The Mad Tiger's Howl and the Vampire's Return
“Me…… you know me?”
“Cheon Gang! Are you okay?!”
Gwak Yeon stood over the spiderweb-cracked stone wall where Cheon Gang lay sprawled.
Fortunately.
“Cough, yes!”
No serious injuries seemed present.
The Horin-gu protective gear had absorbed most of the impact.
“Be careful……”
“I am not——”
“Hup!”
After confirming the situation, Gwak Yeon immediately unleashed a gale of sword winds.
With a crisp sound.
The shockwave generated as he drew his sword from its sheath shot straight toward Jang Po, who stood at the entrance of the main hall.
Kwaaa——!
The monstrous roar the villain unleashed scattered the shockwave instantly.
Booming.
The surface of the puddles of blood scattered across the courtyard trembled, and the lush leaves on the large camphor tree in the yard fell with a rustling sound.
‘What……!’
There was no time to be shocked.
The glare from the eyes of the creature that let out a roar thick enough to dull the eardrums lit up like a flash.
“You bad bastard——!”
Chik! Kwanng——!
Alongside the cracks forming on the five-step stone stairs leading to the entrance, his figure was shot out in an instant.
Jang Po, who had flown in with the speed that forced Gwak Yeon to hurriedly adjust his stance, had intercepted the sword gale.
“Lord!”
“Get out of the way!”
Gwak Yeon quickly twisted his body to the side. With a powerful kick to his lower body, he leaped aside from the stone slabs that had been bent into a backward L-shape in the courtyard.
The glare of Jang Po, who had bent the body shot out like a north wind, extended long beneath the night sky after only two steps.
Chik! Chuk!
Cracks appeared on the stone slabs and the dirt floor where his feet landed, and dust rose from them. Leading the dust as if it were a whirlpool, Jang Po cut through the air and seized the back of Gwak Yeon just then.
Tap.
Already, Gwak Yeon was climbing the thick trunk of the large camphor tree in the courtyard and soaring into the air.
Just barely.
His body collided with Jang Po’s at the exact spot where Gwak Yeon had evaded.
Kwa-jik!
With a cracking sound, the thick tree snapped.
The camphor tree, thick enough that even three strong men couldn’t reach their fingertips around its arms, crashed with a boom toward the gate.
‘……Not a madman?’
By then, Gwak Yeon, who had stood at the end of the eaves of the second floor of the main hall, clicked his tongue.
At that moment, the dust rising from the lush branches and leaves of the fallen tree on the ground clouded the night sky.
The fist extended to signal had sent it.
A few iron spikes, gleaming under the moonlight from the sky, shot toward that direction.
Chae-kang!
However, the iron spikes shot by Heoksijo, who had been circling from afar, were easily blown away by the iron staff that wiped out the hazy smoke in a single blow.
‘His eyesight…… is quite something!’
With that, the iron staff spinning in his hand, he walked forward with a bull-like snort from his nose.
Thump!
Gwak Yeon’s eyes sparkled as he looked at him.
A real expert he had seen in a long time.
The peak of the fake Hangzhou Ghost he had been dealing with had felt different somehow.
“Jang Po, you bastard!”
The roar that pierced down from the sky.
The voice coming down from the highest layer.
Though hidden by the eaves, it couldn’t be seen directly……
“It seems there were still bad guys left! Kill them all! These are definitely villains to look at!”
“I know——! You attacked me——!”
“Eh?!”
“Attacking Jang Po, the hero of the Jianghu and the righteous people’s hero?! I’m really pissed! Those bastards shouldn’t be left alone!”
……As the shouting roar grew distant, it seemed he had taken shelter inside the window to avoid the attack even while speaking.
‘That must be the guy called Yak So-wan.’
At that moment.
“Of course——!”
Jang Po, spinning the iron staff faster and faster, gradually increased his speed as he approached.
Though Cheon Gang had rushed behind to fight him together.
“Lord!”
“Stop!”
With that one word, Gwak Yeon leaped toward Jang Po.
“You take care of that guy!”
“……Yes! Ah, I understand!”
