The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 24

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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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#024. Like Magic

Beijing, the capital of China that once boasted a massive population of over 20 million.

The giant city that was once a place where countless people lived had been transformed into something no different from ruins by a single small existence the size of a human.

The remains of high-rise buildings that had collapsed beyond recognition.

The concrete and steel bars that had melted from the heat storm caused by the nuclear explosion clearly proved what kind of event had occurred there through their existence.

At the center of the explosion where there was a giant crater, there had been a threatening existence so dangerous that the government decided to use ‘nuclear weapons’ as a last resort on their own capital.

And that existence was quietly holding its position in the middle of the blast site even after receiving such a destructive attack.

Yeojiggwi .

A Corrosion Entity that drove the warriors of Tianwu Guan, who were evaluated as the world’s second-strongest Awakened force until just before D-DAY, to the brink of total annihilation in a single moment.

Surprisingly, that invader from the Other World called Yeojiggwi had the appearance of an ordinary person, indistinguishable from humans.

” (Will they not come after all)?”

Surprisingly, Yeojiggwi was speaking in human language.

And in the language of the Chinese people he had defeated, no less.

And at that moment, a Corrosion Entity that was so far away from Yeojiggwi as to be invisible muttered as if talking to itself.

“!%@%%@%!%!%”

The monster’s words made sounds that resembled no human language, and the sound was so quiet that even someone right next to it would have to strain their ears to barely hear it.

However, Yeojiggwi began speaking as if he had heard the monster’s muttering that should have been impossible to hear right beside him.

“，The hunt always begins like this. (Originally, the beginning of a hunt is always like this)。”

Yeojiggwi was not listening to his subordinate’s words with his ears.

Even if his subordinate’s muttering didn’t reach his vicinity, he could already know what his subordinate would say through his ability.

An ability to know what structure the opponent’s language had and what they were trying to say the moment they opened their mouth, as if he had seen the future.

And an ability to instantly understand all of the opponent’s attacks and the ultimate evolved form that their techniques could develop the moment he saw their movements.

The name Yeojiggwi given to him by the warriors from Tianwu Guan who faced him was both a name that best expressed his ability and a name given based on a misunderstanding of his ability.

His true ability was not seeing the future, but interpreting the results that would unfold based on all the information given in the present.

Of course, that didn’t mean Yeojiggwi’s ability could read everything that would happen tens of thousands of years in the future across the entire Earth.

It was an ability where the accuracy of prediction decreased as the distance from his position increased, and as the connection between the events that occurred and Yeojiggwi himself decreased.

However, even though the area near Yanbian where Sung-jun had arrived after crossing the Yalu River was located far beyond the range Yeojiggwi could detect, Yeojiggwi was feeling an unpleasant sensation of unknown origin.

An unpleasant sensation like a mosquito flying around his ear.

‘Something has been bothering me since a while ago. What kind of sensation is this?’

It was not a sensation created by Sung-jun’s intention to come to China to kill him.

After all, the will to kill him was an emotion that most Chinese people still alive on the Chinese continent possessed.

So the unpleasant emotion Yeojiggwi was feeling now could be said to be a sensation felt from a possibility that might occur, not simply a sensation felt from a connection with himself.

A turning point of fate due to the appearance of an existence that might be able to kill him, an infinitely powerful being.

However, the moment Yeojiggwi tried to turn his head in the direction where he felt the unpleasantness, the faint unpleasantness he had felt until just before disappeared cleanly as if it had never existed in the first place.

‘Was it my imagination?’

***

“Teacher. Why did you suddenly cast a spell?”

Not long after crossing the Yalu River, Sung-jun, who had been walking with the group, suddenly sat down with a tense expression.

Then he placed his hand on the ground and summoned an enormously large magic circle.

It was the largest magic circle Seoa had seen since meeting Sung-jun.

Thinking that an incredibly strong enemy had appeared, the group immediately took combat stances and watched their surroundings, but until the moment Sung-jun finished casting his spell, not even a single ant approached their vicinity.

And when Sung-jun finally finished his spell, an orange unknown pattern was engraved like a tattoo on the backs of the group’s hands with strange pain.

“What the hell is this now?”

“Yeojiggwi detected our existence. The spell I just cast is a kind of recognition interference spell.”

“A spell that prevents that guy from seeing us?”

“It’s not a stealth spell in the visual sense. To explain it simply, it’s a kind of curse spell that interferes with opponents who have prophetic abilities so they can’t read the future, but you probably wouldn’t understand even if I explained the principle.”

