Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1763

Grayish smoke billowed into the sky.

Wiggins couldn’t hide his bewilderment, his eyes wide.

‘What was that?’

He hadn’t seen it.

Even with his dynamic vision, far superior to that of ordinary humans, he couldn’t pinpoint the cause of the explosion.

‘There wasn’t a projectile?’

An object that could cause such an explosion couldn’t be small. If something like that were possible, China would have already dominated the world.

But if that wasn’t it, then what….

“The ground?”

Wiggins roared, as if he had found the cause.

If there was no projectile, then the explosion must have originated from the ground. A landmine, or perhaps pre-planted explosives.

Either way, it was completely unexpected.

‘It couldn’t be helped.’

Wiggins gritted his teeth.

They had chosen their path of advance on the fly. Even they hadn’t known where they were going until right before they set off.

Planting explosives was only possible if you could predict the enemy’s movements, or at least secure their path of advance.

Could they not have planted them when they gathered their forces?

Impossible.

The eyes of a martial artist far surpass those of ordinary people. Someone like Kang Jin-ho could be considered to have senses that transcend human limits. It was impossible for him not to notice ground that had been dug up and reburied just moments ago.

In other words, these explosives had been planted at least a few days ago.

‘No way.’

That’s what the circumstances suggested, but Wiggins refused to believe it. No matter how brilliant the King of Creation’s mind was, this was impossible.

‘Or…’

‘Was he leading us?

This way?

A chill ran down his spine.

That would mean the King of Creation had already predicted that the Assembly would not run away and would chase after him.

‘No. It’s impossible.’

This wasn’t a matter of choice.

No matter how great the King of Creation was, he couldn’t possibly predict their choices in advance. Absolutely not!

“Then what…”

Just then, the rising smoke began to clear, revealing Kang Jin-ho.

“Lo, Lord…”

Wiggins, realizing that checking on Kang Jin-ho’s safety was more important than understanding the situation, let out a frustrated groan as he looked at him.

Kang Jin-ho, who had already recovered his demonic energy, calmly raised his head and looked forward.

Fortunately, there were no visible injuries on Kang Jin-ho’s body.

‘Of course.’

The explosion had been so large that he had been momentarily startled, but this was Kang Jin-ho. He wasn’t someone who would be harmed by an explosion.

Wiggins, confirming that the ground Kang Jin-ho had been standing on was completely overturned, hardened his expression and shouted.

“Lord! The King of Creation…”

“Enough.”

Kang Jin-ho spoke coldly.

Hearing his voice, Wiggins involuntarily shut his mouth.

“It doesn’t matter what they’ve prepared.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly moved his foot forward.

“If they block, I’ll break through. That’s all.”

Wiggins’ body lost its strength. The excessive heat subsided, and his mind began to work again.

‘Damn it.’

Wiggins bit his lip.

Kang Jin-ho was right.

Even if the King of Creation had predicted all of this and trapped them, what could they do about it?

Were they going to turn around and flee in another direction?

‘Bullshit!’

This was already a checkmate.

Having exhausted their strength and entered the heart of China, there was no way for them to escape. Now, there were only two possible outcomes: either they would kill the King of Creation, or the Assembly would be annihilated by the King of Creation’s forces.

So why were they hesitating?

‘I told Lee Hyun-soo to stay calm…’

It seemed that Lee Hyun-soo wasn’t the only one being shaken by the King of Creation’s shadow. He, too, was struggling, unable to escape the deep, dark shadow cast by the King of Creation.

“…I will provide support.”

Hearing those words, Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his mouth as if pleased.

“Keep one thing in mind.”

“Yes?”

“They’re desperate too.”

Wiggins’ body trembled at those words.

‘They were completely cornered.’

Why hadn’t he thought of that?

He had assumed that the King of Creation was facing them with complete composure. Even if he hadn’t explicitly thought it, he had subconsciously believed it.

But how could that be?

It was Kang Jin-ho, after all.

No one in the world could afford to be relaxed when facing Kang Jin-ho. Just as they were desperately trying to break through, the other side was doing everything they could to stop them.

They were throwing in all the subordinates they had invested time, effort, and money into raising, mobilizing their forces by exhausting all their political power, and desperately hiding in the back in case of an emergency.

How could that be the actions of someone who was relaxed?

In the previous battle, the King of Creation had appeared directly in front of them and faced Kang Jin-ho himself.

But this time was different. No matter how daring he was to use himself as bait, that was only after securing an escape route as the Master. After that, he had completely hidden himself instead of watching from close range like before.

‘That means they’re under just as much pressure.’

Terrified?

It wasn’t quite that extreme.

But it meant that, unlike before, the King of Creation was fully aware that if he didn’t win this battle, he would lose his head.

‘We’re both fighting for our lives.’

Nothing had changed.

But just understanding that made it feel a little easier to breathe.

“I apologize, Lord.”

“It’s alright.”

Kang Jin-ho lowered his gaze.

“People always pride themselves on being calm.”

“What you need to do on the battlefield isn’t to maintain your composure, but to understand that you’re getting worked up.”

He felt like he had been hit right on the mark.

“I will keep that in mind.”

Bator, who had been listening to their conversation, frowned.

“We don’t have time for this. If you’re tired, I’ll take over.”

“Cocky.”

Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his mouth.

“We’re going again. Follow me without even breathing.”

Without waiting for a reply, Kang Jin-ho charged forward.

They had been distracted for a moment, but nothing had changed. If the King of Creation’s warriors hadn’t been completely broken during their advance here, they might have been able to reorganize their lines while Kang Jin-ho’s attention was diverted.

But that was impossible now.

To the current warriors of the King of Creation, Kang Jin-ho’s pause was just a little more time to run away.

The front lines, which had collapsed a little earlier than the King of Creation had calculated, began to disrupt his plans little by little.

KWA-AA-AA-AAANG!

KWA-AA-AA-AAANG!

Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes narrowed at the explosions coming from the front.

‘That’s not the sound of martial arts.’

But it wasn’t like the rocket fire from earlier either. The nature of the explosions was clearly different.

‘Planted explosives or specially made landmines. Or maybe Claymores?’

Any of those were possible. But Lee Hyun-soo wasn’t particularly worried about that. It was impossible to stop Kang Jin-ho with human-made weapons.

That was a point that had already been proven in countless battles.

‘He’s actually getting faster.’

He could feel that those running were starting to struggle. It meant that the speed of those breaking through was starting to exceed the speed of those following.

‘Not bad.’

Lee Hyun-soo’s cold, calm eyes shone sharply.

While the others each had their own roles, at this moment, he was focusing all his energy on using his mind.

“How much is left!”

“None.”

“What?”

Lee Hyun-soo muttered with a cold, calm face.

“We’ve already closed almost all of the distance we initially calculated. Now it’s only about 2 kilometers.”

2 kilometers.

That wasn’t a long distance for a martial artist. No, it wasn’t a long distance for ordinary people either. It was a distance that could be covered in an instant if they ran with all their might.

“What about the King of Creation’s location?”

“He’s probably still there. Master is constantly tracking him. If there had been a change, the direction would have changed!”

“Is he unaware?”

“We can’t know that.”

Lee Hyun-soo kept muttering something under his breath. He didn’t think he had ever used his brain this much in his life.

He was constantly receiving and analyzing the movements of the King of Creation’s forces, the weapons they were using, the deployment of their troops, and the flow of the air.

“Everything will be deployed in the front. The King of Creation doesn’t gamble. Even if it looks like a gamble, it’s always the result of thorough calculation. There’s no reason for him not to reinforce his front by redeploying his forces.”

After saying that, Lee Hyun-soo began to mutter again.

“Bombardment? No, it’s not bombardment. That’s too inaccurate. Then what is it? Large-scale planting? No. It’s too difficult to pinpoint the location. It depends on the direction. Then…”

If he were the King of Creation, what would he do?

‘Stop them. Stop them for now.’

He would do anything to block their approach and constantly interfere.

But that wasn’t a fundamental solution.

It was only buying time.

But as long as the Assembly’s forces weren’t depleted, it meant more than just delaying the time of their death.

‘Think. If I were the King of Creation… There are two things to aim for.’

Either find a way to kill Kang Jin-ho for sure.

Or else….

Lee Hyun-soo turned his head sharply.

“Scatter! Get out of the way!”

“What?”

Chai Ke-chang looked at Lee Hyun-soo in confusion.

“Get off the path! Go into the forest! Right now!”

“What are you talking about? That will slow us down!”

“Shut up and pass it on! Now!”

Lee Hyun-soo gritted his teeth.

Bombardment was impossible. The reason why Chai Ke-chang had used chemical weapons instead of firepower from the beginning was clear.

The first was the loud noise and flames.

Even for him, and even if this place was remote, it couldn’t be easy to bomb Chinese territory.

And a more important reason was…

‘It’s impossible to pinpoint.’

Bombardment wasn’t something that could be immediately redirected. Basically, bombardment was done by setting a target point and dropping the bombs. A bomber wasn’t a weapon that could instantly change direction and adjust its target.

It was impossible to snipe those moving in this darkness, in this forest. To do that, they would have to pour firepower with the force to cover the entire mountain range, which would inevitably lower the density of the firepower.

But….

“Cannons are different! We’ve already been hit once! They’ll be firing self-propelled artillery!”

Artillery could adjust coordinates in real time by slightly turning the muzzle.

“Self-propelled artillery isn’t very helpful in this situation! It’s impossible to accurately pinpoint our location in this wide area…”

Chai Ke-chang’s eyes wavered.

“Damn it, they broke through!”

Normally, self-propelled artillery shouldn’t be able to pinpoint them running through the forest.

But now, there was no need for that.

The path that Bator had broken through and they were running on would serve as the coordinates!

“Scatter! Go into the forest! Damn it! Move now, you slow bastards!”

At that moment, Chai Ke-chang heard a fierce tearing sound in the air.

He reflexively turned his head and saw something.

“Damn it!”

Chai Ke-chang grabbed the back of Lee Hyun-soo’s neck and threw himself into the forest next to the path with all his might.

KWA-AA-AA-AAANG!

KWA-AA-AA-AAANG!

Dozens of explosions detonated simultaneously.

The entire mountain shook from the tremendous impact, and the successive aftershocks swept across the entire mountain range.

“Uwaaaaaaah! You son of a bitch!”

Lee Hyun-soo, rolling down the mountainside, let out a desperate curse.