Descent of the Demon Master

‘This is unexpectedly a bit of a letdown, isn’t it?’

Lee Hyeon-Su narrowed his eyes and observed the unfolding situation. It didn't matter how hard he stared, though, since it remained pretty much the same as before.

He couldn't see a reason to deploy the Demon Flames. Vator and Chang Min were driving the enemy back so comprehensively that it could serve as a textbook example of what a one-sided battle might look like.

Even Bang Jin-Hun’s side was holding up pretty well. With this demonstration of his strength, he proved why he was one of the Martial Assembly’s directors. Even the Assembly’s warriors working with him were pulling their weight, although they still had some ways to go.

However, the group that stood out even more than them had to be the Chevaliers.

‘They are… strong!’

While fighting off the incoming enemy knight orders, the Chevaliers displayed a level of skill that was at least a class above the Martial Assembly’s warriors. Although the individual Chevalier’s strength was no better than Bang Jin-Hun’s, such a thing didn’t really matter as they demonstrated how a knight order was supposed to fight.

Two were stronger than one, while three were stronger than two; rather than individual knights fighting on their own, the entire Chevaliers order moved in unison as if they were one living entity.

It couldn’t have been the case of France’s Chevaliers being much stronger than the knight orders from other nations.

While other knight orders of the Round Table were busy handling various missions and duties, Chevaliers focused on improving their combat skills. And teaching the Assembly's warriors had helped them correct and refine the theories acting as the foundation of their martial arts, too.

Didn't the wise old “they” say teaching others helped you learn?

To teach someone else, you’d have to make sure of what you knew first. The process of turning something you only knew as a superficial concept into a teachable theory would require quite an immense effort.

Chevaliers went through that process, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that they had grown stronger as a result. Besides, they only had each other to rely on after being isolated in a faraway nation on the other side of the globe. No wonder the Chevaliers as a whole displayed a unity other knight orders could only dream of.

The Martial Assembly's environment, continuously confirming and accepting new martial arts, and the unyielding will to overcome their situation sooner or later served as catalysts for improving the Chevaliers' martial prowess.

‘As for the Knights of the Round Table, aren’t they a bit too…’

Lee Hyeon-Su hurriedly shook his head. He tried to erase that initial impression from his mind.

Without a doubt, none of these Knights were as good or skilled as Wiggins. Then again, Wiggins was a unique existence even among the Knights, to begin with.

Of course, these Knights would've been too much for the rest of the Martial Assembly to handle had they been halfway as strong as Wiggins. Since that was the case, didn't that mean Kang Jin-Ho was extraordinarily strong for slaughtering the Knights one-sidedly like this?

‘Okay, now… What’s gonna happen?’

Lee Hyeon-Su nervously swallowed his saliva while observing the situation of Kang Jin-Ho’s battlefield. Half of the Knights were dead now. The remaining half were still in a standoff against Kang Jin-Ho, albeit with their weapons no longer in their grasp. Such people would not be able to delay Kang Jin-Ho any further.

So, that left only one other potential source of variables.

Lee Hyeon-Su’s gaze locked on the mouth of a stairwell going deeper underground. If Wiggins’ explanation was true, some things should be emerging from those stairs soon enough. And they could be… ṞἈŊＯʙÊŝ

“Excuse me, Chief Lee? Why isn’t he fighting?”

“Mm?” Lee Hyeon-Su snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head to glance at the person asking him that question, which happened to be Yi Myeong-Hwan.

“I’m talking about our Assembly Master, sir. He can take care of those fellas pretty easily, no?”

“Mm…!” Lee Hyeon-Su grunted while shifting his gaze over to Kang Jin-Ho again. The Assembly Master was just standing there with his swords resting by his sides.

‘For sure, he…’

The past Kang Jin-Ho wouldn't have spared the remaining Knights. However, there was something different about Kang Jin-Ho's current attitude. Although his uniquely oppressive pressure and commanding charisma remained, he didn't feel as vicious or in a hurry to finish things as in the past.

“I’m sure the Assembly Master has a plan,” said Lee Hyeon-Su.

“…”

The two men continued to stare curiously at Kang Jin-Ho.

***

Knight Besley slowly opened his eyes.

‘How… am I still alive?’

