Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1000

Thud.

The last Elder Knight fell.

And silence, like death, descended upon the hall.

The sight of a myth collapsing and a new one being born is always accompanied by such dissonance.

Swish!

Kang Jin-ho swung Red Dew and Blue Dew, scattering the blood from his swords onto the floor. Then, he opened a subspace and pushed Red Dew and Blue Dew into it.

An act symbolizing the end of the battle.

Even though the other knight orders and Knight Levo remained, Kang Jin-ho declared the end of the war with his actions.

And no one dared to object to his actions.

Thud.

Kang Jin-ho began to walk.

With each step he took,

Thick blood stained the floor. Kang Jin-ho’s body was a mess. He was covered in so much blood that his entire body was dyed red. With each step, drops of blood fell from the ends of his hair.

His body, riddled with holes from the embedded mana needles, was covered in soot from the explosion, and a large hole was pierced through his chest by Gawain.

An injury that would have instantly killed an ordinary person.

Despite such injuries, Kang Jin-ho walked indifferently, as if nothing was wrong.

Thud, thud.

And no one dared to stop Kang Jin-ho. Instead, they held their breath and watched Kang Jin-ho’s movements.

They were trying to engrave in their eyes what the one who had shattered the myth of the Round Table and created a new myth would do next.

‘It’s over.’

Lee Hyun-soo looked around and nodded.

To put it coldly, the war had only just begun. Neither the Assembly nor the Round Table had exhausted even a tenth of their available forces. The Elder Knights had appeared before a proper battle could even begin.

Normally, a fierce battle should be raging right now.

But…

‘That’s impossible.’

This war was already over.

At this moment, this underground space was completely under Kang Jin-ho’s control. No one would dare to defy Kang Jin-ho’s mood, and no one would dare to stand in his way.

Like a pack of rabbits trapped in a cage with a lion, they could only bury their heads in the corner and pray that they wouldn’t be the next prey.

The Round Table, of course, and even the Assembly, held their breath.

And the conclusion of this war would naturally be ‘him’.

Thud, thud.

A leisurely pace.

Although his steps were not as slow as they seemed, those watching felt the time between each step was as long as eons.

A tension that made them feel like they were about to stop breathing.

In that tension, Kang Jin-ho’s steps continued without pause.

And with him…

“Hee… Heehee…”

Knight Levo retreated backward while sitting down. His face was pale, as if he had seen a ghost.

Thud.

Kang Jin-ho was approaching him.

Even if all the fear in the world were brought together, nothing could make Knight Levo more terrified at this moment.

Kang Jin-ho, walking with blood dripping from his entire body.

The demon who had destroyed the Round Table and cut down all the Elder Knights had now turned his steps towards Knight Levo.

Knight Levo realized.

He couldn’t help but realize.

The moment those steps reached him, he would die.

A death that was too certain.

A death that was unavoidable and irreversible was approaching him.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

Knight Levo thought he was not afraid of death. But that was just an illusion.

Death is death. It’s just the result of breathing stopping. What’s important is not the result of death, but the process leading to that death.

To die at the hands of Kang Jin-ho was a horror that could not be compared to death by suicide or illness.

“Ah…”

Knight Levo’s face turned as white as a sheet as he looked up at Kang Jin-ho approaching him.

He knew.

No words would work on that demon. Even if he begged, pleaded, or cried, that demon would rip his head off without a moment’s hesitation.

Then what should he do?

“W-Wiggins!”

Knight Levo cried out desperately.

“I! I, I lost! I lost! I’ll hand over the Round Table to you. I’ll give you the position of Master! So… so please! Please!”

It was a painful voice to hear.

Even those who hated Knight Levo, and those who had liked him, couldn’t bear to watch the scene and turned their heads away.

No matter how much Knight Levo deserved to die for his sins, it was not a pleasant sight to see the once-proud man begging and going mad.

“Master! Master! Please save me! Master! I was wrong! Master, aaaaaaah!”

Even the Master couldn’t bear to watch the scene and turned his head away.

As everyone turned away from him, Knight Levo began to tremble.

Death.

Death was coming.

Death in the name of Kang Jin-ho. Thud, thud.

Kang Jin-ho walked slowly and finally stood in front of Knight Levo.

His footsteps stopped one step in front of Knight Levo. Knight Levo trembled like an aspen and looked at Kang Jin-ho’s feet in front of him.

Feet dripping with blood.

The reaction of a human facing an overwhelming enemy is usually similar. Without realizing it, Knight Levo put his hands together in front of his chest.

As if praying to God.

But everyone knew. His god could not save him. He might be able to save his dead soul, but he could not stop Kang Jin-ho in reality.

At least here, Kang Jin-ho was the god of death.

“I, I…”

Knight Levo forced his trembling jaw to open his mouth.

“I can be of help to you… I…”

Crack.

A bone-cracking sound echoed from Kang Jin-ho’s hand.

Knight Levo, who couldn’t bear to look at Kang Jin-ho’s face, slowly raised his head.

