Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 289

Next?

Was he telling them to step forward?

To go there?

‘This is no joke.’

Such scenes are openly talked about in the world.

Those who witness the death of their comrades, consumed by rage, lose their reason and charge, only to lose their lives, or, if they’re lucky, manage to defeat the enemy.

‘Don’t talk nonsense!’

That’s only possible in movies.

No, even if you just change the genre, you’d realize how foolish that is.

Imagine this is a war movie.

Someone next to you, who was just talking, is instantly turned from a human into a corpse by a sniper or a hail of bullets from someone who appeared out of nowhere. And then you charge at the enemy in anger?

You’d have to be crazy to do that.

The wisest choice they could make was to turn and run from this place without looking back. But even that wasn’t easy.

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes, which they barely managed to look at with trembling eyes, were like those of a beast hunting its prey.

‘There’s no way he’ll let us go.’

You shouldn’t show your back to a beast. That’s common sense even for a middle schooler. The moment they turn their backs here, Kang Jin-ho will pounce, aiming for the back of their necks.

Then what should they do?

They can’t fight either.

Fight someone who uses a sword that can’t even be seen?

It would be more likely to win if they charged at an M60 bunker with a carving knife. Because if they could just get close, who knows what might happen.

Then what options do they have?

Should they slowly retreat while maintaining eye contact and never turning their backs?

Stand tall?

Damn it, that guy isn’t a bear.

There’s no way he’d let them go if they retreated. But they can’t fight either. Even if they shout to call someone, their heads would be on the floor before reinforcements arrive.

Then what should they do?

Only then did he understand why those he had ridiculed had acted that way.

“Save…”

Tears welled up in his eyes.

His pants were soaked. But all his senses were focused on the man in front of him, so he didn’t even have time to notice.

“Please… save me.”

In the face of the fear of death, pride is worth less than a single sheet of paper.

He had also thought that he would be dignified when facing death.

But that was just an illusion.

Death is never cool or tragic. It’s just terrifying.

“Hic.”

The death he had imagined was at least valuable, not something as worthless as this. Becoming a messenger for an old raccoon that had burrowed into a cave, dying without even making a sound at the hands of a monster that appeared out of nowhere, where is the tragedy in that?

He hadn’t achieved anything yet.

“Please save me. I, I…”

“Was there anyone who spared you just because you begged like that?”

Thud.

Kang Jin-ho, who had taken a step closer, tapped his cheek.

“Uh… uhh…”

The intense fear that had taken root in his brain was fading to white. He couldn’t react. He couldn’t speak. All he could do was babble like an idiot.

“You’re lucky.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled.

“If it were the old days, I wouldn’t have hesitated. You should be grateful to this world.”

“Huh…?”

The question remained unanswered.

With a dull impact on his neck, his consciousness blurred. The man wished and wished that this wasn’t death as he lost consciousness.

Thud, thud.

Two people fell to the floor.

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly clicked his tongue as he looked at those who had fallen to the floor.

‘It’s not like the old days.’

When he was called the Demonic Heavenly Demon Lord, not Kang Jin-ho, he knew no mercy and no tolerance. He didn’t even think about the enemy’s circumstances. The only thing that mattered was that they were blocking his path.

But now, he didn’t kill his opponents just because they showed weakness.

– Don’t be a hypocrite.

A voice echoed.

His inner self was mocking him.

Do you think that will change anything?

Do you think you can deny the time you’ve spent with me?

You’ve killed over a thousand people with your own hands. You were a demon of slaughter, unprecedented in the history of the Central Plains [a region in China], weren’t you?

But now, you’re acting like a good guy just because you spared their lives? Huh?

‘Shut up.’

Kang Jin-ho shook his head, cutting off the voice.

“It’s not about pretending to be good.”

He was just doing what he wanted to do.

He wasn’t tormented by compulsions. He didn’t deny the past. He was just doing what his heart desired, what he wanted to do.

Kang Jin-ho, having steadied his wavering heart, quietly looked at those who had fallen.

‘They’re lucky.’

Really.

Kang Jin-ho felt it as he looked at the two men who had fallen. He would never be able to return to being the Demonic Heavenly Demon Lord. Life in this world had changed him.

‘And there’s no need to go back.’

Swoosh.

Kang Jin-ho, who had drawn his sword and slid it back into its sheath, turned his head slightly and said to Bang Jin-hoon.

“Let’s go.”

Bang Jin-hoon nodded without even opening his mouth.

‘I can’t figure him out.’

Considering the momentum he had just displayed, it wouldn’t have been strange if he had sliced those two to pieces on the spot. But in the midst of that, he spares them?

‘I can’t understand him.’

The person named Kang Jin-ho, as seen from below, was truly someone whose behavior patterns were unpredictable. He would tear people apart for trivial reasons, but sometimes, in situations where it was obvious he would kill, he would just knock them out.

He was a very difficult type to deal with.

There was no one harder to deal with than someone who produced different results from the same actions. Bang Jin-hoon wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Perhaps…

The reason why Kang Jin-ho’s actions were unpredictable was because he himself had an internal conflict?

‘No.’

