Chapter 364: On Display (4)

“Hurry up and get a move on! Hurry the hell up!” Bang Jin-Hun roared angrily.

The time to act covertly had ended a while ago. The Yeongnam Group should have discovered that the Martial Assembly's troops had shown up.

'Either that or they already knew we were coming.'

Considering the Yeongnam Group's powerful information network, the odds of them detecting the Martial Assembly's movement were pretty high. Even if they didn't, they should know now. The Martial Assembly was making a commotion in what was practically the Yeongnam Group's front yard, anyway.

'Even?so, why... Why haven't they responded yet?'

The Yeongnam Group should be in a state of chaos after noticing this many enemy combatants showing up at their front gate. However, everything was weirdly quiet, with no signs of any response.

'...Could it be a trap?'

That was when Bang Jin-Hun frowned deeply. That was a definite possibility. The Yeongnam Group bastards could be waiting for anyone trying to enter their premises. However...

Bang Jin-Hun might have panicked at the possibility of a trap if he had been sticking to the original plan. However, such a thing no longer mattered. A trap was only useful if the enemy's movements, such as paths of movement or attack routes, had been accurately predicted beforehand, after all!

However, even Bang Jin-Hun had failed to predict what Kang Jin-Ho would do, so it was impossible for the Yeongnam Group bastards to predict what the Martial Assembly's plan would be and lay a trap accordingly.

“I said, get a goddamn move on, you sh*theads!” Bang Jin-Hun roared out several curse words at his men running around like headless chickens, then sighed under his breath.

'Bloody hell! What the hell are we doing, anyway!'

He glanced at his men busy surrounding the Yeongnam Group HQ's tall perimeter walls. A hollow chuckle leaked out of Bang Jin-Hun's mouth again.

The Martial Assembly's combat power being weaker than the Yeongnam Group's was an established fact by now. Whether it was the number of high-level experts or the overall size of the combat force, the Martial Assembly was inferior in every aspect.

However, the weaker of the two sides was actually surrounding the stronger side. Not even a three-year-old kid would choose a tactic this dumb. After all, a group could surround another group only if they boasted similar numbers.

By surrounding the enemy with inferior numbers, Bang Jin-Hun ran the risk of dispersing and weakening his forces. Even though he knew this, Bang Jin-Hun still ordered his men to surround the Yeongnam Group's premises.

'Fine. Let's see what will happen...!'

This felt so weird to Bang Jin-Hun. Even though he clearly knew someone with a working brain shouldn't be doing this, Bang Jin-Hun's heart was still madly pounding away in excitement. This was illogical and unrealistic, but that only stoked the flames of excitement in Bang Jin-Hun's heart.

“Sir! We're done!”

Bang Jin-Hun nodded. “Is that right? Then, along with the signal, scale the walls!”

“Yes, sir!”

Was Lee Jung-Geol on the other side feeling something similar right now?

'Maybe, I... I've been longing to see something like this all my life!'

Bang Jin-Hun glanced in the direction of the front gate as anticipation and anxiety swirled in his head. He couldn't take his eyes away even though the tall walls blocked his view.

***

“I said, who the hell are you?” The guard shoved Kang Jin-Ho on the shoulder.

However, Kang Jin-Ho continued to grin at this rude guard. “Is this how you welcome your guest?”

“Which stupid guest shows up on foot at this time of the day?! You, who sent you?”

“Is that what you think?” Kang Jin-Ho shrugged his shoulders. “A guest can show up any time during the day.”

“What the f*ck. You little shi…” The guard's expression suddenly stiffened.

He was about to hurl another expletive, but his mouth inexplicably shut itself up when he met Kang Jin-Ho's gaze. And then, a flood of anxiety and dread began filling the guard to the brim.

Even though Kang Jin-Ho's gaze didn't contain any notable emotions, the guard's senses were overwhelmed by this ominous foreboding that things were going wrong very fast.

Kang Jin-Ho smirked. “No need to worry.”

“...W-what?”

“It will be the same for everyone, after all.”

Before the guard could say something, Kang Jin-Ho extended his hand. The movement of his hand was too slow to be fast, but it was also too fast to be called slow.

It wasn't as if that movement had escaped the guard's detection through incredible speed. An opening of only a fraction of a second had been created when the guard eased up a little so that he could speak. And Kang Jin-Ho had taken advantage of that opening.

The guard finally realized this only after his throat was captured by Kang Jin-Ho.

“Keuh-uuurhk!”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly lifted the guard up off his feet. The guard grabbed and clawed desperately at Kang Jin-Ho's arm and wrist. However, Kang Jin-Ho didn't even bat an eyelid. “You're lucky. At least you don't have to tremble in fear.”

