Chapter 1202. Punishment (2)

Chapter 1202. Punishment (2)

Yoshinobu’s eyes trembled powerfully. He couldn’t believe what he was witnessing.

He even began doubting if the ground he stood on was real.

‘What am I even witnessing here?!’

He was a proud man. The pride in himself. The pride in the martial world he was a part of. And even the pride in Shinichi-kai itself!

However, right now... All the pride he had as a martial artist was crumbling down into nothingness.

Kang Jin-Ho’s battle against the Tsukihas had completely sidestepped what Yoshinobu thought of as ‘acceptable’ in martial arts.

What flustered him even more was that the Tsukiha’s method was not all that different from Yoshinobu’s own hunting methods.

However, the

quality

was different here. Their strength was incomparably higher! And their hostility was also incomparable.

One Tsukiha shadow should be strong enough to kill at least a hundred warriors under Yoshinobu’s command with ease.

Assassins emitting no discernible presence popped out of the darkness with zero warning, stabbed with their blades, then vanished into thin air again. Who would be able to defend against something like that?

When he thought about all the resources and effort going into raising a capable shinobi like that, Yoshinobu shuddered from the terrifying dizziness.

However...!

Those powerful combatants were reduced to nothing but couriers delivering bombs to Kang Jin-Ho. One attack killed one shinobi. Right now, combatants rivaling most average

gumi’s

combat strength were being thrown away like expendables!

‘

...This is madness!’

No matter how hard Yoshinobu tried to rationalize this plan, he couldn’t. If these shinobis throwing their lives away guaranteed Kang Jin-Ho’s death, then maybe it was worth the try. However, their deaths only led to some injuries on their enemy!

An obvious difference existed between ‘throwing your life away’ and ‘risking your life’.

Risking one’s life meant there was a chance you’d survive. But this assault wasn’t it!

Whether the enemy fell or not, you’d still die, regardless. Worse still, the odds of you dying without leaving behind a single scratch were also high.

Yet, these shinobis still threw their lives away?

“...!”

Goosebumps of dread broke out all over Yoshinobu’s skin.

In the past, the Great Japan Empire demanded that kind of

spirit

from its soldiers. They called it

Yamato-damashii

and tried to repackage the nation’s past into something more palatable, something more beautiful.

Now that Yoshinobu had come face-to-face with this spirit, however, he realized it wasn’t as impressive as he thought. No, it only left him speechless at how primitive and violent it was!

“Commander!”

“...”

The adviser whispered again, “Sir, shouldn’t we prepare, too?”

“For what?”

“Kang Jin-Ho is clearly getting wounded, sir.”

Yoshinobu fixed his gaze on Kang Jin-Ho again at what the adviser said.

Kang Jin-Ho’s clothes were all torn up. His flesh was ripped apart. And his bangs and skin were scorched black after he got swept up in the explosions.

“...!”

Yoshinobu gritted his teeth.

Indeed, even a blind man could see that Kang Jin-Ho was getting injured. The monster that even one thousand elite warriors of Shinichi-kai couldn’t injure was clearly struggling.

In that case, what?

‘Does this mean I must accept this method?’

The effectiveness of this method had already proven itself.

However, was ‘effectiveness’ worthy of sacrificing everyone? Was it okay to use human lives as nothing more than tools? That was what Yoshinobu wanted to know.

Before entering this war, Yoshinobu would’ve said yes without hesitation. To him, sacrifices were inevitable to achieve a noble, epoch-making goal.

However, he couldn’t bring himself to say that now after witnessing the ‘noble sacrifices’ in action.

‘No, there’s nothing noble about those sacrifices!’

Indeed, it was nothing more than sacrifices for the sacrifice’s sake!

“Sir, Kang Jin-Ho is still powerful,” said the adviser.

“...”

“No one has the upper hand right now, sir. We don’t know how this battle will end. That’s why...”

“Shut your goddamn mouth, right now!”

“...!”

Yoshinobu reflexively swore at his subordinate.

Of course he knew the adviser had done nothing wrong. Even so, he couldn’t do anything about this emotion twisting his innards to knots.

He had to suck in two deep breaths to calm the torrent of emotions before addressing his adviser. “Encircle the area as slowly as possible so that Kang Jin-Ho doesn’t notice anything. A wounded tiger is bound to become a calamity even more dangerous than anything in this world. But our job remains the same. We must ensure he never leaves this place alive!”

