Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 2045

“Gurgle…”

A gurgling groan escaped Gongryeong’s lips.

It felt as if charcoal was burning inside his body. A terrible searing pain—no, perhaps it would be more accurate to say it felt like thousands of fire ants were crawling around inside him, biting at his flesh.

The kind of excruciating pain he had never experienced before forcibly dragged the superhuman back into the realm of mere mortals.

“Gkk…”

The pain of every blood vessel in his body bursting. He couldn’t even think of moving a finger. The capillaries in both eyes burst, instantly turning his eyes red, then even redder.

‘M-magi…’

Jang Min’s magi [a type of spiritual energy] was surging into his body through the wire he was holding. The magi that had penetrated his body was literally chewing him up, causing unimaginable pain.

Gongryeong’s hand trembled involuntarily.

He had never considered it. Even though it was so obvious, he had never once thought about it.

That the moment he bound an opponent with a wire, his body and the enemy’s body would be connected through the wire.

That if he could suppress an opponent by pouring his inner energy into them, the opponent could also transmit their inner energy to him through the wire.

No, it wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about it, but that there was no need to think about it.

Because until now, no one had ever resisted him in this way in such a situation.

It was only natural.

Who would have imagined that someone could calmly push back against the opponent’s inner energy amidst such terrible pain, as if hundreds of razor blades were writhing inside their body, and engage in an inner energy battle with such precise control of their energy?

“Kkyaaaaak!”

Gongryeong’s head was thrown back.

His mouth was gaping as if it would tear, his eyes were rolled back, and the veins that had popped out like earthworms on his face and neck seemed to be the only proof of the pain he was experiencing.

As if responding to Gongryeong’s pain, the magi that had spread thickly between the wires surrounding Jang Min became even denser.

*Ting!*

The sound of a single wire snapping was so clear.

*Ting! Ting! Ting!*

A sound like guitar strings being plucked in succession. It might not be a big deal if a few of the hundreds of wires snapped. But anyone who was watching the magi double in size in an instant would not dare to make such an assessment.

The wires that had been binding Jang Min could not withstand the tension that had reached its limit and began to snap all at once.

At the same time, a mixture of tar-like dark magi and eerily red blood energy began to surge.

“Cough!”

Gongryeong, who had severed the wire in his hand in one swift motion, pulled his body back. But the impact he had suffered in that short time was not small, as one of his knees buckled and touched the ground.

“Cough!”

Bright red blood gushed from his mouth like a waterfall.

The magi that had penetrated his body had completely turned his insides upside down.

“Uweeaaak!”

Gongryeong, who had spat out a large amount of blood, raised his head and looked at Jang Min with disbelieving eyes.

The wire that had left his hand could no longer restrain Jang Min. The wires, which had become mere metal strings, snapped all at once and went flying in all directions.

And then…….

Like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon and spreading its wings…….

From within the cocoon of torn wires, Jang Min slowly raised his body. His red and black energies mixed together and flowed down to the floor like thick water.

Gongryeong trembled without realizing it.

Through the face covered in black magi, his bloodshot eyes were staring directly at him.

“Crazy……”

A hollow breath escaped his lips.

It was the first time he had ever lost control of an opponent he had completely subdued. It was a humiliation, like a hunter losing the prey caught in his trap.

But what really disconcerted Gongryeong was not that sense of humiliation.

The reaction of prey released from a trap is one of two things. Either they run away in terror, or they go berserk in anger.

But Jang Min’s reaction was neither of those.

Jang Min, who had torn off his wires, was emitting magi from his entire body and staring coldly at him. Gongryeong’s eyes caught the red blood flowing at Jang Min’s feet.

Enough blood to soak the floor. Clear evidence that his attack had not been in vain was there. But despite the obvious wound, Jang Min did not lose his composure.

Gongryeong bit his lip without realizing it.

“Very…”

The magi covering Jang Min thinned, revealing his face. His face was covered in a chaotic mess of fine red lines, making him look eerie just by looking at him.

But his eyes.

Only his eyes, visible through the wounds, were as calm as a lake.

“You’re doing some interesting things.”

His voice was definitely not that of a wounded beast.

Gongryeong’s body involuntarily shrank back as he understood that there was an icy rationality colder than the glaciers of the Arctic within that rough exterior and the maddening fanaticism that made people shudder.

Jang Min’s fingers slowly traced his face.

Jang Min, who had touched the wound that looked like it had been slashed with a razor blade, revealed his blood-soaked teeth.

“So… this isn’t the end, is it?”

Red blood flowed from his open mouth. Proof that his insides had been completely ravaged.

Gongryeong found it hard to understand this situation.

Just because they were superhumans didn’t mean they weren’t human. They also felt pain and fear just like everyone else. They were just a little more accustomed to fear and pain than ordinary people.

But how could he be so unfazed?

Imagine being constricted by wires as sharp as blades all over your body. Imagine the sensation of wires burrowing into your body like parasites while being completely bound in perfect darkness without a single ray of light.

