Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1885

“We’ve lost contact!”

“B-1 branch is also out of contact! We’ve tried calling their personal cell phones, but no one’s answering!”

“F-9 isn’t reporting in either.”

Color drained from Chai Ke-chang’s face.

‘So suddenly?’

He knew.

Wars usually start like this. Conflicts deepen, tensions rise, and then, instead of a formal declaration, a war just erupts. That’s more common than you’d think.

The basic principle of war is that the side that gets blindsided and takes heavy losses will grit their teeth and retaliate.

But the problem he was facing now was that he had no idea where to retaliate.

The enemy was a complete unknown.

Their numbers and strength were impossible to predict. How could he launch a counterattack when he didn’t know the enemy’s size or power?

Chai Ke-chang felt his breathing quicken and bit his lip.

‘Stay calm.’

He knew it.

This wasn’t the first time he’d been attacked like this. No, he’d been hit by more unexpected attacks before. At least this time, he knew an attack was coming, right?

Yet, the reason his heart felt like it was being squeezed wasn’t the ferocity of the attack, but the presence of the ones launching it.

‘The Black King’s faction!’

Those who had refused to reveal their true nature had finally bared their fangs.

That fact was what was driving Chai Ke-chang into a corner.

“We, we can’t get in touch!”

“Don’t make such a fuss!”

Chai Ke-chang’s voice boomed. Even as he did, he was desperately trying to figure out the situation.

‘Three places have lost contact.’

Even if all those places were wiped out, it would be a negligible loss considering the overall power of the Red King’s faction.

“Contact B-2 and tell them to send support to B-1! The objective is reconnaissance and assessment! Don’t try to help or engage, just assess the situation and get out immediately! Send 50 people! Don’t form teams, have them approach individually, spread out! Keep distance not only side to side but also front to back!”

“Yes!”

But even then, reports kept coming in.

“We’re still trying to contact the places where communication was lost, but we still can’t reach them!”

“S-Sir, D-7 is also not responding!”

“What?”

Chai Ke-chang’s head snapped around.

‘Four, is it?’

The branches that had lost contact were extremely far apart. No single unit could strike all those places at once. That meant the Black King’s faction had organized at least four units.

‘Well, I’ll be!’

The organizational power to strike four places simultaneously, the intelligence to accurately locate and attack the Red King’s faction’s branches, and above all, this speed!

The Black King’s faction was definitely not an easy opponent.

“Issue the same reconnaissance order as before to the closest location to the units that lost contact! No, one more! Send them from both sides!”

“Yes!”

Chai Ke-chang bit his lip slightly.

‘Don’t get worked up. I expected this much.’

The attack was just a little faster and more sudden. It would be a disgrace to the Red King’s faction to be flustered by this much.

“The damage is unavoidable. We’ll take it! But we must track where and how the attackers are escaping! Contact the military and request satellite surveillance! Immediately!”

“Yes!”

Chai Ke-chang raised his hand and lightly gripped his face.

‘Think.’

War is like chess.

It’s impossible to win without losing any pieces. The important thing is what you gain in exchange for losing a piece.

‘Think.’

Defense?

Difficult.

Counterattack?

Impossible.

The opponent was the Black King’s faction, definitely not an easy foe. If they were targeting and attacking, they probably mobilized enough force to easily wipe out a branch.

A clumsy counterattack could lead to losing even more. Right now, he had to preserve his forces as much as possible. First, he needed to raise his guard and endure the opponent’s punches.

“Issue a retreat order to all surrounding branches except for the ones on reconnaissance duty!”

“…A-All of them, sir?”

“Yes, immediately! The situation is critical! Abandon everything and prioritize getting out of there. Tell them to abandon information incineration too!”

“Ch-Chai Ke-chang, sir!”

“Now!”

“Yes! Yes! Understood!”

It might be an overreaction. Abandoning everything at the branches meant handing over all the information within to the enemy.

‘Information is meaningless anyway.’

But Chai Ke-chang didn’t think it was an overreaction at all. The information that could be obtained from the branches was limited from the start. He couldn’t waste manpower to protect such information or the branch’s assets, which were no better than pocket change.

“Immediately mov…”

Just then, a piercing scream reached Chai Ke-chang’s ears.

“B-2 is out of contact! B-2 is out of contact! We can’t reach them!”

Chai Ke-chang’s head snapped around.

“…What?”

“F-8 isn’t responding either! Damn it! We can’t get in touch!”

Chai Ke-chang’s pupils widened.

The places that had lost contact were all places that had been communicating normally just moments ago. And now they were out of contact?

‘What is going on?’

There were two possibilities.

One was that the units they had organized were more numerous than he thought, and they were striking two adjacent branches simultaneously.