In fact, Sung-jun had been continuously using a spell with effects similar to Yeojiggwi’s unique ability since before crossing the Yalu River.

Just as Yeojiggwi monitored beings that could threaten his fate in real time, it was a spell that allowed him to sense elements that could threaten his purpose of eliminating Yeojiggwi.

It was originally a prophetic spell that could see the flow of predetermined fate like today’s fortune, but Sung-jun had torn apart that spell, which had little effect, and reborn it as a spell with tremendous ability.

A tremendous spell that could exert abilities similar to the unique abilities possessed by Corrosion Entities if the opponent was a single target.

And Sung-jun had set the target of that spell as ‘the being currently causing the most resentment on the Chinese continent.’

“Let’s pick up the pace a bit. This place doesn’t feel good.”

“Hm? Didn’t you just say the magic you used was a spell to prevent that guy from detecting us?”

“To explain that part, I’d have to explain the basic principles of prophetic magic from the beginning…”

“No, never mind. You’re the expert, so you’ll handle it. Which way should we go?”

When Sung-jun tried to give a detailed explanation, Park Hyeon-jo waved his hand and stopped him.

He had already perfectly grasped Sung-jun’s personality of becoming incredibly serious the moment conversations flowed toward magic-related topics on the way here.

And Shirasaki Miyu, who could use magic without a single spell line with the help of her Grimoire despite being an ability user who used the same magic, was showing the same reaction.

Only one person, Yeonse-a, Sung-jun’s disciple, was sparkling her eyes in anticipation of her teacher’s explanation.

Seoa spoke quietly to Sung-jun with a disappointed expression.

“Teacher! Teacher! Could you explain it to me separately later?”

“Prophetic magic is still too early for you.”

“It’s okay even if you don’t formally teach it to me. I just really like hearing magic stories from you, Teacher.”

A smile appeared on Sung-jun’s lips upon hearing Seoa’s words.

Seoa’s expression as she looked at him with sparkling eyes resembled the expression he used to make to his teacher in the past.

Sung-jun spoke with a smile similar to the one his teacher Minastrias used to give him.

“Alright. For now, let’s move.”

“Where are we going?”

“That direction.”

Sung-jun used his spell’s ability to find the correct direction.

Following the flow of fate, the path where they felt the highest possibility of safely achieving their purpose.

And shortly after, a monster appeared at the location where the group had disappeared.

“$#^#^!$^!$#^!$@!$!!@^(This direction should definitely be right?)”

The identity of the monster that appeared was Yeojiggwi’s subordinate who had been near Yeojiggwi until just before.

Yeojiggwi, who had become suspicious about the unpleasant sensation suddenly disappearing, had sent his subordinate with orders to confirm the identity of the unpleasantness.

However, by Sung-jun, who was reading the future in the same way as Yeojiggwi, avoiding the possibility of encountering Yeojiggwi’s subordinate, the fate possibility of a meeting between Yeojiggwi’s subordinate and Sung-jun disappeared.

“%%@!@#@(Let’s search a bit more.)”

Spitting out incomprehensible bizarre roars, Yeojiggwi’s subordinate began examining the ground.

To use his specialty, tracking skills, to figure out where the unidentified enemy who had been here had gone.

The monster that began analyzing traces was able to find the direction the group that had been here had gone without much difficulty.

‘Four people in the group. They haven’t left long ago. It doesn’t seem like it would be a big problem, so why did the boss tell me to find them?’

Yeojiggwi’s subordinate, ‘Jizeurak’, immediately pursued the traces he had tracked.

And that direction was completely different from the direction Sung-jun’s group had headed.

The fate that Sung-jun had read through his spell had twisted destiny so that Jizeurak would read and pursue traces of a different group.

Jizeurak, who pursued the traces like that, ended up chasing and killing other Awakened who had coincidentally passed through that place around a similar time, instead of Sung-jun whom he should have originally met.

***

Unlike South Korea, which succeeded in sealing the Corrosion Entity that appeared in Seoul airspace through Minastrias’s sacrifice, the Chinese government, which made the worst decision to drop nuclear weapons on their own capital and still achieved no results, decided to deploy all remaining Awakened forces to somehow resolve the situation.

However, when the surviving Awakened from Tianwu Guan opposed this government decision, all of China fell into a quagmire of chaos.

The Awakened, who were essentially the only force capable of eliminating Corrosion Entities, formed their own factions for their survival and rebelled.

Eventually, a bloody war broke out between the government side trying to suppress this and the Awakened.

And as a result, the Chinese government, which controlled a massive population of 1.4 billion, collapsed rapidly at an unimaginable speed.

