Descent of the Demon Master
Chapter 828: Awakened (3)

‘Having said that, isn’t this…?’

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression stiffened a little as he coldly analyzed his body’s condition. It definitely did not look good.

However, his dantian was perfect. After the reorganization, Kang Jin-Ho's dantian was producing 120% of what he required from it.

The enlightenment Kang Jin-Ho ‘earned’ while contemplating the world increased the amount of qi he could accept. If the amount was previously at ten, one hundred was now rushing inside him.

Without enlightenment, Kang Jin-Ho wouldn't have endured the flood of nature's energy and entered the fatal state of qi flowing out of control. However, his dantian had been massively widened and stabilized. It had precisely zero problems with accommodating this amount of qi.

That was indeed good news.

Being able to accept more meant Kang Jin-Ho could accumulate more qi at a much faster rate. At the original speed, he would have needed decades of cultivation to regain the peak of his previous self. But now, at this incredible pace? That estimate should be drastically reduced.

Also, the discharging of qi, being performed simultaneously as absorbing qi, was stable and trouble-free. This indicated Kang Jin-Ho should be able to absorb qi in the middle of a battle. In other words, the length of time he could fight had improved exponentially.

Of course, the expenditure of qi was still much higher than the intake, so it'd be impossible to maintain the perfect balance at all times during a battle. Even so, he should still be able to fight for at least fifty percent longer now.

All these things were music to Kang Jin-Ho’s ears. Of course, there was a problem here, and that would be…

‘...That would be the situation right now!'

Kang Jin-Ho glanced lower at his body. His vision saw through all the water pouring out of the hole to check out his body's condition. And the only way to describe it would be… torn to rags.

Kang Jin-Ho’s body was damaged too much during the process of remodeling his dantian. The immense water pressure was already injuring his physical body, and the act of deliberately filling himself with unruly qi and reorganizing his dantian had accelerated the process of his flesh turning into torn rags.

Of course, such injuries could be healed with enough time. But Kang Jin-Ho's problem was that he didn't have any spare time right now!

A broken leg could be propped up with qi somehow, but he couldn't do much about the crumbled foothold. Kang Jin-Ho was currently emitting a ton of qi through his legs right now just to prevent his body from floating away in all this water, but his qi reserve would not last for long at this rate.

Kang Jin-Ho’s torn-and-shredded body wasn’t getting any worse, which was great, but his stamina and qi reserve were rapidly running out.

His fuel tank certainly got an upgrade and became much larger, but his output had gotten more powerful, too, leading to a much higher fuel consumption. As a martial artist, Kang Jin-Ho should be happy with this upgrade, but it couldn't give him a way out of this predicament. It was actually worsening the situation by rapidly eating into his reserve!

‘What should I do now?’

Three minutes. That was the time Kang Jin-Ho estimated he had left before his body reached its physical limit.

Kang Jin-Ho looked up at the top of the aquarium. He still couldn't see the water's surface beyond the acrylic wall despite so much water having already flooded out of the tank by now. Which could only mean this damn tank still held more water inside than what was outside.

Eventually, Kang Jin-Ho would lose his strength to stop the water, and when that happens… That incredible quantity of water would flood outside and wash away everyone still inside this building.

Kang Jin-Ho carefully focused his hearing. He could hear people's desperate yells and cries in the distance through all the ear-shredding noises. That indicated not everyone had evacuated from the aquarium.

So, what would happen to them if Kang Jin-Ho backed off now?

They would all die.

All those people crowding the exit had only made things even more dangerous. Imagine a subway train filled with so many people that it was impossible to raise one's arm… and it suddenly being flooded by water.

Maybe, the subway riders could have cooked up some kind of a response, a countermeasure, if they had enough free space to move around. But when people were crammed so tightly together? The mere existence of human bodies would serve as a hindrance to their survival.

Even before the victims could do something, they would drown or suffocate to death first.

Kang Jin-Ho frowned deeply. He couldn't think of a way out of this predicament other than staying put and enduring for as long as possible. However, what about after that?

‘...Let’s not worry about that for now.’

Kang Jin-Ho told himself to focus on what was happening before his eyes. He reduced the qi output coming out of his hands just a little and moved away from the crumbled foothold to get closer to the acrylic wall.

‘It’s too frail.’

