How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 349

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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What is the best strategy to use against Pleroma, which has established its own independent coordinate system?

 

Kuwoong—

 

We, who were waiting in front of the dam, chanted the warp coordinates of the Pleroma world and stamped our feet. Just before closing our eyes, we could see the world changing.

 

In a situation where the encirclement network doesn’t work, we must directly attack the heart of the enemy camp.

 

Corbiniano 780:736:485, where our 101st Unit is entering, is the archbishopric where the offices of the two archbishops are located. The archbishopric is not simply an office and residential space, but becomes the last escape route in emergencies and a space where support can come if the Pleroma leadership opens a portal. Since using a strategy of surrounding and closing in from all sides against an opponent unrestricted by space would be suicidal, it’s right to directly attack the center. Moreover, since we concluded that Munich-Freising is more skilled in spatial magic compared to other dioceses, wouldn’t that be even more so?

 

We won’t give them time—that is our strategy.

 

‘Then what do the 91st and 98th do while we’re at the cathedral?’

 

Huwoook—

 

The moment I felt the surrounding air change, Narke silently grabbed my arm to help me not fall.

 

Teams A and B of the 91st will extract the two cathedrals outside of Pleroma and move to the control room connected to those two cathedrals to prevent the Pleroma here from escaping. Team C of the 91st and Team C of the 98th will move the coordinate system of Munich-Freising’s Pleroma residential area. Then what do Teams A and B of the 98th do? They will move other churches within the Munich-Freising archdiocese one by one, not the cathedrals. It looks relatively easy, but since they must move numerous churches in a short time, it won’t be easy at all. Naturally, even after all teams move the coordinate systems outside, combat will still take place inside them.

 

‘More than that.’

 

As soon as I breathe in, my bronchi and lungs sting.

 

‘As expected, Munich-Freising also uses the same air as Brandenburg Archdiocese.’

 

Only the baptized would not suffer damage from the air here. Even so, since we couldn’t be hindered twice in the same way by something we’d already experienced, command injected resistance drugs into everyone entering these worlds. Thanks to that, unlike before when my body felt like it would burn up, now it only stings.

 

As soon as Leo saw the pure white lobby with sunlight streaming in, the huge staircases on both sides leading to the second floor, and the exhibition hall in the distance, he opened his mouth.

 

“…Alte Pinakothek.”

 

The archbishop of Munich-Freising was using the royal art museum as his office. This was information already shared when establishing strategy beforehand, but there would be a difference between hearing about it and seeing it directly. Elias glanced at the paintings hanging in the exhibition hall and asked without humor.

 

“How does it feel as Prince of Bavaria to see Pleroma illegally occupying a building built with royal money?”

 

“…”

 

Instead of saying anything, Leo thickened his body barrier. The mana circulating around Haike and Ulrike’s bodies also grew denser.

 

—David said.

 

Kwaaaaang—!

 

—The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.

 

Narke’s spell, followed by the light that burst forth, struck this vast building. Now it was time to cast the magic to send this space to the actual Kingdom of Bavaria. Having already obtained the coordinate system information, we had completed 80% of the battle, so if we could just actually move it, everything would be resolved. Everyone was looking at Narke’s face as he cast the spell while maintaining alert postures. For a moment, confusion crossed Narke’s face, then cold composure settled in as if he had expected this.

 

“It’s blocked.”

 

The new magic formula developed in cooperation with the Papal States doesn’t work. I can see all kinds of possibilities appearing on my friends’ faces. At the same time, sounds completely different from our situation came from the artifact in my ear.

 

[98th A, destroyed coordinate system of church number 1. It’s St. Beno Church. Moving to church number 2.]

 

[91st C, destroyed coordinate system of area 1.]

 

[91st C, destroyed coordinate system of area 2.]

 

[98th A, destroyed coordinate system of church number 2. It’s St. Margaret Church. Moving to church number 3.]

 

[98th C, destroyed coordinate system of area 30.]

 

About 30 seconds have passed since the movement. News of continued goal achievement keeps coming in. There would be difficulties due to Pleroma’s air that imposes restrictions on the body whenever mana is used, but since it’s just a matter of protecting the Arcane Mage attached to each team—this Arcane Mage plays the same role as Narke—and suppressing minor Pleroma for a short time, there’s no reason it should take long. After moving to Bavaria, support would come afterward, and they just need to quickly move to the next location before our command destroys the entry routes one by one. But if they’ve already moved the coordinate systems to actual Bavaria while we haven’t moved the bishop’s building yet…

 

Kwaaaaang—!!

