Chapter 528: Intense (3)

The pair of Azuremourne and Crimson Destiny busily struck and sliced at Vator's body.

Kang Jin-Ho aimed at the giant's arms, torso, and even his throat. These two treasure swords were already sharp enough to cleanly slice through iron, yet Kang Jin-Ho's qi had turned up their sharpness by several dozen folds.

Unfortunately, that was still not enough.

Clang! Claaang! Claaaaaang!

Kang Jin-Ho's swords, seemingly capable of cutting apart everything under the sun... couldn't do their job against Vator's flesh. Despite being struck on his vital points numerous times, Vator simply bounced Kang Jin-Ho's swords away!

“It's no use!” Vator roared while ignoring Kang Jin-Ho's attack, then punched powerfully.

“...Kuk!”

Perhaps for the first time ever since his return to the modern era, Kang Jin-Ho gasped in shock.

Countless openings Vator had left exposed turned into deadly bait. The giant's punch should've been slow enough for Kang Jin-Ho to dodge in other situations. However, Kang Jin-Ho had been trying to exploit the enemy's opening, and now, he must pay the price for it.

Kang Jin-Ho hurriedly crossed the blades in front of his chest to block Vator's punch. At least, that was his plan.

BOOOOOOM!

The moment Vator's fist slammed into the blades...! Kang Jin-Ho momentarily saw the dark skies above.

'What?'

What was this extreme feeling of... derealization sweeping over him? Thankfully, this bizarre feeling of intruding into a different dimension lasted for only a fraction of a second. Unfortunately, it was replaced by horrifying pain shooting up from his entire body instead!

“Kuuh- huk!”

Kang Jin-Ho's back crashed into the hard ground. Again, again, and again!

Crack!

Kang Jin-Ho extended his hand to grab hold of the ground to stop his body from sliding further. He pushed himself up, only for his head to falter against his will.

“Wuuh-wooph!”

Blood gushed up to Kang Jin-Ho's throat just then.

That had been only one strike. A single hit! However, that one hit was enough to overturn most of Kang Jin-Ho's internal organs. Blood circulating backward, as the result of damaged organs, gushed out of his mouth nonstop.

“Cough!” Kang Jin-Ho wiped his mouth away and slowly raised his head.

“Yes, that's more like it!” Vator grinned widely. “You mustn't die from a single hit. We need to enjoy this more, after all. Don't you agree, Kang Jin-Ho?”

Kang Jin-Ho didn't say anything even as his eyes burned in the striking crimson hue.

Obviously, this wasn't his first battle against an external arts master. Actually, it'd be more correct to say Kang Jin-Ho had fought countless many up until now. The worst of the lot among them had to be the Shaolin warrior monks.

Unlike most other sects and clans that underpinned their cultivation techniques on delicateness and precision, the monks at Shaolin never stopped strengthening their physical bodies. Reaching the peak of both internal and external arts meant the physical bodies of those monks were tempered to the point of exceeding the famed Indestructible Vajra Body.

However, Vator was different from them. No matter how much one boasted about attaining the

perfect

physique, clear limits still existed. Limits that couldn't be overcome because one was a human being.

No matter how much one cultivated, humans still couldn't fly like birds or survive in deep water. Simply put, it was impossible to truly overcome the natural limitations of human physiology.

However, Vator had somehow managed to pull off the impossible. Kang Jin-Ho was certain that Vator's attainment in the external arts was even more profound than those he had fought in Zhongyuan. And this realization buoyed Kang Jin-Ho's mood.

So, there was one. Even in this era, a powerful warrior transcending the experts of Kang Jin-Ho's previous life existed!

“Keh... Kekeke!” Kang Jin-Ho couldn't hold back his laughter and began cackling away.

Vator furrowed his brow slightly. “Have you finally gone mad? Now doesn't seem like a laughable situation to me?”

Kang Jin-Ho continued to cackle. “I should thank you.”

“...Say what?”

While cackling, Kang Jin-Ho stood up straight. Blood still leaked out of his mouth and nose, but the amount was visibly decreasing. At a rapid pace, too.

Kang Jin-Ho stared into the distance. “Honestly, I was a little scared.”

“What are you rambling about?” Vator's frown deepened.

“I was scared that this era didn't have one. The... higher peak that I should strive toward.”

Vator's frown turned into a full-on scowl now. He still couldn't understand what Kang Jin-Ho was yapping about.