If only this water tank was a little sturdier and could withstand the water pressure a bit better! Kang Jin-Ho wouldn't have had to spend his own qi to reinforce the wall like this. While his anger toward the ones responsible for designing this aquarium simmered, Kang Jin-Ho clung to the acrylic wall like a human frog.

Although he didn't look good doing this, now wasn't the time to worry about minor stuff like that. Kang Jin-Ho only cared about plugging up this hole for as long as possible.

Pressing his body tightly against the hole had noticeably decreased the water flow. Unfortunately, the water level had already reached up to his chest by now.

‘Focus!’

Kang Jin-Ho stopped thinking about anything else. He only prioritized blocking the water. The only thing he focused his entire being on was circulating his qi and maintaining this situation to the best of his abilities.

And then… Time continued to tick by relentlessly.

Kang Jin-Ho sensed his body losing its heat. He opened his eyes after realizing he didn't even have the minimum necessary energy left to maintain his body temperature.

‘What should I do now?’

People still hadn’t evacuated from the aquarium. And their number was still quite considerable. In that case, could he afford to let go now? Of course not!

However, he didn't have any other choice left. Kang Jin-Ho didn't have much strength left. He might be strong enough to fight against that unbelievably powerful Crimson King, but some things were still beyond his capabilities. And stopping the flood of water was one of those. Being strong simply wasn't enough.

Fhwoooooooooohuah!

The water pressure was getting fiercer. No, that wasn't right. The water pressure didn't get any worse, but it felt that way after Kang Jin-Ho rapidly lost his strength. His arms and legs propping him up were shaking and shivering precariously.

He had finally reached his limit. It was impossible to stop this water now. At most, he had a few seconds left. And then, even Kang Jin-Ho would get washed away by the explosion of water.

Should he preserve at least some energy so he could survive underwater? Or should he spend it all to try and save at least one more person?

The choice was obvious. Kang Jin-Ho needed to survive, too.

However, putting his thoughts into action proved much tougher than he bargained for. The feeling of water on his fingertips felt eerily similar to the rope that would trigger the guillotine to chop down on innocent people’s necks.

If Kang Jin-Ho took his hands away from this acrylic wall… All those people would die.

Kang Jin-Ho gritted his teeth and forcibly sorted out his chaotic thoughts. He must survive, so he could…

“You seem to be struggling a bit there, my lord?”

That was when a familiar voice registered in Kang Jin-Ho’s hearing, and he hurriedly turned his head to look.

It didn't matter who came here as no one would be capable of plugging this hole up, unless that person was as strong as Kang Jin-Ho. Definitely not. Even if Vator came, he'd only be able to extend the time for a little bit.

However, when Kang Jin-Ho realized who the person behind him was, a smile reflexively formed on his face.

As it turned out, there was one more person. One other person who could resolve this situation, that was!

***

The ceiling was collapsing?!

Jo Gyu-Min could only watch this sight in stupefaction. There was nothing he could do. This situation was not something he could fight against and win!

Even if his movements weren’t restricted, even if his body wasn’t injured… He still wouldn’t know how to fight back against something like a collapsing ceiling!

What was he supposed to do in this kind of situation? Other than performing this one desperate and instinctive act?

“Get, doooooooooown!”

Jo Gyu-Min shielded his head with both hands and crouched as low as he could. A blink of an eye later, dull, thudding pain began torturing him on his head, back, and the hands shielding his noggin. He didn’t even have time to think!

Bang! Boom! Thud! Clang!

Jo Gyu-Min grew increasingly disoriented by the deafening noises and the pain from objects landing on his head. However, he could still feel something within this chaos, and that was… hope. Not despair, but hope!

He could feel pain, which relieved him greatly. If the ceiling had crumbled for real, he'd have either lost consciousness or died outright from the debris falling on top of him.

This horrible pain wrecking his body represented hope.

“Urgh… Dammit…”

Jo Gyu-Min barely forced his head to look up and could see several odd-shaped dark objects lying within the darkness of the surroundings.

‘Is that… ceiling decorations?’

As it turned out, the ceiling hadn't come down. It seemed decorative material like panels of marble attached to the ceiling had come down instead. Of course, those objects posed significant dangers by themselves, but this outcome was still a hundred times better than the alternative!

Getting hurt was infinitely better than getting your head crushed to death, after all!

