Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1934

“The 12th floor has been breached!”

“Already?”

The person receiving the report widened their eyes.

“What is this…”

It was an unbelievable speed.

This place was a bunker they had painstakingly built. Even if the world’s best special forces were to enter with all sorts of equipment, it would normally take at least five hours to break through one floor.

But in less than thirty minutes, the 12th floor had already been breached?

‘How is this possible?’

“Are they opening the doors?”

“No, sir! They are tearing the doors off completely.”

“What?”

“The floors where the doors are hidden, they are breaking through the entire floor. It’s… it’s beyond common sense.”

“B-Breaking? Two-meter-thick reinforced concrete?”

“Yes. If you look at the screen…”

At that moment, the CCTV feed began to display on the screen he was watching.

‘That…’

Corpses.

People in familiar uniforms were lying dead on the floor. Two people standing in the midst of the corpses seemed to be talking for a moment, then they looked down.

Then…

The larger of the two punched the floor with his fist.

At that moment, the specially made concrete shattered like styrofoam, flying in all directions.

“W-What is that?”

The chief secretary’s eyes widened.

‘What… what is that thing?’

The biggest problem with metal is that it melts under heat, and another disadvantage is that it’s difficult to increase its thickness indefinitely.

That’s why this bunker was made of special concrete that had more strength than metal. It was made to be impossible to melt with heat or destroy with explosions.

Personal firearms couldn’t even make a scratch, and squad weapons were ineffective. The destructive power of an RPG-7 [a type of rocket-propelled grenade] would only leave soot, and even bunker busters would bounce off.

But that reinforced concrete was being smashed by a person’s hand.

“That…”

The fact that the CCTV had no sound made it even more terrifying.

Sometimes, what you imagine is more frightening than what you see and hear. Thinking about what kind of sound would be echoing in that space every time that fist came down made cold sweat run down his forehead.

Soon, the person who had completely smashed the floor jumped down.

And the person who was about to jump down after him paused and turned his head slightly.

The chief secretary’s body flinched as he looked at the screen.

The man’s gaze was fixed directly on him. No, even if he had great talent, he couldn’t see him through the screen, so it was more likely that he had found the CCTV.

But that was also a shocking thing.

The CCTV installed there was fixed. The exposed part of the lens was less than 0.2 centimeters in diameter. But a person found it with their eyes?

‘C-Coincidence…’

At that moment, the man on the screen stretched out his hand.

Something white seemed to cover the screen, and then the screen went completely black.

Thud.

The chief secretary slumped down, cold sweat pouring down his face like rain.

“What are those things…”

They were beings that were impossible to understand with his common sense.

But now, understanding was not the important thing. What was important was not understanding them, but somehow stopping them.

“The d-defenses? What about the standby forces?”

“T-They are currently engaging. But…”

The person reporting swallowed hard, as if his throat was dry.

“Considering that they broke through 12 floors at once, it seems impossible to stop them with the forces remaining on the upper floors.”

“What?”

The chief secretary roared.

“What kind of nonsense is that! Impossible to stop them! Do you even know how many troops are mobilized here right now?”

“I-It’s not working. It’s impossible to neutralize them with any means of attack we have.”

“We’ve mobilized all the weapons we can use in the bunker, not just personal firearms. But…”

The last words trailed off.

But even without hearing it, it wasn’t difficult to guess what would follow.

“Are you saying that now, you bastard!”

The chief secretary roared, and the person reporting turned pale and convulsed.

“Do you know who’s here right now? Do you know who’s here and you’re spouting such useless nonsense! Do you think this will end with just your head falling off?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Do you think you’ll survive? You need to come up with a solution, a solution! You incompetent bastard!”

The chief secretary turned his bloodshot eyes to the screen.

“Turn the CCTV back on!”

“Yes!”

“So…”

The chief secretary, having calmed his breathing, gritted his teeth and said,

“So, what happened to those so-called martial artists?”

“The personnel waiting on the upper floors have been annihilated. All that’s left are the ones on the lower floors…”

“Useless things.”

He knew.

The biggest responsibility for this entire situation lay with him.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

But he had succeeded in evaluating his own strength, but he had completely failed to evaluate the enemy’s abilities.

‘They shouldn’t have come here.’

This bunker was not a bunker to stop the enemy. There is no perfect shield in the world. He knew very well that even the strongest fortress would eventually fall.

The reason for this bunker’s existence was to buy time.

All those who had been assassinated so far had lost their lives in sudden ambushes.

In other words, if they were not ambushed, they could at least buy time to respond. This bunker was the safest place in the world in terms of preventing ambushes.

Even at this moment, he didn’t think that judgment was wrong. Buying time was definitely the right decision. What he got wrong was that the speed at which they broke through the bunker completely exceeded his expectations.

“Support! What happened to the support?”

