Urban Vagabond: Reload

Sunwoo Jeha reached out and pushed Kim Muhyuk, who stood beside her, back.

“Don’t get cocky. Run.”

The enemy was a supreme master who had swallowed a Great Anomaly’s core.

Worse, his body had transformed into something like an anomaly after undergoing Rebirth of Bone and Flesh.

No matter how exceptional Kim Muhyuk’s talent was, fighting that kind of monster right now would be suicide.

[Go to Dr. Man and tell him. Tell him to prepare to reseal the barrier. The same way as ten years ago. As fast as possible.]

But even after Sunwoo Jeha’s voice transmission, Kim Muhyuk did not move.

He had no intention of indulging his competitive spirit or acting on bravado. This battlefield did not just have his life on the line. His crew members’ lives were at stake too.

Dangerous.

Kim Muhyuk had already realized the enemy was powerful enough to make every hair on his body stand on end, and he knew that turning his back and running in this situation would be a terrible move that only made the enemy act first.

[Go, now! I can’t hold him off for long.]

Sunwoo Jeha probably could not even guess, but when it came to crossing the line between life and death on battlefields like this, Kim Muhyuk had far more experience.

That was why he thought for himself.

If I run, he’ll move immediately too. In that case, I’d rather......

Kim Muhyuk acted leisurely instead. He took out the internal-injury medicine he had brought and handed it to Sunwoo Jeha.

“Treat your internal injuries first.”

“You......!”

Sunwoo Jeha glared at Kim Muhyuk, snatched the internal-injury medicine almost as if ripping it from his hand, and drank it down in one breath.

At that moment, Kim Muhyuk’s voice transmission reached her ears.

[I sent a rescue signal to the crew. Let’s buy as much time as we can until support arrives.]

[You think you’ll be any help fighting beside me? You’ll only split my attention!]

Kim Muhyuk pointed out the mistaken part of Sunwoo Jeha’s angry words.

[I’m not going to fight beside you.]

[......What?]

To Sunwoo Jeha, who stared at him as if he had said something absurd, Kim Muhyuk explained the operation.

[Sect leader, you fight alone. I’ll scrape at his nerves while dodging as well as I can.]

Kim Muhyuk could feel the terrifying qi wave radiating from the enemy with his entire body.

A supreme master who had absorbed a Great Anomaly, or perhaps a Great Anomaly that had taken over a supreme master’s body.

He’s a monster beyond the Black Heaven Society’s society leader. Once the fight starts, I’ll barely be able to follow their movements.

Kim Muhyuk knew the difference between recklessness and courage.

He had seen countless fools die after charging blindly at stronger opponents without proper preparation.

If Sunwoo Jeha dies, no one can handle that monster.

So the best method was to help Sunwoo Jeha avoid dying while somehow dragging out time.

Fortunately, there was still hope.

That monster was savoring his own power while looking down on the two of them.

Sssssssssssip...... haaaaaaaaaah......

His chest swelled wide as he drew in breath, as if inhaling the surrounding wood energy.

After repeating that breathing several times, Moon Seokju grinned and opened his mouth.

“......Kim Muhyuk. Sunwoo Jeha said you were irritating. Said looking at you reminded her of Han Shinhu. That was the first time I’d ever heard that thing praise anyone so highly.”

Kim Muhyuk stepped forward and gave a polite martial salute.

“Thank you for the compliment. Senior, since you have achieved Rebirth of Bone and Flesh, there are many things I’d like to ask you. Would you be willing to offer a promising junior some advice?”

“Hahahaha! Trying to stall for time? It’s admirable that you’re trying to do something instead of running, but.......”

As Moon Seokju raised his hand, a twisted branch grew smoothly from his palm like a sword.

“I hate talented bastards. Do you know how bitter and resentful it felt when someone caught up to years of my effort after receiving only a single word of advice?”

Kim Muhyuk realized he was talking about Sunwoo Jeha.

An ominously rippling, translucent qi wave shimmered over the sword made of wood. The Namcheon Sword trembled in response to the wicked Great Anomaly energy.

