The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 4

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

#004. The Archmage Who Uses Magic

‘Magic, I can use magic!’

Though he had no idea why, amazingly the magic Sung-jun activated didn’t stop at simply drawing magic circles but actually manifested, shooting out six beam-like energy pillars.

And that magic, with power no less formidable than what he’d heard countless times from his master, shattered the Lotte World ceiling and punched holes through the giant monster’s body so large that the sky on the other side was visible.

‘If I can really use magic…’

If magic had activated during training, he would have immediately stopped to seriously contemplate the reason, but now wasn’t the time for that.

Even as Sung-jun hesitated in confusion, people inside the amusement park were dying.

What mattered to him now was that he had in his hands a means to fight against the ‘monsters’ that filled this vast amusement park and were massacring civilians.

‘…Let’s do this!’

Sung-jun postponed determining whether the magic activation was mere coincidence or had manifested normally, and immediately began casting his next spell.

The monsters that had momentarily stopped attacking due to the sudden counterattack were now charging toward Sung-jun’s location at tremendous speed.

Therefore, the spells he deployed were faster to cast than before and focused on spells that could more effectively eliminate enemies.

“Haaah!!”

As his complexly moving hand shot forward with a battle cry, eight barbed tentacles immediately sprouted from the ground where his fingertips pointed, binding several charging monsters in grotesque forms.

The vicious-looking tentacles, sharp beyond belief, didn’t stop at merely restraining the monsters’ movements but instantly shredded the bodies of the monsters they caught, dismembering them into multiple chunks of meat.

“Queeeeeeek!!!”

Sung-jun moved the fingers of his extended hand in complex patterns again while thrusting his other hand toward another group of monsters in a different direction.

This time, dozens of visibly sharp, translucent silver blades spun wildly like a whirlwind, butchering the limbs of six monsters by body parts.

Double casting.

The technique of using both hands independently to cast multiple spells simultaneously was an advanced skill of such difficulty that novice mages couldn’t even imagine it, yet Sung-jun could unleash double casting without hesitation despite being a beginner using spells for the first time.

‘Well, I had nothing else to do but practice this…’

Since he could move his fingers freely even without being able to use magic, Sung-jun had practiced casting by waving his fingers whenever he had spare time, even during his delivery part-time job.

First spells that required both hands, then spells that could be cast with one hand, then practicing simultaneous casting of different spells with both hands…

Thanks to this, he had become so accustomed to using both hands that he could perfectly draw different patterns simultaneously with his left and right hands, and thanks to that training process that was closer to practice and play, he could now rapid-fire spells at the level of a high-ranking mage who had trained for decades.

“Queeeeeeek!!!!!”

As another monster was pierced by sharp light beams and became well-cooked barbecue, the people inside Lotte World began to gradually recognize the current situation.

The fact that their only possible savior who might be able to save their lives was buying them time against an absurdly large number of monsters.

“It’s an Awakened! An Awakened has appeared!”

“Everyone run behind that person in the costume!”

As the crowd that had been scattering in all directions until just moments ago began converging toward Sung-jun’s location, the monsters began rampaging even more violently in their frenzy.

And Sung-jun felt the pressure of having to simultaneously block not only the monsters attacking him, but also the movements of monsters pouncing on fleeing people.

‘This is a bit difficult alone.’

While a typical Awakened would have felt the need for reinforcements in this situation, Sung-jun, who had been fundamentally educated as a mage, was thinking something entirely different.

After all, he had been taught ad nauseam that a mage, as his master had taught him, should possess combat abilities worthy of the nickname “one-person army.”

“Rise! Servants of nature rooted in the earth!”

As he chanted the spell and stomped his foot forcefully, golden concentric circles spread out like ripples centered on Sung-jun’s foot.

And as those spreading golden ripples were immediately absorbed by the giant landscaping trees throughout the amusement park, unbelievable things began to happen.

With the sound of firmly packed earth being forcibly split apart, the massive trees began moving like giants made of wood.

Moreover, these moving trees, despite their appearance, began moving at speeds similar to the monsters and started blocking the monsters’ attacks.

‘Trees… trees… next is that. It might be a bit difficult but…’

Having stopped the charging monsters’ offensive with the tree giants, Sung-jun picked up a concrete fragment from the ground and began frantically pouring mana into it with one hand.

Meanwhile, with his other hand, he didn’t forget to spray dozens of different spell bundles at monsters trying to attack civilians while avoiding the tree giants.

And shortly after, confirming that the stone fragment he held began glowing with blue light, Sung-jun hurled it toward the chest area of the largest humanoid structure visible before him.

Kwaaaaang!

As the blue light mass shot out like a cannonball and embedded itself in the giant structure’s chest area, a tremendous explosion echoed throughout the amusement park.

And at that moment, a structure incomparably larger than the wooden dolls he had summoned earlier began moving slowly with creaking sounds.

The sight of a 10-meter giant golem moving while creating a terrifying atmosphere completely different from the cute appearance befitting the amusement park’s symbol.

That sight possessed overwhelming presence that seemed to visually express the anger of a homeowner whose house had been invaded.

“What the f*ck!? What is that?!”

