Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 701

“He wouldn’t be that stupid.”

Kang Jin-ho’s words were shattering Morikawa Atsushi’s mind.

Sent to die?

Here?

That couldn’t be.

Everything this guy was saying was wrong from start to finish.

He had come here under Nakata Yuji’s orders. And he was Nakata Yuji’s loyal subordinate.

So why would Nakata Yuji send him to his death?

And…

‘Five hundred. It’s five hundred!’

They were supposed to have a thousand warriors coming. In the end, only five hundred had made it, but a thousand were supposed to come.

So, was the plan to use a thousand as sacrifices?

That’s absurd.

No sane person would do such a crazy thing. No one would scheme something while using a thousand of their own as sacrifices.

So, this guy’s words could never be reality. They were just the delusions of a madman.

But…

What was this feeling?

His mind was screaming no, but why was his heart filled with anger and resentment?

Those words were just lies, just a misunderstanding…

“Hmph!”

Even so, Morikawa Atsushi twisted his whole body.

That couldn’t be. It absolutely couldn’t be.

Why would he use the loyal subordinate who served him as a sacrifice? What would he gain from it?

His mind was filled with confusion.

Then, Kang Jin-ho’s voice pierced his ears.

“I hope your sacrifice was worth it.”

There was a hint of laughter in his voice.

The moment he heard those words, the strength drained from Morikawa Atsushi’s entire body.

That couldn’t be?

He knew the truth.

If Nakata Yuji understood Kang Jin-ho’s strength, then the sacrifice of five hundred was nothing. Even the sacrifice of a thousand would be nothing.

If sacrificing a thousand could capture Kang Jin-ho, it would be a profitable deal.

And Nakata Yuji was the kind of person who would carry out such a plan without hesitation. He was someone who would calmly do unimaginable things.

Until now, those plans had been used to prevent war.

Realizing that, he could no longer resist.

Was this a worthwhile sacrifice?

Could Japan move forward based on this sacrifice?

“No, no.”

Kang Jin-ho pulled Morikawa Atsushi closer. Putting his mouth to his ear, Kang Jin-ho whispered softly, like a devil.

“There’s no such thing as a worthwhile sacrifice. That worth belongs to someone else. You’re just dying. The benefits gained from your death will never be yours. Since you’re about to die, understand this clearly. Death is just death. A dog’s death, a sacrifice, suicide… they’re all just death. You don’t need to think about their meaning. Meaning belongs to those who are left behind.”

His words tore through his heart.

“And if I were to tell you one more thing…”

Kang Jin-ho growled.

“You probably already know, your death is worthless.”

A sneer escaped him.

Morikawa Atsushi’s body trembled.

Yes.

He knew.

He had already known the truth.

Even if Nakata Yuji had sacrificed them, even if he had pushed five hundred lives into a death trap and schemed something…

This guy’s death was unimaginable.

An inevitable failure.

The inevitable failure that would turn five hundred lives into dog deaths was clear in his eyes.

“I… I…”

So, he had to speak.

So.

He had to prove that it wasn’t a dog’s death. Morikawa Atsushi shouted desperately.

“I am!”

Thud.

But his voice couldn’t continue.

With a sound like a ripe watermelon breaking, Morikawa Atsushi’s headless body collapsed to the floor.

Kang Jin-ho slowly lowered his hand.

No matter what circumstances the opponent had, it was none of his concern. It wasn’t something to consider.

Those who attacked him would die.

That was the one and only rule Kang Jin-ho had followed since he began learning martial arts.

And the remaining ones were the same.

Kwaaaang!

Bator was rampaging like a madman.

Having received the order, Bator took carrying out the order as his top priority.

In the past, Bator had been composed even during battle, and had his own sense of aesthetics.

But now, Bator was like a killing machine that existed only to destroy everything in front of him.

“Heh…”

A suppressed laugh escaped him.

Right.

This was China.

There were no annoying people watching, no one who would come running because of the explosions, just a quiet outskirts of China.

He felt something breaking inside his heart.

At the same time, demonic energy flowed out of Kang Jin-ho’s body in streams.

“Huuuuh.”

It was shocking.

The one with the body of a god was sweeping away everything in front of him.

He wasn’t human. Yes, that wasn’t human.

The sword that cut through steel like paper broke like a reed the moment it touched a human body. The fist filled with inner force [a martial arts concept referring to internal energy], the moment it struck Bator’s body, was being repelled and crushed.

‘How are we supposed to fight him?’

They could be strong.

There were many strong opponents. But none of them had brought such despair.

No attack worked.

A strike with all their might couldn’t even make a scratch.

What were they supposed to do against such an enemy?

