The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 55

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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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#055

 

The Goddess’s Guidance clan, having defeated the bosses of the 53rd, 54th, and 55th floors and discovered the portal leading to Layer 56, decided to return to the surface despite having remaining strength.

 

Normally, they would leave the remaining supplies on the 55th floor to establish a base camp and leave minimal personnel to guard the camp, but clan master Shindo Ayaka said she would abandon all remaining supplies and return to the surface.

 

After all, the remaining supplies were nothing but preserved food scraps, and if they could install a base camp in the form of prefabricated buildings in the next raid, the tents brought for camp installation could be left behind without concern.

 

Her judgment was that there was no need to deliberately leave supplies here and select people to guard them, making them suffer.

 

Having decided to return to the surface, she stopped by the camp on the way back and asked Sung-jun to transfer all the supplies gathered from the harvest sites.

 

“From now on, we will mobilize all abilities our clan possesses to procure supplies for the next raid. Every single member without exception must participate in supply procurement. And please contact our subsidiary clans to request they obtain the supplies we need.”

 

Shindo Ayaka, who returned to the surface with Sung-jun’s group, gave Sung-jun the best room at the clan headquarters.

 

Along with a request that he not make contact with any outsiders without her orders.

 

And Sung-jun readily accepted her request, which might have been considered rude.

 

“That’s unexpected. I thought Teacher would refuse.”

 

“If only the Goddess’s Guidance clan had participated in this raid, I would have refused Shindo-san’s request too. But the raid clan of Osaka Dungeon has already confirmed my abilities. Moreover, numerous Awakened and civilians who participated in the raid witnessed me carrying supplies with their own eyes. That means rumors about us will spread whether we stay quiet or not.”

 

“Is that a good thing?”

 

“I think it’s positive. From participating in this raid, I found there’s quite a big difference between the dungeon conquest I had in mind and actual dungeon conquest.”

 

“What kind of difference?”

 

“What did you feel while participating in this raid?”

 

“Hmm…”

 

Seoa pondered for a moment.

 

To understand what intention lay behind her teacher’s question.

 

After thinking briefly, she seemed to reach her own conclusion and spoke to Sung-jun with sparkling eyes.

 

“At first, I thought it felt like a game. Going into dungeons to farm items with magical abilities, then using those enhanced abilities to face stronger monsters—like an RPG.”

 

“And later?”

 

“Hmm… More like a simulation than an RPG? It felt strongly oriented toward management—managing supply materials and the raid team’s stress.”

 

“You saw it accurately. As you witnessed, 700 people was excessively many for defeating the bosses we encountered on the 53rd, 54th, and 55th floors. Even considering 200 of them were backup personnel who would only join combat in emergencies, even 500 felt like too many given how weak the floor bosses were.”

 

“I think so too. Though part of that was because the Awakened who participated in the raid were strong.”

 

“Right. But the Goddess’s Guidance clan challenged floor conquest with 500 people as if it were completely natural. What do you think the reason was? Even though more people means more supply materials needed, and more supplies means more personnel needed to carry the load.”

 

“To minimize casualties as much as possible?”

 

“Correct. In this case, we bathed and reorganized on the 53rd floor, so everyone could maintain good condition while challenging the next floor conquest, but normally it wouldn’t be like that. The longer the conquest takes, the more materials are consumed. Plus the amount of waste that needs to be carried back out of the dungeon increases. Resting one more day means installing one more day’s worth of toilets. Ultimately, it becomes a structure where forced marches are inevitable the deeper you go.”

 

“So they operate large-scale expeditions to cover that.”

 

“That’s how it’s been until now.”

 

Since there was no guarantee Sung-jun himself would participate in the raid after next, Shindo Ayaka would try to bring the maximum possible supplies to the already scheduled next raid.

 

“She’ll probably try to bring supplies equivalent to at least one decent U.S. military base. If it’s possible to establish a proper camp inside the dungeon, conquest of deeper layers would be possible with fewer personnel than now. Ultimately, what the Goddess’s Guidance clan wants is to stockpile large quantities of materials at the 11th camp on the 55th floor, which will be the final camp in the next raid. If they can do that, they could move materials and install the next camp on the 60th floor in the raid after next, even if I’m not there.”

 

“Just hearing about it, I can’t imagine the amount of cargo that needs to be moved. Won’t Teacher be working too hard?”

 

Seoa spoke with a seemingly worried expression.

 

Then Sung-jun smiled and said,

 

“It’s fine. The plan the Goddess’s Guidance clan is trying to execute now aligns with my plan too.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Shirasaki Miyu, who had been lying on the bed playing games on a portable console, showed interest and spoke.

 

“Probably the purpose of the Corrosion Entity that appeared in Japan is to slowly drain the entire population to death while toying with the Japanese Awakened in the palm of its hand. That strategy is actually working quite well. Japan is an island nation not connected to the continent.

 

With maritime transport routes blocked and food supply cut off through black rain, the choices given to the Japanese become very narrow. Either gather all their strength while stockpiled supplies remain and clear the dungeon boss in the deepest part of large dungeons that might be the cause of the black rain…”

 

“Or slowly conquer the lower layers where they can at least obtain food, going down stably?”

 

“Right. But from Japan’s perspective, they can’t easily decide on a breakthrough strategy. When there’s food spread before their eyes that can be taken to the surface, the choice to ignore that and consume their existing food while endlessly going underground isn’t something they can easily make.”

 

“You’re saying the enemy deliberately set up the situation that way because they know this?”

 

“I think so. They’re deliberately tempting them. ‘Look, this layer is full of treasures that will make you stronger and food that can save the people on the surface. Wouldn’t it be better to get those and become stronger before going down, rather than thinking about going below?'”

