Descent of the Demon Master

“Ehh, so…”

Lee Hyeon-Su speedily scanned the surroundings. His impression after accurately analyzing the ever-evolving situation of this battlefield remained as concise as ever.

‘Yup, it’s a total pandemonium, alright!’

Seriously, these people just couldn’t help themselves!

Kang Jin-Ho quite clearly ordered them to guard the exits. However, those people began charging into the corridors instead of staying put by their assigned spots!

“Why…!”

At least Vator's behavior was understandable. He had always been the hot-headed one, after all!

The big man was never known for being able to keep his thirst for violence under control if a fight broke out near him. And when he started walking on the path of demonic cultivation, Vator became at least ten times more impulsive and out of control!

It was unreasonable to expect such a man to stay put and kill only the enemies that came too close to the exit. So, Vator going off script didn't surprise Lee Hyeon-Su in the slightest. However, Chang Min's actions certainly did.

If Lee Hyeon-Su was being brutally honest, the image of Chang Min instilled in his mind was close to that of a court jester. Of course, he hadn’t forgotten that Chang Min was the demon cult’s elder. Not just any elder, but one that stood tall above all the other elders, no less!

However, the way Chang Min usually behaved was so comically inept that nothing about him matched the expected image of a demonic cultivator, at least in Lee Hyeon-Su’s mind.

Unfortunately, though, Lee Hyeon-Su’s idea of a demonic cultivator was largely informed by Kang Jin-Ho.

Although it was not easy to verbally explain… Once Kang Jin-Ho started circulating his demonic qi and entered the battle proper, his personality would become incredibly cruel and vicious to the point of actually becoming a devil himself.

However, Chang Min did not display any of those traits. He was way too fashion-conscious for someone at his age. Also, didn't he plant his head on the dirt first like a side character from a historical drama whenever Kang Jin-Ho said something? Or, how about his rather surprising early-adopter attitude toward the latest tech that even made Wiggins shake his head in defeat?

Not a single thing about Chang Min made others scared of him. In Lee Hyeon-Su's opinion, Wiggins or Vator was easily twice as tough to deal with as the elder of the demon cult.

If someone put a gun to Lee Hyeon-Su’s head and forced him to explain… He’d say Chang Min gave off the impression of an entertaining grandpa from next door?

But this moment taught Lee Hyeon-Su that he had badly misjudged Chang Min.

The sight of Chang Min using pitch-black demonic qi claws at least thirty centimeters long to literally rip the incoming knights apart proved why he was the demon cult's top elder and why other demonic cultivators respected him so much.

Right now, that man resembled the true demonic cultivator only found in legends!

Chang Min smirking like a madman while crimson light burned fiercely in his eyes was an unimaginable departure from his usual self that even Lee Hyeon-Su got spooked by this scene.

Chang Min was terrifying. And also… strong. Nonsensically strong!

Lee Hyeon-Su heard that Chang Min fought Vator to a standstill in the past. Vator insisted he was the winner, but the more Lee Hyeon-Su heard the story, the more convinced he got that maybe Chang Min was the real victor instead.

This event confirmed that theory in Lee Hyeon-Su's mind. Obviously, he'd never get to know what really went down in that fight. But this event confirmed that Chang Min was a top-tier expert who equaled Vator in strength and technique.

In fact, the way Chang Min rallied the demonic cultivators to slaughter the enemy was even more impactful and memorable than what Vator had managed to pull off!

‘Huh. That side obviously doesn’t need my help, so…’

Lee Hyeon-Su turned his attention to the other exit, then…

‘But why is that dude going crazy like that over there?!’

Bang Jin-Hun was supposed to be the most rational and calm person in this group. But maybe he decided today was the day he cut loose, judging from how he was going batsh*t crazy right now, with his calm and collected persona nowhere to be found!

Bang Jin-Hun had already pushed the enemy line back inside the passageway by at least ten-plus meters by now.

‘By the way… Was Director Bang always that strong?’

Lee Hyeon-Su tilted his head in confusion.

Of course, Bang Jin-Hun was one of the top martial artists in South Korea. That was true in the past, so it should still be true now, too.

Back when Lee Jung-Geol and Kim Seok-Il represented the Korean martial society, Bang Jin-Hun was ranked among the top ten in the country, wasn't he?

Considering his relatively young age, it wasn't an exaggeration to say Bang Jin-Hun would have become South Korea's number one martial artist had things stayed the same.

However, after foreign martial artists joined the Assembly, his image seemed to have morphed into a man carving out his place in the organization through his leadership qualities and years of experience instead of his strength. So, to see him like this…

‘...Wow. He is strong, isn’t he?’

Lee Hyeon-Su was given a timely reminder that, yes, Bang Jin-Hun was no pushover himself.

Even the Assembly's warriors, currently going wild alongside Director Bang Jin-Hun, were keeping up with the Chevaliers. Actually, they seemed superior in some aspects!

