Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 982

Kang Jin-ho forcibly calmed his surging heart.

‘Hoo…’

It was a strange sensation.

Kang Jin-ho knew himself.

He was a demon.

A being who had mastered demonic arts and accepted demonic energy.

As a demon, he couldn’t avoid the fierce hostility and the fighting spirit that robbed him of his reason.

As a demon who had reached the pinnacle of demonic arts, he didn’t crave blood or become so immersed in battle that he lost his reason like other demons. However, once he entered a battle, Kang Jin-ho was the type who fought without thinking about the consequences.

But Kang Jin-ho’s current state was a little different from usual.

The exhilaration was still there.

The burning desire for battle was even more intense.

However, his mind didn’t go blank like before. It felt like his cold mind was suppressing his fiercely raging heart. It was as if he was maintaining a sliver of reason even in the midst of battle.

Why was that?

Was it because his opponents were weak?

No, that wasn’t it.

‘I’ve definitely changed.’

The new path he had opened didn’t just raise his martial arts level.

The sensation was definitely different from when he completely surrendered his body to the demonic.

Kang Jin-ho sometimes couldn’t help but fear himself.

When he fully unleashed his demonic power, his vision became extremely narrow. It was a feeling of not being himself. Sometimes, he was tormented by the fear that he might actually turn into a demon if he continued to use demonic arts like this.

He refused to be the Demonic Heavenly Demon Lord.

He was not the Demonic Heavenly Demon Lord. He couldn’t become the Demonic Heavenly Demon Lord who didn’t care about anyone, didn’t keep anyone by his side, and lived only for himself. But his martial arts forced him to be the Demonic Heavenly Demon Lord.

When leading his comrades into battle, the situation he feared most wasn’t losing or losing his comrades. What he feared most was that he would become intoxicated with slaughter and end up killing his comrades.

But now…

‘I don’t have to worry about that anymore.’

He could feel it vividly.

Kang Jin-ho’s battles were always like that. Once he started rampaging, he didn’t look around.

That’s why, when fighting with others, Kang Jin-ho always had to control himself from a step behind rather than standing at the forefront.

One of two things.

Either he would exclude his comrades and rampage alone, or he would put his comrades in front and watch the situation from behind.

But not now.

He was fighting at the forefront, but he could see everything around him.

He could see how Bator was fighting as he blocked the incoming enemies, how wildly Jang Min was rampaging, and how incessantly Bang Jin-hoon was complaining.

‘I should give them a vacation when we get back.’

Did he think they couldn’t hear him?

Or was he doing it on purpose to annoy them, knowing they could hear him?

The endless stream of profanities was making even the great Kang Jin-ho flinch.

‘The others are fine for now.’

The fact that Lee Hyun-soo hadn’t moved yet was proof that the situation was good. Kang Jin-ho decided to leave his comrades alone and focus on the situation in front of him.

‘These are the Knights?’

Kang Jin-ho narrowed his brow slightly.

The one who had blocked his attack a moment ago had some mettle. But the strength of the others was disappointing. Kang Jin-ho realized that the standards he had been using to evaluate the Knights were wrong.

‘They’re not Wiggins.’

Wiggins was a special existence among the Knights.

He was almost certain to succeed the Master, and he was a standout among the Knights.

Wiggins surpassed the Knights in every aspect, not just in martial prowess.

Since he had predicted the strength of the Knights based on Wiggins, it was natural that there would be errors.

Kang Jin-ho narrowed his brow.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that the situation was going too easily.

It was obvious when he thought about it.

Even in the past, when Kang Jin-ho didn’t have his current strength, he could have beheaded Wiggins in less than ten seconds if he had wanted to.

And now that he had gained power?

They were meaningless as enemies.

Even the Master, who was a much stronger opponent than these Knights, wouldn’t have produced a different result from Wiggins if Kang Jin-ho had truly wanted to fight him.

The gap between Wiggins and the Master was enormous, but the gap between Kang Jin-ho when he first met Wiggins and Kang Jin-ho when he encountered the Master was even greater.

These guys were not enough.

With these guys, he couldn’t feel the extreme tension he had felt when facing the Crimson King.

‘I should finish this.’

It was at that moment.

‘Hmm?’

Behind the Knights blocking his path, Knight Levo was crawling on the floor.

He had been knocked away and eliminated after blocking his sword at the beginning of the battle, but it seemed he had regained consciousness.

‘Where is he going?’

He wouldn’t be running away in that state.

“Lord, Lord! We must stop him! Lord!”

Wiggins’ urgent cry pierced his ears. Before he could think, his body moved first.

But at that moment, the Knights rushed at Kang Jin-ho all at once.

“Uwaaaaaaaah!”

The Knights, roaring as they charged, were disregarding their lives. No matter how strong Kang Jin-ho was, he couldn’t simultaneously cut down five Knights who were abandoning their defense and attacking relentlessly.

Kang Jin-ho’s face slightly contorted.

With his demonic energy blazing, the Red Tear [Kang Jin-ho’s sword] struck the Knight who was swinging his sword at the front.

Kwaaaang!

A deafening explosion erupted as sword met sword. The broken sword soared into the sky.

Kang Jin-ho, having deflected the remaining four swords, was about to swing his sword again to behead the one at the front when…

“Binding!”

Black tree roots sprouted from the floor and grabbed Kang Jin-ho’s legs.

“Binding! Binding! Binding!”

The casting sounds continued as the roots grew rapidly, covering Kang Jin-ho’s entire body.