At the end of a time that felt like eons, his gaze turned to Kang Jin-ho’s face.

And then he saw it.

Under his blood-soaked bangs, Kang Jin-ho was smiling, revealing his teeth.

Like a child who had found an interesting toy.

Kang Jin-ho quietly opened his mouth.

“It seems you’re misunderstanding…”

“I don’t particularly hold a grudge against you.”

“Ah…”

Knight Levo’s body twitched.

It was the moment when hope, which seemed impossible, bloomed in his heart.

When he thought about it, wasn’t it true?

Knight Levo had never been hostile to Kang Jin-ho. It was true that he had tried to stop Kang Jin-ho by bringing out the Elder Knights, but that was the duty that anyone in the position of Master had to choose.

So Kang Jin-ho…

“So this isn’t a grudge.”

Kang Jin-ho lowered his body.

His endlessly sunken black eyes met Knight Levo’s eyes.

Endlessly dark and gloomy, as if he would be sucked in, black eyes that were unfamiliar to Knight Levo.

“But you have to take responsibility. Don’t you think so?”

Kang Jin-ho smiled as he met Knight Levo’s face.

Ooh.

It was just a smile.

But to Knight Levo, that smile felt more terrifying than a wolf baring its teeth and growling.

“That’s what it means to stand at the top. Those who stand at the top must take responsibility for what they have done. Even if they didn’t do it themselves, they have to take responsibility. Surely you didn’t get to that position without knowing that?”

“I, I…”

“It seems you don’t know.”

Kang Jin-ho bared his teeth.

His right hand moved slowly. Not fast, but slowly. So slowly that even those who had not learned martial arts could see it was slow.

But that hand definitely reached Knight Levo’s neck.

“Kuh-uh-uh-uh-uh!”

Knight Levo bit his tongue at the tremendous force that was tightening around his neck.

Both hands grabbed and scratched at Kang Jin-ho’s hand. But Kang Jin-ho’s hand didn’t budge.

Kang Jin-ho, who had grabbed Knight Levo’s neck, slowly rose from his spot and lifted Knight Levo. His body dangled in the air.

“Kuh! Guh!”

He couldn’t breathe.

Knight Levo, foaming at the mouth, struggled and scratched at Kang Jin-ho’s arm.

Kang Jin-ho opened his mouth, looking at the scene with slightly indifferent eyes.

“Do you know why you’re dying?”

He wouldn’t hear it.

Knight Levo wouldn’t have the capacity to hear and think right now. But it didn’t matter whether he heard it or not.

“Those who wage war should always put their own necks on the line. Those who hide behind others like rats and try to play with their lives have no right to be on the battlefield.”

This place is a battlefield.

And Knight Levo has no right to be on the battlefield. That alone was enough reason for Knight Levo to die.

Knight Levo’s body convulsed. The mana that was injected through his neck was now tearing through his entire body. He was probably feeling the pain as if hundreds of sharp razor blades were moving inside his body.

But compared to the sins he had committed, this was not enough. If it had been the old Kang Jin-ho, he would have inflicted all the pain that Knight Levo could experience while alive.

But he didn’t want to do that now.

Was it because others were watching?

No.

Still, Knight Levo was the Master of the Round Table, and the one the Elder Knights had tried to protect. The clean death given to Knight Levo was not for Knight Levo, but a tribute to the Elder Knights.

Kang Jin-ho turned his head in that position.

He looked at Wiggins.

Wiggins, feeling Kang Jin-ho’s gaze, nodded heavily.

That was enough.

Crack.

A chilling sound.

A chilling sound that no one would want to hear even in their dreams echoed through the hall.

Knight Levo’s body, with his neck bent at a strange angle, trembled and then slumped.

It was too anticlimactic a death for a prodigy who had once held the Round Table in his hands and even brought down the Master.

Thud.

Knight Levo’s lifeless body fell to the floor.

Compared to the Elder Knights who were dignified until the moment of their death, Knight Levo’s death was too miserable and pathetic. And that miserable death broke the last of the hearts of the warriors of the Round Table who had watched everything in the hall.

Kang Jin-ho turned his head and looked at everyone. No one dared to make eye contact with him.

Wherever Kang Jin-ho’s gaze turned, everyone bowed their heads and looked down.

The war was over here.

Thud, thud.

Kang Jin-ho, without any regrets, turned his body and walked towards one side. Where he was heading was the still-standing corpse of Gawain, even after his death.

Kang Jin-ho, who had walked right up to him and was quietly looking at Gawain, reached out and touched his corpse.

He had only touched it lightly, but his corpse lost its balance and fell. Kang Jin-ho caught Gawain’s corpse and laid him on the floor.

“…Lord.”

Wiggins had come to his side at some point.

“Wiggins.”

“Yes, Lord.”

“Clean up.”

“Yes!”

Kang Jin-ho, who had risen from his spot, looked at Gawain’s smiling corpse and added a word.

“Give them the highest honors.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded and turned his body.