The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 41

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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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#041. The Stage Moves to Japan

In the subsequent negotiation process, the Chinese Government came to realize that they practically had no choice at all.

In reality, in a situation where reinforcement of Awakened was impossible, rejecting Sung-jun’s demands wouldn’t unfold a favorable future for the Chinese Government.

While they might gain immediate advantage at the point when the apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity was eliminated, if humans in all regions except the Chinese Mainland were annihilated, all that would remain was a future of being trapped in a siege covering the entire Earth and slowly dying.

The reason Sung-jun moved to eliminate the first apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity as quickly as possible, even at great risk, was precisely for that reason.

The current timing, when the enemy’s system wasn’t properly established yet, was the only opportunity to hunt an apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity alone.

The Communist Party leadership, having received this information through Sung-jun, held internal meetings and promised to cooperate with Sung-jun’s plan.

However, the movement to Japan via sea route that Sung-jun requested required additional preparations such as recapturing port areas and procuring escort ships.

Therefore, with the Chinese Government’s request for about a week’s grace period, Sung-jun agreed to install magic circles and then stay at a hotel provided by the Chinese Government for a week.

And the next day, Sung-jun received the ‘Seven Blood Vessels,’ his Teacher’s relic, from the Chinese Government and headed to the place where the Foresight Demon was defeated.

“Basically, it’s a magic circle that casts a wide-area curse with the entire Earth as its range, but I’ll install insurance just in case.”

Since he had secured the Chinese Government’s promise of cooperation, there was no need to create an intimidating atmosphere with a high-handed approach, so Sung-jun’s tone was much softer than before.

Then Zhao Xin, the field supervisor who heard Sung-jun’s words, asked him.

“Insurance, you say?”

“According to the agreement with the Chinese Government, no one should approach within a 20km radius of the point where the magic circle is installed. That’s to prevent possible attacks by Corrosion Entities, but it’s also to prevent human betrayal.”

“Are you saying you don’t trust the Chinese Government’s promise?”

“I’m saying that the human race itself has characteristics that make it difficult to trust absolutely. And since I’m also human, I know that fact better than anyone.”

The ‘insurance’ Sung-jun mentioned was installing a massive ‘no-entry zone’ spanning a 20-kilometer radius around the magic circle.

To instantly kill all living beings that invaded the area, whether Corrosion Entities or humans.

Then Zhao Xin, who heard Sung-jun’s words, frowned and said to him.

“If it’s insurance to prevent intrusion, wouldn’t simply blocking entry be sufficient? I don’t think there’s a need to install a barrier with lethal force.”

“The ‘protective barrier’ type of barrier you’re talking about is a constantly active spell that requires enormous energy to maintain. On the other hand, a magic circle that detects intruders and kills them instantly only uses energy when intruders appear inside, making it much more efficient.”

“Are you saying you’ll sacrifice human lives for efficiency?”

“As I said, if ‘no one’ enters, no problems will occur in the first place. Or are you asking me to show consideration in case your side breaks the promise?”

Zhao Xin couldn’t say anything.

Sung-jun’s words were entirely reasonable.

In the first place, no sacrifices would occur if the Chinese Government didn’t break their promise first.

Moreover, the Chinese Government had already promised at the governmental level to protect the area where the magic circle was installed so that no one could enter that region.

In this situation, being more stubborn would be tantamount to saying that the Chinese Government planned to break the agreement, so Zhao Xin silently glared at Sung-jun before withdrawing his forces 20km away.

‘This makes it the first one.’

Taking a deep breath, Sung-jun looked down at the corpse of the Foresight Demon surrounded by seven daggers stuck in the ground.

The corpse of an absolute being he could never have defeated if he had failed to seal its foresight ability.

Then he vigorously swung both hands to activate the magic circle.

“…What tremendous energy!”

Even from 20km away, enormous energy that felt like a typhoon raging right beside them swept violently, and massive magic circles flew in all directions, large enough to be visible from a distance.

And simultaneously, a whirlwind of strange sensations that were difficult to express in human language spread in all directions.

Strange sensations that felt like the sky and earth had flipped even though they hadn’t, and felt like time had stopped even though they knew it was flowing.