‘A pointless act.’

As he released his demonic energy, the tree roots surrounding his body shattered into pieces and scattered in all directions. He had already experienced these shallow tricks enough when facing the Master.

If it was the first time, he might have been a little flustered, but Kang Jin-ho wasn’t one to be caught by a trick he had already experienced.

But it seemed that they didn’t intend to do anything to Kang Jin-ho either. Their only goal was time.

And it seemed that goal had been achieved.

Fwaaaaaaak!

A dazzling light that seemed to blind him poured out. Even Kang Jin-ho had to squint in the face of this intense light.

He couldn’t immediately grasp what was happening.

“Damn it!”

Wiggins’ roar reached Kang Jin-ho’s ears.

“Lord!”

“Hmm?”

“The temple has opened!”

“Temple?”

“Yes!”

He couldn’t understand what they were saying. Wiggins, who would normally explain things slowly, was more excited than usual.

“There!”

Wiggins pointed ahead. Where the light had subsided, a sight that hadn’t been there before was unfolding.

The Round Table. [The central meeting place of the Knights]

A huge circular wooden table symbolizing the Round Table was split in half, and between them, stairs leading down to the basement were visible. Knight Levo was nowhere to be seen, having already jumped down there.

“Did he escape?”

“No, he didn’t.”

“Hmm?”

Wiggins opened his mouth with a stiff face.

“That’s not an escape route. There are no escape routes in the Round Table. There’s no need to escape. If the Round Table is lost, everything is over. They would rather die than run away.”

“Then?”

“Those are the stairs leading to the Knights’ temple.”

“Wiggins.”

“Yes?”

Kang Jin-ho, having withdrawn his demonic energy, sighed and said,

“Get a grip.”

“Explain it so I can understand. Don’t just get worked up knowing it all yourself.”

“The situation is so urgent…”

“Explain.”

“…Yes.”

Wiggins quickly continued.

“That place is only accessible to the Master. There is a treasure that only those who have inherited the Master’s qualifications can obtain. You must use that treasure to open that door. I thought Knight Levo, who hasn’t become a Master yet, wouldn’t be able to open it, but it seems this cunning bastard ignored the procedure and brought the treasure beforehand.”

“So?”

Kang Jin-ho gestured with his chin towards the stairs.

“What’s inside there?”

“…Knights.”

“Hmm?”

Kang Jin-ho narrowed his brow.

Knights?

Aren’t the Knights here?

Did that mean there were other Knights inside that weren’t here?

“The Elder Knights are sleeping there.”

“Elder Knights?”

“…Lord, the Master was a Knight in the past.”

It was obvious.

“Then what do you think happened to the Knights who didn’t become Masters?”

“Hmm?”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head and looked at the stairs leading down to the dark basement.

He felt like he understood something in that moment.

“Knights, Knights who didn’t walk the path of the Master and focused only on their martial prowess. Among them, the carefully selected ones enter that temple. Then they fall into a magical sleep. To prepare for when the true crisis of the Round Table arrives.”

“…That’s like a fairy tale.”

“But it’s a real thing.”

“So?”

“Right now, Knight Levo has gone to wake them up. We must stop him right now.”

“Leave him.”

“…Yes?”

“I said leave him.”

“Lord!”

Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his mouth.

“If we’re going to break it, we should break it properly. If they have hope in such things, they won’t be convinced by just killing the Knights or the Master.”

Wiggins closed his mouth.

“When you break something, you break it thoroughly. Humans don’t despair when they have hope. You have to crush their last hope to make them surrender. So, leave him.”

“But…”

“Whatever they bring, the result will be the same.”

Wiggins trembled.

Cold. Calm. And…

‘He’s not wrong.’

Kang Jin-ho was like this sometimes. He didn’t seem to think deeply, but he always pinpointed the core of the matter.

As long as there was a possibility of waking up the Elder Knights, the Round Table couldn’t truly surrender to Kang Jin-ho. There would be those who would lower their heads in some way and plot a rebellion by waking up the Elder Knights.

To make even those people surrender, the very existence of the Elder Knights had to be erased.

But…

“Lord, they are strong. Each one is stronger than the Master. Perhaps they are even stronger than the Three Kings.”

“I see.”

Kang Jin-ho gestured with his chin.

“Then I guess I’ll take care of this place. You should do what you need to do.”

“…Yes?”

“Bring the Master.”

“Right now.”

“Yes!”

Wiggins bowed his head.

It wasn’t something he had understood with his head. Even before the process of understanding had taken place, his body was following Kang Jin-ho’s orders.

It was proof that, regardless of the pros and cons, he had truly accepted Kang Jin-ho as his master from the bottom of his heart.

Wiggins turned his body.

Kang Jin-ho wasn’t the type of man to change his mind once he had made a decision. It was better to rescue the Master as quickly as possible and resolve the situation.

“Let’s go!”

“Yes!”

Wiggins, leading the Garter Knights as he ran, glanced back.

The back of Kang Jin-ho, who was looking at the center of the Round Table, caught his eye.

Somehow…

He felt like Kang Jin-ho was smiling with his back.

‘Does he really understand the situation?’

Or is he just wanting to fight a strong opponent?

Wiggins turned his head back.

Either way, it didn’t matter.

One thing was certain: for Kang Jin-ho, the Elder Knights would be an unparalleled enemy, but for the Elder Knights, Kang Jin-ho would be a colossal enemy they had never faced in their lives.

Definitely.