The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 120

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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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#120. Sung-jun’s Moving Fortress

“That is not a mana flow a mortal can sustain.”

Upon hearing Sung-jun’s proposal to become a mana conduit himself, Barden flatly rejected the idea with an unwavering voice.
He believed it was impossible for a mere human body to supply the vast quantities of mana required to move such a colossal fortress.
However, Sung-jun had pushed forward with his plan from the beginning with absolute conviction that he could accomplish it, so he refused to yield to Barden’s claims of impossibility.

“I don’t need to create circuits inside my body—I’ll create them outside. I’ll guide the mana flow near my body to establish pathways where mana can travel.”
“So you’re saying you’ll walk into the heart of a storm and control the path of lightning as it passes near your body? No sane person would attempt such a thing.”
“My sanity is my concern. You just build according to the specifications I give you. With your abilities, constructing a mobile fortress of this scale shouldn’t take that long.”

Sung-jun stated that he didn’t need Barden to craft every single fixture that would go inside the mobile fortress.
After all, for the modern conveniences a contemporary human required, items crafted by humans from his world surpassed those created by dwarves from the Otherworld.
So what they needed now wasn’t toilets and lighting—it was the plumbing and wiring that would allow toilets and lighting to be installed later.
As for the furnishings necessary for habitation, they could obtain them through wartime requisitions or craft them leisurely when time permitted.
At this, Barden—who had been frowning at Sung-jun’s absurd suggestion about becoming the mana conduit—brightened considerably and expressed his approval.

“So you’re saying I only need to handle the drainage systems and mana conduits, not furnish the interior completely? Excellent. That approach will certainly save considerable time.”
“Oh, wait. Before that, there’s something I need to explain—this world has no magical artifacts. So instead of laying mana circuits, I need to install electrical wiring.”

Upon hearing Sung-jun’s words, Barden fell silent for a long moment.
Then, with an expression of confusion, he spoke to Sung-jun.

“No magical artifacts?”
“None. Fundamentally, this world uses an energy called electricity—think of it as a controlled version of lightning-attribute magic.”

With that explanation, Sung-jun briefly described electricity to Barden and handed him a magical formula that converted mana into electrical power.

“For now, I’ve calibrated the formula to United States standards—120 volts at 60 hertz—so there shouldn’t be any major issues.”
“It would be far more efficient to simply run it on mana. Humanity certainly does inconvenient things for a supposedly intelligent species.”
“This world originally had no mana to begin with.”

Beyond the formula for converting mana to electrical power, constructing such a massive mobile fortress required an enormous number of magical formulas, so Sung-jun designed the necessary ones on the spot according to Barden’s specifications.
Upon examining the contents of the formula Sung-jun had drawn, Barden looked at him with suspicious eyes and spoke.

“Surely it’s not going to explode….”
“I haven’t actually tested it, so I can’t give you a 100% guarantee, but there shouldn’t be any major problems. Theoretically, all the magical formations perfectly satisfy the required specifications. I’m a reigning Demon King, so I’ll vouch for it.”
“Normally, this kind of work requires designing and creating each component individually, then going through a verification process that takes several hundred years or more….”
“It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to be sturdy enough to fit everyone here and break through the enemy’s encirclement.”

In total, it took approximately six hours to complete all the design work.
Normally, this would have been a task requiring years just for the basic design phase, but fortunately, the design of the steel golem I had created previously was so excellent that we could significantly reduce the time needed.
Moreover, I had resolved every problematic aspect by creating the necessary magic myself.
As a result, the newly designed mobile fortress became an object with so many flaws that its structure would collapse without constantly injecting enormous amounts of magical power in real time. However, it was ultimately completed with at least the minimum requirements to walk around as I envisioned and attack enemies.
And finally, once all the design work was finished, Barden, who had picked up his hammer, spoke to me.

“Well then, one final problem remains.”
“A final problem?”
“No matter how legendary a dwarf craftsman I am, I cannot build this enormous mobile fortress without any materials. To complete a fortress of this scale, I must dismantle the Fortress Wall I built and use all the remaining steel golems as materials.”
“The equipment we brought from the Sierra Supply Depot earlier was quite substantial though.”
“That won’t be nearly enough. You have no idea how massive this is. Even setting aside the special alloys needed for the outer walls, if we were to make it from steel alone, we would still need an enormous quantity.”

However, I easily resolved even this final material problem.
After all, when we escaped from the Hangar, I had torn out the entire inner walls of the Hangar and stuffed them into the Subspace.
Moreover, when I provided the enormous quantity of Corrosion Entity corpses recovered from Japan’s Dungeon, Barden could no longer find any justification to oppose the fortress construction.
Furthermore, his very nature was specialized for this kind of work.
Ultimately, Barden, having steeled his resolve, spoke while gazing at the enormous quantity of materials piled within the Fortress Wall.

“Then I will construct the internal frame from the materials you’ve provided and create the external armor from the Fortress Wall here. To achieve the durability you’ve requested, materials obtainable from Earth alone would be insufficient. However, these Fortress Walls are made from Otherworld metals I possess, so I can supplement the lacking materials with magical alloy and begin work.”

As everyone retreated toward the Fortress Wall for safety, I took flight into the air and positioned myself atop the massive pile of materials.
Then, with both arms spread wide, I spoke to Barden.

“I’ll handle the magical power channeling, so complete the frame as we discussed.”