“We can’t contact the units waiting nearby! It seems they’ve all been taken out.”

“All taken out? All the people on the ground?”

“…Yes.”

“W-What nonsense is that! How many people were waiting nearby right now!”

“We keep sending radio messages, but… we’re not getting any response. The last report we received was that they were engaged in combat with unidentified enemies…”

“What is this…”

The chief secretary’s eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck.

‘Have we been coexisting with these things all this time?’

He felt a chill.

He thought that the martial artists were just a bit stronger than average. He had heard that they could dodge bullets and withstand bombs, but he thought they couldn’t fight against an army.

A slightly dangerous but useful knife. Yes, that was probably the extent of his perception.

But the series of events unfolding before him now made him realize how complacent that perception was.

“…Support?”

“It will take at least 20 minutes for them to arrive.”

“20 minutes?”

The chief secretary’s face turned pale.

In 20 minutes, they could break through all these defenses, leisurely take Joo Seok’s head, and then enjoy a cup of coffee before leaving. It was more than enough time.

But the reason he couldn’t get angry was that he was the one who ordered the deployment of that unit.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

Was the calculation that it would take at least 30 minutes for the enemy to enter this bunker and for the reserve forces to be deployed wrong?

“Is that even possible!”

Bang!

The chief secretary kicked the desk.

“Stop them! I don’t care how, just stop them! You absolutely cannot let those bastards in here!”

“C-Chief Secretary.”

“Loyalty or whatever, that’s not the issue! You have to stop them to survive! Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“W-We will do our best.”

The chief secretary sat down blankly.

‘How could this happen…’

It felt like he had been told that the snake he had been playing with was actually a deadly viper. And that deadly viper was now crawling up his arm, flicking its tongue right next to his carotid artery.

“…No.”

The fact that there were no other entrances to this bunker pushed him into an abyss of despair.

An inescapable fate was tightening its grip on them.

“What’s next?”

“Amitabha [a Buddhist invocation],”

Kong Ling, who was walking into the room after breaking the door, frowned and looked at Guai Bu.

“I have taken too many lives today. How can I bear this karma? I cannot atone for this sin even by walking into hell with my own feet.”

“…Then just bite your tongue and die.”

“Amitabha, if this sin could be forgiven by death, I would have already done so. But this sin cannot be washed away even if I turn my back on the Sravaka world [a term referring to the path of a Buddhist disciple]…”

“Damn it.”

Kong Ling walked forward without listening to the rest of Guai Bu’s words. Then Guai Bu followed him, muttering something.

“Ami…”

“…Can you stop chanting that ‘Buddha’ thing? If Buddha existed, he would have killed you first.”

“Buddha…”

“Shut up!”

Kong Ling was about to shout when it happened.

Kiiiiing!

A loud metallic sound erupted, and a steel door that hadn’t been there before slammed down from above the door they had broken through.

“…What?”

Kong Ling tilted his head at the sight.

“A door?”

The intention behind creating a double door was obvious.

“They’ve watched too many cartoons.”

Guai Bu chuckled at Kong Ling’s words.

“There were quite a few places like this in the past. Usually, after this, water would fill up or steel spikes would rain down from above.”

“Hmm.”

Kong Ling tapped the floor lightly.

“…The sound is different. They’ve added metal. Probably more than ten layers.”

“They’re not stupid, it seems.”

“So what’s next? If it were me, I’d use gas or acid…”

At that moment, something popped out from the ceiling above their heads.

‘Sprinklers?’

Kong Ling frowned. It wasn’t like there was a fire…

At that moment, clear liquid sprayed out from the sprinklers that had popped out all over the ceiling.

Shhh!

The liquid that touched the floor began to bubble and emit a terrible gas.

“…Both?”

There was no way to identify the nature of the liquid. It could be hydrofluoric acid, or more likely, a new substance he didn’t know about.

Kong Ling, who had covered his whole body with his qi [life force or energy], reached out and grabbed the falling liquid.

Shhh!

The liquid that touched his palm emitted white smoke like crazy. At the same time, Kong Ling’s eyes narrowed.

“…They’re doing all sorts of things.”

“But it’s effective. You can’t stop breathing.”

The floor melted, revealing the metal floor underneath.

“When it’s a liquid, it’s an absurdly strong acid, and when it vaporizes, it’s a poison that penetrates cells.”

Kong Ling clicked his tongue and threw a wire.

Swoosh!

His wire cut off all the sprinklers.

“First…”

But at that moment, liquid began to pour out of the cut ends of the sprinklers like a broken faucet.

Kong Ling, avoiding Guai Bu’s gaze, turned his head and muttered softly.

“…They know how to set traps.”

“…Don’t look at me like that, just curse me, you damn monk.”

An unavoidable sigh escaped from Kong Ling’s mouth.