Chapter 369: Proving Himself (4)

Chapter 369: Proving Himself (4)

“...Excuse me, Assembly Master?”

Bang Jin-Hun glanced at the Martial Assembly member. “What is it?”

“How are we supposed to suppress them?”

“Mm?”

“...We can't figure out how to suppress those Yeongnam bastards and herd them to a corner, sir. It's not like we can knock them out with a blow to the backs of their heads.”

“...Ah!” Bang Jin-Hun finally understood what the problem was and scanned the still-stupefied Yeongnam Group members with a slightly wry expression. “Just lead them to a corner over there.”

“Will that be okay? If they suddenly start fighting back, it's gonna lead to one hell of a fuss, Master.”

“You have a better idea, then?”

“...No, sir.”

Bang Jin-Hun tutted. “And do they look like they are gonna fight back?”

“No, Master.”

“Then, why are you asking me, you dumbass?!” Bang Jin-Hun yelled loudly.

The Assembly member flinched and hurriedly turned around to leave, but he still mumbled, “Blooming hell, it's my job to report, so why?!”

Bang Jin-Hun clearly heard that but didn't try to stop that member. More correctly, he didn't have the energy to do so.

'This... F*cking hell.'

He couldn't control this hollow chuckle from breaking out of his lips. His flabbergast had already reached the point of utter disbelief at this point. His mind was still trying to process this situation.

The front yard of the Yeongnam Group HQ was deathly quiet. The wrecked Yeongnam Group members and the witnesses from the Assembly dared not say anything.

The person responsible for creating this scene was Kang Jin-Ho, but he had disappeared inside the main building. And the ones remaining outside had to clean up the remnants from Kang Jin-Ho's bloody rampage and the resulting mess.

“Seriously now... Gimme a break.”

This was undoubtedly a major victory. No, calling it that was still not enough. In terms of war, this situation would be like the general spearheading the attack tripped and cracked his head open on a rock, then bled to death, leaving his soldiers with little choice other than surrendering to the enemy.

Despite winning against such a formidable opponent without shedding the allies' blood once, Bang Jin-Hun couldn't bring himself to celebrate.

Another Martial Assembly member walked up to Bang Jin-Hun. “Assembly Master, what about the corpses...?”

“God dammit! Take care of it yourselves, okay?! Can't you see that I'm in no position to deal with every little crappy problem you can think of?! So, stop bothering me and do as you normally do, dammit! You dumbsh*ts!”

The Martial Assembly members flinched grandly at Bang Jin-Hun's furious roar and began distancing themselves from him. They thought their boss was losing his cool for no good reason, but... They also understood why Bang Jin-Hun was acting this way.

They felt unwilling and leery about what they had witnessed earlier, so how much worse would it be for Bang Jin-Hun?

Bang Jin-Hun ignored them and continued to pant and huff like a raging bull. He couldn't tell exactly why he felt this irritated, nay, furious. However, he did understand some of it was down to the frustration clogging up his heart, which was probably a side effect of witnessing Kang Jin-Ho's rampage.

'Dammit. I gotta sober up!'

Bang Jin-Hun was the Assembly Master, a leader of a faction. He couldn't let his frustration get the better of him. He had work to do, after all. He glanced around and issued a few commands here and there. Once that was done, he walked over to what he thought was the most urgent problem in this place. That was the front gate.

Not even the front gate's trace was left behind after Kang Jin-Ho blew it apart. And a lone man was plopped down there, unmoving. Bang Jin-Hun felt the waves of guilt crashing into him at this sight.

“Oi, Yi Myeong-Hwan?” Bang Jin-Hun cautiously called out, prompting Yi Myeong-Hwan to raise his head and stare at the Assembly Master.

'What have I done to this kid?'

Regret quickly filled Bang Jin-Hun's head as he stared at Yi Myeong-Hwan's dazed face.

“Hey, man. I'm sorry about this...” Bang Jin-Hun pat Yi Myeong-Hwan on the shoulder. Yi Myeong-Hwan should be even more shocked by what happened than Bang Jin-Hun or anybody else. This poor bastard had arguably the 'best' view of Kang Jin-Ho's rampage, after all!

“Come on, man. Get a hold of yourself.”

