Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1077

Bator hadn’t been in a good mood lately.

‘This is a strange feeling.’

Was it frustration?

No, that didn’t seem like the right word.

Bator himself couldn’t clearly pinpoint the source of the dissatisfaction that filled him, but he was certain that he was currently suffering from a great sense of discontent.

‘Why?’

The answer didn’t come easily.

It wasn’t as if he was particularly dissatisfied with the current situation.

In the first place, the reason Bator had thrown himself into the Assembly was to pursue strength.

To be more honest, it was because Kang Jin-ho was there.

Kang Jin-ho.

To Bator, Kang Jin-ho was like a symbol of strength. Of course, Kang Jin-ho wasn’t the strongest in the world.

Things might be a little different now, but back then, there were plenty of people stronger than Kang Jin-ho. Just among those Bator knew, there would have been close to ten.

But Bator was fascinated by Kang Jin-ho.

He had something that other strong people didn’t.

‘It’s subtle.’

Bator had lost to Kang Jin-ho.

But if Bator were to go back to that moment and fight Kang Jin-ho again, what would the result be?

‘I’d win.’

If they fought a hundred times, he would win a hundred times.

That was the extent of the difference in power.

However, Kang Jin-ho had easily broken through a power gap that was objectively impossible to overcome and pushed Bator to the brink of death.

Of course, it was true that he had seen the tremendous potential within Kang Jin-ho in the process, but it wasn’t simply because Kang Jin-ho could become stronger that he had decided to follow him.

At first, he was just brainwashed, but now Bator was following Kang Jin-ho of his own will.

However, what should I say…

Recently…

Bator raised his hand and rubbed his face.

‘There’s nothing particularly wrong, but…’

He was getting stronger as he had wanted.

If it were the current him, he could crush and kill the him who fought Kang Jin-ho back then with one hand. As he accepted demonic energy and his control over it increased, the power his body could unleash far surpassed the past.

Of course, it wasn’t just his strength that had increased.

His martial arts, which had focused on external force, weren’t well-balanced, even if you put it nicely. But Bator had no other choice.

As much as he had focused his tremendous talent for martial arts on external force, his external power had become endlessly strong, and once he had passed a certain standard, it became impossible to learn internal energy to match his external power.

Because a clumsy internal force wouldn’t settle in the dantian [an energy center in the body] and would only be absorbed into the body.

But demonic energy was different.

Basically, the martial arts he had learned were orthodox. But the internal energy he was currently learning was demonic energy.

Since he was learning two martial arts with fundamentally opposing properties at the same time, the martial arts couldn’t mix with each other. This could be a big disadvantage for others, but for Bator, it was rather a boon.

Thanks to this, Bator succeeded in creating a dantian that could never be created with orthodox martial arts.

His power had definitely increased.

But what should be valued even more than that was that Bator had laid the foundation to become even stronger.

He had known for a long time that there were limits to external power alone. Even though Bator was called a person in whom a god had descended into his body, there were places he could never reach with that body alone, no matter how hard he tried.

For example, the realm of the Red King.

‘When he fought me, he didn’t even use a tenth of his power.’

He had pride in having injured the Red King’s body. Among those who had challenged the Red King, Bator was the only one who had landed a punch on the Red King’s body.

But after watching Kang Jin-ho and the Red King fight with all their might, he realized. The Red King hadn’t used his full power when he fought him.

‘Humiliation.’

It was a humiliation that made his whole body tremble.

But he didn’t feel resentment towards the Red King. The humiliation he felt was closer to anger at his own weakness.

He realized after watching the Red King and Kang Jin-ho fight.

What he should aim for was higher.

A height that could only be reached with the effort of abandoning all of his current martial arts and being reborn.

And now, Bator was steadily taking that path.

He abandoned his pride as someone who had learned orthodox martial arts and accepted the shunned demonic energy. And to properly utilize that demonic energy, he didn’t hesitate to receive advice not only from Kang Jin-ho but also from Jang Min.

Thanks to that, Bator was now getting stronger at an incredible speed.

He was achieving what he wanted.

He himself was getting stronger.

And he was also feeling great satisfaction in seeing his disciples get stronger quickly.

Then he should be happy.

‘Why do I feel like this?’

He couldn’t figure out where the emptiness filling him was coming from.

‘When this happens, it’s best to work up a sweat.’

Having too many thoughts meant that he was getting distracted.

Perhaps this was a sign of ‘inner demons’ that he had never experienced before.

‘Inner demons or whatever, I don’t like this unpleasant feeling continuing.’

To clear his head, he needed to push his body to its limits.

Bator headed to his personal training ground located halfway up the mountain.

Normal training grounds were just flat open spaces, but Bator’s training ground was different. It was impossible for ordinary dirt to withstand the power his body unleashed.

That’s why Lee Hyun-soo had specially created a separate training ground for him. Of course, he often broke that training ground, so he was getting complaints.

Bator cracked his neck as he approached the training ground.

‘Hmm?’

Someone was there.

