The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 28

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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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#028. Forcing It

When Minastrias, Sung-jun’s teacher from the past, taught him the spell called ‘Coin of Fate’, Sung-jun couldn’t contain his surging curiosity and had no choice but to ask his teacher a question.

-Just from hearing about its effects, it seems like a spell with almost fraudulent abilities. If I cast it unconditionally before entering combat, wouldn’t I be able to win 100% of all fights?

-If it were such an omnipotent spell, then the Previous Demon Lord who created that spell would have been invincible. Let me give you an easy example. Suppose you and I simultaneously use spells to read the future and play rock-paper-scissors. What do you think would happen?

-….

That’s exactly the problem. Future foresight is a powerful ability, but it has the disadvantage of being neutralized when it encounters abilities of the same type. Since each person would try to read the future they’ve seen and avoid danger, the future becomes unfixed and enters an uncertain state.

Ultimately, when facing an opponent with precognitive abilities using the Coin of Fate spell, there were only two possible courses of action to choose from.

Either endure damage and drag it into a war of attrition, or enter a prolonged battle where neither side takes any damage at all.

Chusalgu judged that Sung-jun had chosen the former approach.

Indeed, Sung-jun, who could heal wounds with recovery magic, was blatantly showing his intention to drag the battle into a war of attrition, unlike himself who had no regenerative abilities.

And Chusalgu knew well why Sung-jun was fighting in such a way, injuring himself.

‘It must be because of the penalty for the ability to read the future.’

The power of fate was so mighty that it couldn’t be casually overturned, even with the help of magic.

Even if one forcibly twisted predetermined fate to turn a destiny of death into a destiny of life, the price would return in another form and inevitably kill the caster.

All life is granted a predetermined total amount of luck from birth.

And unfortunately, ‘Coin of Fate’ was not a spell that could overturn even that predetermined total amount of luck.

-Listen well, Sung-jun. That spell is absolutely not one that makes the impossible possible. Rather, it’s a spell that demonstrates absolute effectiveness when a little luck is needed within the realm of possibility.

Recalling his teacher’s words echoing in his ears, Sung-jun extended his hand toward the Chusarja rushing at him.

***

‘Now then, inferior species. What will you do?’

Chusarja’s senses were not abilities that existed in the realm of simple sixth sense.

His senses were the ability to read the single thickest, clearest, unbreakable thread from the infinite flow of possibilities where countless threads of causality were tangled and intertwined.

And at this very moment, all his senses were becoming a great prophecy, crying out strongly.

Perfect checkmate.

Inevitability leading to victory.

Of course, there were some unsettling factors.

The gold coin the mage in his field of vision held in his right hand.

The aura emanating from that shining metal lump of unknown meaning was making Chusarja feel an inexplicable unpleasant sensation.

But even if it were some strange spell that read fate, what did it matter?

Anyway, the mortal before his eyes would only meet one of two endings.

One was a future where he would succeed in preventing Jizeurak’s escape but meet death by receiving his fatal strike.

The other was a future where he would block his attack but let Jizeurak escape, ultimately slowly perishing within the grasp of the great disaster called Yejigwi.

Whatever choice he made, the end would be the mage’s defeat.

His senses did not lie.

Because it was the law of the world itself, which could not be defied by logic or magic.

That insignificant mage was desperately struggling on the grand board he had set up, but failed to realize that all of it was ultimately within his palm.

‘He showed off some trick that seemed like reading the future, but eventually he too will realize it. That before heaven-sent natural senses, the tricks pulled by lower creatures are ultimately nothing but futile struggles.’

Looking at Chusarja’s countless compound eyes that seemed to mock him, Sung-jun was smiling.

With the expression of a scholar who had found the answer to a difficult problem he had been pondering endlessly.

‘Ah, now I understand.’

‘Coin of Fate’ was a magic with uniquely interesting rules among the many spells Sung-jun had learned from his teacher.

