The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 107

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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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#107. Sierra Army Depot

Captain Cooper drew the spear from his back and gripped it in his hand, swinging it forcefully toward the special armor that Sung-jun had modified.

However, the special armor that Sung-jun had created easily deflected the captain’s attack without even a small scratch.

“Whoa!”

“To deflect the captain’s attack so easily!?”

Captain Cooper was equally surprised.

The force he had put into his spear just now was a powerful attack that could pierce through armor five times thicker than the armor before Sung-jun’s modifications like tofu.

However, Sung-jun shook his head and demanded that Captain Cooper give his all.

“What I requested was ‘a full-power strike.’ Not an attack where you moderately controlled your strength.”

‘He even knew that I didn’t attack with full power.’

Captain Cooper had not given his all in that previous strike.

His maximum attack required quite a long preparation time, and due to its excessively powerful destructive force, it had the power to pierce through Sung-jun’s armor and even break through the test room’s walls.

Moreover, if his attack had pierced through Sung-jun’s armor, there was a risk of damaging Sung-jun’s reputation, so Captain Cooper had deliberately controlled his strength.

However, Sung-jun noticed Captain Cooper’s intention and once again requested a full-power strike.

Captain Cooper picked up his deflected spear again and asked Sung-jun.

“You haven’t seen it before so you wouldn’t know, but when I get serious, the destructive power exceeds expectations. I think what you’ve shown just now would have been enough to leave a deep impression…”

“This is also a test to assess the capabilities of the Western Region Defense Force’s Awakened. So it only has meaning if you attack with full power. Or…”

Sung-jun spoke to Captain Cooper with a slightly mocking smile.

“Don’t you have confidence in piercing through that thin piece of armor?”

Upon hearing Sung-jun’s words, Captain Cooper emanated an incomparably stronger aura from his body than before.

Then he unfastened the button that secured the rolled-up cloth just below the spearhead and said.

“If that’s what you want, I’ll show you. However, this attack requires preparation time, so please wait a moment.”

As Captain Cooper lightly shook his spear, the cloth that had been wrapped around the spearhead unfurled widely with a fluttering sound.

On the unfurled cloth was a large drawing of the symbol of what he most wanted to protect.

‘The Stars and Stripes. It wasn’t a spear but a flagpole.’

Taking a javelin-throwing stance, he pulled back the hand holding the spear and extended his other hand toward the armor fragments.

Then he closed his eyes and began gathering all his energy toward his arm.

Not just the energy within himself, but also drawing in the energy scattered around him.

Then Sung-jun surrounded his eyes with mana and began analyzing the authority enveloping Captain Cooper’s body.

How his energy distorted the laws of reality, and what results such distorted reality would bring.

Countless pieces of information were sucked into Sung-jun’s mind through his eyes, and Sung-jun came to understand what kind of ability Captain Cooper’s ultimate technique possessed.

‘Multiple musculoskeletal enhancement authorities and aim correction, plus composite authorities that increase the spear’s durability and penetration power… No wonder it takes time to prepare.’

As Sung-jun was analyzing Captain Cooper’s ultimate technique with his eyes, a soldier approached him.

Carrying a massive sniper rifle on his back, he was Lucas Bennett, Cooper’s subordinate and deputy squad leader of the 3rd Reconnaissance Squad.

“You’d better abandon the thought that the captain won’t be able to pierce that armor. It’s a technique that can’t be used much in actual combat due to the long preparation time, but in terms of destructive power alone, it’s a technique that can be considered the best on the American continent. In fact, the captain once dealt a fatal blow to a Level 8 Corrosion Entity with that spear on D-day.”

“Level 8 means the grade just below apocalypse-class Corrosion Entities?”

“That’s right. If the apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity that appeared in the Eastern Region was a disaster for the entire American continent, then the near-apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity that appeared in the west was a disaster for the eastern continent. That day we lost many comrades, but we also gained something. When everyone was thinking of annihilation in despair, the captain’s strike with the Stars and Stripes instead of his broken spear pierced through the enemy leader. The countless survivors who witnessed that scene up close began calling the captain’s javelin throw by a different name from that day forward.”

Suddenly, the energy that had been endlessly drawn into Captain Cooper’s body stopped moving as if time had frozen.

As everyone held their breath and watched the captain’s movements, Lucas Bennett’s voice thundered out.

“Wrath of the Stars and Stripes.”

In an instant, Captain Cooper’s spear, shot like a beam of light transcending the speed of sound, tore through space.

Along a long straight line of three colors—red, white, and blue—symbolizing the Stars and Stripes.

The moment he saw the beam of light leaving Captain Cooper’s hand and cutting through space, Sung-jun instinctively knew that the captain’s attack would penetrate the armor he had made.

-KWAAAAANG!!!!!!-

No unexpected turn occurred.

As Captain Cooper had predicted, the special armor that Sung-jun had reinforced could not withstand Captain Cooper’s full-power strike.

However, unlike the others who watched the armor with expressions of “as expected,” Ryan Cooper himself, who had thrown the spear, was looking at the pierced armor plate with an expression of complete disbelief.

‘Certainly, even if it was only for a moment, that armor had blocked my spear…’

His spear, which should have extended straight forward without any resistance, had momentarily stopped its advance the moment it contacted Sung-jun’s reinforced armor.

Understanding the meaning of that phenomenon, Cooper left behind the soldiers who were praising his attack with “as expected,” and approached Sung-jun with clenched fists, saying.

“Sung-jun.”

“Oh my, it got pierced. Captain Cooper’s attack was stronger than expected.”

