Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 2042

Gongryeong’s entire body tensed, his muscles tightening.

It was a novel sensation. It seemed he had been quite caught up in the atmosphere himself.

Deep down, he might have wished to engage in a match of a lifetime with someone more worthy.

However, the throbbing pain from his cheek was telling him otherwise.

No matter who the opponent was, if he couldn’t fight and win, everything was meaningless.

*Crack.*

Gongryeong slowly clenched and unclenched his fist. He rotated his wrist once as a habit, his eyes chillingly calm.

‘It’s better this way.’

There were fools who, at the moment they had to risk everything to win, were swayed by a sense of recognition they had never paid attention to before, and ended up losing.

There was no guarantee that Gongryeong wouldn’t suffer the same fate. He was confident that his mind was as firm as could be, but the other members of the Twelve Zodiacs would have thought the same.

So, it might be better to fight an incomprehensible being. At least he wouldn’t need to consider the other’s circumstances.

‘I just need to kill him with all my might.’

Along with the pain, all distracting thoughts were swept away. His mind felt clearer than ever.

*Shhhhrrr.*

Hundreds of wires flowed out from Gongryeong’s sleeves.

Jang Min, seeing the wires, twisted his lips into a sneer.

“Silver threads, huh…”

“Why? Are you going to look down on it as a mere trick?”

“Methods don’t matter. When climbing a mountain, the path is just a means. What matters is where you end up.”

“Heh heh heh.”

It was a pleasing sound.

How many people would understand the feeling of hearing the words you wanted to hear most from the most incomprehensible enemy?

“As a reward for your kind words, I’ll cut your neck nicely.”

Killing intent surged from Gongryeong’s eyes.

Lee Hyun-soo swallowed hard.

Of course, he hadn’t properly seen the exchange that had just occurred. In the moment he felt something flash, he saw Jang Min bleeding from his arm and Gongryeong’s face torn apart.

But this overwhelming atmosphere.

The suffocating pressure was palpable.

“The Elder will win, right?”

“I don’t know.”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Jang Min with a calm expression.

“If we’re being objective… Jang Min is at a disadvantage.”

“What? The Elder?”

“Jang Min has only just crossed the wall [a metaphor for reaching a new level of power]. Compared to someone who has been fighting beyond that realm, he’s bound to be lacking.”

Lee Hyun-soo closed his mouth.

They had all fought so well that he had momentarily forgotten that fact. This was the first time they were truly fighting a transcendent.

Not long ago, the four of them had been utterly defeated by Baek Yeon-hong. No matter how much they had changed since then, crossing the wall, winning was still a long shot, wasn’t it?

“So, are we going to lose?”

“That’s not necessarily the case.”

“…No, Guild Leader.”

Lee Hyun-soo looked at Kang Jin-ho with a face that said, ‘Is this guy messing with me?’

“It’s either this or that. Please be clear. Why are you so wishy-washy?”

Kang Jin-ho turned to Lee Hyun-soo with a strange expression.

What should he say? That expression.

“Trying to explain this to someone who doesn’t even know what martial arts is… it’s frustrating and annoying.”

“…Did you learn mind-reading?”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled awkwardly and opened his mouth.

“Crossing the wall means being able to continue down a path that was blocked…”

“Yes.”

“But the actual experience is a bit different.”

“Yes?”

Kang Jin-ho put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

“The moment you cross the wall, most people experience a metamorphosis. It’s like shedding an old body and gaining a new one.”

“Well, that’s…”

“But in reality, it’s a bit different. It’s not just replacing something old with something new, but rather changing a body that can no longer endure.”

“Yes?”

“Um, to put it in a way that a normal person can understand…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“It’s like someone who has been racing F3 cars their whole life suddenly getting into an F1 machine and entering a race.”

“…Are you saying the machine itself changes instantly?”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“It’s not just the body. The vision and understanding also change. When someone who has always been on the ground looking at the world gets to see where they were standing from the sky, even just once, their vision and understanding change.”

“Ah…”

He seemed to understand what he meant.

So, Gongryeong was already a skilled racer familiar with an F1 machine, and Jang Min was a rookie driver who had just been promoted to F1 and was entering the race for the first time.

“…But that means the outcome is already decided. I’ve never heard of a rookie winning right from the start.”

“Of course, there are other factors. Unlike an actual race, Jang Min didn’t fail to participate in the race because he lacked skill.”

“Ah…”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Jang Min with a stern gaze.

“The wall isn’t something you can cross just by accumulating skill. You need a trigger. You need to completely change your life, and you need to be prepared to risk your life if you fail. That’s why some people cross the wall without any trouble, some people lose their lives, and some people can’t cross it no matter how hard they try.”

That’s why the wall is unfair and cruel.

Just like life.

“But the interesting thing is that the moment you cross the wall, the moment you get to ride the same machine, not everyone starts with the same skill. Some people gain the same skill as other experienced racers the moment they get into that machine.”

