The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 18

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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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#018. Possibility

“This should be enough.”

After handing Seoa a magic book containing basic magical theory, Sung-jun immediately moved to the temporary abode with Teacher’s grave.

And there, during the three days he had promised her, he began preparing for the start of his next journey.

“Foods with high calories relative to their weight would be best, right?”

Having previously visited the North Korean region to assess the situation, he knew well how serious the conditions there were.

Unlike South Korea, which was ‘relatively’ stable thanks to Teacher sealing the Silermantis, North Korea, which had failed to properly secure Awakened forces, was in a state of complete devastation.

The land that had been the worst even before D-day could now be called hell manifested in the present world without exaggeration.

“Expiration date check okay. Calorie check okay. Nutritional balance check okay. The weight is… a bit heavy though…”

After pondering for a moment, Sung-jun carved a weight reduction spell into the backpack he had prepared.

Then he looked at the large backpack with a regretful expression.

‘A small backpack would be much more convenient for traveling… if only I could carve a space expansion spell.’

Of course, it wasn’t that he had prepared a large backpack because he didn’t know space expansion spells.

He knew the incantation, but had given up because he couldn’t prepare the catalyst needed to carve the spell.

-Magic is omnipotent, but not almighty.

Teacher’s voice seemed to echo in his ears.

‘I cried so much… At first, just the fact of being left alone was overwhelming,’

Tears came every time he prepared meals while talking to himself so no one would know, and when he cleaned each worn memento one by one.

Preparing meals for his deceased Teacher, organizing the old mementos Teacher had left behind, he didn’t know how many tears he had shed.

There was a time when he had gotten angry at Teacher for spending money earned from part-time work on in-game purchases.

That day, he had no choice but to be angry, thinking it was immature, but now he missed even that immaturity.

He also recalled Teacher’s face, looking apologetic when the monthly electricity bill exceeded 300,000 won after installing an air conditioner for Teacher who was sensitive to heat.

All those memories now weighed heavily on Sung-jun’s shoulders as sorrow and regret.

And Sung-jun was deliberately stimulating that sorrow strongly to vividly recall memories of Teacher.

“But now I must move forward.”

‘I told you to do that long ago.’

“I know. But I needed preparation.”

‘You were already prepared from that day. What you needed wasn’t preparation but proof. Proof that you had the ability to carry out my last will. That wasn’t preparedness but emotion born from fear.’

“Wouldn’t it be strange not to be afraid in this situation?”

The Silermantis was only the beginning.

The real problem was that six Corrosion Entities of the same level were still rampaging throughout the world.

Only by defeating them all could the broken Earth be restored to its original state and humanity be freed from the terror of Corrosion Entities.

In the middle of a world where everyone struggled just to survive, with only his own strength alone.

“…I needed preparation.”

‘You were prepared from that day. What blocked you wasn’t preparation but fear.’

“That’s right. But I’m not departing now because I believe I can do it. I’m doing it because I believe I must.”

Unlike Korea’s situation, which was gradually stabilizing thanks to Dimension Nation Awakened, the situation beyond the ceasefire line was very serious.

Intuitively realizing that humanity didn’t have much time left to endure, Sung-jun decided he could no longer postpone following Teacher’s last will.

However, no matter how urgent the situation, there should be time to keep his promise with the young girl who truly believed in and wanted to follow him.

With that thought, Sung-jun cast protective magic on Teacher’s grave and cast an erasure spell that burned the entire remaining area.

-Whoosh…-

The flames of the incineration spell flickered, consuming the traces of the past three months. Now it was truly time to move forward.

***

“Come out… Please! Work!!”

A secluded clearing in a corner of the survival camp.

In the practice space arranged through the consideration of camp manager Cha Hyeonho, Seoa was giving her all while holding a magic book that had become tattered from excessive handling.

The existence like a prince on a white horse who had saved her from the crisis of starving to death in the sealed break room.

The only hope of being able to stay by the side of the man named Ma Sung-jun was to manifest magic through the magic book he had given her.

If desperation were a condition for casting magic, she could have already risen to the ranks of archmages, but unfortunately, the existence called ‘mana’ that she was trying to move remained silent, not responding to any of her emotions.

