The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 25

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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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#025. Chusarja Jizeurak

In a society where the ‘system’ has collapsed, the most important factor determining survival duration is whether ‘production’ is possible.

Unless a cycle of circulation is completed where essential goods can somehow be procured through self-sufficiency.

A situation where one must absolutely depend on materials already produced before the system collapse cannot be considered a positive situation for long-term survival.

For this reason, cities don’t become very attractive options in long-term survival situations.

In cities designed with consumption rather than production in mind, trees that can be used as fuel don’t grow, and there aren’t suitable places to cultivate food either.

Conversely, in the early stages when the system hasn’t been collapsed for long, cities have more advantageous conditions for survival, because previously supplied materials are more abundantly distributed in cities.

The only problem was that there were also many competitors targeting those materials.

The Owon-gang warrior named Rin Ye who appeared before Sung-jun was precisely a powerhouse among powerhouses who held dominance over the Yanbian Region within that competitive system.

“You look Korean, so why did you attack my subordinates?”

Rin Ye was speaking in Chinese, but to Sung-jun’s group’s ears, Rin Ye’s words sounded like Korean.

Thanks to the translation magic Sung-jun had cast on everyone as soon as they crossed the Yalu River, all languages they could hear were being translated into Korean that Sung-jun could understand.

And the same applied to words Sung-jun spoke in Korean.

“You attacked first.”

“Your Chinese is fluent. Are you perhaps a former Chinese exchange student?”

“More precisely, I’m using a kind of ability, but it’s complicated to explain so let’s just go with that.”

Rin Ye spoke toward Sung-jun, who had roughly brushed off the explanation because it was bothersome to explain.

“Attack? No. We were just trying to legitimately collect tolls from people passing through our land. How can attacking an intruder who wants to walk through my house’s yard be considered an attack?”

“You’re saying this entire area is your land?”

“That’s right. I’m the one who has control over this area.”

“Then show me proof of that.”

When Sung-jun extended his palm while speaking, Rin Ye glared at Sung-jun with an incredulous look.

“What do you want me to show you?”

“If it’s your land, you should have land deeds, house deeds, or official documents recognized by the government. Show me any evidence that you have dominion over this region.”

“What a funny guy. It’s been so long since the world changed, and there’s still someone who believes in nonsense about governments and documents.”

“So you’re saying you don’t have any?”

“It’s not like I have absolutely nothing to show you.”

After finishing his words, the muscles throughout Rin Ye’s body began bubbling and expanding massively.

And simultaneously, his skin was also being dyed pitch black.

This was the ‘awakening ability’ that Pioneer ‘Drenex’ dispatched to China had gifted to the Tianwu Guan warriors, and Rin Ye’s unique martial art that had elevated him to the Owon-gang position.

“A body enhancement type martial art? The kind that changes even the skin shouldn’t be common.”

“Be careful. Though his rank is Owon-gang, he’s evaluated as a powerhouse who can fight on par with Yukwon-gang for short periods.”

Hearing Park Hyeon-jo’s advice, who possessed extensive knowledge about Tianwu Guan warriors, Sung-jun waited with an interested expression until Rin Ye finished his transformation.

And when Rin Ye finally transformed his entire body into a pitch-black giant, he asked a question to his opponent who seemed ready to charge at him at any moment.

“If the blackened skin is an ability to harden the skin, doesn’t it inevitably reduce flexibility? There’s no such thing as soft and pliable diamond in the world.”

“Graaahhhhh!!!”

Instead of answering, Rin Ye let out a roar and charged toward Sung-jun, and clever Sung-jun grasped the essence of his ability the moment he saw Rin Ye’s speed.

“So it wasn’t the type that makes things hard, but the type that makes things tough.”

Kwaaaaang!!

What blocked Rin Ye charging at a speed difficult to follow with the eyes was Sung-jun’s defensive magic cast faster than his speed.

However, before Sung-jun could target Rin Ye right after he collided with the barrier, Rin Ye increased his speed even more and charged toward the rear.

Kwaang! Clang! Kaclang! Kukwakwakwang!

Even against Rin Ye’s attacks charging from all directions while changing positions as if multiple people were attacking simultaneously, Sung-jun was calmly deploying defensive spells to block the attacks.

Then Rin Ye, realizing that his attack power couldn’t penetrate Sung-jun’s defense, created distance and shouted toward Sung-jun.

“What kind of ability is that?”

“Can’t you tell by looking? This is called magic.”

“There’s no such ability among the abilities Awakened can have!”

