Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1655

The building collapsed entirely.

The sight, something you’d only expect to see in a movie, wasn’t as dynamic as one might think when witnessed in person.

‘Is this really okay?’

Is it really alright to do this?

Lee Hyun-soo began to lose his sense of reality.

Ah, of course, if this were a movie, it would be an enjoyable spectacle. Grand in scale, and I wouldn’t have to deal with the aftermath.

But if it’s not a movie, reality becomes far more gruesome than one might expect.

“Are you sure there’s no one here?”

“I told you, there isn’t!”

“Seriously, these crazy bastards.”

The signs on the buildings were all lit up. But nowhere in Zhangjiakou could any trace of people be found.

‘Which scale should I be more amazed by?’

Should I be impressed by Bator’s ability to blow away a building with a single punch, or by the Changwang Clan’s ability to move all the people in this large city to another location?

Even if China, unlike Korea, uses the Party’s orders to evacuate residents, this was still too much of an overreach.

So, Bator was the only one who was excited.

“Oooooooooh!”

The power emanating from Bator’s fist swirled like a vortex, extending forward. The Changwang Clan’s warriors, who had been rushing in, scattered in all directions, deflecting Bator’s fist.

“They dodged it?”

A fierce glint appeared in Bator’s eyes.

He pulled up as much demonic energy as he could and unleashed a barrage of fist strikes forward.

“Hah!”

“Crazy!”

The Changwang’s elite troops, seeing the scene, were horrified and retreated. But just as it’s too late to avoid a flood once you see the water rising, they had no way to escape the barrage of power.

Kwaaaaaaaah!

The wave of power literally ‘purified’ everything in its path. At the same time, the half-destroyed buildings began to collapse.

Kwarururururung!

With excessive noise, dust billowed up like a cloud.

“Take it easy, you bear-like bastard! People live here too.”

“Hehehe, did the old man care about that? For a dirty demon, you’re quite something?”

“You’re a demon too.”

“…Right, I am.”

Bator seemed a little dejected, but Jang Min didn’t even glance at him.

‘There’s less resistance than I thought.’

They tried to restrain the Red King with this much power?

That’s difficult.

It’s possible that the Red King’s injuries were more severe than expected, so this might be enough. But even if he’s weakened, the Red King is still the Red King. No matter how big the Changwang Clan’s guts are, they can’t be efficient in a situation like this.

Frankly, if they were trying to catch the Red King with this level of troops, where did the rest of the Changwang Clan’s warriors go?

Jang Min glanced at Kang Jin-ho.

“…My Lord.”

“I know.”

But Kang Jin-ho simply nodded lightly, as if he understood everything.

Tap tap.

The end of Kang Jin-ho’s cigarette burned with a soft crackling sound.

“It seems they’re planning something very interesting.”

“…I hope that ‘interesting’ thing isn’t just interesting for them.”

Lee Hyun-soo still couldn’t shake off his unease, looking around restlessly.

The feeling that something might come rushing in at any moment wouldn’t go away. No, it wasn’t just a feeling. It was clear that it would happen.

The problem was, what exactly was their timing?

“Why the hell can’t I get in touch with this bastard!”

Unable to hold back any longer, Lee Hyun-soo shouted.

“Seriously, this chewed-up radish of a guy, if he contacted us for help, he should at least show his face! We’re not some kind of rescue squad, how are we supposed to find and save a guy who’s hiding!”

“…But why a chewed-up radish?”

“He’s not as good as Jajangmyeon [a Korean-Chinese noodle dish], is he? He’s like a side dish stuck next to the Red King.”

Oh, that kind of makes sense.

Kang Jin-ho glanced around.

‘Indeed.’

Even with his senses, he couldn’t feel any ambushes. It was as if the city was completely empty.

But he couldn’t be complacent and assume there were no troops here. They must have prepared something. The reason they weren’t attacking was that their desired conditions hadn’t been met yet.

“Or…”

“Yes?”

Kang Jin-ho curled up the corner of his lips.

“There’s an ambush in an unimaginable place.”

At Kang Jin-ho’s words, the eyes of the executives twitched slightly.

“N-no way?”

That was the moment.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

With a huge explosion, the ground in front of them shot up. It was as if a massive bomb had exploded from below.

“Landmine?”

“No, is it a bomb? Seriously, the whole place?”

Lee Hyun-soo and Wiggins shouted in panic. But the others looked with strange eyes at the place where the ground had been flipped over.

Crack!

With a low noise, a hand suddenly popped out of the ground.

“Huh?”

“Suddenly, a zombie movie?”

“…I hope not.”

The hand, which had been groping upwards, was lifted slightly and then slammed down on the ground.

Thud!

With a loud thud, a familiar… or rather, a somewhat ambiguous figure broke through the ground and revealed himself.

“The Red King?”

“…Seriously, is that how he makes an entrance?” Lee Hyun-soo sighed deeply.

‘This is all messed up.’

Kang Jin-ho was emitting demonic energy and speaking as if nothing was wrong, the executives were acting like they were out for a stroll in the middle of China, and now the Red King was popping out of the ground like a mole.

It felt like the world had turned upside down, as if some kind of singularity had occurred.

