The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 12

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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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#012. Survivor

Deep in the forest where no trace of human presence could be found.

Sung-jun, who had cast spatial movement with the surviving high school girl he discovered in the collapsing building, immediately cast additional sensory blocking magic on the girl who had escaped with him as soon as the spatial movement ended.

This was because he had cast marking magic on all the corpses remaining in the building before it collapsed and transported them together, making the nearby scenery so horrific that an ordinary person would never be able to endure it.

Moreover, he still had some uncertainty about whether it was okay to reveal his identity to her yet.

So Sung-jun left the girl struggling with her arms and legs in surprise while wearing a large black bubble-like sealing magic over his head, and immediately began cleaning up.

-Kwaaaaaaaang!!-

To avoid the troublesome work of digging the ground, he selected an attack spell of appropriate power to dig a pit, then levitated the rotting flesh chunks that were mostly just body parts and placed them in the pit.

Then he selected a suitable rock to serve as a tombstone, shaped it with cutting magic, and erected it on the dirt-covered grave as a marker.

The time it took Sung-jun to handle work that would take at least 30 minutes even with heavy equipment like an excavator for an ordinary person was just about 2 minutes.

During that time, the girl who had been wandering around in surprise at her suddenly blocked senses crashed head-first into a large tree while Sung-jun wasn’t paying attention and fell backward, landing on her bottom.

-Snap!-

The moment Sung-jun, who had roughly finished his work, snapped his fingers, the black bubble surrounding the girl’s head disappeared with a pop.

The scream the girl had been making inside the bubble where light and sound were blocked echoed loudly among the dense trees.

“A crazy pervert is trying to kidnap me! Huh? I can see again?”

“Seeing you scream, you must have had some strength left?”

“…Did you hear that?”

“I didn’t hear what you screamed while the black bubble was on. I did hear you calling me a crazy pervert at the end though.”

“…I’m sorry… I was so surprised because I suddenly couldn’t see anything…”

“It’s partly my fault for not explaining beforehand. I’m not particularly bothered by it, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

Sung-jun then began walking forward while gathering his things, leaving the girl behind.

Then the girl’s urgent voice echoed from behind him.

“Wait! Where are you going now?”

“Hm? Where else, home of course.”

“What about me?”

“What about you?”

Was she really asking him to give her something in return for saving her from drowning?

Seeing Sung-jun’s genuinely puzzled expression as he looked at her, she seemed to realize the meaning of her own words and lowered her head, speaking in a voice as quiet as a mosquito.

“…Don’t tell me you’re going to leave me alone in this forest with nothing and go by yourself…”

“That’s right?”

“Really?”

The girl stared at Sung-jun with wide eyes and an expression of disbelief.

Sung-jun looked at her burdensome gaze for a moment, then pointed to one side of the forest and said.

“There are no monsters nearby, so if you walk a few kilometers in that direction, there should be something like houses. If you look carefully, you might be able to get some abandoned vegetables that couldn’t be taken. This is the countryside, so they mainly use groundwater rather than city water, so if you’re lucky you might be able to get water too.”

“…”

“That’s about all I can do for you. If I hadn’t saved you anyway, whether you died crushed by the building or starved to death trapped in the break room, the result would have been the same, so consider it gaining one life and live well on your own from now on.”

Turning away from the girl again, Sung-jun hesitated for a moment then took out rice from his bag.

Then he filled a plastic bag with rice and threw it at her feet.

“It’s rice. Electricity is being controlled so a rice cooker would be difficult, but if you roughly pour water and boil it, you should be able to make porridge at least. I’ve been trapped for over 3 months so I’m not sure, but that’s extremely precious right now, so be grateful for it. Well then, I’m off.”

Leaving the girl he had just saved in the forest, Sung-jun quickly crossed through the forest at a speed the girl could never follow.

Then, from a position where the girl’s gaze couldn’t reach, he cast long-distance transmission magic to the temporary base where Sung-jun lived.

-Shuaaaang-

From the perspective of the girl who was probably staggering and chasing after him, Sung-jun would have appeared to suddenly evaporate.

Returning to his familiar modest shelter, Sung-jun immediately began organizing the spoils he had acquired today.

“I got beef after a long time, some instant coffee and snacks, and this much rice should last about two weeks… Teacher. Should we have beef radish soup for dinner tonight?”

Then, as Sung-jun spoke to the photo of his teacher displayed on the cracked tablet, a voice that shouldn’t be heard began to reach his ears.

‘Are you planning to just abandon that child?’

“I did everything I could.”

‘You already know well that if you leave her like that, she’ll die soon.’

“At least she won’t die before my eyes. Teacher. No matter how strong I am, I can’t take care of every life I save. Even the people I saved from Lotte World that day, I don’t know how many are still alive now.”

Forcibly ignoring the hallucination of his teacher’s voice in his ears, Sung-jun entered the roughly made cave and brought out a dirt-covered radish.

Then he began preparing dinner, washing the radish using water magic.

He heated a pot with fire magic, added sesame oil, stir-fried the finely chopped radish and beef, then added water.

Then he added the remaining dashida and salt, put in garlic and green onions, and boiled it vigorously.

The savory smell of beef that he hadn’t experienced in a long time was stimulating his appetite like crazy.

The delicious sweet smell from rice cooked with freshly milled rice, and the refreshing smell of well-fermented kimchi taken from a jar buried deep in the ground.

