Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1751

Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes stared blankly at the Master.

‘Why?’

He understood.

No, he didn’t understand.

He understood that the Master was standing there, but he couldn’t understand why the Master was standing there.

‘Why the hell?’

He couldn’t breathe.

The most terrible thing he could imagine was happening here. Something that should never have happened.

The Master calmly accepted the gazes directed at him. His composed gaze swept over everyone. Starting from Jang Min, his gaze paused briefly on Kang Jin-ho before finally settling on one person.

“…Why are you there!”

A suppressed voice.

A voice that bore the weight of truth, chasing a hope that he couldn’t be sure existed. A pure white smile appeared on the Master’s lips as he heard the twisted voice coming from Wiggins.

“Why…”

The Master shrugged.

“That’s a strange thing to say.”

“Everything moves for profit. Wasn’t that what you taught me, Wiggins?”

Wiggins closed his mouth.

Even he, the great Wiggins, had nothing to say in this situation.

Persuasion?

The opponent was not someone who could be persuaded. If the Master had moved this far, the calculations would have been finished long ago.

The Azure King, who had been quietly observing the situation, laughed as if amused.

“You lack a sense of crisis, a sense of crisis.”

His gaze turned to Lee Hyun-soo.

“As I said, you overestimated me too much, and underestimated me too much. When you escaped my grasp in a way I never imagined, everything had already begun.”

The Azure King’s voice dug into Lee Hyun-soo’s ears.

“You can’t understand, can you? Yes, you can’t understand, Lee Hyun-soo.”

His eyes stared directly at Lee Hyun-soo.

“How could a man like you not think that I would investigate that method?”

The Azure King’s toes tapped lightly as if keeping rhythm. Even that light gesture was enough to shake Lee Hyun-soo now.

“As I said, I’m a cautious and petty man. So I investigated. Who were the Western martial artists who joined hands with you? After looking into it a bit, the situation became very interesting.”

A low voice.

It was a voice full of consideration, like a teacher giving a lesson to a student.

“Do you understand?”

Gritting.

Lee Hyun-soo gritted his teeth.

The Azure King clicked his tongue as if disappointed at that expression.

“Hmm, it seems I’m not a good teacher. It hurts my heart to see that you don’t understand.”

He had already understood a long time ago.

In Zhangjiakou, Wiggins used large-scale teleportation using magic batteries to get everyone out of the encirclement.

From the Azure King’s point of view, he had no choice but to investigate that method to prevent the same situation from happening.

‘I stopped there.’

He thought that the Azure King wouldn’t be caught by the same trick in any way. He thought that this trick could not be used again and discarded it.

Lee Hyun-soo stopped there.

But the Azure King did not stop there.

“…There should have been a safety device?”

“Ah, a safety device?”

The Azure King chuckled.

“Are you talking about that brainwashing?”

“Goodness, why do you keep disappointing me, Lee Hyun-soo?”

“…What?”

“Who do you think I am?”

A faint smile appeared on the Azure King’s lips.

“I am the one who controls all evil, the one at the pinnacle of all evil arts. From the beginning, soul-binding is not the domain of the Demonic Cult [a fictional evil sect]. It is the domain of the heretical cult [a cult that deviates from established religious beliefs].”

“No matter how outstanding the Demon King is, he cannot be equal to me in the realm of evil arts. The soul-binding he cast may be an untouchable realm for others, but not for me.”

The Azure King tilted his head slightly and looked at Lee Hyun-soo.

“But… did you really believe that soul-binding was an absolute brainwashing that could not be undone? That once you had something in your grasp, it would never escape?”

Lee Hyun-soo’s fingernails dug into his palm.

“You’re naive.”

The Azure King slowly inhaled the cigarette smoke.

“Your mistake is one. Before shaking me, you should have doubted yourself. If a guy who doesn’t know where he’s standing only thinks about jumping up, his footing will collapse and he’ll fall.”

A theory that left no room for excuses.

While Lee Hyun-soo was struggling to confuse his opponent, the opponent was simply doing what he had to do. Focusing only on the core points.

‘No, no.’

Even that was a wrong interpretation.

The Azure King was not even on the board that Lee Hyun-soo was shaking from the start. He was not in the realm of petty tricks, but was grasping and tearing at the very foundation of this board.

‘Was I being played from the beginning?’

There was no room to feel a sense of defeat.

The sweat that had broken out on his back soaked his body. His head was spinning, and his vision was dark.

When he glanced over, Chai Ke-chang’s complexion was also as pale as a corpse.

The Azure King, as if he had seen it, smiled at Chai Ke-chang.

“Chai Ke-chang, you too have disappointed me. Even if Lee Hyun-soo didn’t know, you should have known. You, who have been wary and afraid of me for so many years, should have at least known that I am not someone who would be in your grasp.”

At that moment.

The Red King, who had been watching the situation, opened his mouth.

“Chai Ke-chang.”

“…Yes?”

“What is the situation now? Why is that man so confident even though he is surrounded?”

Chai Ke-chang swallowed hard.

It was ridiculous to have to explain the obvious in this situation, but the Red King didn’t know who the Master was. So it was natural for him to have such a question.

