Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 993

No words came out.

There was no need for words.

A life-or-death confrontation. What words were needed when the worst enemy they had ever faced was flying right into their midst?

Their hands gripped their weapons so hard they felt like they would shatter, and they had no choice but to attack Kang Jin-ho as he flew towards them.

“Uwaaaaaaaah!”

Gawain’s vortex flew into the air.

The composure he had when he first unleashed his vortex was long gone. He put all his strength into each and every shot.

Arrows flew, following the currents of energy.

Kang Jin-ho swung Ruin [a sword] at the incoming auras.

Kaaaaaaak!

Ruin, emitting black demonic energy, let out a sword cry that sounded like a wail. The blade warped, unable to withstand the demonic energy that was being forced into it as if it would explode.

Yet, the fact that it didn’t break and was still absorbing Kang Jin-ho’s demonic energy proved that it was indeed a masterpiece among swords.

Kakang! Kakakang!

The arrows and auras that were flying towards him were deflected with a single swing.

‘Damn it!’

Gawain gritted his teeth.

‘Just what the hell is he made of!’

All martial arts were developed to defeat an opponent. The only difference between schools and philosophies was how to defeat an opponent, but the purpose of all martial arts and combat techniques was to subdue or kill the opponent most effectively.

And there was one major premise.

If you attack, you will fall.

More precisely, attack always takes precedence over defense.

This was an absolute truth and principle in martial arts.

There were martial arts that prioritized defense and aimed for counterattacks, but counterattacks were also a form of attack.

Simple logic.

If one side only defends and the other only attacks, who would be more advantageous?

If you had to choose between a sword and a shield, no one would pick the shield.

Because it was impossible to block all incoming attacks.

And even allowing a single attack was fatal. Since the era when humans wielded weapons, the balance of offense and defense had been broken. The side that attacked was always at an advantage.

But now, that truth was being shattered.

It wasn’t working.

No attack could even touch that body.

‘Just how big is the difference!’

They were Elder Knights.

They were beings who had accumulated unparalleled power over the long history of the Round Table, over a thousand years, and had become guardians of the Round Table.

In their era, there was no one who could match them, let alone follow in their footsteps. It was only after becoming Elder Knights that they could consider each other as rivals.

But…

‘What the hell is that guy!’

The gap he had created with others was smaller than the gap he felt with Kang Jin-ho now. Even though eleven Elder Knights were attacking with all their might, they couldn’t even inflict a single wound. And three were already dead.

A sense of crisis washed over him.

Perhaps today would be the last day for the Elder Knights. And the collapse of the Elder Knights meant the collapse of the Round Table.

They had to prevent that at all costs.

Kang Jin-ho landed in the middle of them.

Kang Jin-ho, lowering his stance, stabbed Ruin and Azure [another sword] in all directions.

The Elder Knights, horrified by the afterimages of the swords flying at them without a single gap, like a hedgehog raising its quills, stepped back.

And that was a big mistake.

When the weak face the strong, they should never retreat. Retreating means creating distance. Giving distance to the strong always leads to fatal consequences.

But the Elder Knights couldn’t know that.

Why?

Simple. Because they had never fought someone stronger than themselves.

They had always been the strong ones.

They were strong when they were alone, and when they encountered an opponent they couldn’t face alone, they joined forces to subdue the enemy. They had never overcome a relative disadvantage.

They had never been the weak ones. But Kang Jin-ho was different.

He had always been the weak one.

The time he was called the strongest in the world was after he became the leader of the Demonic Cult. Before that, for decades, Kang Jin-ho had always fought against those stronger than himself.

That crucial difference was now revealed.

Kang Jin-ho bared his teeth and leaped forward.

Even if the remaining eight faced Kang Jin-ho at the same time, they couldn’t be sure they could handle him properly. But thanks to the distance they had created, the number of people who could face Kang Jin-ho at the same time was reduced to three or less.

It was a bitter mistake.

“Kuh!”

Digore groaned involuntarily as he saw Kang Jin-ho rushing towards him.

That man was strong.

There was no one here who could settle a match with him one-on-one.

But…

‘But why does he look more desperate!’

Kang Jin-ho’s black hair, soaked in blood, fluttered. His white teeth were revealed between his blood-stained face.

Like a wolf.

In the dark night where even the moon had hidden, it was the ferocity of a wolf tearing open the belly of its prey and devouring its entrails. And that wolf’s teeth were now targeting Digore.

Digore poured aura into his mace. At the same time, aura surged into the heater shield in his left hand.

He would block it!

He only needed to block one attack. If he could block just one attack properly, he could counterattack with lightning speed. That was the greatest advantage of the Sword-Shield class.

Balance.

What he had to protect to the end was balance.

‘I’ll give up one arm.’

He wouldn’t dream.

Realistically, it was impossible for him to block Kang Jin-ho’s attack without any difficulty.

