Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1672

“I don’t know what the hell we’re doing,” Yuan Ziyang muttered, frowning as he inhaled the swirling dust.

“Damn dust.”

There was no escaping the dust.

It was all because the moronic higher-ups had ordered them to stick their heads out of the tanks to maintain perimeter security while driving.

‘Perimeter security, what a load of crap.’

It would be understandable if they were at the border.

But they were moving through Chinese territory. What enemy would be here that required them to maintain perimeter security?

“Anyway, those higher-ups…” The dust he had inhaled while moving from the garrison to this place would probably fill a cup.

The combination of the parched earth and the tanks, loaded with live ammunition and thus heavier than usual, was creating a yellow cloud above the ground.

A frustrated voice crackled through the radio in his ear.

“What’s it like out there?”

“Not a rat in sight.”

“I don’t know what we’re doing. Are they really trying to start a war?”

“War? If we’re going to war, we should be heading west. If it were about putting shells into those Indian bastards’ heads, I’d be thrilled to step on the gas.”

But they were heading north.

The only country there was Mongolia.

If they were moving towards Russia, he might feel a little tense, but Mongolia was one of the weakest countries militarily among those bordering China.

“They wouldn’t be thinking of invading useless Mongolia.”

The order they received was to move towards the Mongolian border and establish an impenetrable defensive line.

The unusual thing was that the defensive line was facing the inside of China, not Mongolia.

He had no idea what the leadership was thinking.

But they were soldiers. And soldiers had to carry out their orders perfectly.

It wasn’t like this was the first time they had to carry out such ridiculous orders.

“Anyway, the higher-ups told us to be thorough with perimeter security, so don’t do anything that’ll get us in trouble.”

“Got it.”

Yuan Ziyang frowned and spoke curtly.

‘I’m not an idiot.’

It would be stranger if he couldn’t spot anyone approaching in this wide-open field. Even if there were people targeting them, at least not here…

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Yuan Ziyang narrowed his eyes.

At the horizon, where the sun was rising, he thought he saw something small.

‘Wild animals?’

Even though it was a wasteland, there would be wild animals, so it wasn’t that strange.

‘But…’

There’s no way they wouldn’t see a dust cloud this big, even from far away. Could wild animals approach like this?’

Yuan Ziyang tilted his head.

He wasn’t a wildlife ecologist, and even if he noticed an unusual event he hadn’t seen before, how would he know how wild animals moved? Thinking they would run away was just his assumption.

However, the problem was…

“…That?”

Yuan Ziyang’s eyes widened.

What had initially looked like small dots were rapidly increasing in size. In other words, they were approaching at an unbelievably fast speed.

“P-people?”

He didn’t have much time to think.

More important than judgment was reporting.

Yuan Ziyang grabbed the radio and shouted.

“Reporting! A group of unidentified individuals is approaching from the 10 o’clock direction. Response…”

[Unit, halt! Unit, halt!]

A sharp voice erupted before he could finish his sentence. Yuan Ziyang reflexively slammed on the brakes.

[Deploy and fire! Fire as soon as you’re ready, without waiting for orders!]

“B-but they’re people…”

[Fire!]

Yuan Ziyang nodded frantically. At the same time, he heard the sharp sound of shells being loaded behind him.

Yuan Ziyang crouched down and closed the hatch.

Whoosh!

The gun barrels turned violently. Then, they stopped. Before the shaking could even stop, the gun barrels fired in unison.

KABOOM!

KABOOM!

At this distance, there was no need for precise aiming. They had identified the target, so the shells fired now would be high-explosive anti-personnel rounds. Just scattering them around would cleanly obliterate an area of about 25 meters in radius.

How could humans made of flesh and blood survive when dozens of such shells were falling at the same time?

Yuan Ziyang couldn’t help but frown.

‘Isn’t this too much?’

They hadn’t properly identified the target’s purpose or identity.

Anyone with a brain wouldn’t approach with the intention of attacking such a military force, and they hadn’t informed the local residents that tanks were moving through the area with combat in mind.

Yet, they were firing shells without asking questions, just because they were approaching. This was beyond excessive.

‘One shot would have been enough.’

An all-out barrage.

At this rate, there wouldn’t even be any bodies left. They would probably disappear without a trace…

It was at that moment.

Before the smoke from the shelling could even clear, a group of figures burst through the smoke and began charging like madmen.

“W-what the hell!”

“Those crazy bastards! They survived that?”

No, they hadn’t just survived.

It was absurd to describe those running so vigorously as having merely survived.

Moreover…

‘What?’

Yuan Ziyang’s eyes widened like saucers.

He hadn’t realized it when they were far away, but as they got closer, he could see how fast they were charging. Yuan Ziyang, flustered, shouted without thinking.

