The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 26

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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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#026. Unique Ability

‘First, I need to understand the opponent’s ability.’

Minastrias, Ma Sung-jun’s teacher, had once told Sung-jun about the unique abilities possessed by Corrosion Entities.

Apocalypse-class Corrosion Entities with the power to destroy the world single-handedly, and the very few entities that assist those apocalypse-class beings, possess unique abilities that are on a completely different level from other Corrosion Entities.

Therefore, Minastrias taught that when encountering rare entities, the most important thing was to first understand the abilities the opponent possessed.

-Rare Corrosion Entities sometimes have powerful abilities of a single attribute, and sometimes use multiple abilities simultaneously. Among them, some hide their abilities like hidden cards. You can’t guarantee victory until you’ve grasped all of the opponent’s cards.

One of the worst cases Teacher had taught him about was an ability that accumulated damage received in the form of a curse and returned it to the opponent at the moment of death.

If it had been an ability that shared wounds from the beginning, he could have found a countermeasure during the fight, but with abilities that activated in such a form, one would inevitably suffer massive damage unexpectedly at the moment when the opponent’s death was confirmed.

-But according to Teacher’s words, that ability activates when the opponent dies, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t it be impossible to grasp that during combat?

-Haven’t I told you countless times? Magic isn’t omnipotent, but…

-You said it’s a versatile ability.

-Right. Even if it’s a curse that only activates at the moment of the caster’s death, the curse itself must already be activated. It’s just that the timing of the effect taking place is after death. So if you use a spell that detects the form of curses already activated within the opponent’s body, you can confirm what kind of ability the opponent has activated.

Having said that, Minastrias taught Sung-jun a detection-specialized spell that could identify most special abilities possessed by Corrosion Entities.

However, if there was one problem, it was that the detection spell was so incredibly complex that it took nearly 10 minutes to activate.

But Sung-jun, having identified the fatal flaw of that spell, had prepared a workaround long ago.

“Everyone step back.”

As Sung-jun spoke and waved his hand, an invisible energy burst from his body and gently pushed the rest of the group away.

It looked as if he was preparing space for the battle that was about to unfold.

And at the same time, slowly rotating magic circles were summoned behind Sung-jun’s arms and back.

“@$!%!@#^#^@^#@(Interesting. You’re not all attacking together?)”

Thinking that no further conversation was necessary, Sung-jun cast the ‘spatial compression’ magic he had used against Rin Ye earlier instead of answering.

And in the form of a kind of ‘time-delayed attack’ that also attacked the paths where the opponent was expected to dodge.

-Boom boom boom boom bang!!!-

Then Jizeurak showed bizarre joint movements that would be absolutely impossible for a human and acrobatically dodged the attack, then extended his hand toward Sung-jun.

-Screeeeeech!!-

As thousands of beetles poured out from the black hole in Jizeurak’s palm and rushed toward Sung-jun, Sung-jun immediately extended his right hand and released a spell.

Then a blazing giant magic circle burned up the beetles like a massive wall of flames.

“A summoning-type ability? What kind of ability is it?”

“%@!%!%$@! %(How about trying to get hit by it if you’re curious?)”

“If that’s what you want.”

Surprisingly, having said that, Sung-jun suddenly dispelled his magic circle and accepted the beetle attack directly.

Then the beetles endlessly pouring from Jizeurak’s hand covered Sung-jun’s body like black ink.

“Teacher!”

“$^$!^$^!^#^#@$@@#$(Foolish creature. You’re bringing death upon yourself.)”

Amid the screams of his disciple Seoa and Jizeurak’s mockery, Sung-jun calmly analyzed the damage being inflicted on his body.

To understand what effect the beetle attacks that penetrated his defensive barrier and burrowed into his flesh, and the traces those attacks left, were designed to have on the opponent.

And when his analysis was finally complete, Sung-jun immediately ignited flames throughout his body and vaporized all the bugs clinging to him without a trace.

“Bugs that multiply exponentially inside the body and gnaw at flesh if you get even the slightest wound? Isn’t that too common a type?”

“@%!%@%!(Wha… What?!)”

“Try using a bit more imagination.”

As Sung-jun waved his hand, a single small bee emerged from a small magic circle.

The bee, which had been flying around searching for a target as soon as it was summoned, rushed like lightning to sting the beetles Jizeurak had summoned as soon as it spotted them, and was instantly torn to pieces by the merciless counterattack of the beetles.

As if it possessed no power at all.

But just when everyone thought the wasp had died, the body of the beetle that had devoured the wasp burst open and thousands of wasps emerged from within.

“@!%%!@%(You mock me for using imagination with just that much?!)”

As the enraged Jizeurak extended his other arm, countless slugs poured out from the hole in his palm along with mucus.

At the same time, the mucus sprayed from the slugs’ mouths began shooting toward the wasps rushing at Jizeurak.

-Hissssss!!!-

The moment Jizeurak smiled seeing the wasps instantly melting away as if hit by sulfuric acid, the bodies of the bees that had melted into mucus began regenerating and rising into the air.

And those bees that had taken flight began spraying acidic mucus at the snails Jizeurak had summoned.

“!%@%!@%@! $(Wha, what did you do!)”

“It’s nothing special. These guys have near-immortal regenerative abilities until their target disappears.”

“@%!%@!%(How dare you challenge me with the same ability!!)”

As the enraged Jizeurak extended his hand, yet another type of bug poured out.

Then Sung-jun also deployed a magic circle to bring out another summoned creature, and their full-scale confrontation began.

An endless feast of bugs, as if they were trying to show off each other’s creativity.