It seemed more wise to abandon the already collapsed government and each walk their own path of survival rather than fight against Awakened with superhuman strength following orders from the government.

Thanks to that, the Chinese continent was currently reconstructed into a form similar to a feudal society where a kind of local warlords centered around a small number of Awakened exercised governing rights over their respective regions.

And that influence had likewise reached the Yanbian region, which bordered North Korea across the Yalu River.

A world where law had collapsed.

In it, only ‘power’ held absolute value.

“Yeah, yeah. I understand that situation, but if that’s really the case, shouldn’t you at least know who you’re picking a fight with before you pick a fight?”

“Hah, this young punk has lost all sense of fear. Do you know who I am? I’m Luochen, subordinate of Lord Rin Ye of Wuyuan River who rules this region! If you understand, put down the bag on your back right now!”

The man’s threat didn’t end with just shouting.

Every time he swung his blade through the air, fierce momentum that seemed capable of cutting even rocks was visibly tearing through the air.

“Kuhahaha! Do you see it! This sharp sword energy! This is the secret martial art that earned me the title ‘One Sword, One Cut’! ‘Heavenly Supreme Absolute Sky-Breaking Dance’! The moment anyone enters the range of my sword, they’ll be sliced into 48 pieces of meat… Kyaaaak!!!!!”

As the man with the blade swung it while shouting threateningly, Shirasaki Miyu waved her hand dismissively as if annoyed.

Then sharp ice spikes shot out from the Grimoire floating beside her, instantly blowing away the arm of the man who had been swinging his blade.

“Then just don’t get close. Are you stupid?”

From starving civilians to groups of Awakened who were confident they were somebody in their region.

The closer Sung-jun’s party got to their destination, the more people attacked them, but none of the attackers achieved what they wanted.

They only learned the painful lesson that one shouldn’t judge an opponent’s strength by appearance alone.

Then Park Hyeon-jo, who had been watching the continuous attacks, put his hand in his pocket and spoke as if frustrated.

“Let’s just use it.”

What Park Hyeon-jo suggested using was an ornament with four beads that proved his affiliation with Tianwu Guan.

Just by taking it out of his pocket and wearing it at his waist, more than 80% of the attacks they had faced would have never happened.

However, Sung-jun, who had instructed Park Hyeon-jo to hide the ornament, shook his head and rejected Park Hyeon-jo’s suggestion.

“That won’t do.”

“Then are you planning to put holes in shoulders like now every time humans come rushing like moths to a flame?”

“It’s necessary.”

“Explain it to me.”

“That’s impossible.”

Just like asking a lottery winner to explain why they won would be impossible to answer, the spell Sung-jun used also guided the user’s path in a way that even the caster couldn’t understand.

Therefore, Sung-jun couldn’t answer Park Hyeon-jo’s question.

He had simply cast a spell with such effects, and following the proper usage of the spell, he trusted his intuition and gave instructions.

And that intuition was advising him not to avoid the fights that came their way.

“If my spell is working properly, the flow of fate will naturally guide us to the necessary events.”

“You talk like a fortune teller.”

“I’m a mage, not a fortune teller. Though divination is part of magic too.”

As Sung-jun spoke with a calm expression, he suddenly extended his hand and a massive magic circle was summoned in the air.

At the same time, a sword that flew from somewhere made a sound like metal being ground as it was blocked by the magic circle.

The sword contained such tremendous power that instead of bouncing off after hitting the magic circle, it sparked as if engaged in a contest of strength.

“Is it you? The one who put a wind hole in my subordinate’s shoulder?”

Then Park Hyeon-jo, seeing the man’s face, looked at Sung-jun with an expression of disbelief.

The man who appeared before Sung-jun’s party while throwing his sword.

He was ‘Rin Ye’, a warrior affiliated with Tianwu Guan who had risen to become the ruler of the Yanbian region after the Chinese Government collapsed.

“You came out personally just because we dealt with a few small fries?”

Park Hyeon-jo couldn’t help but be flustered by the fact that a meeting that should have taken place in the enemy’s stronghold swarming with Awakened was happening outside, which was advantageous to Sung-jun.

Park Hyeon-jo couldn’t determine whether the situation unfolding before his eyes was due to the power of the ‘spell’ Sung-jun had cast, or simply due to coincidence.

Then Sung-jun smiled as he watched the contemplating Park Hyeon-jo.

“Didn’t I tell you?”

Then he turned to look at the ruler of Yanbian who had come to find him personally and said.

“That things would proceed like magic.”

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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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