The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 64

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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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#064

 

Sung-jun fought single-handedly against all the boss monsters that had appeared up to the 70th floor, just as he had boldly declared.

 

And the Black Spear clan members watching from a distance couldn’t close their mouths as they witnessed Sung-jun’s overwhelming prowess.

 

“That’s simply a monster.”

 

“A mage… was it? How can a human body display such combat power?”

 

“It’s not a matter of… compatibility. That’s a completely different species.”

 

If awakened from Tianwu Guan in China displayed their awakened abilities based on the power called internal energy, awakened from the Japan Awakened Association displayed their abilities based on artifacts granted through Pandora’s Box.

 

And those artifacts had the characteristic of rapidly strengthening the user from the moment they grasped the artifact, unlike awakened from Tianwu Guan who became stronger through long training.

 

To put it simply, it could be described as ‘item dependency’ ability.

 

Just like Shirasaki Miyu, who knew nothing about magical theory, could freely use 8th circle level spells without mana restrictions through the magical artifact called Grimoire, the magical artifacts granted by Pandora’s Box transferred the experience accumulated in the artifact directly to the user the moment it became bound to its owner.

 

Just like how Kurosaki Ryusei, who had never swung a stick before, became one of Japan’s top fighters the moment he grasped a spear.

 

Pandora’s Box’s greatest strength lay in ‘rapid growth’.

 

And its weakness was that no matter how much effort one put in, it was difficult to overcome the inherent characteristics of the artifact.

 

‘But that human called Sung-jun…’

 

Watching Sung-jun mercilessly beating down the incredibly powerful 70th floor boss, just like the 9 layer bosses he had faced before, Kurosaki Ryusei gritted his teeth.

 

Attack, evasion, defense.

 

Sung-jun’s display of abilities that went beyond the level of unified offense and defense to near-omnipotent levels made one think this might be what it would feel like if all the artifacts in Japan were combined into one.

 

However, Sung-jun, who was actually engaged in direct combat with the layer boss, was feeling something completely different from the raid members watching his fight from behind.

 

‘The rate of strengthening has changed.’

 

If the layer bosses up to the 67th floor felt like they were getting stronger linearly, from the 68th floor boss onwards, the strength felt like it was rising vertically in a stair-step pattern.

 

Of course, since he had increased his output as his opponents became stronger, from the perspective of those watching from behind, it would still look like he was unilaterally toying with his opponent, but Sung-jun, who was directly controlling that output, was feeling with his whole body just how much stronger his current opponent had become.

 

‘But why the 67th floor?’

 

The dungeon pattern Sung-jun had confirmed was that boss types changed every 5 floors.

 

And the moments when bosses became noticeably stronger were also arranged in a way that difficulty increased every 5 floors.

 

This matched the information he had confirmed beforehand, but from the 67th floor onwards, it suddenly felt like the existing rules had been broken.

 

As if an administrator watching him clear the dungeon had directly adjusted the monster difficulty.

 

‘Well, it doesn’t matter. We agreed to do it the existing way from the 71st floor onwards anyway.’

 

The interesting point was that the 66th floor boss, where the pattern changed, had a completely different skill set from the 61st floor boss that had the previous pattern.

 

If the bosses from floors 61 to 65 felt specialized in area attacks to deal with large raid groups, the boss monsters from floors 66 to 70 where the pattern changed had skill sets that felt specialized for 1-on-1 combat.

 

The boss attack he had just blocked was also a technique with anti-personnel attack power that would be difficult for a typical raid tank to withstand if it weren’t him.

 

‘That means the 71st floor boss will also be a boss with a skill set specialized for 1-on-1 combat.’

 

Like a virus evolving to develop resistance to antibiotics, it felt like the dungeon itself was detecting intruders and changing.

 

-Kuuuuung!!-

 

Finally, when the layer boss guarding the gate leading down to the 71st floor collapsed, Sung-jun, who had been flying in the air, landed on the ground.

