The Shaman King (4)
Kangryeong Daegun staggered but still pointed toward the direction the bullet had come from. Ghouls' gunfire poured in like a storm.
The bullets shattered railings and walls, but no screams or groans came as he desired.
"Find him!"
At Kangryeong Daegun's command, the ghosts that had gathered scattered in all directions. Kangryeong Daegun absorbed two of them. The lead bullets embedded in his face popped out with plink, plink sounds, and he recovered in an instant.
Kangryeong Daegun drew a deep breath and bellowed.
"You think these childish tricks can defeat me?!"
The moment he roared, all the ghosts inside the museum echoed his voice in unison. With a thunderous resonance shaking the entire museum, Kangryeong Daegun roared at the insolent intruder.
"These wounds aren't even worth a scar!"
Kangryeong Daegun drew the dagger from his ankle and slashed his palm. As he squeezed and scattered his blood, the ghosts screamed in unison and charged through the museum. Objects inside crashed and toppled with deafening booms. It was utter pandemonium, but surprisingly, Kangryeong Daegun remained calm in his thoughts.
He has no intention of fleeing. But if I show him this area is firmly in my grasp, his movements will inevitably be restricted.
Just the rampaging ghosts alone would keep Ju Kang-rim from showing himself recklessly. Moreover, Kangryeong Daegun was guarded by a thick wall of ghouls. Ruler of spirits and flesh—this was Kangryeong Daegun's power.
"I am the new king who will rule the divine Korean Peninsula! The Shaman King with authority over all ghosts in this land!"
"That's gotta be top three in the craziest shit I've ever heard."
Kangryeong Daegun twisted his lips at Ju Kang-rim's voice coming from behind the opposite pillar. Not only failing the ambush, but running his mouth? He wondered if the bastard would still yap even stuffed in a cement barrel.
At a gesture from Kangryeong Daegun, ghouls rushed over in a herd. But waiting there was a headless ghoul sitting upright. With a Claymore strapped to its belly.
Boom.
Steel ball fragments tore into the clustered ghouls. Splat, splat.
Kangryeong Daegun, drenched in blood and flesh from head to toe, stared blankly. It looked like over a third of his ghouls had been blown away.
"Lopez, one of your minions was pulling zombie tricks for laughs."
This time, Ju Kang-rim's voice came from a completely different direction. Kangryeong Daegun ground his teeth at the bastard attacking with pranks without showing himself. But separate from his rage, he had no intention of falling for the same trick twice. He flicked his fingers, shoving all the ghosts drifting through the museum toward Ju Kang-rim's position.
"Jang Han-taek was pulling funny shit too—did he learn from you?"
But Ju Kang-rim took a deep breath and shouted loudly.
"O wandering souls, heed the call of the underworld!"
It wasn't knowledge or a learned phrase—just a shout that sounded right. He could've yelled "Teletubbies, friends assemble!" and it might've worked. But words infused with self-immersion carry power, and this cry had greater effect than a mere shout.
Craaaack.
A sound like an iceberg splitting echoed through the museum. The ghosts froze in place all at once, and the shaking objects crashed to the floor—that was the source.
Kangryeong Daegun panicked, realizing his ghosts weren't obeying. Ju Kang-rim was equally shocked. He'd seen ghosts scatter in fright before, but never flatten themselves like this.
Then Ju Kang-rim gradually realized what had changed. His grim reaper garb was complete. From head to toe, he was in the full form of a psychopomp. Until now, it had been temporary, but he could feel his attire was now truly whole.
The moment Ju Kang-rim declared himself an agent of the underworld, the Saingeom had acknowledged him as a true psychopomp.
The Saingeom takes note of your growth.
The Saingeom permits you to enhance.
Ju Kang-rim knew what he needed.
"Boost defense."
"You bastard, what the hell are you...!"
Kangryeong Daegun had never seen anyone with greater spirit control than himself. For long ages on this land, he had been unrivaled. Just as he sought to become the rightful king of the dead, this madman appeared.
Gnashing his teeth, Kangryeong Daegun forced the ghosts to move. Trembling violently, they were dragged like ragdolls to the museum's center. Soon, the ghosts began merging haphazardly into the ghouls' bodies. Like Jang Han-taek's possession, but forced into the ghouls.
The ghouls howled monstrously, their muscles bulging in seconds.
"Go!"
Whether the bastard was a superior shaman or whatever, he couldn't extract forcibly possessed ghosts too. The berserk ghouls charged, discarding guns, intent on not letting Ju Kang-rim escape.
From the stairs, Ju Kang-rim lobbed a grenade at them. It exploded, but the ghouls used their fallen comrades' corpses as shields and swarmed him in a breath.
Thud, thud.
Watching Ju Kang-rim get buried instantly, Kangryeong Daegun ground his teeth. No matter how skilled the bastard, possessed ghouls were enhanced zombie level. No way he could handle them in close combat...
Thud, thud!
Something erupted from the ghoul pile. Fingers. No, teeth. Hair too, bones, unidentifiable flesh chunks and blood clots.
Thud, crack, crunch, boom, squelch, smash, CRUNCH, bang.
"This mad fu..."