 

“That’s the RPG-like feeling I mentioned?”

 

“Exactly. But as they go deeper, people start to realize, ‘Ah, something seems wrong about this.’ By the time they realize that, all the supplies stockpiled on the surface have already been consumed.”

 

It might have been better if they couldn’t obtain food from the dungeon at all.

 

The supplies the Japanese government stockpiled to prepare for disaster situations that might occur after the Pioneers came to Earth weren’t a small amount either.

 

However, upon learning that food procurement capable of saving humanity was possible in the dungeon, the Japanese government had no choice but to prioritize securing harvest sites existing on each layer instead of rapidly breaking through layers.

 

It was human nature to choose extending survival time even a little, rather than gambling where everything could be lost.

 

Having passed more than six months this way, the disaster supplies the Japanese government had stockpiled for emergency situations were beginning to run low.

 

“The situation might have been better if Corrosion Entities had appeared on the surface like in China, causing large-scale massacres. At least they wouldn’t need to consume supplies indefinitely to feed an entire population of over 100 million. Strictly speaking, the Corrosion Entity that appeared in Japan presented the Japanese people with a kind of numbers game.”

 

If the amount of food consumed per day was assumed to be 100, the amount of food Japanese people could currently procure from the dungeon was only about 40.

 

Of course, the daily amount of food they could procure increased slightly each time they secured harvest sites on deeper layers, but it was still woefully insufficient compared to consumption.

 

Naturally, the shortfall had to rely on disaster supplies the Japanese government stockpiled before D-day, and even those were now reaching their limit.

 

“Shindo-san probably knew that fact. If they don’t make their move now while stockpiled supplies remain, nothing will be left but a future of slowly dying.”

 

“Hearing the explanation, I roughly understand the situation. But what does that have to do with expanding the base camp?”

 

“It’s related. Seoa said it earlier, right? The lower layers of the dungeon feel like an RPG, while the deeper layers feel like a management game. The reason it has to be that way is because supply becomes more important than farming the deeper you go. Simply put, it’s an incredibly vast hunting ground with no strongholds.”

 

“Then if you could create a place that could serve as a stronghold in the deeper layers…”

 

“Awakened who want RPG-style play could operate centered around the deeper layers.”

 

***

 

Shindo Ayaka scheduled the next raid, which Sung-jun had promised to participate in, for 10 days later.

 

And during those 10 days, Shindo Ayaka literally mobilized every means the clan could use to scrape together supplies needed for the next raid.

 

Not only preparing preserved food needed on the way to the 55th floor, the planned construction site for the 11th camp, but also prefabricated construction materials to install at each layer’s base camp and large warehouses planned for complete transfer.

 

Bedding that could accommodate nearly 1,000 people simultaneously.

 

Repair equipment that could fix broken gear inside the dungeon without coming up to the surface.

 

Large warehouses that could stably store materials produced at harvest sites.

 

Large tents with adjustable numbers to match personnel so those who couldn’t be accommodated in the headquarters building could rest safely.

 

Defense equipment that could intercept Corrosion Entities approaching camps or harvest sites without Awakened intervention…

 

Looking at the mountain of supplies piled up to an extent that made him wonder how they had scraped together this much in just 10 days, Sung-jun looked at Shindo Ayaka with an incredulous expression.

 

“It’s, it’s a bit much, isn’t it?”

 

“It is quite a lot to move in exchange for two items.”

 

He didn’t particularly intend to blame her.

 

After all, installing the base camp aligned with Sung-jun’s purposes too.

 

Rather, Sung-jun was satisfied with the vast amount of supplies Shindo Ayaka had secured, since moving them once meant he wouldn’t need to move additional supplies for a while.

 

“By the way, trucks…”

 

The reason they used human power and carts instead of vehicles to transport supplies inside the dungeon was simple.

 

In a dungeon space implemented as caves rather than spaces connected to the outside, using trucks that burned fossil fuels was tantamount to a shortcut to suffocation.

 

Of course, there was the option of using electric trucks that didn’t produce exhaust, but electric trucks couldn’t be used either due to the difficulty of solving the crucial charging problem.

 

It was impossible to run gasoline-powered generators inside dungeons that prohibited even cooking with fire due to exhaust problems.

 

When Shindo Ayaka came to consult with Sung-jun about that problem, Sung-jun explained magic circles that generated electricity using magic stones.

 

He also confirmed that the electricity generated could be connected to transformers to charge electric vehicles.

 

Seeing this, Shindo Ayaka immediately procured 200 one-ton electric trucks.

 

Three per layer from the 1st to 50th floors.

 

The remaining 50 were to be kept at base camps as reserve supplies.

 

“Of course, operating that way would require deploying security teams to guard trucks even on floors without base camps, but it’ll be fine. Even if they’re not official strongholds where people can stay overnight, we can separately install logistics hubs for collecting and moving supplies upward.”

 

“And I’ll move the materials for installing those hubs too? Aren’t you trying to squeeze too much benefit at once?”

 

“If Sung-jun-san had officially joined our clan, I wouldn’t have gone this far. But…”

 

Sung-jun didn’t answer.

 

As she was thinking, Sung-jun planned to enter the large dungeon in Osaka immediately after finishing this raid.

 

Probably by now, Black Spear, the raid clan of Osaka Dungeon, was also scraping together supplies in amounts exceeding what was gathered here.

 

‘I might really have to just carry cargo for a while.’

 

With a bitter smile on his lips, Sung-jun stretched both hands forward.

 

Then a massive magic circle was summoned beneath the enormous amount of supplies piled to the height of a three-story building.

 

And at that moment, with blinding light, the vast amount of supplies that tens of thousands of people couldn’t possibly move disappeared in an instant.

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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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