Bator’s face slightly contorted.

His training ground was made for him. It wasn’t like others were forbidden from using it, but he felt inexplicably annoyed.

Normally, Bator wouldn’t care about such things.

Even if one of his disciples took his car without permission, Bator wouldn’t blame them. Material desires were one of the things that hindered training.

But this was different.

Training was a means for him to reach the strength he desired. If you had to put it into words, it was the most sacred thing in his life. Being disturbed during such training was no different from touching his reverse scale [a metaphor for something that angers someone greatly].

“How dare…”

Bator, who was about to burst into a roar, closed his mouth.

Bator’s eyebrows twitched, and the corners of his mouth twisted strangely.

There was no need to shout.

It was too obvious who it was.

If he didn’t know who the owner of this chilling demonic energy was, which was becoming more and more palpable as he approached the training ground, he didn’t deserve to live off the Assembly’s funds.

The corners of Bator’s mouth curled up more and more.

In the end, he couldn’t control his expression.

He could feel it.

This chilling murderous intent.

Just by receiving it with his body and moving forward, he felt his mental strength as well as his physical strength rapidly depleting.

…

But Bator didn’t back down; he moved forward even more.

His skin felt like it was being cut by razor blades, and his heart began to pump like crazy. The surging demonic energy stimulated his blood, and his whole body began to turn dark red.

Thump!

Thump!

Power went into each step.

‘He’s really terrifying.’

Come to think of it, Bator hadn’t faced Kang Jin-ho’s true self head-on for a while now.

At some point, he had just become an observer.

He had just watched Kang Jin-ho defeat his enemies and cleaned up after him.

‘I see.’

What his dissatisfaction was.

What was the cause of this dissatisfaction that wouldn’t go away no matter how much he got stronger.

Bator finally reached the hill where the training ground was located.

He saw Kang Jin-ho holding swords in both hands.

‘Sweat?’

Kang Jin-ho’s whole body was soaked in sweat.

To be precise, the sweat he was shedding was covering Kang Jin-ho’s body like steam coming out of a boiling kettle.

It was a strange thing.

Sweat was a phenomenon that regulated the body’s temperature and removed waste products. Those who had reached a certain level no longer sweat. This was because the body’s temperature was always maintained at a constant level without having to sweat.

For a martial artist to sweat meant one thing.

That he had exerted a level of power that his body couldn’t handle.

For simple training without an opponent to reach that level was by no means an easy feat.

“…That’s unusual.”

As soon as Bator opened his mouth, Kang Jin-ho turned his head.

Flinch.

Bator’s whole body momentarily shrank back at the sight of Kang Jin-ho’s eyes.

‘What is this?’

No, he had felt this sensation before. The sensation he had felt from Kang Jin-ho when they first faced each other.

The reason Bator followed Kang Jin-ho was not for any other reason. It was because he had a ferocity that he couldn’t feel from other strong people.

Yes, ferocity.

A savagery that made it seem like he would run at you at any moment, bite your neck, and drink your blood.

That rough feeling, like a huge beast baring its fangs and emitting a foul stench just by standing in front of it.

It was the feeling that Kang Jin-ho had exuded in the past.

‘So that’s it.’

He felt like he knew what he had been missing.

That was why Bator had followed Kang Jin-ho. But recently, Kang Jin-ho had lost those fangs.

Like a beast whose teeth and claws had been pulled out and was being raised against its will, Kang Jin-ho no longer showed the savagery that he had felt from him in the past.

But…

It was here now.

Bator’s whole body broke out in goosebumps.

His teeth clenched, and his fists clenched on their own.

“Training?”

Kang Jin-ho, who was looking at Bator, planted his swords on the ground and nodded.

“Isn’t physical training meaningless?”

His whole body felt itchy.

He knew.

The current Bator was no match for Kang Jin-ho. The speed at which he was getting stronger was like a turtle’s pace compared to the speed at which Kang Jin-ho was getting stronger.

But so what?

What was the point of enjoying victory only against those weaker than himself?

Murtial arts were a weapon for the weak to defeat the strong. It was meaningless if he didn’t challenge those stronger than himself.

And now, there was a strong person in front of him.

“I’ve stopped looking for meaning.”

“…Then?”

“I’ll do everything I can. If it’s to get stronger, I have to. It’s been quite a while…”

Kang Jin-ho bared his teeth and said.

“Since I’ve forgotten.”

His whole body was tingling.

‘Yes, this is it.’

It was the feeling of a void being filled.

The Assembly was getting stronger even at this moment. Everyone was moving forward. But in the midst of that, he couldn’t feel the ferocity that he could see in Kang Jin-ho right now.

It felt like they were running on a set track as they were told.

With that, only mass-produced products would come out.

“Have you come to your senses?”

“Senses?”

Kang Jin-ho glanced at Bator and curled up the corners of his mouth.

“You’ve become able to say quite arrogant things.”

“Kuhahahahahahaha!”

Bator burst into a fit of wild laughter. His eyes began to fill with bloodshot veins.