Chai Ke-chang, who was hanging from the Red King’s hand like a convenience store bag, shouted as soon as he was lowered to the ground.

“Demon King!”

“…That’s just great.”

Lee Hyun-soo sighed deeply.

He didn’t know if it was self-loathing or what, but the moment he saw Chai Ke-chang dangling there, an indescribable feeling of disgust surged up.

“And you’re hanging on while coming up, you moron…”

“Lee Hyun-soo.”

Chai Ke-chang, who had landed on the ground, looked back and forth between Kang Jin-ho and Lee Hyun-soo, then let out a deep sigh.

“…You’ve come.”

“Yeah. Some moron was getting his ass kicked and crying for help, so I came to see how pathetic he was, out of humanitarian concern.”

Chai Ke-chang closed his eyes slightly.

Normally, he wouldn’t have tolerated such words, but in his current situation, he couldn’t get too angry about it.

“Anyway, thank you.”

“What’s the situation?”

“Well, we hid from the Changwang. I don’t know what happened after that.”

“Oh, you’re so great.”

Lee Hyun-soo shook his head as if there was no hope.

At that moment, the Red King, who had been silent until now, opened his mouth.

“Demon King.”

“…You’re a mess.”

“…I have no face to show you.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

Being injured was nothing special. Kang Jin-ho had overcome countless near-death experiences so far. What the Red King was talking about now was about his defeat.

“You look completely wrecked?”

“It’s a bit hard to understand. What exactly happened? There’s no way you could have been defeated so one-sidedly?”

“That is…”

The Red King sighed and tried to explain the situation.

But instead of listening, Kang Jin-ho raised one hand slightly, stopping the Red King’s words.

“Wait a moment.”

Kang Jin-ho’s gaze turned upwards.

“Wiggins.”

“Yes, Lord.”

“Where are the closest civilians?”

“It seems there aren’t any within a 10km radius. Of course, the range is wide, so I can’t be completely sure… but so far, I haven’t detected anyone except for the warriors.”

“So, this place is completely empty?”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho sighed deeply.

“If I had known, I would have come through North Korea.”

“…Excuse me?”

“If we were going to experience the same thing anyway.”

Kang Jin-ho said, as if grinding his teeth slightly.

“The situation has changed. It seems the government and the Changwang Clan have completely joined hands. Everyone, gather around me!”

Lee Hyun-soo tilted his head.

“What are you talking about…”

“There’s no time to explain! Hurry!”

At that moment, a familiar roar began to reach their ears. The moment he heard the sound, Lee Hyun-soo’s face turned pale.

“These crazy bastards, seriously?”

Kang Jin-ho wore a cold smile on his lips.

“I have to apologize for saying the scale was small. I can’t keep up with what the Chinese are thinking.”

He began to see bombers flying in droves through the sky.

“Or maybe I was too complacent. I should have remembered that the Chinese don’t mind bombing their own territory.”

Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes widened.

‘The military is being deployed?’

This didn’t make sense. Didn’t he already confirm it once while talking to the Prime Minister? For them to deploy the military, they needed a complete agreement from the Party.

When Kang Jin-ho fought the military before, it was just special forces under their influence. Deploying bombers like this was impossible without the government’s direct involvement.

“Changwang, that crazy bastard!”

He didn’t know what he had done, but it was clear that this was the picture Changwang had drawn.

“Shield!”

Wiggins, realizing the situation, frantically deployed a shield.

A translucent, milky-white barrier formed, covering those who had gathered around Kang Jin-ho.

“Shield! Shield!”

Wiggins, not satisfied with that, deployed several more layers of the barrier.

“Damn it, this won’t be enough!”

Wiggins’ face turned ashen.

Wiggins had personally experienced the power of modern weaponry by participating in various conflicts. That’s why he knew how powerful the attack that was about to be unleashed on them would be.

“Lord!”

“Don’t get excited.”

Kang Jin-ho took out a cigarette.

Kang Jin-ho, who had lit his cigarette, curled up the corner of his lips and muttered in a low voice.

“It’s good to start with something flashy. For both sides.”

From the bombers that had passed over their heads, shells began to rain down like a storm.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaang!

Flames covered flames.

At the same time, high-explosive and armor-piercing shells began to fly in from all directions.

Self-propelled artillery, having completed their firing preparations at a distance beyond their senses, began to unleash their firepower.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

Lee Hyun-soo rolled on the ground, feeling as if his head was being shaken and his internal organs were being torn apart.

As the shield created by Wiggins was torn apart in an instant, Bator and Jang Min stood in front of the group.

“Come on, you bastards!”

“Do you think you can break through me!”

At that moment, pitch-black demonic energy erupted from Kang Jin-ho’s body. Unlike usual, the demonic energy, which had swelled up massively, began to engulf the surrounding flames and grow to the size of a house, blazing fiercely.

Black flames and red flames.

Above the hellish scene where the two flames intertwined and bloomed, the bombing rained down.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaang!

The bombing, which seemed to erase everything in the world, continued relentlessly.

In the rain of that bombing, Kang Jin-ho’s eyes, which were emitting demonic energy, were dyed a gruesome blood red.

“Hahahahahah!”

The roar of the bombing and Kang Jin-ho’s laughter created a hellish harmony.

Hell was opening right here.