‘Does something called mana even exist in the first place?’

What she was trying to do was like attempting to move air with willpower.

Of course, the magic book Sung-jun had given her contained specific methods to achieve this with detailed explanations, but that was written from Sung-jun’s perspective, not content she could interpret.

Even after examining it dozens of times, she could only doubt whether this was really Korean, as she flipped through countless notes and waved her hands until her arms hurt from bending her fingers.

Then she looked anxiously at the clock she had placed in the corner.

‘Today is the last day…’

She had long since abandoned hope.

From the very moment she tried to learn magic, the intuition that this was absolutely impossible had been strongly striking her mind.

Endless whispers of words whose meaning she couldn’t understand at all.

She couldn’t understand what phase coordinates meant, or what it meant to exploit loopholes in the physical laws that constitute reality and intervene in reality with consciousness alone – it was like grasping at clouds.

It felt like a detailed setting book written by a chuunibyou patient’s delusions about something that didn’t exist in the world.

‘But I have to do it.’

Her arms trembled every time she raised them from all the waving, and dark circles filled the area under her eyes.

The third day since receiving the magic book from Sung-jun.

Except for fainting from exhaustion for about an hour, she hadn’t slept a wink and had no intention of giving up until the very end.

She was even prepared to grab his pant leg and beg to change Sung-jun’s mind if necessary.

However, the cruel passage of time ignored her desperation and delivered to her ears the voice she most wanted to hear yet didn’t want to hear.

“Time is up.”

“…”

“Looking at you, it seems you didn’t succeed. But don’t blame yourself too much. That’s normal.”

“Are you saying I… have no talent?”

“Would anyone tell a human who can’t fly through the sky with their bare body that they have no talent for flight? Just as humans aren’t born with wings, originally all humans have no talent for magic. To put it precisely, it’s not that you lack talent, but rather you’re not a mutant.”

“Even when you say that, my heart doesn’t feel any lighter.”

Hearing Seoa’s words, Sung-jun sighed deeply and said to her.

“You and I have known each other for less than a week. Why are you clinging to me so much? Of course, I understand there might be admiration for the benefactor who saved your life, or romantic feelings that girls your age might have…”

“It’s not like that!”

With a voice that couldn’t be more resolute, Seoa said.

“Romantic feelings? Admiration? You can call it whatever you want. What I felt when I first saw you was a complex emotion that couldn’t be explained by the single word ‘destiny.'”

“So that’s simply a kind of admiration for the strong. And such emotions fade away so easily in the face of more overwhelming feelings.”

“It will never break.”

“Anyone can say words easily. Shall we test it?”

The moment Sung-jun lightly waved his hand, Seoa felt her breath suddenly stop.

Fear. Disgust. Contempt. Revulsion. Creepiness.

It felt like all the words humans had given negative meanings transformed into countless sensations covering her entire body.

And within those sensations, Sung-jun’s figure before her had transformed into the most horrific form of monster she had ever seen.

“This is my true nature. Something so horrible that just touching it would melt your flesh. A crystallization of disgust that humans genetically cannot help but reject.”

Hearing a voice so horrible she wanted to tear her own eardrums, Seoa desperately shouted to herself.

‘No! This is an illusion spell! There’s no way he could be such a monster!’

Watching Seoa desperately deny reality, Sung-jun shook his head.

‘No matter how strongly you deny it in your heart, your consciousness has no choice but to believe this is reality. That’s the kind of spell this is.’

Just as even the strongest-willed person couldn’t stop a bullet with bare hands, the spell Sung-jun cast could exert compulsion strong enough to be irresistible even when knowing it was an illusion.

And rejecting that illusion was literally equivalent to choosing suicide.

However, at that moment.

-Crash-

Sung-jun’s pupils dilated greatly.

Because Seoa had broken through the fabricated reality that absolutely couldn’t be denied and rushed strongly into his arms.

Knowing well that this was impossible through mere manifestation of will, Sung-jun looked at her with shocked eyes.

“Cough, hack… Ahem! Hehe… You’ve returned to your original form? I thought it would be illusion magic after all.”

