Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1744

The Descent of the Demonic Lord – Chapter 1747 (1744/2125)

The Demonic Lord’s Advent to the Modern World – Chapter 5

Chapter 1: Explode (5)

Whoooosh.

A car sped violently down a dark national highway. The road’s surface was poorly maintained, causing the car to bounce incessantly, but the driver showed no intention of easing off the accelerator.

“Hmm.”

He needed to reach Zhengzhou by morning. If he was too late, he wouldn’t have time to rest before starting work.

“This road is a mess!”

The man raised his voice.

They collect taxes like crazy, but they can’t even maintain basic things like this. He could understand the road being rough, but there were no houses or buildings around, so why was the road so winding?

“Anyway.”

The man lowered the window in annoyance.

A rough wind blasted his face. But the man didn’t care and pulled out a cigarette, putting it in his mouth.

Click! Click!

For some reason, the cigarette wouldn’t light today.

“Agh, damn it!”

The man cursed and tried to light the cigarette again. When it finally lit, he took a hard drag.

The cigarette’s ember reflected in the car window, glowing bright red.

“Everything is getting on my nerves… Huh?”

The man narrowed his eyes.

‘What was that?’

He thought he saw something next to the cigarette’s reflection in the car window.

‘No, it can’t be…’

Flash.

The man blinked.

‘There’s something there?’

Huh? Something’s there?

The man’s eyes darted to the dashboard. His car was currently traveling at 80 km/h. But there was something moving at the same speed as him, not on the road, but on the side of the road?

‘Is it a wild animal?’

No, could a wild animal even run at that speed?

The man was horrified and quickly rolled down the window.

Then, he stared into the darkness at the edge of the road, where the headlights didn’t reach.

“There was something…”

The man’s eyes widened.

“Wh-what is that!”

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the shapes became clearer.

“People?”

What he thought were wild animals were not wild animals… but people. People in black clothes were running in a line.

‘Crazy! It’s 80 km/h!’

It’s common sense that even a short-distance runner can’t exceed 40 km/h. How could a person run at 80 km/h?

This wasn’t a person, but a ghost or something similar.

“Uh, uh… Uh!”

At that moment, one of the people who had been running straight ahead turned his head and looked at him.

“Gasp!”

The man sucked in a breath.

Then, the person who made eye contact with him pointed forward with his finger.

‘Forward?’

The man whipped his head around and screamed.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

A sharp curve appeared in front of him. Before he could even turn the steering wheel, the car veered off the road and plunged into a rice paddy.

“Aaaah! Damn it!”

Thud! Thuuuud!

The car bounced like a boat on water.

He frantically slammed on the brakes, but the car wouldn’t stop.

“Agh! Aaaagh! Aaaagh!”

The man, who had smashed his head into the steering wheel, screamed and twisted the wheel.

Thud!

The wobbling car flipped completely onto its side. The man hung from his seat, gasping for breath.

“…What the hell? Damn it.” A weak mutter escaped his lips.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing!”

The person who saw the flipped car scratched the back of his head.

‘I told him.’

Anyway, he had warned him, so it wasn’t his fault.

“Speed up!”

“Yes!”

The runners entered the road. At night, they could see the headlights of approaching cars from afar, so they would move slightly to the side. When there were no cars, they would run on the road again.

“But are we just ignoring the cameras? Even at night, we could get caught.”

“Don’t worry about it!”

“Yes!”

The leader gritted his teeth and ran forward.

“Changwang doesn’t know where we’re going anyway. Being stealthy is good, but we need to prioritize speed!”

This was the instruction he had received from Lee Hyun-soo before they departed.

“Run! Faster!”

A loud shout echoed across the dark road.

Cha Yi-kechang gritted his teeth and ran.

‘The more I think about it, the crazier this is.’

This was China.

It wasn’t as big as Russia, but crossing the Chinese continent was over 2,000 km. In this vast continent, they were now conducting a mobile operation.

“Cha Yi-kechang.”

“Yes, Hongwang.”

“Is this strategy really going to work?”

Cha Yi-kechang swallowed hard.

“I can’t guarantee it. Honestly, I still don’t know.”

“Hmm.”

“But this is the best we can do. There is no better strategy than this.”

Hongwang smiled subtly.

‘We…’

He must be talking about Cha Yi-kechang and Lee Hyun-soo. If it were the Cha Yi-kechang of the past, he would never have grouped himself with Lee Hyun-soo, no matter what.

Whether he was aware of it or not, Cha Yi-kechang seemed to have developed a bond with Lee Hyun-soo.

“As I said before, I am not as good as you in this field. Can you explain it in a little more detail?”

“Of course, Hongwang!”

Cha Yi-kechang swallowed hard and opened his mouth.

“The start is very simple. The best strategy they can use is…”

“To prevent the landing itself.”

“That’s right.”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged.

Then, he glanced at the Mayeom [a group of warriors] huddled together.

“Ugh!”

