Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1301. Devoting (1)

“Huff, huff! Wheeze, huff!”

Ishikawa Kento ran fast enough to almost rupture his heart.

Those... Those demonic bastards!

Even as he ran, he couldn’t help but sneak a quick glance behind him. Several times, in fact. Doing this would slow him down, but he couldn’t bear it without finding out what might be lurking behind him.

Because... It felt like a crimson hand would come flying out of nowhere to stab him in the back!

“Huff, huff!”

His legs felt numb. Although he could feel the hardness below every time his feet landed on the ground, it just didn’t feel like any weight was behind his leg movements. How could he keep running, in that case? That had to be a minor miracle in itself.

More pertinently, though, how did things end up this way?

At first, things seemed... to be going well.

No, rather than well, maybe it was better to say they were eager to make it happen?

Stinking Korean bastards!

Once the allied forces led by Shinichi-kai suffered a complete defeat in Korea, the victorious Korean bastards began trampling on the Japanese martial society with their mud-stained boots. As if they owned the place, they brazenly demanded the remaining Japanese to submit to their rule!

Of course the Japanese would not stand for it. Even if it were someone else and not the Koreans taking over, the push-back would still have been enormous. But it was the Koreans, so the desire to fight back should have been immeasurable.

At least, that should have been the story, but no! No one on the Japanese side openly raised the flags of rebellion. After all, Japan lost that war. And the Koreans that crossed the ocean to rule over Japan proved to be far too strong and terrifyingly cruel!

Anyone daring to openly rebel was met with gruesome death.

However, humans were prone to bouncing back harder the more suppressed they were.

With a few respected figures as the core, many Japanese sharing the same sentiment gathered to create the anti-Korean ‘kamikaze’ squad. This group started recruiting anyone deemed trustworthy until enough people had been found. However, just as they were about to strike back for the first time...!

Those... Those inhumane demons showed up!

Those demons kicked the door down to the secret meeting area and began slaughtering the Japanese. It was as if they didn’t care about capturing anyone alive and only wanted to kill!

All the excited roars and crazed laughter from the demons as they killed their fellow humans had been etched forever into Ishikawa Kento’s hearing!

“Huff, huff! Huff, huff!”

Just who leaked the information? Who betrayed them? If that wasn’t it, maybe...

No! That’s meaningless right now!

Indeed, that wasn’t important. What was important was surviving this...

Stab!

That was when Ishikawa Kento crashed painfully into the ground.

“Kuh-hu-huk!”

Horrifying pain shot up from his leg. He looked at his lower body, only to discover a piece of rebar sticking out of his right thigh.

“Kuh-huk...!”

Ishikawa Kento instinctively grabbed the rebar, but before he could pull it out, some people approached him.

“Haaah, this little sh*t. Why the f*ck does he have to be so fast?”

“Dude, why the rebar, though? What if the wound gets infected or something?”

“What’s the problem? We can just chop his leg off, no? Besides, aren’t we supposed to kill him, anyway?”

“He told us to capture this fool alive, didn’t he?”

“Capture? My ass. Let’s just kill this piece of sh*t and get it over with. By the way, don’t you think he’s gotten a little too full of himself lately?”

“Oii, watch it. He’s now the Assistant Manager, okay? Keep your trap shut if you don’t want a beating of your life.”

“Hah? Who’s beating who up?”

The two men shared a banter while smirking nonchalantly.

Ishikawa Kento could only stare at them in shock and horror. Their fellow human was bleeding profusely with a piece of rebar sticking out of his leg, yet they were cackling away without care.

They weren’t even pretending to be human beings right now!

“So? What about him? Just drag him back like this?”

“Argh, this is so bloody annoying... Should we just end him here?”

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted just then.

“Get out of the way, you idiots.”

Another person was leisurely walking up to the bantering duo. The duo sneakily backed off and made way. This new person was...

How should Ishikawa Kento describe him? Something felt different about this person. On the surface, at least, he didn’t seem any different to the other two, but the air emanating from him felt like a class above.

That could only mean this man was the ‘representative’ of these demons.

The man sauntered toward Ishikawa Kento before squatting in front of him.

“Oii.”

“...”

“You speak Korean?”

“...”

The man glanced at the duo. “You know how to speak Japanese?”

