Immortals vs. Grim Reapers - chapter 46
Chapter 46. The Highway Man (1)
Vroooom.
Two motorcycles were chasing the Bentley at a ferocious speed.
Both riders on the black motorcycles were completely wrapped in dark leather jackets, black helmets, leather boots, and gloves.
They quickly caught up to the Bentley, making a show of their loud engines.
“How did you know they were trackers?”
“Only immortals would ride motorcycles at that speed on the highway.”
“Or madmen?”
Just then, one of the motorcycles quickly pulled up beside the Bentley. A dark Japanese sword appeared as if sprouting from the tracker’s hand.
The tracker swiftly thrust the sword into the car body.
Yu Wolryeong had said the Bentley was made of bulletproof and blast-resistant material, but the Japanese sword pierced the window in one go.
The sword narrowly grazed the tip of Yu Wolryeong’s nose.
Yu Wolryeong didn’t even blink, but Ju Gangrim grabbed the steering wheel from the side and jerked it sharply.
The Bentley rammed into the motorcycle. The motorcycle crashed into the barrier with a thunderous noise and flew off.
Yu Wolryeong muttered.
“Hmm, I was leaving them be thinking they might just be madmen, but…”
Ju Gangrim shrugged.
“I learned in school that it’s legal to hit and kill a motorcycle rider going at that speed on the highway.”
“You studied hard.”
However, looking in the rearview mirror, it was clear this wasn’t an opponent to be easily defeated.
The motorcycle that had shattered against the barrier distorted into darkness in mid-air, then instantly reassembled into its motorcycle form.
And the assassin who had been flung into the air started running at a terrifying pace, no less fierce than the motorcycle, the moment he landed on the highway. The assassin remounted the reassembled motorcycle and quickly resumed the pursuit.
“A friend with an interesting magical motorcycle.”
Ju Gangrim muttered incredulously, but with a slightly tense voice.
This opponent was on a different level from those he’d faced so far.
Judging by the body movements, they were as skilled as Ttaekachi, or even more so, and their equipment and techniques were definitely superior.
Ratatatatat.
Bullets embedded in the Bentley’s window. Another rider was firing a submachine gun from behind.
Naturally, the submachine gun’s caliber couldn’t pierce the bulletproof glass. However, it had the effect of obstructing vision by distorting the glass surface.
The side mirrors and rear window were severely cracked, obscuring the view. The tracker was meticulously shooting bullets into every piece of glass, as if coloring them in.
“Those motorcycle ninjas… we need to catch them, right?”
“Certainly.”
Yu Wolryeong pressed something next to the steering wheel. Ju Gangrim expected a hidden auto-turret or something to appear, but it wasn’t that.
[Initiating autonomous driving mode.]
“Does this actually work?”
“It can follow the lanes. Fortunately, there are no other cars around.”
Yu Wolryeong then pressed another button inside.
[Automatic brake system disabled. Speed limit deactivated. Airbag function blocked. Automatic locking mechanism disab…]
Such expensive cars have countless features built in to protect the driver. However, many of these are inconvenient during combat.
Ju Gangrim felt a chill as he heard all the safety features being turned off. The Bentley had now become a steel coffin racing at 200 km/h.
Yu Wolryeong muttered expressionlessly.
“Even if something goes wrong, it’s not like we’ll die.”
***
The two motorcycles pulled up on either side of the Bentley. This time, as if not giving the Bentley a chance to push them, both riders simultaneously drew their Japanese swords.
At that moment, Yu Wolryeong forcibly unlocked the doors. Taking that as a signal, they both kicked open the Bentley’s doors in one swift motion.
Bang.
As the doors on both sides flung open, the Japanese swords that were about to be swung got stuck in the metal doors.
Immediately after, Ju Gangrim lunged through the open door gap towards the assassin, giving no chance to react.
Crunch.
The hand axe lodged into the helmet, but it didn’t give the satisfying sensation of a skull being smashed as expected. Feeling the surprise attack had failed, Ju Gangrim quickly kicked the assassin away while pulling out his hand axe.
Bang.
The kicked assassin staggered backward. But the motorcycle, as if it had a will of its own, regained balance on its own and fiercely pursued.
“This is troublesome.”
Ju Gangrim glanced to the side to see how Yu Wolryeong was doing.
On Yu Wolryeong’s side, the door had completely fallen off.
Instead, she was wielding the fallen door with one hand, swinging it at the motorcycle rider.