“We…”

Chai Ke-chang clenched his fist and opened his mouth.

“We executed this entire plan to corner the Azure King. We thought that if we could stab and penetrate the gap between the Azure King’s forces and the Azure King himself, and if we could cut off the Azure King’s head even if the Azure King’s forces were closing in from behind…”

“That’s right.”

“Conversely, if the Azure King escapes from here, we will just be surrounded by the Azure King’s forces. It’s just like pushing all available forces into the enemy’s mouth.”

“If he escapes. But that…”

“That Master is a magician.”

The Red King’s eyes shook slightly.

“…He is a magician beyond Wiggins. He is also a high-ranking magician and a knight. In our terms, he is a master martial artist and a sorcerer at the same time. We cannot stop that man from teleporting out of here with the Azure King. Just like we escaped back then.”

The Red King quietly looked at Chai Ke-chang before turning his head to the Azure King.

“You used yourself as bait.”

“…Yes.”

“And you’re going to slip away leisurely…”

The Red King’s lips twisted. It wasn’t the first time he had been toyed with by this guy, but this was too much.

“Azure King.”

“Ah, wait.”

The Azure King smiled and waved his fingers left and right.

“I always have a lot to say to you, Red King. But this is not a stage for you to step onto. I’d like you to leave us alone for a bit so we can enjoy ourselves.”

The Azure King’s eyes, ignoring the Red King, turned to Lee Hyun-soo.

“What are your thoughts?”

Lee Hyun-soo couldn’t say anything.

It was exactly as Chai Ke-chang had said a moment ago. No, it was more than that.

That bastard had waited until this moment.

The teleportation circle for infiltrating China was installed in cooperation with the Round Table. There was no way the Master wouldn’t know its location, which meant that all that information had also gone to the Azure King.

If they had just blocked that place, the General Assembly [a group of people] would never have been able to enter China in the first place.

Then why did they leave the situation as it was?

‘To lure them in.’

To bring them all here, without leaving a single one behind.

“I…”

“Master!”

The moment Lee Hyun-soo was about to say something, Wiggins shouted.

“…Why, why did you do such a foolish thing!”

His voice was mixed with many things.

Anger, frustration, distrust, and betrayal.

But the Master, who was directly receiving the fragments of those fluctuating emotions, simply wore a faint smile.

“A foolish thing… Do you really think so?”

“Don’t you know what kind of person the Azure King is! Who was it that taught me that I should choose my allies carefully?”

“It must have been me.”

“Then why?”

“It’s exactly as I said, Wiggins.”

The Master smiled.

“I chose my allies carefully.”

“What does that…”

“Think about it.”

The Master shrugged.

“In the Round Table, has there ever been a more oppressive and violent invader than the General Assembly?”

“Considering what you have done so far, you should know why I am acting like this. Especially you, Wiggins, have you forgotten that you tried to manipulate the Round Table as you pleased?”

“Master, I…”

“Ah, I know. That’s usually how it is. But…”

The Master smiled.

“That doesn’t mean I have to endure you and the General Assembly. From the moment the justice the Round Table pursued became blurred, and you started chasing profits instead of principles, I no longer had any reason to keep my loyalty to the General Assembly. Isn’t that right?”

“Is the Azure King the alternative? The alternative you found after all this?”

“That’s right.”

Wiggins gritted his teeth.

“Your judgment has become clouded. You’ll just be used and then discarded.”

The Azure King narrowed his brows.

“Hey, you’re saying whatever you want. I’m a more gentlemanly person than you think.”

Wiggins didn’t even glance at the Azure King.

The Master smiled as he looked at Wiggins, who was staring intently at him.

“Did you say I’ll be used and then discarded?”

“Yes. Don’t you know?”

“Hmm, maybe. But let me ask you the opposite, Wiggins.”

“…Yes?”

“Weren’t you planning to do that?”

Wiggins closed his mouth.

After staring at the Master for a long time without saying anything, Wiggins opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Master, I…”

The Master’s clear eyes pierced through Wiggins.

“Don’t make useless excuses, Wiggins.”

“You know it, and I know it. In the end, once this war is over, my usefulness will be over. All that will be left is to be eliminated or become your puppet and hand over the entire Round Table to the General Assembly.”

“Do you think the Azure King will be different? At least the Chairman…”

“I know. Kang Jin-ho is a man of character. No, rather than a man of character, he’s a person who has no interest in such things. But the problem is that he has no interest.”

The Master’s gaze turned to Kang Jin-ho.

“A ruler who is indifferent to governing is a greater villain than a tyrant. He will just leave the Round Table to you, and you are a jackal who will tear apart the Round Table. Compared to that, isn’t the Azure King, who has no interest in anything other than China, better?”

Gritting.

Wiggins gritted his teeth.

“There’s no need to look at me like that, Wiggins.”

The Master’s voice, like the whispers of a demon flowing from hell, dug into everyone’s ears.

“This is the result of what you have brought upon yourselves. Now you will just pay the price.”

The Master slowly walked and stood right behind the Azure King.

“The price of death.”

He turned around.

Those who faced an unimaginable betrayal staggered without realizing it in the face of the overwhelming reality.