Bang Jin-Hun knew he should be more comforting, but this surge of anger welling up inside ensured that his tone was rougher than necessary.

Bang Jin-Hun licked his lips while wondering what to say next, but Yi Myeong-Hwan muttered weakly first. “...Did you see that, sir?”

“Yeah.”

“...What kind of man can do that?”

'It's still not enough...!'

Kang Jin-Ho sensed the 'thirst' clawing at him.

He had given up on holding back his cultivation. Once he decided to cultivate again, everything he had been suppressing until now displayed explosive growth.

His body began growing stronger. The external energy entered his body and converted into his internal qi while transforming the 'quality' of his muscles. His bones strengthened while his physique continued to evolve to better suit his cultivation.

In the past, martial artists called this process the 'total transformation of one's physical body'.

Technically speaking, Kang Jin-Ho wasn't going through something as drastic as that where every body part would be changed anew. He was simply returning to his previous heights, little by little, by going through a similar process. Of course, he still had a long way to go.

However, Kang Jin-Ho still managed to acquire power that seemed too OP for this world, allowing him to cut loose to his heart's content tonight.

“Fuu-huuuph...!”

Even then, Kang Jin-Ho's heart hadn't settled down yet. He still needed more!

More blood. More violence. More rage...!

'This is not enough!'

His thirst couldn't be sated that easily. Perhaps as a rebound for suppressing his true nature after returning to the modern era, Kang Jin-Ho's thirst seemed to get worse with each passing day.

However, he wasn't concerned. He'd soon find his relief, anyway. Of course, he was talking about blood meant to quench his thirst.

The blood of others wouldn't do it for Kang Jin-Ho. They were nothing more than pitiful bastards that got swept up in the story between Kang Jin-Ho and Kim Seok-Il, after all.

The man who dared to target Kang Jin-Ho's life and tried to harm Kang Jin-Ho's family was up ahead. The man who attempted to crush Kang Jin-Ho's everything with muddy boots was waiting for him!

Kang Jin-Ho's tongue snaked out and began licking his lips. He picked up the acrid metallic taste of blood that didn't belong to him. This taste was familiar, yet Kang Jin-Ho was sure he'd never get fully used to it.

As the taste of blood lingered on his tongue, Kang Jin-Ho slowly walked in measured steps.

Shu-ru-ru-rung...!

In the meantime, he unsheathed his sword. With Crimson Destiny and Azuremourne in his hands, Kang Jin-Ho marched forward.

Rumble!

Suddenly, the ceiling collapsed, and a man rapidly emerged from the dust cloud to thrust a lengthy steel spear at Kang Jin-Ho.

Paaaaahng!

The air noisily split apart just as the man aiming at Kang Jin-Ho fell to the ground in two halves. Kang Jin-Ho's expressionless face emerged from the dense dust cloud as he continued to march forward.

From the corridor ahead of him...

In the corridor he had already walked past...

And even in the ceiling...

Kang Jin-Ho's skin pricked from dense killing intent. He hadn't felt such powerful killing intent since his return to the modern era.

“This is more like it,” Kang Jin-Ho bared his fangs and smirked.

Honestly, that was a bit of a letdown earlier, you see?

Surely, that couldn't be everything you have?

A snake-like bastard would never entrust his life to ordinary idiots like that, after all!

Kang Jin-Ho knew all about people like Kim Seok-Il. They would never entrust their lives to the combat force that everyone was already aware of. They would go to great lengths to conceal the 'real' combat force meant to protect their lives.

...Exactly like the Fallen from some time ago.

Kang Jin-Ho sensed the faint whiff of demonic qi from all the killing intent pouring down on him, and a joyous chuckle broke out of his mouth.

'Not enough...!'

Kang Jin-Ho still hadn't had enough. Whether it was blood or death, Kang Jin-Ho hadn't finished enjoying himself yet!

In that case, would these fools sate his thirst? His thirst that acted like a barrel with a hole near the bottom and could never be fully filled before it emptied again!

“Well, then. Let us begin!”

Kang Jin-Ho dashed forward while leaving behind trails of crimson light burning in his eyes.

Inside the dark building with no light switched on... The Demon Emperor began roaring like a hungry devil.