Chapter 1191. Countering (1)

‘Dammit! We’re totally screwed!’

Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression conveyed how urgent he felt.

He finally understood the severity of the situation while calculating the best route to reach the Assembly from Gunsan. Merely looking at the faces of the people here was enough to let him know how challenging his new assignment was.

Currently, he was accompanied by the people from Vator’s camp, the Chevaliers, the Assembly’s regular martial artists, and physically weaker mages. And he shouldn’t forget the demon cult believers, who tired themselves out by unleashing all of their demonic qi and going utterly crazy against the Japanese.

‘Our mobility is the absolute worst right now!’

All these people were slow. Far too slow!

Maybe rushing back to the Assembly faster than cars would’ve been possible had all these people been in their top physical condition. But that would be asking for a miracle right now. The Assembly’s defenders had already gone through one fierce battle. Forcing them to go all out again so soon wouldn’t work.

Lee Hyeon-Su cried out, “Master, Sir Vator! For now, let’s pick a small group of elites first and have them rush back to the Assembly!”

“Got it!”

“On my way!”

The two men quickly got to work. They all understood how urgent the situation was, so no additional discussion was necessary.

“Director Bang, sir!”

“

Mm

!”

Bang Jin-Hun firmly nodded.

He had no choice but to stop receiving treatment for his injuries. Asking Wiggins to focus on healing him was impossible, considering the situation.

“Director Bang, please handle the mop-up, sir!”

Bang Jin-Hun scanned the surroundings. Rather unsurprisingly, the harbor was in a state of utter chaos.

The destroyed state of the ground and collapsed buildings could be hand-waved away somehow, but the more pressing issue was over a thousand corpses littering the place. Soon, the day would break. If the people showing up for work encountered this hellish sight...

It’d lead to utter chaos.

This scenery must be cleaned up as much as possible while the entry to the area was still prohibited.

“...Got it,” said Bang Jin-Hun with a simple nod. Although, he did hesitate a bit before that.

His sentiment was understandable, though. The Assembly Master was under threat by the Japanese. Of course he’d want to rush back to the Assembly right away. However, someone must remain here to oversee the mop-up operation.

He would have objected vigorously had he not been injured. However, as he was right now, he’d not be much of a help in a combat situation.

Knowing all this, Bang Jin-Hun had no choice but to keep his dissatisfaction suppressed as much as possible.

“I don’t need a lot of people, though,” said Bang Jin-Hun. “Leave around a hundred. Take the rest with you.”

Lee Hyeon-Su frowned. “No, that’s...”

“Look, man. It’s not like we only have enough people for one round of reinforcement, right? The Japs showed up in numbers, so shouldn’t we fight back with our own numbers, too?!”

“...Understood. We’ll go with your idea, sir,” said Lee Hyeon-Su while nodding animatedly.

Now wasn’t a good time to debate whether Bang Jin-Hun was right or wrong. They were in a race against time, after all.

“Still, what are we gonna do about all these bodies?” Bang Jin-Hun grimaced while scanning the area. “With so many of them here, we can’t dispose of them with the usual method, so what will we do?”

Lee Hyeon-Su pointed at the harbor. “I’ve already called for a ship. Please store the bodies in it for now.”

“Got it. A hundred people should be fine, then. Actually, that’s still more than this job requires, but we need a bit of insurance in case something happens.”

“Understood, sir!” Lee Hyeon-Su nodded animatedly again.

In the end, buses were the only available mode of transport. Ordinary martial artists and demon cult believers would travel in them, while...

“Master!”

Wiggins turned to look at Lee Hyeon-Su when the latter urgently called out to him.

“Is it possible to teleport from here to the Assembly HQ?”

“No, it’s not feasible,” said Wiggins while shaking his head ruefully. “Teleportation isn’t as omnipotent as you think, Mister Lee. We need to make a lot of preparations to teleport such a distance.”

“

Mm

...!”

“If we start right away, maybe we can make it on time. Unfortunately, that’d be only good for teleporting two people at most. Setting up a large-scale teleportation magic circle takes a lot of effort, but more crucially, you need assistance from the people at the destination, too.”

“In other words, it’s not going to work.”

Wiggins nodded, his expression grave. “We won’t need a lot of preparations if I’m the only one going. However, that’s not going to be much of a help...”

Lee Hyeon-Su understood what Wiggins meant by that.