A nauseating yet stable feeling like an unshaking water surface, warm yet cold, red yet blue, a bone-chilling silence that seemed like eardrums would burst.

And at that moment, all ‘humans’ and ‘invaders’ on Earth ‘learned’ that the world had changed greatly.

As if someone had whispered in their ears about how the world would change from now on, the new rules Sung-jun created were transmitted instantly to all intelligent life forms on Earth in the form of concepts rather than sounds or language.

“I don’t know the reason, but one thing is certain. That man’s words weren’t bluffing.”

A human who could manipulate the ‘rules of the world’ at will, beyond the intuitive standards of strength and weakness.

Until meeting the man named Ma Sungjun, the ‘Awakened forces’ that Zhao Xin knew were literally armed groups with measurable power based on the assessment of strength.

Beings with superhuman strength that could be measured by crude and barbaric standards like who would survive to the end if several people fought each other to the death.

However, the race called mages were beings whose power couldn’t be measured simply by the magnitude of their strength.

Even if all the power possessed by Tianwu Guan’s warriors were poured into one human body, it would be impossible to do what Sung-jun had done.

Having made them physically experience the difference in ‘class’ rather than difference in power, Sung-jun collapsed right there in the center of the massive magic circle he had created.

‘I knew it would be difficult, but to think it would be this much…’

It wasn’t unreasonable for Sung-jun to struggle.

The wide-range curse spell Sung-jun had just cast, which cursed ‘the entire Earth’ so that humans could defeat low-grade Corrosion Entities even with conventional weapons.

That spell wasn’t a spell created by previous Demon Lords, but an original spell that Sung-jun had created himself.

Since it was originally a spell that used an apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity’s corpse as a sacrifice, making practice impossible, Sung-jun had no choice but to activate it while adjusting in real-time without even being able to test whether his self-created spell would activate normally.

And he forcibly activated a spell that wouldn’t normally work while correcting numerous problems that occurred during the activation process in real-time.

‘If Teacher had seen this, she would have asked if I was in my right mind while hitting my head…’

Sung-jun knew.

If it were the Teacher he knew, she wouldn’t have stopped at simply hitting his head, but would have researched the spell’s activation formula together and fixed the problems in advance.

Thus, Sung-jun slowly closed his eyes in the center of the massive magic circle that no one could approach due to the danger of the instant death spell, recalling the memory of his Teacher who had died first.

***

“Teacher! Are you alright?”

When Sung-jun, who had barely regained consciousness after a day had passed, trudged out of the magic circle’s area of effect, Seoa, who had been watching Sung-jun with a worried expression, ran up and supported her Teacher’s body.

Then Sung-jun stroked Seoa’s head and forcibly infused his tired body with remaining strength.

“I’m just a little tired.”

“Really, I thought you were going to die first without even keeping your promise.”

Recalling that the ‘promise’ Shirasaki Miyu mentioned was to engrave new spells in the Grimoire, Sung-jun smiled bitterly and said to her.

“I’ll pass for today since I’m tired. Let’s postpone engraving new spells in the Grimoire until tomorrow.”

“That’s fine. I don’t want to make unreasonable demands of someone who was unconscious for half a day and barely crawled out.”

“If you’re alright, we’ll escort you with the vehicle we’ve prepared from now on. We’ve prepared the best accommodation possible in the current situation, so please move there and rest.”

Zhao Xin’s attitude toward Sung-jun seemed to have changed 180 degrees from before Sung-jun activated the magic circle, so Sung-jun felt puzzled by his sudden change in attitude.

“Your attitude seems to have changed.”

“I can’t be rude to a great mage who can change the rules of the world entirely.”

During the day Sung-jun was unconscious, Zhao Xin received battle reports coming up from all over China.

Reports about the battles between humans and Corrosion Entities that began to change as soon as Sung-jun’s magic activated and conventional weapons started taking effect.

Those reports were filled with an emotion called ‘hope,’ different from previous reports.

‘Certainly, if ordinary people who aren’t Awakened can also become fighting forces, the range of usable strategies would expand significantly.’

The strategy for dealing with Corrosion Entities before Sung-jun activated his large-scale magic was only one.