He reflexively remembered the devil kicking him. Such a blow should have killed him, but… Much to his surprise, he was still breathing, somehow.

“Urgh…”

Besley's pained grunt prompted other Knights to come to his side and help him up. Besley curiously scanned them in silence.

‘Why are these people still alive, too?’

Besley couldn't understand it. Stopping Kang Jin-Ho should have been impossible, considering the yawning chasm of strength between them.

Even before Besley was taken out of commission, he already knew their fight was over. With how things were going, he believed the Knights would have been slaughtered in less than five minutes.

However, there were still five Knights left breathing. Although over half of the Knights had perished, what mattered right now was that some were still alive for some reason!

“Besley! How are you feeling? Are you alright?”

“...Looks like you’re still alive, Besley.”

“I’m relieved to see you still alive, Besley.”

Knight Besley’s expression subtly crumpled while looking at his fellow Knights “relaxedly” talking to him. He had a ton of things to ask, but the situation was not ideal for that. So, he glanced at Kang Jin-Ho instead.

There he was, the devil in human form, standing merely five meters away.

Five meters!

Such a distance might be deemed safe for regular people, but for martial artists? It might be close enough for them to brush shoulders!

If Kang Jin-Ho wanted to, he could’ve easily beheaded every surviving Knight in the blink of an eye. It felt like Besley was sitting right next to a lion as big as a small house!

Considering this situation… Was the lion's stomach full? Did it have its fill by devouring Besley's comrades so it no longer wanted to hunt the remaining prey?

Knight Besley gritted his teeth before shouting loudly, “Why!”

His voice was louder than expected and succeeded in drawing Kang Jin-Ho’s attention. The devil in human guise slowly tore his gaze away from the ceiling and stared right into Besley’s eyes.

“…?”

Besley reflexively clamped his mouth shut.

‘What the… Is this man really the same devil from earlier?’

Now no longer emitting that freakish black aura, Kang Jin-Ho looked like any other ordinary person. Of course, that impression would've been completely different had this encounter taken place in another setting. Besley would've shuddered in dread at the crushing pressure subtly oozing out of Kang Jin-Ho.

However, all things in this world were relative. Compared to Kang Jin-Ho from earlier when he truly resembled a devil, this version seemed almost… innocent? Pure?

“...Why haven’t you killed us?” Besley muttered, the question he tried to suppress finally breaking free.

Kang Jin-Ho frowned slightly. “Speak English.”

“…!” Knight Besley got flustered by that and fake-coughed to clear his throat. What a shameful showing that was when the situation was so grave! “Kuh-hum. Why have you spared us?”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded as if he understood what Besley meant. “Then, do you wish to die?”

“...If I say yes?”

“That's easy enough to arrange,” Kang Jin-Ho casually replied. His voice didn't contain a single trace of threat. He spoke as if killing people was no different from moving an item from one spot to another.

Such an attitude sent a chill down Besley’s spine. His instincts told him that Kang Jin-Ho genuinely believed what he said. This man did not have qualms about slaughtering the remaining Knights!

Since he could do it whenever he wanted, Kang Jin-Ho had no reason to get hung up on it.

When Besley’s thoughts reached that far, he gritted his teeth and chewed his next words out. “Are you trying to insult us?”

“Insult?”

“A Knight does not tolerate pity, sir! Rather, we’d honorably meet our demise!”

“Then, go die.”

“…!”

Kang Jin-Ho replied disinterestedly. “If your honor means so much to you, and you can’t handle this humiliation, why ask someone to do the deed for you? Can’t you just kill yourself?”

“…!”

“It looks like you don’t understand anything.”

“What… What do I not understand?”

“The decision to spare or kill you is my right as the victor.”

Besley’s eyes powerfully quaked when he heard Kang Jin-Ho’s reply.

“You put your life on the line to fight me and lost. So, you don't have a choice but to accept what's being dished out to you. Whether I kill you or not depends on my whims. You don't get to demand anything from me. No matter how unfair or nonsensical you think this is... This is one rule everyone entering a battlefield must adhere to.”

Besley's teeth clenched on their own. He had nothing to counter that argument with. Because he admitted that Kang Jin-Ho was correct.