And the other was….

‘Could they have annihilated one branch in this short amount of time and moved on to the next?’

That was impossible.

Of course, the branches being mentioned were small, outer branches. Their power wasn’t particularly impressive.

But even so, a branch was a branch.

Considering the distance between branches and the forces guarding each branch, it was beyond common sense to wipe out one branch and move to another so quickly.

Then?

‘They mobilized more units than….’ Chai Ke-chang bit his lip.

‘That can’t be.’

Sometimes, common sense becomes an obstacle that prevents you from accurately grasping a situation.

Common sense was shouting the first option, but Chai Ke-chang’s gut was clearly pointing to the second. In times like this, he had to trust his gut, not common sense.

“Deliver the retreat order quickly! The longer we delay, the more damage we’ll take!”

“Yes! We’re issuing the order to all branches!”

Click, click.

Chai Ke-chang’s fists clenched and unclenched rapidly. It was a sign of how excessively tense he was.

‘How many did they mobilize?’

Figuring that out was the priority. The outcome of the war would depend on how much of their forces the Black King’s faction had mobilized for this attack.

“First…”

“B-4 is also out of contact! We can’t issue orders!”

“C-6, we’ve lost contact.”

“Ch-Chai Ke-chang, sir! The E branch is also not responding! E-3 and E-7 are both silent!”

“A-11! A-11! Out of contact! Out of contact! The number of branches losing contact is increasing!”

Crack.

The sound of bones cracking echoed from Chai Ke-chang’s hand.

‘What?’

His eyes reflexively darted to the side. Chai Ke-chang’s eyes shook as if they had been hit by a typhoon as he checked the large map on one side of the wall.

‘No way!’

More here?

Here?

At this point, this was no longer the kind of damage that had to be accepted as a result of a preemptive strike. If the damage increased any further, they might suffer near-annihilation without even putting up a fight.

“A-Assess the situation…”

“Retreat!”

A violent shout, completely different from before, burst from Chai Ke-chang’s mouth.

“Cancel all reconnaissance! Retreat as many as possible! Right now!”

“B-But the orders have already been i-”

“Didn’t you hear me say cancel, you moron?”

“Y-Yes, I’ll cancel them immediately!”

Veins stood out in Chai Ke-chang’s eyes.

‘Black King!’

You bastard!

He had tried to endure by raising his guard. But just getting hit over his guard was enough to put him in a daze.

“Chai Ke-chang, sir!”

“What?”

“We, we’ve made contact! We’ve established communication with branch E-7! They say an unidentified enemy has attacked and they’re engaging!”

“Tell them to run away immediately! Why are they wasting their strength against an enemy they can’t fight! You morons!”

Just as Chai Ke-chang was about to shout again, the person who had received the call turned his head and looked at Chai Ke-chang.

At that moment, it felt like time had stopped.

The despair on the face of the person who had turned his head was transmitted directly to Chai Ke-chang. Seeing that pale, horrified face that had confronted the terrible reality, he wanted to shut the mouth that was about to speak.

“T-The enemy… just one person… The one who attacked… is one person… Currently, E-7 branch has lost 70% of its forces. The enemy has taken no damage. Estimated time they can hold out… within 3 minutes.”

Everyone fell silent.

It wasn’t so much shock or horror as it was a feeling of bewilderment.

“…One person?”

A voice, lost and confused, slipped out in the low silence.

“H-Has the Black King come out himself?”

It was impossible.

But based on what they knew, they couldn’t find any other answer.

And it didn’t take long to realize that even that answer was wrong.

“We’ve received a report from B-4! B-4! An unidentified enemy is attacking! The enemy is… the enemy is… damn it, one person… It’s one person!”

“A-11. Same report… same!”

Forced voices were heard from all around.

Chai Ke-chang stared blankly at everyone.

He had been through a lot. He had overcome many things.

But even Chai Ke-chang had no idea how to react to this situation.

‘One person?’

One person was attacking their heavily fortified branches, overwhelming and annihilating them at a speed that made it impossible to even report, then quickly moving to nearby branches to repeat the same thing.

And that messed up thing was happening simultaneously all over China.

“Remaining forces…”

“Yes?”

“Issue the retreat order. It’s impossible to respond.”

“…Understood.”

“I’ll be away for a moment, so from now on, just briefly report to me the locations where the branch’s annihilation is predicted.”

“…Yes.”

Chai Ke-chang, who had been watching the situation board with a face that looked like he was about to throw up blood, turned and headed outside.

Grind, grind!

His teeth ground together.

With a ghostly face, Chai Ke-chang walked a few steps down the hallway, then, unable to contain his anger, punched the wall.

KWA-A-A-ANG!