Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1522

“Ughhh….”

“Agh, I’m dying…. I’m really going to die like this….”

“I’m already dead.”

“A dead bastard is talking. Damn it.”

The demonic flames sprawled across the training ground writhed, unable to even think about getting up.

Dusty air rushed into their mouths, but they couldn’t care less.

It felt like every bone in their bodies was broken.

More than pain, it was a feeling of helplessness.

“He’s not even human.”

“I knew he wasn’t from the start.”

“Still, isn’t this a bit much?”

These were the men who had been training steadily with Jang Min.

Unlike Kang Jin-ho, who had shown some consideration, Jang Min had pushed them relentlessly.

Because of that, they thought they had learned how to fight against absolute powerhouses….

It was all an illusion.

Lee Myeong-hwan shuddered. The image of Kang Jin-ho, still wreathed in demonic flames, rushing at him was vivid in his mind.

‘I almost pissed myself.’

What was even scarier was that even if he had actually wet himself, no one would have made fun of him. There had been a faint, unpleasant smell in the air since a while ago.

“Ughhh.”

Lee Myeong-hwan forced himself to get up.

His back cracked and groaned, but he couldn’t just lie there.

“Ugh… I’m really going to die.”

Lee Myeong-hwan looked at his trembling hands and sighed.

‘I just can’t understand it.’

How can a person be so strong?

It wasn’t that he didn’t know.

In the past, Lee Myeong-hwan and the demonic flames weren’t skilled enough to truly grasp Kang Jin-ho’s strength.

To a three-year-old, a normal adult and a heavyweight boxing champion might seem equally strong. There was no need to differentiate, nor any reason to.

But as they grew older, they couldn’t help but feel the difference.

In the past, Lee Myeong-hwan didn’t know how strong Kang Jin-ho was.

He knew he was an untouchable powerhouse, but so were Jang Min and the other officers. He had simply accepted it because they said Kang Jin-ho was on a different level.

In other words, he had a vague understanding of Kang Jin-ho’s strength in his head, but he hadn’t felt it in his bones.

But today, Lee Myeong-hwan was able to truly understand how strong Kang Jin-ho was.

‘No, it’s not even understanding.’

It was more like he was now able to see this much. If Lee Myeong-hwan became stronger, he would be able to see even deeper.

Though he had no desire to see that right now.

“Ughhh.”

His comrades also began to get up one by one.

“…How can we not win even when we all attack at once?”

“Was the difference always this big?”

They all looked like they couldn’t believe what they had just experienced.

‘I can understand why.’

The people of the Assembly would call them arrogant, but Lee Myeong-hwan fully sympathized with the demonic flames’ reaction.

They had gone through hellish training.

Jang Min was even more relentless than Kang Jin-ho when it came to pushing people to their limits. In a way, that was only natural. According to Jang Min, Kang Jin-ho had never trained anyone before, and his own talent was so exceptional that he couldn’t understand ordinary people.

At least in terms of martial arts, the demonic flames were no different from monkeys in Kang Jin-ho’s eyes.

On the other hand, Jang Min was like a top instructor who had trained countless demonic cult members. In terms of academic ability, a top instructor wouldn’t dare to compare themselves to a prestigious university professor, but when it came to teaching people, the opposite was not unusual.

Thanks to Jang Min’s lessons, their skills had skyrocketed. How to use demonic arts, how to control themselves, and what it meant to face an enemy.

Not only did they learn the theory, but their practical experience had also increased beyond comparison. Lee Myeong-hwan’s self-assessment that he was twice as strong as before was not an exaggeration.

And yet….

“We got our asses kicked.”

“…We got our asses completely kicked.”

They hadn’t even touched a hair on Kang Jin-ho’s head.

“Ugh.”

Lee Myeong-hwan sighed deeply.

Of course, it wasn’t a bad thing to realize once again how powerful their master was, but it was also true that all their efforts seemed meaningless, which made them feel drained.

“He could have given us a little boost! Why did he have to stomp on us so brutally?”

“He didn’t kill us, and no one’s injured.”

“That’s even harder. How can he stomp on us so thoroughly without leaving a single scratch….”

They all sighed deeply.

“That was really scary.”

“…Don’t even mention it. My shoulder hasn’t been able to move since a while ago.”

“I thought we had become something.”

Lee Myeong-hwan made a strange expression as he watched his comrades’ reactions.

‘They’ve become humble.’

Come to think of it, before Kang Jin-ho came, they had been full of themselves.

Recently, there had been a growing atmosphere of treating the demonic flames as the Assembly’s elite, and in the midst of that, they had even received an offer from Jang Min to join the Demonic Cult [a powerful and often feared organization in this world].

For them, who had never been ahead of others, this was an unprecedented experience.

As a result, they all had a sense of pride….

‘No, it was arrogance.’

They realized it after being beaten.

After getting thoroughly thrashed by Kang Jin-ho.

They still had a long way to go, but they had already become somewhat complacent.

“We were arrogant.”

Lee Myeong-hwan said firmly.

“What’s he saying, that bastard?”

“Just leave him be. He’s probably trying to act like he’s something again.”

