Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1147

A person is flung into the sky.

It’s a sight that has become a spectacle at the Assembly, but every time he sees it, Lee Myung-hwan can’t believe it’s real.

Lee Myung-hwan narrowed his eyes, watching the figure soaring high into the sky.

‘That looks like Young-gil?’

The silhouette of the person screaming and swimming in the air reminded him of his friend, Gong Young-gil.

‘Is it him?’

He couldn’t be sure.

He would have been able to tell them apart before, but as Bator’s training continued, the ‘Bator faction’ members were all starting to look alike.

Thick arms and legs like logs, and a torso so thick it looked like three people could fit inside.

And a head that completely ignored human proportions.

All other parts of their bodies were getting bigger and thicker, but their heads remained the same size, creating a bizarre body ratio that made you tilt your head when you saw them.

It was also a joke that these guys, who would look like overwhelming hero characters from American comics if they were placed among ordinary people, would become mini-sized when they were next to Bator.

However, there was one thing.

‘Their strength is no joke.’

Recently, Lee Myung-hwan had been feeling a subtle sense of threat from the Bator faction.

Until now, the martial arts group representing the Assembly was, without a doubt, the Flame Demons.

Their symbolism of being directly taught by Kang Jin-ho, their uniqueness of being the only ones to have mastered demonic arts, and their superior skills.

Based on these three things, the Flame Demons were able to become the martial artists representing the Assembly.

However, recently, that perception had been changing.

First of all, the biggest factor was that demonic arts had become widely available within the Assembly.

Demonic arts, which used to be practiced only by the Flame Demons, had now become like a public asset of the Assembly. Not only the Bator faction but also the Demonic Cult members were learning demonic arts.

Although selected members of the Demonic Cult were given priority in learning demonic arts, there were over a thousand selected members, as the total number of members was ten thousand.

In other words, the number of people officially learning demonic arts within the Assembly now exceeded twelve hundred.

‘The largest number since the founding of Dangun [the legendary founder of Korea].’

Even if you searched through history, there would never have been so many people learning demonic arts on the Korean peninsula. If the previous generation, who would have had a fit just hearing the word ‘demonic,’ saw this, they would have foamed at the mouth and collapsed.

But what could they do?

Even those who jumped out of their graves to beat up those who practiced demonic arts would have to praise the effectiveness of demonic arts to Kang Jin-ho to preserve their skeletal remains.

Anyway, as more and more people learned demonic arts, the uniqueness of the Flame Demons disappeared. The fact that Kang Jin-ho was teaching them separately was no longer a prominent feature.

It was true that Kang Jin-ho was incomparably stronger than anyone else in the Assembly, but as the history of the martial arts world proved, a great martial artist does not necessarily make a great teacher.

In fact, the opposite was more often the case.

–

Why can’t you do this?

–

I’m telling you, you do it like this? Like this?

‘He doesn’t understand why ‘like this’ isn’t working.’

It was similar to how a top athlete fails as a coach because they can’t understand athletes with less talent than themselves.

A great martial artist tends to expect their disciples to have great understanding, and they have difficulty explaining their standards in simple terms that their less talented disciples can understand.

Kang Jin-ho wasn’t that type, but in any case, Bator and Jang Min were not inferior teachers compared to Kang Jin-ho.

Then, all that was left was the power they currently possessed.

Until recently, Lee Myung-hwan believed that they had a clear advantage in power over them. He was confident that they were developing and getting stronger faster than anyone else.

But recently, even that confidence had become a little blurred.

Look.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

A piercing scream was heard.

“You trash! You’ve been neglecting your training?”

“S, save me! Please save me! I was wrong! Bator niiiiiim! Hiiiiiiiiiiik!”

Bator caught the falling person and threw him back into the air.

He wouldn’t die, would he?

If an ordinary person fell from that height, they would call the undertaker rather than an ambulance, but Gong Young-gil, who was flying in the air, was a martial artist. He was also a martial artist who had intensively trained his external strength as Bator’s disciple.

Considering his skin, which had become harder than steel, and his muscles, which had become more elastic than rubber, he might be able to survive even if he fell from that height.

But that didn’t mean his fear would go away.

“A martial artist!”

Bator grabbed the falling Gong Young-gil and slammed him to the ground.

Dust scattered everywhere as if a shell had fallen.

“Neglecting!”

Again, thud!

“Training?”

He’s going to die like that, he’s going to die.

Seeing Gong Young-gil gasping for breath, Lee Myung-hwan couldn’t help but frown. But what should he say…

It might be hell for the person involved, but from the perspective of someone watching from the side, he had a slightly different thought.

‘Isn’t that how a teacher should be?’

Bator was a born martial artist.

He was only interested in getting stronger himself and making his disciples stronger. That was why he was refusing all the numerous tasks he could take on in the Assembly and was focusing on training.

And because Bator was training without leaving the Assembly, the disciples who had to train with him were all getting stronger rapidly.

Of course. They would be beaten to death if they didn’t get stronger.

That sight sometimes felt excessive, but sometimes it also felt enviable.

It wasn’t just Bator.

The Demonic Cult members had recently been focusing on training like crazy, as if they had never caused trouble here and there.

Even if there was a conflict with the existing Assembly members in the dormitories, they would have chased after them with swords in the past, but now they just sighed and walked away.

Did their personalities change?

No.

They just didn’t have any energy left.

