Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 750

‘I have to swim!’

Joo-gang desperately moved his arms and legs.

Tears streamed from his eyes, but Joo-gang didn’t stop. It was as if he could faintly hear someone shouting from afar.

But Joo-gang didn’t stop.

Whose voice it was didn’t matter. What mattered was moving forward.

With his blurred vision, he couldn’t make out objects. All he could see were waves as big as houses constantly crashing towards him. Joo-gang took the waves head-on and moved forward, and forward again.

Was he going in the right direction?

Was he even going the right way?

Navigating the sea without a single buoy was no easy task. Each time, Joo-gang would lift his head and look at the sky.

‘That way.’

Using the constellations the elders had taught him as a guide, all he could do was swim and swim.

He had no energy left to calculate how much further he had to go, or whether he could even reach his destination with the stamina he had left.

All he could do was swim.

Desperately clinging to his half-faded consciousness, he stretched out his arm. His broken, dangling arm flailed, but he stretched it out again and again. He couldn’t even feel the pain anymore.

Joo-gang suddenly found himself ridiculous.

Had there ever been a time in his life when he had been this desperate?

He prided himself on having done his best to survive, but looking back now, his efforts were nothing to be proud of.

He hadn’t properly learned martial arts for fear of demonic energy seeping into his bone marrow, and he hadn’t even tried to use his power to the fullest.

He had just accepted the life he was given and complained.

He had believed that the Demon Lord would solve everything once he appeared, but the Demon Lord had laughed and plunged them into hell. Thanks to that, he was now standing at the crossroads of life and death.

He would die.

If he didn’t reach his destination, he would die, and if he went in the wrong direction, he would die. Even if he reached his destination, he would die if they made a mistake.

Yes, he would die.

Joo-gang slightly turned his head.

The shore was no longer visible. He had come too far. It might be the right choice to turn back now.

His stamina was rapidly depleting, and his body temperature was dropping sharply. The aftermath of the fierce battle at the pier was enough to turn this sea into a sea of hell.

It was right to go back.

Even if he continued forward, he would have to swim a similar or even greater distance. And he couldn’t be sure that survival awaited him at the end. But if he turned and swam towards the shore, life would surely be there.

So shouldn’t he go back?

Was it necessary to risk his life for an uncertain future?

“Kuh-huh.”

Joo-gang let out a low laugh and plunged his head into the sea. Then he swam forward, and forward again.

He wouldn’t go back.

I won’t go back.

The Demon Lord had commanded.

To move. To move forward.

That didn’t simply mean jumping into the sea. It meant not staying still.

Those who don’t try and don’t challenge are still even when they walk. That kind of life was enough for now.

It wasn’t because the Demon Lord was staying behind to protect them.

To risk his life to repay that loyalty?

That was ridiculous.

The reason Joo-gang was moving forward was to resist. To resist the life he had been given, to resist his own lazy self.

The moment he turned towards the shore, he would never be able to climb back up again. And he would live like a sewer rat, eating scraps of food.

That wasn’t living, even if he was alive.

Slapping the waves that crashed into his face, Joo-gang shouted.

“I waaaannna!”

The rest of the words didn’t come out.

The surging waves blocked his mouth and his throat.

But the words that would have followed were obvious.

I want to live. I want to live.

Joo-gang dipped his flowing tears into the sea and swam forward, and forward again.

His arms were losing strength.

His legs were losing strength.

He had long since lost the sensation of his body being submerged in water.

How long had he been swimming?

How much further did he have to go?

‘Was it too much?’

Logically, he knew he couldn’t reach it.

It wasn’t something to be disappointed about. It had always been like this. Had there ever been a time in his life when he had reached a goal he had set for himself?

It was a reckless thing to begin with.

How could someone who had never succeeded before succeed at the most important moment of his life? Such a dramatic life was never given to Joo-gang in the first place.

But still…

Still!

‘But I still tried, you bastards!’

He wasn’t a bug even at the last moment of his life. Joo-gang blew away his regret and sadness with that one fact.

He was sinking.

Slowly.

To the bottom, and to the bottom again.

Death shone on him with a bright light. A bright, too bright…

Joo-gang’s eyes widened.

Light?

It was getting faster.

Hong King was feeling it.

‘How can such a guy exist?’

Kang Jin-ho’s attacks were getting faster. It wasn’t that he had sacrificed power for speed. The power contained in Kang Jin-ho’s sword was also getting stronger.

It was impossible.

Humans move with stamina. And stamina is consumed as they move.

To get faster and stronger the more stamina you use?

That was something that couldn’t exist in reality.

But it existed.

And it was right in front of his eyes.

Hong King glared and gritted his teeth.

‘Am I feeling fear now? Towards a guy like this?’

It was impossible.

He was overwhelming Kang Jin-ho. On the surface, it looked like Kang Jin-ho was attacking like crazy, but that was just how it looked.

He was steadily parrying Kang Jin-ho’s attacks, but Kang Jin-ho wasn’t perfectly parrying Hong King’s counterattacks.

The damage accumulating was overwhelmingly on Kang Jin-ho’s side.

If he just dragged out the time a little longer, Kang Jin-ho would surely collapse on his own. He was pushing Hong King beyond his limits right now.