Bang Jin-hoon erased the thought that had popped into his head.

That’s not it.

It shouldn’t be that.

Whether they liked it or not, they were in the same boat, and he didn’t want to imagine that the person they were dealing with was an uncontrollable, ticking time bomb.

‘He’s a demon.’

He’s a demon who is hungry for blood and slaughter, so he must be getting more violent than he intends at times.

Bang Jin-hoon comforted himself that way.

Following behind Kang Jin-ho, who was walking ahead, Bang Jin-hoon rubbed the sweat that was soaking his palm on his clothes.

It felt like watching a well-made horror movie.

“Is it here?”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his mouth as he looked at the mansion in front of him.

“This will be fun.”

“Yes?”

“It doesn’t seem like they’re very well prepared, does it?”

Bang Jin-hoon nodded with a tense face.

Old raccoons tend to dig multiple burrows. But if that raccoon is holed up in one burrow without escaping to another, there must be a reason.

‘Moreover, the defenses up to this point were suspiciously lax.’

Bang Jin-hoon knew that Lee Jung-geol was not someone who would move them and engage in a fight without preserving the full power of the General Assembly. He was someone who wouldn’t care if the General Assembly was destroyed under their hands as long as he could protect what he had.

Such a person is putting the General Assembly behind and welcoming them?

‘That’s something that wouldn’t happen unless he’s gone senile.’

You can tell how a person will react by looking at the path they’ve walked. Considering the behavioral patterns of a man named Lee Jung-geol, the inside of that mansion must be a dragon’s den.

“Shall we go in?”

“Of course?”

Looking at Kang Jin-ho, who asked back, Bang Jin-hoon realized that he had made a slip of the tongue.

‘It’s a dragon’s den for me.’

This person is a beast.

No matter how many traps a raccoon sets, there’s no way a beast would care about them. If there’s something blocking the way, they’ll just break it.

“It’s not me, but you guys who have to decide.”

“Yes?”

“Whether you’ll follow or not.”

Bang Jin-hoon clenched his teeth.

“It might seem ridiculous from your perspective, but we also came here risking our lives.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly met Bang Jin-hoon’s eyes.

Bang Jin-hoon also didn’t avoid his gaze, his lips tightly pressed together.

“Good.”

A smile that felt like satisfaction.

“Then we can go in.”

As Kang Jin-ho walked ahead, Bang Jin-hoon quietly opened his mouth.

“You’re not thinking of just waiting for the fruit to fall and eating it after we’ve done all the work, are you?”

“…Absolutely not.”

“Then let’s go too.”

“Yes!”

Following Kang Jin-ho, the group led by Bang Jin-hoon began to move.

‘Damn it.’

Looking at the mansion, which felt unusually eerie today, Bang Jin-hoon scratched his face anxiously.

There was no need to break the door.

When he turned the doorknob, the door opened naturally. As if it had been left open for them.

‘Interesting.’

Kang Jin-ho grinned, revealing his teeth.

It had been a long time since he had walked into a trap that was so blatantly obvious. The moment the door opened, a dense killing intent and thick malice rushed into his lungs through the air.

His spine tingled at the thought of how many interesting things were waiting for him inside.

“Heh heh heh heh.”

The darkness inside the door, where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, felt so familiar and welcoming.

Without the slightest hesitation, Kang Jin-ho walked inside.

Knowing that there would be traps, his pace actually quickened.

It was boiling.

‘Perhaps…’

He might have come all the way here just to enjoy this moment. For the moment when malice and malice collide, desperately trying to take each other’s lives.

And fortunately, Kang Jin-ho didn’t have to be disappointed.

The moment he stood in the middle of the wide hall inside the mansion, he began to feel a small presence.

Something that didn’t seem human.

A very low presence, like a small animal moving with quick steps.

Kang Jin-ho looked around with intrigued eyes.

The presences increased.

From one to two, and then from two to three.

Soon, dozens of presences began to circle around him.

‘What is it?’

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head.

Stealth and night movement techniques.

He had looked down on them as something that the Black Path’s riffraff would learn, but there was no way he wouldn’t know them. But now, he was feeling a sense of incongruity.

It was definitely close to stealth techniques, but something was different. It was on a different path from the martial arts he knew.

Kang Jin-ho, who had been quietly looking around, opened his mouth.

“Bang Jin-hoon.”

“Yes?”

Bang Jin-hoon, who had been watching why Kang Jin-ho had stopped, quickly answered.

“Does Lee Jung-geol have any connections with Japan?”

“…Yes, probably.”

“I see.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly looked around.

‘Is it ninjutsu [Japanese martial art]?’

In the Central Plains, he only knew that such things existed, but he had never encountered them. To encounter such a thing in this era, wasn’t it quite interesting?

Moreover….

“Then I can kill them without holding back.”

Kang Jin-ho, with a chilling smile on his lips, slowly drew out Red Dew and Blue Dew. Holding the two swords in both hands, Kang Jin-ho spat out the words.

“Don’t come near me.”

A low declaration.

“You’ll die.”

It was time to show those who used darkness as their forte what true darkness was.