The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 62

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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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#062

 

Basically, layer bosses that appeared in dungeons existed on every layer.

 

And generally, there was a difference where powerful bosses appeared every 5 layers in large dungeons, while in regular dungeons, powerful bosses appeared every 10 layers.

 

The deeper the layer, the stronger the boss became proportionally, and due to compatibility issues between the attack team’s characteristics and the boss’s traits, the actual combat difficulty would fluctuate up and down with each layer.

 

However, there was a common pattern regardless of the dungeon – bosses on each layer were arranged in tutorial-like formations every 5 layers.

 

For example, if a powerful boss monster placed on the 55th Floor had patterns like flame breath, tail swipe, bite, charge, and minion summoning, then the 51st Layer boss would use flame breath, the 52nd Layer boss would use flame breath and tail swipe, the 53rd Layer boss would simultaneously use flame breath, tail swipe, and bite, and so on.

 

This way, by the time you entered the 55th Floor, you would be familiar with most of the patterns used by boss monsters from the 51st Layer to the 54th Layer.

 

The problem was that the weakest first boss among the 5 bosses grouped together could ironically be the most dangerous boss due to having no information available.

 

Of course, attack teams also carried out extensive preliminary work to reduce risk.

 

They would analyze the boss’s appearance to predict attack patterns, deploy more defensive forces in preparation for emergencies, and drag out time to collect as much data as possible.

 

Nevertheless, it was widely known common sense among attack teams that the first boss of a group was the most dangerous.

 

And Sung-jun’s proposal was to solo that very first boss of the group.

 

Naturally, Sung-jun’s proposal to solo a layer boss that required at least 200 attack team members to barely handle immediately met with opposition.

 

It wasn’t opposition out of concern for Sung-jun’s safety, but opposition born from worry about the massive supply materials stored in Sung-jun’s subspace.

 

“Are you out of your mind right now? A boss monster with no data available, and a layer boss that requires over 200 people charging at it to barely hunt – you want to solo that? If you die, won’t all our supplies stored in your subspace be lost?”

 

“I can take everything out in an appropriate space before going to fight.”

 

“Even if food and consumables can be solved that way, the facilities and buildings needed for base camp installation can’t be moved by manpower!”

 

As opinions remained far apart, Sung-jun’s brow furrowed.

 

“Then why don’t you step up and fight directly to reach the target 80th Layer?”

 

“The goal of defeating 20 bosses at once is an absurd goal to begin with!”

 

Hearing the words of Morishita Gengo, the attack team commander, Sung-jun stood up from his seat.

 

Then he spoke toward Kurosaki Ryusei, the clan leader and raid supervisor.

 

“Whether that guy agrees or not, I’ll do as I please. I’m not even a clan member anyway, so there’s no reason I have to follow orders.”

 

“Are you really planning to charge in alone?”

 

Instead of answering, Sung-jun really did fly toward the boss alone.

 

Under the shocked gazes of the Kuro no Yari Clan members who couldn’t form battle formation due to the ongoing meeting.

 

Eight magic circles were simultaneously summoned around Sung-jun’s body as he flew alone before the boss.

 

‘If I show a struggling appearance here, they’ll interfere on the lower floors too. I’ll settle this with a quick battle here.’

 

Through previous raids he had participated in, Sung-jun had grasped the characteristics of dungeon bosses to some extent.

 

First was that dungeon bosses’ attack power wasn’t as strong as expected.

 

Basically, to face a dungeon boss, at least 200 or more people had to be deployed.

 

This was because they had the characteristic of ridiculously high health, requiring over 200 Awakened fighting at full power to barely bring them down.

 

But that didn’t mean dungeon bosses had attack power 200 times stronger than regular Corrosion Entities.

 

If they had attack power like Yejigwi, the Corrosion Entity that appeared in China, capable of slicing through space with a sword, then every time it swung its blade, the Awakened responsible for tanking would have to give up their lives.

