The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 5

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

#005. D-day

“Huff… Huff!! Kheuk!!”

Perhaps due to the backlash from forcibly casting consecutive short-range teleports, the back of his head began to throb with pain, so Sung-jun stopped moving for a moment and looked ahead.

There, something so massive it could be seen from afar was destroying Seoul City while emitting lightning-like beams of light from its entire body.

Balance breaker.

That existence, which seemed best described by a term that would only be used in games, was emanating a sense of intimidation on a completely different level from the large monster Sung-jun had defeated at Lotte World just moments ago.

An existence that made one lose all fighting spirit the moment they looked at it, making them feel like a shrimp before a whale.

An existence that made one feel they would surely meet their death just by approaching it, let alone fighting it.

While looking at such an overwhelming being, his reason was screaming madly that he should immediately distance himself from that ‘death’, yet despite this, Sung-jun was running at full speed toward that terrible monster.

An existence that could not be exchanged for anything else in the world.

Because the precious home he shared with his Teacher, who had taught him magic and was at least to Sung-jun the greatest person in the world, was right in the middle of the area where that monster was floating.

‘Damn it! Why does it have to appear right at our house!’

Of course, among the magic he had learned ‘theoretically’ from his Teacher, there was also long-range teleportation magic that could instantly transport him to any desired location regardless of distance.

However, the problem was that to use that spell, he first needed to use magic to leave a kind of marker at the desired ‘coordinates’.

Naturally, Sung-jun, who had only just begun using magic for the first time, had no way to install markers in advance.

Thanks to this, instead of instantly moving to his Teacher’s side, Sung-jun was traveling home using medium-range teleportation that required him to calculate movement coordinates in his head one by one.

‘Please be safe…’

Of course, the best outcome would be for his Teacher to regain the ability to use magic, just as Sung-jun had suddenly become able to use magic.

With the strength of his Teacher that Sung-jun knew, even the giant erosion entity he had defeated could be easily crushed with just a finger.

However, the size of the giant erosion entity visible in the distance was emitting such powerful intimidation that it shattered such expectations.

‘Even Teacher might have trouble with that thing.’

Of course, he wasn’t doubting his sky-like Teacher’s strength at all.

It was just that the enemy visible in the distance was far beyond the category of ‘strength’ that Sung-jun had imagined.

Sung-jun thought that in the worst case, he would have to retrieve at least his Teacher’s body and escape, and waved his finger once more.

And at that moment.

[Don’t come and stay away.]

When a young woman’s voice he had never heard before echoed in his ears, Sung-jun stopped his moving finger in confusion.

Then the woman’s voice that had sounded like a hallucination began to be heard once more.

[You’re coming quite quickly. Damn brat.]

“Tea… Teacher!?”

[You’re speaking out loud right now, aren’t you? Speaking with your mouth won’t be heard from that distance, so communicate using magic.]

“How do I…”

Sung-jun, who was about to answer with his mouth again, unconsciously covered his mouth with his hand.

Then he used the consciousness transmission spell he had learned from his Teacher to respond.

[Can you see what I’m doing by any chance?]

[How could I see? I just said it because your answer was late, so I figured it was obvious even without looking.]

[…You knew that I had become able to use magic?]

[Since I became able to use it, I guessed that you would be the same.]

Suddenly, dozens of magic circles were summoned above the head of the giant monster visible in the distance.

They were dozens of magic circles so massive that the magic circle Sung-jun had summoned seemed like child’s play, containing unimaginable power.

And those magic circles began mercilessly pummeling the monster’s body like giant beams of light before the monster could even react.

Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!!!

“Krwoooooooooooo!!!”

Only then did Sung-jun realize he had misunderstood the reason his Teacher had told him not to come close.

What his Teacher had said was dangerous was not because of that monster, but because of his Teacher herself.

Watching the battle between two beings whose concept of ‘strength’ was on a different dimension begin in earnest, Sung-jun could only clench his fists from afar, unable to say anything.

***

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

The sky splits and buildings fly up.

Every time the mountain-like massive being twisted its body, buildings made of steel and concrete burst apart like Lego blocks, and every time his Teacher’s slender hand was waved, indescribable miraculous spells poured forth.

And Sung-jun was watching his Teacher fight as if enchanted, like a young child visiting an amusement park for the first time.

‘Eye of Melkades.’

The spell his Teacher cast was magic that used the gaze of a giant one-eyed monster in the otherworldly dimension to temporarily paralyze an opponent.

At least, that’s what the explanation written in the magic book Sung-jun had seen said.

However, the magic his Teacher cast was showing power on a completely different dimension from the magic Sung-jun had seen in the magic book.

Kwaddddddeuk! Kwajik! Kwajik!

Seeing parts of its body rapidly hardening like stone, the serpent-shaped monster let out a massive roar as if enraged.

Then it turned its head and bit off the petrified parts entirely, spitting them out.

[Teacher! What was that spell just now?]

[It’s the Eye of Melkades. It should be a spell you know too?]

