Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1351

“Fire!”

Bullets flew from all directions.

Kang Jin-ho enveloped his entire body in demonic energy.

Dodging was impossible.

Modern firearms surpassed the capabilities of a martial artist. If it were just a few shots, he might evade them with his superhuman vision and reflexes, or by tracking the gun barrels. But against such a large-scale barrage, dodging by sight was impossible.

However, being unable to dodge didn’t mean he couldn’t block them.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The bullets that struck Kang Jin-ho’s body bounced off with a sharp metallic sound.

“You son of a bitch!” someone cursed, seeing the bullets deflect.

From the start, personal firearms were developed to kill people—efficiently and perfectly.

But sometimes, that development could be a disadvantage.

The firepower needed to kill a human is enough to penetrate body armor. Any more firepower is just a waste. Increasing firepower reduces the rate of fire and increases recoil.

In other words, guns developed solely to kill humans were useless against a martial artist who had reached a certain level.

However…

Those who wield firearms are also human. And the greatest strength of humans is not guns, but their minds.

Bang!

With an ear-splitting sound, Kang Jin-ho’s head tilted slightly to the side.

‘Did that work?’

Sniping.

It was impossible to penetrate a martial artist’s aura with personal firearms like assault rifles. But the firepower of an anti-material rifle far exceeded that of a submachine gun. It might not penetrate the aura, but it could at least inflict some impact on the human behind it…

Kang Jin-ho’s head slowly returned to its original position.

‘It didn’t work?’

The eyes of the commander watching the situation wavered.

‘No, that can’t be!’

No human made of flesh and blood could withstand that. Even if it didn’t cause injury, the physical impact alone would surely inflict damage.

“If this doesn’t work, are you telling me to bring an anti-tank rifle? You monster!” They didn’t have an anti-tank rifle, but they had prepared something more useful.

Booooooom!

A military truck roughly entered the area. Then, the Type 89 heavy machine gun [a Japanese-made heavy machine gun] mounted on the truck began to fire.

A powerful noise and vibration that felt like it would burst eardrums. Spent cartridges soared into the sky and fell like snow, and acrid smoke billowed out as if a fire had broken out.

Firepower that would turn an ordinary human into a honeycomb, leaving not even a corpse, was concentrated on one person. The combined firepower from four guns poured onto Kang Jin-ho’s entire body.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sparks flew.

Kang Jin-ho’s body, which should have been barely visible in the darkness, was surrounded by a bright light due to the black demonic energy.

“Fire! Fire more! Kill that monster! Damn it!” A sound that was a mix of a shout and a scream was buried by the gunfire.

The firing didn’t stop until all the ammunition they brought was used up. They fired and fired until all the ammo boxes were empty and the triggers they pulled malfunctioned.

After the world-shattering noise subsided, a chilling silence descended.

The commander’s eyes stared at Kang Jin-ho.

‘Silence?’

It was like looking at a hill of black tar. It was too alien to be a scene created by a human body.

But that was all.

Kang Jin-ho wasn’t moving.

‘Did we get him?’

To die standing up?

It was like something out of a comic book, but then again, their existence was like something out of a comic book.

Just as the commander swallowed hard and was about to send a signal to approach, it happened.

“Uh…” A gasp escaped his lips. Black.

From a pitch-black entity, something red began to emerge.

Two flames that seemed to burn with blood-red light.

The moment his brain understood that those were Kang Jin-ho’s eyes, the silent demon began to move.

Whoosh!

Kang Jin-ho’s demonic energy spread in all directions.

“Re, retreat…” That was the end.

A person whose head had been cut off could no longer speak.

The demonic energy spread out, slicing through everything in its path. People, firearms, vehicles… all were cut apart as easily as if they were made of paper.

The demonic energy, which had been swimming nimbly through the air like a living snake, was instantly drawn back to Kang Jin-ho.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The Red Lotus and Azure Lotus [likely referring to a pair of weapons], held in Kang Jin-ho’s hands, scraped against the ground, creating a grating noise. At the same time, the demonic energy that had been drawn back engulfed Kang Jin-ho’s body and blazed up.

The demonic energy, soaring like a demon’s wings, was enough to instantly shatter the fighting spirit of those who faced him.

“Ru, run…” Those who faced Kang Jin-ho all made a similar mistake.

They thought that they could capture him by overwhelming him with numbers. And even if they couldn’t capture him, they thought that retreating with their superior numbers wouldn’t be a problem.

Anyone who faced a demon had to risk their life. Those who hadn’t prepared themselves for that had to pay the price.

Kang Jin-ho charged forward.

It was as if a giant black bird was spreading its wings and taking flight.

“Do, don’t co…” The words “don’t come” couldn’t be finished.

Swoosh!

The Red Lotus casually sliced through a person’s neck. Blood gushed out like a fountain from the severed neck.

As dozens of blood fountains erupted simultaneously, it created a scene like a rain of blood. In that rain of blood, a black demon was rampaging with madness.

“Huuu…” Kung Xiang desperately gripped the ground with trembling hands.

“Huuu…” His body was weak.

His pants had been soaked for a long time.

‘Crazy bastards! You sons of bitches!’ What he resented wasn’t the rampaging demon.