***

‘What kind of crazy human is this?! How is he matching my ability so evenly?’

‘Chusarja’ Jizeurak couldn’t help but be flustered seeing Sung-jun’s ability.

Against all the bizarre bug attacks he unleashed, Sung-jun was summoning bugs of similar or superior level to counter him.

Moreover, the bugs Sung-jun summoned had overwhelmingly more creative abilities than Jizeurak’s bugs, which were simply enhanced versions of bug abilities.

Wasps that multiplied endlessly until they could sting the opponent’s body to lay eggs, evolving to mimic the opponent’s abilities.

Bugs that generated freezing air over 100 degrees below zero upon contact with an opponent, literally ‘freezing’ them.

Armored bugs whose thick carapaces exploded like reactive armor the moment an opponent’s teeth touched them, negating the damage.

Jizeurak, who had traveled through countless parallel universes collecting only the most lethal bugs and raising them inside his body.

Even such a Jizeurak couldn’t understand how Sung-jun was handling bugs he had never seen even once.

‘Was this planet called Earth a star overflowing with such dangerous bugs?’

Jizeurak’s confusion was natural in a way.

The magic Sung-jun used to counter Jizeurak’s bugs.

It wasn’t summoning magic but a kind of ‘illusion magic.’

However, unlike ordinary illusion magic that doesn’t affect reality and only works on targets under the illusion, the bugs from Sung-jun’s illusion magic were surprisingly tearing, burning, and freezing Jizeurak’s bugs that they attacked.

“Beautiful…”

As Seoa let out an exclamation with a dreamy expression, Hyeon-jo spoke with an incredulous look.

“Your taste is really… You think those disgusting bugs tearing each other apart is pretty?”

“I mean the magic Teacher used is beautiful.”

“That’s beautiful? Isn’t it terrifying?”

The grimoire in Miyu’s hands spoke to Seoa with a voice mixed with bewilderment.

The identity of the magic Sung-jun was currently casting.

It was such an incredible technique that even the grimoire, a highest-grade magic book, couldn’t dare attempt it.

“It just looks like illusion magic, is it that amazing?”

Shirasaki Miyu, who was the grimoire’s owner but had no knowledge of magical theory, asked the grimoire.

“Illusion magic affects the mind, not reality. So that crazy human is casting illusion magic while simultaneously casting thousands of attack spells that actually perform attacks. He uses freezing magic when bugs shoot ice, and uses cutting magic when bugs bite.”

“When you put it that way, I don’t know what’s so amazing about it.”

“Think about casting thousands of completely different spells simultaneously. And all at different timings.”

“How many can you use at once?”

“Two. The spells carved within me have the constraint that pages must be opened to activate. I could activate up to 6 almost simultaneously by rapidly turning pages, but activating them like that is absolutely impossible.”

Of course, even Sung-jun couldn’t perform multi-casting to the extent of imbuing magic into all tens of thousands of illusions he created.

However, Sung-jun was deceiving his opponent by not applying spells to illusions that simply flew around, but only applying spells at exquisite timing to illusions that performed attacks.

So that the opponent, thinking he was being pushed back in his own domain, would bring out more hidden cards.

And finally, Jizeurak, judging that he was being pushed back in his confrontation with Sung-jun, created a large distance from Sung-jun and growled at him.

“@!#!@$!@%!%!%(I don’t know how you did it, but the games end here. I’ll make you pay the price for daring to act arrogant before me.)”

The new bug that Jizeurak brought out didn’t emerge from the hole in his palm like the previous bugs.

From inside Jizeurak’s mouth, opened so wide one might worry his jaw would tear, a single monster slithered out with disgusting movements like a centipede crawling out of a cave.

It was the most powerful hidden card that had earned Jizeurak the epithet ‘Chusarja.’

‘I sense an unknown energy. A curse? No, it’s not at the level of a curse. An ability that leads opponents to death even by twisting predetermined fate?’

The moment his gaze met the countless compound eyes on the head of the bug that crawled out from Jizeurak’s stomach, Sung-jun felt a sensation as if all the nerves in his body were being paralyzed.

Not a sensation caused by fear, but a feeling as if no matter what action he took, he wouldn’t be able to avoid death.

If he dodged left, he would die.

Even if he dodged right, he would die.

He would die before he could even cast defensive magic.

His attacks wouldn’t reach his opponent’s body.

In the countless simulations that unfolded in his mind during that fleeting moment, Sung-jun witnessed thousands upon thousands of deaths and endlessly revised his plans.

However, none of the actions Sung-jun could take now produced a result that would save his life.

‘I’ll die. I’ll definitely die.’

Like a frog frozen stiff after making eye contact with a snake, Sung-jun stopped all movement and simply watched the insect slowly approaching him.

And at that moment, the centipede-shaped insect that had been crawling slowly toward Sung-jun pierced through his nape at lightning speed.

“Teacher!!!”

Hearing Seoa’s scream, which sounded like pleasant music to his ears, Jizeurak watched Sung-jun collapse with a satisfied expression.

Because the ‘Chusarja’ that had never disappointed him even once had successfully completed its mission again this time.

However, unlike Jizeurak’s satisfied expression, the insect-shaped monster ‘Chusarja’ whose expression couldn’t be read was frantically shaking its head back and forth in confused movements, urgently searching for something.

‘Hmm? Why is that thing acting like that?’

Jizeurak’s confusion didn’t last long.

The moment Sung-jun’s body, who had been collapsing while clutching his nape, touched the ground, his body scattered in all directions as thousands of glittering butterflies.

Only then did Jizeurak realize that the Sung-jun he had been facing was an illusion created by 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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