Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 613

“They’ve been turned into mincemeat.”

Lee Hyun-soo couldn’t follow Kang Jin-ho.

It was because Kang Jin-ho said his martial arts skills would only be a hindrance. It was a very painful thing to hear, but he had to admit it. In the first place, Lee Hyun-soo wasn’t a combat operative.

‘That’s why I asked him to teach me some Demonic Arts…’

He said he would, but he doesn’t seem to have any intention of teaching me. He even tried to sneak into the place where the Demonic Flames [a group of demonic martial artists] were training, but Lee Myung-hwan completely ignored him.

He understood. He knew it wasn’t just an emotional issue, or that he didn’t want to teach Lee Hyun-soo Demonic Arts.

Those who learn Demonic Arts become quick-tempered.

But Lee Hyun-soo was someone who absolutely couldn’t be hasty. The lives of countless people depended on his mind. If he made plans without being calm and rational, even one more person would die. Who would pay the price for those lives?

So, until he found stability, he was someone who couldn’t learn Demonic Arts.

The problem was….

‘When will I ever find stability!’

Stability or whatever, he was too busy dealing with the immediate situation. And judging by Kang Jin-ho’s personality, hoping for the Assembly to stabilize was a pipe dream.

Just when things seemed to be going somewhere, he would start something new again.

‘Well, I prefer that too.’ Repetitive work is a pain.

People need something new to keep them going.

Besides, even if things stabilized, Lee Hyun-soo’s workload wouldn’t decrease. Even now, Lee Hyun-soo was doing the work of ten people alone. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the operation of the Assembly was entirely in his hands. Kang Jin-ho and Bang Jin-hoon were both terrible at management.

If he was this busy, he would have to refuse even if Kang Jin-ho offered to teach him Demonic Arts. He barely had time to fight with paperwork, where would he find time to fight with Demonic Arts?

Besides….

“I don’t want to learn it.”

Lee Hyun-soo shook his head at the sight of the carnage before him.

Just looking at the aftermath, he could guess how brutal those who had learned Demonic Arts were.

Even if he was given a doll and told to beat it up like this, Lee Hyun-soo wouldn’t be able to do it. It was as if they had beaten it evenly and thoroughly.

“It wasn’t like this before….”

A little while ago, the scene halfway up the mountain wasn’t this bad. Of course, those who had fallen there were also seriously injured, but it wasn’t to the point where just looking at it made you wince like this.

“They’ve been pulverized, pulverized.”

It was hard to find anyone with intact bones. But what was really strange was that the number of deaths had actually decreased.

A little while ago, half of the casualties on the mountainside were dead, but here, the injuries were definitely worse than there, but strangely, it was hard to find any deaths.

‘It’s not about the deaths.’

The fact that they could do this to living people already meant they weren’t normal. Lee Hyun-soo, due to the nature of his work, had done torture and seen all the dirty sides of the world, but this was a completely different world. To destroy someone’s body so thoroughly in the middle of a fight was even perverted.

“I don’t know.”

Lee Hyun-soo shook his head.

Since the number of deaths had decreased, did they regain their sanity, or since the injuries had worsened, did they become more insane? He couldn’t come to a conclusion without seeing it with his own eyes.

“Did those guys do all this?”

“Looks like it.”

“…Crazy.”

Kong Young-gil shuddered.

He hadn’t received proper training from Bator yet, so he had no choice but to be in the standby group. In the first place, everyone except those who were trained by Kang Jin-ho was in the standby group.

It was called a standby group, but it should be called the corpse disposal team. Or the emergency transport team for the injured.

“This person….”

Familiar faces were lying on the ground.

Even though the number of martial artists coming in and out of the Assembly was like grains of sand, Kong Young-gil had lived in the Assembly for twenty years. He was bound to know everyone.

A sigh escaped from Kong Young-gil’s mouth.

‘They were unilaterally beaten.’

In the past, they would have been the ones being beaten. And unilaterally at that.

The phrase ‘they were no match’ was fitting. In just a couple of months, the balance had completely flipped. Now, they were no match for the other side.

‘Have they become this strong?’

He knew that the guys being trained by Kang Jin-ho had become stronger. Just from their aura, their ki [internal energy], and the faint demonic energy emanating from them, he knew that they could never be defeated.

But he never thought the difference would be this great.

He thought it was a gap he could catch up to if he ran, but now, to catch the Demonic ones who had gone ahead, he would need to take a plane. It was a good thing that his side was strong, but Kong Young-gil couldn’t be happy about it.

“There are no casualties.”

“What are you talking about? There are casualties everywhere.”

“No. I mean, none of those guys are left behind.”

“Demonic Flames?”

“That’s what Kang Jin-ho calls the kids he’s training.”

“…That guy’s got a bit of a chuunibyou [a Japanese term for someone with delusional, often grandiose, behavior].”

“Right?”

That name wasn’t given by Kang Jin-ho, but was a name used in the Central Plains in the past, but there was no way they would know that.

If Kang Jin-ho had heard that, he would have been puffing away on his cigarette, but the comment came out casually.

“Anyway… none of those guys were left behind. Did they take them with them?”

“They’re not in their right minds, would they even take care of the injured?”

“Then that means not a single one of them was injured and they finished this here….”

