Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 884

The way humans understand their surroundings and situations is simpler than one might think.

Humans perceive the world through their five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

They receive information about the world through these senses and send it to the brain for analysis. Through this process, humans determine their situation.

However, Masayoshi realized his body wasn’t properly performing this process.

It was strange.

He was clearly seeing with his eyes, hearing with his ears, and feeling with his skin.

His eyes clearly saw the enemy approaching and cutting down his allies, and his ears accurately heard the sounds of people being sliced and their screams.

His body was directly feeling this brutal atmosphere; even his sense of smell was overwhelmed by the reek of blood.

Yet, it wasn’t being interpreted.

Four out of the five senses, or rather, considering the sticky taste of blood in his mouth, all five senses were working diligently, but his brain couldn’t process the information.

Because he couldn’t understand it.

Can you interpret everything you see?

If buildings suddenly started floating into the air before your eyes, and water began to rise from below, would you accept that as fact?

You would doubt your eyes.

The information humans confirm through their senses is transmitted to the brain and goes through a filter. That filter is common sense.

But Masayoshi wasn’t fully carrying out that process.

The information he saw and heard was too clear, but it didn’t align with his brain’s common sense.

So, how could he interpret this situation?

‘This can’t be happening.’

Who were they?

The samurai of the Great Japanese Empire.

The pride he held wasn’t mere arrogance. Although they couldn’t compare to that damned China, Japan was a globally recognized powerhouse in the martial world.

In the visible world, Japan was an advanced and powerful nation, but its position in the martial world far surpassed that of the visible Japan.

It was only because they were in East Asia, right next to China, that their strength wasn’t apparent. If Japan were a country in Europe, it would have been recognized as a powerhouse capable of competing with the European Union.

And the people on this ship were martial artists carefully selected from within Japan.

They were an expeditionary force created by drawing the elite from the various factions in Kansai [a region in Japan].

Korea?

When Masayoshi learned that this ship was heading to Korea, he thought it was an excessive deployment of forces.

He thought that with this many people, they could take on a faction in China, but it was just Korea.

The forces gathered here were far too powerful to deal with the likes of Korea.

That was Masayoshi’s thought until just a moment ago.

And that thought didn’t change even when those lunatics boarded the ship.

There were many lunatics in the world.

What was so strange about having four of them in Korea?

But Masayoshi now had to admit he was wrong.

No, he couldn’t say he was wrong.

It was clear they were lunatics. The problem was that they weren’t just any lunatics.

“Ugh…”

“Cough!”

The screams weren’t loud.

The sword wielded by that crimson figure was too precise and concise.

It was strange to watch.

The sword was swung in an obvious trajectory. It was obvious it would be swung that way, and it was obvious where it was aiming. But no one could stop it.

Was it because they were too strong?

That wasn’t it either.

Watching from behind, it seemed like his comrades were offering their necks to the sword wielded by that Kang Jin-ho or whatever his name was.

It was like when Kang Jin-ho swung his sword, some of them would stretch their necks out, as if they were trying to cut their own throats. It was an absurd sight that kept catching his eye.

Thud.

A head soared into the sky.

Masayoshi’s body trembled.

His mind couldn’t understand this situation, but his body understood it all too clearly. Even though his mind hadn’t made a judgment, his body was trembling like an aspen, moving backward, and further backward.

He shouldn’t face them.

He shouldn’t engage them.

He had never once thought he would run away from death.

The martial world was such a place.

Those who run away eventually die. The only ones who survive are those who fight to the end and enforce their will. Masayoshi had made that his creed.

It was because he had upheld that creed that he was recognized as an elite and was able to become stronger.

But….

This was on a different level.

Look.

At that man.

That man covered in blood, cutting down people. Every time his bloodshot eyes were glimpsed through his fallen hair, it felt like his heart would stop.

He was smiling.

His eyes were indifferent, but his lips couldn’t hide his smile. Under his upturned lips, his pearly white teeth were occasionally visible.

That was a beast.

Or maybe a demon.

At the very least, he wasn’t the kind of being you could call human.

Pride and will only had meaning when the opponent was human. Just as humans don’t assert their pride against gods, humans don’t demand understanding from beasts.

‘How…’

Four.

There were only four of them.

And only two of them were actively fighting.

The two at the front.

Kang Jin-ho, the head of the alliance, and a monster who was a little behind him, swinging his arms like a giant from mythology.