That’s what his head was telling him.

But his heart was saying something completely different.

Look.

At Kang Jin-ho, who was covered in blood and rushing at him like a vengeful spirit.

Even though his body was already a mess, Kang Jin-ho was smiling with eyes filled with killing intent and hatred as he pushed him.

He didn’t know.

This was a terrifying feeling that those who hadn’t experienced it couldn’t even imagine.

‘What the hell is he!’

Hong King gave up.

It was impossible to subdue this guy without getting hurt. No, he had already been hurt enough. There was no face left to save. Then he had to bring this guy down for sure. Even if he had to throw away his pride.

Hong King’s right hand parried Kang Jin-ho’s Red Dew [a sword imbued with demonic energy]. He felt like his right hand was being pierced, but he didn’t feel any pain. Hong King was too excited to feel pain.

“Kang Jin-hooooooooo!”

Hong King’s blow exploded on Kang Jin-ho’s chest.

A heavy feeling.

A perfect sensation.

But Hong King didn’t feel any pleasure from that sensation. Only the relief that he had finally brought down this monster dominated him. As he watched Kang Jin-ho fly away like a kite with a broken string, the strength drained from Hong King’s body.

Trickle.

At the same time, blood flowed from his nose.

He was so excited that the flesh inside him had burst. Hong King wiped the blood flowing down his face with his sleeve.

‘What a mess I am!’

He looked at his body. It was a mess.

It was so bad that he couldn’t help but laugh.

His clothes were torn to shreds, and his topknot [a traditional hairstyle] was brutally cut, leaving his hair disheveled. His beard, which had grown like a beast’s, was cut in places, making it look like it had been gnawed by rats.

“Huh…”

Hong King laughed in a daze.

Had he ever experienced such a setback? Had he ever been injured like this when facing someone?

He had thought that no one but the Three Kings could dare to injure his body…

“I was arrogant.”

There was another who was equal to him.

Hong King felt both relief and regret at that fact.

‘Foolish guy.’

What if Kang Jin-ho had taken his hand?

Or if he hadn’t stepped foot on this Chinese land?

Kang Jin-ho could have changed the name that ruled the world from the Three Kings to the Four Kings.

Hong King, as one of the Three Kings, felt relieved that he had cut off that bud now, but Hong King, as a martial artist, regretted that fact.

He had felt it clearly while fighting.

This guy’s power wasn’t all he had. If he had been given a little more time, he would have become strong enough to really drive a sword into Hong King’s neck.

The fact that he had broken him before he could become such a martial artist was making Hong King’s heart complicated.

‘A foolish thought.’

If Kang Jin-ho had been given time, Hong King would have gained an opponent he could truly fight with all his might, but the world would have been filled with chaos.

He couldn’t disturb the peace of the world for his own pleasure. Hong King put aside his personal enjoyment for the sake of his cause.

Now, only one thing remained for him. Hong King’s gaze turned to the sea.

The sea was turbulent with waves in the darkness, but Hong King didn’t miss the small bubbles rising from the middle of the sea. Kang Jin-ho was there.

He would die even if he was left alone, but he had to make sure to cut off his breath.

“Hoo-woo-woo.”

Splash, splash.

His legs were already submerged in the sea.

The leisure of floating on the water and looking around was long gone. A terrible fatigue, unlike anything he had ever felt, was tormenting him.

Hong King felt both admiration and anger at that fact.

Even the other kings wouldn’t have been able to cling to Hong King like this. Rather, the outcome would have been decided cleanly, no matter who died. Only Kang Jin-ho in the world could make him look like this.

He admired that fact.

But the fact that someone who was far from his martial prowess had dared to make him look like this made him angry.

The man named Kang Jin-ho always made him feel conflicting emotions.

But that was over now.

Woo-woo-woo-oong.

Hong King gathered his energy into his right hand. The sea, where he couldn’t see an inch ahead in the darkness, instantly revealed its appearance. The sea was sparkling with light. Kang Jin-ho was inside.

And with this one blow, Kang Jin-ho’s breath would be cut off.

“Farewell!”

Hong King unleashed his blow without hesitation. He had hesitated enough. He wouldn’t hesitate anymore.

A dazzling fist energy flew towards Kang Jin-ho, who was sinking in the sea.

And at that moment!

The sea split.

Hong King didn’t understand what had happened for a moment.

The sea was splitting?

Why?

It wasn’t Hong King’s head that noticed the change, but his body.

Swoosh!

Hong King’s body, which was split from his stomach to his shoulder, spewed a fountain of blood into the sky.

Hong King’s body trembled.

The wound was fatal. But he couldn’t even think about taking care of the wound.

Something even more fatal had appeared in front of him.

Demonic energy was pushing the water away. Just like Moses parting the sea, the sea, which had been split once by God’s command, was now desperately fleeing in fear of the demon that had descended into the world.

In the middle of that split sea, the demon raised its body.

Kang Jin-ho?

No, it wasn’t.

That wasn’t Kang Jin-ho.

Hong King could tell.

That wasn’t Kang Jin-ho. That was… that wasn’t anything like Kang Jin-ho.

Something more ominous…

And more evil…

Something that couldn’t be described in words.

The sky…

The sky, which feared the demon, began to turn red.