Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 610

“Go.”

It was a lost war.

It was already a lost war.

Therefore, the course of action was obvious.

“If you go behind there, they won’t chase you. Those who are leaving, hurry and go. If you delay even a little, you won’t be able to escape.”

A resolute voice.

Elder Go Seong-hyeon had decided to evacuate his disciples.

‘There’s no need to increase the number of meaningless deaths.’

Not all those he was leading were his direct disciples. But as long as he was leading them, they were no different from his disciples. What kind of master would want his disciples to die meaningless deaths?

“What about you, Master?”

“I will stay.”

“…You said that if you stay, you’ll die.”

“Don’t worry about me and go.”

“But…”

“You fools! Do you think this is a joke? Didn’t I say that if you stay, you’ll die! They already gave a warning. That means they will never let those who remain live. If you could leave some meaning by dying here, if you could achieve some purpose, I would have grabbed you first. But that’s not the case! Dying here is a dog’s death. Go now!”

The footsteps of those who didn’t know what to do followed one after another.

They knew they had to go, but their pride wouldn’t allow them to run away like this.

“Can’t we fight?”

“You fools.”

“What makes them so different from us? Aren’t they mostly young guys anyway? We won’t lose to those younger than us.”

“…”

“Running away like this is not what a martial artist should do. Isn’t that what Master taught us? We’d rather fight. If the elders can just stop Kang Jin-ho, we…”

“Go!”

Go Seong-hyeon shouted loudly.

“I said no! They are not opponents you can handle. Don’t think of them as they were before.”

“I know, that they’ve learned demonic arts. That’s why we can’t run away even more. Even so, telling us to run away from those dirty demonic beings is too much.”

“You fools!”

Go Seong-hyeon was flustered.

It wasn’t just the elders who had a grudge against Kang Jin-ho and Bang Jin-hoon’s rise to power. Wherever there is change, there are bound to be those who are left behind.

The ones here were those people.

It wasn’t because they lacked ability.

“There’s a limit to how far you can go, even if you don’t care about the means or methods. Learning demonic arts and accepting martial arts from overseas. What’s the point of getting stronger like that? In the end, you’ll only destroy yourselves.”

“Even if we run away from here, the future won’t change. In that case, we’d rather fight here.”

“You idiots!”

“Running away is what’s idiotic.”

Go Seong-hyeon beat his chest.

How could he not understand their feelings? But the enemy was strong. They alone could not stop them.

‘Rather…’

If it was going to be like this, wouldn’t it be better to retreat?

Instead of foolishly trying to intercept them here and watching the young ones fall, wouldn’t it be better to join up behind and gather strength…

‘How did it come to this?’

Just this afternoon, his heart was full of hope. Hope that they could regain the initiative that had been taken away. But after sunset, the situation began to change rapidly.

Suddenly, the mansion became noisy, and soon word spread that someone was invading.

Who else would invade but one person?

‘Kang Jin-ho.’

Go Seong-hyeon could not accept him.

Yes, he knew. He was strong. But so what?

His being strong was not a reason for Go Seong-hyeon to follow him. Being strong is being strong, and being in a position of authority is being in a position of authority.

Go Seong-hyeon had experienced too much to acknowledge someone who was only strong and didn’t know about consensus as the Clan Leader. The world belongs to the strong, but it also belongs to the righteous. What is achieved by force will eventually crumble before force.

Even if it takes a long time, walking the right path. Even if it seems slow, that was the fastest way.

That’s why he wanted Lee Jung-geol to return.

Even though he was not a righteous person, no one could deny that the legitimacy of the General Assembly was with him.

That was all he wanted…

“Master.”

“Everyone, turn back.”

“Yes?”

“I said turn back.”

At Go Seong-hyeon’s sharp voice, the disciples turned their bodies.

“Okay, I won’t force you. But you have to choose. Those who are not going to stay, don’t hesitate and leave right now.”

‘Leave’ or ‘run away’ would be less burdensome than ‘flee.’ Go Seong-hyeon wanted to send away even one more person.

‘They won’t listen to orders anymore anyway.’

He couldn’t overcome the stubbornness of the young people.

If so, he had to save those who could be saved.

“Hurry!”

As he shouted loudly, some began to move. Go Seong-hyeon closed his eyes as he watched his disciples run away without looking back.

‘That’s enough.’

He had done all he could. Now, he could only accept the fate that was coming.

“Everyone who was going has left.”

“You foolish guys.”

An unmistakable smile bloomed on Go Seong-hyeon’s face. Although they said they wouldn’t, the determination of his disciples to give up their lives for the sake of the General Assembly was shaking his heart.

‘Yes, this is what a martial artist is.’

Even though the times were different, the martial spirit did not change. Wasn’t it the Korean martial artists who threw away their lives like straw, even knowing the strength of the enemy?

Go Seong-hyeon felt his eyes redden at the fact that he had not taught his disciples wrong so far.

“Don’t resent me even if you die, you fools.”

“We will resent you. For not making us stronger.”

