Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 524

Bator couldn’t immediately process the scene unfolding before him.

What was this?

What on earth was this spectacle?

Kang Jin-ho, now enveloped in a dark, almost suffocating demonic energy, truly resembled a demon. The darkness was so intense it felt like being pulled in just by looking at it.

It was enough to make Bator, who had lived his entire life without knowing fear, tremble.

Bator lowered his head.

His gaze shifted to the ground.

Turning his gaze away from an enemy was akin to inviting them to take his head, but for Bator now, such openings were insignificant. Something else held greater importance.

Footprints.

Looking down, he saw clear footprints right in front of him.

Large footprints.

Footprints that no one else could ever make. The only person who could leave footprints of that size here was Bator himself.

That fact meant only one thing.

‘Did I step back?’

Bator’s face was etched with shock.

Kang Jin-ho’s appearance was startling, but even more shocking was the realization that Bator himself had been startled and had retreated from his opponent.

Bator, who had never taken a single step back, even when facing the Red King. Yet, that Bator had now stepped back.

“Th-this…”

Anger surged.

It was a feeling he had never experienced before, a heat that boiled up from his gut and felt like it was burning his head.

But simultaneously, a chill ran down his spine.

The Red King’s voice echoed in his mind.

“If you let your guard down, you’ll die.”

He now fully grasped the meaning of those words.

‘Is he a demon?’

The scene before his eyes was too alien to be of this world. It was as if something from a storybook had materialized into reality.

Even Bator, who existed in the world of martial artists with a broader perspective than ordinary people, felt a profound sense of alienation. Kang Jin-ho’s appearance was terrifying and dreadful.

“Hoo…”

A low, but noticeably rougher than before, breathing sound reached his ears.

Rougher?

Was it because drawing out that much demonic energy was difficult?

That couldn’t be…

That rough breathing was likely due to the difficulty in restraining himself. It was like a groan that unconsciously escaped as he forcibly suppressed the urge to rush at Bator immediately.

Bator’s body trembled.

Once the fear and alienation subsided, a feeling of excitement began to dominate him.

An opponent he had never faced before.

An opponent who evoked an instinctive fear that he had not even felt against the Red King.

That opponent was now right in front of him.

‘Magnificent.’

Bator stared at Kang Jin-ho with enraptured eyes. The demonic energy enveloping Kang Jin-ho’s body was like thick tar. The dense concentration was enough to make him gasp.

The thick, almost viscous demonic energy surged like flames.

“Heh heh.”

A laugh escaped him.

Bator, unable to contain his laughter, spoke.

“I’ve been completely wrong all this time.”

“This is demonic power. Yes, this is what a demon is.”

Bator nodded his head vigorously.

“I understand why stories about demons are passed down like legends.”

“It’s a form that you could never imagine by looking at the dirty remnants left in this world. Yes. That’s why those who mastered demonic arts were called demons. Even I am shaken by this sight.”

It wasn’t just his appearance.

His skin, which he prided himself on as being harder than steel, was now crying out in pain as if being pricked by needles.

An incredibly intense killing intent.

A killing intent so strong that it had become almost tangible was directly piercing his body.

How many people would he have had to kill to emit such killing intent from his body?

Bator stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.

It was beyond his expectations.

He wanted to apologize for not recognizing such an amazing martial artist even though he had been right in front of him.

He had sensed that he was no ordinary person when they met at the baseball field, but…

“You’ve been hiding it well.”

He never imagined that such a monster was lurking behind that appearance.

Of course, it wasn’t his fault. Who would have thought that a ‘demon’ would be like this? Even the Red King would not have imagined such a sight.

Kang Jin-ho slowly opened his mouth.

“Do I have to wait any longer?”

A rough and hoarse voice, like scraping metal.

The moment he heard that grating voice, goosebumps rose all over Bator’s body.

“It wouldn’t be polite to make you wait any longer.”

Bator grinned, his mouth wide open.

It was the reaction of someone who had a delicious meal in front of them, his mouth watering and his stomach churning.

“I can’t hold back any longer either.”

What kind of taste would he have?

He knew it would be the ultimate taste, but Bator’s heart began to pound as if he had a dish he had never tasted before in front of him.

“Warrior from a foreign land.”

Bator clenched his fist. Just clenching his fist made a heavy sound, like a giant piece of heavy equipment moving, echo around him.

“I am grateful to have met you.”

With those words, Bator rushed forward.

KWA-AA-AA-ANG!

A huge explosion suddenly erupted!

At the same time, Bator’s body was flung back at a speed several times faster than the speed he had been rushing forward.

Bator’s body, flung back as if hit by a huge dump truck, crashed through the rusty iron bars, shattered all the lights illuminating them, and flew to the end of the open space.

“L-Lord Bator!”

Jang Da-jing, who was watching from afar, shouted.

One blow.

It was just one blow.

With a blow that was barely visible to his eyes, Kang Jin-ho had sent Bator flying.

“Hoo…”

A low breath escaped from Kang Jin-ho’s mouth, or rather, from where his mouth was presumed to be. Like a wolf exhaling in the middle of winter, black demonic energy puffed out like breath every time Kang Jin-ho breathed, only to be sucked back in again.