 

Therefore, layer bosses only had attack power that ‘well-trained tankers could withstand.’

 

Or they would attack at a level that could be sufficiently handled through evasion even if tanking was impossible.

 

In any case, for Sung-jun, dealing with monsters that had appropriately distributed attack and defense power as if balancing a game wasn’t particularly difficult.

 

From the start, Sung-jun’s defense and attack power were strong enough to defeat Yejigwi, a Corrosion Entity, in a 1-on-1 fight.

 

Sung-jun planned to use this opportunity to appeal his ‘combat ability’ rather than his ‘transport ability’ to the Japanese Awakened.

 

“Haaaaat!!!!!!”

 

Along with Sung-jun’s battle cry, fiercely rotating metal pillars were fired from the eight magic circles he summoned.

 

Sung-jun’s original magic that fired metal pillars like railguns through dimensional gates after accelerating them to hypersonic speeds in subspace without air resistance.

 

As eight metal pillars with five elements – hardness, mass, heat resistance, speed, and rotation – enhanced to the extreme were simultaneously shot toward the enemy, eight massive holes were created in the body of the dungeon boss, which was the size of a small building.

 

And simultaneously, the eight metal pillars that showed no decrease in speed despite tearing the giant boss’s body to shreds collided with the incredibly hard dungeon floor, creating a tremendous roar.

 

-KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWABANG!!!!-

 

The roar that echoed later than the impact due to projectile speed exceeding the speed of sound by several times struck the eardrums of the attack team watching Sung-jun’s fight.

 

And shortly after, the 61st Floor boss monster, whose body had become full of holes before realizing it was under attack, began screaming in agony.

 

“Kwaaaaaaaaaaak!!!!!”

 

Intense vibrations spread in all directions with enough force to make the entire dungeon seem to shake, and stone fragments poured down like hail from the ceiling of the massive cave.

 

And simultaneously, massive bone spikes burst out through the tough skin from all over the giant monster’s body.

 

-Kwadeuk! Kwadeuk! Kwadeudeuk!-

 

Whether the spikes were for defense or attack, the sight of bone spikes covering the entire body of the giant boss the size of a small building had a threatening appearance that overwhelmed viewers.

 

“Damn, bone spikes? Fall back! That pattern isn’t something to face carelessly!”

 

Morishita Gengo, who was watching the fight from behind, shouted toward Sung-jun.

 

Bone spikes, one of the characteristics some dungeon bosses possessed, was evaluated as one of the worst skills for attack teams participating in raids.

 

The biggest reason the bone spike ability was troublesome was due to the durability of those bones.

 

They possessed hardness that wouldn’t easily break even when struck with great swords enhanced by awakening abilities, while also having sharpness that could instantly separate Awakened who approached to attack into upper and lower halves.

 

To attack an opponent covered in bone spikes like a porcupine, it was necessary to first break those incredibly hard bone spikes.

 

And that had to be done using only ranged dealers to avoid damage to melee dealers.

 

However, Sung-jun’s expression remained relaxed as he heard Morishita Gengo’s panicked screaming.

 

‘Good. With that kind of pattern, I can definitely show a clearer difference in class.’

 

In fact, the boss before his eyes still being alive was entirely according to Sung-jun’s intention.

 

Given the characteristics of the Void Spear fired at hypersonic speeds, it wouldn’t have been impossible to kill it in one blow by destroying the head and heart from the start, but that kind of fight couldn’t show 100% of his abilities.

 

Sung-jun looked at the layer boss covered in bone spikes charging toward him while screaming, and waved both hands frantically left and right.

 

‘I’ll beat it down and defeat it.’

 

Behind floating Sung-jun, eight giant arms made of translucent mana were summoned.

 

Arms that looked literally like a giant’s arms, with each fist three times larger than Sung-jun’s height.

 

Having summoned giant fists matching the size of the giant monster charging toward him, Sung-jun began literally ‘beating down’ the monster covered in bone spikes.