Of course, this group couldn't emulate other teams and failed to completely overwhelm and crush the enemy knights. Even so, they still admirably held their defensive line and successfully kept the enemy back.

They might not overwhelm the enemy, but they were also not being pushed back either. In terms of… say, successfully obstructing the enemy advancement, Bang Jin-Hun's side was producing the ideal defensive line that Lee Hyeon-Su had been dying to see. What did all this mean, though?

“Chief Lee?”

Lee Hyeon-Su responded without tearing his eyes away. “...What is it, Yi Myeong-Hwan?”

“What should we do now?”

“…” Lee Hyeon-Su turned his head ever so slightly to glance behind him before sighing softly. With Yi Myeong-Hwan in the lead, the Demon Flames were sheepishly standing there and staring back at him with expectant eyes. “...Okay, so. Can one of you fetch me some popcorn?”

Yi Myeong-Hwan yelled back. “Now’s not the time to joke around, you know!”

“My bad, but what can I do? After all, there's nothing you can do here.”

“But how is that possible?!” Yi Myeon-Hwan continued to yell, his expression one of sheer disgruntlement. “We're in the middle of a war, you know! How can there be nothing for us to do? That's complete nonsense!”

Lee Hyeon-Su groaned softly.

‘Well, that nonsense is happening for real right now. And that’s the problem for you guys, isn’t it?’

Usually, the Demon Flames were always seen as the Martial Assembly's main combat force. That was because, unlike their peers who still needed time to become stronger, the Demon Flames had received training from Kang Jin-Ho before anybody else to become the core players in the organization's combat strategies.

Naturally, it became standard practice to send the Demon Flames out first whenever the Assembly was about to fight another group.

But what about now? They somehow ended up with nothing to do while everyone was busy fighting.

Pulling the Demon Flames back was the right call since they didn't have a commander.

Other teams all boasted a clear chain of command, plus a clear understanding of the concept of reinforcement and replacement forces. However, the Demon Flames were under Kang Jin-Ho's command. He was currently busy with something else, and Yi Myeong-Hwan was still too green and unproven to be put in charge just yet.

So, the best strategy was to entrust the directors to form defensive lines, then deploy the Demon Flames appropriately to the line being pushed back by the enemy.

The problem with this arrangement was that… None of the defensive lines were being pushed back!

‘Is it because the Round Table is weaker than we thought?’

No, that didn’t seem likely. After all, this was the Round Table. Those warriors trying to enter the hall were knight orders filled with the best of the best each European nation had to offer. Such martial artists could not be a bunch of useless weaklings.

Besides, the Round Table was about to select the new Master. Since the organization's top brass wouldn't want variables spoiling the process, they must have summoned their absolute best warriors available.

So, in summary, those people were not weak at all.

‘In other words… Our side is actually strong!'

Lee Hyeon-Su finally got to see how much stronger the Martial Assembly had gotten.

Up until now, he was never given a proper chance to see the truth for himself. That was because Kang Jin-Ho wiped the battlefield clean in most of the fights up to this point, and those who managed to barely dodge him got crushed by the directors instead.

That meant the rest of the Assembly's people were left with a sundry chore like dealing with the barely alive survivors on a battlefield ransacked by Kang Jin-Ho and the directors.

No wonder Lee Hyeon-Su had zero clue about anything until now! But this event had opened Lee Hyeon-Su's eyes.

The Assembly's rank-and-file still had ways to go before earning the evaluation of “Better than their counterparts from other nations.” However, the elites definitely did not fall behind the best of the best from Europe.

Actually, they were clearly superior in some aspects!

Lee Hyeon-Su tightly clenched his fists.

Ever since Kang Jin-Ho rocked up to the scene, the number one goal everyone worked hard to reach was improving the Martial Assembly's strength. And their blood, sweat, and tears were finally paying dividends tonight.

This sense of fulfillment washing over Lee Hyeon-Su was…

“Oh, come on, sir! Just tell us what we must do!”

“Gimme a freaking break!” Lee Hyeon-Su snapped his head to the side and glared at Yi Myeong-Hwan when his thoughts were rudely interrupted. “Listen here, you numbskull! You lot having nothing to do is a good thing, okay! If you need to step up, that means the situation has gotten bad for us! Don't you understand that? Stop getting on my nerves if you haven't figured that out yet! Before I kick your ass seven ways to Sunday!”

“...Eii.” Yi Myeong-Hwan groaned and lowered his head in disappointment when Lee Hyeon-Su glared at him. Even though he could've utterly crushed the latter in less than three seconds if they were in a real fight! Only in the Assembly would someone get to witness such irony.

Lee Hyeon-Su grunted loudly. “If you’re itching for some action, why don’t you go and help out over there?”

“Go help who, sir?”

“Over there, man.” Lee Hyeon-Su pointed to the center of the hall.