Since maintaining that colossal structure was impossible without a magical power supply, I needed to become the ‘core’ of the mobile fortress from the start, serving as its magical power source for it to be completed.
Understanding this well, I took my position in the air and began channeling magical power. Immediately, an enormous quantity of magical energy began swirling around my body like a tempest.
So intense that even ordinary Soldiers, who normally shouldn’t be able to sense magical power’s existence at all, could visually confirm the magical energy circling around me.
Then Barden, standing before the materials, took a deep breath.
And with all his might, he brought the hammer he had been holding down upon the pile of materials.
In that very instant, an enormous magical formation materialized around me, and an utterly fantastical scene unfolded before our eyes.

“Good heavens, such power….”

At least in the ability to construct fortresses, the dwarven craftsman’s divine power—superior even to the Corrosion Entity—was melting through mountains of materials in an instant.
Iron with iron, aluminum with aluminum.
The countless materials composing tanks and armored vehicles—rubber and plastic, glass and copper—melted like slime and flowed like water, and those liquids moved to where they were needed as if possessed by living will, taking shape according to the blueprints held within Barden’s mind.
Barden’s ability to skip every single process that tens of millions of dwarven craftsmen would need to melt, temper, and forge materials—and instead produce the final result directly.
The divine power of ‘Consecration,’ unleashed with all his might, was completing the colossal sixty-meter-tall mobile fortress in real time, as if watching a time-lapse video.
And finally, when all the work was done, Barden set down his hammer and gazed at Sung-jun with eyes of disbelief.

‘I actually pulled it off.’

Of course, Barden couldn’t wield such godlike power without sacrifice.
His ability was a primordial-grade divine power capable of completing a massive fortress wall that would never crumble in a single night, and it demanded ever greater strength as the size and complexity of the fortress he sought to build increased.
Under normal circumstances, this was work that would require over a month to complete gradually, even with his power—yet Barden had completed the internal framework of the sixty-meter mobile fortress in a single breath.
A man who had volunteered to become the mana reactor of that colossal fortress himself.
With Ma Sungjun’s support.
By connecting his mana circuits in series with Barden’s, Sung-jun’s divine power support possessed a strength so formidable that even the incomparable Barden could not fathom its limits.

“That completes it. The external armor hasn’t been finished yet, but all the boarding sections are complete, so you should be able to board from inside now.”

Captain Cooper, hearing Barden’s words, gazed at the colossal fortress before him with eyes of disbelief.
The steel giant, which looked as though the external armor had been stripped from some massive robot, was lowering itself by bending its great knees to make it easier for the soldiers within the fortress wall to climb aboard.

“If you follow the ramp that extends from the stern, you should be able to reach the boarding section. Unfortunately, it’s not large enough to carry all the steel golems here, so please board with just yourselves.”

The soldiers, hearing Barden’s words, began boarding the mobile fortress one by one along the ramp, feeling as though they were climbing into the Trojan Horse.
Then, after waiting for all personnel to board, Sung-jun spoke to Barden.

“To convert the external walls into armor, you’ll need to stay outside, right?”

‘This madman—does he really have the composure to talk while adjusting mana flows of this magnitude?’

Startled by Sung-jun’s sudden voice, Barden nonetheless answered his question kindly, echoing through the mobile fortress.

“That’s correct. But there’s no need to worry too much. There’s an entrance at the legs as well, so I’ll dismantle the fortress wall and escape immediately through the boarding hatch at the legs.”

A small smile played at the corners of Barden’s mouth as he watched the head of the sixty-meter mobile fortress nod toward him.
In truth, that head mounted at the fortress’s peak was utterly useless if one considered only the fortress’s function.

‘Besides, quadrupedal locomotion is far more efficient than bipedal.’

Barden had designed the Mobile Fortress with bipedal locomotion instead of quadrupedal movement, and had even attached a completely useless head component—all because of Sung-jun’s stubbornness.
According to Sung-jun’s insistence that the completed Mobile Fortress must become not merely a means of transportation, but a beacon of hope to save the entire American Continent, Barden had to prioritize design over efficiency.
Barden had vehemently opposed Sung-jun’s proposal, but ultimately failed to break the will of his liege.

“Still, I have to admit one thing. The design is absolutely magnificent.”

Swinging the hammer he held toward the Fortress Wall, Barden muttered to himself.
In that instant, just as the mountain of materials stacked moments before had melted to form the frame of the colossal Mobile Fortress, the massive Fortress Wall liquefied in a heartbeat, surging toward the 60-meter steel giant.
As enormous plates of armor took shape one by one across the Mobile Fortress’s exterior—whose internal frame had been fully exposed—a steel knight worthy of mythology gradually began to reveal itself.

“SCREEEEEECH!!!”
“KYAAAAAAAGH!!!”

At the sudden appearance of the colossal steel knight behind the rapidly melting Fortress Wall, the Corrosion Entity Legion that had retreated in the distance shrieked and surged toward the steel giant.
Then Barden, standing behind the Fortress Wall, quickly dashed toward the legs of the steel giant and shouted at the monsters.

“Kahahaha! You filthy vermin! This beast’s name is the Mobile Fortress Ragnarok! I’ll make you feel the overwhelming power of an absolute force capable of destroying even the gods!!”

The moment Barden hurled himself through the small entrance that opened in the legs, the two eyes of the massive Mobile Fortress blazed with brilliant crimson light.

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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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