“Be serious, dude.”

“...My bad for asking.”

That was when Ishikawa Kento broke his silence. “You bastards will never... get what you want!”

“Oho?” The representative smirked. “So you do know some Korean. Is it thanks to that Korean Wave thing or whatever it’s called?”

“Don’t make me laugh,” Ishikawa Kento bared his fangs and growled. “I only learned it, knowing we’d rule over you bastards one of these days.”

“Is it? That’s great, right? Now you have the chance to use what you worked so hard to learn.” The representative casually shrugged. “It’d be nice if your knowledge is put to use in a more constructive manner, though.”

“You bastard...!” Ishikawa Kento gritted his teeth, his eyes turning bloodshot. “You think you deserve to be called human after what you’ve done?!”

“Huh? And what have we done?”

“Did you forget all those people you’ve killed already?!”

“Oh, that? Of course I remember. But it’s not a problem. I mean, compared to how many Koreans... I guess it’s Chosenjin to you, eh? In any case. Compared to how many people in the peninsula you’ve murdered, this is like a drop in the ocean, okay?”

The representative reached down and grabbed Ishikawa Kento’s collar.

“So! Stop playing victim here, okay? We haven’t used you like meat shields or sex slaves, after all. All we did was kill a few idiots trying to fight back. You ain’t got no right to call us whatever.”

Ishikawa Kento bared his blood-stained teeth. “What? You want to talk about things that happened decades ago?! And stories that were fabricated by your side, no less?!”

“Fabricated?” The representative chuckled helplessly. “Urgh. Who cares. I can’t be bothered, so let’s just say you’re right.”

Slam!

The representative slammed Kento’s head into the ground before powerfully kicking the Japanese in the gut.

“Cough!”

Kento clutched his lower abdomen while rolling around on the ground.

“Yeah, let’s just go with that story. We’re the bad guys here, and you bastards lost because you’re all weaklings. Now that I think about it, having a justification or whatnot will make you feel less bad about yourselves, so this should be better.”

The representative viciously kicked Kento’s chest next. The Japanese’s chest momentarily caved in, and the bantering duo clearly saw that.

“Oii, dude. Don’t you think that’s a bit too much?”

“You might kill him at this rate.”

The duo tried to stop the representative, but...

“So what?”

The representative’s icy glare immediately shut the duo up.

“We should make his dream come true, don’t you think? Drag this f*cker away. Watch him so that he doesn’t try to kill himself. We’re gonna torture him and whatever until he sings like a canary about who’s backing his little group.”

“...Got it.”

The duo grabbed Ishikawa Kento and began dragging the Japanese back to where they came from. While doing that, they didn’t forget to sneak quick glances back at the representative.

Gee whiz. So scary.

What’s gotten into him, though? He wasn’t like that before.

How should I know?

For the duo, doing as told was not the problem here. That was because the representative was their superior, even if in name only.

However, the how of doing-as-told had changed a bit these days. The duo still felt their rebellious streak flare up every now and then whenever the representative told them what to do, but for some unfathomable reason, they had no problem saying yes.

The representative, Yi Myeong-Hwan, watched the duo drag away the Japanese before staring at his hand. Dark demonic qi strands leaked out of his hand like some kind of smoke.

“Hmm...”

Yi Myeong-Hwan tilted his head slightly. It felt like energy was overflowing inside him.

This is so weird.

The sensation of mercilessly mowing down his enemies not too long ago remained so vivid even now. This intense feeling, this sense of fulfillment, was something he had never experienced until now.

Just how much stronger have I gotten?

He had no one suitable to compare himself with, making it a lot trickier to gauge his actual strength. However, one thing was for certain; comrades who he thought were on par with his strength until recently all looked weaker than him.

I’ve... gotten stronger!

Not only that, but at a scarcely believable speed, too!

A smile crept up on Yi Myeong-Hwan’s face without him even realizing it. That was when a voice suddenly registered in his hearing.

“Am I looking at a villain cackling away or what?”

Yi Myeong-Hwan turned his head to look. He saw Chang Min leisurely walking out of the darkness and bowed politely and respectfully.

“You didn’t have to come, Elder Chang.”

“I’m sure you trust yourself.”

“I’m sorry?”

