Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1670

Whoooosh!

In a remote area of northern China, a dazzling light erupted from a desolate spot.

Whoooosh.

As the light that had flared up momentarily subsided, a group of people emerged from within.

“We’re through!” Wiggins exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement.

At his words, those who had barely been holding on collapsed to the ground.

“Damn it, I thought I was going to die.”

“If you had something like this, you should have used it sooner!”

Despite the barrage of complaints, Wiggins simply smiled.

“It’s not something that can be used so easily. And we needed to wait for the right moment.”

Wiggins looked down at the large crystal in his hand.

‘I’m glad it was completed before it was too late.’

A portable mana battery.

Giving it a grand name wouldn’t be bad, but it would only detract from its purpose. The name for this crystal was sufficient.

“The problem is that it’s disposable.”

Wiggins clicked his tongue with regret as he watched the crystal crack and crumble.

The amount of money that went into creating this one mana battery was so much that Lee Hyun-soo, who was sitting there exhausted, might foam at the mouth and grab him by the collar if he knew.

But thanks to it, they had saved their lives.

“But what exactly is that?” Lee Hyun-soo asked innocently, unaware of his inner thoughts. Wiggins gave a wry smile and opened his mouth.

“It’s a battery infused with mana.”

“…A mana battery?”

“Yes.”

Lee Hyun-soo tilted his head.

“No, mana isn’t electricity, so how can you use it like that?”

“Do you think you’d be alive right now if it wasn’t possible?”

Lee Hyun-soo shut his mouth.

Wiggins then gave a subtle smile.

“It’s just that no one has ever thought of using items infused with mana to compensate for a lack of mana. To determine if something is possible or not, you have to try it first, but since there was no attempt, there was no need to discuss its feasibility.”

“But how did you suddenly come up with that idea?”

“While charging my phone with a power bank.”

“Was there a problem?”

“No… just because.”

Lee Hyun-soo gave a wry smile.

It felt strange to think that they had saved their lives thanks to a power bank that everyone uses so easily.

“It might sound easy when I say it like this, but in the first place, this is something that only I, not other mages, can use. A huge amount of mana is needed for charging, and there are no mages who possess that much mana. And it’s impossible to charge it in multiple sessions.”

“And the wavelengths have to match, too.”

“That’s right.”

Wiggins nodded.

It was a byproduct of matching the mana wavelengths to use his disciples as power sources. Considering the effort and enormous amount of money required to create this one small crystal, it could never be called an efficient item, but sometimes in life, it’s necessary to ignore efficiency.

And thanks to that, they were able to get out of this situation.

“Then you should have said something sooner.”

“To deceive the enemy, you must first deceive your allies. Isn’t that right?”

Lee Hyun-soo shut his mouth.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have complaints, but he couldn’t argue with that. It was also true that the result was good.

‘Since we didn’t show any awkwardness, Chang Wang must have thrown all his forces there.’

If they had shown even a slight glance behind them during the battle or any sign that they had something to rely on, there was no way Chang Wang wouldn’t have noticed. Lee Hyun-soo could somehow hide that fact, but it didn’t seem like Bator or Jang Min could deceive Chang Wang’s eyes.

Anyway.

Thanks to Wiggins’s trump card, they were able to escape that terrible situation.

“Wiggins.”

“Yes, Lord.”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head and looked at Wiggins.

“What’s the situation?”

“I haven’t been able to pinpoint our exact location yet. We’ve just moved as far north as we could with all our strength. I’d have to check with GPS to be sure, but I think we’re probably somewhere near the border of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, north of Zhangjiakou.”

“Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region…”

Chai Ker-chang frowned at those words.

“Why did you move north? If you had moved south, you could have entered the Hong Wang faction’s territory.”

Lee Hyun-soo turned his head with a disgusted look and sighed lowly.

“Um… I’m sorry to say this, but could you losers please shut your mouths?”

“…You, you little…”

“What good would it do to enter the Hong Wang faction’s territory? You wouldn’t be able to stop the Chang Wang faction from pushing down anyway.”

Lee Hyun-soo thought Wiggins’s judgment was correct.

The Hong Wang faction couldn’t exert any resistance against the Chang Wang faction right now. If they could somehow manage the situation, there would be a next time, but if they went down like this, they would be scattered before they could even manage the situation.

“Then what do you plan to do?”

“We have to go north.”

Lee Hyun-soo slightly distorted his face.

“First, we need to get out of China. Ultimately, we have to return to Korea somehow. Before that, we need to go to Mongolia as a stopover.”

“…Mongolia.”

Lee Hyun-soo said coldly, looking at Chai Ker-chang.

“So choose. Either come with us to Mongolia and then to Korea, or you can try to break through the Chang Wang faction here and go to the Hong Wang faction’s territory on your own.”

Chai Ker-chang’s face hardened.

But he didn’t need to open his mouth. Before he could even speak, Hong Wang answered first.

“There’s no need to choose. We’re going to Korea.”

“Hong Wang, sir?”

Hong Wang lightly shook his head.