“Understood, sir!”

Yoshinobu withdrew his gaze from the adviser as the latter began conveying his new command, then glared at Kang Jin-Ho once more.

The way Tsukihas surrounded Kang Jin-Ho was reminiscent of dozens of gun-toting hunters encircling a tiger.

A tiger was undoubtedly stronger than a human. Without a weapon, humans could never catch a tiger even if there were hundreds, no, a thousand of them.

However, humans with guns were a different proposition altogether.

After witnessing the spectacle of science crushing primal savagery, Yoshinobu was left with something bitter-tasting stuck in his throat.

‘No, get a hold of yourself!’

It was unnecessary to get emotional about an enemy. Commiserations could wait until he killed the enemy. It still wouldn’t be too late by then.

Yoshinobu clenched his teeth.

***

Kang Jin-Ho lowered the Crimson Destiny and the Azuremourne.

‘The air’s gotten colder.’

He suddenly realized that the winds brushing past his skin felt icy. The winter was already a hair’s breadth away. Not even Kang Jin-Ho could escape the fetters of passing time.

Time had the power to change so many things.

For instance, time ushered in progress. The life in ancient Zhongyuan was incomparably worse than the one Kang Jin-Ho lived in the modern era.

One could even say that the life led by an ordinary person in the modern era was better than what the emperors used to enjoy back then.

That was what humans did. They overcame their environments and moved forward.

Even martial arts boasting absolute power once upon a time should soon become obsolete before the relentless progress made by science.

‘No, wait.’

Maybe it was already halfway there.

He got that confirmation today. Someday, martial arts would disappear for good. All the martial artists that shook the world would one day lose their significance and disappear through natural selection.

Or maybe martial arts might carry on as miraculous methods to stay healthy.

Whatever the case might be...

Kang Jin-Ho’s eyes glowed in an eerie crimson hue.

This was not a problem of pride or worth. The past him wouldn’t have felt anything about the method these Japanese warriors chose to attack him with. However, the current him was enraged beyond description.

That was because they lacked ‘it’.

If their method was all for the sake of other people, then maybe, just maybe, Kang Jin-Ho could’ve accepted it. However, their goal, their purpose, was definitely not for other people.

The only thing their sacrifices would bring in was jaded, fading ‘glory’ that someone might enjoy later on.

‘Who are you extending your helping hand to?’

This had to be his first time feeling this much disgust toward someone’s method.

Although Kang Jin-Ho hadn’t finished sorting out his thoughts yet, he felt an urgent need to quell this boiling anger inside of him first.

“

Ptooi

!”

It seemed his internal organs had been shaken around, judging from all the blood continuously welling up in his throat. The injuries on the surface weren’t all that serious, but his internal injuries certainly were of some concern.

Kang Jin-Ho bit his lip whenever the throbbing pain washed over his entire figure.

‘I had no idea I’d get to experience it this way.’

Every martial artist was bound to get curious about this: what would be the result of a highly trained expert going up against modern weapons?

Today’s experience confirmed one thing, at the very least.

Whether modern weapons could breach an expert’s defenses or not was still up in the air. However, if it did? No matter how powerful an expert was, it’d still be impossible to walk out of the encounter unscathed.

Who could potentially survive an explosion of this scale? The only people Kang Jin-Ho could think of were the Crimson King and Vator. Also, the Elder Knights could’ve survived the blast, even though they were no longer in the world of the living.

However, if that was flipped around, didn’t it mean that excluding those people, no martial artist currently alive could survive a bomb going off nearby?

The Japanese must’ve confirmed this, too. No wonder their expressions looked much more triumphant now.

‘Looks like they are more relaxed now.’

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled in dismay.

The enemy relaxing in this situation meant they were now looking down on Kang Jin-Ho. Obviously, he wouldn’t let such an insult go unpunished.

This place was a battlefield. Nobody, absolutely nobody, was permitted to look at Kang Jin-Ho with those eyes!

He’d soon teach them that harsh lesson.

The strands of demonic qi eerily dancing around suddenly began digging into Kang Jin-Ho’s figure. He suppressed his internal injuries with demonic qi, then crossed the Crimson Destiny and the Azuremourne before him.

Tsukikage narrowed his eyes while addressing Kang Jin-Ho. “What are you thinking? Haven’t you already experienced the might of our power?”

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly smirked weirdly at the Japanese.