“Then I guess I’m a rather special Awakened.”

After finishing his words, Sung-jun spread both hands left and right as if it was his turn now and began moving his fingers.

Then magic circles of blue and green light spread in each of Sung-jun’s hands, and two spells were cast simultaneously.

***

‘Magic, what an interesting nonsense.’

Even while watching Sung-jun’s defensive magic that blocked all of his fierce attacks from all directions, Rin Ye couldn’t believe that Sung-jun was a mage.

That was because Awakened abilities were well known to consist of only six types of abilities.

The ‘martial arts’ abilities of Chinese Tianwu Guan Awakened that allowed them to use techniques that could appear in martial arts novels based on internal energy accumulated in the dantian area.

The ‘assassination’ abilities of French Supernatural Nation Awakened that completely eliminated sounds made while moving and allowed agile movement at invisible speeds.

The ‘armament’ abilities of American EDS Awakened that allowed any weapon held in hand to demonstrate mystical abilities beyond the limits of existing physical laws.

The ‘knight’ abilities of British Kings Knights Awakened that demonstrated abilities reminiscent of medieval knights based on defensive power that could block even anti-tank missile attacks.

The ‘faith’ abilities of Italian Apocalypse Army Awakened that demonstrated more powerful abilities the deeper one’s faith, sometimes restoring even mortally wounded patients to their original state.

And the ‘artifact’ abilities of Japan Conquest Union Awakened, known for being able to use all sorts of unique abilities based on the inherent abilities of magical artifacts obtained from the mysterious box called Pandora’s Box.

Rin Ye judged that Sung-jun’s barrier blocking his attacks was either the ability of a knight-type Awakened famous for powerful defense, or a type of artifact ability used by borrowing the power of magical artifacts.

However, as if mocking such thoughts from Rin Ye, Sung-jun, who had been blocking Rin Ye’s continuous attacks, opened his mouth toward his disciple Seoa with an expression as if he had come out for a stroll.

“Seoa.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“Tell me about the 12 Branches of Magic I taught you before.”

“Do you mean the 12 types: Dimension, Mystery, Elemental, Summoning, Necromancy, Illusion, Mental, Life, Transmutation, Protection, Fate, and Divination?”

“Right. Actually, though we’ve divided them into branches for classification, all magic originally branched out from one source. Using mana as a medium to manifest human will in reality. That is the essence and core of magic. That also means there’s no need to be bound by the format that spells possess.”

The green magic circle spread in Sung-jun’s extended left hand began rotating while drawing beautiful patterns.

Then Sung-jun extended the hand with the magic circle and aimed in Rin Ye’s direction in a posture as if flicking with his finger.

“For example, dimension magic is originally used to move the caster’s position or create barriers to seal enemies, but if you use the recoil generated when instantly compressed space expands, this is also possible.”

The moment Sung-jun flicked his finger, Rin Ye, who had been charging toward Sung-jun, instinctively detected the danger signal his entire body’s nerves were crying out.

However, the speed at which the space Sung-jun compressed expanded to its original size was overwhelmingly faster than the speed at which warrior Rin Ye could react to his instincts.

…

Surprisingly, Sung-jun’s attack made no sound at all.

Neither the ‘sonic boom’ that occurs when compressed air expands to its original size, nor the powerful explosion that should occur when the opponent collides with the expanded dimension.

Even though from the side it looked like Sung-jun had simply flicked his finger, that ‘invisible attack’ ‘launched’ him in the opposite direction with more intense force than any attack Rin Ye had experienced in his life as he charged toward Sung-jun.

It was as if an invisible giant had grabbed his body and slammed him into a wall at full speed.

When Rin Ye, who flew backward like a bullet, crashed into the ruins of collapsed building, a tremendous explosion echoed, announcing that Sung-jun’s attack had succeeded.

Kwaaaaang!!!

“An attack?! There was no movement at all?”

Park Hyeon-jo couldn’t help but be flustered by Sung-jun’s attack that literally threw his opponent around like a toy without even laying a hand on him.

The attack Sung-jun had just performed was at an absurd level even by Awakened standards that transcended human abilities.

However, Sung-jun, the person who had succeeded in such an outlandish attack, looked toward where Rin Ye was with a nonchalant voice as if it was nothing special.

“I tried it for the first time because it seemed theoretically possible, but it actually works?”

Peoooong! Hudududeuk!

Suddenly the concrete debris where Rin Ye was buried scattered in all directions and fell like hail.

And in the middle of it, Rin Ye’s anger-filled eyes, clearly filled with rage to the extreme, were glaring at Sung-jun as if to kill him.