“It’s Lotty! Lotty has risen!”

Hearing people’s exclamations, Sung-jun used levitation magic to fly to the giant Lotty’s shoulder area.

Then, standing beside Lotty’s head that was as tall as himself, he shouted vigorously.

“Let’s go! Lotty! Let’s make them feel the bone-deep fury of Lotte World!”

***

“So what you’re saying is that an unidentified man in a costume rode a giant Lotty and fought against the massive monster that attacked the amusement park?”

“How many times are you going to ask the same question? I’m telling you it really happened!”

The agent listening to the citizen with his head wrapped in bandages turned his head with an expression of disbelief.

Then, looking at the fragments so destroyed that their original form was unrecognizable, he said to the citizen.

“That thing moved?”

“If my words seem like lies, ask other people. They’ll all give you the same answer.”

The agent didn’t feel the need to ask others as the citizen suggested.

The citizen he was currently talking to was already the third person to give the same answer.

Feeling that further conversation was meaningless, he got up and headed toward another agent.

There, a woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties was dressed in special forces gear, staring at the giant monster’s corpse with a serious expression.

“Section Chief…”

The moment the man spoke to her, a brilliant white bow materialized in the woman’s previously empty hands.

And before the man could even stop her, she fired the bow in her hands toward where the monster’s corpse lay.

Shwaaaang!

As the explosion sound like an anti-tank missile had detonated faded, she glared at the area she had attacked with sharp eyes.

She was comparing the massive penetrating wound right next to the new wound she had created with the damage she had inflicted.

‘I couldn’t pierce through… Just who is that Man in Puppet Costume?’

Among the Awakened she knew, there was no ability user who could create wounds at the same level as those left by the Man in Puppet Costume.

Moreover, according to what was confirmed through citizens’ testimonies, the Man in Puppet Costume’s abilities didn’t seem limited to just attack power.

-When he waved his hands, trees suddenly came alive and started moving!

-A translucent barrier seemed to bounce away charging monsters entirely.

-The body of a monster that made eye contact with the man in the costume suddenly swelled up and burst like a balloon.

-I saw it clearly with my own two eyes. The man’s body suddenly disappeared and then appeared magically at another location.

One particular word buried among the numerous testimonies was strangely bothering her.

“Like magic… perhaps…”

However, after thinking for a moment, she shook her head from side to side.

“That can’t be… No Awakened anywhere in the world can use anything like magic.”

She immediately called one of the nearest agents.

Then she gave orders in a voice that exuded coldness.

“Request cooperation from the Government. Whether it’s the Police or Prosecution, mobilize every available resource to find the whereabouts of that Man in Puppet Costume.”

“Do you believe what the citizens are saying? That an unregistered Awakened not even registered with Dimension Nation single-handedly defeated all these erosion entities and disappeared like magic?”

“I don’t know. Whether an Awakened with that level of power has been hiding their identity until now.”

“And they were hiding their identity only to reveal it today, while wearing a costume no less?”

“Why he acted this way, why he revealed his identity at this time – that’s not what’s important. What’s really important is that an Awakened with that level of power has shown himself in Seoul, South Korea. If that’s true, the Government of South Korea must secure him by any means necessary, more than any other organization.”

“Is it that serious?”

At her subordinate’s question, she looked at the wounds once more.

The six massive holes in the giant monster’s body that Sung-jun in his costume had pierced through with a single attack.

“As far as I know, except for the six Pioneers, there is no Awakened who can single-handedly defeat an erosion entity of this grade. If such an Awakened exists and it’s possible to place him under the Korean government, South Korea would instantly gain dominance in the global Awakened industry. Enough to instantly recover from the losses suffered six years ago due to the fraud who deceived the Government of South Korea by pretending to be a Pioneer.”

No sooner had the woman finished speaking than an agent holding a radio rushed toward her with an urgent expression.

“It’s a message from the Office of the President.”

“What’s the matter? We should have already reported that the Lotte World incident was concluded.”

It was common knowledge among all Awakened that when entities far stronger than previously appearing erosion entities emerged, a period of calm would follow for some time.

And according to that common knowledge, since a massive entity the size of half of Lotte World had appeared, there should be no need to worry about erosion entity appearances for a while.

However, the agent’s following message contained content that completely shattered her existing knowledge.

“A large-scale erosion entity of unprecedented size has appeared in Seoul Airspace.”

“Massive erosion entities appearing consecutively? This is unusual. What’s the entity’s size?”

“Well… the thing is…”

“No matter how big it is, it can’t be bigger than the one here, so speak comfortably.”

She was confident that no matter how large the newly appeared entity might be, it couldn’t possibly be bigger than the Monster currently collapsed behind her.

The erosion entity that the mysterious Man in Puppet Costume had brought down possessed a gigantic build of a size she had never seen before, despite being tempered through countless battles with erosion entities.

However, the agent who heard her words spoke to her in a voice that seemed to lack conviction even as he said it himself.

“They say it’s an erosion entity the size of Yeouido.”

It was an erosion entity with a size expressed in a unique unit that foreigners would have difficulty understanding easily, but any Korean would be able to instantly grasp just how massive it was the moment they heard it.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————