Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 2048

Kang Jin-ho watched Jang Min’s hand as he walked towards him.

Looking at Jang Min’s hand, with all his fingers cut off, a strange feeling washed over him.

Yet, the reason he didn’t express that feeling wasn’t because he didn’t want to upset Jang Min further.

It was because Jang Min’s face, as he walked slowly, looked too peaceful.

It was strange.

A face that seemed to have aged ten years in the meantime.

A face completely drained of strength, utterly exhausted, yet it felt so peaceful.

“I apologize, Demon Lord.”

Jang Min smiled faintly as he spoke.

“I should have cut off the head of the one who dared to oppose the Demon Lord and thrown it into hell, but this foolish subordinate ended up showing mercy at the last moment.”

“……I never gave any such order.”

Kang Jin-ho stared at Jang Min, then chuckled.

“And… if it’s anyone, Jang Min deserves that right.”

Jang Min looked at Kang Jin-ho silently, then smiled faintly.

“You don’t seem to be in a bad mood.”

“I don’t know, Demon Lord.” Jang Min raised his hand.

His eyes, looking at his severed fingers, showed neither sadness nor pain.

“Perhaps I won’t be able to display the same martial prowess as in the past.”

It wasn’t that he couldn’t use the Jo Gang technique [a martial arts technique] without fingers. It was possible. It was just that he couldn’t execute it as nimbly and delicately as before.

But in the realm of the superhuman, even that small difference could change everything.

“Yet… strangely, I don’t feel any regret.”

“I suppose not.”

Kang Jin-ho said with a smile.

“From the start, Jang Min didn’t want to become strong, but needed the power to protect.”

To put it extremely, an athlete who became an athlete to be the best would regret retirement, but an athlete who became an athlete to earn money wouldn’t have any regrets about their career once they had earned enough money.

Jang Min was someone who had no choice but to become strong to protect the Demonic Cult from the start. For him, giving up martial arts might have been like shedding the shackles that had bound him.

“Perhaps that’s true.”

Jang Min, with a faint smile, looked down at his hand with a newfound expression.

“But it’s a little regrettable. I should have fingers to assist the Demon Lord more easily.”

“Assist?”

Jang Min smiled faintly.

“Now that I can let go of the Cult, can’t I assist the Demon Lord with a peaceful heart? You will soon see the Demon Empress and your descendants, and I…”

“Ah, no, wait a minute.”

Hey?

Are you kidding me?

“Are you joking?”

Bang Jin-hoon, as if thinking the same thing, contorted his face.

“Why the fingers of all things… it would have been better to lose an arm.”

Bang Jin-hoon sighed deeply, looking at Jang Min’s hand with only one thumb barely remaining.

“Even if you’re a martial artist, it must be inconvenient.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

Wiggins walked over and looked back and forth between Jang Min’s hand and the fingers on the floor. Although they were cleanly cut, the internal energy that had penetrated had ravaged the insides, making surgical reattachment impossible.

However….

“It’s a problem to make it move with ki [internal energy] instead of mana, but if it’s not for using martial arts but just to function as fingers, it seems possible with a few devices. I’ll attach a prosthetic hand for you.”

“……If you say so, I believe you.”

Jang Min nodded, looking at the prosthetic hand on Wiggins’ arm. Certainly, Wiggins was the most reliable in this area.

It was a liberating feeling.

He didn’t know that letting go could make his heart so peaceful. His body was still full of pain, and not a single drop of energy remained in his body, but his heart was simply at peace.

“Demon Lord.”

“Yes.”

“I’m not sure if I can keep my word about letting go of the Cult.”

Jang Min spoke with an even more relaxed face.

“But I also know why you said those words, Demon Lord. Any child will eventually have to leave the nest and be watched from afar. Even if it’s a heartbreaking thing.”

“I will let the Cult out of my embrace. And I will watch them. I will watch them walk on their own, live on their own.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly shook his head.

“One thing is wrong.”

“Yes?”

“It’s not for the Cult, it’s for Jang Min.”

“To me, Jang Min is more important than the Cult.”

Jang Min’s head lowered slightly. As if he couldn’t bear to look at Kang Jin-ho. Neither Kang Jin-ho nor Wiggins urged Jang Min. As if they understood his feelings.

“Just…”

When Jang Min couldn’t continue, Kang Jin-ho lightly patted Jang Min’s shoulder.

“You’ve pushed yourself to the limit, so rest for now. Leave the rest to us.”

“Yes, Demon Lord.”

“Kuh.”

At that moment, Bator, who had been collapsed, opened his eyes and gasped for air.

“……Did we win, old man?”

“You’re stating the obvious, you fool.”

“I knew it.”

Bator chuckled.

Jang Min nodded and turned to Wiggins. Now it was Wiggins’ turn.

“Can you do it?”

“I don’t know.”

Wiggins shrugged and turned to one side. His eyes caught the sight of Baek Yeonhong supporting Gongryeong as he walked away.

“I can’t guarantee anything, considering the opponent.”

Just a few months ago, they had all attacked Baek Yeonhong together and still lost. It was a difficult request to close that gap in such a short time.

