Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 756

“He is in surgery.”

“Is his life in danger?”

“…I’m not sure exactly, but Wiggins told us to rest assured.”

Only then did Bator slump down on the spot.

Lee Hyun-soo could clearly feel the strength draining from his body.

“I see.”

Bator let out a heavy sigh. His large body seemed to heave.

“If that’s what he said…”

“You mean we can trust him?”

Bator’s head turned. He saw Wiggins approaching them.

“Damn it, who knew I’d be glad to see that shameless face.”

Bator, who was about to say something glib, shut his mouth. His gaze was fixed on Wiggins’ empty sleeve.

“…Your arm?”

“I gave it as a gift.”

“To the Crimson King?”

“No one else would dare to receive my arm as a gift. Only the Crimson King is worthy of such a precious thing, don’t you think?”

Bator bit his lip.

After staring at Wiggins silently for a while, Bator spat out, “You didn’t have to prove your loyalty like that.”

“I didn’t know either. That I would prove myself this way. It was a stupid thing to do, but people can’t always be smart.”

Bator could only chuckle.

He was wary of Wiggins. Because he was someone who didn’t show his true intentions. For someone of his status to follow Kang Jin-ho without any reason was beyond his understanding. He thought there must be some other motive.

But at this moment, that thought was shattered.

He didn’t think Wiggins would have a goal that required him to give up his own arm.

“You moron…”

Wiggins smiled faintly, noticing the concern in Bator’s curse.

“It’s a good deal.”

“A good deal?”

“It will be inconvenient without an arm, but won’t the Lord trust and value me more because of this? When an old fox entrusts himself to a lion, he has to offer a leg as a snack.”

“You’re crazy.”

Bator shook his head.

He always thought he was a sly one, but he was making jokes like that even while bleeding. He was truly a repulsive guy.

“Still…”

“Yes?”

“…Good work.”

This time, Wiggins didn’t say anything more and simply bowed his head lightly. Sincerity should be received with sincerity.

“What’s the situation?”

Bator’s gaze turned to Lee Hyun-soo.

With Kang Jin-ho unconscious, Bator was the one who had to lead everyone. Bator was also aware of this fact, so he was desperately trying to stay conscious despite his broken body.

“For now, there are no pursuers in sight. We are heading to Korea without any problems.”

“Chai Ke-chang is not one to give up.”

“We will move as quickly as possible for now.”

“…”

Bator could only nod. He couldn’t do anything on the sea, unlike on land. And he didn’t know what they would do.

‘Even the Crimson King wouldn’t dare to invade another country’s territorial waters.’

There was a limit to how much the powerful could hide their existence. If it escalated into an international issue, there would definitely be problems.

So, they wouldn’t go that far.

In reality, Chai Ke-chang was planning to kill Kang Jin-ho no matter what, regardless of diplomatic issues, and had only given up because he had no way to do so. But at this moment, Bator couldn’t know that.

“Tell them to keep watch around us.”

“In this sea?”

“If I were Chai Ke-chang, I would pick some guys willing to die and make holes in the ship. That would be better than doing nothing.”

“I will keep watch.”

“…”

Bator turned to Jang Min.

“The management of the Mado…”

“You don’t have to worry about it.”

After giving rough instructions, Bator leaned against the wall and collapsed.

“Then, from now on, the command…”

Bator’s gaze turned to Wiggins.

Wiggins smiled faintly.

“Just because I lost an arm doesn’t mean I can’t talk.”

“Hmph.”

Bator slowly closed his eyes. As he lost consciousness and collapsed, everyone sighed.

Of the three people leading the General Assembly, Kang Jin-ho was in the operating room, and Bator had lost consciousness due to his injuries. Only Wiggins was still conscious despite losing an arm.

The current scene clearly showed how terrible the war had been.

“It was long.”

Wiggins also leaned against the bow, clutching his throbbing shoulder.

“It’s not over yet.”

“Knowing that is enough. From now on, whether we can safely reach Korea depends on you. Bator is not in his right mind, and I am not in good shape either. If we are caught, we will all die. Do you understand?”

“Yes!”

As Lee Hyun-soo nodded with a firm expression, Wiggins smiled.

“Now you look reliable.”

“I will organize the deck.”

“I’ll be in the captain’s cabin. I’m counting on you.”

“Yes!”

As Lee Hyun-soo began to move decisively, Wiggins turned away without hesitation.

The Crimson King’s attack didn’t just take his arm. His insides were completely shattered. If someone were to target him now, Wiggins would have no choice but to offer his neck to be killed.

‘He was a monster.’

The Crimson King he faced was indeed a monster. Even after being in that state, he didn’t destroy Wiggins with one blow.

If he were an ordinary martial artist, it would have been difficult to survive with such injuries. To have such power even with such injuries…

‘But we are monsters too.’

There was also a monster on their side who had made that monster look like that. Wiggins curled up the corners of his mouth as he thought about that fact.