“You damn bastard!!”

Enraged Rin Ye tried to attack Sung-jun with the fastest and strongest technique he could use.

However, before Rin Ye could even take a stance to use his technique, Sung-jun freely waved both hands as if kneading clay.

“Originally dimension magic consists of 3-stage spells: coordinate designation, spatial coordination, and spatial stabilization, but…”

Then the space around Rin Ye actually began to be kneaded at will according to how Sung-jun’s hands moved.

“If you divide this and double cast two spells designed with coordinate designation and spatial coordination in the left hand, and coordinate designation and spatial stabilization in the right hand, you can knead space like kneading dough without time lag. Like this.”

Soon Rin Ye’s body began bouncing around in all directions like a marionette puppet, crashing here and there.

Sometimes into the ground, sometimes into the ruins of collapsed buildings at full force.

When Sung-jun’s movements, which had been playing with Rin Ye like a toy, stopped, Rin Ye became limp like waterlogged cotton while convulsing throughout his body.

“Incredible. No sound, no killing intent, not even a hint, so he can’t even react. Even Seo Moo-gyeol, said to be Tianwu Guan’s strongest, would be helpless against that attack, right?”

Seeing Sung-jun’s attack that played with an Owon-gang level warrior like a toy, Park Hyeon-jo wondered if he could have blocked Sung-jun’s attack.

However, no matter how much he thought about it, it didn’t seem like an attack that could be blocked with martial arts abilities.

If Sung-jun’s spell had been one that directly targeted the opponent, he could have reacted just by generating killing intent, but what he had witnessed was not directly attacking the opponent but persistently attacking only the space around him.

“Was that your hidden trump card?”

However, Sung-jun shook his head at Park Hyeon-jo’s question.

As far as he knew, an apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity wasn’t something that could be dealt with using such trivial tricks.

“Of course not. If it’s a powerhouse capable of casually ignoring the recoil from spatial compression, this spell would only have about as much effect as a gentle breeze blowing nearby.”

After finishing his words, Sung-jun immediately extended his hand and aimed at the top of the ruined building behind Seoa.

Then, with an explosive sound, the black shadow that had been watching them from the building’s rooftop leaped down below.

As if it had taken no damage whatsoever from Sung-jun’s attack, which had just been toying with a martial artist of Owon-gang’s level like a plaything.

And at that moment, a strong sense of crisis flashed through the minds of all party members looking in the direction where the black figure had fallen—’We’re going to die right now.’

The aura of ‘killing intent,’ which should normally be detected in the realm of sensation rather than form, began to fill the space so densely that it felt as if one could touch it with their hands.

‘Chusarja’ Jizeurak, one of the two subordinates of the apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity Yejigwi.

A monster from the Other World that, like Yejigwi, had a human-sized body but could never be called human, was glaring at where Sung-jun stood.

Clutching four severed heads in one hand, their hair still gripped as their necks were cut, as if they had received the death that Sung-jun’s party should have faced.

“#%#%@%!!@(You smell dangerous.)”

It wasn’t words spoken expecting a response from the other party.

After all, the human species on this planet lacked the ability to understand its language.

However, surprisingly, the man before it spoke to it as if he had understood its words.

And the man’s words were, amazingly, reaching Jizeurak’s ears in the same form as the language it used.

“You’re later than I expected. Were you originally planning to kill those four people and then return?”

“^#@!$@!$!@%!?!(You can speak our language?!)”

After thinking for a moment, Jizeurak concluded that such a thing was impossible.

The language it used was a linguistic system composed of sounds in a realm that human vocal organs couldn’t even pronounce.

And at that moment, from Jizeurak’s long memories, the image of a man with similar abilities to Sung-jun surfaced.

“$%$%#^@#%!%(You’re a mage?)”

“Have you encountered mages before?”

“^%$^#^#$^.(There’s bad blood. I almost missed the greatest threat.)”

Making incomprehensible sounds while taking a battle stance, an even denser killing intent than before emanated from Jizeurak’s entire body, thick enough to push against the air.

Then Sung-jun also began releasing mana from his entire body as if to push back against Jizeurak’s killing intent, summoning magic circles on both fists.

One hand for an offensive spell, the other for a barrier spell to protect the rest of the party from the aftermath of battle.

‘The first gamble. The success or failure of all the plans I’ve made so far depends on the outcome of this battle.’

In the eyes of Sung-jun preparing for battle, the emotion of tension—felt for the first time since the day his master died—was deeply evident.

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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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