and his men failed to kill Kang Jin-Ho tonight, that ‘creature’ would try to get even by choking the life out of the Japanese sooner rather than later.

...With claws much stronger and crueler than Tsukikage could imagine!

That was why Kang Jin-Ho must die in this place, regardless of the cost to the Japanese.

Tsukikage yanked out a

kogatana

and cautiously approached Kang Jin-Ho.[1]

The sensation of the icy-cold weapon he favored so much gripped within his hand worked wonders in cooling down his pounding heart.

However, that was when...!

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly charged forward.

The space around him seemed to distort. The darkness of the night twisted and stretched as if to flee from an even denser darkness. At the same time, Kang Jin-Ho’s figure stretched forward.

Warriors not on the same level as Tsukikage would’ve mistakenly thought Kang Jin-Ho had vanished from the spot.

In the blink of an eye, Kang Jin-Ho appeared right in front of the Japanese warriors called ‘Tsukiha’.

Paaaaaaaah!

His sword scythed through the empty space.

CLANG! CLAAAAAANG!

Kang Jin-Ho’s sword containing pitch-black demonic qi clashed against a dozen-plus katanas emitting icy-blue sword qi. The resulting noises nearly ripped through the eardrums of everyone who heard it.

The Japanese warriors facing that attack head-on were flung back, their expressions crumpled in pain. Not a single one of them could even think about counterattacking. The weight behind that sword swing alone was almost enough to shatter their wrists.

However, even before the warriors could appreciate the stinging pain shooting up from their wrists,

something

permeated through their swords to dig into their bodies first.

“

Aaaahk

!”

The eyes of the Tsukiha members shot open wide at the pain akin to flames burning their flesh.

‘What in the name of...?!’

They had never experienced a phenomenon as bizarre as this one. However, they didn’t have the time to divert their focus to this pain. Because Kang Jin-Ho didn’t miss the opening and had swung his sword once more!

CLAAANG!

The Japanese warriors couldn’t keep their feet on the ground anymore. Their bodies flew up in the air just as their innards tumbled and distorted painfully.

Ta-dat!

The warriors landed back on the ground, their disbelieving eyes locked on Kang Jin-Ho.

“...Is he really human?”

This impact force couldn’t have been generated by a human being!

Even a collision with a thirty-ton truck driving fast enough to blow its engine shouldn’t be this powerful. That human-shaped monster’s strength easily surpassed everyone’s common sense!

If a casually performed sword strike produced this much impact force, how much more powerful would it get if Kang Jin-Ho went all out?

The warriors glared at Kang Jin-Ho, their expressions crumpling even deeper into a grimace.

The Japanese warriors pursued the ‘art’ of their martial arts.

Their way of the sword evolved from a simple set of techniques to established schools until it went past being an academic pursuit to enter the realm of ‘art’.

These warriors’ way of the sword had developed into the way of killing after going through countless wars. Even so, they still viewed upholding discipline and courtesy as the utmost virtue in their way of the sword.

Use the purest, simplest techniques to kill the opponent! Evolving the techniques of murder into an art form was a source of intense pride and honor for these warriors.

However, Kang Jin-Ho was completely different from them.

KWA-BOOOOOM!

When his sword came crashing down, the wrists and arms of the Japanese warriors shattered into bits. Their legs got shoved deep into the ground. Their knees broke while their spines distorted.

“

Kkeuuuuhk

...!”

While the Japanese had evolved their martial arts into an art form, Kang Jin-Ho’s sword displayed a completely opposite evolution.

His sword didn’t display any strict sets of techniques. It wasn’t even artful, either! Only the untamed savagery was apparent in his strikes.

At least he kept his attacks pure and simple. That was the one similarity they shared.

However, the Japanese kept things simple for the sake of their art. As for Kang Jin-Ho, he kept things simple as a way to kill his enemies with the least amount of effort.

As if to prove that notion...

Creeaaaak!

Kang Jin-Ho’s Crimson Destiny cut through a Japanese warrior’s katana.

“

Huh

...?

Huh

?!”

The warrior’s eyes were rapidly dyed in the hue of terror as he watched his weapon get cleaved in half.

Clang!