Ironically, he didn’t feel even a shred of anger towards Kang Jin-ho, who was grinding down their forces like a meat grinder, severing the necks of his comrades.

That was a disaster.

Power that exceeded common sense couldn’t be the target of resentment.

Does someone who lost their house in a typhoon resent the typhoon? Does someone swept away by a hailstorm curse the sea?

Such things don’t happen.

Power that exceeds a certain level is impossible to control. Then, what a weak human can do is not to resist, but to avoid or prepare.

But these crazy bastards chose to resist.

Think about it.

Can you imagine someone taking a boat to catch a typhoon or going out to sea where a hailstorm is raging?

Such a thing is impossible.

But these crazy bastards had done just that.

‘You sons of bitches!’

The military is always like that.

Those who make the decisions watch from afar, and those who lose their lives are the ones who couldn’t make any decisions. Thanks to that, he was now crawling on the ground, trying to escape from the demon’s jaws.

“Hoo! Hoo!” He gasped for breath.

‘It was wrong from the start.’

His unit was the Jegi Special Forces Brigade of the People’s Liberation Army [a fictional special forces unit].

As many as the population of China, there were hundreds of units in the People’s Liberation Army. But among them, the Jegi Special Forces Brigade was a special place.

They faced martial artists with modern military forces.

It was something that everyone thought about, but no one had put into practice. That was the Jegi Special Forces Brigade. As such, it was a place where they had to endure harsh training.

While enduring extreme training to the point where no one would think it strange if people died, Kung Xiang believed that one day they would wipe out the thugs with their own power and spread the prestige of China to the world.

That’s what he was taught, that’s what he heard. Until his ears were sore.

But the reality he faced was very different from what he had imagined.

Only then did Kung Xiang realize that they knew what they had to do, but they didn’t know ‘who’ they had to face.

“Huu, hu…” A groan escaped his lips, and the strength drained from his outstretched hand.

Thud!

Something fell right next to him.

With trembling eyes, Kung Xiang turned his head and saw someone’s head with wide-open eyes.

Kung Xiang didn’t bother to turn his head back. He already knew that there was nothing below this head.

Facing the Three Kings [likely a reference to powerful martial artists] with guns?

“Heh heh.” Only now could he understand how ridiculous that sounded. Why the countries with overwhelming military power had been unable to control martial artists all this time.

That was simply a monster.

Firearms are basically larger and heavier the more firepower they produce. Therefore, there is a limit to the firepower that infantry can use.

Then what should they do?

Should they bring tanks into the city to catch that one person? Or should they bomb him?

Impossible.

Absolutely impossible.

Even if they brought dozens of tanks, he didn’t think they could catch that monster. How could they aim at and hit a monster that moved at speeds that couldn’t even be seen?

In front of such a monster, even tanks were just large lumps of metal. No, not even lumps of metal. It was ridiculous to call metal that could be sliced through at will ‘metal’.

Kung Xiang frantically pulled at the ground with both hands.

But…

Thud!

His head bumped into something. When he looked up, he saw something surrounded by a black tarp blocking his path.

‘Where did I come from?’

Where should he run?

Where could he go to survive?

From somewhere behind him, he heard screams and sobs. When he turned his head, all he could see were old, dilapidated buildings with all the lights off.

No one looked outside.

No one tried to see them. Then…

Who would know that he was dying here?

“Aaaaaaaah! You damn bastards!” Kung Xiang suddenly stood up. Then, he turned his body and looked at the place he had escaped from.

A hellish scene.

In the darkness, a rain of blood was falling.

In that rain of blood, a being that could only be described as a demon was walking as if swimming.

Kung Xiang clearly captured that image in his eyes.

There was nowhere to run. With his legs drained of strength, he wouldn’t get far before his head was cut off. That demon didn’t seem to have any mercy.

Then he shouldn’t die miserably.

“Kill! Kill! You bastard! Do you think I’m scared! Aaaaaaaah!” All the resentment in his heart was released at once.

And that desperate voice had clearly reached the demon’s ears. The demon stopped walking and slowly turned its head.

Black flames.

In the dense demonic energy that was more like flowing tar, two blood-red eyes stared at him.

“Uh…” He couldn’t speak.

The demon stared at him, then slowly approached.

Not fast at all.

Slowly.

It was only about twenty meters, but that short time felt like an eternity to Kung Xiang.

Thud.

Finally, the demon arrived right in front of Kung Xiang and tilted its head.

“I, I…” Thud.

They were close enough to hear each other’s breathing.

The demon slowly reached out its hand.

Kung Xiang squeezed his eyes shut.

Swoosh.

But what he expected didn’t happen. When he opened his eyes with difficulty, he saw the demon’s hand grabbing and pushing something away. The tarp was removed, and the identity of the object that had blocked him was revealed.

‘A jeep?’

Why was it here?

But Kung Xiang’s thoughts didn’t continue.

Whoosh!

His vision changed.

Even though he hadn’t done anything, his body floated into the air.

‘What?’

His vision soared into the sky, then turned behind him, and finally, when it turned downwards, Kung Xiang could see it.

His body, with its head cut off, was spewing blood.

‘What…’

Like a film that had been cut off, his consciousness was cut off. Until the very end, he didn’t realize his own death.