The point that mana consumption and spell complexity increased exponentially according to the importance of the fate one tried to read.

The point that the criteria for judging impossibility and possibility existed in an ambiguous realm, as if the spell had a will of its own.

And the point that whenever one used the Coin of Fate spell to change a predetermined future, ‘feedback’ would inevitably occur, requiring payment of a price equivalent to the changed fate.

The conclusion Sung-jun reached through numerous experiments was that Coin of Fate was a spell that seemed very useful yet useless.

‘Well, if this were truly an omnipotent spell, Teacher would have bought lottery tickets.’

A spell that couldn’t overturn truly important fates, and even if it did, required paying an enormous price.

But through repeated experiments, Sung-jun was able to discover a ‘singularity’ of the Coin of Fate spell that even the Previous Demon Lord who created it hadn’t found.

While purchasing one lottery ticket and making it win required near-infinite mana consumption and feedback at the level of paying with one’s life, purchasing 8 million lottery tickets that satisfied the winning probability of 1 in 8 million and then making one win didn’t consume that much mana.

Having grasped this fact, Sung-jun immediately designed the correct method of using Coin of Fate.

The method of infinitely layering ‘minor luck’ to overturn great fate itself.

And all the conditions currently unfolding before Sung-jun’s eyes seemed to be perfectly designed for this very moment.

‘The position of the stones I kicked and pushed during the earlier battle, the placement of attack spells hidden among the insects summoned by illusion magic, the distance from the rest of my companions, my current position and direction, the speed of the insect rushing to kill me, and even the direction the executive-class Corrosion Entity is fleeing. Everything fits together perfectly.’

The moment Sung-jun finished all calculations and snapped his fingers, half of the insect illusions that had been fiercely clashing with the insects summoned by Chusarja quickly retreated backward, accompanied by a bizarre noise like billions of cicadas flapping their wings simultaneously.

And at the same time, the insect illusions that had been in front began exploding from all directions with tremendous roars.

-Boom boom boom boom bang!!!-

Because the positions of the exploding insects were arranged at such exquisitely calculated intervals, the insects summoned by Chusarja were momentarily engulfed in explosions and lost sight of their target in front of them.

And at that moment, the remaining insects that had retreated began rushing toward Jizeurak’s direction all at once.

Their target was singular: Jizeurak.

Seeing the swarm of insects rushing like a massive black tsunami, Jizeurak sneered.

“Foolish tricks!”

To the point where one might wonder where so many insects could be hidden in that body, Jizeurak summoned countless other insects from the holes in his palms as well.

Then Sung-jun’s remaining insects also self-destructed all at once, obscuring the vision of the insects Jizeurak had summoned.

-Crash crash crash crash crash crash boom!!!-

‘Large in size but not strong in power? Why?’

Jizeurak was confused.

Because the power contained in the explosions of the insects that clearly seemed sent to kill him appeared much weaker than he had thought.

It seemed more like some kind of show to distract his attention rather than explosions meant for attack.

‘Is he planning to eliminate Chusarja while my attention is diverted and tie up my feet?’

Realizing that the explosions of the insects blocking his path were nothing but bluffs, Jizeurak immediately looked toward where Sung-jun was.

There was Sung-jun, completely ignoring Chusalja’s attack rushing toward him and throwing sparkling lightning toward his direction.

‘I’m going to die.’

In his extremely accelerated thoughts, Jizeurak instinctively knew that Sung-jun’s attack would pierce his heart.

But unfortunately for him, Jizeurak had a ‘final card’ remaining that even Sung-jun hadn’t grasped.

‘I’m retrieving the ability.’

Since Jizeurak had the unique ability to personally use the special abilities of the insects he controlled, sensing death, he immediately retrieved Chusarja’s future foresight ability into his own body.

Of course, it was an ability he rarely used because it had the disadvantage of neutralizing Chusarja’s precognitive ability during that time, but since Sung-jun was perfectly targeting only him, he thought it was an unnecessary ability for Chusarja.