“The spell you just broke wasn’t one that could be dispelled just by thinking about it?”

Looking at Seoa, whose eyes were red and bloodshot from the mental anguish she had endured, Sung-jun fell into deep contemplation.

From pondering why his illusion spell had been broken, to wondering whether he should leave behind a child whose obsession with him was strong enough to break such a spell.

However, thinking about the journey ahead, Sung-jun’s conclusion remained the same as before.

“Fine. I’ll believe it’s not just simple emotion. But that’s a separate matter from taking you along. I can’t drag someone who isn’t even an Awakened onto the dangerous path I’m planning to take.”

Having finished speaking, Sung-jun closed his eyes and sighed. If she didn’t give up even after this much, he thought he’d really have no choice but to physically shake her off.

He raised his fingertips and gently drew in the mana from the surrounding air.

Before long, a quiet energy began to circulate around them, and a small blue flame settled on his fingertips.

“This is the most basic of basics, ‘Mana Light.’ It’s the light magic that anyone learning magic must master first.”

Seoa couldn’t take her eyes off it. The small, transparent light born from Sung-jun’s fingertips felt incredibly mystical to her.

The fact that a world she had thought absolutely impossible was being manifested so quietly and naturally.

“Magic originates from the power of belief.”

Sung-jun said while moving the light on his fingertips this way and that.

“You must believe in human wings that absolutely cannot exist as if they truly do exist, and be able to handle mana as another muscle like your own limbs, just as a bird naturally moves its wing muscles without conscious thought.”

Seoa listened to his words and unconsciously raised her hand.

It wasn’t that she had gained enlightenment about magic from hearing Sung-jun’s words. What she was doing wasn’t an action born from understanding like Sung-jun had done, but simply part of an instinctive action like ‘it seems like it would work if I do this.’

“…Lux, lenata…”

Words that weren’t even written in the spellbook Sung-jun had given her.

With a small murmur like talking to herself, a small, flickering light bloomed from her fingertips.

“…?”

Sung-jun’s expression hardened.

His gaze was drawn to the traces of magic wavering at Seoa’s fingertips.

“…What did you just say?”

Seoa looked at her own hand with a surprised face.

“…Did… did I do something wrong?”

The light was very weak and flickered unstably, but it definitely existed.

It was a reaction caused by mana.

‘The incantation is different and the mana flow is different too. But it activated? Is this even possible?’

His eyes wavered.

About the fact that a girl who didn’t understand even the most basic magical theory had activated the same magic using a method that even he, called the essence of magical theory, couldn’t interpret.

And at that moment, his Teacher’s voice echoed in Sung-jun’s ears.

‘Interesting. I think I’ve seen a similar scene before.’

‘When I first brought my interpretation of magical theory, I remember you making a similar expression to mine, Teacher.’

‘That’s right. You were the first to modify magic you’d never even tried using, with only theory from a world where magic couldn’t be used. And now, before you stands a child who created new magic using only intuition while knowing nothing about magical theory.’

The word ‘destiny’ that Seoa had mentioned.

Perhaps that word had been prepared for the current Sung-jun.

“I, I just used magic, right!? I succeeded, didn’t I?”

“…No. The condition I set was for you to try the basic magic written in the spellbook I gave you, not to create magic haphazardly by relying on intuition like you did.”

“Isn’t that even more amazing!”

“In Teacher’s Hometown, there are memorial stones to appease the souls of countless mages who died with their bodies exploding from researching magic that way. The method you used magic isn’t how intelligent beings use magic. Only the very few beasts capable of handling magic use magic in such a way.”

“Then… I failed….”

Watching Seoa lower her head in apparent disappointment, Sung-jun smiled.

“No. You passed.”

“What?”

“Perhaps your intuition, which couldn’t be reached by the common sense of intelligent beings, might become the only key to avenging Teacher.”

Whether taking this child as a disciple would be the right choice, or whether she would remain as one of many failed cases like the previous Demon Lords had experienced, the current Sung-jun couldn’t know.

However, Sung-jun was vaguely realizing through intuition rather than logic.

That perhaps this young girl might be the only key capable of approaching the very essence of magic itself.

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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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