Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1774

The world was blurry.

It was as if a thick fog had settled, making things seem visible yet not, graspable yet elusive.

In that ambiguous world, Kang Jin-ho simply floated, letting himself drift.

“What are you thinking so deeply about?” Kang Jin-ho’s head slowly turned to the side.

The Azure Demon.

He was staring intently at him.

“…Master?”

Kang Jin-ho lightly shook his head.

“Is something bothering you?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Kang Jin-ho looked ahead with slightly sunken eyes.

It felt like he had a long dream…

A dream.

Yes, it was a dream.

A dream that could never come true.

Knowing that, having such a dream meant he still hadn’t let go of his lingering attachments.

“Still…”

The Azure Demon looked at him with a slightly worried expression. Seeing that look, Kang Jin-ho quietly opened his mouth.

“Azure Demon.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Why do you help me?”

The Azure Demon prostrated himself on the spot and shouted.

“It is because you, Master, are the only one who can achieve the Demonic Heavenly Realm that the Demonic Path has long dreamed of!”

Kang Jin-ho’s sunken eyes fixed on the back of the prostrated Azure Demon.

Every time he asked this question, the Azure Demon always gave the same answer. But today, that answer sounded hollow.

“Demonic Heavenly Realm…”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

“Why didn’t I realize it?”

“…Yes?”

Kang Jin-ho opened his mouth, his gaze fixed on the Azure Demon.

“Demonic Heavenly Realm, Demonic Heavenly Realm. Everyone talks about it so easily, and I just listened, bewitched. But now that I think about it, it’s strange.”

His eyes sharpened.

“There’s no way you would sincerely believe in such a vain idea.”

The world does not tilt to one side.

What changes the world is ultimately the people who live in it. No oppression, no power can lead the world as one desires.

If Kang Jin-ho knew this, there was no way the Azure Demon wouldn’t know it.

“Azure Demon.”

“…Yes, Master.”

“What are you trying to do?”

The Azure Demon kept his head bowed to the ground and quietly opened his mouth.

“I…”

“Stop with the clumsy excuses, Azure Demon.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes coldly narrowed.

“What were you trying to do?”

The Azure Demon silently bowed his head.

Silence.

A heavy silence flowed. Soon, the Azure Demon’s low voice broke the silence.

“Master.”

His voice had changed slightly.

“Why do you ask me that?”

“…What do you mean?”

The Azure Demon slowly raised his head.

A familiar face.

But an unfamiliar face.

“I was merely trying to achieve everything you desired, Master.”

“Because you desired the position of the Master, I brought it to you. Because you desired to fight, I guided you to victory. Because you desired to conquer them, I put thorny ropes around their necks and made them kneel before you. Because you desired to have the world at your feet, I paved the way for you.”

The Azure Demon’s voice grew louder.

His face subtly distorted.

“Everything is as the Demon Lord wills. As you desire, Master, I have simply followed and devoted everything.”

“You asked what I was trying to do?”

The Azure Demon’s eyes stared directly at Kang Jin-ho.

“No. No, Master. That is not a question you should ask me. That is a question you should ask yourself.”

“What did you want to do?” The Azure Demon’s eyes blazed.

The gaze that had always looked at him calmly began to seethe with a strange heat.

“What did you want to do? What did you fight for, and what did you trample them for? What for?”

“I…”

“Why did you try to give up everything you fought so hard for? What did the sacrifices of the disciples who gave their lives for that cause mean to you? What did my life, which I devoted to the Demonic Heavenly Realm… no, to your realm, mean to you?”

The Azure Demon glared at Kang Jin-ho with a distorted face.

“Was all of this just a game to you? Can’t you hear the wishes of those who gave their lives for you, the cries of those who pledged their loyalty to you?”

Blood flowed from the Azure Demon’s eyes.

His body began to be stained with blood.

“Did I betray you?”

“No! It is you who betrayed us! You abandoned us all. You, who stepped back from the very brink of achieving the world by staking everything on the Demonic Path, are the one who betrayed us!”

Kang Jin-ho couldn’t say anything.

Because he knew that what he said was not wrong.

The blood-stained face of the Azure Demon became increasingly grotesque.

“Why? Why do you abandon us!”

“Master!”

“Demon Lord!”

Kang Jin-ho’s lips trembled slightly.

“I…”

At that moment.

Whoosh!

Black bandages that erupted from around the Azure Demon’s body began to wrap tightly around him. Soon, the Azure Demon, whose entire body was covered in black bandages, twisted his lips.

“May you be well, you betrayer.”

Black bandages poured out of his body endlessly.

Black, black, and more black.

Soon, the world was dyed black.

In that endlessly black world, only the voice of the Azure Demon… no, the Black King, echoed endlessly.

“May you be well, you betrayer.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes snapped open.

At the same time, his lips twisted involuntarily.

The intense pain he felt throughout his body made even the mighty Kang Jin-ho flinch.

Cold sweat that had formed on his forehead dripped down his chin. Kang Jin-ho lowered his head and looked at his body.

He was wrapped tightly in white bandages, looking like a mummy.

But anyway…

“…I’m alive.”

It was a situation where it wouldn’t have been strange if he had died.

“…Azure Demon.”

Kang Jin-ho’s face held a complex expression.

