Urban Vagabond: Reload

“Can’t you pretend you didn’t see it just once? It’s only been a few days, but we still trained at the same camp together.”

His words were appealing to their bond, but Kang Hyuntae had every muscle in his body tensed, ready to swing his saber at any moment.

“Hm? Junior Muhyuk, you’ve got every talent there is, but I don’t. Sure, a thirty-year-old pinnacle expert gets treated decently for now, but...... the truth is, I’m in an awkward spot. Ten years from now, I’ll be lucky to make unit captain in my sect.”

He kept his voice low so the other young rising stars would not wake, but resentment seeped through every word.

“Then an opportunity that might not come once in my whole life showed up...... Do you really have to take even this away from me? When you have everything like that, couldn’t you give up just a little......!”

Kang Hyuntae had plenty of talent.

He had simply faced talents far beyond his own and felt an extreme sense of deprivation and inferiority.

Acting like the victim now was nothing more than an excuse and justification for what he had done.

“.......”

But Kim Muhyuk did not easily condemn Kang Hyuntae.

Because he knew better than anyone what it felt like to want to become stronger by any means necessary.

That did not mean he intended to pretend not to see it or turn a blind eye, so he spoke quietly.

“Kang Hyuntae.”

“Ha! Right, you’re better than me, is that it? Fine, talk down to me all you want. Instead, can’t you just let me go?”

Kim Muhyuk took one step toward the jeering Kang Hyuntae and said,

“Listen carefully.”

“.......”

At that moment, Kim Muhyuk’s air changed completely.

He no longer seemed like a twenty-year-old young rising star, but like a martial artist who had lived through every kind of hardship and battle.

He continued.

“That pathetic evil ghost will not make you a peerless master.”

Kim Muhyuk glared at the anomaly wavering behind Kang Hyuntae’s back. It flinched and hid farther behind him.

“I don’t know what it said to tempt you, but the moment you run away from here, your future is a serial killer. Best case, you become a martial-world public enemy.”

In his previous life, Kim Muhyuk had seen several wandering martial artist comrades fall for an anomaly’s temptation.

He vividly remembered what they had done to become even a little stronger, and how miserable their endings had been.

Since it was sealed inside the Transcendent Extremity Gate, it probably isn’t some cheap evil ghost, but......

If so, that only meant it was more dangerous and more malicious.

It would make Kang Hyuntae kill his friends, hurt his family, and ultimately destroy himself.

After giving a few examples, Kim Muhyuk asked again.

“Once you regret it later, it’ll be too late to do anything. Do you have a reason to become stronger even if you have to go that far?”

That sort of anomaly only regarded humans as hosts.

It sucked out nutrients until they were no longer useful, and when there was nothing left to eat, it abandoned them without hesitation and moved on to another human.

After a brief silence, Kang Hyuntae curled his lips into a sneer and asked,

“......Let me ask one thing too. What’s that sword in your hand? This thing says it’s a monster far more dangerous than itself.”

Kang Hyuntae’s gleaming eyes turned toward Phantom Dream. His gaze boiled with greedy desire.

He’s already half-eaten by the anomaly.

Kim Muhyuk clicked his tongue inwardly and slowly drew Phantom Dream.

When the red blade, as if soaked in blood, pointed at him, Kang Hyuntae swallowed dryly.

“I have this thing under enough control. But you’re being dragged around by that thing right now.”

“......So you can do it, but I can’t......?”

Looking at Kang Hyuntae’s brutally distorted face, Kim Muhyuk sensed that this would not be resolved easily.

“Put the saber down. Close your eyes, focus, and push the anomaly away. I’ll handle the rest after that.”

Phantom Dream reflected the faint light coming through the window and shone eerily.

Kim Muhyuk was confident he could cleanly separate the anomaly from Kang Hyuntae’s body with a single cut.

But if the host resisted violently, meaningless blood would be spilled.

“If I’m going to regret it anyway...... I’d rather do it later than now.”

