The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 47

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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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#047. Dungeon Entry (3)

“We’ve been attacking for two whole weeks and only reached the 40th floor, just how vast are these dungeons?”

Sung-jun, who had entered the dungeon raid with Seoa and Shirasaki Miyu, literally began a tremendously relentless forced march.

The typical raid method was to leave plenty of room for supplies considering the time needed to return and go back to the surface, but Sung-jun could replenish supplies from subspace like an inventory in a game, so he could continue raiding dungeons without having to return to town.

Moreover, Sung-jun’s party could install barrier spells to block monster approaches, so they continued their endless dungeon exploration while eating and sleeping in the dungeon.

Two weeks after starting the dungeon raid, Sung-jun was finally able to defeat the 40th floor boss in the Nagano Dungeon.

“For a deepest floor boss, it’s weaker than I thought.”

Sung-jun expressed his impression while looking at the fragments of the dungeon boss that had been shattered beyond recognition of its original form.

Then Shirasaki Miyu, who was standing behind him, looked at Sung-jun with an incredulous expression and said.

“Nobody except you would think that way.”

As she said, the 40th floor boss that Sung-jun described as weak had absolutely formidable combat power.

Defense so solid it could be considered immunity rather than just physical attack reduction.

Tremendous mobility that was hard to follow with the eyes.

Overwhelming attack power that sliced through 9th Circle defense spells like cutting tofu.

Regenerative ability that could instantly recover damaged parts centered on any remaining piece of the armor that made up its entire body.

The 40th floor boss of Nagano Dungeon, composed in the form of living armor, was an overwhelming powerhouse with combat ability that rivaled the apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity Yejigwi in terms of pure fighting power.

Watching Sung-jun describe as weak a powerhouse that could visually dodge Sung-jun’s 10th Circle spell ‘Void Spear’ shot at 15 times the speed of sound, Shirasaki Miyu shook her head.

‘Who would have thought he’d turn the entire dungeon floor into a magnet to seal its movement…’

Of course, that was a trick only possible because the opponent had a body made of metal, but she believed that even if a different boss had appeared, Ma Sungjun would have been able to defeat it without much difficulty.

Throughout their journey to the 40th floor, whenever enemies that were troublesome for her and Seoa to handle appeared, Ma Sungjun would always pull out new spells he’d never used before to easily bring down the enemies.

Some of those spells even seemed like they were created on the spot to deal with enemies that had troublesome gimmicks.

And Yeonse-a, who had only become Ma Sungjun’s disciple a few weeks ago, was absorbing her master’s spells like a sponge and making them her own.

“Being a mage is somehow unfair.”

“Why?”

“In games or novels, people who use magic at your level are usually mages who have trained in magic for an incredibly long time. But you seem to use magic too easily.”

“Easily… Well, it’s not unreasonable to see it that way. But if you want to argue about that, aren’t you the one using magic more easily? Once you decide what magic to use, the Grimoire does everything else for you.”

“But the Grimoire has limits on the number of spells that can be cast simultaneously and the circles I can use. I can’t spam 10th Circle composite casting spells like you.”

“Well, if you want, you could learn magic too. Magic is a discipline of understanding. If you simply know how to use it, magic is something you can learn quickly.”

Saying that, Sung-jun waved his hand to float a magic circle for the most basic magic spell ‘Light’ in the air.

It wasn’t a spell created to formally activate magic, but a kind of illusion made so that viewers could easily understand the flow of mana visually.

“What’s important in magic is understanding, memory, speed, and intensity. Originally, all processes end in an instant so it looks like it activates in a moment, but during that brief time, this kind of thing happens inside the magic circle.”

When Sung-jun waved his hand again, white light streams began moving along the lines of the faint magic circle.

Like a drawing being drawn along a faint sketch, the lines Sung-jun drew changed sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes thick, sometimes thin, slowly completing a complex magical formula.

“So to use magic, you have to implement this incredibly fast? Not just the simple shape, but controlling the speed and intensity too?”

