The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 118

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#118. Holding the Line

“I never imagined a single Fortress Wall could reverse the tide of battle so dramatically….”

Captain Cooper spoke as he gazed down at the Fortress Wall, which bore not a single scratch despite the insectoid Corrosion Entities hurling their entire bodies in suicidal charges against it.
Beneath his feet, medium and large-sized Corrosion Entities desperately gnashed their teeth, attempting to tear the wall apart with such ferocity that their own fangs shattered in the process.
Of course, only the Corrosion Entities’ teeth—which resembled an insect’s mandibles—were breaking.
The Level 8 Corrosion Entity that had been pursuing the retreating Argen and Karcerion until moments before the wall’s sudden appearance now displayed a cautious demeanor toward this unexpected barrier.
As if it were sending its subordinates forward to gauge the wall’s durability.
And finally, the Level 8 Corrosion Entity began to move, its already colossal body swelling to nearly twice its original size.

“Long-range bombardment incoming! Everyone down!”

What the grotesquely swollen Corrosion Entity launched was a clump of its own greenish body fluid.
As the repulsive fluid mass traced a parabolic arc like a mortar round and attempted to clear the Fortress Wall, Sung-jun immediately cast a spell to intercept the attack.

-Whoooosh!!-

As the body fluid clump exploded mid-air and scattered like rain, the monsters drenched in the acidic liquid began to glow and dissolve with horrific screams.
Yet the Level 8 Corrosion Entity that had launched the fluid showed no concern whatsoever for the deaths of its own kind, continuing its relentless barrage of body fluid projectiles.

-Boom! Kaboom! Boom-boom-boom!-

As not only Sung-jun but also the turrets mounted on the Fortress Wall and the steel golems standing behind it opened return fire, the sky beyond the wall instantly became a fireworks display of countless projectiles and body fluid clumps flying in all directions.
The corpses of enemies melted by the acidic fluid raining down from above outnumbered those killed by the barrage itself.

“Screeeeeeeee!!!”

Could even these monsters, seemingly devoid of any intelligence, understand the meaning of the phrase “dying like a dog”?
Realizing that remaining near the wall without inflicting any damage would only result in a horrific death, the medium and large-sized Corrosion Entities that had been desperately attempting to breach it began retreating toward the rear of the Level 8 entity with agonized shrieks.
Immediately, Sung-jun ordered his forces to concentrate their fire on the colossal Level 8 Corrosion Entity.

“Now is the moment! All firepower must be concentrated on the colossal Corrosion Entity!”

As high-explosive rounds, armor-piercing shells, missiles, and chemical warheads—all modern weapons enhanced by magic—concentrated an enormous volume of firepower on a single point, the carapace of the colossal Corrosion Entity, so hardened that even a divine spear could not pierce it, shattered in an instant, and countless rounds tore through the exposed soft tissue within, detonating from the inside.

“Shrieeeeeek!”

No matter how strong a monster was, its internal structure wasn’t as durable as its exterior. The colossal Corrosion Entity, subjected to concentrated bombardment, shrieked in agony and staggered backward.
It then began retreating toward the rear, its entire body dripping with deep green bodily fluids.
Following in the wake of other Corrosion Entity swarms that had already abandoned their position and were fleeing from the front lines.
As Captain Cooper observed the insectoid Corrosion Entities gradually withdrawing their encirclement, he opened his mouth with a deflated expression.

“They’re retreating….”

“They must have determined they cannot eliminate us with their current forces.”

“They were such formidable enemies that we had to be prepared for total annihilation….”

Only then did Captain Cooper understand why Sung-jun had invested time and accepted allied casualties to recruit Barden.
Had they attempted to hold back the enemy with only steel golems without the Fortress Wall that Barden summoned, all allied forces would have been annihilated under the endless barrage of enemy attacks.
To that extent, the abilities of the newly joined dwarf Barden were an indispensable card for leading this operation to victory.

“You’ve worked hard. Once we return to JBLM, this operation will be our victory.”

Captain Cooper spoke with a smile, having regained his composure, but Sung-jun’s expression remained grim.
While Barden’s arrival had prevented the worst-case scenario of total annihilation, there was still a mountain to overcome before the “return” that Captain Cooper mentioned.
After casting a detection spell to ascertain the enemies’ retreat positions, I extracted supplies from the Subspace and provided them to the exhausted Soldiers before convening an emergency meeting.
To solve the mobility problem—the sole weakness of Barden’s ‘Fortress Construction’ ability.

“First, I want to express my gratitude for everyone’s hard work in executing this operation. Thanks to all of you, we were able to recover numerous pieces of equipment from the Sierra Army Depot, and with those materials, we’ve constructed over 600 steel golems. Since there are still many pieces of equipment remaining in the Subspace to be used as materials, we should be able to complete many more golems once we have the opportunity.”

The problem was that without the protection of the Fortress Wall, no matter how many golems we increased in number, it would be difficult to break through the enemy’s encirclement.
The new golems created at a ten-meter scale with Barden’s assistance possessed enough power to individually defeat Level 7 Corrosion Entities in one-on-one combat, but the enemy’s numbers overwhelmingly exceeded the quantity of golems we could deploy.

“The maximum number of steel golems we can currently deploy is approximately 3,000 units. Since these are fundamentally equipment that require human Pilots, we cannot increase that number at present. The problem is that even deploying 3,000 steel golems offers no guarantee that we can break through the enemy’s encirclement with 100% certainty.”
“Would it be possible to have Skeleton Soldiers pilot them?”

