Miho the Killer
Chapter 78: Corridor of Death

Chapter 78: Corridor of Death

The corridor was littered with five corpses now. Tiger managed to dispatch them all single-handedly in a matter of minutes. Just as she promised.

The break didn’t last long though. As Miho was catching her breath though after checking to see if I was OK - and I was OK. Getting covered with blood splatters was a small price to pay for being alive, unharmed - the door to President Ryu’s office creaked open.

We both looked over and I saw four men in suits, just like Miho.

They meant business.

Each of them were holding two knives each, sort of short Japanese swords just like the ones Miho used.

The similarity was uncanny and shivers ran down my spine as I thought perhaps each of them was as capable a killer as my tigress was.

"Well, that saves me the trouble of trying to get in."

Miho just shrugged it off.

The four harbingers of death did not say anything though, and slowly began to approach us through the corridor in formation - two at the front and two at the back.

Miho stood still with her combat stance. This was like the training she’d been doing with Shin for weeks leading up to today, but times four.

With about four meters left in distance, my blood-covered predator started to inch closer to them as well, taking slow but deliberate steps forward. The two harbingers at the front continued their approach to us too in a slightly crouched posture.

When they came within about two meters of distance between them, they all stopped. I saw Miho’s back, then at the blades of the four killers, and her back again - compact yet filled with the perfect balance of muscle underneath her jacket and shirt. There was a sudden chill in the air as the intense silence filled the Corridor of Death. All I could hope for was that this place would be a deathbed for President Ryu’s four elite guards, not us.

Then it was Miho who made the first move. Without a word, she seemingly started to dash toward them, but as the two at the front got ready for the counter-attack she jumped to the left wall, and kicked it with her foot to change her trajectory in the air. The one on the right immediately ducked and the one on the left turned to face Miho’s new approaching direction.

But to everyone’s surprise, Miho kicked the right wall again but an angle to fall back to her position again. A little closer to the dangerous four than how she started, but back to the status quo.

The first two then turned their bodies to have their backs face the walls and started to approach Miho slowly again with their knife-holding hands leading the way. Then with only one meter left, they finally lunged forward to attack Miho from both sides, to which she responded by doing a back roll to build some distance again, ending with a crouching position close to the floor.

The two at the front, using their momentum, started to dash toward Miho and she repeated the same move again, jumping to one side and kicking the left wall with her foot, which propelled her to the right side, and then again kicking the right wall to fall further back.

Now she was almost where we started and just in front of me. The front two-edged ever so closer, reducing the distance between us and them even further.

As I was wondering what she was doing, she turned to me for a very brief moment and whispered just about loud enough for only me to hear.

"Throw the desk to the one of the left and the suitcase over to the back two, as far as you can."

I finally understood what she was doing, so after taking a deep breath, grabbed the desk on which I placed the suitcase before and flung it at the two attackers closer to us.

Right at the moment the desk was flying toward them - I was proud of my throw - Miho roared like a true tiger and lunged forward. The one on the left, with no room to maneuver to dodge the desk as he was already backed off against the wall, decided to kick the desk back in the air, which he managed with admirable quick reflex. This was his downfall though.

Miho, jumping forward, kneed the desk mid-air, pushing it back to the man on the left, forcing it to crush on his head in his crouching position and making him fall on his back. The one on the right immediately came to aid and tried to stab Miho, but she had a plan for that too. The agile tigress ducked under the incoming knife-holding arm and used her own elbow to land a hard knock on the man’s stretched-out elbow from outside, making it crack and bend the way human anatomy wasn’t designed to.

She then swiftly used the knife on the other arm to stab it into the armpit of the guard. It was over for him now.

The two at the back were now quickly approaching Miho to come to aid for their fallen men and like a good girl, I did exactly what was ordered earlier.

I picked up the suitcase and threw it at them, as far as I could, and I did a reasonable enough job as it flew far enough to reach them.

The suitcase landed in between the two men, which made them split to each side just like the front two. Miho did a quick front roll to the one standing on the right and immediately got up to attack the man, but this guy wasn’t a pushover like one of the five earlier guards that she dispatched with ease.

This time, he managed to raise his leg and aimed a stomp on Miho’s head. The tigress quickly dodged the foot coming down on her to take the kick on her shoulder, but continued her upward momentum to stand up, which made the man’s leg get pushed back up and made him lose balance while standing on one leg.

Miho didn’t miss the opportunity and continued to run toward him, making him fall on his ass and Miho used the knife on her left hand to land a quick succession of stabs on his exposed side. He let out an ear-piercing shriek.

The man on the left who just dodged the suitcase was quickly onto her though and was slashing his knife downward, aiming for her back. Miho, however, either planned in advance or in an incredibly quick judgment, grabbed the collars of the fallen man’s jacket, pulled him up, and rolled to her side, effectively turning him into a meat-shield for the incoming attack.

There was a moment of pause in action as the man who just stabbed his colleague tried to pull his knife out, then Miho used all the strength of her legs to push the meat-shield toward the man, which made him awkwardly tumble down on his back.

The beast was in full swing now, she got up and dashed toward the man who was close to me, who now recovered and got up after getting crushed by the desk and Miho earlier, using the meat-shield man as a launch pad. The man sensed the danger and stepped back to build some distance again, but while kept running forward, the tigress did not stop her movement and threw the knife toward him. The knife went clean into his throat, making him shoot out blood and fall right in front of me.

At this point, the final harbinger, who didn’t look so dangerous anymore but still alarming, managed to get back up after pushing the lifeless meat-shied aside, but alas, he had no chance against yet another quick throw of Miho’s knife that landed a clean stab in his heart.

Miho stood still for a moment panting hard, her shoulders and chest visibly and rhythmically heaving up and down. After that, she walked toward the one she just killed and retrieved her knife, then walked back toward me again and pulled out the knife that was stuck in the fallen man’s throat.

"Are you OK?"

She asked me again wiping off the blood that splashed on her cheeks.

I was also drenched in blood, mostly from the man whose throat was still shooting out blood like a fountain.

"Are YOU OK?"

"I’m feeling good."

She smiled while huffing and puffing, walked up to me, stared into my eyes, and gave me a quick kiss on my bloody forehead.

"Let’s go. We are almost there."

With that, she turned again to walk toward President Ryu’s office and I followed her closely, doing my best not to step on the corpses along the way.

Nine down now.

I now understood why Miho the Killer had the codename Tiger.

And I now started to believe.

They say there can be only one tiger in a mountain, and this place is Miho’s territory now.