Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 899

‘What the hell is that?’

Lee Myung-hwan’s eyes widened as if they would tear. Even in this urgent situation, he stopped moving.

Seeing him freeze, the person next to him, who was about to shout, also stopped and looked up with Lee Myung-hwan.

Then they stared.

Blankly.

At the tremendous phenomenon unfolding before their eyes.

“Th-that’s…”

Lee Myung-hwan gritted his teeth.

The deck was awash in black flames. But Lee Myung-hwan knew it wasn’t fire.

Magi [a type of spiritual energy].

That was magi.

He had seen it several times already. Kang Jin-ho’s magi swirling like flames.

The magi, dyed in such a deep black, made the darkness over the sea seem relatively bright. A darkness so thick and dense it felt like being sucked in.

That deep darkness, which should have been utterly still, was swaying eerily.

His body trembled.

‘How the hell is something like that even possible?’

People see only as much as they know.

In the past, Lee Myung-hwan couldn’t even guess the level of Kang Jin-ho’s martial arts. He had no understanding of masters, nor of magi.

He could only vaguely assume that Kang Jin-ho was overwhelmingly strong.

But now, he was different from the past.

As he learned magi, his understanding of it deepened, and he became incomparably stronger than before. Therefore, he could see a little more than he used to.

He could now understand, even with his mind, how terrifying those black flames were.

‘Qi? No, that’s not qi [life force or energy] or anything like that.’

No qi in the world could have such activity. It was a level he couldn’t even fathom. Something in the realm of superhumans, beyond mere mortals.

Crack, crack!

The flames seemed alive.

The flames overflowing from the deck bent and broke the railings. And as if that wasn’t enough, they now seemed poised to swallow the entire ship.

‘Th-that…?’

Creak!

The edges of the steel ship warped. Now, it was so horribly mangled that one couldn’t even guess what it looked like originally.

He couldn’t understand it.

Lee Myung-hwan was also a martial artist, a magi user. But the scene before his eyes was beyond what ‘martial arts’ or ‘magi’ could show.

Of course, Lee Myung-hwan could do it too.

He could easily bend the railings and edges of the ship. He could punch, break, and push them with his fists. But this was on a different level.

A grown man can lift another person. It’s not that difficult. But no one can lift people with a single finger while sitting still.

The important thing was ‘how’.

To devastate the surroundings just with the energy flowing out was not something a human could do. It was beyond human capability.

The person doing this was none other than Kang Jin-ho. His lord and his master. If Kang Jin-ho was strong, Lee Myung-hwan should be happier than anyone.

But Lee Myung-hwan wasn’t happy now. He couldn’t be. If anyone was happy seeing that, they couldn’t be called human.

“Crazy.”

The battle had stopped before they knew it.

Even though they were fighting, everyone here was a martial artist. They couldn’t ignore the tremendous display of power unfolding above their heads.

They just stared blankly at the scene. There was no friend or foe, no allies or enemies.

They could only tremble, as if their souls had been stolen by the oppression of a power they had never seen before.

Dozens of meteors.

Dozens of meteors soared up as if to oppose the black flames. Then, they fell towards the flames.

But in Lee Myung-hwan’s eyes, it was just a futile struggle.

And as expected.

Before he could even form a thought, the black flames surged and swallowed the blue meteors whole.

KWA-AAAAAANG!

“Uwaaaah!”

“Wh-what!”

The impact engulfed the world.

With a deafening roar, the ship and the sea shook as if they had encountered a storm. The sky and sea flipped, and the sea surged upwards into the sky.

Lee Myung-hwan gripped the ship’s railing tightly.

What support could this small ship be against such shaking, but it was a hundred times better than having nothing to hold onto.

It swayed.

It surged.

The ship was like a giant shaker in the hands of a bartender. Lee Myung-hwan was shaken like ice in the shaker.

“Aaaah!”

“S-save me!”

If those on the ship were like this, what about those in the sea?

Those who had lost their sense of direction after being plunged into the water disappeared from the surface.

Once you lose your direction in the water, it’s over. Moreover, they didn’t even have light to tell them which way was up. It was impossible to rise with buoyancy. The sea was raging madly.

“Kuh…”

Lee Myung-hwan trembled as he gripped the railing tightly.

“Damn it, can this ship even withstand this impact…”

Screeeeeeeech!

Lee Myung-hwan’s eyes shook.

“Hey, you damn bastard! I told you not to run your mouth!”

“Ah, no, I didn’t…”

“Seriously! You’re no help at all!”

The drenched Magi, soaked by the spray, cursed at Lee Myung-hwan.

But Lee Myung-hwan couldn’t even argue and shut his mouth. He had no choice because, no sooner had Lee Myung-hwan finished speaking, the passenger ship was clearly tilting to the side in their eyes.

‘W-wait, that… wasn’t it already sinking a bit?’