“Keu-ruruk!”

For the first time in his life, Yi Myeong-Hwan learned today that a human throat could produce such noises. The guard flailed about like a drowning man and clawed at Kang Jin-Ho's arm, but he eventually went limp.

Kang Jin-Ho disinterestedly discarded the unmoving guard to a side.

The other guard cried out in alarm. “W-what did you do! Y-you son of a b*tch!”

Kang Jin-Ho dismissively shrugged his shoulders. “As you can see.”

“You think you'll walk away unscathed after this?!”

Kang Jin-Ho continued to smirk while leisurely walking toward the panicking guard. “Mm, I'm curious about that as well.”

“C-curious?”

“Yes. Will I be unscathed or not?”

“You insane motherfu…”

Suddenly, Kang Jin-Ho's right leg extended at the speed of light to kick the guard in the solar plexus.

BANG!

That was the end for the guard. He couldn't even scream as his body flew like a cannon shell to slam into the wall. The wall caved in as cracks spread out like a spiderweb.

One hit. That was all. Kang Jin-Ho finished dealing with the two guards in the proverbial blink of an eye, then intently stared at the solid gate. “Hmm. Do you think that gate is locked?”

“...Yes, sir. I think this is the gate's locking mechanism,” Cheon Tae-Hun stuttered while studying the thumbprint scanner near the gateway.

“Please stand back a little,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“I'm sorry?” Cheon Tae-Hun tilted his head slightly in confusion.

“Stand back.”

“...! Y-yes, of course!” Cheon Tae-Hun nodded and hurriedly retreated. He didn't forget to grab the dazed Yi Myeong-Hwan's shoulder and drag him away, too.

Yi Myeong-Hwan blinked his eyes in disbelief as the distance widened... by a lot. “W-what the heck...?! How far are you going?”

Were they going to fire a cannon or something? Maybe a bombardment by a stealth bomber? Just because Kang Jin-Ho told them to retreat, did they have to create this much distance?

“Shut up and do as you're told!” Cheon Tae-Hun unhappily spat out.

“...Huh?”

“If you don't wanna piss your pants and regret your decision for the rest of your life, just do as I do! I've experienced Mister Kang Jin-Ho more than you, and I certainly know more about him than you!”

“...” Yi Myeong-Hwan frowned in dissatisfaction. However, he didn't see the point of arguing with Cheon Tae-Hun now.

Shortly afterward...

Shu-ru-ru-rung...!

Yi Myeong-Hwan shuddered as the sound of a sword leaving its scabbard resounded from somewhere in front of him.

That noise was created by a sword's friction against its scabbard. As a martial artist, Yi Myeong-Hwan was familiar with that noise. It shouldn't have surprised him at all, yet...

Yet, why was his body shivering like this?

Kang Jin-Ho unsheathed two swords and crossed them in front of his chest. That was when Yi Myeong-Hwan noticed Kang Jin-Ho's hair strands swaying gently.

'They are swaying?'

Even though there were no winds?

That was the beginning. Suddenly, Kang Jin-Ho's hair rose up and danced wildly. And then, dark red smoke-like?

something

rapidly gushed out of Kang Jin-Ho's figure.

“Heu-euuugh?!” Yi Myeong-Hwan involuntarily raised both of his hands to cover his mouth.

'T-t-that...! Is that his internal energy?!'

Yi Myeong-Hwan once heard that a man with extremely-high cultivation could materialize his internal energy and make it visible to the naked eye. Actually, he saw his master gathering his milk-hued internal energy in the palms of his hands before, so that assertion must be real.

However, this... What he was witnessing right now was different. It was in another realm altogether!

The crimson smoke gushed out of Kang Jin-Ho and began circling around him before traveling along his arms to envelop his swords.

“Fuu-woo…”

Kang Jin-Ho lightly sucked in the air while raising his swords... before powerfully slashing down.

Paaaaaaaaahng!

The blades tore through the air and produced a loud whip-like thunderclap. While leaving the screams of the torn air particles behind, the dark-crimson energy exploded forth from Kang Jin-Ho's sword and flew toward the large gate.

Yi Myeong-Hwan suppressed his heart trying to leap out of his mouth and opened his eyes wide to see. And, when the energy collided against the gate...!

KA-BOOOOOOOM!!!

The world was turned upside down!

“Uwaaaah!”

Yi Myeong-Hwan screamed as he was thrown back from the force of the explosion. The ground seemed to be flying toward his head while his legs were flailing in the air.

For a moment there, Yi Myeong-Hwan lost his orientation and couldn't figure out which way was up and down.