 

-Thwack! Thwackthwack!! Thwackthwackthwack!!! Thwack! Thwack!-

 

-Kwadeuk! Ujijik! Kwadeuk! Kwadeudeuk!-

 

Watching Sung-jun break the bone spikes covering the monster’s body as if snapping toothpicks, the Kuro no Yari Clan members couldn’t close their mouths.

 

The one-sided beating Sung-jun was currently displaying was so overwhelmingly violent that it deserved the term ‘ravaging’ rather than ‘fighting.’

 

It was such one-sided violence that the layer boss facing Sung-jun looked pitiful.

 

“Kwooooooooo!!!”

 

Of course, the opponent also attempted fierce resistance befitting its position as a layer boss.

 

Growing new bone spikes to replace broken ones, or turning its head to try shooting breath attacks.

 

However, Sung-jun grabbed newly sprouted bones with his magic-created fists and forcibly broke them, then drove broken bones like stakes into the layer boss’s mouth as it opened to shoot breath, forcibly blocking its mouth.

 

Of course, during all this, he mercilessly beat the boss with the remaining seven fists, giving no opportunity for new bone spikes to grow.

 

Having defeated the layer boss alone through such one-sided ravaging without giving the opponent any chance to attack, Sung-jun dusted off the giant fists made of mana as if brushing off his hands and descended to the ground.

 

Then he spoke to Morishita Gengo, who was still looking at him with his mouth closed.

 

“If you hadn’t held me back for over 20 minutes trying to stop me, that guy would have been down 20 minutes ago. Do you still have complaints about my decision?”

 

Watching Morishita Gengo vigorously shake his head instead of answering, Sung-jun smiled.

 

“Then let’s go to the next layer. Ah, but first we need to start the loot auction.”

 

“Since Sung-jun caught it alone, doesn’t the authority over drop items belong to Sung-jun?”

 

“I told you. I only need the magic stones handed over. So the drop items will be put up for on-site auction as originally planned.”

 

Since one of the purposes of this raid was to raise the value of credits, Sung-jun generously gave up his right to drop items that he could legitimately monopolize.

 

And at that moment, a sword was summoned with brilliant light in front of the giant monster that had fallen dead.

 

It looked like a reward item appearing after defeating a monster in a game.

 

“A weapon?”

 

“A sword… I think…”

 

“This is going to be troublesome…”

 

Seeing the executives of Kuro no Yari’s expressions turn serious the moment they saw the sword, Sung-jun asked.

 

“Is a sword bad?”

 

“Weapons… are good. Basically, weapons that appear in dungeons have the ability to let civilians become Awakened without receiving the awakening ritual. The problem is that the drop location is the 61st Floor of a large dungeon like Osaka Dungeon.”

 

‘Simply put, a legendary sword with no level restrictions has been released for open auction.’

 

In the case of items like bracelets or rings, it didn’t mean much for non-Awakened people to win the auction.

 

Of course, there was the advantage that ordinary people could also receive the item’s effects to increase survival ability, but situations where ordinary people needed to fight Corrosion Entities powerful enough to require items found deep in dungeons didn’t occur for civilians in the first place.

 

But weapons were different.

 

Since most Awakened active in dungeons had their own weapons, weapons from dungeons held greater value for ordinary people.

 

Of course, it wasn’t that weapons had never appeared from deep in dungeons before.

 

However, most of the weapons that came out this way were exclusively held and disposed of by raid clans that had raiding authority.

 

Therefore, it wasn’t very common for ‘good’ Awakened weapons to be released at auction houses targeting ordinary people.

 

Due to the nature of Awakened individuals being able to participate in bigger money-making ventures the stronger their combat power became, when good weapons appeared, it was typical to either use them personally or give them to acquaintances or family members.

 

In the midst of all this, a ‘weapon-type’ artifact from the boss of the 61st floor of a major dungeon had appeared.

 

The moment they saw it, the people in armored suits who had been at the very back of the raid party began walking toward Sung-jun.

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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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