Chapter 131 – Japanese-Korean Unity

Fists that would surely be fatal if they landed rained down on me like a fierce downpour.

As I narrowly dodged, intercepted, and deflected these life-threatening attacks, continuing the fierce exchange, I started to feel out of breath.

‘If this keeps up, I’ll lose.’

Though my opponent was tiring too, I had a time limit due to the drug.

Against such a formidable foe, I couldn’t imagine finding a chance to inject another dose while enduring the side effects.

As I continued fighting, looking for even a forced opening to land a Manhai, I inadvertently turned my head at the presence of someone who rivaled or perhaps even surpassed Baek Jeong-nam before me.

I’d shown such a glaring opening that I couldn’t complain if my head exploded right then, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Baek Jeong-nam had also sensed that presence and turned his head in the same direction as me.

‘What the hell is that…?’

As I turned, the first thing I saw was Jessica, forced to her knees as if pressed down by a giant palm, and Hori, completely flattened on the ground.

Crushed by the tremendous energy manipulation that shook the air, all Jessica and the knights could do was barely turn their heads to look back.

“…What is that?”

“Heh… You were supposed to be next after this guy, but you couldn’t wait your turn and came early?!”

Unlike me, who was flustered by the shadow rushing towards us, Baek Jeong-nam seemed to know its identity.

The shadow flying through the air landed on the ground, and from the thick, swamp-like darkness, an enraged man in black clothes emerged.

“I’ll kill you…!!”

A voice filled with anger as dark and deep as the shadow on the ground rang in my ears.

“You, especially…!! I’ll kill you with my own hands!!”

The man who crawled out of the shadow pointed not at Baek Jeong-nam, who he seemed to know, but at me, muttering in a chilling voice.

Judging by his ninja outfit and Baek Jeong-nam’s words, this must be Bukkake, but why was he so angry at me?

I hadn’t been involved with him here or even back on Earth.

It made even less sense because a ninja wouldn’t be this enraged just over the death of some subordinates.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but as you can see, we’re in the middle of a fight. If you want to fight too, wait a bit. Ninjas are patient, right? Surely you can wait a few minutes?”

“…How absurd. That sounds like you’re saying you’ll defeat me in a few minutes…”

“You heard me right… You think I’d waste hours on a mere Josenjing?”

“What?! You son of a bitch…”

“Endure and be patient…?!!”

Baek Jeong-nam’s words were cut off by Bukkake’s cold, resentful voice, and both our gazes turned to him.

Bukkake, who had been glaring at me while clenching his fists as if suppressing his anger, suddenly reached into his clothes and threw several shuriken at us.

Ordinary throwing weapons wouldn’t be a threat with energy manipulation, but the ones he threw were different.

Usually, it’s difficult to precisely control energy manipulation on thrown objects like arrows or shuriken once they leave the hand, but his were different.

The energy was concentrated at the tip of the shuriken as if he were still holding them, making it clear that they would pierce through if blocked with the body.

‘Are they made of some special metal?’

No, this wasn’t the time for such idle thoughts. I needed to focus on dodging the shuriken’s trajectory.

As I twisted my body to narrowly avoid them, the shuriken suddenly started to vibrate and split in two, like reproducing planaria.

“…Huh?”

It wasn’t just one; all the shuriken he threw multiplied this way, their numbers quickly growing from dozens to hundreds to thousands.

“Ugh…!! Baldo!!”

“Bongchang!!!”

We barely managed to negate the attack with the shockwave from my Baldo and Baek Jeong-nam’s Bongchang, but Bukkake took advantage of that brief moment when I had drawn my sword to rush in.

“Die!! Baldo scum!!!”

“So fast…!!”

True to a ninja’s reputation for agility, his speed in reaching me was impressive even to an enemy.

There wasn’t enough time to draw Wolffang again. I had no choice but to block his ninjato with my scabbard, but a second attack immediately followed.

“Shit…!! You didn’t even do an Aisatsu(greeting) before attacking…!! And you call yourself a ninja?!”

“Shut up!! Just shut up and die quickly!!!”

Gradually pushed back by his fierce assault, I soon found my back against a wall, about to be cut down helplessly, when…

“Junggeun!!!”

Baek Jeong-nam, who had been watching silently from the side, suddenly launched three sharp Junggeun strikes from the side, forcing Bukkake to leap back.

“Hah… I could’ve gotten out of that myself. Why’d you interfere?”

“If you’re going to bluff, at least catch your breath first. And you!! How dare you rudely interrupt others’ fights!! Don’t you Japanese bastards know any manners?!”

“…I’m tired of playing along with your idiocy. I’ll just kill both of you here.”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at his arrogant statement about taking us both on at once, forgetting even to sternly reprimand the racist remark I’d just heard.

To think this stupid ninja who didn’t even know to announce his name before assassinating someone was now talking about taking us down…

Baek Jeong-nam seemed to share my thoughts, as he also burst into laughter.