Wiggins going alone would be pointless. What did it matter if your army of one had grown in size to become an army of two when you were facing off against the enemy of one thousand?

Wiggins might be a powerful individual, but he alone would not be enough to change the outcome.

“Besides, let’s not waste magical energy that way,” said Wiggins, his voice firm. “Select the first group of reinforcement. I can enhance their movement speed.”

“Will that be possible, master?”

“I must make it happen even if it sounds impossible! Our situation demands it, wouldn’t you agree?!”

“O-of course, sir!”

Lee Hyeon-Su quickly agreed with this idea. His brain kicked into gear to select the members that could start rushing back to the Assembly right away. Not only that, but those who could actually be some help after arriving, too!

“How many are you thinking of taking, master?”

“Anyone who might slow us down, even by a little, is disqualified. Shuffle them into the second group. Pick only those who can move quickly.”

“Then, around a dozen or so?”

“The demon cult elders, Sir Vator and the best of his disciples, plus the Chevaliers! You bring the rest with you!”

Lee Hyeon-Su clenched his teeth.

‘This is why someone like me is...’

He could understand it in his head, of course. As the weakest member of the Assembly, he also belonged to the group that would slow the reinforcement down.

Even so, he still couldn’t help but grit his teeth at the truth being thrown at his face.

“But, master. Director Bang is here to supervise the mop-up. Allow me to join you.”

“You...”

Wiggins was about to say something, only to stop himself. He couldn’t say no, knowing what Lee Hyeon-Su must be feeling right now.

“Very well. Do what you want. However, we won’t stop and wait for you even if you fall behind. Don’t blame us even if you trip and die in the middle of a road!”

“Thank you, master.”

“Now, hurry! Let’s move!”

“Yes, sir!”

Lee Hyeon-Su began rushing in full steam.

The urgency in his expression grew in intensity.

***

“All of you, get out!”

The cargo doors began opening noisily.

Dozens of delivery trucks all opened their cargo doors simultaneously. Such a thing would’ve been a common-enough sight in a distribution center, but the Japanese weren’t near such buildings. They were actually in the middle of a deserted nameless mountain road.

As if the passengers had been waiting for this moment, they all disembarked swiftly and silently.

Yoshinobu slowly nodded while observing the proceedings. His expression conveyed how satisfied he was.

“To think it’s around here...”

Yoshinobu scanned the surrounding area before looking up at the mountain ahead. He couldn’t spot a single flicker of light.

He glanced at his subordinate. “Is this really the place?”

“Yes, sir. According to the information we have, this is the place.”

“

Hmm

...” Yoshinobu grunted while scowling deeply. “I don’t know the geography of this nation well, but! This place seems quite far away from residential or commercial areas, judging from how deserted it is. We’re not anywhere near large cities like Seoul or Busan, right?”

“Yes, sir. It seems the Koreans’ circumstances aren’t the same as us in Japan.”

“I see.”

This kind of arrangement was unthinkable in Japan.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

First of all, Japanese

gumis

all controlled their own territories. It was only logical to build their bases within those territories.

Shinichi-kai ruled over Kyoto. Hence, its HQ was located within Kyoto, too. Not only that, but it was also located quite close to the city’s downtown.

After all, that was where most people and wealth flowed through.

‘What can anyone do while hiding on a mountainside like this?’

Yoshinobu couldn’t understand it. However, was there a need for it? When this place would soon be erased from the face of this planet?

Besides, the Korean martial society would soon change to mirror the Japanese system, anyway.

Yoshinobu scanned his men and spoke in a determined voice. “All of you... Resolve yourselves!”

“Yes, sir!”

“At the end of that mountain road waits the Martial Assembly. And that’s where we’ll find Kang Jin-Ho! Kill him, and this war will become as easy as taking candy from a baby! We will decide the victor of this war today!”

A subtle hint of heightened tension could be sensed in the air.

Kang Jin-Ho’s name was already well-known within the ranks of Shinichi-kai’s ordinary warriors. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

Rumors were like winds. Humans couldn’t possibly stop the propagation of rumors even with concerted efforts to control the narrative.

The stories of Kang Jin-Ho would’ve still spread around without him doing anything to the Japanese. But he did something, and that was inflicting a historic defeat on Shinichi-kai earlier.

