The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 100

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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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#100. Landing

‘It was a miscalculation.’

The moment the landslide of dirt crashed down on his back, what came to Sung-jun’s mind was ‘the durability of the pillar.’

The equipment had been designed from the beginning solely for aerial combat, not for emergency landings while hanging from a pillar like this.

Sung-jun hastily cast a protection spell to shield his entire body, but he couldn’t prevent the safety belt securing him to the pillar from being torn away instantly, causing his body to be flung from the aircraft entirely.

“Urgh!”

Sung-jun’s body, launched like a cannonball from the impact and recoil, bounced across the ground several times like a skipping stone before crashing into a pile of dirt hundreds of meters away.

Unable to use shock absorption spells due to the continuous impacts, Sung-jun lost consciousness from the tremendous shock while buried in the dirt pile.

Thanks to the hastily cast protection spell, he managed to avoid having all his bones shattered, but he couldn’t prevent himself from fainting from the impact.

Having briefly lost consciousness, Sung-jun was able to quickly regain his senses with the help of automatic body restoration magic triggered by oxygen deprivation.

-Boom!-

The first thing that entered Sung-jun’s vision as he erupted from the dirt pile to the surface using explosive magic was the sight of Yatagarasu, half-destroyed and billowing black smoke.

And scattered around it were the remains of Murakumo units that had similarly crashed during emergency landings.

“Queeeeek!!”

Sung-jun saw Shirasaki Miyu firing attack magic while wielding her Grimoire.

And beside her, he could see Yeonse-a similarly using attack spells to protect the surviving pilots.

When Sung-jun moved at high speed to join Seoa’s group, his disciple Seoa welcomed her teacher’s arrival with a joyful expression.

“Teacher!!”

“Is everyone uninjured?”

“Thanks to you, Teacher! I knew you’d be safe!”

“Who was it that was crying and making a fuss just moments ago about needing to find Teacher’s body?”

Ignoring Seoa’s embarrassed head-scratching, Sung-jun spoke.

“Please report the situation.”

“Yes. We’ve made an emergency landing on the runway of Santa Maria Airport in the western United States. If it had been a regular transport aircraft, it would have exploded during landing, but thanks to the additional armor you modified, we avoided the worst-case scenario.”

“Hey, if you have time to chat, do something about those things.”

When Miyu, who was fighting enemies with her Grimoire, grumbled, Sung-jun smiled.

Then he brushed the dirt off his body and said.

“Right. Shall we clean up first?”

Having eliminated the giant Corrosion Entity that breathed the most threatening attacks, it didn’t take Sung-jun very long to deal with the remaining monsters.

After defeating the Corrosion Entities flying around the area, Sung-jun deployed barrier magic, then retrieved base camp equipment from subspace and set it up on the runway.

He had tried to use the airport facilities instead, but since most of the airport infrastructure including the hangars was destroyed, he thought the specially-made base camp equipment for dungeons would be more convenient to use.

Sung-jun’s proposal to set up camp in the middle of an open runway surrounded by the corpses of flying Corrosion Entities that had fallen from the sky sounded like a terrible idea to the surviving pilots, but Sung-jun dismissed their objections, arguing that the open space was actually better for monitoring Corrosion Entity intrusions and deploying barrier magic.

Once the base camp setup was complete, Sung-jun used the shower facilities to wash himself, tidied his outfit with laundry magic developed in the dungeon, then sat in the meeting room waiting for the remaining personnel.

Shortly after, when all personnel had finished eating and personal maintenance and gathered in the meeting room, Sung-jun immediately began a strategy meeting to assess the current situation.

“Judging by the state of the airport, it seems quite some time has passed since it was destroyed. The search magic I cast before setting up the barrier showed no living humans either. Right now, what we need most is information. Though there are several other problems we need to solve as well.”

“What other problems do you mean?”

Sung-jun answered Shima Daisuke’s question, the Yatagarasu pilot.

“First, there’s the matter of your return. Since we came to American soil with a purpose, once we begin our activities in earnest, we won’t have the luxury of looking after you. But we also can’t have one of the three of us stay behind to continuously maintain barrier magic to protect you. Even if the transport ship needed for return was intact, returning to Japan by aircraft without a mage would be tantamount to suicide.”

The black breath attack that Sung-jun had barely blocked at the end had enough power to split even an aircraft carrier in half with a single blow.

Even if they were lucky enough not to encounter a Corrosion Entity of that level, with forces capable of annihilating a specially-made transport squadron through sheer numbers controlling the airspace, it was impossible for the pilots alone to return to Japan without Sung-jun’s help.

Then Daisuke, having heard Sung-jun’s explanation, asked him.

“Wait a minute, Sung-jun. I was definitely told when we departed from Japan that if we safely escorted you to America, you would send us back to Japan directly through teleportation magic.”

“That’s also correct. According to the original plan, you would have safely transported me to American soil and then returned to Japan via long-distance teleportation magic. The problem is…”

Sung-jun looked at Daisuke with coldly sunken eyes and said.

“I already tried, but the long-distance teleportation magic is being interfered with.”

“Interference?”

“Teleportation magic is extremely complex magic. And that complexity increases with distance. The problem is that while pinpointing the Japanese coordinates is simple, we’re having difficulty establishing coordinates on the American side where we currently are. To put it simply, it’s like trying to draw a straight line between two points, but the starting point has a special coating that prevents ink from adhering to it.”

