The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 40

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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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#040. Magic That Changes the World

“I heard you speak Chinese fluently.”

“I merely cast a kind of translation magic that conveys intent regardless of language.”

Chinese has no concept of informal speech.

More precisely, it lacks the concept of honorific speech, but that doesn’t mean there’s no distinction between respectful and casual language.

Just as ‘How many people?’ and ‘How many persons?’ have different nuances, Chinese is characterized by differences in tone when addressing superiors versus subordinates, depending on the words, intonation, and expressions used.

And Sung-jun’s translation magic, due to its characteristic of conveying the speaker’s intended meaning intact, was being delivered to the listener’s ears in casual, informal speech.

“Your manner of speech is rude! Do you know who this person is!”

When the man in a suit, who appeared to be the other party’s aide, stepped forward indignantly at Sung-jun’s tone, the man sitting across from Sung-jun raised his hand to stop him.

Then he spoke to Sung-jun.

“Please state what you want.”

“Prevent anyone from approaching within a 20-kilometer radius of coordinates I designate. Acknowledge that I have rights to the corpse of the Apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity Yeojiggwi that I defeated. Provide maritime transportation and escort forces necessary for my party to travel to Japan. And lastly…”

Sung-jun paused briefly, then looked at his counterpart and said.

“I would like the Chinese Government to transfer the ‘Seven Vessels’ in your possession.”

“These are not impossible conditions, but I must ask for your reasons first.”

“What if I don’t want to say?”

“Then negotiations are over. For reference, ‘over’ here means that the moment this meeting is deemed a threat to the Republic of China’s existence, nuclear missiles will fall on this location.”

The Communist Party leadership had already confirmed through experiments in Beijing that conventional weapons, and even nuclear attacks, were completely useless against Apocalypse-class Corrosion Entities.

However, with the Apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity that had been the Chinese Government’s greatest threat now fallen by Sung-jun’s hand, the leadership judged there would be no major problem eliminating the ‘human’ Sung-jun.

And that was also a correct judgment.

‘With my current abilities, I can’t block nuclear weapons even with maximum defensive magic. But if they use nukes, the Tianwu Guan forces stationed here to keep me in check would also suffer damage… Are they prepared to sacrifice all their remaining Awakened forces just to eliminate me?’

The other party’s words were likely bluffing, but depending on circumstances, they could become truth.

They already had a precedent of sacrificing half the Tianwu Guan warriors, including Seo Moo-gyeol, the strongest Awakened force and Salvation King, to carry out a nuclear attack in Beijing.

In the current situation where Corrosion Entities had become humanity’s greatest threat, Sung-jun could immediately think of the reason why they had so lightly sacrificed such precious Awakened forces.

‘The publicly revealed forces are only a fraction of what they have.’

It’s common knowledge that China has an enormous population.

In contrast, the number of publicly known Tianwu Guan warriors was ridiculously small considering China’s population and territorial size.

Sung-jun suspected they probably kept several times more than their publicly revealed Awakened forces as hidden strength.

And among them, naturally, there would be plenty of warriors far stronger than the former Salvation King Seo Moo-gyeol or Zhao Xin, another Salvation King present here.

‘If the forces deployed to Beijing were merely an advance team, then the reason they didn’t deploy additional forces becomes clear. The compatibility between Yeojiggwi and Tianwu Guan warriors is terribly poor. Their goal was to preserve forces as much as possible until they found a solution…’

This would tip the scales of negotiation toward the other party.

With Yeojiggwi, the worst threat, defeated by him, they were now in a position to fully utilize their hidden cards.

After brief consideration, Sung-jun decided to use a strategy that would turn the other party’s cards against them.

“Fine. It would be difficult for you to accept conditions without knowing the reasons. What I intend to do with Yeojiggwi’s corpse and the Seven Vessels is to create a kind of altar. Using the corpse of a powerful Apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity as sacrifice, to cast a wide-area curse targeting the entire world.”

“A curse… you say?”

Sung-jun re-explained the conversation he had just had with his companions.

Originally, each of the Seven Vessels is an object equivalent to a large-scale magic circle, used as a kind of ‘totem’ by driving them into specific points to weaken one powerful target.

Originally designed to be used with blades pointing inward against incredibly strong enemies, Sung-jun planned to use them in reverse.

“Instead of greatly weakening one strong enemy, the goal is to expand the range to the entire Earth and cast a widespread curse on weak targets.”

“Specifically, what kind of curse do you plan to cast?”

“A curse that allows humanity’s conventional weapons to defeat Corrosion Entities.”

The reason Awakened forces are absolutely necessary to deal with Corrosion Entities is that humanity’s existing conventional weapons have no effect on them whatsoever.

Even the weakest and smallest Corrosion Entities can easily deflect rifle bullets, and all Corrosion Entities that have appeared on Earth possess bizarre levels of resistance.

Therefore, eliminating Corrosion Entities is nearly impossible without Awakened individuals with special abilities.

Of course, they don’t completely nullify all attacks, so some damage can be dealt, but even slightly higher-grade ones can completely ignore anti-tank shell attacks.

“With all the Pioneers who handled the awakening process having returned to their own worlds, humanity can no longer train new Awakened. Meanwhile, the number of Corrosion Entities continues to grow as occupied territories expand. The enemies are forcing a war of attrition on us. If this situation continues, humanity will eventually face extinction.”