“With just the two of us, it’s impossible to break through the Chang Wang faction’s territory, which is now full of poison. Or we’d have to take a big detour, and by that time, Chang Wang would have trampled all over our territory.”

“…You are right.”

“To return as quickly as possible, it’s right to go to Korea. If we can just get to Korea, going to China would be nothing.”

It was an accurate judgment.

But Lee Hyun-soo looked at Hong Wang with a surprised expression.

‘I thought he would say he wouldn’t go with us because of his pride.’

Considering Hong Wang’s high pride, he wouldn’t be happy about going to Korea like a burden. But now, Hong Wang was trying to choose the best option, even if it meant enduring such treatment.

Would the Hong Wang of the past have chosen this path?

‘Did he feel something after seeing the duel between the Lord and Chang Wang?’

Lee Hyun-soo, who had been quietly looking at Hong Wang, slightly shook his head. Either way, that wasn’t important right now.

“We need to hurry.”

Lee Hyun-soo opened his mouth, looking at Kang Jin-ho.

“100km is not a long distance for a martial artist. If they are determined, they can catch up within an hour.”

Kang Jin-ho silently nodded.

“The only good thing is that Chang Wang doesn’t know where we moved to… but considering that guy’s brain, he probably has a rough idea by now.”

Lee Hyun-soo decided never to predict Chang Wang.

‘That’s a monster.’

If Wiggins hadn’t created an absurd variable, everyone here would have been beheaded by now. If they jumped into the game that Chang Wang had created, they would never be able to win. Never.

So, first, they had to get out of here as quickly as possible and create a new game.

“So, quickly… Cough! Cough!”

Lee Hyun-soo covered his mouth and coughed. Red blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

“…Damn it.”

The situation was still the worst.

They had managed to give Chang Wang a good blow, but they hadn’t even figured out what this biochemical weapon that had poisoned them was. It would be good if they could heal naturally, but the chances of that were not very high.

They were only holding on because they were martial artists.

Considering that the poisoning would worsen and their stamina would decrease over time, they only had about 30 minutes of leeway.

Click.

Kang Jin-ho, who had put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it, spoke as soon as he exhaled the smoke.

“We’re moving.”

Kang Jin-ho glanced back.

“There’s nothing more shameful than getting caught again like this.”

“…That’s definitely the worst.”

Kang Jin-ho exhaled cigarette smoke and slightly frowned.

“First, we need to survive. Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

That was enough.

Everyone started running north. There were many things they wanted to say and discuss, but it wasn’t too late to do that after they escaped this place.

“Wiggins.”

“Yes, Lord!”

Wiggins, who was desperately trying to keep up with Kang Jin-ho, answered immediately.

“What’s the plan?”

“The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is technically still China. We can only be safe once we completely leave this place and enter Mongolia.”

“There will be people coming to pick us up once we enter Mongolia.”

“Then, it means we just need to get into Mongolia.”

“Yes. Mongolia’s power is not comparable to China’s, but it’s not easy to send troops across the border. There are many things to consider. There’s no way all those conditions will be met in a short period of time.”

“What if we don’t consider the conditions?”

Wiggins frowned.

In the past, he would have said that it was impossible. But after experiencing Chang Wang firsthand, he couldn’t bring himself to say those words.

“Even so, we have to go to Mongolia. In Mongolia, there are the warriors of the steppe who follow Bator. They are the only ones who will help us fight against them right now.”

Kang Jin-ho glanced at Bator.

“They’ll already be waiting.”

“Good.”

The situation was roughly settled.

The problem was…

Thump.

Kang Jin-ho reached out and grabbed the back of Lee Hyun-soo’s neck, who was about to fall behind, and lifted him up.

“L-Lord!”

“I don’t have the energy to carry you gently. Hold on.”

Lee Hyun-soo gritted his teeth and nodded.

No one would feel good about being treated like luggage, but the real thing to avoid was not being treated like luggage, but actually becoming luggage.

His stamina was rapidly depleting, and his mind was going numb.

“Can’t we figure out what that gas is?”

“It’s impossible right now. We don’t have any equipment to investigate it. And judging by Chang Wang’s tendencies, it’s likely a new weapon that hasn’t been used before.”

“A new weapon…”

Kang Jin-ho glanced at Lee Hyun-soo’s condition.

‘It’s not that serious for something like that.’

It wouldn’t be easy to release gas while deceiving their senses. It had to be colorless, odorless, and have an immediate effect, and the antidote had to be clear so that it wouldn’t kill their own allies.

If they had a chemical weapon that met all those conditions and had killing power, they would have already dominated the world.

“I can hold on.”

“You have to hold on, even if you can’t.”

“Yes!”

As Lee Hyun-soo nodded firmly, Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his mouth.

“By the way…”

“Yes, Lord.”

“Don’t people live in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region?”

“…Of course they do. It’s an autonomous region because people live there.”

“Then why haven’t we seen anyone since earlier?”

Wiggins looked around in surprise.

Everyone’s steps naturally stopped.