He bounced around on the ground several times before finally gaining freedom to land on his face in the dirt. Yi Myeong-Hwan hurriedly raised his head and spat out dirt trapped in his mouth. “Ptooi!”

What... What just happened?!

Yi Myeong-Hwan shook his head, hard, then pushed himself up.

He still hadn't regained his orientation, but his curiosity had already triumphed over his confusion. While supporting his weight with his hands, Yi Myeong-Hwan raised his torso and scanned the choking dust cloud.

Shortly afterward...

The dust settled down, and Yi Myeong-Hwan became utterly speechless at the revealed spectacle.

It... wasn't there anymore. That imposing gateway seemingly symbolizing the prestige of the Yeongnam Group was gone! That gate was at least four meters tall, while the gateway itself was constructed out of concrete, but none of it remained now as if they had been a part of Yi Myeong-Hwan's imagination all along!

Yi Myeong-Hwan's jaw dropped and hit the ground as he scanned the remnants of the gateway sparsely dotting the ground, the concrete debris and severed rebar bits.

Yi Myeong-Hwan's eyes bulged out of their sockets at this unbelievable spectacle. He didn't even notice his spit drooling out of his slack jaw.

'Is this for real?!'

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Yi Myeong-Hwan began shivering like a lone leaf in the winds.

This made no sense! Yi Myeong-Hwan was a martial artist, too! Not just any martial artist, but a proud member of the Korean Martial Assembly!

A martial artist was incomparably stronger than a regular civilian. And a martial artist could easily perform feats that regular civilians could only dream of!

However, even from the perspective of such martial artists, what Kang Jin-Ho did just now should've been impossible!

“I'm heading in.” Kang Jin-Ho left those words behind and walked past the wrecked gateway while not even bothering to look behind him.

“Ah...!” Yi Myeong-Hwan finally sobered up and hurriedly jumped back to his feet.

Cheon Tae-Hun grimly muttered, “We should go, too.”

“R-right.”

Yi Myeong-Hwan had to see it now. Until now, he was basically being dragged around. But Yi Myeong-Hwan was following after Kang Jin-Ho of his own volition.

He... He wanted to witness it! He wanted to see what a monster possessing common-sense-defying power would do next inside the Yeongnam Group's HQ with his own two eyes!

“W-what the f*ck was that?!”

“What happened over there?! What is this?! Did someone bomb us or something!”

If a martial artist couldn't sense something was wrong from the impact force powerful enough to rock the ground and the explosion noise loud enough to tear the eardrums, they didn't deserve to be called a martial artist anymore. The Yeongnam Group members hurriedly rushed outside the buildings and filled the vast empty space behind the destroyed front gate.

They hadn't figured out what was going on yet, and could only line up in rank and file while not daring to close the distance to Kang Jin-Ho.

Gulp...!

Yi Myeong-Hwan swallowed back his saliva, his mouth and throat feeling dry.

The Yeongnam Group members didn't stop there because they were wary of Kang Jin-Ho. Regardless of what their reasons were, though, the current situation looked as if the whole of the Yeongnam Group was standing in rank and file to greet Kang Jin-Ho.

Kang Jin-Ho stood by the gateway, dominating the exit, while the Yeongnam Group's people continued to fill the area in front of him.

'...Kang Jin-Ho said he'd fight the Yeongnam Group by himself, so the Assembly members should just surround the premise and stop the enemies from fleeing. That's what he said, right?!'

That sounded crazy. No, that was crazy. Full stop.

However, Yi Myeong-Hwan no longer thought that was crazy talk.

Kang Jin-Ho against the Yeongnam Group...! The curtains of this war were rising up.

Once the commotion died down somewhat, Kang Jin-Ho raised his trusty Crimson Destiny. The pure-white blade caught the pale moonlight and gleamed majestically. The martial artists busy watching Kang Jin-Ho's movements were instantly captured by the weapon's beauty.

The blade rose in the air, then drew an elegant arc as it slowly descended. Then, Kang Jin-Ho slowly swung the blade from left to right.

Crimson Destiny's blade tip seemed to sweep past the Yeongnam Group martial artists before finally pointing at the destroyed gateway.

“This is the only exit,” said Kang Jin-Ho. Even though his voice wasn't loud, everyone here clearly heard it.

It sounded so vivid and... cold-blooded.

Kang Jin-Ho's lips distorted ominously to bare his white fangs. “Try to kill me. That is the only way for you to leave here with your lives intact.”

In the middle of the night, as the pale moonlight descended like an icy-cold beam...

The Demon Emperor bared his fangs and exploded in crazed laughter.