The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 130

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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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#130. Power vs. Power

-KWAAAAAANG!!!-

With a collision so violent it threatened to deafen, the colossal frame of Atlas—boasting a mass of twenty-three thousand tons—was violently thrust backward.
Thanks to lowering my stance just before impact, I didn’t lose balance, but as Atlas was pushed back with shield extended, leaving a long scar across the ground, I swung the sword-shaped mana cannon mounted on my left hand toward the forty-meter Level 8 Corrosion Entity that had driven me back.

-KWAJIJIK!-

“QUEEEEEK!!!!”

Without even firing the mana cannon—the barrel itself serving as a blade—it pierced through the insectoid Corrosion Entity’s hardened carapace and burrowed deep within. The creature thrashed violently, releasing an agonized shriek.
But before I could even withdraw the blade from the entity’s body, another colossal Corrosion Entity that had charged alongside it slammed viciously into my unshielded flank.

-KUUUUUNG!!!-

The impact was so tremendous that the connecting bolts holding sections of my external armor gave way under the pressure, and hundreds of tons of composite alloy plating crashed to the ground, pulverizing dozens of insectoid monsters beneath it.

“KIEEEEK!!”

Whatever their vocal apparatus was, the creatures’ shrieks filled me with instinctive revulsion as countless monsters crawled up my leg armor. I lifted one leg high, and with the creatures still clinging to it, I brought it down with devastating force.
Thereupon, Atlas lifted one leg high and brought it down hard, stomping with the leg that had the Monsters clinging to it.

-BOOOOOOM!!!-

My leg strike wasn’t merely a simple attack using my body’s weight—it was a form of ‘area-of-effect spell,’ where I expanded the shockwave created by the collision of overwhelming mass through magic, attacking the entire surrounding range.
Yet despite the powerful shockwave that burst every small and medium-sized Corrosion Entity within a hundred-meter radius like rotting fruit, the colossal entity gripping my shield and the colossal entity that had shattered part of my external armor merely flinched slightly, showing no apparent damage.
However, despite the powerful shockwave that burst all small and medium-sized Corrosion Entities within a 100-meter radius like rotten fruit, the colossal Corrosion Entity gripping Atlas’s shield and the colossal Corrosion Entity that had shattered part of its external armor only flinched slightly, appearing to have sustained no significant damage.

“So you’re saying I can’t deal damage with small-fry techniques.”

Then, rotating my massive frame, I swung the mana cannon I’d driven into its back in a wide arc.
It was a movement closer to swordplay than spellcasting, yet Atlas—or rather, I—moved with the practiced familiarity of a seasoned swordsman wielding a colossal body in combat.
It was a fierce movement closer to a swordsman’s technique than that of a Mage, but Atlas displayed the appearance of being accustomed to combat utilizing his massive body like a skilled swordsman.

“You’re holding up better than I expected!!”

A Guard pulled the trigger of the interceptor mana cannon and shouted.
Though my phantom was no longer wandering through Atlas’s interior, numerous Soldiers seated in the cockpit manipulating the turrets were speaking to empty air as if I were there beside them.
It was an action born from the belief that their words would reach me even without my phantom’s presence, combined with the desire to convey to me that they fought alongside me, regardless of whether I could hear them.

‘A Mage’s foundation is the basic physical ability to evade danger even when enemies approach.’

Just as they believed, I was hearing every word spoken by the Soldiers in the cockpit without missing a single syllable, though I could not respond aloud.
I answered their words in my heart, then swung my mana cannon toward another colossal Corrosion Entity rushing at my back.

‘I need to conserve as much as possible right now.’

Despite the battle having commenced, I was not using the most powerful weapon at my disposal—the massive mana cannon.
In a situation where fatigue had already reached its limit, channeling vast quantities of mana to fire the cannon was an unbearable burden.
Instead, I adopted a combat strategy of enduring as long as possible by using the margin created by not firing the cannon.
To stand for even a moment longer, even if I could not fell my enemies.
As a result, roughly ten colossal Corrosion Entities surrounded me, pummeling me like a mob, yet thanks to my superior close-combat abilities, I sustained no fatal damage.
However, each time the colossal Corrosion Entities attacked, Atlas’s defensive capabilities weakened incrementally, much like when the external armor had been torn away earlier.
I calculated the elapsed time since I had emitted a broad-spectrum mana signal before the battle, gauging whether I could endure until my allies arrived without falling.