“Talking about honor and whatnot after you got beat is pretty stupid, don’t you think? The real honor is about winning. Don’t like that? Go kill yourself, then. That is if you believe killing yourself will protect your honor.”

Besley tightly clenched his fists. He couldn’t stop trembling from this horrifying and indescribable humiliation washing over him. He painfully squeezed out his next question. “At least… At least can you tell me this one thing?”

“…?”

“Why… Why didn’t you kill us? Just tell me that!”

The corners of Kang Jin-Ho's lips curled up. He couldn't help but think that these Knights liked to obsess over some useless things. Was it due to the difference between the East and West? Or should he blame the differences in mindset between the modern era and Zhongyan? Kang Jin-Ho couldn't tell.

“I don’t have any particular reasons,” Kang Jin-Ho casually shrugged.

“…!”

“If I force myself to find a reason… Let’s say I lost interest.”

That didn’t even sound like a proper reason!

Kang Jin-Ho could see that Knight Besley was trembling in barely held-back rage, but he had no other way of explaining it. Even he couldn’t understand why he had spared them, after all!

Of course, there was an official reason: they weren't here to wipe the Round Table off the map.

Rather than its destruction, Kang Jin-Ho and Co. wanted to change its owner so it'd become easier to influence this vast organization.

Although Kang Jin-Ho wasn't 100% convinced this was a worthwhile adventure, he still went along with it since Wiggins wanted to do this.

Since that was the case, Kang Jin-Ho didn’t need to kill everyone. Even if replacement Knights would be selected later, Wiggins couldn’t solely focus on the operation of the Round Table. They needed the cooperation of other Knights for that purpose.

Besides, these people also needed to act as witnesses. Witnesses to spread the word on how powerful Kang Jin-Ho actually was. And how only the most horrifying, wretched fate waited for those daring to attack South Korea's Martial Assembly! They would ultimately become corroborators in that endeavor.

It was just that…

‘That’s not all the reason, is it?’

Those were some of the reasons, but not all.

After all, Kang Jin-Ho of the past would have never spared anyone daring to point their swords in his direction regardless of the circumstances or the future plans.

So, how should he put this… It’d be more correct to say, ‘I don’t feel like it.’

Indeed, Kang Jin-Ho didn't feel the need or the desire to kill these Knights. It'd be rather humorous, and not in a good way, if he were to kill some people to stick to his principles even though he didn't feel like doing so in the first place.

...Especially when those principles were created on a whim, anyway!

“No need to rack your brain about this,” said Kang Jin-Ho without much concern. “It’s not like I’ve decided not to kill you, after all. I could easily wipe you out if I change my mind suddenly.”

Knight Besley groaned deeply. Leaving his fate to his enemy was easily one of the most humiliating things for a Knight of the Round Table.

“Who knows? There might be a way for you to survive,” said Kang Jin-Ho, his gaze drifting toward the center of the hall.

Knight Besley reflexively chased after Kang Jin-Ho's gaze, only for his eyes to nearly pop out of their sockets.

‘What!? The temple’s entrance is open?’

Indeed, the entrance to the Knight temple, the one that was passed down as a legend, was wide open. Didn't that mean Leveaux had gone down there to awaken the Elder Knights?

Since it was an ancient legend, Besley had been wondering if Elder Knights were even real. But now… Maybe the legend was about to become a reality?

Just as his thoughts reached that point, Knight Besley’s hearing caught the strange sound that stopped his disorganized thoughts from running amok in his mind.

Clack, creak…!

A bizarre metallic noise? Knight Besley instantly recognized that noise. It could only come from heavy armor. As a matter of fact, ancient and creaky armor made that noise when its pieces rubbed against each other!

Besley would sometimes put on such armor during the Round Table’s various rituals and ceremonies, so he was familiar with that noise. It sounded a little heavy and dull, yet the edges of the noise were still sharp and abrasive.

‘Doesn’t that mean…’

Someone wearing such heavy armor was walking up from the stairwell. And it wasn’t one person, either. There had to be several of them!

Knight Besley nervously swallowed his saliva. Eventually, his eyes were rewarded by the sight he had been waiting for.

Through the stairwell located in the wide-open round table… Knights clad in ancient yet elegant armor and helms slowly marched out.

This was the moment of one legend becoming a reality.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!