“Is mass production of that armor possible?”

At Captain Cooper’s question, a small smile appeared on Sung-jun’s lips.

It seemed that at least the person who threw the spear knew the truth of what had just happened.

“It’s possible. Right now it’s just a simple iron plate with magic applied to it, but if we use Corrosion Entity materials like the walls of this room, mass production as well as enhancement would be possible.”

Captain Cooper looked straight into Sung-jun’s eyes.

Then he turned his head toward General MacFarlane behind him and said.

“General.”

“Speak.”

“As squad leader of the Western Defense Force 3rd Reconnaissance Unit, I formally request that you consider Sung-jun’s proposal to advance to the Eastern Region.”

***

Despite the fact that the special armor Sung-jun made was pierced by Captain Cooper’s attack, General MacFarlane showed an expression of incomprehension at the captain’s words requesting reconsideration of the advance to the Eastern Region as Sung-jun had suggested.

Seeing the general’s expression, Captain Cooper sighed and said to the general.

“Most people in this room probably didn’t see it properly, but the armor Sung-jun made withstood my attack, even if only for a moment.”

“But it was pierced in the end, wasn’t it?”

“That’s because my attack was powerful enough to deal fatal damage to a Level 8 Corrosion Entity’s body. General, what do you think was the biggest reason the U.S. Military was so helplessly defeated by the large-scale Corrosion Entity attacks on D-day?”

“…Because our weapon systems didn’t work on them at all.”

“Correct. Guns are weapons that give even beginners the power to kill people if they can just pull the trigger, but conversely, the moment the opponent’s defense exceeds the bullet’s penetration power, they become useless sticks. The same was true for the missiles and fighter jets the U.S. Military was so proud of. Our attacks couldn’t exceed their defense, and our defense couldn’t exceed their attack power.”

“…That’s how it was.”

“What if it had worked in reverse?”

“?!”

“The fact that it withstood a strike capable of penetrating a Level 8 Corrosion Entity’s body, even for a moment, means it would take no damage from at least Level 6 Corrosion Entity attacks. If our tanks had that level of defense, they wouldn’t have been swept away so helplessly.”

“But even if enhancement is possible, there are too few armored vehicles left at the base now. The current enemies have increased to an unascertainable number, and there aren’t many allies left to face them. This is like trying to break a rock with an egg.”

“If it’s hard enough, you can break a rock with an egg.”

Captain Cooper told him to imagine allied forces advancing while pouring out enhanced ammunition, leading with armored vehicles that had durability that couldn’t be scratched by Level 6 or lower attacks.

What the general envisioned upon hearing those words was a scene that seemed to be the exact opposite of the U.S. Military’s position on D-day when they were miserably swept away.

“Of course there will be sacrifices. There will be casualties too. Perhaps even with Sung-jun’s help, a situation where the remaining allies are completely annihilated might occur. But I think the challenge itself has sufficient value.”

“Why?”

“Because at least once before dying, we could show them the true power of the U.S. Military.”

Before the Pioneers visited Earth and Awakened with power transcending humans sprouted like mushrooms after rain, the United States had an army that could rightfully be called the world’s strongest.

Based on the excellent performance of missiles and fighter jets, they could secure air superiority and pour out overwhelming firepower to sweep away all visible enemies. The U.S. Military’s combat method had destructive power that could change not only enemy forces but even terrain.

However, for that destructive power to be established, the premise that allied firepower was stronger than enemy defense was essential.

No matter how much firepower was poured out, repeatedly making ineffective attacks against opponents who wouldn’t even get scratched was as meaningless as trying to bring down a solid reinforced concrete wall by shooting BB pellets at it.

That was exactly why the U.S. Military collapsed.

Faced with enemies where existing methods didn’t work at all, the firepower superiority the U.S. Military boasted meant nothing.

“In front of monsters that ignored not just bullets but even anti-tank shells and charged forward, we could do nothing. The bullets we fired were no different from beans thrown by a baby’s hand, and our tanks were torn apart like cardboard boxes. That wasn’t a proper battle. It was one-sided slaughter, like humans stepping on and crushing an ant colony before their eyes.”

Even though attacks by gunfire began working on low-level Corrosion Entities starting about a year ago, the situation didn’t dramatically reverse.

The Corrosion Entities that could be brought down with rifles were at most Level 1-2 low-grade Corrosion Entities, and the U.S. Military had too little firepower remaining to counterattack the enemies with powerful firepower.

The biggest problem was that allied defense was far too weak.

Even if allied tanks gained firepower capable of penetrating enemy skin, the problem of the armor that should protect those tanks being torn like paper remained completely unsolved.

However, if Sung-jun could solve that problem, perhaps for the first time since D-day, the U.S. Military could show the enemies their ‘original style.’

That very battle where they could show the true power of the U.S. Military—leading with waves of indestructible tanks and bringing down enemy defense lines with overwhelming firepower.

Captain Cooper wanted to inflict upon the enemies the very terror that the U.S. Military had experienced on D-day.

“We’ll form a large-scale enhanced armored unit with Sung-jun’s help and advance eastward. Riding tanks equipped with magically enhanced special armor, pouring magically enhanced shells at the enemies and sweeping them away. Of course, there aren’t enough armored vehicles here, but we can just secure the insufficient amount. This is the west, not the east, and in the west, there’s ‘that place.'”

When Sung-jun, who had heard Captain Cooper’s words, asked where ‘that place’ was, the captain answered.

“Sierra Army Depot. Also known by another name as ‘the world’s largest tank storage garage.'”

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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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