‘Is it impossible?’

Precarious—or perhaps just short of what was needed.
There was roughly a ten-minute gap between the remaining combat time I calculated and the expected arrival time of my allies.
Under normal circumstances, that would be ample time to endure even with Atlas immobilized, but now ten Level 8 Corrosion Entities surrounded Atlas.
After simulating whether the interceptor turrets alone could withstand the enemies’ assault for ten minutes without my assistance, I concluded it was impossible.

‘Likely, once I stop moving, my left arm with the mana cannon and my right arm with the shield will be torn away within a minute, and I’ll collapse to the ground unbalanced. Once I’m pinned down and subjected to concentrated fire, even Atlas cannot endure more than a minute.’

Surrounded on all sides in a desperate crisis, I recalled the past when I studied magic under my Teacher.
If my Teacher—the greatest Mage I knew and the Previous Demon Lord—were here, how would they escape such a situation?
Then my Teacher’s familiar voice echoed in my mind like an auditory hallucination.

‘How would I know? If it were me, I would have resolved this before reaching such a situation.’

‘How could you not know? Among the choices available to me now, this was the best option.’

‘Is that so? From where I stand, it looks like nothing more than playing the hero. You created a mobile fortress capable of carrying thousands, built legions of steel giants forged from iron and magic to face enemies in battle. You’ve even sealed away magic itself—your most powerful weapon—and summoned the phantom of your dead Teacher to converse with, all in a desperate attempt to save even one more person. Is this how a Mage fights?’

Of course, that was merely a phantom of my Teacher conjured by my own consciousness—my actual Teacher wasn’t speaking to me at all.
It was simply that the phantom I had summoned was voicing what I imagined my Teacher might say: ‘Wouldn’t my Teacher have spoken this way?’
In the end, this conversation was nothing more than me debating with myself.

‘My one and only Teacher isn’t proving particularly helpful, is he?’

‘I was just thinking I may have raised my only disciple poorly. Let me be clear once more—the method you’ve chosen is not befitting of a Mage. Fight like a Mage should fight. Don’t rely on others; crush your enemies before you with the magnificent power of magic. Stop flailing about with swords like you don’t belong.’

The content was nothing but tiresome nagging, yet because it was the voice of my beloved Teacher after so long, I let the phantom I had conjured ramble on freely.
After all, what my Teacher was saying stemmed from negative perspectives buried in my own subconscious, so I thought it might help clarify my thoughts.
Then the phantom of my Teacher, who had been silently observing me, continued speaking.

‘A Demon Lord bearing my name, unable to overcome a mere crisis like this, begging his disciple for aid? What was that absurd magical message about? Even a Mage of considerable skill would struggle to interpret such a message—surely you yourself know this well. You’re not actually expecting your inadequate disciple to somehow decipher that distorted message through sheer force of will and come to your aid, are you?’

Then, as I sat silently listening to my Teacher’s scolding, I lifted my head and spoke.

“No, she will come.”

‘You know Seoa’s capabilities as well as I do. You’re aware it’s beyond her reach. If you weren’t, I—created from your subconscious—wouldn’t be saying this to you now. You already know the truth: Seoa’s level of skill, as you understand it, cannot decipher the message you sent.’

“That’s true—if Seoa possessed only the abilities I once knew, it would be impossible. But the Seoa I see now will manage it. The Seoa I’ve observed is a different type of genius, one whose growth far exceeds even my own past rate. So please, return to your rest. Rather than endure unhelpful scolding from you, I’d be better served fighting the enemy while I await my disciple, who will surely come.”

In an instant, with a soft pop, the phantom of my Teacher that I had created vanished.
And at that very moment, Atlas—the machine I piloted—raised an enormous shield above its head and knelt to the ground.
As if I had abandoned all thought of counterattack and chosen instead to accept a one-sided beating.
Instantly, the colossal Corrosion Entities that had rushed to Atlas’s side began their relentless assault, and Atlas—like a victim of mob violence—held both arms raised above its head, accepting the onslaught without resistance.