Kang Hyuntae grinned, turned, and smashed straight through the window to flee outside.

CRASH-SHATTER!

Kim Muhyuk watched his back for a moment, let out a small sigh, and muttered,

“......Can’t be helped. Time for the second plan.”

Beyond the window, Kang Hyuntae was using his lightness technique at full power. His speed was faster than expected.

WHIIISH!

Kim Muhyuk whistled once and immediately began pursuit.

After leaving the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s territory, Kang Hyuntae hid himself in the darkness. Kim Muhyuk expertly followed his traces, leaving marks and whistling at intervals.

The trail of the escape led toward a nearby mountain path.

It was a situation where the pitch-black darkness made it impossible to see an inch ahead.

But for Kim Muhyuk, who could see anomalies, there was no issue with the chase.

The other side seemed to realize that too, because he appeared to change plans halfway.

Huhuhuhuhu.......

An eerie ghostly wailing echoed through the black darkness, constantly shaking his mind.

And when Kim Muhyuk reached around the middle slope of the mountain, frowning,

Kang Hyuntae dropped from a tree and swung his saber with enough force to split Kim Muhyuk in two.

CLAAANG—!

Although Kim Muhyuk had sensed the ambush in advance and knocked it aside, his body was flung away and rolled across the ground.

“Hoo.......”

As Kim Muhyuk staggered painfully back to his feet, Kang Hyuntae rushed in and burst into laughter.

“Hahahaha! That’s a talent freak for you! You blocked that? Try blocking this too!”

Under the moonlight, Kang Hyuntae swung his saber like a madman, both eyes bloodshot. He looked no different from a ghost.

Perhaps he had cut down some beast he encountered while fleeing through the mountain, because blood dripped steadily from his saber.

“Hehihi haha! I told you! He must be exhausted from dealing with the Giant Tree Ghost! We can eat him now!”

“He’s completely lost it.”

The anomaly possessing Kang Hyuntae’s body drew out every bit of the host’s potential and detonated it, allowing him to temporarily unleash twice his usual strength.

Naturally, it was an act that would cause severe damage to his body and lower abdomen, but there was no reason for the anomaly to care about that.

Meanwhile, Kim Muhyuk had been exposed to the Great Anomaly’s energy together with Sunwoo Jeha and was severely exhausted in both body and mind.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Kim Muhyuk was constantly forced backward, busy blocking the opponent’s saber.

An anomaly possessing the body of a pinnacle expert was not an opponent that could ever be underestimated in a situation like this.

But Kim Muhyuk was not particularly worried.

“......I never planned to fight alone from the start.”

Avoiding Kang Hyuntae’s attack as he charged in drooling, Kim Muhyuk lightly retreated backward.

“Hrhaahaha! I’ll eat you first. A delicacy I never saw even a hundred years ago. If I eat you, I can’t even guess how much stronger my power will become......!”

At that moment, a saber strike wrapped in flame slammed into Kang Hyuntae from the side.

CLAAANG—!

Kang Hyuntae hurriedly turned his saber and blocked the attack, but he was forced back several steps by the sheer brute strength.

“Hoooo— Damn, you’re both disgustingly fast.”

Apparently short of breath from chasing after them in a hurry, Shin Kangheon panted hard. He slung his saber over his shoulder and said,

“Brother Hyuntae. Put the blade down quietly.”

On the opposite side, Bu Yeonha stepped out from the bushes with her sword in hand.

The faint white light seen in the forbidden ground flowed over her body.

“Senior. Stop this meaningless resistance.”

Kang Hyuntae’s face distorted savagely as he looked around at the three people surrounding him.

“Grrrrrrrr......!”

As he growled like a beast, Kim Muhyuk explained the situation to the other two.

“The anomaly has invaded his mind too. But it’s still early, so we should be able to bring him back to normal.”

The moment Kim Muhyuk returned to the lodgings, he had sensed an anomaly’s energy inside. It had not taken long to confirm that it was coming from Kang Hyuntae’s room.

