Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 992

“Huh?”

Gawain, who had been bracing for Kang Jin-ho’s frontal assault, let out a surprised breath.

Kang Jin-ho had leaped over their heads like a tiger taking flight.

‘This is insane!’

It was an incredibly reckless move.

Leaping over an opponent’s head on the battlefield was a fundamental error. In a typical skirmish, it might be a way to catch an opponent off guard, if executed perfectly.

However, in a clash between martial artists, it was a blunder that should never occur. It left one vulnerable to attacks from below while airborne.

It was something that should never be done.

Something they hadn’t anticipated him doing.

That’s why their reaction was delayed. By the time they thought to strike Kang Jin-ho mid-jump, he had already soared past them and landed behind.

‘Where?’

Gawain frantically turned his head.

Then, his eyes widened in alarm.

“Block him! Damn it!”

His gaze locked onto Kang Jin-ho hurtling towards Bedivere.

Bedivere’s face paled.

Kang Jin-ho was bearing down on her with terrifying speed. Those who should have formed a protective wall in front of her were completely unable to react to Kang Jin-ho’s sudden maneuver.

‘No way!’

She felt a scream rising in her throat.

She was a mage.

One of only two dedicated mages among the eleven Elder Knights.

Of course, it was slightly inaccurate to say she was one of only two mages. The others also possessed some magical abilities. So, most of the people here could be considered mages to some extent.

However, only she and Kay were pure mages who had not trained in swordsmanship, befitting the rank of an Elder Knight.

Among them, she was unique. Unlike Kay, who specialized in ice and support magic, she specialized in explosions and flames.

If the Elder Knights were likened to an army, she was the artillery. Her role was to unleash maximum firepower from the rear whenever the enemy presented an opening.

Her destructive power was superior and more versatile than anyone else present. However, as a mage, she was vulnerable in close combat. That’s why the others had to shield her front.

‘Those damn fools!’

But that role was not being properly fulfilled.

Normally, the Elder Knights would never have allowed this to happen. However, those who had witnessed their comrade die a gruesome death before their eyes could not maintain their usual composure.

In the first place, even she hadn’t imagined that Kang Jin-ho would leap over the Elder Knights in front and fly straight at her, so who could blame whom?

“Shield! Shield! Shield!”

She completed her incantations in rapid succession.

If close combat ensued, she would be killed without even putting up a proper resistance. But if it was just about holding out until her allies came to help, she might somehow manage.

She poured all her mana into the shield.

This barrier would be impenetrable to anyone in the world for a short time. Even if the remaining ten… no, nine Elder Knights attacked together, she was confident she could hold them off for a few seconds.

Confidence in herself!

Certainty in her conviction!

But that certainty was shattered far too easily.

Sssst.

Kang Jin-ho’s sword sliced through the air with a graceful motion.

It was different from the overbearing and sharp swordsmanship Kang Jin-ho had displayed so far.

It was a gentle swordsmanship, as if carefully caressing a child.

And that gentleness pushed back Bedivere’s strength.

Kang Jin-ho’s sword pierced through the fabric of the shield, which she had thought was so strong and perfect.

The moment Kang Jin-ho’s sword slid into the shield as if it met no resistance, Bedivere was so shocked that her heart leaped into her throat.

Her thoughts momentarily froze.

Her mind started moving again only after Kang Jin-ho’s sword began to move.

Kang Jin-ho’s sword moved gently, completely tearing apart her shield.

“Ah…”

She didn’t even feel despair.

She just opened her mouth like a startled child. Through her eyes, she saw Kang Jin-ho descending like a god of death.

“Aaaaaaah!”

She snapped back to her senses and stretched out both hands towards Kang Jin-ho.

Mana gathered in her hands.

But before that mana could turn into a blaze, Kang Jin-ho’s sword moved first.

Swish.

Her two outstretched hands were severed and fell to the floor.

Bedivere stared blankly at her hands falling to the floor.

Severed?

Hands?

It was a sight that was hard to believe. She didn’t even feel pain, so how could she accept this sight as reality?

But she had no choice but to accept it.

Thud!

Kang Jin-ho’s sword pierced her shoulder. The blade that had cut through her flesh stopped right in front of her heart.

Kang Jin-ho looked at her quietly and opened his mouth.

“On the battlefield…”

“There is no such thing as a safe place.”

Perhaps these words would have been a lesson to her, if Kang Jin-ho hadn’t torn her heart apart the moment he finished speaking.

Thump.

Bedivere’s body collapsed to the floor. Her body grew cold.

Kang Jin-ho turned his head.

The Elder Knights, who had lost two comrades in an instant, were rushing towards him with a furious momentum.

“I’ll kill you!”

“Aaaaaaaah!”

Kang Jin-ho smiled coldly at the sight.

Kill?

What a joke.

These people, who prided themselves on being knights, knew nothing about the battlefield. In the first place, the very idea of fighting a war against Kang Jin-ho was wrong.

Kang Jin-ho had fought more battles than they had in their entire lives. Kang Jin-ho was a person who had practically lived on the battlefield.