But if he was prepared to give up the arm holding the shield, he might be able to create a small opening.

And that small opening would be enough.

His mace was agile, and his comrades were quick. There was no one who would miss the opening the enemy revealed. Just once! If he could just block one attack!

At that moment, Kang Jin-ho’s twin swords crossed and flew towards him.

“Uwaaaaaah!”

He poured all his aura into the shield. He concentrated all the aura he had poured into the mace into the shield. Just once…

Kang Jin-ho’s Ruin and Azure struck Digore’s shield.

There was no intention to pierce or deflect. It was an attack filled with the intention to overwhelm with pure force.

Crack!

Such was the force that even before the impact, Digore’s teeth were all broken. The blood vessels in his eyes burst, and the blood vessels all over his body bulged like earthworms.

One blow!

Just one blow…

Kwaaaang!

At that moment, an explosion erupted.

And Digore realized.

How reckless this was.

The arm holding the shield exploded.

The skin and flesh that made up the arm were torn to shreds like a piece of meat hit by a bomb, and the bones were shattered into pieces and protruded.

The shield, having lost its support, was thrown back with terrifying speed.

And unfortunately, what was behind the shield was Digore’s fragile body.

Thud!

The sharp lower part of the kite shield tore through Digore’s armor and pierced his abdomen.

“Kuek.”

His back hurt.

The part where the shield was lodged was clearly his lower abdomen, but he felt a terrible pain in his back. And Digore knew what that meant.

The shield must have pierced through his back. Unable to withstand the terrifying impact, a large hole must have been made in his back.

Thump.

Kang Jin-ho grabbed his face, which was curled up, and pulled it close to him.

Only one arm was gone. He still had one arm left, and in that hand was the mace he had been with his whole life. But Digore couldn’t even think of resisting.

The fact that his body was injured was nothing.

The important thing was that his mind had been broken.

In the face of the overwhelming power of a monster that defied common sense, Digore had lost even the will to resist.

Kang Jin-ho pulled his face close to his own.

Cold.

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes were so cold. It was ironic that he felt cold looking at those eyes, which were stained with blood. And apart from that coldness, it felt like hot heat was emanating from Kang Jin-ho’s body.

“If you don’t have power, you don’t have strategy.”

“Th-that…”

Crack.

What Digore was about to say would now be unknown to anyone. Because those whose heads had exploded could not speak.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Boers, seeing Digore’s miserable death, lost his reason and rushed towards Kang Jin-ho.

“Stop it!”

“Boers!”

Kang Jin-ho bared his teeth and smiled as he saw Boers rushing at him with a scream.

Fool.

But he didn’t dislike such fools.

Ruin deflected the sword falling from above. At the same time, Kang Jin-ho’s foot stomped on Boers’s foot.

Crack!

Boers’s foot was shattered as his armor crumpled. But Boers’s reaction was different from the Elder Knights so far. Even though his foot was so badly crushed that it could be said to have almost disappeared, he pushed his shoulder into Kang Jin-ho without hesitation.

“Boers!”

Galahad’s bow fired an arrow.

Rapid fire!

Dozens of arrows, filled with mana, flew towards Kang Jin-ho at a terrifying speed.

The purpose was to cover him.

But it was too awkward of an attack to be called cover. At least from Kang Jin-ho’s point of view.

Thud!

Boers’s shoulder slammed into Kang Jin-ho’s chest.

Crack!

Boers’s eyes trembled.

He had slammed his shoulder into a person’s chest. His body, which had drawn all the mana he could muster, had the destructive power to shatter even a giant tree with a single blow.

But the moment he slammed into Kang Jin-ho’s chest, Boers couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong.

A giant mountain.

It felt like he had thrown himself against a giant mountain range that stretched out to the earth. Something huge that could not be dealt with by human power.

Boers raised his head.

His trembling eyes met Kang Jin-ho’s eyes.

Bloodshot eyes.

Those indifferent, yet blazing, bloodshot eyes froze Boers’s soul.

Thump.

Kang Jin-ho grabbed Boers’s neck and lifted him up.

“Kuek.”

The white ceiling came into view in Boers’s vision as he was lifted up by the back of his neck. The lights illuminated by magic and the spotless ceiling.

It was ironic.

While blood and death were rampant on the floor, the ceiling was so clean.

And his gaze slowly lowered. He could see the arrows that Galahad had fired flying towards him. Normally, he would have emitted aura to defend, but the strange energy that was pouring from Kang Jin-ho’s hand, which was holding his neck, did not allow him to use aura.

“Boersssssssssssss!”

Galahad’s tearful cry pierced Boers’s ears.

Don’t be so sorry, Galahad.

Anyway…

Anyway, you’ll all be following soon. Right?

Crack!

Galahad’s arrows pierced Boers’s eyes and body.

Certain death had come for him.