—Crash! Boom! Thud-thud-bang! Bang! Clang!—

The sound of explosions and collisions, the screech of claws sharper than steel tearing through metal by sheer force.
The sound of thick outer armor plating, protected by magical barriers, being ripped away and crashing to the floor pierced through the sound-dampening incantations and reverberated throughout Atlas’s interior.

“Damn it! Is this the end?”

“The mana cannons won’t fire! Sung-jun! We need a mana supply!”

The panicked Soldiers desperately tried to mount a counterattack, their hands roughly gripping the triggers of the interceptor mana cannons, but the artillery that had been firing flawlessly moments before showed no response whatsoever, as if all power had been cut.
It was because I had redirected every last drop of mana necessary to operate the mana cannons toward the defensive incantations.
Having abandoned counterattack entirely, Atlas was slowly being torn apart, accumulating fatal wounds with each passing moment.

“Damn it! Sung-jun! This is impossible! Rather than die like this, let’s counterattack! I’d rather take down one more of these bastards and die with honor than be beaten down so pathetically!”

Some of the agitated soldiers attempted to ride the steel golems summoned from within Atlas and venture outside, but Sung-jun kept the hangar doors firmly sealed and offered no response.
As if he had already accepted death in this form.
In that instant, the massive claws of a colossal Corrosion Entity pierced through the joint sections of Atlas where the outer armor had been stripped away, and the body of Atlas, which had been kneeling to endure, lurched violently.

-Crack-crack-crack!-

Sung-jun drove his left arm, equipped with a mana cannon, into the ground to forcibly support Atlas’s body as it threatened to topple from loss of balance.
While desperately clawing back consciousness from a fatigue that threatened to drag him under at any moment.
To endure even one more minute, Sung-jun frantically channeled the vast mana churning around him into defensive spells.

‘How pathetic.’

A bitter smile crossed Sung-jun’s lips as he recalled the soldier’s words from moments before.
Atlas, being pummeled one-sidedly, cut such a pitiful figure that one could scarcely imagine it as the hero meant to save the American Continent.
Yet Sung-jun understood the truth.
The hero of this battle would not be himself, but someone else.
And so, despite still possessing sufficient mana reserves, Sung-jun deliberately abandoned counterattack and chose the strategy of absorbing punishment—because no fool would turn their gaze away from an enemy that appeared ready to collapse at any moment.
An enemy that seemed utterly unreachable was one thing, but not a single fool would ignore a foe on the verge of falling.
And true to Sung-jun’s intent, every Corrosion Entity near Atlas, regardless of size, trampled over their comrades’ bodies and rushed toward him, desperate to drive even a single claw into Atlas’s frame.

“Sung-jun!”
“If counterattack is impossible, let’s retreat!”
“Damn it! The outer armor’s been breached! They’re trying to enter Atlas’s interior! Everyone, prepare for combat!”

Soldiers who had not touched their personal firearms since boarding Atlas now gripped them as they watched the head of an insectoid monster tearing through the internal armor plating and forcing its way inside.
And in that moment, the massive body of the Giant Monster, having driven its sharp forelegs and frame into the hangar interior, swelled grotesquely and exploded.
Accompanied by the thunderous detonations of countless shells raining down from the sky like precipitation.
Steel warriors with enormous wings descended upon the Corrosion Entities, whose attention had been wholly consumed by the fallen Atlas below, conducting a massive bombardment.

“Reinforcements!”
“Hive Hornet has arrived!!”

From the deck of Hive Hornet as it flew toward the combat zone, Barden gazed forward with a fierce expression.
Then, tightening his grip on the hammer in his hand, he spoke.

“These damned insects dare to damage something that….”

However, before Barden could finish speaking, a woman’s voice, greatly amplified by magical power, cut across the vast battlefield.

“What are you doing to our Teacher?!”

It was Yeonse-a’s voice, laden with such chilling fury that merely hearing it sent an icy shiver deep into one’s bones.

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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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