Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 981

Knight Vesley’s teeth clenched so hard he felt they would break.

The Knights knew.

They knew that even though they were at the pinnacle of the Western martial world, they were no match for the rulers of the East.

It was humiliating, but it was an undeniable reality.

The Round Table coordinated the world.

They didn’t just have principles; they actively intervened in numerous disputes.

And, of course, some of those involved China.

‘Damn those Three Kings.’

The thought of China made his chest ache.

The Three Kings.

The beings who divided and ruled China.

From the Round Table’s perspective, they were truly terrifying and dreadful beings.

When the Cold War ended and China began to engage with the world, conflict between China and the Round Table was inevitable. Although there were no direct clashes due to the distance, China challenged the Round Table-centric world order that had been naturally accepted until then.

To be precise, they were just sticking to their own ways, but in any case, China’s nationalistic and hegemonic tendencies were enough to provoke the Round Table.

Naturally, the Round Table couldn’t just ignore China.

The visible world didn’t matter, but they couldn’t afford to lose control of the martial world.

The conflict finally exploded in Tibet.

Before China’s visible world invaded Tibet, Chinese martial artists attacked Tibet. The Round Table considered this attack a hegemonic act against the world order and sent troops to support Tibet.

The result?

Total annihilation.

A clean result that needed no further explanation.

Even though the force included three Knights, they suffered such a crushing defeat that they couldn’t even properly report the situation of the battle.

The only survivor who returned to Europe after several months was mentally unstable, repeating the words ‘Black King’ like a parrot.

That was the beginning.

The Round Table’s attempts to restore their pride were repeatedly thwarted by the name of the Three Kings.

After repeating over a dozen defeats, the Round Table had no choice but to acknowledge the absolute truth of the martial world.

No matter how rational a system they had, no matter how rational their decision-making process was, in the martial world, power was everything.

And the Three Kings were at the pinnacle of power.

Having been pushed back by force, the Round Table eventually withdrew from East Asia. Since then, they had been monitoring to see if the Three Kings would make any moves.

No one said it out loud,

but the existence of the Three Kings was the Round Table’s complex, in and of itself.

Wouldn’t it be?

It was shameful for the Round Table, which claimed to uphold the world order, to have a place where they couldn’t intervene due to a lack of power. It was also a phenomenon that shook their very justification.

What made it even more painful was that the reason the Round Table could still operate was because the Three Kings were too busy fighting each other to extend their power abroad.

If the battle between the Three Kings ended and China unified,

China would extend its reach abroad. As it always had.

The Round Table knew this fact all too well, but they couldn’t intervene in China’s internal affairs, so they could only sit and watch. A clumsy intervention would surely provoke them, but they couldn’t just leave it alone, as the consequences of China’s unification were all too obvious.

That was what the Three Kings meant to the Round Table.

They were like gunpowder that needed to be removed urgently, but they were too strong to touch, making them feel utterly helpless.

Yes, that was the Three Kings.

But today, another being had emerged that made them feel powerless.

Whoosh!

Knight Vesley desperately threw himself backward. The armor on his chest was torn like paper, and his chest muscles were ripped open.

He didn’t feel any pain.

Vesley was just relieved that his head hadn’t been cut off by the monstrous being’s sword. Of course, this wasn’t a time to be relieved.

And then it happened.

“Ugh…”

He thought he was so tense that he couldn’t feel the pain. But that was just Vesley’s delusion. The moment he thought he had barely survived, a burning pain, as if his heart was on fire, surged from his chest.

Pain from a wound?

It wasn’t that.

An alien energy was penetrating his body from his chest. The energy that had penetrated his body collided with the mana within his body, turning his insides upside down.

“Cough!”

His insides churned, and blood flowed back up his throat.

‘It was just a small wound.’

He had heard that if the energy in a sword was strong, even a graze could cause internal injuries, but this was the first time he had actually experienced it.

That monster was bringing a realm that was only spoken of in legends into reality.

Wrapping the whole body in aura, turning the internal organs upside down with energy, and…

Twitch.

The moment the blood-red light emanating from Kang Jin-ho’s eyes entered his vision, Vesley’s body froze like stone.

‘To subdue someone with a look…

This is just a monster.’

‘How could such a being emerge from a small Eastern country?’

The Three Kings were acknowledged.

They were beings that had to be acknowledged.

But they were Chinese. If it was China, the former ruler of the world before Europe, it wasn’t strange for them to have that kind of power. But Kang Jin-ho was a martial artist from a small country called Korea.

How could a martial artist from a small country with no history and no power possess the strength to unilaterally push back the Knights of the Round Table? It was beyond his comprehension.

Knight Vesley’s gaze turned to his own hand.