“No, normally you don’t do it that way. Originally, you keep carving what are called basic forms of magic circles into your body until mana circuits are formed. Those basic forms become the base of your circles. The moment you inject mana into the desired part, the desired magic of that circle activates.”

Sung-jun also explained the principle of multiple casting.

Basically, the basic magic circle of 2nd Circle magic contains two 1st Circle spell magic circles, and the basic magic circle of 3rd Circle magic contains two 2nd Circle spell magic circles.

“So a mage who can use 3rd Circle spells can simultaneously cast two 2nd Circle spells, or one 2nd Circle spell and two 1st Circle spells, or up to four 1st Circle spells.”

“If it doubles with each circle, does that mean a mage who can use 10th Circle spells can use 512 1st Circle spells?”

“Theoretically yes, but it doesn’t actually work that way. Just because a game console has 512 buttons doesn’t mean you can press all those buttons at once.”

When Shirasaki Miyu nodded as if she understood, Sung-jun continued his explanation.

“It’s a bit difficult to express precisely, but to explain it simply, circle construction is like a kind of city planning simulation concept. Each building has a function and all the buildings are organically connected, and usually you subtly adjust the building placement according to the city plan. Like focusing on developing commercial districts or gathering entertainment facilities to create entertainment areas. Building magic circuits specialized for specific purposes in that way becomes a school.”

“But for someone like that, you use any spell regardless of school classification.”

“My magic circuits are a bit special.”

Because the mana was too sparse to construct proper magic circuits, Sung-jun had learned magic not by constructing proper magic circuits, but by carving only sketches of the numerous magic circles his master knew into his circles.

“If I had to explain it, my magic circuits are made in a form where the functions of an entire city are compressed into a single building.”

“What about Seoa?”

Looking at Seoa who always drew magic circles in the air as if entranced whenever there was break time, Sung-jun said.

“She’s the type who builds buildings one by one from the foundation whenever needed. She’s so fast at it that it looks like the buildings were there from the beginning.”

Repeating hunting, rest, and conversation like this, Sung-jun’s party finally reached the 50th floor, the lowest level of the dungeon they had targeted.

And Sung-jun, after instantly defeating the 50th floor boss as he had done so far, stopped in front of a stone sculpture the size of a young child with a crystal orb placed on top.

“It’s a teleportation magic circle. If you use it, you’ll probably return to the 1st floor.”

“Is that thing in the back a clear reward? There’s something that looks like a treasure chest.”

Sung-jun, facing the chest, cast a simple trap detection spell and then fell into thought for a moment.

Then he spoke to Shirasaki Miyu behind him.

“Shirasaki. Would it be okay to have Seoa open the chest?”

“I don’t mind, but I’d like to know the reason.”

“If the item that comes out is bound to the person who opened the chest, I think it would be better for the weakest person in the party to receive it.”

“If that’s the reason, then fine.”

With her consent, Sung-jun called Seoa and instructed her to open the chest.

And a moment later, Seoa, who had opened the chest with a tense expression, spoke to Sung-jun with a bewildered look.

“This is…”

“A pot?”

The deepest part of Nagano Dungeon that no one had been able to clear.

The treasure found in the treasure chest at that deepest place was a crudely shaped hot pot that looked absurdly ordinary.

***

“Let’s try again.”

“What should we make this time?”

“How about army stew? It’s also a food I haven’t eaten once since D-day.”

“That sounds good.”

Hearing Sung-jun’s words, Seoa concentrated on the pot in her hands.

Then, as if rising from the bottom, bubbling army stew began filling the empty pot.

Various hams generously included, baked beans, fragrant yellow cheese, and ramen noodles cooked just right.

Having completed their 8th test like this, Sung-jun’s party was able to record the following experimental results about the pot obtained from the deepest part of Nagano Dungeon.

1. If you concentrate on the empty pot and think of food you want to eat, the desired food is generated inside the pot.

2. The types of food that appear are limited to stews, soups, and hot pot dishes with broth.

3. The pot is not a bound item and can be used by others.

4. Cannot summon food that the summoner doesn’t know.

5. Can be used 3 times per person per day, with the reuse cooldown resetting at midnight.

To obtain these experimental results, Sung-jun deliberately didn’t leave the dungeon even after clearing it and repeated experiments.