Even if he had broken through the wall, even if he had spent years instead of months.

But….

“But… I’ve been waiting for this moment. I’m even surprised that I had such feelings inside me.”

Wiggins smiled.

All that time.

All the time he had spent had been solely for the purpose of surpassing Baek Yeonhong.

During that long time spent in the basement of the Round Table, what had sustained Wiggins was his thirst for knowledge and his competitive spirit against the one he wanted to defeat.

If either of those had been lacking, he wouldn’t have been able to endure that time.

“That’s enough.”

Jang Min nodded.

If Wiggins won, this battle would end in their victory.

Even if Wiggins lost, the final battle between the Demon Lord and the Black King remained, so it wouldn’t be a loss.

‘I want to avoid it.’

That was Jang Min’s honest feeling.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the Demon Lord. The Demon Lord’s defeat was something that couldn’t exist in Jang Min’s mind.

But if the opponent was the Black King, it was a different story.

It wasn’t because the Black King was as strong as the Demon Lord. Even if he faced someone stronger than Kang Jin-ho in terms of martial prowess, Kang Jin-ho was someone who would grasp victory.

But….

‘Fate is a scary thing.’

Jang Min, who had lived for a long time, knew very well that sometimes things that couldn’t be explained by common sense or laws happened in the world.

And the fate between Kang Jin-ho and the Black King was too suitable for such an anomaly to occur. The outcome of a fight between these two wouldn’t be decided simply by the level of their martial power.

Especially….

‘Changing an era.’

That’s why he didn’t want that battle to happen. Of course, even if this battle ended like this, it didn’t seem like the Black King or Kang Jin-ho would just accept it and turn back, but at least it would be possible to break the will of the Black King, who was obsessed with justification.

“I know what you’re thinking.”

Wiggins nodded, as if he understood Jang Min’s feelings.

“It’s difficult to win a battle that you must win, but it’s even more difficult to win a battle that you don’t have to win. I’m not someone who doesn’t know that, so you don’t have to worry.

At least…”

Wiggins’ eyes shone coldly.

“I will make sure that I never hear the words that I lost because I was complacent.”

That was enough.

Unlike others, Wiggins didn’t need any more words. Even if Wiggins wasn’t the strongest person here, no one could deny that he was the most reliable.

Baek Yeonhong, who had placed Gongryeong in a corner, walked over and faced the Black King.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking about where things went wrong.”

“Nothing went wrong, Black King. Everything was done correctly.”

“Correctly?”

“Yes.”

Baek Yeonhong smiled faintly.

“We were wrong in our thinking. It wasn’t that we would gain the right to rule the martial world by defeating them. We had to defeat them to gain that right.”

They were similar words, but the nuance was completely different.

And those words were no different from Baek Yeonhong acknowledging that the General Assembly was their biggest obstacle.

“Among those who have achieved truly great things, there are none who have easily achieved results. Rather, it is only those who have endured extreme hardships who gain the power to change history, isn’t it?”

“Ha…”

The Black King chuckled.

The fact that the person saying such words was none other than Baek Yeonhong made him laugh. The fact that the last remaining of the Twelve Blades, who had been by his side, was Baek Yeonhong, the rebel among rebels.

“Hardship…”

The Black King said through gritted teeth.

“I thought I had experienced enough, but was that not enough?”

“Because you are someone who has to achieve something that great.”

Baek Yeonhong chuckled.

“And in the end, you have to make the decision with your own hands, isn’t that right?”

The Black King stared at Baek Yeonhong silently.

“Can you do that?”

“I am Baek Yeonhong.”

“I will create that final stage for you. In fact, this is the right direction. It’s not a good look to say that I will rule the martial world because my subordinates are stronger, is it?”

Baek Yeonhong really thought so.

A perfect victory doesn’t necessarily bring great authority. People sometimes give their hearts more to stories than to power. Especially martial artists, who are more captivated by powerful individuals than by powerful forces.

What he had to do was create a stage where the only two absolute powerhouses in the martial world could prove themselves in front of everyone.

‘It’s ridiculous.’

He, who had never cared about others, was feeling a sense of mission for others in this place.

“Win, Black King.”

“……You keep saying obvious things.”

“It’s because I might lose my heart. If the Black King loses, I might end up following that Kang Jin-ho.”

It was certainly a statement that could make the Black King feel bad.

But the Black King didn’t show any such signs. He just grumbled with a sullen face.

“That’s why I said that man was dangerous.”

“After experiencing it, I understand. Just by looking at the people who follow him, I can’t help but think that he’s a pretty decent person.”

“But you won’t deliberately lose, will you?”

“Of course not.”

Baek Yeonhong tapped his sword with his one remaining hand and smiled.

“Don’t have any expectations. No one has expectations for the obvious.”

“I trust you.”

Baek Yeonhong turned and walked forward.

“But…”

“Hmm?”

Baek Yeonhong spoke without turning to the Black King.

“No matter how this war ends, if I survive, I think I’d like to live the rest of my life a little differently.”

“I’m just saying.”

Baek Yeonhong left those words and walked forward.

The Black King’s gaze deepened as he watched Baek Yeonhong’s back as he walked away.