“Alright… Let’s see how long you can keep laughing.”

“Keep laughing? Why? Are you going to use some shadow clone technique next?”

“He actually does use shadow clones. But it divides his power, so they’re not that strong…”

Curious about what he was planning, we waited a moment. His eyes, the only visible part of his face, began to turn black.

“That’s…”

“I thought he seemed long-lived… So that’s his secret to longevity?”

In this world, there are many bizarre creatures that make you question if they’re truly living beings, but there’s only one type with black sclera.

Myne, beings who stand on the borderline between human and demon, their bodies affected by the demonic energy surrounding them.

Myne gain transcendent physical abilities like magic beasts and freedom from aging, but they become extremely vulnerable to holy power.

“I’ll kill you all…”

As his eyes changed, red horns sprouted from Bukkake’s head. He summoned another ninjato and charged at us.

“Urgh…!!!”

Although his power was divided between attacking both of us simultaneously, we were still pushed back, unable to withstand the force.

As I groaned from the impact that made my bones creak, trying to regain my stance, I noticed a crack had formed on Wolffang’s blade from that single collision.

‘This is insane…’

Even if the blade broke, I could just remake it, so a crack like this wasn’t a big deal.

However, seeing Wolffang, which had never been damaged no matter how much I abused it, in this state was quite a psychological shock.

As the sword swung at me stopped, I sheathed Wolffang and leaped back, looking at Baek Jeong-nam beside me.

His fist was also slightly torn and bleeding, like Wolffang’s blade, but it wasn’t a severe enough injury to stop fighting.

Turning from his hand injury to look up, I met Baek Jeong-nam’s eyes as he glanced at me.

Until just moments ago, we had been at each other’s throats, but now, faced with a common enemy, our hearts were united, like the saying “internal unity in the face of external threats.”

“We have no choice… A temporary alliance, just this once!!”

“Fine… But remember this, I haven’t forgiven Japan’s atrocities yet!!”

“You crazy bastards… Don’t you ever get tired of talking nonsense?!”

Bukkake, who had regained his composure, charged straight at us, his body wrapped in demonic energy.

That attack, spinning like a bullet and accelerating, wasn’t something that could be blocked with ordinary techniques.

“Here he comes!! Move in sync with my attack!!”

“What bullshit are you spouting!! You should be following my lead!!”

When I reluctantly asked Baek Jeong-nam for cooperation, he furrowed his brow and started whining like a child.

“Shut up!! Is this the time for that?! You’re the backup, so move according to my attack!!”

“Don’t you dare order me around, you Toechak waegu bastard!!!”

Should I just cut down this idiot here and fight alone?

As I thought this, placing my hand on my sword hilt, and Baek Jeong-nam raised his fist, Bukkake shouted with a hint of laughter in his voice:

“Internal strife as soon as you join hands!! Pathetic fools!! I’ll slaughter you both right now!!”

As Bukkake, leading with his rotating demonic energy, approached us head-on, I hurriedly used the Baldo technique I had been saving for him.

“Baldo Art: Explosive Sword.”

“Junggeun, Single Point Focus!!”

When Wolffang clashed with Bukkake’s demonic energy, its blade caused a massive explosion, disrupting the energy’s rotation.

Taking advantage of that opening, Baek Jeong-nam’s concentrated Junggeun struck Bukkake’s chest as he was preparing to attack from behind the energy, sending him flying.

“…You’re in the way!!”

“…You’re in the way!!”

——

“…What exactly is going on here?”

The appearance of the black-clad Myne was confusing enough, but now the two who had been fighting to the death suddenly joined hands to face him.

As these incomprehensible events unfolded one after another, I voiced my confusion, hoping someone would explain, but no one answered.

It was understandable.

The sudden appearance of this legendary figure from 80 years ago was extraordinary enough, but now even a rare Myne had shown up.

To be honest, at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if a dragon flew down from the sky or a unicorn emerged from the forest.

“Hah…”

The Myne, who had been sent flying by Koraea’s attack, sighed as he stood up again.

It was an attack that should have pierced right through my chest, but for him, it seemed like nothing. He just dusted himself off.

“…This is the last time.”

“The last time for what? Your life?”

Ian responded to the Myne’s murderous intent with his usual playful attitude.

“…This is the last time I’ll let my guard down. From now on, your attacks won’t touch me again.”

As if to prove his words weren’t empty, the reckless, anger-driven movements he had shown earlier completely disappeared.

The two seemed somewhat flustered by this sudden change in attack style, but they quickly regained their composure and began to face him calmly.

“Wow…”

An involuntary exclamation of admiration escaped my lips at the battle that was beyond words.

As everyone watched the three-way fight in a daze, Hori, who had been observing from the side, said with an excited expression:

“This might be… quite a dangerous combination that’s been born!!”