Once Jo Gyu-Min regained his senses, he quickly turned his head. “Anyone hurt? Are you okay?!”

He must confirm whether the Seongsim kids were okay or not.

“We’re fine!”

“No one’s been hurt badly!”

It seemed no one was injured, which was good. No, to be more precise, someone was probably hurt, but the extent of their injury wasn't serious enough to be concerning.

...At least, that was what Jo Gyu-Min said to himself.

After all, even if they got hurt badly, these kids wouldn't try to draw attention to themselves. That was what these Seongsim kids were like. Rather than inconvenience others, they'd rather suffer in silence alone.

‘Goddamn it!’

Even though he knew, there was not much Jo Gyu-Min could do for them. It was impossible to break through the walls of human bodies blocking the view. To make matters even worse, the panicking adults were trying to pull these children down and climb over them!

Simply shoving these maddened bastards back and punching them in the faces was taking everything Jo Gyu-Min had right now.

“G-get out of my way, you little sh*ts! I, I gotta get out of here! I’m not gonna die in here!”

“Don’t push me! I’m gonna kill you! Get out of my way! Now!”

“Mommy! Mommy!”

Utter, sheer pandemonium!

The water flooding in might have started this madness, but it was the combination of the lights going out and objects falling on the heads of everyone that finally pushed the crowd into the absolute peak of barbaric frenzy. And Jo Gyu-Min was not spared from the madness, either!

“Don’t push me! Dammit!” Jo Gyu-Min roared while punching some idiot who was yanking at his shoulder.

Staying calm? That whole notion went out the window quite some time ago. Jo Gyu-Min’s head was ruled by the thoughts of protecting the Seongsim kids no matter what.

‘I shouldn’t have bothered with that damn fire alarm!’

If only he knew how things would turn out! Jo Gyu-Min would’ve evacuated the kids first. It wouldn’t have been too late to trip the alarm afterward.

That was what Kang Jin-Ho probably wanted from Jo Gyu-Min. So, what idiotic bravado fooled Jo Gyu-Min into prioritizing the alarm instead of the kids?!

The crowd would've started evacuating on their own once water began flooding out of the corridors. However, because Jo Gyu-Min decided to trip the alarm a few seconds early, the Seongsim kids could now pay the ultimate price.

When that thought slammed into Jo Gyu-Min's head, his eyes became even more bloodshot than before. He… He must keep these kids alive!

If they died because of his stupid decision… Jo Gyu-Min would never forgive himself, even in death. He must do whatever it takes to save these kids!

‘But… How?’

How was he supposed to break through that wall of humans and let these kids reach the outside?

“Eugh… Damn it…!”

That was when someone cried out loudly, “W-w-water! Water is…! B-behind us!”

Jo Gyu-Min’s head snapped back at that cry of despair. His vision, now fully accustomed to the low-light condition, allowed him to see something he dearly didn’t want to see.

The water surface, which was around his waist level, was swelling up ominously in the distance like a large tidal wave. It wasn't moving fast, but the way it gradually crept closer was even more terrifying!

Jo Gyu-Min trembled in shock.

“Kyyaaaaahk! I, I don’t wanna die!”

“D-do something! Someone, anyone! That water…! The water is…!”

The water level instantly rose past the waist and reached the chest height. Jo Gyu-Min urgently reached out and picked up the shortest Seongsim kid. If he failed to protect these kids now, they… They would no doubt drown!

“F*ck…!”

Jo Gyu-Min didn’t want to think about it, but his brain went against his will and finished calculating his odds.

It was impossible to escape now. The water should continue flooding this place in the meantime, eventually filling it up past everyone’s head. And when that happens… Everyone would be dead.

Jo Gyu-Min’s expression distorted like a hideous monster. “Rule?! Who gives a flying f*ck about some dumb rule, you son of a b*tch! When I get out of here, I’m gonna rip that piehole of yours! Lee Hyeon-Su, you f*cking bastard!”

That was when…!

RUMBLE!

A loud rumble rocked the interior, causing the water to tumble ominously. Almost at the same time… The aquarium building began shaking!

‘I-is the whole structure coming down now?’

Jo Gyu-Min hurriedly looked up as despair filled his heart.

‘N-no, it can’t be!’

And then…

KA-BOOOOOOM!

Yet another loud explosion rocked the surroundings as if… the whole building was coming down!