As soon as the training of demonic arts was roughly finished, Jang Min and the elders drove the Demonic Cult members mercilessly. Not only those who passed the test and were taught demonic arts, but also those who failed and were not taught demonic arts were being pushed to their limits under the pretext of building their bodies.

Compared to that training, Bator’s training felt humane.

‘Is this the difference in perception of human rights between Koreans and Chinese?’

If the Assembly’s training was at the level of ‘you have to be prepared to die to get stronger,’ the way Jang Min was pushing the Demonic Cult members was closer to ‘it doesn’t matter if a few of them die.’

It wouldn’t be strange if complaints erupted and a riot broke out right away, but the Demonic Cult members who were forced to undergo that training accepted it without much complaint.

It was something he couldn’t understand, but also something he could understand.

‘Even me…’

What was the reason why Lee Myung-hwan first clung to Kang Jin-ho’s coattails?

Was it because he wanted to get stronger?

That was a secondary issue.

To be precise, it was because he wanted to overcome the situation where he would be left behind as a third-rate martial artist.

In an ordinary society, people who don’t excel don’t necessarily become unhappy. The world is broad, so there are plenty of places for ordinary people to be used. And they can pursue their happiness within that.

But that’s not the case for martial artists.

Here, value is determined solely by whether you are strong or not, and the strong monopolize all authority and power. A weak martial artist is guilty simply for being weak.

Although many things had changed since Kang Jin-ho came, that characteristic had not completely disappeared.

That was why Lee Myung-hwan had been desperately trying to get stronger.

Perhaps they were the same.

As far as Lee Myung-hwan knew, the treatment that the Demonic Cult members received in China was so harsh that the treatment Lee Myung-hwan received in Korea was nothing in comparison. How much would they have longed for strength while enduring those days?

That was why they could endure it.

To them now, even that terrible training would feel like an oasis found by a traveler lost in the desert.

The others were the same.

Since Bang Jin-hoon started online lectures, a craze for training had swept through the entire Assembly. If the Flame Demons and the Bator faction were the chosen ones, those taught by Bang Jin-hoon were the general martial artists who made up the majority of the Assembly.

They, who had felt a sense of relative deprivation at the fact that they were not chosen, gritted their teeth as the Assembly’s regular curriculum was created. Thanks to that, it was no longer possible to find guys goofing off like before anywhere in the Assembly.

They were leaping forward.

The Assembly was changing rapidly even at this moment.

It had undergone numerous changes and transformed its constitution. But even so, the flow of change did not stop.

Sometimes, just keeping up with the changes felt overwhelming.

‘Even foreign martial arts are coming in.’

At least demonic arts were martial arts that the Assembly members knew and understood to some extent, but the martial arts that Wiggins was spreading now were completely different.

The number of people learning magic from Wiggins was increasing, and the Chevaliers [knights], who had proven their abilities in the recent battle with the Round Table, were selecting those who were not suited to the Assembly’s martial arts and teaching them swordsmanship and knightly combat.

Moreover, they had now established a business outside and connected the Assembly halfway to the outside world.

It was a good change.

It was a really good change.

However…

There was one thing that bothered him…

Lee Myung-hwan sighed.

‘It would be nice if the Assembly Leader was a little less busy.’

It was undeniable that Kang Jin-ho’s attention to the Flame Demons had relatively decreased recently as he was taking on all sorts of tasks in the Assembly.

While the other guys were being taught by the board members, the Flame Demons had no choice but to train on their own based on the secret techniques Kang Jin-ho had given them and their past learning.

He couldn’t help but feel anxious whenever he felt like someone was chasing him from behind and the distance was getting closer.

‘I think I need to talk to him separately.’

Lee Myung-hwan, who had walked to the training ground, focused his eyes. He was sure that the guys who had the same thoughts as him had lost half of their motivation, so he had to somehow push that motivation back into them.

Even if he had to get a little angry…

“Huh?”

Lee Myung-hwan’s eyes widened as he arrived at the training ground.

Among the Flame Demons sitting in a circle, he saw a familiar face.

“A, Assembly Leader?”

Kang Jin-ho’s head slowly turned towards Lee Myung-hwan.

Lee Myung-hwan flinched a little at Kang Jin-ho’s expressionless face.

“When did you…”

“Where did you go?”

“Ah… ah?”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Did you leave the training ground during training time?”

“N, no, that’s not it…”

Lee Myung-hwan looked around at everyone with a desperate look.

Guys, please back me up…

“He does that often.”

“He pretends to be thinking about something and goes out to play. It seems like he does it once a day.”

“Shouldn’t we change the leader?”

…You bastards.

Of course, there was no way those guys would help him.

“A, Assembly Leader, that’s not it!”

“Bow.”

“Yes.”

Lee Myung-hwan bowed his head to the ground without saying a word.

“Lee Myung-hwan.”

“Yes!”

“Were you playing games?”

Cold sweat broke out on Lee Myung-hwan’s back.

“I admit that I’ve been a little… negligent lately. But even if a person is absent and negligent, they still have to do what they have to do.”

“That’s right!”

“Do you know that?”

“Yes!”

“You know, but you still do that?”

Lee Myung-hwan closed his eyes as if giving up. There was no way out of this.

“Get ready.”

“Yes!”

“I’ll make up for not paying attention to you by giving you a proper fight.”

Lee Myung-hwan tried to jump up from his seat.

“No. You stay with your head bowed.”

“…Yes.”

Lee Myung-hwan realized that Kang Jin-ho’s attention wasn’t always a good thing.