“You mean the curse is for that purpose?”

“I judge that we can at least buy time. Of course, with the range expanded to the entire Earth, only the weakest grade of Corrosion Entities will be affected…”

“A curse that makes conventional weapons effective…”

The man pondered briefly, touching his chin with his finger.

Then he looked at Sung-jun and said.

“Then wouldn’t narrowing the range allow conventional weapons to defeat slightly stronger Corrosion Entities?”

When Sung-jun’s expression hardened severely upon hearing the man’s words, the man waved his hands in panic.

“I understand your thoughts, but it’s a misunderstanding. What I meant was, if such a thing is possible, wouldn’t it be more efficient to narrow the range and eliminate enemies region by region?”

“Region by region?”

“I mean first casting a strong curse targeting Corrosion Entities on the Chinese mainland to efficiently eliminate the monsters, then moving Yeojiggwi’s corpse to shift the range to other countries.”

The man’s explanation continued.

If such a thing were possible, humanity could secure its first ‘stable stronghold,’ and based on that, establish the concept of logistics, couldn’t they?

“If that happens, you’ll be able to receive Chinese Government support when going to the next target country. Not only our vast conventional forces, but Tianwu Guan warriors could also join to support you.”

‘They want to play the role that America played during World War II.’

Even during the period when the world was engulfed in war, the American mainland suffered no significant damage except for Pearl Harbor.

Thanks to this, America could stably produce military supplies and pour nearly unlimited forces into battlefronts around the world.

This plan would bring various benefits to the Chinese Government.

First, they could reclaim Chinese territory more quickly and stably using conventional forces, and while the curse’s range was limited to near China, other countries would sacrifice more Awakened forces.

Seeing the shadow of greed rippling in the man’s eyes, Sung-jun sighed deeply.

Then he shook his head and said.

“While it might be a rational method strategically, the conditions proposed by the Chinese Government are impossible. To cast a curse in that form, the Seven Vessels would need to be distributed separately toward the borders rather than clustered in one place, but there’s only one Yeojiggwi corpse to supply mana. That’s not how those items were designed to be used. You can only choose one: cast a powerful curse on a small area, or cast a very weak curse targeting the entire planet.”

Sung-jun’s words were half truth and half lie.

If the Chinese Government could supply sufficient ‘sacrifices’ to seven daggers distributed widely along the borders, limiting the curse’s range to the Chinese mainland wouldn’t be impossible.

However, in the current situation where there’s only one ‘mage’ capable of casting spells on the entire Earth, what Sung-jun said was essentially absolute truth.

“Then we have no choice but to accept. The use of conventional weapons is a condition the Chinese Government must accept. However, why is the access prohibition necessary?”

“Once the curse activates, there’s a risk that Corrosion Entities will target that location for attack. When conventional weapons that didn’t work on them suddenly start working, they’ll try to detect and eliminate the cause. Naturally, they won’t send just anyone.”

“So you mean you want us to deploy our Awakened forces to defend that location? What benefit do we receive from this?”

Sung-jun fell into thought again.

The benefits from this curse would be received by all humanity, not just the Chinese Government.

Conversely, the Chinese Government would only have the obligation to protect the magic circle even at the cost of precious Awakened forces.

No matter how much it was the first step to prevent humanity’s total extinction, it was questionable whether they would accept.

‘With Yeojiggwi, the most threatening existence, eliminated, the Chinese Government isn’t in a hurry. Then…’

Having finished his thoughts, Sung-jun spoke.

“My next destination is Japan. After recovering another Pioneer relic there, Pandora’s Box, I plan to cast a wide-area blessing targeting the entire Earth with it. Just like casting a wide-area curse here to make conventional weapons work on Corrosion Entities.”

“A blessing… what kind of blessing is that?”

“A blessing that allows ordinary people to acquire awakening abilities based on probability when they eliminate Corrosion Entities.”

The man’s eyes widened greatly upon hearing Sung-jun’s words.

If that were possible, it could provide humanity, who could only walk the path of gradual consumption and eventual extinction, with a thread of counterattack.

The man finally felt he could understand what the man before him was aiming for.

‘This man… is truly trying to save humanity…’

Unsealing conventional weapons so ordinary people could eliminate Corrosion Entities, and enabling the replenishment of Awakened forces that could no longer be supplied.

This was completely opposite to the current behavior of humanity, which prioritized preserving their own national power above all else.

“…How much time do you need until all the plans you envision are complete?”

“That’s difficult to answer definitively. Winning the fight against Yeojiggwi was only possible using a kind of trick, and the remaining Apocalypse-class Corrosion Entities aren’t opponents that tricks will work on.”

“You mean there’s also a risk of you dying in the process of achieving your goal?”

“The probability of winning against Yeojiggwi wasn’t 100% to begin with. Of course, I might fail midway. I might die. I know there’s also the risk that countries might refuse to cooperate.”

“Yet you’re willing to take on all those risks alone?”

“No one else can do this work but me.”

Sung-jun stood up from his seat.

Wearing the ‘Mage’s Robe’ inherited from his master, Sung-jun quietly gazed into the distance while looking at the setting red sunset and said.

“Because that is my role as the first and only ‘mage’ to exist in the human race.”

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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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