“However, I don’t.”

“...”

“Stop feeling so smug about yourself, brat. Such insignificant strength doesn’t give you the qualifications.”

Yi Myeong-Hwan slowly nodded, knowing Chang Min had a good point.

It was true that his strength was still insignificant. Never mind the directors, he still couldn’t guarantee a flawless victory against, say, Cheon Tae-Hun, Director Bang Jin-Hun’s disciple.

Even so...!

That story will change soon enough if I keep getting stronger at this rate!

He used to think his rate of improvement under Kang Jin-Ho’s tutelage was pretty insane, but under Chang Min’s brutal training regime? His rate must’ve doubled or more. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Maybe, just maybe...!

BOOM!

Chang Min’s fist suddenly slammed into Yi Myeong-Hwan’s face. While scattering blood in the air, Yi Myeong-Hwan flew up before somehow landing back on his feet.

He instinctively clutched at his nose. After confirming all the blood coming from there, he stood up straight.

“You useless trash dare...?” Chang Min growled, hints of killing intent bubbling within his glare.

Yi Myeong-Hwan realized what his fault was and hurriedly bowed. “My apologies, Elder Chang!”

“Do not forget! Engrave it into your soul!”

“Yes, sir!”

“You only exist to serve the demon emperor! Do not ever! Entertain! Even a sliver of doubt with that worthless dogsh*t of a head! Understand?!”

“Yes, sir!”

For a moment there, Yi Myeong-Hwan thought that Chang Min was superior to Kang Jin-Ho when it came to ‘education’. Of course, even if that was true, Chang Min would never accept it. His entire world revolved around his liege, after all!

Yi Myeong-Hwan had run into his fair share of eccentric folks in this line of work, but he could swear on his soul that he had never met anyone quite like Chang Min.

This Chinese demonic cultivator was crazy in a different sense. To him, his whole world was the demon cult. And the demon cult existed solely for Kang Jin-Ho’s sake!

This man had instinctively, not rationally, accepted the fact that his life was meant to serve Kang Jin-Ho.

In short, Chang Min was a zealot. Maybe that term was still not quite intense enough?

“Do you doubt me, brat?” Chang Min tutted.

“Never, sir!”

“You fool!” Chang Min glared sharply at Yi Myeong-Hwan. “What made you stronger isn’t me, but the demon emperor’s authority and power! All I did was show you the way to utilize your own strength more effectively. Someone else has paved this path for you, yet you thank me instead for installing a few signposts? Not even mindless beasts would be as foolish as you!”

Yi Myeong-Hwan animatedly nodded away.

“Hmph! In any case. It seems things have been more or less wrapped here. Let’s head back, then.”

“Excuse me... Elder Chang?”

Chang Min wordlessly glanced back at Yi Myeong-Hwan, prompting the latter to flinch and bow again.

Chang Min was different from Kang Jin-Ho. While Kang Jin-Ho used his strength and abilities to induce ‘instinctive’ loyalty and submission from others, Chang Min didn’t do that. He used his power and abilities to oppress the others as much as possible.

Then again, he was a man who had been leading a large sect called the demon cult all this time. The charisma of a man like that was not something Yi Myeong-Hwan could casually deal with.

However, if this notion was flipped on its head, didn’t it mean Kang Jin-Ho had been incredibly considerate toward his subordinates until now?

Yi Myeong-Hwan cautiously spoke up. “May I ask you a question?”

The reply was swift.

“My liege has said that forbidding communication will rot the cult from within. In other words, cult believers are permitted to speak and ask any questions whenever it’s necessary. That is the demon emperor’s will.”

“Then, please excuse my rudeness, sir.”

Yi Myeong-Hwan swallowed his saliva. Here was a question to satisfy that one subject he was so curious about but wasn’t courageous enough to ask until now.

“If our Assembly Master is such an incredible person, why am I getting much stronger under your guidance, Elder?”

“Huh?” Chang Min looked dismayed by that question. “You fool! Are you telling me you still don’t know why?”

“...Yes, I don’t know, sir.”

“The answer is very simple. It’s because my liege is unfathomably great!”

Yi Myeong-Hwan’s expression crumpled ever so slightly without him realizing it.

Yup. It’s official.

This old fart was beyond saving.