Chapter 1198. Cutting Down (3)

Chapter 1198. Cutting Down (3)

He couldn’t detect them.

By the time Kang Jin-Ho sensed their presence, their swords were almost within a touching distance of his back.

He had two options. The first one was to dodge. And the second was to stand his ground.

But Kang Jin-Ho chose neither.

Ta-aht!

Kang Jin-Ho kicked the ground and dashed toward the Tsukihas behind him at the speed of light.

“

Heuph

?!”

A Tsukiha member let out a stunned gasp.

How would a person react when a blade was suddenly thrust at their back? They would usually freeze up on the spot. Even if they calmly responded, the best they could do was dodge. Maybe an expert at Kang Jin-Ho’s level could have found another way.

However, there were more Tsukihas closing in on Kang Jin-Ho from the front, too. Which meant powerful warriors were throwing their lives away to kill him from the front while the assassins’ blades were trying to slip past his defenses in the back.

Responding to such a pincer attack should not be easy.

This simple but effective combined attack killed countless experts in the past. But Kang Jin-Ho’s response was unlike anything these warriors had encountered until now.

Lunging himself at the attackers faster than incoming blades would effectively negate the attack. The shadows could only stare wide-eyed at this unexpected and unbelievable response.

The shadows belatedly realized they should chase after Kang Jin-Ho, but it was too late by then. He was already clashing against the Tsukihas attacking him from behind. Not receiving the support from the shadows had already sealed the fate of these Tsukihas, however.

KWA-AAAAAAHHH!

A massive explosion of noise akin to a torrent of water gushing out of a broken dam rocked the surroundings. And the source of that noise was the demonic qi permeating Kang Jin-Ho’s sword.

Demonic qi that looked like fiery black flames or tsunami waves of black water...!

No one here could have imagined that materialized energy from a person could be that dense and even have an actual, tangible form!

The price for not assisting their comrades was brutal, to say the least.

The Japanese warriors ‘blocking’ Kang Jin-Ho’s view were cleanly swept away.

Whether it was their swords, qi, or even physical bodies... None of it mattered.

Tsukihas paid a costly price for trying to defend against something they shouldn’t have.

In a way, they got lucky. They got vaporized into tiny particles even before they could suffer from excruciating pain, after all! Some might say that dying painlessly after fighting Kang Jin-Ho would be a blessing in itself!

Of course, not everyone was lucky enough to receive that blessing.

“

Kkeeeeuhph

!”

“

Euuehk

!”

Three Tsukihas were completely swept up by the demonic qi and experienced a painless death. But the others weren’t so lucky as the demonic qi only swept past them halfway, causing their arms or legs to get severed instead. Which meant they had to deal with horrifying pain all on their own!

Kang Jin-Ho didn’t even bother to grant them the mercy of sparing them from this pain through death, either.

He used the rebound from that powerful attack to spring back and charge straight at the shadows next.

“

Heuph

?!”

The eyes of the shadows opened wider. That was also when they remembered something.

While hiding in the darkness, they could even take Kang Jin-Ho by surprise. However, these shadows were nothing more than easy prey when exposed under the pale moonlight.

That was why they had been carefully maintaining the balance between stealth and attack. But that momentary distraction of Kang Jin-Ho’s unexpected response meant they had lost the window of opportunity to hide themselves once more.

There could be only one consequence for making such a mistake.

Slice!

Two severed heads went flying through the air.

The other shadows used the sacrifices of their two comrades to slip into the ground. They inwardly prayed that the noise of their pounding hearts wouldn’t reach Kang Jin-Ho’s hearing.

In the blink of an eye, five of their comrades died. Several more were gravely injured, too. All this damage was from one exchange of moves!

Repeat this two more times, and Tsukihas’ numbers might get cut down by at least half. And the encirclement would collapse soon after. The only thing remaining afterward would be a one-sided slaughter!

The Tsukiha members slowed down the beating of their hearts. They also held their breaths.

For the sake of achieving perfect stealth, these shadows could even stop their hearts from beating!

Kang Jin-Ho peered closely at the ground before raising his sword. He then bared his fangs in a ferocious smirk. As for his eyes...!

The shadow’s expression froze still when he thought Kang Jin-Ho’s crimson eyes were looking directly at him.

But that shouldn’t be possible!