“That’s…”

“I believe this is a temporary phenomenon. Special waves emanating from the apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity in America are disrupting the coordinate designation magic’s wavelength and blocking long-distance teleportation magic. Probably, if we defeat the apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity in America, that problem will be resolved.”

“…So we need to survive here on our own until you defeat the apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity.”

“I’ll provide as much support as possible.”

Sung-jun opened the subspace connected to Pandora’s Box and retrieved several items from the Previous Demon Lords’ collection.

Each one was a mythic-grade artifact with performance rivaling the Grimoire that Shirasaki Miyu possessed.

“What is this?”

“This here is the holy sword Balakis. It’s a type of ego sword with self-awareness, containing indestructible authority and long-range slashing spells – a mythic-grade weapon. This staff here is…”

Sung-jun, having retrieved four mythic-grade weapons to match the four surviving pilots, instructed each to choose their preferred armament.

Then he addressed the pilots who were staring at the weapons with bewildered expressions.

“Each weapon I’ve given you is a powerful artifact that could only be obtained from the 90th floor or below of major dungeons. Of course, since these are weapons you’re handling for the first time, you won’t be able to use them skillfully, but they can provide enough firepower to defeat nearby Corrosion Entities without any problems. For now, please use that equipment to protect your lives.”

“Should we really accept such precious items…”

“This is also repayment for mine and my colleagues’ lives. If you hadn’t risked your lives to protect us, we couldn’t have arrived safely in America like this.”

“Do we need to return them later…”

“I have plenty of other good items besides those. Think of them as gifts. Of course, the best thing would be to send you back to Japan right now, but…”

At Sung-jun’s words, Daisuke waved his hands and said.

“No! This is more than enough! Anyway, if you and your colleagues defeat America’s apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity, we’ll be able to return to Japan too.”

The weapons Sung-jun had given them were powerful enough equipment that if taken to Japan, they could immediately aim for a raid clan master position.

Moreover, they were items with enough power to adequately protect themselves and become heroes even on American soil.

Enjoying the feeling of being an otherworld hero who received cheats from a goddess, Daisuke said.

“Now that we have means to protect ourselves, we’ll participate in information gathering too. If all seven of us here spread out to collect information, we can obtain the necessary information more quickly. Since it’s late today, let’s all rest, and tomorrow let’s all go out for information gathering together. How about that?”

“Good. Then everyone rest well today and we’ll depart early tomorrow morning. Let’s reconvene at base camp by 8 PM.”

“Is there any specific information you need?”

“The best thing would be to recruit locals who know the local situation well. The base camp has plenty of food supplies, so if you discover camps where survivors are gathered, please bring the representative or person in charge of that place to base camp. If the other party is suspicious of us and it’s difficult to bring them directly, just confirming the location of the survivor camp would be sufficient.”

“So you want us to use food and supply materials as negotiation tools to bring locals. Understood.”

“I heard that after the Pioneers prophesied about the coming disaster, it became popular in America to set up shelters in home basements, but what we need are locals who know the external situation well, so please don’t forcibly drag locals out of closed shelters.”

“Understood. Then the best targets would be soldiers or police. Of course, assuming we can find any.”

“Soldiers or police would be the most suitable targets. But please don’t use force excessively. The artifacts I gave you are literally equipment that can easily slice through house-sized boulders with a single sword strike.”

Sung-jun advised them to practice usage on trees or rocks before departing if possible, then gave the dismissal order.

And the next day, what awaited Sung-jun as he emerged from the camp was the wreckage of Yatagarasu, so severely destroyed that its original form was unrecognizable.

“You seem to have practiced quite intensively.”

“…Sorry. I never thought I’d obtain such powerful items…”

“I understand your feelings. However, since I trust you now fully understand the power of what I gave you, please refrain from carelessly wielding that power against civilians.”

After once again requesting restraint in using their power, Sung-jun set out with the rest of his group for full-scale information gathering.

From Santa Maria, a city of 100,000 north of the airport, to the small city of Orcutt with 30,000 people to the south.

There was also the small city of Guadalupe with about 7,000 people west of the airport, but what awaited Sung-jun’s group was only the wreckage of cities so devastatingly destroyed that their beautiful past was barely recognizable.

“It’s more devastating than expected.”

Seoa, who had returned to Sung-jun’s side after spreading out to search for survivors, spoke with a gloomy expression.

Despite deliberately choosing an airport near small cities, assuming that areas near major cities would have been intensively attacked based on data obtained from China, the fact that there wasn’t a single visible survivor was casting deep shadows over young Seoa’s heart.

“If small cities are this bad, major cities might be even worse. Perhaps we delayed too long in Japan…”

Sung-jun took out a map he had prepared in Japan from his chest and scanned it to decide on the next search location.

And at that moment, Seoa, who had been looking around beside Sung-jun, tugged at his sleeve and said.

“Teacher!”

“That’s…”

The shadow of a small animal running through the collapsed ruins carrying something in its mouth.

Around the neck of the dog carrying a can that had swollen round from spoiled contents, a metal collar indicating it had an owner glinted faintly.

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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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