Tsukikage tutted. “Looks like you need more demonstrations to...”

“Hey, you.”

“...?”

Kang Jin-Ho cut Tsukikage off with a quick insult.

“Unlike what I heard about you people, you yap too much.”

“...You dare!”

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly realized the Japanese being talkative wasn’t such a bad thing. Might as well let the man talk as much as he wants, since he’d never be able to talk again pretty soon!

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly dashed forward like a streak of light.

Tsukihas’ brows shot up. Kang Jin-Ho’s speed had gotten incomparably faster than before!

Until now, Kang Jin-Ho’s attacks were more like him using brute force to crush everything before him. But his method had suddenly changed now.

As Kang Jin-Ho closed in at a scarcely believable speed, the Japanese warriors reflexively thrust their katanas.

Shuffle...!

Kang Jin-Ho expertly evaded all the blades stabbing toward him. He twisted his body just enough to let the blades brush by him, then wielded his two swords at a speed far surpassing his previous attacks.

Paaaaaaaahang!

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Only after his swords scythed through the air dozens of times did the eardrum-rupturing shockwaves explode forth. The air screamed and violently rippled after the two swords ripped through it.

However, by the time shockwaves rocked the air, Kang Jin-Ho was already gone. The violent shockwaves slammed into the space seemingly frozen in time.

“

Kkueawwahk

?!”

“

Aaaaahk

!”

Severed arms and legs tumbled to the ground.

It was different now!

Kang Jin-Ho always killed those he targeted. Those who got unlucky and got swept up in the attack might survive, but once he targeted someone, that person was dead for sure.

However, Kang Jin-Ho didn’t do that this time. He didn’t bother wasting time by finishing off his targets for good.

If he saw an opening, he didn’t care what he cut, whether that was a throat or a wrist!

He approached his targets at his top speed, swung his sword even faster, then moved away from there just as quickly. And that had an effect akin to the fall of dominoes.

The shadows emerging from the darkness couldn’t keep up with Kang Jin-Ho’s speed and could only ungainly swish at the empty air. Kang Jin-Ho simply ignored those shadows and kept charging forward.

A combined attack only worked when everyone was in sync. Right now, keeping up with Kang Jin-Ho was simply impossible for the shadows hiding in the darkness. The only reason why they managed to detonate their bombs was all thanks to Tsukihas throwing their lives away to stop Kang Jin-Ho for a brief moment.

However, with that combined assault out of the picture, these shadows couldn’t rely on their speed to catch up to Kang Jin-Ho.

A proverbial wrench was thrown into their carefully crafted combined assault.

Paaaaahng!

That couldn’t have been the noise of swinging a sword. The noise akin to a jet engine explosively gushing air out swept across the land that Kang Jin-Ho’s sword had brushed past.

“No! Stop him! Stop him just once! One person stopping him will be enough! That’s all we need!”

Of course these Tsukihas knew that, too. However, how should they do that?

How were they supposed to stop an enemy who moved faster than their eyes could chase, swung his sword like some kind of devil, then distanced himself in the blink of an eye like a mirage?!

They couldn’t see his movements or his swords, so how?!

“Uwaaahk!”

Tsukihas yanked out their spare katanas.

Those with functioning brains hurriedly wielded several swords to protect their surroundings. It might be impossible to stop Kang Jin-Ho with their skills alone, but what if their swords got in his way instead? Wouldn’t that mean they might stop Kang Jin-Ho and his inconceivable movements somehow?

Their guess proved correct.

Claaaaang!

Kang Jin-Ho’s Crimson Destiny collided with a katana to create a cascade of sparks and a metallic shriek. The Tsukihas became elated after noticing that Kang Jin-Ho’s sword had stopped for a moment.

As if to not miss this chance, two shadows suddenly shot up from the ground.

But that was when Tsukihas saw ‘it’. They saw Kang Jin-Ho’s expression suddenly changing!

That man’s expressionless face changed into a smirk that froze the souls of anyone daring to look at him.

Kang Jin-Ho let go of his swords, then reached down to grab the collars of the shadows rising up from below. Without skipping a beat, he tossed the two Japanese forward, grabbed his still-airborne swords, then flung himself back.

“Ah...!”

Tsukihas watched the shadows flying in toward them and realized what that signified. Only the despair-laden gasps leaked out of their mouths just then.

KA-BOOOOOOM!

Torn flesh rained down everywhere.