Because the surface of the water was so turbulent, it wasn’t clear, but the deck felt like it was lower than it was when they first saw it.

“It’s, it’s sinking!”

“Damn it!”

Keeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

A sound like massive steel twisting echoed across the sea.

“Do something, you idiot!”

“…What nonsense are you spouting?” What was he supposed to do here?

Faced with this unexpected situation, all he could do was panic.

Once a ship that size starts to capsize, there’s nothing a human can do. No matter who came, it would be the same.

It was at that moment.

“Oooooooooooooh!”

A massive roar. A deafening roar that seemed to shake the very soul echoed in their ears.

Then…

KWA-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-SH!

The sea split in two.

For a brief moment, Lee Myung-hwan clearly saw the scene. An enormous force pressed down on the sea, blasting out in a straight line. The water was pushed aside, splitting apart.

It was as if Moses was parting the Red Sea; the ocean was truly dividing.

Those caught in the blast were flung left and right without even a scream. It looked like a giant tunnel had formed through the sea.

“Get a grip!”

A loud voice.

‘Is that Bator-nim [a respectful title]?’

“You morons!”

At that moment, a sharp voice came from behind.

“What are you doing! Stop paying attention to useless things and get those bastards off the ship!”

It was Lee Hyun-soo.

Lee Hyun-soo, who was bleeding from his forehead, probably from rolling on the deck, was yelling and cursing at the top of his lungs.

Thanks to the sudden barrage of curses, he snapped back to his senses.

Whether the ship sank or not, it didn’t matter. What they had to do was protect the ship they were on right now.

“Hyaaaah!”

Lee Myung-hwan unleashed a wind strike, sending the Japanese samurai clinging to the ship flying. The unexpected blow sent them falling off the ship like leaves in a storm.

“Hold your positions! Hold on!”

Lee Myung-hwan yelled loudly as he clung to the railing. Then, he glanced back at the sinking passenger ship.

‘I hope the Guild Leader is alright?’

He knew it was absurd to worry about that person. But still, he couldn’t help but worry.

Lee Myung-hwan looked up at the ship.

The slowly sinking ship was clearly etched in his eyes.

米 米 米

Everything was over.

It ended a little more anticlimactically than he had expected.

Nakata Yuji stared blankly at the deck.

There was nothing left.

The only thing remaining was a man standing alone on the blood-soaked deck.

Kang Jin-ho.

With his swords hanging loosely in his hands, he quietly raised his head and gazed at the night sky.

As if nothing had happened.

If it weren’t for the swords in his hands, no one would think that he was the one who had just fought a fierce battle.

He was relaxed.

Nakata Yuji chuckled.

Yes, that was a strong person.

A strong person was nothing special. They were strong because they could afford to be more relaxed than others. This battlefield, which felt like hell to Nakata Yuji, was probably no different from a garden in front of his house to that man.

Because there was no threat.

The Amwol Clan members who had risked their lives to attack him a moment ago were no different from annoying flies buzzing around in a garden to Kang Jin-ho.

‘At least they should have been bees.’

Thirty bees would be threatening enough. But they weren’t even bees.

They were all dead.

So futile.

If he had seen blood splattering and flesh tearing before his eyes, he wouldn’t feel like this now. But the only thing Nakata Yuji had seen was Kang Jin-ho’s black flames swallowing the Amwol Clan members as they fell like meteors.

And then, nothing was left.

If he hadn’t seen it from the beginning, he wouldn’t even know that the Amwol Clan members had been there. It was such a futile death.

Where did it all go wrong?

Nakata Yuji also knew. The world doesn’t always go as planned. No matter how perfectly a plan is made, it can fail.

Nakata Yuji wasn’t 100% confident of success before this expedition. He thought that the odds of success were overwhelmingly high, but that it could fail at any time.

Yes, they failed.

They were defeated.

That fact wasn’t a big deal.

But there were levels to failure. Such a miserable defeat didn’t exist in Nakata Yuji’s mind. This was a rout that couldn’t be explained by the word ‘defeat’.

Why…

Why did it turn out like this?

Why?

There could be many reasons. But the biggest reason was too obvious.

That reason was lowering its head now.

And then, it looked directly at Nakata Yuji.

“Huh…”

A hollow laugh escaped Nakata Yuji’s lips.

Ordinary.

That was Nakata Yuji’s impression of Kang Jin-ho now. It was hard to call the young man holding swords in both hands ordinary, but considering his appearance just a moment ago, he looked too ordinary.

The sense of incongruity.

Nakata Yuji covered his mouth at the sense of incongruity that was turning his stomach.

And then…

Step.

Kang Jin-ho slowly walked towards Nakata Yuji. He walked leisurely across the already tilted ship as if it were flat ground.

Kang Jin-ho, meeting Nakata Yuji’s trembling gaze, quietly opened his mouth.