From Kang Jin-ho’s perspective, their methods were clumsy.

Fighting together with comrades?

Depending on comrades for what one cannot do oneself?

What a joke.

That might be possible in a fight between soldiers. But when facing a martial artist, it was nothing more than a delusion. A martial artist’s movements were different from those of ordinary people.

No matter how much they blocked the front, no matter how much they tried to move in a coordinated manner, if they couldn’t stop a small number of people moving at a higher speed, then formations were meaningless.

It was like how no matter how much anti-aircraft defense was built, or how many tanks were deployed like an iron wall, they couldn’t stop a single fighter jet from ravaging them from above.

At this rate, no matter how strong they became, it would be useless.

Even if they had the best weapons, if the person wielding them was trapped by fixed ideas and used them in an obvious way, they would ultimately be nothing more than slightly stronger outdated weapons.

“You bastard!”

It was the same now.

‘Idiots.’

Kang Jin-ho frowned.

They had lost a comrade.

So what?

The battlefield was a place of killing and being killed. If one was not prepared to die, one should not dare to stand on the battlefield. On the battlefield, both oneself and one’s comrades would die as a matter of course.

Losing one comrade and rushing in, losing all reason?

That was fine too.

At least the one who died first wouldn’t be lonely.

Hector raised his war hammer and charged at lightning speed. The blunt aura carried by his war hammer struck directly at Kang Jin-ho’s head.

Sssst.

Kang Jin-ho’s sword moved gracefully again.

He wasn’t aiming for a powerful strike. He wasn’t cutting it either. He gently brought his sword to the side of the war hammer and then pushed it away.

Whoooom!

The direction of the war hammer, which had been vibrating due to the excessive injection of aura, was twisted. It grazed Kang Jin-ho’s shoulder and struck the ground.

Kaaaaaang!

The ground was overturned and exploded as if it had been hit by a bomb.

Amidst the shower of fragments, Hector realized what he had done. His gaze, which had been directed at the ground, looked up with fear.

Through the dust and flying pebbles, Kang Jin-ho’s face was barely visible.

The eyes, and the curve of his mouth.

Eyes that were so cold that just looking at them made one’s whole body freeze, and a slightly upturned mouth.

The moment he saw that, Hector sensed his fate.

Kang Jin-ho’s sword moved gently. It wasn’t fast. But it wasn’t slow either. It was just the right speed.

But Hector knew.

That he couldn’t resist.

Because the pebbles that were flying away now seemed to be frozen in place.

His brain, sensing the danger to his life, was overclocking and splitting time. It was as if everything in the world had stopped.

Everything had stopped. The flying stones and pebbles, his comrades, even Hector’s body was moving slowly, unable to keep up with the signals he was sending.

In that slow world, only Kang Jin-ho was moving normally, as if nothing was wrong.

‘No way!’

That meant that if one looked at the world at a normal speed, Kang Jin-ho was swinging his sword at a speed that was invisible to the eye.

A silent space where nothing could be heard.

In that silence, Kang Jin-ho’s sword pierced Hector’s neck.

He could vividly feel the sensation of something cold and eerie slowly approaching and touching his skin, the sensation of his skin tearing, the sensation of cold metal slowly pushing into the skin where the nerves were concentrated.

He tried to open his mouth to scream, but his mouth wouldn’t open.

He could only scream and scream in his heart. The pain was felt in every detail.

So many regrets.

And despair.

The time he had spent training, the martial prowess he had built up, was tormenting him instead. His brain, which had faithfully responded to his master’s crisis, was now making Hector taste a thousand times more terrible pain than a human could feel.

Just as Kang Jin-ho’s sword was about to cut through his flesh and reach his bone, Hector felt a sense of relief.

It was ending, this terrible time.

Once that sword cut through his bone and completely severed his neck, he would be freed from this hellish pain.

Swish!

With an eerie sound, Hector’s head soared into the air.

No one would know.

No one.

Why his head, which had soared into the sky, was smiling. Why he had such a happy face. No one could guess.

Thud.

The head that had fallen to the floor rolled and stopped at Kang Jin-ho’s feet. Kang Jin-ho didn’t even look at Hector’s face and kicked it away.

Gawain caught Hector’s head, which had flown towards him, in a daze.

No words came out.

His composure was already gone.

“Th-that…”

Just as he was about to say something, Kang Jin-ho unfolded his Crimson and Azure Blades and flew towards them like a bird of prey.

It was as if a demon who had escaped from hell was descending upon the world.

There was no need for further conversation.

Kang Jin-ho was saying that with his body.

“To the enemy…”

Death to the enemy.

The slogan that was the symbol of the Elder Knights could not be finished.

That man was not one to accept death.

He was the one who delivered death.

The Elder Knights’ mistake was that they didn’t know that from the beginning.

The Crimson and Azure Blades blazed black, emitting dark energy. Kang Jin-ho bared his teeth with a ghostly face and shot into the middle of the Elder Knights.