Vol 3 Chapter 16

Several more punches and kicks flew at him haphazardly. Unable to defend properly, Kapros took the full brunt of the impacts, making his vision blur.

"Stop it, stop. He'll die before we even get started."

"He won't die from this much. You need to break the spirit of a stiff bastard like this before you start."

"Then at least avoid the face. What's the point of eating something all swollen up?"

Rather than being dumbfounded by their conversation, Kapros was seething at his current situation.

To be helplessly caught, beaten, and mocked by these lunatics. It would have been less humiliating if he could at least fight back while getting hit.

Is this really what you've become, Kang Mu-heon! Was all that struggling to do something with this leg, all that sword training, for nothing!

"Damn it!"

He hadn't been working so hard all this time just to be treated like an idiot in a place like this! As his blood boiled hot and his head felt like it was freezing, Kapros kicked back at the shin of the man holding him.

"Ugh!"

As the man bent over from the unexpected attack, Kapros twisted his body, and his restrained body was completely freed. However, he had already anticipated that doing so would make his body lean towards his weaker right side.

Instead of his right foot which lacked strength, Kapros thrust forward his left foot, which had developed more muscle from supporting his body, and planted it firmly on the ground. At the same time, he bent his waist and turned his body as if to shoulder throw the man who had grabbed him. He felt an enormous weight being lifted and turned over him. As if to prove the saying that anger multiplies one's strength, even this weight that would have been difficult to support normally didn't feel particularly hard to bear.

It was a shoulder throw that normally required the right foot to support from behind, but this one relied entirely on the strength of his left foot, which had become much stronger than an average person's single foot.

'It worked!'

Boom!

"Argh!"

"Oof!"

"W-What the!"

Kapros quickly raised his head. At the moment of the shoulder throw, he felt something else catch, and another guy had fallen. It seemed he hadn't been able to dodge in time. The guy who had been thrown was motionless, perhaps knocked out from landing head-first.

"Haa... haa..."

It looked like the two had collided, increasing the impact. Two birds with one stone.

'It's a good thing I learned that shoulder throw back then.'

This shoulder throw was something he had learned along with Jeong Seung-jo from a judo club member in high school by chance, but no one could have known it would be used in a place like this.

Kapros was also surprised that his body still remembered this technique. He was even more amazed that it had been executed perfectly. It seemed the saying that a skill once learned by the body is not easily forgotten even after years was true.

Scanning the guys who were bewildered by the sudden turn of events, Kapros retreated, leaning against the wall behind him, and picked up his cane lying nearby with lightning speed. He gripped the cane upside down with both hands, took a stance, and leaned his center of gravity against the wall behind him, which brought some stability to his panting breath. After that, all that remained was the wild rage that had been dominating his mind.

"Just now... what were you saying?"

When the men's eyes met Kapros's, burning with distorted anger, they flinched and stepped back. A couple of them hurriedly pulled out jack knives from their pockets, but it was laughable to Kapros.

It seemed they hadn't brought any weapons that might arouse suspicion from others, as their original purpose was probably just to ask questions, rough him up a bit, and send him back. If they were organized criminals, it might have been a different story, but these guys were clearly just back-alley thugs.

Even for an ordinary man, the situation changes a bit when he has a weapon in his hand that the enemy doesn't. Moreover, despite his leg, Kapros was a proper martial arts practitioner.

If he could just hold this position with his back against the wall, using it instead of his right foot, it would be like having another foot to balance on, even though he was cornered in a dead-end alley. His back might get scraped, but fighting while leaning against the wall was far better than falling over.

Kapros gripped the cane tightly in both hands while simultaneously wearing a cold smile. Seeing the guys falter again under his pressure, they all started to look like groups of monsters from MIST.

These guys who were cowering under this level of pressure, what were they blabbering about just now? Kapros still remembered the chilling sensation he had felt, as if alarms were going off throughout his body.

Although it wasn't explicitly stated, he wasn't unaware that it clearly meant a man treating another man as a sexual object to be crushed. Just recalling that nauseating, horrifying feeling was enough to drive him mad.

"Th-That bastard's completely lost it. Look at his eyes!"

"Shit, what's a cripple gonna do with a cane!"

"Uwaah!"

After a brief standoff, one of the guys soon lost his nerve and charged at Kapros, mistiming his attack. It was just what Kapros had hoped for.

If the guys had properly come to their senses and recognized their numerical advantage, rushing in as a group, Kapros would have had a hard time. But with one guy charging in first, causing the others to hesitate, he had a good chance.

This was the moment to strike, in this time lag!

'Die and regret it, you orc-like bastards!'

"Hiyah!"

Shouting inwardly with curses he didn't usually use, Kapros's sword—no, cane—that had never been swung at a person since the accident three years ago, now rushed towards the men.

His first attack in three years was surprisingly smooth. It was a sight that might have made his master fall over in shock if he had witnessed it. However, unfortunately, there was no room left in Kapros to feel the emotion of finally accomplishing what he couldn't do no matter how hard he tried. All that remained was the murderous intent and battle instinct that filled his mind red.

"Huff... haa... haa..."

When Kapros finally relaxed his grip on the cane, catching his breath a while later, there was no one left standing before him.

The men lying here and there, squirming, were in a state of complete knockdown. Kapros's own condition wasn't exactly pristine either.