Without even having the time to feel the relief of returning from the brink of death, his mind was instantly filled with the presence of the Black King.

“This is mine, so I’ll take it. May you be well until we meet again.”

“Mine…”

Chungru.

That was the sword Kang Jin-ho had bestowed upon the Azure Demon.

And…

“This is what I gave you. So, I must take it back.”

At the moment he died in his second life.

He had left those words as he plunged Chungru into the Azure Demon’s chest. Those words strangely matched what the Black King had said.

“Azure Demon… Black King…”

Nothing has been confirmed yet. But…

The moment Kang Jin-ho bit his lip slightly, the door burst open, and a person walked in.

“Are you awake?”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head and looked at Lee Hyun-soo.

Looking at his haggard face, he could guess what had happened while he was unconscious.

“What’s the situation?”

“…Take care of yourself first. You came back from the dead.”

“I didn’t die, so it’s fine.”

Lee Hyun-soo sighed deeply.

His face showed that he was having a headache, but there was a subtle sense of relief.

“What about Changwang?”

“Don’t you remember? He died at the hands of the Black King.”

“…I remember.”

More vividly than anything else.

The demonic energy that the Black King had unleashed had completely shattered Changwang. He probably felt hellish pain until the moment he died.

It was a more miserable death than that of a warrior who had risked everything to fight Kang Jin-ho.

Feeling a bit of pity, Kang Jin-ho sighed.

“Where is this?”

“We’re still in China. It wasn’t the right time to return to Korea.”

“I guess not.”

There must have been chaos.

Kang Jin-ho was injured and passed out, and Changwang was dead. The remaining Changwang faction must have been at a loss, and the General Assembly must have been anxious about an attack from the Black King faction.

As if to answer Kang Jin-ho’s curiosity, Lee Hyun-soo opened his mouth.

“The situation has been somewhat contained. The moment Changwang’s death was confirmed, the army retreated without looking back, and the Changwang faction also stopped resisting. Half of them fled, and the other half surrendered willingly.”

“…That easily?”

“That just means that Changwang’s importance to them was that great.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly nodded. Thinking about it, it wasn’t strange. The Demonic Cult, which had almost dominated the world, had also collapsed beyond repair at the same time as Kang Jin-ho’s death.

At that time, Kang Jin-ho’s control over the Demonic Cult was great, but it wouldn’t have matched Changwang’s control, who had combined the power of the Azure Demon and himself.

‘A body without a head can’t do anything.’

The Changwang faction when Changwang was alive was incredibly powerful, but the moment Changwang disappeared, they were nothing more than puppets who had stopped thinking.

That’s why Lee Hyun-soo had been trying to find and kill Changwang at all costs.

“The goal has been achieved.”

“It’s dirty, unpleasant, and the aftertaste is so bitter that I want to suck on a candy…”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged.

“Anyway, we won.”

“…Is that a congratulations?”

“Let’s just say that.”

Lee Hyun-soo chuckled.

Regardless of the process, they had succeeded in achieving the desired outcome. The problem was what came next.

“What was that guy?”

“I have no idea why he attacked Changwang. Do you have any idea, Guild Master?”

Kang Jin-ho stared at the ceiling without saying anything.

“…I don’t know what to say.”

“You have an idea?”

“It’s not certain yet.”

Lee Hyun-soo nodded.

There was no reason for Kang Jin-ho to hide anything from him, so this would become clear if they waited.

“Hongwang is moving in all directions to clean up China.”

“Good.”

“Chaikechang has left for Beijing to regain influence over the military. He’s an annoying guy, but he’s not stupid, so he’ll be able to sort things out soon.”

“China will soon be stable.”

Stable…

Why?

Why did that word, ‘stable,’ feel so elusive?

“What about Master?”

“He escaped.”

Kang Jin-ho frowned.

“Well, it’s our fault, but…”

Lee Hyun-soo scratched the back of his head.

“In that situation, no one had the mind to chase after Master.

Please understand.”

“…It’s not something to understand or not.”

There was no way he could say anything to the guy who had been beaten and knocked out.

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

He seemed to understand the general situation.

“We should return to Korea as soon as things are settled.”

“Yes. Because we won.”

As Kang Jin-ho tried to get up, Lee Hyun-soo quickly approached him and pressed him down.

“…Why?”

“Rest.”

“I’m fine now.”

“You should recover quickly and take the lead. If you show up looking like that, it will lower morale.”

Hearing those words, Kang Jin-ho nodded and lay back down on the bed.

“I’ll recover within a day.”

“It won’t be easy. My master said it would be faster to find a place on your body that isn’t injured.”

“That’s true, but…”

Lee Hyun-soo chuckled and turned around.

“Rest. I have things to do too.”

“Okay.”

Lee Hyun-soo, who had walked towards the door, stopped with his hand on the doorknob.

Then, without turning his head, he opened his mouth.

“Guild Master.”

“Hmm?”

“Is the war over?”

There was a lot of meaning in those words.

But the only answer Kang Jin-ho could give right now was just one.

“…For now.”

At Kang Jin-ho’s answer, Lee Hyun-soo nodded and went outside.

Click.

Left alone, Kang Jin-ho lay quietly, staring at the ceiling.

“It’s over…”

“May you be well until we meet again.”

“…That can’t be.”

It felt like darkness was grabbing his ankles and wouldn’t let go.