The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 121

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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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#121. Atlas

Standing 63 meters tall and weighing 23,000 tons, with external armor plating exceeding one meter in thickness, the colossal mobile fortress Atlas possessed a critical weakness inherent to its bipedal design: the entirety of its tremendous mass concentrated upon two legs.
Under normal circumstances, such weight would prove unbearable even for reinforced pavement, causing the structure to sink with each step and lose its balance. Yet Sung-jun, a Mage, had resolved this problem with elegant simplicity through the application of magic.
He maintained constant gravity-reduction magic upon Atlas’s main body to diminish its effective weight, while simultaneously applying reinforcement magic to the ground beneath its legs—temporarily elevating the durability of the earth itself at each point of contact.
As Atlas took its first steps, despite its immense mass, the earth remained firm and unyielding, allowing the fortress to advance steadily toward the enemy.

—Boom! Boom! Boom!—

Though the cadence of its gait was measured, Atlas’s actual forward velocity proved remarkably swift.
The overwhelming stride length afforded by its colossal frame meant that each step covered an extraordinary distance.
Thus, the advancing Atlas and the swarm of Corrosion Entities charging with full force to intercept it met almost immediately after the fortress began its march, and both sides were about to discover whose durability would prove superior.

—Crunch! Crack! Crunch!—

Carapaces so hardened they could deflect even an Awakened’s assault crumbled to powder beneath Atlas’s massive feet, while viscous fluids—crimson and azure—splattered across the ground in nauseating streaks, scattering in all directions.
Witnessing the fortress eliminate vast numbers of Corrosion Entities through nothing more than the act of walking—no bombardment, no direct assault—the creatures shrieked in fury and surged forward with renewed aggression.
Their objective was singular.
To scale the armor plating encasing Atlas’s legs and strike at the main body suspended dozens of meters above.
With their numbers seemingly inexhaustible, they reasoned that if enough of them climbed the legs to completely envelop them, they might discover a vulnerable point on the main body itself.
Observing the external situation through a magically-rendered display within the main body, Barden smiled and murmured softly.

“Ah, that won’t work.”

The moment his words concluded, a shockwave of tremendous intensity erupted from around Atlas’s legs, radiating outward in all directions.
The force was so devastating that mere contact alone destroyed every object within several hundred meters of the legs—a concussive blow of overwhelming power.
In an instant, every Corrosion Entity that had approached the vicinity was obliterated, and not a single drop of their fluids remained upon Atlas’s legs.

“It’s moving.”

Then, a Level 8 colossal insectoid Corrosion Entity—having concluded that smaller specimens could not defeat this foe—began advancing toward Atlas.
As though it intended to end this calamity through its own direct intervention.

‘That won’t work either.’

Captain Cooper murmured a word that surfaced unbidden in his mind.
The enemy was far from weak.
It was simply that our forces were overwhelmingly superior.
Captain Cooper found himself understanding how the enemy must have felt facing human soldiers all this time.
Watching these pathetically weak creatures—unable to inflict even the smallest wound—hurl themselves forward desperately, he could sense the ‘superiority’ they must have felt.
To a Level 8 Corrosion Entity, they were such beings.
Insects with no meaning, no value—burst like overripe tomatoes beneath Atlas’s feet moments ago.
But now, he felt that same emotion the Level 8 Corrosion Entity must have experienced when looking upon them.

‘Yes. This is the natural relationship between humans and insects.’

It was not an unpleasant feeling.
Rather, it felt refreshingly cathartic.
His comrades watching the environmental magic unfold nearby shared the sentiment—cheers erupted each time Atlas’s colossal foot crushed the enemy.
Moreover, even as the Level 8 Corrosion Entity finally began moving toward Atlas, they taunted it as if they had been waiting for this moment.
Sung-jun amplified the roars of soldiers inside the mobile fortress, projecting them toward the approaching mega-sized Corrosion Entity through magic.

“Come on! You damned bastard!”
“This time we’ll crush you to pieces!”
“Squash you like the cockroach in my bathroom!!”

As the soldiers’ cries—brimming with excitement and bloodlust—echoed with such force that they could be heard kilometers away, the Level 8 Corrosion Entity advancing toward Atlas halted.
As if it understood human speech.
The monster, trembling with rage in a prone stance, straightened itself and lifted its head toward the sky.
Then it began releasing a roar so massive it completely drowned out the amplified shouts of soldiers.

“SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

A horrifying cry that transcended mere unpleasantness—one that made the very souls of those who heard it tremble—reverberated in all directions. The soldiers who had been shouting fell silent in unison.
And in that moment, the massive hill behind the creature began trembling as if an earthquake had struck.

“What is that…?!”
“I thought it wasn’t visible, but was it here from the start?!”

A colossal beetle-type monster—so enormous it could only be perceived as ‘terrain’ rather than a living creature—emerged from the earth, shaking off the thick layers of soil that had buried it.

“That is…”
“Smaller than expected?”

Beneath the intense scrutiny of all eyes, the soldiers’ first assessment of the newly manifested Level 8 insectoid Corrosion Entity was simple: “It’s smaller than expected.”
Of course, the newly emerged insectoid Corrosion Entity was more than twice the size of the Level 8 Corrosion Entities they had faced before, boasting a truly colossal frame—but the confidence of the soldiers aboard Atlas had already soared to pierce the very heavens.
And Atlas, as if refusing to betray those soldiers’ expectations, lowered its stance and began preparing for combat.

-Whiiiiiiiing!-

A powerful resonant wave pierced through Atlas’s massive frame and reverberated through the crew compartment, shaking the very earth beneath us.
And in that same instant, the colossal mana cannon mounted on Atlas’s left arm began emitting a brilliant sky-blue radiance.