Even if it was Kang Jin-Ho, finding a shadow that had perfectly hid his presence should still be...

Stab!

The shadow’s brain sensed a soul-chilling sensation just then. He realized Kang Jin-Ho’s sword had broken through the ground to puncture his heart and could only stare in disbelief at his killer.

The shadow was still not visible to Kang Jin-Ho, but he still addressed his victim as if he fully understood the latter’s sentiments.

“You still can’t hide your body temperature, it seems.”

Had the shadow been capable of understanding Korean, he would’ve learned why he died tonight. Unfortunately, he’d never get to find out. His last thought was how ‘hot’ the sensation of the sword stabbing through his heart was, which differed from what he expected.

Yank!

Kang Jin-Ho pulled his sword out and lightly swung it to shake the blood off its blade.

Clomp, step...

Tsukikage cautiously closed the distance while glaring coldly at Kang Jin-Ho and his actions.

‘It’s impossible with normal methods.’

The warriors present were Shinichi-kai’s strongest combat force. No, it’d be no exaggeration to call them Japan’s strongest at this point. However, people like that still failed to break through Kang Jin-Ho’s defenses!

‘The story won’t change even if our blades get close enough somehow.’

Kang Jin-Ho shrugged off Tsukikage’s attack without suffering any damage. Someone like that wouldn’t get hurt by the attacks of mere shadows.

However, the true purpose of this exchange move was never about killing Kang Jin-Ho.

‘Two things!’

Sacrificing six lives helped Tsukikage confirm two things.

Firstly, Tsukihas could withstand Kang Jin-Ho’s attacks. Perfectly defending or responding appropriately was impossible, of course. But, more crucially, they could somehow endure against one attack. In other words, Tsukihas could survive at least one hit from that monster.

Secondly... It was possible to close the distance!

That was the most important ‘finding’ this time.

Once revealed, the shadows were no better than sitting ducks. However, when they were in a full stealth mode to approach Kang Jin-Ho for a sneak attack? They could fool his senses and get within a touching distance rather easily.

Since these two things had been confirmed, what should Tsukikage do next?

He chewed his words out to his subordinates.

“Change to ‘Flame’ formation!”

All the Tsukihas briefly stared at Tsukikage before shifting their attention back to Kang Jin-Ho. For a moment there, they forgot about the basic yet most sensible rule of combat, which was never to look away from their enemy.

Thankfully for them, though, Kang Jin-Ho didn’t exploit this opening.

“If we’re lacking something, simply fill the void with our willpower!” Tsukikage said, soul-chilling killing intent dripping from his eyes.

His resolution to kill Kang Jin-Ho regardless of the cost was clearly visible in his expression.

Kang Jin-Ho stared silently at Tsukikage before speaking up.

“Not good enough.”

These people were not quite good enough, whether that was in techniques, strength, or their martial prowess. At least their determination surpassed the Elder Knights.

It was easy enough to notice how determined they were from their eyes and overall vibe. They were fully resolved to throw their lives away just to stop Kang Jin-Ho dead in his tracks.

However, was there a crisis that could be solved with nothing but determination alone? Of course not.

It seemed that he had overestimated these Japanese martial artists.

‘If that’s not it, maybe it’s the case of the Round Table being stronger than expected.’

The Elder Knights drove Kang Jin-Ho to near death. Only the Crimson King managed to do that after Kang Jin-Ho’s return to the modern era.

However, these Japanese did not have the requisite strength to do that.

Willpower? Of course it was important.

However, no amount of willpower could make up for the lack of strength. After all, willpower only helped you unleash what you already possessed at full steam. It didn’t suddenly give you new strength.

If these Japanese didn’t have any other tricks up their sleeves, this battle was as good as over.

“No need to worry, though,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

He lowered his Crimson Destiny and Azuremourne until they touched the ground. The weapons began making grating noises as he lazily walked forward.

“Because I won’t half-heartedly fight you just because I’m not enjoying this anymore.”

Tsukikage bared his fangs in an eerie smirk. They had wasted enough time with this.

“Kill him!”

The moment they heard that, Tsukihas making crumpled expressions rushed toward Kang Jin-Ho. They raised their swords gripped with both hands near their heads and closed in on their target while maintaining a tight formation.

Kang Jin-Ho observed them, seemingly disinterested by what he could see.