“Hahahahaha! But now she’s nothing more than a bug struggling to survive.”

Moon Seokju still seemed to believe he was human.

He was convinced that he had perfectly dominated the Giant Tree Ghost’s power, and that he had thereby reached the realm of peerless masters.

But looking at his body, which had turned the color of rotten wood, and his eyes, which were stained vivid yellow, no one would be able to call him human anymore.

Lick.

Moon Seokju stuck out his long tongue and smacked his lips. Kim Muhyuk backed away and said to Sunwoo Jeha,

“I’ll just watch from the back for now. Please fight with everything you have. Who knows? I might gain enlightenment from this and become a supreme master.”

“Irritating bastard.”

Thanks to that, Sunwoo Jeha, who had managed to rest for a moment, spoke bluntly and stepped forward.

The time Kim Muhyuk had bought was short.

But during that short span, Sunwoo Jeha had managed to settle her internal injuries and recover a measure of internal energy.

She had also examined and analyzed her opponent closely.

That time was worth a thousand gold.

What ordinary people could not accomplish in years, she accomplished in an instant.

That was the talent possessed by the Strongest in Korea, Sunwoo Jeha.

“Watch closely.”

Sunwoo Jeha glared at Moon Seokju with eyes sunk into stillness and spoke in a low voice.

BOOM!

With a single stomp step, the floor split apart. Sunwoo Jeha’s form shot forward like a beam of light. Only belatedly did an earthquake spread through the place where she had stood, and her voice lingered behind like an echo.

“—A fight between peerless masters.”

She was in front of her opponent’s face in an instant. It was a speed even Kim Muhyuk found difficult to track with his eyes. Sword force blazed fiercely over the saber and sword hanging low in her hands.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

Moon Seokju burst into deafening uproarious laughter and thrust his sword out like lightning. His yellow eyes tracked Sunwoo Jeha precisely.

Sunwoo Jeha’s saber and Moon Seokju’s sword collided head-on. To Kim Muhyuk, who had not yet adjusted to their speed, it looked like flickering light.

CLAAANG—!

The shockwave erupted belatedly and shook the space. Kim Muhyuk opened his eyes wide. It was a sight he could not afford to look away from for even a moment.

“......!”

At the center of the explosion, a peerless master was unleashing her martial art with all her strength. It was a sight so absorbing that he had no choice but to forget even to breathe.

CRRRRRAAAK—!

Sunwoo Jeha’s saber and sword, which had cut down anything and everything in one stroke until now, failed to achieve their purpose and were repelled dozens, hundreds of times.

They kept crashing against Moon Seokju’s sword after he had swallowed the Giant Tree Ghost, against his body that could withstand even sword force, against the strength that had transcended humanity through Rebirth of Bone and Flesh, and they were driven back again and again.

Even so, Sunwoo Jeha spun as if dancing and swung her saber and sword.

CRRRRUNCH......!

Her muscles screamed and twisted, and blood flowed from her clenched mouth. Following her violent movements, drops of blood scattered through the air like flower petals.

“Haaaaah.......”

White steam burst from Sunwoo Jeha’s mouth as she exhaled roughly. The internal energy she had barely scraped together was running dry at terrifying speed. She was at her limit in no time.

“Strong! You really are strong! Hahahahahaha!”

Countless gouges and torn marks had been carved all over Moon Seokju’s body. His clothes, as if struck by dozens of bombardments, crumbled away without a trace, and instead of blood, clear, sticky sap ran down.

However, the Great Anomaly that resembled a human only laughed, as if he knew no pain.

“So this is how peerless masters fight!”

In his glossy, smiling yellow eyes, Sunwoo Jeha’s still-indifferent face was reflected.

“......Still not enough.”

She had reached the realm of peerless masters, but her wounded body could not keep up with her realization.

Her internal energy was absurdly lacking, and blood would not stop flowing from her stinging wounds. Her exhausted muscles were slowly going numb.

It hurts.

She felt stifled and angry. Irritated and wronged.

