Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 2047

Thud.

Gongryeong collapsed to his knees.

He was too drained to even process what had just happened. It wasn’t just physical exhaustion; it felt as if his very life force had been leached from his body. His hair, now completely white, was a testament to the sheer amount of energy he had poured into that single, desperate strike.

“••••••Cough.”

Even his cough was weak, his voice barely a whisper.

“Cough!”

Red blood trickled from Gongryeong’s mouth as he hunched over, his body contorted like a shrimp. The amount of blood wasn’t substantial, but it only served to highlight the severity of his condition.

‘Did I succeed…?’

His vision swam, blurring the world around him.

He didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger. He had poured every ounce of his being into trapping Jang Min in that final, desperate snare.

A man like Jang Min couldn’t be caught by ordinary means. That old tiger, concealing his cunning intellect beneath a veneer of madness, would never fall for a simple, obvious trap.

The fate of a hunter who fails to corner his prey is always the same: to be torn apart by the fangs of the game he was hunting.

But just as Jang Min was no ordinary tiger, Gongryeong was no ordinary hunter.

He had staked everything on that single, crucial moment.

The instant the beast, convinced there was no trap, moved to sink its fangs into his neck.

There was, in fact, no trap.

Gongryeong had simply conjured a non-existent trap at that precise moment.

It was a feat that even the great Gongryeong could not attempt without risking his own life.

It was the realm of creating non-existent wires, of turning nothingness into something tangible.

‘Mind Sword (心劍).’ [A martial arts technique where the user manifests a sword with their mind.]

It might not be entirely accurate to call it Mind Sword, since he created silver threads, but it was a realm commonly referred to as such.

Creating a sword where his mind reached, and cutting down the enemy with that sword.

The reason this strike was so terrifying was simple: it had no precursor, no warning.

There was no reason why the wires imbued with inner force, scattered in the air, would be weaker than a Mind Sword. However, wires were detected by the opponent’s senses from the moment they were released. No matter how powerful an attack was, a predictable attack would lose its effectiveness the moment it was launched.

But Mind Sword was different.

It didn’t emanate from a distance, separated by space, without any sign; it simply appeared.

It was, in the truest sense, a ‘manifestation (顯現)’. [The act of making something appear or become real.]

A strike that defied all the laws of the world, transforming itself from nothingness into something. It was the essence of martial arts, a feat that even a transcendent being who had overcome countless limits could not manifest even for a single moment unless they had surpassed even more.

And….

It was a strike that demanded an equally harsh price.

“Hoo.”

Feeling as if everything inside him had been emptied, Gongryeong’s head drooped further down.

He felt like an empty shell. Like a fire that was gradually dying down, his life was also fading. Whether the result of this strike would end in mere exhaustion or eventually lead to his death was something even Gongryeong didn’t know.

If he had focused his remaining strength on blocking the opponent’s attack, he might have survived, even if he had lost. But Gongryeong could not take that certain path.

‘If I were the kind of person who could make that choice in the first place…

I wouldn’t be standing here.’

Gongryeong twisted his parched lips into a wry smile.

He had done everything he could. All that remained was to see if his strike, to which he had given everything, had reached Jang Min.

He didn’t have the strength to lift his head and look forward.

If he had succeeded, Baek Yeonhong or Heukwang would come to support him. And if he had failed, Jang Min’s sharp Jo Gang [a type of spear or halberd] would pierce the back of his neck.

Either way….

‘Not bad.’

For the first time since learning martial arts… no, for the first time since he started walking, as far back as his memory went, the feeling of not having the strength to move even a finger was not as bad as he had imagined. It was proof that he had truly unleashed a strike with everything he had.

Just….

It was a shame that he couldn’t unleash a clearer, more certain strike.

‘But it was beautiful.’

The clear line that appeared as if blooming in the air had momentarily captivated even Gongryeong’s heart. A perfect line that he might never be able to draw again. For someone captivated by the weapon called silver threads, it was a sight he couldn’t take his eyes off.

It was the moment he had realized the perfection he had always envisioned in his mind with his own hands.

So….

“Hoo… I don’t… re…gret…”

His lips and throat, as dry as a desert, couldn’t even produce a proper voice. No, even if his mouth wasn’t parched, he wouldn’t have had the strength to make a sound.

Forcing a breathy sound out of his lips was the best he could do.

‘Did it… reach?’

Now it was time to see the result.

And at that moment, Gongryeong realized. Someone….

Someone had been standing in front of him for a while now.

His ears were deaf, his vision was so blurry that he could barely distinguish light, and his senses were so broken that he doubted he could even notice if he were hit with a club. That was why he had missed their presence for so long.

‘Who….’

Who could it be?

Was it Jang Min? Baek Yeonhong? Or Heukwang?

He didn’t particularly wish for it to be anyone. Whoever it was, Gongryeong would accept the result as it was. Those who had done their best deserved to be indifferent to defeat.

And….

