Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 2057

Being drawn in.

Those watching felt the same thing.

That sword.

It was as if they were being drawn into the incredibly fluid lines drawn by the sword, like a brush dancing across white paper.

It was strange.

Clearly, that sword should be more dangerous than anything else. Even the sword wielded by the nameless swordsman was incredibly dangerous just by being swung, so what need was there to even speak of the danger of the sword in Baek Yeonhong’s hand?

Yet, none of those watching the sword felt it was dangerous.

It was simply fluid.

Like a mother’s hand caressing her child.

It was simply warm.

‘The smell of grass……’

Lee Hyun-soo gasped without realizing it. He was sure he had just smelled grass. In this deep, deep underground, surrounded by concrete, there wasn’t a single blade of grass to be found.

The smell of grass wet with dew stimulated the tip of his nose.

‘Is this what a sword is?’

He didn’t have the ability to discern the level of mastery contained within that sword. All he could tell was that the sword before him was clearly different from any sword he had seen before.

He had witnessed countless fierce battles.

Right here, he had watched countless times as those who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts squeezed out even the last drop of their will to put on the ultimate fight.

But that sword was different.

Words he had once scoffed at.

The idea of cultivating oneself through the sword to reach enlightenment.

How much had he ridiculed that absurd logic of building enlightenment by wielding a sword that kills people? But the moment he saw this scene, Lee Hyun-soo could no longer scoff at those words.

Saaak.

The tip of his foot lightly brushed against the hard concrete.

It was like the sound of fingertips gliding over silk.

Circle (圓).

The trajectory of his foot resembled a circle. The trajectory of his shoulder was also round, and the circle drawn by the sword gently enveloped the surroundings.

Roundly, and roundly again.

A circle is the absence of sharpness.

A perfect (完全) form that does not wound anything, does not push anything away, but embraces everything.

Baek Yeonhong swung his sword as if intoxicated. Swish.

The tip of the sword brushed past Wiggins’ side, appearing through space.

Whoosh!

It was just a graze, but Wiggins’ side split open, revealing the red flesh beneath.

‘What is this?’

Wiggins moved through space again, bringing his hand to his side.
White light poured out, and the open wound began to heal rapidly.

Healing and moving at the same time was something unimaginable in normal circumstances, but now he could draw an almost infinite amount of mana through the magic battery.

But even so…….

Swoosh!

His shoulder was cut again.

The speed of repairing the wound could not keep up with the speed at which the wounds were appearing. He had already surpassed the level of magic that a human could achieve, yet that sword was reducing even him to an ordinary human.

‘What the hell is that?’

It was incomprehensible.

The moment he thought he had perfectly evaded it, the sword cut through his body. The moment his sight, hearing, and touch all screamed perfection, that sword completely escaped his senses.

How could such a thing happen?

It felt like he was possessed by a ghost.

All of his martial arts began with perfectly understanding his opponent. The reason he had been able to put up a good fight against Baek Yeonhong so far was because he had succeeded in grasping Baek Yeonhong as if he could touch him through the previous battle.

He constantly corrected minor errors during the battle, exploring the most probable path among thousands of possibilities. It was a method that pushed himself to the limit, but there was no other way to face Baek Yeonhong.

But at this moment.

Baek Yeonhong had instantly nullified all of his efforts.

‘Is he really the same person?’

How could the same person change so drastically in a single moment?

It was astonishing.

He was perfectly aware that the sword was aimed at his neck. But, though he himself couldn’t understand it, he didn’t feel any hostility from that sword.

Common sense and logic were collapsing.

The sword that Baek Yeonhong was wielding had shattered everything Wiggins knew. The laws they had built up over thousands of years were collapsing, and the truth he had sought for years was turning into nothingness.

Eastern? Western?

No, this made even those boundaries meaningless.

Look.

That slow sword was chasing him, who was moving faster than the speed of sound. No, before he even moved, it was already where he was going to be.

‘Tch.’

If he continued to be hit like this, the result was obvious.

Admiration for the opponent could wait until after the fight was over.

Wiggins moved and deployed a shield at the same time. If the opponent’s sword was sure to cut him, then conversely, it meant he could predict the opponent’s attack.

As expected.

The moment the world went dark and then bright again, the sword flew towards the milky white barrier that had appeared in front of him.

As if it was natural for it to be there.

‘Block it!’

Before Wiggins’ fingertips could move, dozens of layers of shields were deployed by his will alone. First, he had to stop that sword…….

But at that moment, Wiggins saw it.

The shield he had deployed…….

The sight of Baek Yeonhong’s sword touching his shield, which resisted any physical force, did not allow any intrusion, and could be broken but never retreated.

Sliiiide.

Cut?

Break?

No, it wasn’t that.

The moment Baek Yeonhong’s sword touched it, the shields he had deployed betrayed his will and bent to the left and right. As if clearing the path for Baek Yeonhong’s sword to be swung.

‘What?’

A flowing swordsmanship.

A swordsmanship that never became faster or slower, but was swung like a flowing river, gently pushing aside his shield and reaching his chest.

Wiggins stared blankly at the scene.

It was just an illusion, no, a dream.

Swoooosh.