Even though he had dispelled all the energy that had been turning his insides upside down, his hand was still trembling.

‘Am I trembling now? Me?’

No matter how much he tried to deny it, his body was honest.

Knight Vesley finally realized. He had never retreated in countless battles, but that wasn’t because Knight Vesley was brave.

Until now, he had never been in a situation where he had truly felt fear.

In other words, the existence of Kang Jin-ho in front of him was bringing him a fear he had never experienced before.

Clench!

He consciously tightened his grip on his sword.

He had to grip it so hard that his hand would break to hide the trembling.

‘The others must be feeling the same way.’

They would be afraid.

They would be terrified.

But they couldn’t retreat.

They were the last bastion of the Round Table. If they retreated, no one would be able to stop this monster.

‘What about support?’

Knight Vesley’s gaze shifted slightly to the side.

‘None.’

Blood flowed from his tightly clenched lips.

It wasn’t just Kang Jin-ho.

The people Kang Jin-ho had brought with him were stronger than he had expected. Even though the entrance was narrow, giving the defenders an absolute advantage, those few people were perfectly blocking the knights from each country from entering alone.

No, it wasn’t just blocking them.

‘Pushing them back?’

The people who had been lined up at the entrance were now pushing into the corridor. If they fought in the corridor, they would have to settle the score with similar numbers.

But they were actually pushing them back?

‘Are they stronger than the knights?’

It was absurd.

The knight orders were the epitome of martial power.

Only the most skilled martial artists from each country, who had undergone rigorous screening and training, could barely join the knight orders. Being a member of a knight order was proof that the nation recognized them as the best martial artists.

But for a single nation, a small nation located on a peninsula, to completely block, and even push back, the elite knights of each country? It was unbelievable.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

They had never ignored Korea.

Maybe twenty years ago, but Korea now was a nation that could not be ignored. There were only a few countries in Europe that could claim to have more national power than Korea.

But that was the story of the visible world.

In the martial world, Korea was like a third-world country. Their only value was that they formed a buffer zone between China and Japan.

Until just a few years ago, this was the truth.

But in those few years, Korea had become a completely different country. It was a big mistake of the Round Table not to have known this in advance.

They had to correct this mistake somehow…

Whoosh!

At that moment, a black energy blast flew towards Knight Vesley with an ear-splitting sound.

“Kuh!”

He gripped his sword with both hands and poured in his aura. His heart pounded as if it would burst from the rapid use of mana, but Knight Vesley didn’t care.

Whether his heart burst and he died, or he was cut by the energy blast, the result was the same.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

The aura exploded out. Just before he lost control, he somehow managed to swing his sword.

Clang!

The silver aura-filled sword and the black demonic energy collided head-on, causing a massive explosion.

Knight Vesley was thrown back like a kicked ball.

“Ugh…”

Knight Vesley’s hand trembled as he grabbed the floor, finally stopping after rolling several times after crashing into the ground.

Red blood poured from his eyes, nose, and mouth.

He couldn’t put any strength into the hand that was gripping the floor. He had no feeling above his wrist. His bones were probably shattered.

But he had to get up.

“Cough…”

Knight Vesley trembled as he raised his body. He had no feeling at all, but his hand was still firmly gripping the sword as if it had frozen in place.

It was a relief.

If he had dropped this sword, he would never have been able to pick it up again.

Even while bleeding from all seven orifices, Knight Vesley somehow managed to get up. Then, he raised his sword and aimed it at Kang Jin-ho.

“Hmm?”

Kang Jin-ho’s gaze, filled with blood-red light, stared at Knight Vesley.

With Knight Vesley’s power, it was impossible to properly block his demonic energy. But he had managed to block it, and even with his body shattered, he hadn’t given up his will to resist.

“There is someone useful here too.”

Upon hearing Kang Jin-ho’s words, Knight Vesley couldn’t help but chuckle.

It wasn’t a situation to laugh.

It was a situation where he should never laugh.

Even knowing that, he couldn’t help but laugh.

How could he not laugh?

The best martial artist he had ever met was praising him.

The pure admiration of an enemy was the highest praise a martial artist could receive. A martial artist who lived on the battlefield and died in battle had to be recognized by the enemy, not by their allies.

That was the moment.

Kang Jin-ho’s body suddenly grew larger. No, it didn’t grow larger.

Kang Jin-ho was running forward so fast that his body appeared to swell momentarily.

Knight Vesley’s eyes widened to their fullest.

Bang!

And Kang Jin-ho’s foot slammed into his chest.

Knight Vesley was sent flying through the air, spitting blood, as if he had been hit by a huge truck.

“But you’re clumsy.”

Those were the last words Knight Vesley heard before he fell to the ground and lost consciousness.