[Me? The spell I knew was one that briefly paralyzes the opponent!]

[The spell written in magic books is used by making a contract with the Descendants of Melkades, but if you contract with Melkades himself, petrification is possible, not just paralysis.]

His Teacher then began explaining each spell she used as if she were conducting a magic lesson.

How to twist spells to achieve greater power, which spells were most effective against specific attacks from opponents.

The Teacher’s lesson that began this way was filled with content so complex and difficult that even he, whom his Teacher had evaluated as possibly being ‘a genius beyond herself when limited to theory’, could barely follow.

[All contract spells can make contracts with the ‘Origin’ that serves as the source of that contract. Of course, even an archmage who has trained in magic their entire life can at most contract with one or two Origins, but there’s one loophole to that.]

[A loophole?]

[A disciple inheriting the Origins that the master contracted with.]

His Teacher’s voice echoed in his ears.

[I, who was the greatest archmage, became a powerless old woman on this planet called Earth, unable to use magic, let alone having proper knowledge to live. No one believed my words, and even those who did believe wouldn’t try to learn magic that couldn’t even light a lighter flame. Except for one person.]

[…Are you talking about me?]

[Yes. You listened to my words that no one believed with sparkling eyes as if they were the truth of the universe, and practiced casting motions that were no different from ridiculous dance moves with the most serious gaze in the world. In this world without magic, as if magic truly existed.]

His Teacher’s message had somehow changed from explanations about spells to bragging about her only disciple.

The disciple who was the only one in the world to believe in and follow her, even when she could be treated as a crazy old woman.

The disciple who would urge for the next part of the story as if watching the most interesting movie in the world when hearing her heroic tales that were hard to imagine as human achievements.

The disciple who, at a blooming age with many things to buy and do, would even save money for herself to buy nice clothes for Teacher to wear.

And the disciple who, in a world where not even a speck of mana flow could be felt, had surprised her countless times with understanding based solely on theory.

Even to Minastrias, who had commanded thousands of mages who called her Teacher in the other world, Sung-jun’s existence was bound to be special.

Even if she had met Sung-jun in the other world rather than on Earth, she was confident that Sung-jun would definitely become a beloved disciple to whom she would want to pass on all her legacy.

And the current Teacher wanted to fully display her magnificent self to the disciple who had never once doubted her.

‘Engrave this in your eyes, my disciple. I’ll show you what the essence of magic is from now on.’

The figure of Minastrias steeling her resolve was not the familiar old grandmother that Sung-jun knew.

There stood a young archmage boasting dazzling beauty, as if time had been reversed.

Just like the mythical version of herself she had told Sung-jun about countless times, the figure of his Teacher who had returned to her youth using the power of magic.

She raised her long, smooth finger and pointed it toward the apartment where she lived.

“Come, partner!”

Then the window of the apartment where Sung-jun lived with his Teacher shattered, and a wooden staff with a large gem flew toward Minastrias’s hand.

‘A mage’s staff is itself like a magic tower filled with magic circles.’

Recalling his Teacher’s teachings, Sung-jun looked toward where his Teacher was with a tense expression.

If the battle so far had been a clash of power that transcended common sense, the upcoming battle would be a clash of gods far beyond what humans could imagine.

And the opponent was a monster of such massive size that it seemed like at least a meteor summoning spell would be needed to barely face it.

“#^@#^$^$&#$%#%#&@&”

With an incantation in pronunciation that seemed difficult to translate into human language, the rod Minastrias was holding emitted light.

Then the serpent-shaped monster, sensing an ominous atmosphere, swung its tail toward where Minastrias was at lightning speed.

But she simply blocked the enemy’s attack using a defensive spell cast with the hand not holding the staff.

‘Simply? That’s not right.’

An ultra-high-level defensive spell that a mediocre mage would need to cast for over three days to summon just one.

His Teacher was simultaneously casting ten of these large-scale spells used to block siege magic pouring toward major cities with one hand.

And that meant the spell being charged with the hand holding the staff was a high-level spell with difficulty dozens of times greater than the defensive magic just cast.

‘What kind of spell could it be…’

Even as Sung-jun was thinking, the monster continued attacking Teacher with all manner of offensive spells, physical assaults, and various curses, but Minastrias skillfully cast spells while sometimes evading and sometimes dispelling all those spells with just one hand.

And finally, when the spell using her staff was completed, Sung-jun had no choice but to witness a sight he could hardly believe.

‘I can’t… interpret the spell?’

That was precisely Sung-jun’s greatest talent that Teacher had praised so highly.

Regardless of the level of magic Sung-jun could use or his understanding of spells, he had the ability to interpret the structure and principles of any spell that used magic just by observing it.

Even with that ability—which Teacher had said could have allowed him to rule an empire by that talent alone if Sung-jun had been born in the Other World where magic existed—he couldn’t interpret even the smallest fragment of the spell Teacher had cast.

It was itself one massive paradox and a lump of incomprehensibility that rejected human interpretation.

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