Yes, just two.

Those two were pushing back the entire expeditionary force. Not just pushing them back. One was cutting humans into pieces, and the other was crushing them whole.

Even if you put a person in a large mortar and pounded them, you wouldn’t be able to crush them like the corpses that giant was creating.

Just two.

Those two were turning this ship into hell.

‘How could this possibly be happening?’

He couldn’t understand it. He couldn’t accept it. But it was happening right before his eyes.

While his brain was desperately trying to accept what was happening, Kang Jin-ho and Bator were advancing, turning the humans between them and Masayoshi into corpses.

Nothing worked.

A desperate quick draw was easily cut down by Kang Jin-ho’s swinging sword. Japanese swords that touched Bator’s body were breaking like reeds. Those who dug in like shadows became shadows and never rose from the floor again. The throwing stars they launched returned and lodged themselves in the mouths of those who threw them.

Irresistible.

Could there be a moment when that word was more fitting?

No matter how hard they tried, a pack of rabbits was just a pack of rabbits. They couldn’t handle a single wolf. The people on this ship were just rabbits.

And those guys were beasts.

The moment he realized that fact, Masayoshi knew what he had to do.

What should a rabbit do when it meets a wolf?

‘R-Run away…’

His mind, which had been in a panic, finally issued a screaming command to his body.

Run away.

He had to run away.

He couldn’t be caught by those monsters, those demons.

But where to?

Where could he run to on a ship floating on the vast ocean?

“Aaaaaaah!”

Masayoshi screamed and turned his body.

Where should he run to?

What kind of stupid question was that? Of course, it was the sea.

If you jumped into the vast ocean, you would almost certainly die. Unless you were blessed by heaven, you wouldn’t survive. Unless you were rescued by a passing ship or drifted to land by the currents, you would never survive.

But couldn’t he at least hope for that blessing?

There was no blessing here.

This was a space ruled by demons. It wasn’t a place where the luck given by heaven could work. If he had to choose between certain death and almost certain death, wasn’t it obvious what he should choose?

Masayoshi’s body turned stiffly.

His mind and body were separate. Unlike his mind, which was vehemently urging him to move, run, and escape, his body wasn’t carrying out his mind’s commands as smoothly as usual.

His whole body felt stiff. Like a wooden block.

“Hh… Hh…”

He had to run away.

If his body wouldn’t move, he had to crawl out of here. Otherwise, they would soon spot him.

Then, the only thing that awaited him was one thing.

Death.

The word death, which he had never feared, was approaching his reality.

Fear of death?

‘Yes, I’m scared.’

He was scared. He was so scared.

Death was scary. But what was even scarier was that his death would be meaningless.

The only value his death would have was to make them swing their arms or slash their swords one more time.

What kind of dog’s death was this?

‘I shouldn’t have come.’

And he shouldn’t have boarded.

He shouldn’t have boarded this ship. If not, the moment they boarded this ship, he should have jumped into the sea without thinking.

The moment of hesitation that prevented him from doing that was now dragging him into hell.

‘P-Please…’

He ran.

It seemed that others had the same thought as him. They didn’t intend to exchange their lives for something like that. They were all turning their bodies and running to get off the deck.

Then they got tangled up.

Those who hadn’t yet accepted the situation from the back weren’t opening the way. And those who were terrified in the front were trying to run back.

The urgent minds and terrified brains created an accident.

“Aaaaaah! Get out of the way, you bastards! Get out of the way!”

“Killll!”

The swung sword pierced a comrade’s stomach and struck an ally’s neck.

Those who were attacked without knowing what was going on fell to the ground in disbelief.

Hell.

A literal hellscape was unfolding. Even a demon would shake its head if it boarded this ship.

And….

“Hoo.”

Masayoshi’s body froze in place.

A low breath.

It was nothing, just a breath. But to Masayoshi’s ears, that breath sounded like a hungry tiger growling at its prey.

At the same time, he sensed it.

His fate.

Masayoshi’s mind held onto one last hope.

Wouldn’t they spare him?

Perhaps this man was also someone who upheld the way of the warrior, and wouldn’t cut down an opponent who showed his back? Wouldn’t he give him a chance to run away….

Thud.

Masayoshi’s thoughts stopped.

He felt a tingling pain in his neck, and then everything stopped.

After that, a voice that was too clear to match his fading consciousness reached his ears.

“Too late.”

Yes, it was too late.

Too… too late.