If he had immediately stormed Kang Hyuntae with Shin Kangheon and Bu Yeonha, they could have suppressed him well enough. But after discussion, the three of them had decided to try persuading him as much as possible.

In the end, persuasion failed, so we had to carry out the second plan.

They had deliberately let Kang Hyuntae flee far away, then chased him.

If a fight had broken out in the lodgings, the Transcendent Extremity Gate would have noticed immediately, and if that happened, there was no telling what punishment Kang Hyuntae would receive for accepting an anomaly into his body.

“The Transcendent Extremity Gate should be too distracted by the Giant Tree Ghost right now. Let’s suppress him and bring him back before they notice.”

At Kim Muhyuk’s signal, Bu Yeonha and Shin Kangheon closed the distance from both sides at the same time.

“Senior. Let’s go to the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader, tell her the truth, and beg forgiveness. We’ll go with you too.”

“Brother! Let’s go back like men and apologize first. It’s not like they’d kill you, right?”

However, Kang Hyuntae was already in a state where he could no longer understand his juniors’ words.

Looking between the three of them with bloodshot eyes, Kang Hyuntae rushed at Shin Kangheon, who had come closest.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Saber clashed against saber again and again. The anomaly’s black energy and the flames of the Blazing-Yang Art collided fiercely, as if trying to devour one another.

While Shin Kangheon faced Kang Hyuntae from the front, Bu Yeonha circled behind him. White light gathered from her body into her sword.

SHRAAAK!

When the blade aura imbued with demon-subduing power grazed his back, the anomaly clinging to Kang Hyuntae’s body screamed as if in pain.

“Kraaaaaaak!”

Kim Muhyuk, who had briefly withdrawn to rest, charged in and added a hand as well.

Clang-clang-clang!

The anomaly had drawn out all of its host’s potential, but it was still not enough to withstand the combined assault of three people.

Despite its desperate struggle, it only grew more and more exhausted.

“Cough! Cough......!”

At last, after the continued attacks, Kang Hyuntae vomited a mouthful of black blood and staggered.

The anomaly’s strength slowly weakened, and tears began to well in the bloodshot, beastlike eyes.

“I just...... wanted to become stronger......”

Seeing Kang Hyuntae mutter blankly, the three of them stopped attacking.

Having returned to his senses, Kang Hyuntae looked as if he had aged years in just a few hours.

He slowly looked around at his juniors, then asked Kim Muhyuk,

“Why...... didn’t you just kill me?”

“Because it’s only been a few days, but we still trained at the same camp together.”

Kim Muhyuk returned the words Kang Hyuntae had said to him exactly as they were.

Then he swung Phantom Dream and severed the connection between host and anomaly with one stroke.

Kyaaaaaaak!

The anomaly pulled free from Kang Hyuntae’s body and shrieked as it writhed in the form of mist.

Thud.

“Kangheon. Can you see that anomaly too?”

Kang Hyuntae asked Shin Kangheon, who had caught and supported him before he collapsed to the ground.

“I can see it now. It’s black and looks damn filthy.”

Shin Kangheon glared at the anomaly writhing in pain after escaping Kang Hyuntae’s body, then swung his fist in a fit of anger.

Before anyone could stop him, his fist wrapped in flame smashed hard into the anomaly.

“Shin Kangheon the Exorcism Fist!”

FWOOOOSH!

The anomaly caught fire, suffered in agony, then turned to ash and disappeared.

“......That worked?”

Scratching his head roughly, Shin Kangheon spoke to Kang Hyuntae, who was staring at him blankly.

“It was nothing special. Don’t ever rely on a weak bastard like that again.”

“You damn bastard....... I’m not even jealous anymore.”

Kang Hyuntae muttered hollowly and let out a deep sigh. Then he looked at Kim Muhyuk.

“......Thank you, Junior Muhyuk. For bringing me back to my senses.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Kim Muhyuk lightly shrugged, as if it were nothing.