Kong Young-gil raised his head.

Injured people were lying all over the large garden, which was the size of a baseball field.

‘And they completely crushed all these people.’

The injuries were so severe that it was doubtful if they could ever recover. If an ordinary person had suffered such injuries, they would have died already, not just have trouble recovering. They were still alive because they were martial artists, but he was worried if they could ever return to their original state even if they were treated.

“Maybe….”

“Hmm?”

“Could this be intentional? So they can never recover?”

“Hmm.”

Lee Hyun-soo scratched his cheek.

“That’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? Kang Jin-ho is meticulous and ruthless in his own way, but I don’t think he would care that much about these nobodies.”

Nobodies….

Kong Young-gil couldn’t hide his bitter expression.

More than half of those lying down were probably stronger than Kong Young-gil. But if they were nobodies, what did that make Kong Young-gil himself?

“Chief Lee.”

“What?”

“Can I become this strong too?”

Lee Hyun-soo turned his head and looked at Kong Young-gil. Until now, those who had been carrying the injured with a rather indifferent attitude also raised their heads at those words and stared at Kong Young-gil and Lee Hyun-soo.

This was the question they were most curious about right now.

“Are you under Bator’s command?”

“Yes. But I’ve only learned the basics….”

“That’s what learning is about.”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged and said.

“You either become as strong as your master, or stronger than your master. Isn’t that why you learn?”

“That’s right.”

“Then I only have one answer.
Even if that chuunibyou group called the Demonic Flames all took drugs and attacked together, they wouldn’t be able to leave a single scratch on Bator.”

Kong Young-gil’s eyes shook.

“Is he that strong?”

“He’s someone who can go toe-to-toe with Kang Jin-ho.”

He exaggerated a little, but it wasn’t a lie.

“Ah….”

“Of course, everyone has different talents and different speeds of training, so I can’t say for sure, but depending on your aptitude, you might have better aspects. It’s just that you started learning a little later.”

“Thank you.”

Kong Young-gil bowed deeply.

Lee Hyun-soo clicked his tongue at the sight.

‘That’s why martial artists are hopeless.’

If they were normal people, they would feel sorry for the injured people in front of them. But these guys weren’t interested in the fact that people were hurt, they were only interested in the power that made them like this.

No matter how much martial artists like fighting more than food and seek martial arts more than money, it was a bit much to act like this even in this situation.

‘Not that I don’t understand.’

Lee Hyun-soo turned his head and looked at the people who were still coming up. The number of people they had picked as standby was not small.

‘They weren’t standby in the first place.’

Kang Jin-ho said he didn’t need anyone else, so they were put on standby, but originally, they were all supposed to be deployed as combatants. According to Lee Hyun-soo’s calculations, they needed to deploy all of them to resolve the situation without major injuries or loss of power.

But the Demonic Flames had done it all by themselves.

He knew that they had been trained by Kang Jin-ho and that they had learned Demonic Arts. Lee Hyun-soo was the one who translated the Demonic Arts. He had roughly estimated how strong they would become based on his understanding and organized the troops, but those guys had completely exceeded Lee Hyun-soo’s calculations.

‘Demonic Arts are this scary.’

It wasn’t just about demonic energy being emitted and their faces becoming dirty. Their skills had become excessively strong. To the point where they would be impossible to control without Kang Jin-ho.

‘If it doesn’t work out, I can ask Bator for help.’

If they each got a flick on the forehead from Bator, they would get their heads back on straight.

“But Chief.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t we need to secure more hospitals? Half of them won’t fit.”

“…That’s right.”

Lee Hyun-soo scratched his head.

He had secured hospitals in anticipation of casualties. In fact, he had secured enough hospitals, so there shouldn’t be a shortage, but the problem was that there were almost no minor injuries and there were a lot of extremely serious injuries.

The intensive care units were limited.

“I’ll try to secure more hospitals, so you call for more ambulances. We can’t move them with regular cars.”

“Yes. I’ll call some private ones.”

“Okay, I’m counting on you.”

Lee Hyun-soo, who had put Kong Young-gil in charge, turned his head and looked at the mansion.

“Kkyaaaaak!”

At that moment, a window shattered and a person was thrown out.

“There’s no hope, really.”

Lee Hyun-soo covered his face with his hand.

This was something that had started with the intention of cleaning up the remaining dissidents of the Assembly. But there was no need to actually clean people up like that.

‘Kang Jin-ho’s judgment was right.’

If he hadn’t called in advance and told those who wanted to run away to run, he would probably be opening a field hospital right now, not securing hospitals.

‘It’s a relief that the other side is all taken care of.’

Indeed, it was Bator and Knight Wiggins.

Because this side was so important, they couldn’t allocate many people to the other places. So they had given Bator and Knight Wiggins a lot of roles, but they had finished the situation without a single scratch, which was beyond his expectations.

“If they had attacked from overseas before Kang Jin-ho came, we would have been doomed.”

Kang Jin-ho had triggered conflicts with overseas, but it was certain that the Assembly was getting stronger because of it.

And….

Lee Hyun-soo turned his head and looked at the mansion.

Now, the two of them would probably meet. The final process of washing away the old Assembly and creating a new one was now beginning.