“The mana cannon is active!!”
“Are you planning to end this before the battle even begins!?”

Sensing the ominous movements of Atlas, two Level 8 Corrosion Entities shrieked and charged toward us with devastating force.
Their speed was almost unbelievable for creatures of such massive bulk.
Watching the insectoid Corrosion Entity rapidly filling the monitor screen, Barden shouted to the soldiers around him.

“Ramming attack! Brace for impact!”

The moment Atlas rotated its charging mana cannon backward and thrust the enormous shield held in its right hand forward, the insectoid Corrosion Entity collided with it at tremendous velocity.
The impact was so violent it pierced through the countless shock-absorption spells installed within the mobile fortress and shook the crew compartment itself—yet it fell far short of being enough to send flying a body weighing a pure 23,000 tons.

-Crash!!!-

Atlas’s massive shield, constructed with overwhelming durability from the very beginning to withstand such contingencies, performed its duty flawlessly against the full-body ramming charge of the 40-meter insectoid Corrosion Entity.
More than that, having blocked the creature’s charge with the shield, Atlas swung that enormous weight to push the creature’s body back.
This required a level of raw strength almost impossible to fathom, considering both the shield’s own weight and the creature’s mass.
As Atlas’s shield swept upward from below, exposing the relatively soft belly of the insectoid Corrosion Entity, the creature sensed the danger and desperately flailed its massive claws, attempting to gouge wounds into Atlas’s armor plating.

-Crack! Screech! Clang!-

The moment the blood-red outer armor of Atlas fractured, revealing the silver inner plating beneath, the charging process of the mana cannon mounted on Atlas’s left arm reached full completion.

‘I’ll detonate it from the inside.’

By my command, Atlas’s mana cannon was designed with a sharp pointed front so it could also function as a close-quarters weapon.
Moreover, the cannon’s body itself was constructed from material harder than the shield to withstand the enormous output of the mana cannon.
Thus, Atlas’s mana cannon was simultaneously a long-range cannon and a colossal greatsword.
As the tip of that massive blade pierced into the relatively soft abdomen of the giant insectoid Corrosion Entity, the creature shrieked and thrashed about wildly, its belly now exposed by the shield.

-Kuuuuung!!-

Sensing an ominous threat in the series of movements Atlas was executing, another Level 8 Corrosion Entity threw itself at Atlas’s cannon with all its might.
It then began attacking the cannon frantically with its sharp front legs.
However, the claws of the monster that once delivered overwhelming despair to humanity were helplessly severed by the blade-shaped ornaments covering the exterior of the cannon.

“So it had that effect too.”

Barden, who had originally opposed adding blades to a cannon, spoke with satisfaction as he watched the environmental magic, thinking that this mobile fortress created by Sung-jun’s suggestion was the closest thing to the “ultimate fortress” he had pursued throughout his life.
He spoke toward his colleagues beside him, his voice brimming with pride.
He spoke to his colleagues beside him in a voice brimming with pride.

“Speak properly. Why is this yours? It’s the ‘liege’s’ mobile fortress. It’s not yours.”
“I’m the one who built it.”
“The one who nitpicked every idea the liege suggested with all sorts of excuses shouldn’t be saying that.”
“Hehehehe… Say whatever you want. Now that Atlas is complete, you’re no match for me. If I’m aboard Atlas, even that Queen wouldn’t be able to stand against me, would she?”
“Hehehehe… Say whatever you want. Now that Atlas is complete, you’re no match for me anyway. If I’m riding in Atlas, even the Queen herself wouldn’t be able to stand against me.”

Had Sung-jun not been supplying mana to the tens of thousands of magical formations maintaining Atlas’s colossal frame through insane mana control from the center, this enormous fortress would have been unable to even stand in the first place.
But before Argen could even point out this fact to Barden, a brilliant flash of light accompanied by a tremendous explosion echoed through the entire hangar via the environmental magic.
But before Argen could even point out that fact to Barden, a deafening explosion accompanied by blinding light reverberated through the entire Hangar via illusion magic.

-SPLOOOOOSH!!!!-

The exoskeleton of the giant beetle-type creature, so hard that even a sky-piercing spear would struggle to penetrate it, was shattered to pieces by the attack of the colossal cannon.
And the cannon fired from within the enemy’s body didn’t just obliterate its frame entirely—it extended in a straight line, vaporizing every Corrosion Entity in its path without leaving a trace.
From the recoil of the cannon’s discharge, the other Level 8 Corrosion Entity clinging to it was sent flying backward, and Atlas rotated its massive body to swing its shield toward the fallen creature.
At the moment the mana cannon fired, the recoil sent even another Level 8 Corrosion Entity that had been clinging to the cannon flying backward, and in that situation, Atlas spun his massive body and swung his shield toward the fallen Corrosion Entity.

“Oh, so that’s how you’re supposed to use it…!”

So that simply raising the shield and striking the enemy could unleash tremendous cutting power.
There was no need to make it as sharp as an actual blade.
Simply creating it with a sloped form would cause the shield itself to function like an ultra-high-pressure hydraulic cutter thanks to its weight of thousands of tons.
When the massive shield, crafted with a blade-like sloped form, pressed down on the fallen Level 8 Corrosion Entity’s torso, the insectoid monster’s body—which Argen and Karcerion had only managed to grab by the ankle despite their combined strength—was instantly split into two pieces.
It was a demonstration of truly “overwhelming” combat power that made one wonder if even a Level 9 Apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity would be worth fighting here.
It was a demonstration of literally “overwhelming” combat power that made one think: wouldn’t it be worth fighting even if the enemy in this place were a Level 9 Corrosion Entity?

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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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