Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1757

“……What on earth is that?”

Wang Jinren stared at the sky, his eyes wide with disbelief. The dark sky was literally swarming with aircraft. He had lived his entire life in China, but he had never witnessed such a sight before.

“Is a war breaking out?”

Anxious, he pulled out his phone and searched for news, but there were no related articles online.

Wang Jinren bit his lip slightly. It wasn’t unusual for the media to be controlled when something big happened. Even if a war had broken out, if the government decided to suppress the information, there would be no way for the public to know.

Just in case, he checked social media, but he couldn’t find any related posts. Either no one else had seen it, or they were being deleted as soon as they were posted.

“What the hell is this…”

Wang Jinren was looking up again, his face etched with anxiety, when it happened.

“Hey, you! What are you doing?”

Wang Jinren’s head turned reflexively. A public security officer was approaching him with a menacing look.

Wang Jinren was terrified. His house, located on a main road in the suburbs, was not a place where he would normally see public security officers. This situation was highly unusual.

“I, I… I didn’t do anything!”

“Get inside your house right now!”

“Yes! I’m going, I’m going now!”

Wang Jinren was startled and tried to rush into his house.

But then.

“Hey!”

“Yes?”

“Come here.”

Wang Jinren looked at the public security officer with fear-filled eyes.

“Now!”

“Yes!”

As he trotted over, the public security officer looked him up and down, then said with a sharp gaze.

“Identification.”

“H-here it is.”

The public security officer checked the ID and nodded.

“Don’t post any unnecessary things on the internet. We’re in the middle of a top-secret training exercise.”

“Yes! Yes! Of course.”

“Go on.”

“Yes!”

Wang Jinren hurried into his house.

‘Training?’

What kind of training requires the mobilization of public security officers?

But there was no way to satisfy his curiosity. Now that his identity had been checked, if he posted anything related to it online, he would immediately be caught in the public security’s investigation net.

‘Even if it’s just training…’

That’s when it happened.

Krrrrrrung.

A huge vibration and a massive noise that seemed to shake his very bones came from behind him.

Wang Jinren reflexively turned his head.

“••••••Tanks?”

Wang Jinren’s eyes widened. Massive tanks were endlessly pouring onto the main road.

“What is this punk doing? Can’t you get inside?”

“Yes! Yes! I’m going now!”

Wang Jinren was startled and ran into his house.

Something… something was definitely happening.

“They are pouring everything in.”

“Hmm…”

Chang Wang watched the relentless rain of steel with an interested expression. After observing the scene for a while, Chang Wang turned his head and looked at the Master, who was standing beside him.

“Isn’t it interesting?”

Unlike Chang Wang, who looked relaxed, the Master’s face was as hard as stone.

“Warriors have been studying how to kill people for thousands of years. Training and training, pioneering and pioneering.”

The Master glanced down at Chang Wang.

“For hundreds of years since firearms first appeared in China, they have been improved, but even so, firearms have not surpassed warriors. But in just a hundred years, a mere moment in human history, weapons have come this far.”

The Master raised his head and looked at the relentless bombardment.

He was also a warrior. There was no way he could be happy about this sight. He had been involved in and fought in many conflicts as a Knight of the Round Table, and then as the Master of the Round Table, but this was definitely the first time he had seen modern weapons pouring down like rain solely to eliminate warriors.

He had thought that this time would come someday. No warrior living in modern times can escape that reality. Compared to the ever-evolving weapons, the development of warriors is too slow.

No, haven’t they become weaker compared to their golden age in the past?

Any warrior living in modern times has no choice but to know. That someday, these steel weapons called science will render their martial arts meaningless.

But….

‘I hoped I wouldn’t see it before I died.’

His feelings were complicated. The fact that modern weapons were unilaterally beating down warriors, and that the targets of the attack were none other than the warriors of the General Assembly.

Perhaps the person with the most complicated feelings on this battlefield right now was the Master.

“You have a troubled look on your face.”

Chang Wang chuckled as he looked at the Master.

“……That is not the case.”

“No, it’s okay. Anyone would be like that.”

Chang Wang said with an unconcerned expression.

“I don’t want you to sympathize with me emotionally. It’s meaningless. Whether you pity them or not.”

Chang Wang smiled. The Master felt a chilling sensation that was hard to describe as he looked at Chang Wang’s smile.

It was different from Kang Jin-ho. If the fear he felt towards Kang Jin-ho was a fear of a more fundamental existence, what he felt from this man was just….

‘Yes… a human.’

Chang Wang was a being who seemed to have gathered and condensed all the negative emotions that exist in humans. He would not hesitate to do anything for profit, and he would not hesitate to endure for his desires. He was ruthless in his actions, and he did not feel a shred of guilt even while massacring countless people.