Upon hearing Captain Cooper’s suggestion, I pondered briefly before consulting with Barden.
Then, nodding, I spoke toward the Captain.

“It might be possible if we abandon long-range bombardment. Fundamentally, Skeleton Soldiers can only operate antiquated weapons like swords, shields, spears, and bows, so they cannot use weapons like missiles or cannons.”
“Then, what if we break through the encirclement using steel golems designed exclusively for close-quarters combat while providing rear support with golems capable of long-range fire….”
“It’s not impossible, but the losses would be substantial. The problem is that the reason we conducted this operation in the first place was to secure materials for creating steel golems. If we suffer the loss of the majority of our steel golems during the escape after paying such a price to secure those materials, then conducting this operation would have been meaningless.”

From the outset, this operation was never the final objective—it was merely a means to secure the forces I would need for the Western advance with the materials we had gathered.
My true goal was to take the forces acquired through this operation, push into the Western Region, and eliminate the Corrosion Entity that had appeared on the American Continent.
Beyond that, I had another objective as well.

“The entire American Continent remains under the Corrosion Entity’s dominion, so simply eliminating the Corrosion Entity won’t end everything. After we remove it, we’ll need to hunt down the lesser Corrosion Entities scattered across the continent—creatures like the ones we faced today. My second objective is to establish a foundation that allows the U.S. Military to reclaim their territory independently after I depart for Europe.”
“A foundation, you say….”
“We’ll manufacture weapons powerful enough to bring down Level 8 Corrosion Entities through our own strength, and construct ‘Fortresses’ capable of protecting the surviving civilians from large-scale Corrosion Entity assaults.”

What I envisioned was a ‘Fortress City.’
A steel stronghold where the survivors could dwell in safety beneath the protection of formidable Fortress Walls.
The steel golems I had created would serve as the ‘guardian knights’ to protect that Fortress securely.

“That’s why I want to minimize the attrition of the steel golems as much as possible.”
“But isn’t there no alternative? We can’t hide behind this Fortress Wall forever, and eventually we’ll have to venture out and link up with our allies. The moment we leave this wall, the enemy will swarm us like a pack of dogs. If combat is inevitable regardless, wouldn’t deploying the maximum force we can muster actually minimize our casualties?”

Captain Cooper’s argument held merit.
Truth be told, there wasn’t a better option available at present.
My only concern was that we’d be forced to fight without the Fortress Wall against enemies we could barely contain with it.
I didn’t have a particularly good solution either.

“What if we constructed even more powerful golems….”

Then Lucas Bennett, the platoon sergeant who had been listening to our conversation, cautiously spoke up.
Barden, standing beside me, shook his head and answered him.

“It’s impossible. Whether we reinforce the armor or upgrade the weapons, all of those steel golems’ equipment ultimately draws power from mana reactors. The problem is that it’s difficult to increase the reactor output beyond its current capacity.”

A few other ideas were proposed, but none proved practical for our current situation.
Just as we were about to conclude that we had no choice but to accept casualties and forcibly break through the encirclement, a delicate voice emerged from the corner of the conference room.

“Um….”
“Seoa?”

When Captain Cooper looked toward Yeonse-a, my disciple, she steadied her breathing.
Then she carefully posed a question that even she found absurd.

“Right now… you’re worried that without the Fortress Wall, it’ll be difficult to stop the enemies, aren’t you?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then… what if we moved the Fortress Wall entirely?”
“The Fortress Wall…”
“Entirely?”

Watching the bewildered expressions on everyone’s faces—their eyes asking ‘How?’—Seoa shrank back, her shoulders tensing.
Then Sung-jun turned to his student with a gentle expression and reassured her.

“It’s fine, speak freely. We’ve had plenty of absurd ideas come up until now.”
“Well… the steel golems you created are incredibly strong, right? Not just strong, but monstrously powerful… so if all the steel golems pushed the Fortress Wall hard from the inside, wouldn’t the wall itself… get pushed forward…”
“Ha! Pushing a fortress wall to move it—that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my entire life.”

Barden dismissed Seoa’s opinion with a snort, as if it wasn’t worth a moment’s consideration. Sung-jun simply nodded at Seoa reassuringly.
Then he turned to Barden with a serious expression.

“It might actually be possible if the base of the Fortress Wall isn’t fixed to the ground.”
“Good heavens, Master. That’s foolish talk as well. Have you ever seen that absurdly heavy thing even budge slightly while it’s been ramming with its entire body? It’s not a weight that can be moved by mere force. If it could move so easily, would it even be a fortress wall? Why don’t you just ask me to make it walk around instead?”

Barden, confident that even Sung-jun wouldn’t strike him down during a meeting with everyone watching, let all his pent-up frustrations toward Sung-jun pour into his words.
Yet despite Barden’s insolent tone, Sung-jun imposed no punishment upon him.
Instead, as if contemplating something, he simply rested his chin in his hand, lost in serious thought.
The moment Barden sensed something ominous in Sung-jun’s expression, Sung-jun slapped his knee and shouted at him.

“That’s it! Of course—you’re a dwarf, so your thinking is different!”
“Huh?! What do you mean…”
“You said to make it walk around. Then let’s do exactly that.”

Completely ignoring Barden’s dumbfounded stare, Sung-jun pointed at the massive Fortress Wall before him with his finger.

“From now on, I’ll make that Fortress Wall walk on its own. Execute the order.”

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