The reason a novice can fight an expert is because of the belief that even an expert is human and can be stabbed by a sword. The probability of that sword reaching the expert’s body is extremely low, but if they were lucky, they could land a blow, and that expectation keeps the novice from backing down.

But what about that guy?

What could they do against an extreme defense that broke a sword swung with all their might?

Realistically, they shouldn’t be swinging swords right now, but should be running to the nearest military base and bringing a tank. Of course, whether the anti-tank gun fired from the tank could pierce that crazy guy’s body was still questionable, but it would be a hundred times better than a human made of flesh and blood running at him with a metal stick.

But what if they couldn’t do that?

They had to run.

Right now!

Thwoom!

The car that Bator had hit with his elbow spun around, sweeping away everything around it.

If this were a game, they would have cursed the physics engine for bugging out. If gravity and friction were working normally, no matter how much force was applied, a car wouldn’t fly around like a toy.

The absurd thing was that this wasn’t a world inside a game, but a cold reality. Something that wouldn’t happen even in a game was happening in reality.

‘Everyone is going to die.’

Around this time, everyone began to realize.

They couldn’t win.

They could never kill him.

This was recklessness.

If they were dealing with a lizard, maybe a few hundred frogs could do it. But even if a thousand frogs gathered, they couldn’t kill an anaconda.

It would just be a competition of who gets eaten first.

“Press him down! Now!”

But the frogs’ struggle didn’t stop.

The warriors, realizing that attacks were useless, threw away their swords and charged. They grabbed his waist, his head, his arms, and his legs, clinging to him.

In an instant, dozens of warriors were clinging to Bator. They jumped on top of him, pouring their inner force down.

They weren’t just pressing down with their weight. They were all pouring out their inner force with the determination to die. A normal warrior wouldn’t be able to withstand that force and would be crushed flat.

But Bator wasn’t a normal warrior.

“Hmph!”

With a low shout, Bator’s body twitched. From within the huge mound of people, Bator’s large hand reached out and grabbed something.

A leg.

Bator, having grabbed someone’s leg, swung what he had in his hand with force.

Thwack! Thwack!

It sounded like hitting wet laundry with a washboard.

If they knew that sound was made by the collision of humans with humans, they wouldn’t be able to stop the goosebumps from rising.

Bator roared like a madman.

He grabbed everything he could and swung it.

He kicked away everything that got in his way.

He headbutted and crushed with his elbows.

It seemed that Bator knew better than anyone that his body was a weapon.

There was no formality, no style.

He just grabbed, threw, swung, and kicked.

And the warriors who had trained in martial arts for decades were being helplessly destroyed by those haphazard attacks.

‘I have to run.’

This wasn’t it.

This wasn’t the picture they had drawn.

Never retreat in battle?

Bullshit!

Not retreating in battle and charging knowing it’s a dog’s death are completely different things.

If there was something to gain from a battle without retreat, they would accept death. But what could they gain from this battle? If they didn’t retreat, they would just die sooner. If there were people who talked about never retreating in this situation, they should have a fist shoved into their mouths.

“R-run! Run now!”

Shouts were heard from all directions. Similar thoughts at similar times. It was a thought that any human should have.

But they had to know.

That Bator wasn’t the only one here.

Grrrrrrr.

That sound was very unfamiliar and alien.

It was a sound they seemed to have heard somewhere, but had never heard before. It was a grating sound that created a discordant dissonance in the harmony of the many sounds that filled the world.

Their heads turned.

Instinctively.

And those who turned their heads saw it.

A huge flame blazing.

A black flame.

A black burning flame… no, something alien that was a little different from a flame.

A darkness as black as pitch, so black that it felt strange, flickered like a flame. A black flame, as thick and sticky as tar, rose like a small mountain.

And then…

A blood-red glint.

It was too small compared to the mountain-like flame of demonic energy. But strangely, everyone could see that glint. So clearly.

And then they realized.

What that gaze meant.

That was death.

If death had a form, it would look just like that. Something that could never be avoided, never compromised with, and something that they could only pray to when they faced it.

Wasn’t that death?

In that sense, nothing was more fitting to be called death than that form.

Because everyone felt death the moment they saw that black flame. A death that could never be avoided.

Death was slowly approaching them.

It wasn’t just them who stopped at that shocking sight. Even Bator, who had been rampaging like a mad bear, was speechless as he stared at the scene.

And finally…

It moved.

The huge demonic energy that had been covering Kang Jin-ho’s body was being spewed out towards them like a black torrent from a burst dam.

Even the moon, which had been looking down, trembled in fear and hid behind the clouds.

The Demon Lord.

It was the moment when the Demon Lord, who would shake the world, finally revealed his true form to the world.