 

Black vitriol rushes before my eyes.

 

‘Finally.’

 

An old Human wearing monsignor robes suddenly appeared before my eyes. The realization that we’ve truly crossed into Pleroma’s world now sweeps through my entire body. I put strength into my legs and changed my wand into a sword to block his attack.

 

Kkeegik— Kkegeegik— Kwagwang—!

 

The sound of green mana scraping against the blade is eerie. Monsignors of the same number had already attached themselves around my friends. I quickly rolled my eyes to check the surroundings.

 

‘…It’s not different people. It’s the same person, more than ten of them.’

 

Self-replication? Or illusions? Whatever it is, it’s problematic enough.

 

[101st, are there problems? 1 minute 30 seconds have passed.]

 

There’s no time to answer communications. I clenched and opened my raised hand once to request temporary command transfer and shouted.

 

“Ainsiedel, Kleist!”

 

That was the signal. At that moment, someone flew in like a ray of light and struck the monsignor attached in front of Haike.

 

Puook— Seogeok—

 

The sound of a blade penetrating deep into the body was clearly heard along with screams. I could see Ulrike’s face losing color even through the light. Ulrike immediately turned around and struck hard at the neck of the monsignor that had been following me. Along with the explosive sound of mana in the sword, the faint sound of something like water bursting could be heard mixed in. Haike watched someone’s head fly off with no expression and thrust his wand upward to land on the upper floor. While he ran frantically toward the bishop’s room that would be on the second floor, Ulrike swung her sword while dry heaving.

 

Chaeng—…

 

The moment a dull sound came from Ulrike’s sword hitting hardened vitriol, Elias grabbed his nape and threw him, swinging his sword without hesitation. Cheringen moved together with him. Screams erupting from various places scattered my concentration. Even while the replicated monsignor fell to the floor, the numbers continued to increase.

 

‘Right. No matter what, it’s tough without unique ability variables.’

 

We had headaches because of guys like this in Brandenburg too. I felt my head growing cold as I swung my sword at the monsignor pouring mana at me. I could block and stab while glancing around. I cut down the vitriol chunks flying at my neck and legs and struck the monsignor’s forearm with my sword.

 

“Aaaaaaaak!”

 

One fortunate point. Detailed control of each replica is impossible. Rather than using advanced magic involving complex formulas, he’s just waving his wand and dealing with everything using only mana. To use an analogy, the opponent is now just repeating the motion of swinging fists forward.

 

‘Well, right. If he could give different commands to multiple bodies simultaneously…’

 

Chwaak—

 

Would this person have been a bishop, or is he a monsignor now?

 

Sticky blood splatters on my face. I spit out the fishy blood flowing into my mouth and swung my sword. The blood I spat out evaporated in the air and disappeared as if it had never been there. I had some hopeful thoughts until a moment ago. Now there’s desperate news. You probably already got a sense from the fact that ‘the numbers keep increasing,’ but when you kill these replicas, they return to the source and become strength again. His recycling ability is excellent. There must be a main body among these, so I need to kill him.

 

And one more thing.

 

[Even the blessed light of heaven shines gloomily through colored glass in this place!]

 

I suddenly felt nauseous at the sensation of mana flowing backward.

 

“…Faust…!”

 

Perhaps more shocked to actually hear a non-biblical incantation, Ulrike opened her mouth. Even though I hadn’t eaten anything, I felt like everything in my stomach was pouring out, so I covered my mouth and frowned while receiving the attacks the monsignor before me was pouring out. Right, there wouldn’t be only one monsignor stationed at the archbishopric, and in fact, he’s already mixed in here.

 

‘That’s why we should have moved immediately…’

 

I didn’t even expect it to work right away. As expected, they wouldn’t run the archbishopric carelessly. That’s why our 101st Unit was deployed. Among the seven teams from the 91st to 101st, only the 101st had most members remaining in A-class. More than that, we can’t create variables beyond this without orders. We can’t even perform area attacks other than close combat independently. The reason for this we’ve already experienced in the extra chapters. Elias shouted loudly.