Having shared Chusarja’s ability, Jizeurak immediately foresaw the optimal path to dodge Sung-jun’s lightning.

‘I dodged it!’

Feeling the lightning barely graze over his hair, Jizeurak showed a triumphant smile.

Once this fleeting moment passed, Chusarja would pierce that crafty mage’s heart, and Sung-jun would show a despairing expression seeing his spell aimed at him miss.

‘If that happens, there’s no need to run away either. I’ll throw all your companions to the insects as live feed. I’ll make them scream in pain as insects tear off their flesh while they’re still alive.’

But at that moment, intense pain like being burned by fire swept through Jizeurak’s heart.

And simultaneously, Chusarja, who had been rushing toward Sung-jun, also began writhing in tremendous pain piercing through the top of his head.

“Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!!!!!!!”

“!@%@!%!%?!…(How…how?!)”

Looking at where his heart that no longer beat should be, Jizeurak saw a large hole pierced there and wore an expression of utter disbelief.

And below it, a centipede-like insect covered in green blood that clearly wasn’t human was greedily tearing and eating flesh.

‘He had hidden one insect from the beginning?’

‘Was he planning to kill me from the start, not capture me?’

The gazes of the collapsing Jizeurak and Chusarja met in midair.

The two beings from the Other World wore expressions of not understanding what chain of causality had brought them this death, even in their final moments.

“….”

“You’re wearing an expression of not understanding.”

“!%!^!@@!@…(How….)”

Taking his last breath, Jizeurak moved his trembling jaw to ask a soundless question.

“Because I was controlling all movements so that this picture would ultimately emerge.”

Instead of answering, Sung-jun snapped his fingers.

Then Jizeurak’s eyes widened as if they would tear, seeing the scene unfolding behind Sung-jun.

Behind Sung-jun’s head, tens of thousands of ‘Coins of Fate’ were rotating at different speeds and directions, emitting brilliant light.

It was like a massive golden nebula floating in space, or perhaps a divine abacus performing infinite calculations.

At the majestic and beautiful sight created by 24,723 coins, Hyeon-jo, Shirasaki Miyu, and even Seoa held their breath.

Sung-jun spoke in a calm voice, telling the dying monster the final truth.

“Certainly, the Coin of Fate has no power to overturn predetermined destiny.”

His voice was quiet, but the meaning contained within it thundered through everyone’s minds.

“But it’s possible to layer countless small fortunes to create one massive stroke of luck. The thousands of phantoms I summoned during battle, the spells I embedded in each of those phantoms, the positions where stones I kicked with my feet rolled to, every finger movement, every spell—all of it was the result created by these countless coins.”

The question Sung-jun asked the Coin of Fate was quite simple.

‘I don’t care about the reason, so what action would be advantageous to take right now?’

Originally, it would have been a spell requiring massive mana consumption and feedback, but Sung-jun solved that problem by breaking the spell into smaller pieces.

And at the final moment, he used the phantoms he had summoned to deceive Jizeurak into thinking it was being attacked, preventing Chusalja from using its precognitive ability.

Of course, Sung-jun hadn’t acted that way because he knew Jizeurak’s unique ability.

He had simply entrusted all his actions to tens of thousands of coins, ‘following where the coins led.’

Only then did Jizeurak realize everything.

All the coincidences that had occurred throughout the battle. The positions where Sung-jun was wounded and bled, each stone that rolled from the explosion’s aftermath, even the direction of dust scattered by the wind.

All of it had actually been part of a vast and precise design to lure Jizeurak to a single coordinate—a trap of death.

“!%!@%!@…$@$!$….(To prophesy by breaking the future into small pieces… interesting fellow….)”

With those final words, strength drained from Jizeurak’s body, and Chusalja also drew its last breath.

With the death of both monsters, the majestic wall of golden coins that had spread behind Sung-jun scattered like stardust and disappeared into the darkness.

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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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