Fwap.
Nodding his head and running to the entrance of the main hall, Cheon Gang leaped over, and Gwak Yeon met the iron staff flung by the massive body of Jang Po while swinging his sword.
“You—— where the hell——!”
“Shut up——!”
Kwaang!
The real fight had begun.
***
The intense first clash.
Amidst the dust flying everywhere.
The feet of Gwak Yeon, who had been pushed back creating grooves in the ground, were there now.
Thump!
Not only his hands gripping the sword, but the huge tremor transmitted from his wrists to his shoulders made Gwak Yeon’s eyes snap open wide.
‘……A monster?!’
“Uaa——!”
The next attack came without any pause for breath.
Immediately, Gwak Yeon rotated his body and swung a heavy blow to parry the falling iron staff.
Kkaang——!
Instantly, Jang Po’s expression changed.
“You! Strong——!”
And the barrage of attacks followed.
The guy who had quickly pulled down the iron staff that had bounced off his shoulder swung it down hard, slicing through Gwak Yeon’s sword that was going for his side, and then swung it in wide left and right arcs.
Each one of those was extremely threatening.
The stone lantern that had been hit by the staff instead of Gwak Yeon, who had evaded behind it just now, shattered into pieces.
Kwa-jik.
It wasn’t just that.
The iron staff swung lightly like a pebble, but the kicks and fists inserted between them were fast and strong enough to make Gwak Yeon’s head tingle as they faced him.
‘I don’t know if he formally learned martial arts……’
Deliberately showing a flaw, Gwak Yeon lured out a kick and swung his sword with both hands while turning slightly to the side.
Kwa-gwang!
The unstable posture of Jang Po was hit by the iron staff.
It was a shock that almost made him drop the sword he was holding.
A tingle.
If his bones and muscles hadn’t been strengthened by being a vampire, the strike that was now pouring down would have sent the sword flying long ago.
This time, Gwak Yeon, who had rolled to avoid the iron staff that was swung upward, held the sword sheath in one hand upon rising.
‘……Similar to Pang Mu-gwang.’
He had even judged that he was above him in pure physical ability and changed his strategy. The twirling sword of Gwak Yeon facing the iron staff swung lightly like a branch by Jang Po.
Ka-kang——!
Like peeling an apple skin, rotating around Jang Po and parrying the iron staff, he inserted attacks into the gaps created between.
Pip!
Soon, the sleeve of Jang Po’s shoulder was cut, and a shallow wound was drawn.
“Eh!? You’re strong?!”
“……Hah.”
“You can endure this——?!”
“You’re unbelievably strong.”
“I am not—— unbelievably strong——!”
Jang Po’s momentum did not weaken at all.
He spun his hand in the air and instead poured the iron staff he held even faster and more wildly.
Between the sword and sword sheath swung by Gwak Yeon in response to that.
Tada-dang!
Small sparks rose like a fountain.
A stinging scent at the tip of the nose.
Weaponry tangled messily in the air.
The gaps between the fierce iron staff strikes swung with both hands by Gwak Yeon were cleverly parried, and Gwak Yeon had been busy attacking into those gaps.
Pip! Pip——!
Despite small bruises appearing all over his body, he didn’t even care and approached relentlessly like that bastard Jang Po.
While quickly swinging both arms.
Gwak Yeon honestly couldn’t stop admiring.
‘Completely…… a monster?’
A fast and powerful movement based on superhuman strength, and the instinctive pressure coming from here.
Despite the bruises all over his body on the sword sheath and blood flowing from the scratched places on the sharp sword tip, he blocked vital points like a ghost and unleashed attacks.
Instinct.
This Jang Po guy was facing Gwak Yeon with thoroughly ingrained instinct and the strength of the body itself……
‘It’s not!’
……This was it.
Seok——!
Instantly, the shoulder of Jang Po was deeply cut by Gwak Yeon’s sword.
But.
“Kwaaaak!”
At the same time, his body twisted and slammed Gwak Yeon with the opposite shoulder.