“Scared about things coming to an end after I regain a bit of my old martial prowess... Yes, I have been a little scared. Maybe even a little lost and empty inside. But now... Thanks to you, now I know. This era still has possibilities.”

“...Possibilities?”

“Yes,” Kang Jin-Ho stopped cackling but smirked deeply instead.

No one managed to satisfy him until now. The Korean experts that other Korean martial artists feared, the warriors from Japan, and even the Western knights from Europe... Kang Jin-Ho easily dealt with them by regaining only a little bit of his old strength.

Humans would rapidly lose interest in conquering a mountain they had already climbed once before. In that case, what would happen if the mountain got smaller? Could a climber who had summited Mount Everest feel satisfied by climbing Seorak Mountain?

Would the hard-mode specialist feel fulfilled by playing a game in easy mode?

To those who bet everything to compete tooth and nail in a specific field, the lowering of difficulty would invariably arouse the feeling of boredom, not enjoyment. And that was the situation with Kang Jin-Ho.

The martial artists of the modern era were... too weak. Way too weak. That was why Kang Jin-Ho couldn't really see it.

Even if someone kept yapping on about truly powerful experts existing somewhere, none of those things felt real to Kang Jin-Ho. His interest level remained low even after hearing about the Crimson King and the Master of the Round Table.

It was the same as telling someone who lived their whole life on dry land that oceans existed

somewhere

out there. That revelation wouldn't change that person's life all that much. But then, this person had stumbled onto the... river. Not just any river, but an impressively wide river that could be flowing toward the endless expanse of the ocean somewhere!

Kang Jin-Ho was so happy about discovering this fact that he had half a mind to kowtow to the heavens right now.

Unfortunately, Vator didn't share that sentiment.

“...You bastard!” Vator growled, his expression displaying how deeply displeased he was.

It was unknown why he was doing that, but Kang Jin-Ho's gaze was unmistakably staring somewhere else and not at Vator.

This incredible sense of humiliation! An enemy in a life-or-death duel actually dared to...!

Not just any enemy, but one that had tasted Vator's fist already! Yet, such an enemy was thinking about someone else instead of Vator in the middle of the fight? Such a thing was unimaginably humiliating for Vator!

“You... bastaaaaard!”

Vator's gigantic body suddenly began shivering violently. Thick veins bulged on his forehead while his tightly gritting teeth began producing skin-crawling noises.

“How dare... When I'm right here...!”

Kang Jin-Ho reacted to Vator's fighting spirit.

Vator had been emitting a powerful fighting spirit until now. However, what he began emitting now was incomparably more suffocating and overbearing than before.

“I will kill you!” Vator roared like a lion.

At the same time, Kang Jin-Ho felt incredible pressure trying to crush his entire body.

“Good...!” Kang Jin-Ho quietly sighed.

Yes, this was it. This was how it should've been! This was what fighting against a true expert should be like! The fear of one's death, the unyielding will to survive, and hostility strong enough to want to kill each other... All these things combined to create incomprehensible but still real pressure.

And this pressure was strong enough to numb and sting Kang Jin-Ho's fingertips. The sensation he had forgotten for so long was coming back to him with vengeance!

“I apologize,” Kang Jin-Ho sighed and sincerely apologized. “I was originally planning to kill you painlessly, but... I still haven't regained my past strength, you see? That's why it'll get a little more painful now. I hope you understand.”

“Still running your mouth, Kang Jin-Ho?!” Vator continued to roar.

“No. That's enough talking,” Kang Jin-Ho muttered.

No words were necessary in the life-or-death battle between two experts. If they wanted to say something, they could do so with their fists and swords!

Kang Jin-Ho casually lowered his swords and began walking toward Vator in unhurried steps.

'...Mm?'

That was when Vator's expression quickly changed.

This was strange. All Kang Jin-Ho did was walk forward. Yet something felt wrong. Vator's instincts, not his head, sensed this first. For some reason, his shoulders were flinching while his legs were trembling. It was as if... his body was telling him to charge forward right now!

'What is the meaning of...!'

Then, Kang Jin-Ho took another step forward.

“...Euk?!” Vator staggered precariously just then.

'What was that?!'

Kang Jin-Ho's... steps? That had to be it. Kang Jin-Ho's steps must be creating this intense pressure.

Each step Kang Jin-Ho took created an invisible wall of pressure to suppress Vator. It was as if the formless aura had materialized into a thousand-tonne boulder to crush down on him!

'Right, I've heard about something like this!'