It was a terrible situation that even Gongryeong himself wouldn’t be able to endure with a clear mind. How could someone who had just escaped such a situation be so calm?

‘Does he not feel fear?’

That shouldn’t be possible for someone with emotions, right?

Jang Min, who had seen Gongryeong’s gaze, let out a faint sneer as if he understood what Gongryeong was thinking.

“Did you say you’ve lived two lives?”

“No. It would be three lives. Including this one.”

*Crack.*

Jang Min, who had lightly clenched his fist, slowly walked towards Gongryeong.

“Having experienced death, you must have nothing to fear in this world. You must have believed you understood everything.”

“But you foolish one, how can you not know? That even if you combine your three lives, it wouldn’t even come close to what I’ve experienced in my one life.”

“Physical pain is nothing. The fear of death is just laughable. You would understand, wouldn’t you? That sometimes death is so sweet to humans that it becomes a refuge.”

Of course, Gongryeong understood.

He was someone who had escaped. Someone who couldn’t bear the weight of life and had taken his own life.

“True fear, true terror, is not that. It’s the real terror of not being able to die even while endlessly longing for that sweet death. It’s the real terror of struggling under the weight of the burden on my shoulders, yet not being able to remove that burden with my own hands.”

A fierce glint appeared in Jang Min’s eyes.

“Compared to the abyss I was trapped in, compared to the bone-gnawing pain I experienced… this is nothing. Flesh wounds cannot stop me.”

A low breath escaped Gongryeong’s lips.

It wasn’t the words, but the emotions carried in them that were pressing down on him.

“Flesh wounds cannot stop you, huh…”

Gongryeong’s eyes grew colder.

At this moment, he had completely acknowledged Jang Min. Even if they were beings who could not understand each other, he could still acknowledge the depth of his opponent.

But that was precisely why…….

“Anyone would think I’m the one at a disadvantage.”

Gongryeong’s fingertips gripped the wire.

The lingering magi that had penetrated his body was still tormenting his entire body with pain, but that pain was nothing compared to the damage Jang Min’s body had suffered.

Even though his trump card had been foiled, there was no reason for him to be at a disadvantage.

“Then prove it. Prove that you are not prey! I’ll acknowledge you if you cut off my head.”

Gongryeong emitted fighting spirit from his entire body.

But even while receiving that fighting spirit, Jang Min didn’t show any particular change. He simply slowly reached out and groped vaguely at some point in the air in front of him.

Jang Min’s fingertips stopped in the middle of the empty air where nothing could be seen.

*Squeak.*

With a sound like thin threads rubbing against each other, the tips of Jang Min’s fingers slightly split open, and red blood trickled down.

It was a strange thing.

That his fingertips had split open even though there was nothing there, and that the small drops of blood that had oozed out of his fingertips were not falling to the ground but were instead suspended in the air.

Jang Min lowered his hand. The moment the trickling blood was absorbed into his fingertips, Jang Min’s hand forcefully sprayed the blood into the air.

*Fwoooosh!*

The blood, which had been sprayed like a mist, as if it had been infused with energy, covered the surroundings. And when the blood settled, things that had not been visible until now began to appear.

It was the countless thin wires that had been installed in this chamber.

Jang Min smiled, and Gongryeong frowned.

If Jang Min had been even slightly enraged, he would have rushed in, not missing the opportunity of Gongryeong looking exhausted, and if he had, he would have inevitably been harmed by the thin wires he had set up.

‘Damn it.’

But that seasoned beast did not fall into his trap. As if mocking him, he had slipped one foot into the snare and leisurely taken only the bait inside.

The beast that hunters truly fear is not a young and strong tiger.

Hunters do not fear those sharp claws. They do not fear the powerful force that can break a rock with a single blow.

The beast they truly fear is an old tiger with not much time left to live.

One that has survived countless hunts and countless battles. Therefore, it is a cunning tiger that is even more skilled than the hunter at stalking the hunter from behind.

And now.

Gongryeong was facing a beast that had reached a realm he had never experienced in his entire life.

An old tiger that had lived for so long that it was more fitting to call it a monster than a beast.

“Now……”

Long claws of strong energy grew from the tip of Jang Min’s index finger. The claws of strong energy, wet with Jang Min’s blood, lightly pressed down on the thin wires.

*Ting!*

With a sound like a piano string snapping, the wire snapped and whipped around like a whip.

“I feel much better now.”

Black magi flowed out of Jang Min’s body.

“I was wondering if I was even someone who should be fighting here. But… fortunately, you are not a martial artist either. You are a hunter. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s not wrong.”

“Then……”

Jang Min’s entire body was dyed black, even blacker.

“I can tear out your heart without a moment’s hesitation and drink your blood.”

Red blood began to circulate in the heart of the demon who had only been running away from hunters for a long time. It was a counterattack against the enemy, and at the same time, a resounding roar announcing a counterattack against his life.