What revealed the identity of the person in front of Gongryeong was simply the color red.

His vision was blurry.

In the middle of the crushed, grayish-white color mixed with the encroaching darkness, a faint red hue bloomed.

The moment he recognized that blurry but all-too-familiar color, Gongryeong realized his fate.

‘A little… regrettable.’

That red was familiar.

It was the color of blood.

Baek Yeonhong or Heukwang wouldn’t come to greet him covered in blood, so the person standing in front of him now must be Jang Min.

His mind wasn’t working well.

It took him a while to even realize this obvious fact. And his sluggish mind managed to grasp one more fact.

That he was bleeding.

Since the blood that had already dried up wouldn’t flow again, this meant that it was new blood that Jang Min had shed.

Seeing the red in front of him spreading more and more, it meant that the monster was bleeding profusely. That meant his attack hadn’t been in vain.

‘That’s enough.’

Gongryeong’s lips trembled. For him, who didn’t even have the strength to lift the corners of his mouth, this trembling was a brighter smile than any other emotion.

Black darkness completely covered his vision. It meant he no longer had the strength to see or recognize anything.

Now, he just had to wait for death.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t even properly feel the sensation of the Jo Gang piercing his body. He would probably die without even realizing he was dying.

He had already experienced death twice, but this would be a different experience.

‘But it’s a little… scary.’

Because he knew.

That he wouldn’t be given another life. It was a kind of certainty he had as a returnee.

‘Am I alive?’

Or was he dead?

Or perhaps….

It was at that moment.

Suddenly, the dark world regained its light. As if light had suddenly appeared at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

Startled by the impressive sight, Gongryeong opened his eyes wide.

‘What….’

“Cough! Cough!”

At the same time, a cough burst from his mouth, and an indescribable, excruciating pain surged through his entire body.

“You’re alive.”

Forcing his unmoving head to turn, he looked to his side and saw Baek Yeonhong supporting him, placing his hand on his dantian [an area in the lower abdomen considered the center of vital energy] and pouring energy into him.

“You….”

“You won’t die, so don’t worry. You would have died if I had left you alone.”

“••••••Me?”

Seeing the question in Gongryeong’s eyes, Baek Yeonhong let out a faint sneer.

“Don’t talk nonsense. That was the most miserable defeat I’ve ever seen in my life.”

As expected.

Gongryeong’s head slowly turned to the opposite side.

His eyes caught sight of the red blood staining the floor and several fingers lying on top of it.

He didn’t need to guess who the owner of those fingers was.

Probably, the moment the wires appeared in front of his face, Jang Min had grabbed the wires that were piercing his face without a moment’s hesitation.

‘If he had hesitated even for a moment, his head would have been cut off….’

For Jang Min, fingers were no different from tools for wielding his Jo Gang. Losing his fingers would mean losing most of his power. If it were him, could he have grabbed the wires with his hand without hesitation?

No.

He couldn’t have.

‘There’s no room for excuses.’

Only one question remained.

“Why… me?”

“What I just heard was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

Ugh….

As Gongryeong looked at him with a question in his eyes, Baek Yeonhong grinned, baring his teeth.

“That old man said, ‘Since all my fingers are cut off, I won’t be able to cut anything,’ you know.”

“Isn’t that cool?”

At those words, Gongryeong turned his gaze.

He saw Jang Min’s back as he slowly walked back to his camp.

A small, blood-soaked shoulder.

It was the back of an old man that made him wonder if that person’s physique had always been so small.

But….

“……It looks good.”

Although he didn’t feel any pressure from that back, it looked freer and more relaxed than anyone else’s back he had seen during this war. It was clear that Jang Min had also gained something from this fight, just as he had.

“I can’t beat him.”

Gongryeong shook his head.

It was a clean and perfect defeat, so much so that he didn’t even feel resentful.

“Baek Yeonhong.”

“What?”

“That… whatever that General Assembly is….”

“It’s… not bad.”

Gongryeong’s head dropped down.

He wasn’t dead. He had merely fainted from exhaustion. He had used up all of his innate energy, so it might take him months to regain consciousness, but he was still alive.

“……You idiot.”

Baek Yeonhong shook his head as he looked at Gongryeong, who had fainted with a peaceful expression.

‘……Not bad, he says?’

Baek Yeonhong glanced back.

‘That’s a joke.’

He was feeling it too.

It was a fight where they were killing each other. He had already lost several of his comrades, whom he had faced for decades, in this battle.

And yet….

‘I don’t feel any hatred.’

No, rather, he had come to understand his opponent.

This wasn’t a feeling that Baek Yeonhong was experiencing because he didn’t have much affection for the Twelve Blades. Gongryeong was saying the same thing.

Baek Yeonhong’s eyes turned from Jang Min to Kang Jin-ho.

‘Perhaps….

The world that they, not Heukwang, are trying to create….

Maybe it’s not so bad after all.’

That was what Baek Yeonhong was thinking.