But there was nothing she could do.

All she could do was whet what she currently possessed even sharper and fight.

To defeat an enemy stronger than herself.

To bring down the vice sect leader who had swallowed a Great Anomaly and turned into a monster.

To hunt a monster that would cause an unknowable number of casualties if released into the world.

Even at this very moment, Sunwoo Jeha was advancing little by little as a martial artist.

Even so......

A smile slowly spread across Sunwoo Jeha’s lips.

The madwoman who had devoted her life to martial arts felt intense ecstasy in a fight that divided life and death.

“It’s still fun after all.”

The moment veins bulged on the back of Sunwoo Jeha’s hands as she gripped her saber and sword,

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The floor she stood on caved in. From the footprint where she had made her stomp step, the dead ancient tree split apart in a spiral, and the fierce trajectory whirled outward in every direction.

Immediately afterward, Sunwoo Jeha lifted her foot.

BOOOOOOM!

With a thunderous roar, Sunwoo Jeha’s form shot forward like a cannonball.

It looked like the sight of her charging along the Giant Tree Ghost’s trunk, accelerated several times over.

This was Sunwoo Jeha’s decisive move.

“Your final struggle? I’ll smash it head-on!”

Taking in that sight, Moon Seokju grinned broadly and swung his sword to meet her. Sizzling demonic qi covered the blade.

SHRAAAK—!

After they brushed past each other, Sunwoo Jeha came to a stop and dropped to one knee.

CLANG—.

Of the saber and sword she held in both hands, the sword in her left hand had broken in two and was rolling across the floor.

“......Haha. You’re a monster. The real monster isn’t me. It’s you.......”

Moon Seokju, on the other hand, was collapsing with his upper and lower body separated.

A state that would have meant instant death if he had been human.

However, the being who had absorbed the Great Anomaly’s regenerative power intact regrew everything below his waist as smoothly as sprouting stems.

“Sect leader.”

Kim Muhyuk had somehow approached Sunwoo Jeha’s side. As he helped her up, he said,

“Let’s run for now. We’ll go down, join the support forces, and then.......”

“Transcendence-Level Ultimate Technique.”

“What?”

Kim Muhyuk was startled when he saw Sunwoo Jeha’s face.

Her gleaming eyes were stained with madness. It was by no means the expression of a martial artist who had lost to an enemy.

It was the face of a martial artist who had seized the first clue to a crucial realization.

“......Transcendence-Level Ultimate Technique. I think I can do it now.”

Sunwoo Jeha murmured blankly, then turned her head and looked straight at Kim Muhyuk. It was the first time he had seen such a desperate expression on her face.

“I need a little time to prepare. Can you buy me some time?”

“.......”

Kim Muhyuk knew the difference between recklessness and courage.

The best choice right now was to retreat with Sunwoo Jeha.

It would be safest to join up with the crew members who should be coming up after confirming the rescue signal he had sent, and face that monster together.

But can I guarantee we’ll win that way?

If he forced Sunwoo Jeha to retreat now, the inspiration that had finally come to her might vanish. Enlightenment was something that scattered like sand already in one’s hand if the moment was missed.

After countless thoughts flashed through his mind in a short span, Kim Muhyuk decided this was a moment when he had to find courage.

“......Well, let’s give it a try.”

Kim Muhyuk sat Sunwoo Jeha down and asked,

“How much time do you need?”

“......I don’t know either.”

Leaving only those words behind, Sunwoo Jeha sat cross-legged and closed her eyes. She had completely trusted Kim Muhyuk and sunk into her own inner world.

“How irresponsible.”

With a sigh, Kim Muhyuk started walking toward Moon Seokju, who was writhing as he rose.

“Try not to be too late.”

Kim Muhyuk hoped Sunwoo Jeha would gather her realization as quickly as possible.

But on the other hand......

“I might get tired of waiting and get rid of him myself.”

FWOOOOSH!

SHHK-SHHK-SHHHK—!

Kim Muhyuk drew both sacred weapons at the same time.