The assassin seemed bewildered by this unexpected weapon and fell back slightly, but soon drew a submachine gun from their hand and started firing.
Just like when the Japanese sword appeared, it was as if the weapon materialized out of thin air.
Ratatatatat.
But of course, the bullets couldn’t penetrate the door. She watched the assassin’s movements carefully for a moment, then quickly threw the door.
The assassin, as if anticipating this move, swiftly turned the motorcycle to avoid it.
But what they didn’t expect was how fast the thrown door was flying.
Whirrr, screech.
The door, flying like a boomerang, instantly cut the assassin in half before bouncing several times on the highway and disappearing into the distance.
Whether they were an immortal or not was unclear, but even an immortal would have trouble immediately catching up after being halved and tumbling on the highway.
Seeing their companion cut in half and collapse right beside them, the other assassin hesitated and halted their attack. Ju Gangrim saw this and loudly admonished:
“See? You don’t live long riding motorcycles!”
The opponent gave no response to Ju Gangrim’s outburst.
Instead, they pulled slightly ahead of the Bentley, maintaining some distance.
The assassin riding in front of the car pulled out a bundle of hook chains from the shadows. Then they swung the hook towards the window, piercing it in one go.
The already severely cracked window couldn’t withstand the heavy hook penetrating it.
The assassin firmly secured the chain, then crashed their motorcycle head-on into the Bentley right in front of it.
Kaboom.
The Bentley shook violently as the motorcycle was torn to shreds. However, the assassin simultaneously threw their body towards the window.
Bang.
Unlike the hook, the assassin couldn’t break through the window. The assassin who collided with the window grabbed the firmly secured chain and drew their Japanese sword.
Crunch.
The Japanese sword thrust deeply, aiming for Ju Gangrim’s torso. Ju Gangrim also swung his hand axe to deflect the sword sideways.
The Japanese sword, caught by the bulletproof glass and hammered sideways, couldn’t withstand it and snapped instantly.
The assassin, showing no sign of disappointment, discarded the broken sword and summoned a new Japanese sword in their hand.
Ju Gangrim clicked his tongue and fastened his seatbelt.
“Let’s give them what they want.”
Yu Wolryeong nodded and sharply turned the steering wheel to the right.
Screeech, as the Bentley suddenly braked and spun, the assassin hanging on with the chain couldn’t hold on and flew off.
They tried to wrap the chain around their arm to hang on, but the situation wasn’t leisurely enough for that.
Bang, kaboom, crunch, bang.
The assassin slammed into the highway barriers on both sides, spinning like a top dancer, their whole body taking the impact.
Just as Ju Gangrim was about to change his metaphor from top dancing to blender, the Bentley hit the barrier and flipped over with a clang.
As the car rolled over several times on the highway, Ju Gangrim had all sorts of thoughts, but in the end, he was able to open his eyes with his limbs intact.
Thud, clang.
The Bentley barely held on and returned to its original position without flipping over. Of course, it was in such a state that it needed to be scrapped.
Yu Wolryeong was already cutting her seatbelt and getting up. Ju Gangrim also cut his seatbelt and got out.
“Expensive cars are indeed good. They have infinitely regenerating motorcycles, and we’ve wrecked one expensive car.”
“Then we should catch at least one of them to break even.”
The highway was in such a mess that calling it a disaster would be an understatement. Traces of battle stretched for hundreds of meters, like a war zone.
And amidst all this, they ran to find the ‘shredded’ fragments of the assassin in the middle of the highway.
“Hey, we stopped the car as you wanted! What are you going to do now? Hitchhike?”
Ju Gangrim narrowed his eyes as he looked around, noticing that despite this chaos, not even a tow truck had arrived, let alone a police car.
‘Did they do something to prevent the highway patrol from coming?’
Korean police would have been watching the entire situation through CCTV by now. There are few places on Korean roads that aren’t monitored by CCTV.
But the scale was too large to bribe. It seemed they had done something to block the information.
‘I guess that’s why there were no cars on the highway already.’
Ju Gangrim found a motorcycle helmet rolling in the middle of the highway. It would be horrific whether there was a head inside or not, but he had to check.
After all, even if it wasn’t horrific, he’d have to make it horrific anyway.
Fortunately, there was no head inside the helmet. Ju Gangrim didn’t want to think about what happened to a rider who spun like a top at 200 km/h in the middle of the highway without wearing a helmet.