“Is that my fault? It’s because you guys are dull.”

He joked to ease the tension. But the tension showed no signs of easing.

‘Hoo.’

That Kang Jin-ho was coming.

Go Seong-hyeon had already witnessed Kang Jin-ho fighting. His appearance, rampaging like a demon, still sometimes appeared in his dreams.

That immense power.

That immense power, which could not be thought of as human, was still vivid in his memory.

But…

That was why Go Seong-hyeon could not accept Kang Jin-ho. He could not forget the sight of him splitting the waist of an opponent he could have easily subdued and laughing cruelly.

‘Humans have a human way.’

He knew.

That that method prevented more bloodshed.

But Go Seong-hyeon knew. He did not choose that path to shed less blood.

Simply because it was practical.

He used that method because it was the simplest. If the simplest method was one that caused more people to lose their lives, Kang Jin-ho would have chosen that method without hesitation.

A method that only considered efficiency without emotion.

Go Seong-hyeon could not agree with that method. According to his values, it was impossible to take orders from such a person.

Moreover, wasn’t he preparing to attack another country right now?

That was also something that could never happen. The ancestors loved peace. Even if they were not invaders, what reason was there to attack another country?

‘They will be punished by heaven.’

Go Seong-hyeon bit his lip.

Kang Jin-ho and he were incompatible. So even if he died like this…

“Oh, it seems they’re coming.”

Go Seong-hyeon’s eyes widened.

It was swaying. The forest was swaying greatly.

“Hmm.”

Looking down from above, he could see it clearly.

A blue sea.

The trees filling the mountain formed a blue sea. And the trees were shaking as if waves were crashing.

‘So noisy?’

Attacking at night meant that they would either launch a surprise attack or attack secretly. But they were making a racket as if they wanted people to know where they were.

‘Even if Kang Jin-ho doesn’t know military tactics, Bang Jin-hoon shouldn’t be ignorant of them. What the hell are they doing?’

It was incomprehensible.

No, there was no need to understand. Those who were coming now were the enemy. If the enemy was immature, he could just be happy about it. He had to forget that they were colleagues who had eaten together until recently.

“Don’t hold back.”

They wouldn’t be able to win.

But at least they had to show their spirit. They had to show them that the General Assembly they knew was not everything, that there were things that could not be controlled by force.

“They’re coming!”

Clang! Clang!

The sound of swords being drawn echoed from everywhere.

Real swords.

Real swords that they had never drawn against their colleagues. Now, those real swords were shining white in the moonlight.

Go Seong-hyeon felt a pang of sorrow as he drew his sword.

He didn’t hesitate.

Those who were coming now were the enemy. He would never show mercy to the enemy. He would cut and cut again, and the fight would only end when he cut down the last one or when Go Seong-hyeon fell.

As Go Seong-hyeon steeled his resolve, ‘that’ came into his sight.

‘What is it?’

A red dot.

A red dot that was eerily red could be seen.

‘Is it a cigarette?’

It was something that those who lived in the city could not understand, but in this darkness, a cigarette was excessively bright. It could be easily identified even from hundreds of meters away.

But why was there a cigarette there? At that moment, Go Seong-hyeon realized. No.

That was not a cigarette. One by one, more red dots began to appear. The red dots, which had instantly increased to dozens, soon exceeded a hundred.

Red dots moving together in pairs as if they were matched.

‘That?’

Eyes.

Eyeballs.

The red-tinged glint of their eyes looked like dots.

“Kkkkkkkkk!”

“There, there. They’re there.”

Strange laughter and voices could be heard.

A sound that was not of this world. A sound that sounded bizarre, as if the voice had been deliberately distorted.

Go Seong-hyeon’s whole body was covered in goosebumps.

‘Demons!’

Only then did Go Seong-hyeon realize. Who they had to fight.

Those who had gained power by mortgaging their humanity to the demonic, the demons who had once filled the Central Plains with terror, were now rushing towards him.

“Don’t be afraid! They are things without reason!”

Go Seong-hyeon shouted.

To his disciples?

Absolutely not.

This was a shout to himself. To himself, who had been seized by fear the moment he met those eyes.

Who was he going to fight?

Those things?

“Kill! Kill! Kill them all! Kill!”

“Enemy! Enemy! It’s the enemy!”

Madness overflowed.

The demons, wrapped in black demonic energy, burst out of the forest and rushed towards Go Seong-hyeon and his men.

In the dark of night, they were like demons that had emerged from the darkness.

Demons that should never exist in reality.

Those demons were now jumping out into reality and attacking them. Drooling as if they were too hungry.

They froze.

Both mind and body froze.

That sight stimulated the fundamental fear of humans. The closer the distance, the more extreme the fear became.

“Kyahahahahahah!”

Like a dog released from a dog fighting ring, the demons swept through Go Seong-hyeon’s defense line. It was like a black wave crashing into a blue sea.

It was the moment when the demonic flames of Kang Jin-ho, who had been resurrected in modern times, revealed their teeth for the first time.