 

“Captain!”

 

[Farnese.]

 

Leo, fighting in the distance, quietly called that name through the communication artifact. The moment Narke moved his staff, the vitriol grew denser.

 

‘Hmm.’

 

They already know very well that the mage with black hair and yellow eyes is an Arcane Mage. Enter through the narrow gate—following Narke’s spell, when white light spread, the vitriol melted for a moment then restored itself. As expected, it’s blocked. However…

 

Even gaining one second was precious to us, and there was something they overlooked.

 

‘Generally, people think Arcane Mages mainly use only mental-type magic.’

 

Or they provide support with area magic. Unless you’re someone like Gabrielle Caetani, it’s true that most stop at that line. Narke’s staff changed into a white sword. A different light appeared in his yellow eyes, and I immediately recognized the eyes he had when using insight. Elias, who had been watching Narke, struck away the sword of the replica monsignor he was confronting and rushed at the replica monsignor that Narke’s gaze reached. Narke kicked off the ground and passed them without any hesitation. While watching him, mana struck from behind.

 

Ssaeak— Chaeng—!

 

I struck away the sword that flew from behind and knocked down the monsignor.

 

Kwajik—

 

When I turned my head again at the sound of something being crushed, one monsignor was lying under Narke’s feet. The white floor of the lobby was stained with dark red blood and vitriol. Narke smiled, shook off the blood on his sword, and smiled brightly at me.

 

“There really was someone who uses electricity. It would have been terrible if I’d used area magic with mana.”

 

“…”

 

Rising from believer to bishop’s assistant monsignor in just 7 years—as expected, if you’re born with a good unique ability, your career advancement is guaranteed. The special unique ability users I met at the cathedral would already be spread throughout this entire diocese. To encounter one of them by chance.

 

[Ascanien, begin.]

 

Finally, the time to end this has come. At Leo’s command, I struck the arm of the replica monsignor charging at me with my sword and spoke the incantation.

 

[From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.]

 

Kwaaaaang—

 

Black sand scatters in the wind. The figures of monsignors standing in various places turned into sand pillars and then completely cleared away. Dozens of monsignors disappeared, and now there were only three people wearing cassocks. The movements of the other four excluding me headed toward them. I swung my wand to change it into a staff and struck it down on the floor.

 

Kuwoong—

 

[The Lord Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.]

 

At the same time, there was the sound of someone taking a deep breath. Unlike before when it felt like being under the sky just before dawn, my vision turned bright red. Looking at that alien red vision, I struck mana hard down to the floor through my staff.

 

[The hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night!]

 

Kwaaaaaang—!!

 

I tried not to close my eyes and saw fire-like mana surge up where Pleroma stood. Elias and Ulrike’s swords and divine power shone in this bright red vision. When I began to feel no life in the places where vitriol existed, I lifted my head that had been leaning on the upper part of my staff and drew in my mana.

 

[Don’t let your guard down.]

 

As Leo’s words were heard, Elias, who had come at some point, hit my back.

 

“Could it end this quickly? Your area attacks, no matter when I see them…”

 

“No matter when you see them?”

 

“They’re new.”

 

Elias smiled while roughly evading. Then Haike’s dry voice from upstairs came through the artifact.

 

[101st, to Corbiniano 780:900:550.]

 

[Team 1 move. Teams 2 and 3 suppress up to y850.]

 

“Found it.”

 

Narke replied simply and smiled at me and Elias. Elias and I were Team 1, which was pre-arranged in case there was work requiring team division.

 

Since the day we dealt with the 3rd-class Victim in the northern wheat field, I revised our team strategy to fully utilize Haike’s unique ability. Honestly speaking, the ability to read the past of objects was difficult to utilize greatly at Rampage processing sites, but since Haike’s unique ability wasn’t perfect either and had many gaps, it seemed good to develop it in advance. So now we found out where the coordinate system security system of this archbishopric is located through Haike.

 

[91st C, 98th C, all residential coordinate systems destroyed. Moving to diocese museum and archives respectively.]

 

Meanwhile, Class 98 Teams A and B had already sent more than half of the cathedral to Bavaria. I’m really curious how many Pleroma are falling on Bavaria right now.

 

I moved with Elias to the building coordinates Haike had recited. And as soon as I moved, I swung my sword at the Vitriol charging at me.