 

Then he spoke to the Black Spear clan members who were still staring at him with their mouths open.

 

“The promise was that I would clear up to the 70th floor boss alone, right? From the 71st floor onwards, I’d like you all to participate in combat as well.”

 

At Sung-jun’s words, the raid’s main tank, Morishita Gengo, came to his senses and looked at Sung-jun with a flustered expression.

 

Of course, he hadn’t forgotten that he had made such a promise with Sung-jun, but the 70th floor boss pattern he had witnessed was clearly far beyond the range of attack power he could block.

 

‘If the 71st floor boss has the same pattern, I’ll die from just one hit…’

 

The information he had grasped through long experience was that even with the same pattern, ‘hunting’ itself was possible.

 

Of course, every time the enemy attacked, someone among the raid members would definitely die, but the remaining clan members would have more opportunities to attack.

 

The problem was that even if he pushed his current abilities to the extreme, he couldn’t prevent his clan members’ deaths.

 

‘Should I prepare for sacrifices…’

 

It wasn’t uncommon to see someone sacrifice themselves during intense raids.

 

However, there was a huge difference between entering combat thinking ‘I might die’ and entering knowing ‘100% I will die’.

 

Moreover, if the raid used the same strategy they had used before, the ones who would die would definitely be the tank group that had coordinated with him for a long time.

 

He couldn’t help but agonize over whether he should lead them into a death trap while clearly knowing his subordinates would die.

 

“I’m sorry, but…”

 

Forcibly separating his stuck palate, Morishita Gengo spoke.

 

“It’s impossible…”

 

“What did you say?”

 

“I said it’s impossible.”

 

Instantly, the air around Sung-jun became heavily oppressive.

 

Not just a sensation from mere presence, but an intense aura that could be felt physically was pressing down on all nearly 500 raid members.

 

“Kugh…”

 

“C-calm down!!”

 

“I clearly kept my promise. I didn’t ask for your help even once while coming up to the 70th floor. But now you’re saying you’ll break the promise?”

 

Sung-jun’s criticism was justified.

 

If they turned the raid back and returned to the surface now, the Black Spear clan would end up looking like they had used Sung-jun to their heart’s content in this raid and then broken their promise.

 

But even knowing this fact, Morishita Gengo thought he couldn’t drive his team members into a death trap.

 

“…Kill… me.”

 

“…”

 

“I’ll give you my life if you ask for it. But I can’t drive my team members into a death trap knowing they’ll die.”

 

“Even if you enter the raid, it won’t be a total wipe. You know that too, don’t you?”

 

“But someone will definitely die on each floor. If the 71st floor boss has a similar pattern to the 70th floor boss, no tank in Japan could withstand those attacks.”

 

Instead of answering, Sung-jun waved his hand to summon a dimensional gate.

 

The jet-black dimensional gate created when using the ultra-high level attack spell, Void Spear, that he had shown several times before.

 

Then he shook his head and released the pressure that had been weighing down all directions.

 

“You really were thinking of dying.”

 

“The price for breaking a promise must be paid. Anyway, if we enter the 71st floor raid, several members of the tank group will definitely die. Even if we mobilize all our defensive measures, we won’t be able to block the attacks of a boss specialized for 1-on-1 combat. Then it would be cheaper to substitute my one life here for the lives that would be sacrificed.”

 

“That’s your thinking, and a promise is a promise. So go down to the next floor and prepare for combat with the layer boss.”

 

“Th-that’s!!”

 

“Just don’t die. Just don’t die.”

 

Turning toward the portal leading to the next floor, Sung-jun said.

 

“In the next battle, I’ll let you experience the greatness of magic with your whole body.”

 

***

 

The morale of the raid facing the 71st floor boss was close to the worst.