Just then, with a sharp wind sound, a dagger flew towards Ju Gangrim. He quickly swung his robe to block it.
With a thud, the dagger’s tip dug into the inside of the robe before stopping.
Seeing a dagger that could penetrate his robe, which could block even decent gun bullets, Ju Gangrim readjusted his grip on the hand axe.
He saw the assassin standing unsteadily on the opposite side of the highway.
It was hard to see clearly in the night, but the streetlight illuminated enough to show that their limbs were attached. Ju Gangrim was relieved to see they were in better shape than expected.
“Good thing there are many parts left to torture.”
The only good thing about an immortal not dying is that you can torture them without worrying about them dying.
***
Yu Wolryeong had somehow caught up beside him. She narrowed her eyes, watching the opponent.
“Their regeneration speed is quite fast.”
“Yes. Rather than having excellent regeneration ability…”
Ju Gangrim recalled how they had summoned guns and swords from their hands to attack earlier. And even the completely wrecked motorcycle regenerating and returning.
That’s beyond the category of regeneration.
It’s something else.
“It seems closer to shapeshifting ability.”
Ju Gangrim said, watching the assassin scatter darkness like ash all over their body while restoring it.
Summoning weapons and repairing the motorcycle are also forms of shapeshifting ability.
That black mass of darkness is either the medium or perhaps their original form.
Yu Wolryeong nodded.
“If it’s shapeshifting rather than regeneration, it means the damage is accumulating. They’re just forcibly making their body appear normal. Eventually, there will be a limit.”
“Hmm.”
Ju Gangrim, who had been looking at the opponent’s face dimly visible in the streetlight, curled up the corners of his mouth.
“I think I know who it is.”
“You know?”
Ju Gangrim nodded and started running forward to not give the assassin more time to recover their body.
The assassin swayed as if about to collapse, then flung a dagger as if it were springing out.
However, it couldn’t penetrate Ju Gangrim’s robe this time either. Instead, Ju Gangrim tilted the angle of his robe slightly to deflect it without even letting it penetrate.
Simultaneously, he closed the distance towards the assassin.
Swish, slash!
The assassin quickly swung their hand.
Ju Gangrim thought they were throwing a punch, but a black Japanese sword had already formed in the assassin’s hand. Because weapons suddenly sprouted from what he thought were bare hands, he couldn’t let his guard down.
However, the missed sword gave Ju Gangrim an opportunity.
Thud, thwack!
But the assassin collapsed their missed hand into darkness and created a new arm from the shoulder to grab Ju Gangrim’s axe-wielding hand.
It was an impossible sight, but at the same time, it revealed that they couldn’t make four or five arms simultaneously.
Ju Gangrim immediately kneed the assassin’s solar plexus. Though adept at shapeshifting, they seemed to feel momentary pain as their face contorted. But Ju Gangrim also felt pain in his hand.
A razor blade had somehow appeared in the assassin’s hand that was blocking the hand axe.
“You son of a…”
Ju Gangrim smiled coldly and instead tightly grasped the hand. The assassin flinched and met Ju Gangrim’s gaze.
Ju Gangrim smiled roundly and whispered.
“Short on energy, aren’t you? Trying to restore your state and create weapons?”
Naturally, focusing on restoring form leads to a lack of substance.
In other words, the assassin was no different from a sandcastle that looked fine on the outside but was crumbling inside.
Ju Gangrim sharply twisted that hand and pressed it down. The sound of bones breaking could be heard.
As the assassin opened their mouth as if to scream, Ju Gangrim simultaneously headbutted their nose.
Thud, thud.
The assassin tried to retreat in confusion, but Ju Gangrim didn’t let go of their hand.
“You can’t shapeshift parts that are in contact with your opponent!”
This was information Ju Gangrim knew from his memories of his previous life.
It’s not that they can’t shapeshift. However, when mixed with Ju Gangrim’s blood or sweat, it becomes extremely difficult to control that form, so it’s better to cut off limbs.
“Ugh…!”
Finally, the assassin let out their first groan. They drew a spear from their other hand.
Ju Gangrim quickly grabbed the spear thrust aimed at his solar plexus.
The assassin, as if they had been waiting for this, collapsed the spear and pulled out a new hand and spear to thrust again. But Ju Gangrim had already anticipated their reaction.
“Ttaekachi!”
Ttaekachi sprang out from Ju Gangrim’s robe and instantly pierced the assassin’s eyes.