He hadn’t been able to watch the whole situation. Kang Jin-ho had been left alone there. But in the last moment, the Crimson King had tried to kill Kang Jin-ho even at the cost of his own life. The fact that the Crimson King considered Kang Jin-ho such a threat meant quite a lot.

“It was a cheap price.”

Wiggins pressed his shoulder.

Lee Hyun-soo was running around like a ghost.

Just because everyone was on board didn’t mean the problem was completely solved. Lee Hyun-soo had to take this ship to Korea. The Coast Guard was not so incompetent that they would just stand by while an unidentified ship full of people approached Korea.

Lee Hyun-soo yelled at and kicked the slow-moving Mado, pushing them into the containers.

‘Damn it.’

Stacking the loaded containers was not difficult. The problem was that people couldn’t ride in the stacked containers. So, they had to stack them while securing the entrances of the containers, which resulted in a ship that looked suspicious to anyone.

Taking this ship into territorial waters with people swarming on it?

It was the worst.

He had bribed some people, but he couldn’t rely on that alone. There were surprisingly many people in the world who were unnecessarily full of a sense of justice and willing to risk their lives for their duty.

Lee Hyun-soo was desperate to avoid being caught by even one of them.

The three heads leading the General Assembly were not all in their right minds. If a problem arose at this time, they could suffer a terrible fate.

“Climb up, you bastards!”

“Huh…”

The Mado looked at the Korean martial artist yelling at them with a dumbfounded expression.

It would be less unfair if the opponent was strong, but who wouldn’t be angry when a guy they could kill in three seconds was scowling and cursing at them?

But their complaints quickly subsided.

“Climb up right now! Right now!”

The elders, led by Jang Min, ran around, controlling the Mado. It was a situation where they had no choice but to obey, even if it was dirty and annoying. Besides, the guy who had brought the ship under the Demon Sovereign’s orders was not someone to be trifled with.

“Hoo.”

Lee Hyun-soo, who had barely managed to load all the Mado into the containers, took out a cigarette with trembling hands.

‘Damn it.’

The sun had risen.

Lee Hyun-soo couldn’t help but frown as he looked at the brightly lit world. Originally, they should have reached the Korean coast before sunrise. Then, they were planning to secretly swim into Korea.

But if the sun had risen like this, they couldn’t push a large number of people into the pier.

‘I’ll have to wait for now.’

If docking was impossible, and dropping off was impossible… then they had no choice but to wait. They would have to spend about a day in this state, and then move secretly again when the sun went down.

His heart was impatient, but the more urgent it was, the more he had to take a detour. If he did something in a hurry, there would definitely be problems.

Fortunately, they had registered the ship as a cargo ship for processing, and they had even scheduled a pier docking, so waiting at sea for a day wouldn’t raise any suspicion.

At that moment, someone ran to him.

“How is he?”

“They say he’s stabilizing.”

“…I see.”

The moment he heard those words, his legs gave way.

‘Stabilizing, huh…’

Lee Hyun-soo took the cigarette out of his mouth with his left hand and rubbed his face hard with his right hand.

After covering his face like that for a while, Lee Hyun-soo opened his mouth.

“Okay. Keep me updated on the situation.”

“Yes.”

Left alone, Lee Hyun-soo threw the half-burnt cigarette into the sea and took out a new cigarette and put it in his mouth.

Click, click.

The sea breeze prevented him from lighting the cigarette, but Lee Hyun-soo finally lit it and took a deep drag.

As Kang Jin-ho’s safety was secured, the thoughts he had been suppressing came to mind.

The thoughts he had tried not to have, but couldn’t avoid.

“You useless fools.”

It was something he couldn’t force.

Something no one could order.

But those bastards had volunteered to go to their deaths.

Lee Hyun-soo, who had sent countless subordinates to hell and profited from it, had never felt so heavy-hearted about a death as he did now.

The gains were too great compared to what they had given up, and even though they had volunteered, why was his heart so heavy?

“Hoo.”

Lee Hyun-soo, who had taken a deep drag of his cigarette, stared at the sea with a slightly dazed look.

“Damn it…”

His mouth kept feeling bitter, perhaps because of the cigarette.

He wouldn’t even be able to recover their bodies.

What were they thinking as they died?

The sacrifice for a greater cause was something he could never understand. A greater cause only had meaning when he could enjoy it.

To choose death for a future they wouldn’t be able to enjoy, it was something Lee Hyun-soo couldn’t even imagine.

Stupid. Foolish.

But…

Lee Hyun-soo took out a cigarette. He flicked the cigarette he had in his mouth and lit another cigarette, throwing the long butt into the sea.

Another one.

Another one.

Lee Hyun-soo, who had thrown as many cigarettes into the sea as the number of those who had not returned from China, closed his eyes quietly.

He didn’t deserve to mourn them, but he could at least give them a cigarette.

“You morons.”

Lee Hyun-soo turned and walked towards the captain’s cabin.

He had roughly sorted out the situation, so he had to report it.

Lee Hyun-soo’s back, as he turned away without hesitation, looked a little heavier than usual.