 

They had hoped that perhaps Sung-jun, who had single-handedly blocked boss attacks up to the 70th floor, might take on the boss attacks alone, but Sung-jun had firmly refused Gengo’s request.

 

“My role in this battle is as a supporter.”

 

Perhaps because of what Sung-jun said, the expressions of the raid heading toward where the 71st floor boss was located darkened like cattle being dragged to a slaughterhouse.

 

However, Sung-jun walked through the dungeon happily as if he had come out for a stroll.

 

And shortly after, a signal was transmitted from the reconnaissance team that the dungeon boss’s location had been confirmed.

 

“It’s quick this time. We were lucky.”

 

“Whether that should be called lucky…”

 

Following the markers left by the reconnaissance team, the 71st floor layer boss they found was a giant insect-type boss with a plump body like a caterpillar and dozens of centipede-like legs.

 

And at the front of that boss, like a centaur, was attached a human-shaped upper body with two arms.

 

‘It feels like something hastily thrown together without thought…’

 

Sung-jun let out a hollow laugh at the form that seemed like several parts had been hastily torn off and stuck together, being neither insect, nor human, nor centaur.

 

Then he looked at the gun-type artifact that the humanoid upper body was holding.

 

‘From its form, it looks like something taken directly from Pandora’s Box.’

 

Rather than a typical firearm, the gun that gave the feeling of a magical tool had a long medicine bottle glowing green attached where a scope should have been.

 

And seeing this, Ryusei spoke to Gengo with a flustered expression.

 

“That’s an artifact, right?”

 

“It seems like it?”

 

“Has a layer boss ever come out directly holding an artifact before?”

 

“It’s not that there haven’t been any.”

 

Sung-jun had fought a boss monster with a sword-type artifact in the deepest part of Nagano Dungeon, which he had conquered for the first time in Japan.

 

Hearing Sung-jun’s explanation, Ryusei asked.

 

“Then that sword…”

 

“If you’re asking whether you can obtain it by killing the boss, I can’t give you a definitive answer. Back then, I killed the boss by turning it to powder, so the sword was also destroyed along with it.”

 

“Then we’ll be able to confirm it this time.”

 

Gun-type artifacts were so rare that even Kurosaki Ryusei, a raid clan master, had never seen one before, so the faces of the clan members looking at the boss were shadowed with greed.

 

However, the expressions of the tank team, who were being forced into confirmed death in this battle, were not as bright as the other clan members, quite differently.

 

“Since it’s come to this, a strategy to minimize sacrifices would be right. When the boss starts attacking, the tank team will block attacks in the predetermined order. Usually the principle after a pattern change is to fight the first boss while confirming the boss’s skill set, but this time let’s go with maximum firepower to take it down in a short time.”

 

“By any chance, what’s the probability of a tank blocking the boss’s attack…?”

 

Looking at Kurosaki Ryusei asking cautiously, Morishita Gengo shook his head.

 

“Projectile attacks have narrow range but strong penetration power. Moreover, what that guy is holding is a firearm-type weapon. Even if I activate my artifact ability, I think there’s a high probability I won’t be able to block it.”

 

“Is it that severe…?”

 

“As adventurers, we always volunteer for attack teams prepared for death. That said, not every enemy attack will be at the level of a one-hit kill. We’ve prepared a defensive rotation in advance, so if we’re lucky we’ll live, if we’re unlucky we’ll die. Of course, even if we survive, there’s a high possibility we’ll be half-crippled…”

 

Even while watching Gengo prepare for death with a desperate heart, a smile hung on Sung-jun’s lips.

 

“Now, now, there’s no time to talk. Even if we catch that thing, there are still 9 left.”

 

With an expression as if it didn’t matter since he wasn’t the one dying.

 

Just before Morishita Gengo’s anger exploded at seeing that expression, Sung-jun reached out his hand to stop him.

 

“Ah, before that.”

 

With an expression as if he had forgotten something important.

 

“Let’s apply buffs first.”

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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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