But paradoxically, all those elements were making this man the most perfect warrior.

“No matter how pitiful they are, you can’t turn back now. To survive, you have no choice but to help me. Isn’t that right?”

It felt like he was sinking into a swamp. He had just been walking through the forest without a second thought, and had only stopped to take a breather, but before he knew it, he was ankle-deep in the swamp. While he was wondering how to get out, he was knee-deep, and as soon as he struggled, he was instantly chest-deep.

Now, he could only keep his head above the surface and pray that he would sink a little later.

‘No.’

The Master bit his lip slightly. That was just an excuse. It was none other than himself who had stepped into this place knowing it was a swamp.

“It seems the damage isn’t as bad as I thought. They even prepared gas masks, they are not to be underestimated.”

Mobility was the key to this battle. At least, that’s what they must have thought. If so, the basic thing to do would be to reduce the weight by even one gram. Yet, the fact that they had prepared gas masks was something that was impossible with just a mindset of preparing for the worst.

They had anticipated it. The fact that we would prepare such an attack.

Chang Wang was thrilled by the sensation that ran up his spine. Lee Hyun-soo and Chai Ke-chang might think that he was looking down on them from a high place that they could never reach, but from Chang Wang’s point of view, the battle of wits with them was just a matter of a single sheet of paper.

Those single sheets, stacked on top of each other, create a thick wall that cannot be pierced by a sword.

And….

‘This time, they tore the paper.’

He didn’t know how many sheets it was, though. On the surface, it was Chang Wang’s victory. After all, he was poisoning them without taking any damage. It didn’t make sense to lose when he had only scored points without conceding any.

But that was only when looking at the surface. Chang Wang did not achieve as much as he wanted in this attack, and Lee Hyun-soo achieved the result he wanted. Then, wasn’t it obvious who the winner was?

“Interesting, very interesting.”

The more interesting place was their escape route.

“What do you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t it interesting that the direction they are running is towards us?”

The Master’s face hardened. As Chang Wang said, the General Assembly was advancing towards him and the Master. The moment their direction was towards them, it became ambiguous whether their movement was an escape or an attack.

“Is it a coincidence?”

“No. There’s no way. There’s no way it’s a coincidence.”

Chang Wang quietly shook his head. Even if it was a coincidence, there was no reason to think of it as a coincidence. It was common to suffer losses by underestimating the opponent, but it was extremely rare to suffer losses by overestimating the opponent.

“What are you planning to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you going to retreat?”

Chang Wang chuckled.

“No, no. That’s meaningless. They will probably find us even if we retreat. I don’t know how… but there must be something. They must have done something to me in that short time.”

Chang Wang lightly waved his hand. Unlike his words, he didn’t seem to be worried.

“But is that the right choice?”

“……I don’t understand.”

“There is no easier enemy to deal with than one whose target is clear and whose direction of attack is singular. There is no need to divide forces, and there is no need to prepare reserves. You just have to stack them up.”

Chang Wang wore a twisted smile.

“You know. Yes, you guys know too. But still, you charge? Like a wild boar, abandoning all tricks and just trying to break through with force?”

Chang Wang nodded.

“Good, that’s good too.”

Chang Wang slowly rose from his seat.

“Do you know what the most common mistake those who use their heads make?”

“……I don’t know.”

“They try to minimize losses.”

“They choose a method that has a 60% chance of winning big over a method that has a 70% chance of winning perfectly. They are seduced by the words ‘strategy’ and ‘great victory’.”

Chang Wang’s gaze turned to the pouring rain of steel.

“But I’m not like that. I’m a coward, so I prefer to win no matter how big the loss. If they come at me with force, there’s no reason for us to back down.”

Chang Wang reached out his hand, looking at the flames of demonic energy rising into the sky.

“I’ll crush them.”

The Master quietly watched Chang Wang’s back.

‘Is he one of the Three Kings?’

He was on a different level from Kang Jin-ho in a different sense. He was also the Master of the Round Table who ruled Europe, but in this battle of inhuman monsters, he was just a chess piece being played with.

“May I say one thing?”

“Of course.”

The Master took a slight breath. Saying these words was not much different from pushing himself into a point of no return. But the choice had already been made long ago.

“It would be wise not to underestimate Kang Jin-ho.”

Chang Wang turned his head and looked at the Master. His colorless, transparent eyes seemed to pierce through the Master.

“Thank you for the advice.”

“I just…”

“However…”

Chang Wang’s lips twisted.

“It’s useless advice. Because I am the one who is most wary of the Demon King in the world.”

The Master nodded.

But there was one unresolved doubt left in his heart.

‘Wary, huh….’

He analyzes and measures. Chang Wang would have certainly done that.

But….