It was a smell filled with memories that reminded him of life before the world collapsed, but Sung-jun in the midst of it was preparing dinner with an expression that something was unsatisfactory.

“Something’s missing… Should I grill some fish after a long time?”

He grilled mackerel using the large cauldron lid as a frying pan.

Then a savory and stimulating smell incomparably stronger than before began to fill the valley.

“I think there were some mushrooms too…”

As if possessed by something, Sung-jun began making too much food for one person to eat, making another side dish each time he completed one, filling up the table.

And finally, when Sung-jun finished preparing the table setting, there was a wonderful meal spread before him that wouldn’t be out of place even as someone’s birthday feast.

‘What an easy-to-read fellow…’

“That’s not it? I was just a bit hungry today.”

‘If you eat all that food by yourself, I’ll believe you.’

“…Damn…”

The sky was already casting the dusky night shadows as time had passed.

Too dark to call it day, yet still too bright to call it night.

The color of the evening sky that made one feel ‘it’s time for dinner.’

In the end, Sung-jun cast temperature preservation magic on the food he had worked hard to prepare so it wouldn’t get cold, then cast transmission magic toward the forest where the girl was.

“…Well, I expected this.”

The girl who had no intention of walking in the direction Sung-jun had taught her, burying her head in her knees and sobbing as if waiting for someone.

Sung-jun quietly placed his hand on the shoulder of the girl who was only making wheezing sounds as if she had already used up all her strength to cry.

“…You’re mean…”

“Then should I just leave?”

“…Hic… No…”

Was it because the tension she had desperately maintained for so long was released, or was it because she smelled the food scent on his body from preparing dinner?

The moment the girl shook her head roughly, a ‘grrrrowl’ sound echoed embarrassingly loud for anyone listening.

Then Sung-jun sighed toward the girl who was embarrassed enough for her ears to turn red and said.

“Haah… Let’s eat first and then talk.”

And a little later, Sung-jun couldn’t help but be amazed at the fact that such a small girl could swallow so much food.

***

“Nom nom nom… Slurp… Crunch crunch…”

“I’m not going to steal it, so eat slowly.”

The girl who had been eating frantically without saying a word continued to drink seaweed soup by the bowl and endlessly consume food even after being told to eat slowly.

Only after she had completely cleaned out most of the side dishes Sung-jun had prepared did she finally sigh and smile.

“Haah… It’s really delicious… Trying to survive for 3 months on the snacks and cup noodles in the break room was so hard…”

“Want more?”

Actually, even if he wanted to give more, there was no more food to give, but seeing her eat so well, he felt he should ask out of courtesy.

But fortunately, the girl seemed satisfied and declined the offer, shaking her head.

“No. Thanks to you, I really ate well.”

“I see…”

The moment the girl heard Sung-jun’s voice, she lowered her head and straightened her posture.

Then she grabbed his hands that were organizing the dishes and said.

“I… I’ll do the dishes!”

“It’s fine.”

“No no! I even got fed, so please let me do at least this much!”

“No, I really said it’s fine.”

The girl who was trying to forcibly take the dishes from Sung-jun’s hands couldn’t close her mouth at the scene that followed.

The dishes that floated into the air were sucked into water droplets that appeared in mid-air, spinning and becoming clean as if they were magical dishwashers, and this sight was reflected in the young girl’s eyes.

Then she watched with an expression like a child watching animation as the dishes, cleaned in less than 5 minutes, automatically flew away and stacked neatly on top of each other as if mesmerized.

“Are you perhaps a mage?”

“Why do you think that?”

“From teleportation to dishwashing magic! Anyone can see you’re a mage!”

“I just have some knack for using abilities conveniently, so don’t jump to conclusions that I’m a mage. Have you ever seen any Awakened you know use magic?”

“…No…”

“Then I’m probably not.”

“That’s strange… I heard Japanese Awakened use a lot of strange abilities, so are you an Awakened from Japan?”

“How do you know about that?”

“It’s common knowledge. These days, there aren’t any young people who don’t dream of becoming Awakened.”

“These days…”

What this child called ‘these days’ was probably referring to the time right before the world collapsed after that day.

After the day Teacher sacrificed his life to seal Silermantis, being an Awakened became the number one most avoided profession by people worldwide.

And this child, who had barely survived for 3 months in the break room, would have been completely unaware that the world had changed like that.

Sung-jun made coffee from what he had brought from the break room of the collapsed building during the day and handed it to her as he began to speak.

“Wasn’t there a radio in the break room?”

“Even if there was, I probably couldn’t have used it since there was no electricity. Besides, the radio waves were cut off immediately, so I couldn’t use my phone either…”

“I see? Then shall I briefly explain what happened during the 3 months you were trapped? If you’re tired, you can hear it tomorrow.”

“I want to hear it now. There was nothing I could do in the break room except sleep, so honestly, I was forcing myself to sleep to endure the hunger until I escaped.”

Looking at the young girl’s face as she gazed at him with sparkling eyes, having regained her energy after eating delicious food, Sung-jun opened his mouth with a gentle smile.

“My name is Ma Sung-jun. I’m from South Korea, and as you can see, I’m something like an Awakened who can perform various tricks.”

“I’m Yeon Seoa! A second-year at Heegeum Girls’ High School! I don’t have any particular talents, but I’m a spirited high school girl who does well at whatever I’m asked to do!”

“Good. Seoa. Then listen carefully. From now on, I’ll tell you exactly what happened during the 3 months you were trapped, hitting only the key points.”

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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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