“…Oh.”

Kang Jin-Ho, still completely enveloped in the pitch-black demonic qi, was busy slaughtering the Knights of the Round Table.

A strange smirk floated up on Yi Myeong-Hwan's lips as he calmly studied that spectacle. “Sir. I'd like to remain here.”

“…”

“Going over there will get us killed, you know?”

“...Then, keep your mouth shut, okay?”

“Understood, sir.”

Lee Hyeon-Su smiled wryly while looking away from Yi Myeong-Hwan and Co. “Hah. You will also get killed, eh…”

On the surface, that assertion sounded rather strange. Even though Vator- and Chang Min-led groups were trampling on the enemy right now, the fact that the Demon Flames were the Assembly's strongest combat force still remained the same.

Vator's strength, or for that matter, Chang Min's, was their own. It belonged to them and them alone. However, the Demon Flames' strength directly translated to the group's overall strength. Since that was the case, the things they could do were worlds apart from what lone individuals could achieve.

Also, Lee Hyeon-Su honestly believed the full-strength Demon Flames stood a decent chance of victory against Wiggins or Vator.

If the members of the Demon Flames decided to throw their lives away to kill Vator, there was no way the big man would emerge unscathed from the ensuing battle.

So, for such Demon Flames to die merely by joining Kang Jin-Ho’s fight? Although the idea sounded absurd…

‘...Well, it is the truth, isn’t it?’

Lee Hyeon-Su shifted his gaze and locked it on Kang Jin-Ho. He should more or less be used to Kang Jin-Ho's demonic appearance by now. After all, didn't Kang Jin-Ho always assume that freaky appearance by lifting the lid off his demonic qi reserve every time he got ready to fight?

However, some things in this world were simply impossible to get used to, no matter how often one saw them.

Lee Hyeon-Su felt his hair stand on their ends. His bowels tightened, as well. Simply staring at that devilish creature caused cold sweat to soak Lee Hyeon-Su’s back. All this… even though he knew that overwhelming, choking hostility and madness were not directed at him!

This was no longer in the realm of reason. No, it was more like a primal, instinctive response.

Lee Hyeon-Su glanced at the Knights of the Round Table next. He could tell that those men were powerful experts, too. Even someone like Lee Hyeon-Su, who lacked the discerning eye for a martial artist’s depths of strength, could see how strong they were.

That revelation should have been a no-brainer if he had thought about it for a moment, though. Wiggins might seem like a unique existence from the Assembly's point of view, but he used to be one of these Knights of the Round Table. And his strength would only be on the level of “competitive” among the Knights.

In other words, each of the Knights Kang Jin-Ho was fighting equaled Wiggins in terms of combat strength.

Considering how much the addition of Wiggins and Vator had improved the Assembly’s overall combat strength… It might not be an exaggeration to say those ten-plus Knights were strong enough to rival the Assembly and everyone in it!

Even then, Lee Hyeon-Su was not worried about Kang Jin-Ho's well-being. In fact, he was pitying the Round Table's Knights instead!

‘Sorry, but you ran into your worst nightmare today.’

Kang Jin-Ho was getting stronger even now. In a way, he was like a runaway train with malfunctioning brakes. How could mere mortals win against an incomprehensible creature like that?

All Lee Hyeon-Su could feel at this point was this swell of pity for the poor Knights having to deal with Kang Jin-Ho.

The battle over there should get wrapped up soon, and then…

‘...Huh?’

Lee Hyeon-Su’s brows rose up slightly after noticing something odd.

‘What is that man doing?’

His sharp intuition said that Leveaux was doing something rather suspicious. That French Knight was sneakily inching back while his peers were putting their lives on the line to fight Kang Jin-Ho.

‘Is he trying to escape?’

But, how? This hall was basically the inside of a cage. Since the Assembly's people were stopping the others from entering the hall, it conversely meant those on the inside could not leave, either. In that case, how would Leveaux even attempt an escape?

‘No, hang on.’

Even if escaping from here was possible, what would be the point? The death of all the Knights and the Assembly taking over the Round Table would mean game over for Leveaux, anyway. Sure, he managed to become the Master of this organization, but that didn’t mean he had morphed into the king of this place. Him safely escaping and preserving his life didn’t mean this battle would end in a draw.

Leveaux must know this, so what was he thinking of doing now?

After sneaking back for a bit more, Leveaux suddenly turned around and dashed toward the Round Table at his full speed. Wiggins saw that and rushed past Kang Jin-Ho to throw his entire body toward the eponymous table in the center of the hall.

“What the heck?”

Just as Lee Hyeon-Su blinked his eyes in puzzlement… The Round Table suddenly began releasing blinding rays of light.

The light was so powerful that Lee Hyeon-Su genuinely thought he had gone blind just then.

This light quickly bathed the large hall in pure blinding whiteness.