 

Slash— Scrape—

 

“Going smoothly.”

 

Elias, attacking Pleroma behind me, spoke as if amused. Vitriol splattered on his face. I wiped it away while clashing swords with a Pleroma.

 

Clang— Screech—

 

“What is.”

 

“We’ve already blown away half of Munich-Freising, haven’t we.”

 

“What good is blowing away half. This isn’t over until we catch the bishops.”

 

“That’s right, but you’re being too modest~”

 

“….”

 

Crash—!

 

I infused my sword with mana, threw my opponent, and kicked off the ground. In the distance, the priest I had observed at the cathedral 7 years ago had somehow become a Monsignor and was here. Along with fragments of Faust’s verses and the sound of clashing swords, Elias’s voice continued to flow in.

 

[Without you, would we have blown away even half by now? Command is currently moving according to the strategy you devised.]

 

“Others helped plan it too.”

 

[If copying what you wrote in your letter directly into the operation manual counts as strategic planning, then sure.]

 

“….”

 

I chuckled at Elias’s cheekiness and recited the coordinate formula for this location, pulling it one space forward. Someone’s back of the head appeared before my eyes. The moment his flashing eyes turned toward me.

 

“…!”

 

Stab—

 

“Aaaaah!”

 

I destroyed his core and brought him down. This is why you need to know coordinate systems. It makes it possible to overwhelm with speed before they can use their unique abilities.

 

[All units, beginning bishop search. Total bishops killed: three. According to prior investigation, ten more bishops remain. Current coordinate systems remaining in Pleroma Munich-Freising Archdiocese: two out of 103 total, the Archbishop’s Palace and Munich-Freising Archives.]

 

So it’s already come to that. Those who cleared all 103 coordinate systems are truly remarkable. I continued my thoughts while listening to the announcement. So how did we learn about these coordinate systems? Let me think. On the first day of strategic meetings in Munich, I concluded that ‘Munich-Freising has higher vigilance compared to other dioceses,’ and no objections have been raised to that conclusion even now. Why is Munich-Freising so thorough with security? Why do the Munich-Freising Archdiocese priests captured by Bavaria know less compared to priests from other dioceses? Why is information so thoroughly controlled?

 

There were two possibilities: the leader’s obsessive security paranoia, or previous security vulnerabilities that caused problems. Both possibilities coexisted, and it was unclear which was the answer. In that state, I looked back 7 years and came here. Now the weight shifts toward the latter possibility, giving a likely answer to the above question. What if they had their archives thoroughly ransacked by a Pleroma 7 years ago?

 

The conclusion is this. Naturally, the possibility that all information I obtained from 7 years ago remains valid until now is low. But there’s no guarantee everything has changed either. Things that change easily: entry routes, duration of bishop conferences, security regulations. Things that are hard to change… were already established locations.

 

With support from the Catacombs disguised as the Papal States, I searched all the spatial magic cast on Bavaria’s buildings I had observed over the past two days, and this greatly helped in discovering the Corbiniano coordinate systems now. This would have been difficult with Imperial Government technology. It was an opportunity to gradually expand the Catacombs’ influence from behind the scenes, so in this regard, it can only be considered fortunate.

 

‘And…’

 

There was one more area where I received help, but now wasn’t the time to think about it. I rejoined Elias in this building full of corpses and stopped before an iron door with the most security magic cast on it.

 

“Ah, what should we do now~?”

 

I smiled at Elias, who was grinning mischievously while knowing everything. I pulled the coordinate system one space forward and recited the warp formula. When Elias grabbed my back and opened his eyes, he saw a control panel surrounded by multiple layers of magic. I tapped the communication artifact and smiled.

 

“Farnese.”

 

[…Ah~ good.]

 

Narke let out a light laugh. As I smashed the control panel, the sound of something striking the floor came through the artifact, and his sacred-sounding voice was transmitted.

 

[—And David said, The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.]

 

[Craaaaaash—…]

 

“….”

 

Elias beside me raised the corner of his mouth and patted my back. Now there were no places left for Munich-Freising’s bishops to flee. They could no longer receive support from Pleroma leadership either. Leo’s voice came through the artifact.

 

[101st Unit, Archbishop’s Palace coordinate system destroyed. Moving to final stronghold.]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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