‘That monster.’

Jang Da-jing looked at Kang Jin-ho with a disgusted expression.

Just how much was that monster hiding?

To Jang Da-jing, Kang Jin-ho was an incomprehensible being. He had dug and dug, investigated and investigated, yet hidden aspects kept surfacing.

Who would have thought that his power would be at that level?

Not just anyone, but to send Bator flying with a single blow.

It was something that could not be believed unless seen with one’s own eyes.

“Kuh…”

At that moment, a booming voice flowed from the bushes where Bator had been flung.

“Kuhahahahahah!”

A huge laugh that seemed to shake the entire mountain.

It was a laugh befitting his size and ‘status’.

The mountain vibrated.

Lowly, and not fast at all.

Jang Da-jing and Lee Hyun-soo both knew what this vibration meant. Bator’s steps, filled with inner energy [a concept of internal energy cultivation in martial arts].

The moment those steps, which could be called ‘Seismic Steps,’ were taken, the ground could not withstand the impact and trembled in agony.

“Kuhahahah! You bastard!”

Bator, who had emerged from the bushes, had a face that showed he was overjoyed.

There was a long, clear red line from his wrist to his forearm.

Bator shook his right arm, where the red line had appeared.

“I almost got cut. I really almost got cut! You’re really no joke.”

Lee Hyun-soo stared at Bator with a dumbfounded expression.

‘The one who’s no joke is you.’

That was Kang Jin-ho.

It was that Kang Jin-ho who had swung his sword at Bator. With less than half of that power, Kang Jin-ho’s single strike had cut the martial artists of the Yeongnam Alliance in half.

No one could stop Kang Jin-ho’s single strike.

Neither people, nor swords, nor chains, nor shields… Nothing was powerless before Kang Jin-ho’s sword.

Yet, Bator had blocked Kang Jin-ho’s sword, which was swung with power that was incomparable to the war with the Yeongnam Alliance, with his bare body.

How was he supposed to understand that a human body made of flesh and blood had received a sword that even steel could not block?

‘This isn’t a fight between humans.’

Even his common sense, which had been formed by watching the best martial artists in Korea, could not comprehend this fight.

If he had to be this surprised by just one blow, how much more astonished would he have to be before the fight was over?

“Hoo…”

Kang Jin-ho’s rough breathing escaped.

“You’re quite tough.”

“Heh heh, indeed.”

Thump! Thump!

Bator pounded his chest with his fist.

“In the end, martial arts is about training oneself. And oneself is the body. Kang Jin-ho, I have accepted a god into this body.”

Kang Jin-ho did not answer.

No, he couldn’t answer.

His body was already heated like a furnace.

The demonic energy, pushed to its limit, circulated through his body. The demonic energy that poured out from his crown chakra [the top of the head, considered a spiritual center in some traditions] was stimulating his mind.

Kill him.

Kill that man.

It was screaming at him to kill, crush, and annihilate everything in front of him.

And Kang Jin-ho had no intention of refusing that command.

“A body with a god dwelling in it…”

Step.

Kang Jin-ho slowly walked towards Bator.

“The taste of tearing that apart will be exceptional.”

“Heh heh heh, as much as you can.”

Bator’s eyes also began to fill with blood vessels.

He too was abandoning himself to a terrible excitement. The moment he felt he had met a worthy opponent, his body began to temper itself.

To produce even stronger power. To crush and burst that black thing with even stronger power.

“I should thank the Red King.”

For sending him here.

It wasn’t that there were no strong people like Kang Jin-ho in the world. He had just experienced a crushing defeat at the hands of the Red King.

But Kang Jin-ho was not someone who could be explained simply by the measure of strength.

A terrible killing intent.

A dreadful hostility.

The vortex of evil, like a torrent, that seemed to have gathered all the darkness of the world, was exciting Bator more than anything.

If evil were to take form, it would surely look like that.

Crack.

Bator gritted his teeth.

“I’ll tear you apart and kill you.”

“As much as you want.”

“Kuhahahahahah! Here I come!”

Bator kicked off the ground.

KUUUUNG!

The body that he himself claimed to have a god dwelling in it was extraordinary even in its leap. The moment Bator kicked off the ground, the floor caved in as if it had been struck by a hammer.

Based on that tremendous power, Bator charged at Kang Jin-ho like a fired bullet.

A terrifying speed that was unimaginable to have come from that body.

A terrifying display of power that was enough to make anyone watching feel sick.

But the one facing him was not an ordinary martial artist either. Kang Jin-ho, far from being intimidated by that overwhelming power, burned his demonic energy throughout his body as if he was enjoying it, and rushed to meet Bator.

“Kang Jin-hooooooo!”

Bator’s fist, which had been pulled back to the maximum, flew towards Kang Jin-ho. Kang Jin-ho also swung the black-stained Red Ru and Blue Ru [the names of his swords], trying to cut Bator apart.

The martial artists who would shake the world were beginning a battle for their lives in an unnamed mountain.