Drenched in blood and gore, Ju Kang-rim swung his hand axe like a maniac, hacking the ghouls to pieces. He stomped a ghoul's leg to snap its neck, ripped jaws with his hands, eyes flashing eerie green as he whirled the axe. Before his hand axe, the ghouls were mere trees for felling.
They clawed, stabbed, bit—but his robe held like rebar, barely yielding. Nails tore off, teeth shattered, barely piercing one hole.
But Ju Kang-rim didn't stop there.
"I offer ten years of lifespan to the Saingeom!"
Saingeom transforms into a long curved sword.
Craaaaaack. The moment the hand axe Saingeom morphed into a long curved blade, the felled ghouls became harvested straw. Ju Kang-rim sliced their necks like bundled rice stalks, baring his teeth in a grin. On his blood-soaked face, only his eyes and teeth gleamed.
Kangryeong Daegun unwittingly recalled the yaksha blade he'd seen before. The yaksha that punishes hell's sinners.
"Are you some kind of yaksha?!"
Hard to admit, but the scene before him was undeniable reality.
Bang, crash, bang.
Ghosts slashed by the Saingeom couldn't stay in the ghoul bodies and fled screaming. As Ju Kang-rim stepped onto the final stair, behind him piled ghoul chunks like a mountain landslide.
Atop that countless corpse heap, Ju Kang-rim wiped blood from his face and stared at Kangryeong Daegun.
"Cleanup's about done."
Grinning maniacally, he bared his teeth. Kangryeong Daegun stared at the dead ghouls in disbelief. Ju Kang-rim wasn't unscathed either—bruises, tears, bites everywhere. But he acted like it was nothing.
Over ten ghouls remained by Kangryeong Daegun. Yet they felt meaningless. Before Ju Kang-rim's eyes, he felt utterly exposed. The earlier composure was gone.
"Dunno if these are all your ghouls, but one thing's clear."
"What?"
"Those ghosts. You ripped 'em from these ghouls, right? Exploiting in life, in death, even souls—textbook villain shit."
The ghosts Kangryeong Daegun commanded were his dead organization's souls. Normally zombified by gates, but he extracted them first to keep as minions. The ultimate exploiter, stripping every last bit.
Gnashing his teeth, Kangryeong Daegun yelled.
"Reveal yourself! I can't not know a bastard like you!"
"Acting all buddy-buddy. I'm the grim reaper here to drag you off. That enough?"
Kangryeong Daegun sicced his remaining ghouls to open fire. Ju Kang-rim vanished into the shadows again.
Kangryeong Daegun tried calming, but this one-sided beatdown was unforeseen. Ghosts and corpses had handled most foes before. But Ju Kang-rim dismantled it all.
"All kings are dead, punk. Time for you to go. Taste democratic billy club."
"Shut up!"
Gnashing, Kangryeong Daegun clenched his fist as if resolved, drawing it in. He slashed his palm again with the dagger, letting blood flow. This time, the wound didn't heal. Dripping blood on the floor, he began chanting.
Peerless shaman and inheritor, king of the shadowed realm. With death filling this land, he couldn't lose.
"────."
Soon after murmuring a spell like song or poem, the museum air trembled. All ghosts inside mimicked his voice in unison, chanting the spell.
What the hell?
Hidden behind a pillar, Ju Kang-rim sensed something bad brewing. He pulled a prepared gun and sprayed at Kangryeong Daegun to interrupt. Normal bullets couldn't kill an immortal, but should stop the chant.
Thud, thud.
But aimed at Kangryeong Daegun, bullets couldn't penetrate the ghoul wall.
Then Kangryeong Daegun stepped out through the ghouls on his own. Ju Kang-rim flinched at the sight. Bloody tears streamed from Kangryeong Daegun's eyes.
Ignoring it, he began moving.
"...A dance?"
Bloody tears flowing, Kangryeong Daegun started dancing. His voice rose higher. The chant's rhythm was nauseatingly repulsive.
As the dance began, something slithered under Ju Kang-rim's feet toward Kangryeong Daegun. Ghosts. Melting into gooey sludge, drawn to him. Museum ghosts became a massive river, all swallowed by Kangryeong Daegun.
The chant's lyrics burrowed into his ears.
First addition of the dead, first negation.
Second addition of the dead, second negation.
Third addition of the dead, third negation.
All negations go to you.
Didn't know the nonsense, but it reeked of curse. Ju Kang-rim grew anxious. The dance and song worsening things.
"Think I'll just watch you prance?"
He hurled all his bombs at Kangryeong Daegun. Should shut him up at least—but mistaken.
Kangryeong Daegun just stared wide-eyed at the falling pile.
Thud.
The bomb clump hit with a boom. No explosion.
Thump, thump. Ghouls collapsed here and there.
Seeing only Kangryeong Daegun writhing in dance below, Ju Kang-rim was speechless. His movements barely human. Ju Kang-rim recalled talchum. Long-sleeved robes, grinning mask, dancing. But this was like a long-limbed cephalopod or sea anemone undulating. Nauseating just to watch.
Roaming guard negations.
Garden-defiling guard negations.
Altar-defiling guard negations.
Gate-defiling guard negations.
Human-clinging guard negations, begone.
Suddenly, Kangryeong Daegun whipped his arms fast.
Shwick!
Ju Kang-rim felt a chilling wind brush him. But his body was fine.
Instead, Biman blared urgently.