‘Using soldiers as meat shields and holding out unconditionally until Awakened forces arrive.’

Naturally, there are no soldiers who can muster courage against enemies that bullets don’t work on.

The same goes for soldiers who throw away their lives knowing they’ll be torn to shreds and die.

However, even though only one day had passed since Sung-jun activated his magic, humanity began raising the beacon of counterattack all over Earth.

[72nd Army Group engaged in Shanghai. Currently succeeded in city recapture, eliminating remaining Corrosion Entities.]

[73rd Army Group. Beginning recapture of Jiangxi Province front line together with Tianwu Guan warriors. Combat status favorable.]

What Sung-jun had gifted humanity wasn’t simple military force.

Hope that humanity could fight against invaders with their own strength, even without being Awakened, even without special powers.

It was a light like a beacon guiding humanity, who had only grown darker since D-day, to the path of survival.

Even though, except for the very few humans gathered here, no one knew that it was a beacon of hope created by an individual named Ma Sungjun at the risk of his life.

And that ‘individual,’ not content with lighting the beacon of hope alone, was trying to engage in yet another life-risking battle.

‘Japan… is it.’

Since most communication means that humanity had depended on were paralyzed immediately after D-day, even Zhao Xin, a high-ranking member of Tianwu Guan, knew nothing about other countries’ situations.

Due to the influence of massive marine-type Corrosion Entities that naval guns and torpedoes couldn’t penetrate, material transport via sea was also completely blocked.

Moreover, in a situation where even the air superiority that humanity had secured was taken away by flying-type Corrosion Entities flying through the air, sending Sung-jun to Japan was by no means an easy task.

‘But they’ll manage somehow. All we need to do on this end is prepare warships as requested.’

Grateful that he wasn’t part of that perilous journey, Zhao Xin turned his head toward the window.

There, a massive hotel that had come close enough to be visible, about one-third collapsed, was brightly lit and waiting for guests.

***

“The outside looked half-destroyed, but the inside is surprisingly intact?”

The guest room prepared by the Chinese Government was in better condition than expected.

Not only fresh fruits that were hard to find now, but even champagne in an ice bucket.

Seoa and Shirasaki Miyu couldn’t help but admire the accommodation that seemed to have turned back time to life before D-day.

“Outside, people kill each other over a single meal, but this place is a completely different world.”

Hyeon-jo, who apparently didn’t like champagne and had rummaged through the refrigerator to find strong liquor, said while pouring alcohol into a glass and drinking.

And Sung-jun, looking at his companions, assigned them the most important task they needed to do right now.

“The Chinese government probably won’t ask us to pay for the hotel, so rest as much as you can. We don’t know what the situation in Japan will be like, so it’s best to rest as much as possible while we can.”

Sung-jun, who had considerately let the two women wash first, dragged his tired body to sit at the table across from Hyeon-jo.

Then he accepted the drink Hyeon-jo offered him and quietly gazed out the window.

‘This is only the beginning… There’s still a long way to go.’

It was a surreal scene.

Looking out at the half-collapsed city through the glass window of a luxurious hotel room.

Hyeon-jo, who had been watching Sung-jun silently gaze out the window for a while, carefully opened his mouth.

“I am…”

“I have no intention of asking you to follow. What I asked of you, Mr. Hyeon-jo, was only to guide us along the way.”

“Will you be alright?”

“To be clear, among the Corrosion Entities, if we exclude abilities and consider only pure combat power, Yeojiggwi is the weakest. Nevertheless, to face Yeojiggwi who had lost its precognitive ability, I had to risk my life. In Japan, I’ll have to face much stronger enemies than that.”

“My level of power wouldn’t be of help then.”

“It would be the same no matter who came.”

“Then what are you planning to do? If the monsters in Japan are stronger than the ones here, it would be too much to handle alone, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes. Solo play like this time would be impossible. If I’m to face the Corrosion Entities in Japan, I’ll definitely need to seek cooperation from Japanese Awakened.”

“I don’t think they’ll just say ‘yes, of course’ and help when you ask for assistance.”

“That’s right. It will take some time. But that’s fine.”

With an expression as if he knew exactly how everything would unfold, Sung-jun said.

“That’s precisely why I needed to buy time.”

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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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