Was this a display of the courageous spirit of warriors who gladly faced death, knowing there was no escape? What a stupid notion that was, though!

Nothing remained after death.

Praising the dead was nothing more than the living trying to console themselves. Death was death, nothing more. It didn’t matter how one died and how courageous or not it was.

If it took courage to rush into one’s death, avoiding death and running away should also be called courage.

Something about these people’s determination felt hollow to Kang Jin-Ho.

They didn’t seem capable of doing something out of their own will. What they did was nothing more than not avoiding the fate assigned to them.

Something like that might have a meaning in its own right. Even if that was true, Kang Jin-Ho still felt an inexplicable emptiness, a disappointing hollowness, from these Japanese martial artists.

‘This fight doesn’t feel good anymore.’

This had to be the first time for him. To think he couldn’t focus on the battle despite the stakes and the scale of it!

His boiling excitement rapidly cooled, only for it to start boiling again ever so slightly. This cycle repeated itself rapidly in this brief time span.

His coldly calm mind was causing disharmony with his agitated heart.

‘Let’s wrap this up quickly.’

Kang Jin-Ho spun the Crimson Destiny around before gripping it tightly.

The sensation of his favorite weapon still felt familiar in his hand. As long as this sensation stayed the same, Kang Jin-Ho’s way of fighting would never change.

The Tsukihas, their eyes bloodshot, reached Kang Jin-Ho’s position.

Kang Jin-Ho raised the Crimson Destiny to welcome the Tsukihas. It slashed down vertically on the Japanese at the front of the pack.

KA-BOOM!

Despite a sword splitting a person in half, the resulting noise sounded more like a bomb going off. The two halves of the corpse flew to left and right like cannon shells.

“

Hu-aaaaaht

!”

Even though they witnessed their comrade getting chopped to death just now, the Tsukihas still pounced on Kang Jin-Ho without a shred of hesitation.

Their eyes burned in killing intent and venomous drive, their other emotions already all crushed into oblivion.

Kang Jin-Ho gifted them with the same fate as their comrade. And that fate was... death!

Paaaaaaahang!

His sword scythed through space. Only after the weapon stopped moving did the shockwave announce itself to the world. The blade that moved faster than the speed of sound easily sliced through human flesh and bones.

That was when...

Kang Jin-Ho sensed a presence suddenly rising up from the ground behind him and smirked softly.

The Japanese still hadn’t changed their pattern of attack. Maybe this way of hunting was efficient enough to become a standard practice for the Japanese, but it’d never work on Kang Jin-Ho. Not knowing this would be their downfall this time...!

KA-BOOOOOOOOM!

That was when Kang Jin-Ho was struck by an immense explosion, throwing his body high up in the air. As the explosion noise rang out in the air, his figure crashed back down to the ground.

Bang! Boom!

Kang Jin-Ho bounced around on the ground two more times before flipping his body in the air and landing back on his feet. However, he failed to maintain his balance and went down on one knee.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

‘What was that?’

Kang Jin-Ho reached up and grabbed his left shoulder to find out that it was heavily injured.

‘How?’

Kang Jin-Ho’s eyes subtly quaked. He figured out that his injury was the result of that powerful explosion, but what puzzled him was the identity of the attack.

‘Even though I couldn’t sense any energy?’

A powerful attack was always accompanied by an equally powerful surge of internal energy.

Top experts like Kang Jin-Ho sensed the movements of the opponent’s qi, not their physical movements, to respond to an upcoming attack. However, he hadn’t sensed anything this time.

To injure Kang Jin-Ho to this degree, the attack should’ve required a massive amount of internal energy, so how was that even...

That was when Kang Jin-Ho spotted

something

, and his eyes quaked even more.

Tumble, plop! Plop!

That

something

fell to the ground before his eyes. And those things were none other than blood and bits of mangled human flesh!

Once he realized that, Kang Jin-Ho clenched his teeth. The

rest

of the Japanese warrior who had attacked him was now falling back to Earth, his corpse too mangled to be recognizable.

“You...!”

The infamous ‘kamikaze’ attack!

When that term popped up in his brain, an indescribably icy coldness began permeating Kang Jin-Ho’s glare.

It had been a long time. A long time since he was this enraged!

It truly has been, indeed!