The right side of Gwak Yeon, suddenly exposed, was sucked in by the burst of monstrous charging power and weight.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa——!
Instantly, Gwak Yeon flew.
Even after quickly twisting his body in the air to land, it was an enormous shock that pushed him back creating a shallow groove in the ground.
“Cough!”
Coughing and raising his head.
From afar, the guy who was rubbing his bleeding shoulder with an angry look……
“Jajenjaaaaaa——!”
……It was absurd.
Despite being scratched and hit all over the body by attacks large and small.
The momentum didn’t weaken.
That Jang Po guy, flashing his glare and laughing loudly.
“Such things, I haven’t seen in a long time——!”
Seeing that smile without a hint of fatigue even though he had poured out the rapid attacks that looked like afterimages, Gwak Yeon let out a dry laugh.
That guy, he’s strong.
‘If I attack slowly, I might not be able to beat him……’
For a sure and fast victory, it was a problem to even consider using the vampire’s abilities.
The throbbing whole-body muscles.
Still, enjoying the tingling that was pushing in, when Gwak Yeon adjusted his posture again.
“Again! Let’s do it again——!”
Whoosh!
The whistle shot toward Jang Po who was charging like a storm.
The wave of air filled with blood energy pierced into the eardrums of Jang Po as he ran and shot the whistle.
“Muu-aa——!”
Instantly, the eyes widened and the head shook.
With the large smile of that guy who still jumped his body without hesitation.
Kwa-ga-kang!
Jang Po and Gwak Yeon collided in the middle.
The fiercely swung iron staff was parried by Gwak Yeon who swung both arms, and Jang Po’s face, swinging the iron staff messily toward the rapidly circling Gwak Yeon, was filled with a look of surprise.
“What is this!”
“Kuup!”
“You’re a strange guy!”
“What……!”
“What just now! It was tingling!”
The absurd expression on Gwak Yeon.
His speed didn’t slow down at all.
The whistle ability that had even made Pang Mu-gwang flinch for a moment was almost ineffective.
‘Why, this monster?’
At this point, he had sharpened his whole-body senses to the current limit.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Not only the sound of Gwak Yeon’s own heartbeat, but the rough breathing of Jang Po who was quickly rotating his body to avoid and shoot attacks, and the rustling sound of clothes rubbing and scratching without any break, all could be heard.
‘……Eh?!”
Something strange.
The moment when an alien energy, unlike the vampire’s senses he had read until now, was felt somewhere in Jang Po.
Pappa-pat!
“Lord, Jang Po——!”
A scream came from high up in the tower.
Yak So-wan.
He had seemed to be facing the guy who had just gone up, Cheon Gang.
“Help! Help! The fake Hangzhou Ghost is chasing us!”
“Wait!”
“These guys are really bad!”
“Really?! Are they really bad guys——?!”
Still fighting against Gwak Yeon.
But in his eyes, a strange doubt was blooming.
“That’s right! While pretending to be a real Hangzhou Ghost like Lord Jang Po, the black-hearted bastards who harass people in Hangzhou!”
“Hah! That would be the opposite!”
“What——?!”
Instantly, the words Gwak Yeon spat out.
Unbelievably, Jang Po’s eyes widened.
“The Hangzhou Ghost who pretends and kills people are none other than you!”
“No! I am——!”
“You stupid bastard! Shut up and climb up!”
“What, what——!”
“I’m about to die! Hurry up and come out, you damn Jang Po bastard—!”
“You, you——!”
Jang Po had no time to be surprised.
He suddenly became enraged, and blood as red as ink spewed from his mouth.
At this time when the situation was turning bad.
“Cough! What…… is this——!”
“Follow my orders!”
“You! Why suddenly……!”
“Shut up——! Climb up——!”
Instantly, Jang Po’s eyes became hazy.
And he suddenly turned his back.
Seeing that, regardless of whether Gwak Yeon’s attacks made his whole body exposed, he leaped toward the roof of the tower.
“Quickly——! If you don’t want to die immediately, listen to me——!”
Gwak Yeon felt it.
The alien ‘something’ residing in that guy’s body.
Gulping!