Jang Min’s weapon was none other than the countless hours he had accumulated.

No one had seen more martial artists than Jang Min, no one had fought as much as Jang Min, and no one had trained as long as Jang Min.

All of Jang Min’s experiences, who had lived a life so long that even Kang Jin-ho found it mysterious, would have clearly blossomed the moment he crossed the wall.

Whether the life he had accumulated was superior, or whether the distance Gongryeong had created by going ahead was greater.

This match would prove that.

“Still, there must be advantages and disadvantages, right?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“The predictions I made were almost all wrong.”

“…Yes?”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled softly.

“Having a chance to win and actually winning are two different things. According to my calculations, we should have already lost.”

“…No, why are you saying such things so casually?”

“It means this match has already gone beyond the realm of prediction. You can tell by looking at that guy’s expression.”

“Yes?”

At Kang Jin-ho’s words, Lee Hyun-soo’s gaze naturally turned. Where Kang Jin-ho’s gaze was directed, the Dark King was sitting with a stiff face.

“It seems I’m not the only one whose predictions have all failed.”

The corners of Kang Jin-ho’s lips twisted.

That’s why life is interesting. Even after living another life, he had never thought that life was boring.

Even if you experience the same thing, it changes every time.

‘Human affairs are interesting like this. Don’t you think so, Cheongma?’

Cheongma was probably completely unable to understand why his plan had gone so wrong.

His plans were always perfect.

But in the past and now, Cheongma’s plans were heading in an unexpected direction at the last moment.

The reason?

Cheongma didn’t know the reason, but Kang Jin-ho thought he did.

And…

Jang Min would prove the reason he had guessed.

*Shhhhrrr.*

It was rare to feel respect for an enemy. Especially for someone like Jang Min, who was indifferent to the opponent’s skill and the level they had reached.

But at this moment, Jang Min was watching the waves of silver threads swaying like they were swimming in water, and he couldn’t help but admire them.

To infuse each and every one of those thin wires with internal energy and control them was something beyond amazing, it was almost awe-inspiring.

Even Jang Min, who had mastered countless martial arts of the cult, couldn’t even dare to imitate it. Of course, this wasn’t a matter of the level of martial arts, but rather a matter of its branch, but even so, the respect he felt for his opponent didn’t diminish.

However…

‘That’s all there is to it.’

If it were Bator, he might have been excited.

If it were Wiggins, he might have been interested in the method of that martial art.

If it were Bang Jin-hoon, he would have made a fuss about how scary it was, but he would have definitely tried to incorporate the advantages of that martial art into his own martial arts.

But…

‘Not me, I guess.’

Jang Min knew.

Perhaps the person least qualified to be in this place was himself.

The reason?

The reason was too simple.

Jang Min was not a martial artist.

A low chuckle escaped Jang Min’s lips.

If a martial artist was defined as someone who had mastered martial arts, then Jang Min would naturally fall into that category. No matter how others saw it, demonic arts were a great martial art.

But if a martial artist was defined as someone who honed themselves to pursue an even higher level, then Jang Min could never be included in that category of martial artists.

Unlike others, martial arts were just a means for him, never an end.

‘So that’s why.’

That was the reason why he hadn’t been able to cross the wall, even after mastering martial arts for so long, even after enduring so much blood-soaked training.

Now he seemed to understand a little.

*Shhhhrrr!*

However, his opponent didn’t give him time to think for long. The moment Gongryeong shook his hands, the wires that had been around him all extended at once, covering everything in sight.

A chill ran down his spine.

It was as if thousands of snakes were biting at Jang Min with fierce hostility. Each one was harder than steel, and each one had fangs more venomous than any deadly poison!

And chaos!

The wires that were flying towards him instantly intertwined and twisted. Gaps appeared here and there in the perfectly coordinated attack.

But Jang Min’s face became even more stern as he watched the scene.

Someone might have seen Gongryeong’s limitations in this scene, that he couldn’t perfectly control the wires. But what Jang Min saw was the complete opposite.

If real snakes were flying towards him all at once, wouldn’t they naturally look like that?

If individuals with different thoughts were moving with all their might in this narrow space, they would naturally bump into each other and get tangled up.

That’s why it was even more eerie.

It was as if each and every one of those silver threads was alive and moving.

*Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!*

Jang Min’s eyes emitted a blood-red glow, and the Jo Gang [a type of demonic energy] that extended from his fingertips roared.

Jang Min, who had gathered all of his demonic energy, let out a beast-like roar. The blood energy that surged to his head blew away his distracting thoughts and began to unleash only one cry.

Rise up.

Tear apart that traitor’s dog who dared to show his fangs before the Demon Lord.

“Hwaaaaaaaaat!”

Jang Min, emitting streams of blood-red light, jumped into the middle of the sea of wires rushing towards him.