A martial technique that suppressed the opponent not through qi but purely with the emitted aura! However, didn't that belong to...

“...The demon cult?” Vator clenched his teeth.

He couldn't recall the name of this technique. However, from what he heard in passing, the demon cult used to possess a technique like this. Vator used to think such a thing was nothing more than a stuff of legend, a folklore, like the Shaolin Temple's Lion's Roar technique!

'At this rate, I'll be defeated!'

However, Vator now knew what he was dealing with. Meaning, he should be able to respond. And that was to stop his opponent from walking!

“Your petty trick is useless!” Vator roared before performing another Thunder Step on the ground.

BOOOOOM!

His foot viciously stomped on the ground, causing the land to crack apart and explode upward, including the area Kang Jin-Ho was supposed to step on.

After successfully disrupting Kang Jin-Ho's walk, Vator spun around before kicking a large boulder shooting up from the destroyed ground. This boulder shot toward Kang Jin-Ho like a massive cannon shell.

“Huph!” Kang Jin-Ho let out a spirited roar while chopping the incoming boulder apart in half. As the sound of silk being cut in half tickled past Kang Jin-Ho's hearing, the two exact-sized halves of the boulders flung to left and right... Only to reveal Vator's angry face closing in!

“You bastard!” Vator roared, both his fists rising up high... before slamming down with the might of the gods!

Kang Jin-Ho rapidly evaded the incoming attack by stepping back.

KA-BOOOOOM!

However, Vator's fists were not something one could fully dodge at this distance even if one wanted to. A humongous crater caved in when Vator's fists landed on the ground, creating indescribable shockwaves to swarm the surroundings.

“Kuk!” Kang Jin-Ho's figure was thrown up into the air like a ragdoll from the shockwave.

“I will kill you!” Vator roared while making the face of an enraged demon, then leaped up toward Kang Jin-Ho, who was still spinning in the air.

However, Kang Jin-Ho suddenly flipped his body mid-air to regain his balance and then got ready to welcome the incoming Vator. That wasn't all, as he even kicked the empty air to create momentum and then... rapidly descended toward Vator!

The giant's punch, carrying scarcely believable power, flew toward his target. The attack created bone-crushing wind pressure through inhuman force. This punch could even turn something as frail as a human body into powder simply by brushing past it.

However, Kang Jin-Ho's gaze didn't waver once as he stared at the approaching fist. In fact, his eyes were flickering ominously as the boiling yang and chilling yin energies swirled in them.

Slither!

Like a slippery snake, Kang Jin-Ho slickly slid down Vator's massive arm. His clothes got ripped apart from the wind pressure, while his skin instantly blackened into a dying state from Vator's power. However, Kang Jin-Ho's movement remained unaffected.

“You!” Vator roared.

Before he could do anything, though, Kang Jin-Ho finished deflecting Vator's attack and deftly wielded his sword.

Claaaaaaang!

A loud and ear-piercingly sharp noise of a huge hammer hitting an anvil resounded out. And almost immediately after that...!

Splaaaash!

“Kuk-huk?!”

For the first time during this battle, the correct sound of human flesh being cut by steel also resounded out next.

“Y-you, you bastard!” Vator hurriedly stumbled back while clutching at his left chest, his expression distorted in shock. His fingertips could feel a lengthy wound on his skin.

It wasn't a fatal injury; his bones were still intact, and no impact had reached his heart. Even then... the fact that he got injured didn't change!

Kang Jin-Ho's sword strikes had been failing to pierce through Vator's skin until now, yet he had finally managed to inflict an injury!

“Kuk!” Vator stood upright before urgently turning his head. He could see Kang Jin-Ho leisurely waiting in the distance, his swords pointing relaxedly to the ground.

“Your body...” Kang Jin-Ho lazily muttered, his eyes locked on Vator. “Didn't you say something about a god?”

Ridicule! Even a moron should be able to hear the clear ridicule in Kang Jin-Ho's voice.

“You... You son of a stinking dog!” Vator roared in rage.

However, Kang Jin-Ho responded by curling up the corners of his lips. “It seems your god isn't with you anymore.”

When there was no divinity left in the world, demons would surely appear to fill the void! As if to prove that point, Kang Jin-Ho's figure was being enveloped in another wave of thick, heavy demonic qi.

“Let me say this again. I apologize for... being unable to kill you painlessly.”

While making a truly insidious and evil smirk, Kang Jin-Ho pointed his Crimson Destiny and Azuremourne at Vator.