“F-fire! Again!”

But he realized it too late.

Before the second barrage could be launched, the group had reached the front lines.

‘Damn it!’

What he saw as they got closer wasn’t just their speed. The figure at the front was abnormally large. The tank, with its gun barrel turning in front of him, felt like a compact car.

“S-stop…”

His mind tried to think.

But his mind couldn’t continue thinking.

“Uryaahhhh!”

The giant who had run ahead grabbed the front of the tank and lifted it up.

At that sight, his mind froze.

A person lifting a tank.

’40 tons?’

It wasn’t a matter of whether it was possible or not. Even uttering something similar would be considered nonsense, and he would be immediately sent to a mental hospital.

But that impossible thing was unfolding before his eyes.

As if the tank were filled with cotton, the giant lightly lifted it and slammed it forward, stomping the ground.

CLANG! CLANG!

With a sharp noise of metal colliding and crumpling, the tank that had collided with the one behind it bounced into the air as if it had ricocheted.

Then…

CRASH!

It crashed back to the ground.

There was no explosion. But there was no need to think about what had happened to those inside. All you had to know was what would happen if you put people in a giant shaker and shook it.

“Th-that…”

The phenomenon where what he saw didn’t match his common sense.

It was something that people rarely experienced in their lives. And those who faced this bewildering situation momentarily forgot how they should act.

“Hahahaha!”

It was only when the giant in front grabbed the second tank that his mind returned to reason.

[Fire! Fire! Shoot, you bastards!]

A desperate radio message came through.

Shoot?

Yuan Ziyang’s eyes fell on the giant grabbing the tank. If they fired at this close range, the tank wouldn’t be safe either.

[You idiots! They’re high-explosive rounds! You can’t save those guys anyway! Do you want to die too?]

That made him decide.

“Fire!”

“Shoot them all!”

The gun barrels turned rapidly. The gun barrels, accurately aimed at the giant in the center, began to fire.

KABOOM!

KABOOM!

KABOOM!

In an instant, the world turned upside down.

The aftershock of firing and the shockwave created by the shells detonating at close range made even the 40-ton tanks shake.

And the shells that failed to hit their target even at this close range exploded far beyond the wasteland.

“Did we kill him?”

He shouldn’t have said that.

KABOOM!

A tank that flew through the flames slammed into several other tanks like a child throwing a toy, then flipped over and began to emit smoke.

“It’s not working!”

[Change to armor-piercing rounds and fire again!]

“Change rounds! Rounds…”

It was at that moment.

CRACK!

Yuan Ziyang flinched at the sharp noise that made him want to cover his ears.

THUD!

Then, he looked up at the huge impact that came from above.

‘What…’

Something had just happened on top of the tank.

But there was no way to confirm it. The cockpit with the hatch closed could only secure the view in front. To see what was happening on the top turret, he would have to open the hatch and stick his head out.

But…

‘Open this?’

Who knew what was up there.

But Yuan Ziyang didn’t need to worry anymore.

Without him having to open it, the hatch shook a couple of times, then was ripped off completely.

A round sky entered his eyes. And next to that round sky, he also saw something like a short cylinder sticking out.

‘A short cylinder?’

There was no way something like that would be attached to the turret…

“Ah…”

Yuan Ziyang’s eyes trembled. He realized that the short cylinder he saw was the gun barrel that had been cut off from below.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, what do you think you can block with something like this?” A grizzled voice pierced his ears, and then a person peeked his head in, blocking the sky visible through the hatch.

Then…

THUD!

Yuan Ziyang looked at his chest.

Something long and dark red, like a fingernail, that was hard to describe, was piercing his chest.

“Ugh… uh…”

The old man, who had split Yuan Ziyang’s heart with the long fingernail extending from his fingertip, spoke with a cruel smile.

“When you go to hell, tell them you were sent by a subordinate of the Demon Lord.”

“Uh…”

SLASH!

Jang Min’s claws split Yuan Ziyang’s body in half and then cut through the turret as well.

The neatly cut turret fell to the ground at an angle with a sharp grinding sound.

The gunner and loader, who had witnessed their armor being completely torn off, wet their pants and stared at Jang Min.

“Hmm.”

SLASH!

Jang Min, who had split the bodies of everyone inside the tank with a single blow, slowly raised his waist and looked around.

“Pathetic.”

Just because they were big didn’t mean they could fight him. No matter how many of these clumsy iron lumps there were, it wouldn’t change anything.

Now, he had to let them know that.

Jang Min’s eyes began to turn blood red.

“Those who block the Demon Lord’s path will die by my hand!”

Jang Min, letting out a bizarre scream, began to rampage, covered in dark red demonic energy.