On the third day after starting the experiments, Sung-jun finally decided to clear Nagano Dungeon and go outside.

“We had 1 usage left for today, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s do the final test outside the dungeon. We need to find out if this pot works outside the dungeon too.”

Saying that, Sung-jun placed his hand on the crystal orb first to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances.

Then, with blinding light, Sung-jun’s body disappeared and a familiar scenery spread before his eyes.

The scenery of the dungeon entrance he had seen about two weeks ago, before first entering Nagano Dungeon.

And a moment later, Seoa and Shirasaki Miyu, who had used the teleportation stone following Sung-jun, appeared near Sung-jun.

‘Good thing I cast the recognition inhibition magic first.’

To prevent people’s attention from being drawn, Sung-jun had deliberately cast recognition inhibition spells on his party members before coming out of the dungeon.

In a world where it was common sense to ‘walk’ into dungeons and walk out, if people suddenly appeared as if teleporting, it could have drawn tremendous attention.

However, thanks to the recognition inhibition magic Sung-jun had cast, Sung-jun’s party didn’t draw any particular attention despite appearing with light in the bustling dungeon entrance.

“Interesting. Nobody here would think we cleared the deepest part of Nagano Dungeon, right?”

Looking at Shirasaki Miyu, who was looking around at the people with an intrigued expression, Sung-jun nodded and said.

“Let’s go to the hotel first and discuss our next plan. We also need to test whether the pot works outside the dungeon.”

The party that moved to the hotel like this immediately began testing the pot Seoa had obtained, and were able to get experimental results showing it worked normally outside the dungeon too.

“This is… incredible…”

Shirasaki Miyu said while turning the pot in her hands this way and that.

She thought about how much value it might have if this item could be put up for auction – it would be hard to even imagine.

Then Seoa, who heard her story, asked.

“Of course, being able to eat pre-D-day food to your heart’s content would be wonderful, but I don’t think it has tremendous value, does it? Right now, everyone prioritizes survival above all else. I would have preferred if we got defensive gear or weapons I could use instead.”

Of course, Seoa wasn’t unaware of the value this pot possessed.

However, she wanted an item that could help her get even a little closer to her master’s strength, rather than an item that would let her eat delicious food to her fill.

Sung-jun, noticing her inner thoughts, spoke to her.

“No, this is a good item. Considering the structure of the Dungeon we’ve identified, one of the biggest difficulties the Awakened in Japan are facing right now would be supply issues.”

Sung-jun cited supply issues as one of the biggest obstacles to Dungeon conquest because the area of the Dungeon they had cleared was literally enormous.

Despite their grueling schedule where they devoted almost all their time to conquest except for 6 hours of sleep per day, it took over two weeks to defeat the final Boss on the 50th floor.

Of course, Sung-jun’s party didn’t have to conquer the Dungeon while starving thanks to Sung-jun’s Subspace spell, but that didn’t mean they could clear it comfortably by any means.

Meals, sleep, baths, rest, and entertainment.

Naturally, Dungeon conquest, which requires continuously facing life-threatening battles, places tremendous psychological and physical stress on challengers.

And such accumulated stress could become a fatal weakness that might take one’s life in an instant if not careful.

‘Moreover, the Nagano Dungeon wasn’t considered a particularly large-scale Dungeon within Japan. If the Dungeons in Tokyo or Osaka are larger than the Nagano Dungeon, supplies could become a huge problem. And…’

Sung-jun silently stared at the pot placed on the table.

Then he spoke to Shirasaki Miyu and Seoa.

“This confirms it. The key I’m looking for is in the hands of the Corrosion Entity that has appeared in Japan.”

The ordinary-looking pot that Sung-jun’s group obtained from the deepest part of the Nagano Dungeon.

It was one of the magical artifacts created by the ‘Previous Demon Lord’, containing dozens of incredibly complex and sophisticated magic circles hidden within it.

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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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