Along with the broken blade flying through the air, a person’s torso also split apart.

Splaaaaash!

‘Cutting’ seemed like an inadequate description. If their katanas existed to cut humans down, Kang Jin-Ho’s swords existed to sever everything.

Looking at the torso that got chopped apart in half in the blink of an eye was enough to teach all the witnesses here how the term ‘cutting’ was ill-suited for this situation.

It was as if primal savagery had been coalesced into the figure of a person. Kang Jin-Ho’s martial arts were simple to a fault but also undeniably savage.

Even if that was the case...

Maybe that was the most ‘perfect’ form of martial arts? After all, martial arts were techniques meant to kill others. No one could deny that.

Especially if they were talking about the martial arts of the martial world, not the ones developed in the surface world for sports and health benefits! After all, the martial world developed its combat arts to kill others. This was an undeniable fact.

Even though this was true, the Japanese martial artists still obsessed over aesthetics because they didn’t want to forget their humanity despite staining their hands with another’s blood. In a way, one could say this was their ‘Maginot Line’.

If a warrior became intoxicated by the act of murder just because they mastered the art of killing, they would morph into a lowly murderer in the end. To ensure they wouldn’t cross that line, the Japanese martial artists voluntarily confined themselves within the boundary of courtesy and aesthetics.

However, here was an existence that casually crossed the line of discipline and art to trample freely within the territory of wanton murder.

Ordinary warriors couldn’t dare match up to the swordsmanship of Tsukiha’s members. No matter how well-trained they were, a mere swordsman wasn’t good enough to touch the shadow of a Tsukiha member. However, that made some sense, considering only those filtered through a vigorous and painstaking process could receive the training to become a Tsukiha member.

Even Yoshinobu, ostensibly a commander assigned by Shinichi-kai to lead this army, wouldn’t dare to compare himself to a Tsukiha member.

However, Kang Jin-Ho was dealing with such Tsukiha members like an adult dealing with little kids!

Despite the one-sided nature of the fight, these Tsukihas weren’t completely helpless. At the very least, one thing separated them from the other Japanese warriors.

“

Kkeuh

...

Kkeururuk

...!”

Even as Kang Jin-Ho’s sword stabbed deep into his heart, the dying Tsukiha warrior didn’t scream. As the foam of blood bubbled out of his mouth, he glared at Kang Jin-Ho with eyes filled with pure, unadulterated hatred and venom.

Despite his heart being punctured and spewing blood into the open, the Tsukiha member used his arm with some strength left to swing his katana at Kang Jin-Ho.

Clang!

Kang Jin-Ho used his other sword to deflect the incoming attack, then yanked his weapon clean out of his victim’s chest.

Splaaaaash!

More blood spewed out like a fountain from the opening in the man’s chest.

Plop!

Yet another man died. This scene might have become far too familiar in this place, but the death of a man would always carry grave weight no matter what.

“Resolve yourselves.”

Someone among the Tsukihas whispered to his comrades.

“We’ll all die here tonight. However, let’s also ensure that devil will die with us!”

The sharp glares in the eyes of these men flickered dangerously.

Only their icy glares seemed to gleam within the darkness of the night. Kang Jin-Ho smiled in satisfaction after noticing the look in those eyes.

‘It has been too long.’

Of course, he meant those eyes. He used to see many such eyes in the past, didn’t he?

Those eyes belonged to an army of martial artists who resolved to sacrifice themselves just for a chance to kill Kang Jin-Ho. People who knew their martial prowess was no match for Kang Jin-Ho’s, yet still willingly chose to throw their lives away for a chance to die together with him!

Sharpened blades like them would always pose a threat.

Creak...!

The Crimson Destiny and Azuremourne touched each other to create unpleasant noises.

“Kill him!”

That was when the Tsukihas in Kang Jin-Ho’s front charged at him. Their swords gleaming in the icy azure light zeroed in on Kang Jin-Ho’s body.

At the same time...!

Shu-ru-ruk!

Dark shadows materialized from the darkness of the night and thrust their weapons at Kang Jin-Ho’s unguarded back.

1. A kogatana is a small Japanese dagger Samurai carried around. ☜