The sword, swung from above to below, lightly brushed against Wiggins’ chest and drew a line.

Wiggins’ gaze involuntarily turned to his chest.

‘This is……’

Swish.

The clothes covering his chest split open as if they had always been that way.

And at the same time…….

Whoooosh!

The chest revealed within split open even deeper, spraying red blood like a fountain.

Wiggins fell to the floor, scattering blood.

“Master!”

A tearing scream burst from Lee Hyun-soo’s throat.

Even at a glance, the amount of blood gushing out was unusual. No ordinary wound could cause such a flow of blood.

Along with the red blood he spewed, Wiggins crashed to the floor.

Thud!

With a dull sound, Wiggins’ body bounced up once. The fact that someone of his level could not recover his body from the air to the floor meant that the wound was incredibly serious.

Lee Hyun-soo was about to rush forward without realizing it. But before he could even take a step, someone grabbed his shoulder.

Lee Hyun-soo turned his head and saw Kang Jin-ho.

But Kang Jin-ho was not looking at him. He was just staring at Wiggins, who had fallen to the floor, while tightly gripping his shoulder.

Squeeze.

Kang Jin-ho’s hand gripped Lee Hyun-soo’s shoulder so hard that it hurt.

Looking at his serious expression, Lee Hyun-soo turned his head sharply and looked at Wiggins again.

‘Master……’

“Cough!”

Red blood gushed out of Wiggins’ mouth continuously.

‘Did he damage his lungs?’

White light was constantly erupting from his hand, which was clutching the open wound. If it had been anyone else, it would have been a fatal injury with no way to recover.

Fortunately, his heart had not been cut. If his heart had been hit, even he would not have been able to recover.

But the fact that recovery was possible did not mean that the current situation was not desperate. He was a mage, not a god. He could heal wounds, but he could not instantly return them to their original state.

“Cough!”

Red blood dripped down the hand that was touching the floor.

For a moment, it felt like his vision was blurring, perhaps from losing too much blood.

“Cough!”

But physical wounds could not torment him. What truly tormented him was the fact that an attack that was beyond his ability to perceive and imagine had struck him.

‘How should I respond?’

How was he supposed to face this sword?

If this sword was faster than light and cut him without any chance to react, he would simply accept it. If this sword was so strong that it broke through all of his defenses and even destroyed his body, he would also accept it.

Or, even if the skill of the sword was so outstanding that it deceived him, he might be able to laugh it off.

But…….

This sword was not like that.

This sword was neither fast nor strong.
He could clearly see it with his eyes, and he could clearly grasp it with his senses.

But he couldn’t block it.

How was he supposed to respond to a sword that he knew but couldn’t block?

“Cough!”

Wiggins pressed his hand against the blood gushing from his mouth and raised his body. But his knees betrayed his will and touched the floor again.

“Ugh…”

A calm voice reached Wiggins’ ears as he touched the floor in despair.

“You’ve lost your composure.”

Wiggins raised his head.

In his blurry vision, he saw Baek Yeonhong standing a few meters away, looking at him.

“Anger and confusion eat away at the mind.”

Baek Yeonhong quietly shook his head.

“Winning or losing isn’t that important. Isn’t that right?”

“Hah…….”

A wet laugh escaped from Wiggins’ mouth.

‘You’re quite something.’

He should have felt resentment.

It was not something that Baek Yeonhong, who had been showing such malice that it was unbecoming of a Taoist, should be saying. The current me is just an extension of the past. No matter what he had realized, he had no right to lecture anyone.

Yet, the reason he didn’t feel like being sarcastic was because the sword Baek Yeonhong had shown had made all of that meaningless.

But…….

Whoooosh.

Wiggins’ hand gripped his chest. The excessive white light that had been emitted somehow managed to seal the open wound.

It hadn’t healed the wound. It had only stopped it from getting worse and stopped the bleeding.

But…….

‘I can move one more time.’

That was enough.

“Cough.”

Wiggins coughed lightly and struggled to his feet.
Using the rune sword in his hand as a cane, he barely managed to stand up, forcing his swaying body to steady itself as he looked at Baek Yeonhong.

“……Is that the level……you were pursuing?”

“Perhaps.”

Baek Yeonhong nodded calmly.

“Isn’t it funny? That you reach it the moment you let go, when you desired it but didn’t desire it.”

“Heh heh.”

Wiggins let out a faint laugh.

“Amazing. Truly amazing…….”

This was pure admiration.

“But……isn’t it strange?”

“Hmm?”

A twisted smile appeared on Wiggins’ lips.

“If you could possess such power that transcends common sense, why did you hide behind the world? Why did you have to struggle so desperately to survive?”

“You seem to have forgotten…….”

Whoooosh.

Wiggins’ rune sword began to emit a blinding white light.

“I’ll remind you!”

At that moment, a tearing scream reached Baek Yeonhong’s ears.

“Wiggins!”

The moment he heard that voice, for the first time since the start of this battle, undisguised shock appeared in Baek Yeonhong’s eyes.

The reason was simple.

The owner of that tearing scream was none other than the Demon Lord.

The light created by Wiggins covered him, as if it would blind him.