“No, is it… is it always this nauseating?”

“It’s okay. Be grateful you arrived alive.”

“…These bastards?”

When he glared at them, the Mayeom subtly avoided Lee Hyun-soo’s gaze.

In reality, Lee Hyun-soo could crush them with a single finger, let alone a punch, but they were still afraid of him.

“Don’t do useless things and keep going.”

“Yes.”

Lee Hyun-soo turned his head and continued his explanation.

“It’s a simple principle. Warriors are not fish, and they can’t fly. And there is no land route to enter China from Korea.”

“Hmm.”

“So, if they can intercept us in the middle, whether by shooting us down or sinking our ships, that’s a jackpot for them.”

“They can’t not aim for that.”

“That’s a bit subtle.”

“Huh?”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged.

“Of course, they have to stop us, but Changwang also knows that we will somehow solve that problem.”

“Then just stop it.”

“No. If that problem isn’t solved, we won’t start the invasion. The moment we start the attack, it’s a mutual agreement that we have somehow solved this problem.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“You understand and are nodding, right?”

“…Of course.”

Lee Hyun-soo stared at Kang Jin-ho with a blank look for a moment, then nodded and continued.

“This is where the dilemma begins. It would be a jackpot if they could stop us, but the probability of not being able to stop us is high. So, should they invest troops or not? What would you do, Lord Hoeju [a title of respect]?”

“…Wouldn’t you invest the minimum? Just enough so that there’s no burden even if it fails?”

“Yes. That’s the right answer. No matter how brilliant a person is, they will only look for ways to minimize the troops, but they can’t completely avoid investing troops.”

“That’s right.”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled and continued.

“Then what happens next?”

Kang Jin-ho didn’t answer, but Lee Hyun-soo didn’t wait for an answer either.

“Next is the landing. Since transport planes can’t go inland, the landing will happen on the coast anyway. But as you know, whether they fall from the sky or get off a ship, they are equally weak.”

“Not to mention those who swim from the sea.”

“In other words, just waiting on the coast is like having a bunch of big fish jumping into the net on their own. So, what would you do?”

“…Send troops.”

“Yes. To the coast. They have no choice but to send them to the coast. They can’t miss that. But China is too vast, and the coastline is too long.”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged.

“Of course, Changwang is Changwang. He has to avoid big cities and places where landing is ambiguous. He probably found all the suitable landing points without much difficulty and deployed his troops most efficiently.”

“Yeah.”

“Then what’s the biggest problem in this situation?”

“…Can’t you just say it instead of asking?”

“…It’s that we suddenly throw all our troops into one place. Then the dispersed troops can’t handle it.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“So, we need to deploy reserves behind a suitable coastal base.”

“Ah…”

“This is the basics. This is the most basic deployment that those who face a landing operation must do. Even though Changwang is crazy smart, this much of military strategy is the foundation that the world has completed by grinding humans for thousands of years. No matter how brilliant Changwang is, he can’t easily create a strategy that is better than the strategies created by Zhuge Liang [a famous strategist] and Hannibal [a famous general] putting their heads together.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“But why is that important?”

“China is vast.”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled.

“It’s vast. Too vast. If you deploy troops like this, even if there are many of Changwang’s people, more than half of them will be concentrated near the coast. But what happens if we suddenly penetrate inland at this time?”

“…We’ll get closer to Changwang.”

“Bingo.”

Lee Hyun-soo snapped his fingers.

“Of course, Changwang is smart, so he wouldn’t have neglected the defense around him. He must have searched the area around Zhengzhou like crazy. What we aimed for was that tiny gap between the troops deployed on the coast and the troops near Zhengzhou.”

“It’s tiny, but…”

“Yes. Since this is China, that tiny gap becomes endlessly wide! That’s why we were able to penetrate like this. Then the result becomes simple.”

Lee Hyun-soo chuckled.

“The moment we arrive in Zhengzhou before the troops deployed on the coast, the overwhelming advantage of Changwang’s forces disappears. At least for half a day, we will be completely equal or even ahead.”

“…Is it like a marathon?”

“That’s right.”

Of course, that wasn’t all.

They deceived and shook the enemy countless times.

They created chaos, deliberately engaged in battles, and twisted their routes to make the enemy doubt their intentions.

There were more hidden strategies than revealed ones.

And as a result…

“That’s how we caught them.” Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes coldly looked down.

His eyes took in the endless mountain range.

“We sneaked in like rats… but that’s all. It’s better this way. If we were in Zhengzhou, there could have been problems because of the civilians, but if they set up the board like this, we have to go wild.”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled coldly.

The red dots rushing towards this place were visible on the smartphone in his hand.

“Got you, you rat!”

Lee Hyun-soo gritted his teeth and shouted into the radio.

“Run, you bastards! Surround them completely! We’ll catch Changwang here!”

The vast mountain range southwest of Zhengzhou.

Warriors filled with killing intent were rushing through the darkness.