The ones who managed to come home in one piece from the watery grave would lose their sanity whenever Kang Jin-Ho’s name was brought up in everyday conversations.

With the situation like that, how could rumors not propagate?

Kang Jin-Ho, the boss of South Korea’s sole martial arts organization, the Martial Assembly!

This organization couldn’t even reach Japan’s shadow in the past, yet in less than a year, that man’s efforts ensured that the Korean martial society had caught up with its Japanese counterpart.

On top of that... Kang Jin-Ho was a powerful expert the likes of which this country would never see again.

Yoshinobu and his men were about to kill such a man. Knowing that, how could they not be excited?

“The Iemoto will personally reward the one who cuts Kang Jin-Ho’s head off! I promise you, the reward will easily surpass your imaginations!”

No one replied to Yoshinobu. However, was there a need to?

The shifting atmosphere was already enough to let him know how everyone felt, anyway.

Yoshinobu glared at every Japanese warrior here before turning around to face the road ahead.

“Let’s go!”

“Yes, sir!”

Shinichi-kai’s elites quickly dashed along on the two-lane road snaking its way up the mountain.

The road turned out to be well-paved and winding. So, the story about the Assembly’s HQ located deep inside a mountain seemed true. But wasn’t this more like...

‘...More like an evacuation shelter or a hiding place?’

Yoshinobu could spy the Koreans’ intentions to avoid the public’s eye.

Humans had two ways of avoiding attention. One was to isolate themselves completely to avoid being seen. And the other option was to hide in plain sight.

The Japanese martial society chose the latter, but it seemed the Koreans went with the former. That had to be it, otherwise it made little sense to construct one’s base so far away from civilization.

However, Yoshinobu’s thoughts had to change not too long afterward.

The two-lane road seemingly continued on and on, with dense forests extending endlessly on either side. But then, the scenery suddenly opened up to reveal a four-lane road next.

‘Hmm?!’

He could now see large buildings lining up on the sides of the road.

“Have we arrived?”

The advisor shook his head. “No, sir. We still have to go further up the mountain. From the information we know, this area must be the Assembly’s dormitory.”

“Dormitory?” Yoshinobu asked back, his eyes widening.

All these buildings were dormitories? Also, didn’t they look brand new, too?

“I see. We ignore them! Keep going!”

“Yes, sir!”

While swiftly dashing forward, Yoshinobu’s brain kicked into a higher gear.

‘This scale of operation is nothing to scoff at.’

To think the Koreans had cleared out a wide area deep in the mountain to construct buildings in such a large number! The entire venture must’ve cost a considerable sum of wealth.

Even Shinichi-kai would have had to shoulder a lot of financial burden to do something like this.

‘However, when I think about it, it makes sense.’

Japan was split up by dozens of

gumis

. Kansai’s ruler might be Shinichi-kai, but its primary source of income was tributes from small-to-medium

gumis

operating out of the region.

However, the Korean Martial Assembly monopolized every dime generated by the Korean martial society. Japan might boast a far greater economy than South Korea, but this situation...

Wouldn’t it be similar to Shinichi-kai monopolizing all the sources of revenue in Kansai?

‘Which means the Assembly must be overflowing with wealth!’

Yoshinobu quietly licked his lips.

He finally understood why Korea was often talked about as some kind of golden egg-laying goose. And he also understood why Nanahoshi-gumi targeted Korea, too.

Monopolizing this much wealth would grant Shinichi-kai incomparably greater power in Japan than ever thought possible.

‘And it’ll come true as long as we kill Kang Jin-Ho!’

As long as Shinichi-kai acquired South Korea...!

Ruling over all of Japan wouldn’t be a distant dream anymore. Not only that, but it’d also become possible to target China next.

Yoshinobu subconsciously gripped his favorite sword tied to his hips.

‘Kang Jin-Ho! You will definitely die by my hands today!’

Although he announced that the one killing Kang Jin-Ho would be handsomely rewarded, Yoshinobu believed no one here was strong enough to get that reward.

Except for him, of course!

It was his duty to cut Kang Jin-Ho’s head off and bring honor and glory to Shinichi-kai.

“Over there, sir!”

Yoshinobu snapped out of his thoughts and looked ahead. He first spotted the entrance to the underground parking lot next to the road going up a steep hill. And further up on the road was a large building.

Yoshinobu strengthened his legs and dashed forward even faster.