Lee Myeong-hwan’s face flushed slightly.

‘Those bastards, anyway.’

It was the nature of the demonic flames to be free-spirited, but these guys were not just free-spirited, they were downright rebellious.

“Honestly, you guys thought that after training this much, you could at least try to fight the Assembly Leader, right?”

Normally, the demonic flames would immediately deny it, but this time, they kept their mouths shut, as if they felt guilty.

Because it was true.

Of course, no one was crazy enough to think they could fight Kang Jin-ho alone. But they had thought that if all the demonic flames attacked together, they could at least put up a fight, if not win.

Even Jang Min couldn’t handle all of them now.

But that expectation had been shattered miserably.

“…Maybe the Assembly Leader knew we were being arrogant. That’s why he decided to stomp on us like this. Thanks to that, our arrogance is gone.”

“…Our confidence is gone too.”

“And our teeth.”

Although there were grumbling voices, everyone seemed to agree with Lee Myeong-hwan’s words.

“Let’s go down for now.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

The demonic flames, looking slightly dejected, slowly got up.

“…I don’t know whether to be happy or sad about this.”

“About what?”

“We realized we’re terribly weak, but on the other hand, it means we have a lot more to learn from the Assembly Leader.”

“That’s true….”

“It’s subtle, very subtle.”

Lee Myeong-hwan sighed as he left the training ground.

‘We still have a long way to go.’

They had to work harder.

That was the only way they could repay Kang Jin-ho for deliberately going overboard to get rid of their arrogance.

Lee Myeong-hwan clenched his fist with a determined look.

“From tomorrow, we’ll train even harder. So that we don’t disappoint the Assembly Leader.”

“Next time we fight the Assembly Leader, we’ll at least leave a scratch!”

Lee Myeong-hwan shouted with fierce eyes.

But the response he got was not very enthusiastic.

“…Didn’t you hear him earlier?”

The others who were following him looked at Lee Myeong-hwan with pity.

“The Assembly Leader said to come again tomorrow. He said we’re doing it again tomorrow. Ah, were you knocked out back then?”

“Stop talking nonsense and worry about how to survive tomorrow. That’s more important.”

Crack, crack.

Kang Jin-ho cracked his neck from side to side.

A feeling of indescribable refreshment washed over his face.

“I got a good workout after a long time.”

He needed this every once in a while.

Recently, he had been focusing more on the management of the Assembly and MK [likely referring to a company or organization], but Kang Jin-ho’s essence was that of a martial artist. He was the kind of person who would get restless if he didn’t fight and struggle.

Of course, he had used martial arts while escaping from China, and he had also fought against a division in the United States, but those battles didn’t quench his thirst.

Only when he fought a strong martial artist, fist to fist, could his thirst as a martial artist be satisfied.

‘They’ve grown a lot.’

Just the fact that they had made Kang Jin-ho want to fight was enough to make him want to praise the growth of the demonic flames. Thanks to that, he hadn’t even said half of what he had originally intended to say, but whatever.

Kang Jin-ho turned his head slightly.

‘Was I a bit too harsh?’

He had gotten carried away and ended up beating them more than he had intended. He had originally planned to praise them for what they had done in Japan, but looking back, he had just beaten them up.

Kang Jin-ho scratched the back of his head slightly.

“I feel a little sorry.”

A hollow laugh escaped his lips.

Kang Jin-ho cracked his neck a couple of times and then twisted his waist. He felt quite energized, perhaps because he had used his inner energy after a long time.

‘Indeed, there’s a limit to meditation alone.’

Kang Jin-ho had now reached a point where physical training was almost meaningless.

He couldn’t improve any further through physical training. Kang Jin-ho’s body maintained its optimal condition without any training. What he needed now was research and meditation based on reason, not physical training.

He knew that well, but he still wanted to work out like this once in a while. This was more like a release of desire than training.

‘I need to find another way to keep them from breaking.’

This time, Kang Jin-ho had restrained himself, and they were also full of energy, so it had ended like this, but if this happened repeatedly, it wouldn’t be strange if the entire demonic flames became ill.

Kang Jin-ho sighed softly and quickened his pace as he descended from the training ground.

Even so, he glanced back at the training ground where the demonic flames remained.

‘At this rate….’

They had definitely become much stronger.

In the past, he had been worried about when these guys would become like the demonic flames of the past, but now the difference didn’t feel that big.

In particular, Jang Min’s teachings seemed to have had a proper effect. Their wildness had become more pronounced, and their movements had become more refined. They had begun to control their demonic energy instead of being swept away by it.

‘They’ll become even stronger.’

If that was the case, then it could truly be said that the demonic flames had been resurrected.

What if they could completely master the demonic arts they now possessed and support him from behind?

Kang Jin-ho licked his lips slightly.

The outline of the Assembly that Kang Jin-ho had been envisioning was slowly beginning to take shape. If a little more time passed, there would come a time when they would not be inferior to the Three Kings of China in terms of military power.

Therefore….

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho, who had been lost in thought as he descended the mountain, noticed a commotion and raised his head.

“…What are they doing?”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes widened slightly as he looked towards the training ground.