The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 66

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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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#066. Counterattack

 

The information that the attack team including Sung-jun had broken through the 80th layer of Osaka Dungeon, and that large-scale base camps had been established at the remaining four major dungeons excluding Nagoya Dungeon, spread across all of Japan in an instant.

 

And that information brought about major changes to the auction houses that had previously been used mainly by low-rank Awakened.

 

As countless Awakened began exploring the unexplored territories of large dungeons, they started putting artifacts obtained there up for auction without exception.

 

As the value of credits skyrocketed, wealthy conglomerates who had stockpiled massive amounts of food and goods in their private warehouses exchanged credits with the government in return for food.

 

Thanks to this, the food supply for civilians, which had been steadily decreasing, also increased significantly.

 

And in the dungeons, new adventurers called ‘pay-to-win warriors’ who acquired awakening abilities using artifacts purchased from auction houses rather than the pre-D-day awakening methods began making names for themselves everywhere.

 

Even before, there were occasional cases of civilians gaining awakening abilities through auction houses, but they could only obtain powerful awakening artifacts through connections with large clans.

 

But unlike before, it was now possible to obtain legendary-grade or higher artifacts even from auction houses.

 

Major changes also occurred in the attack teams formed for raids.

 

Rumors spread that Sung-jun had brought wealthy patron figures to the 80th floor conquest of Osaka Dungeon, and that all attack team members who participated in the conquest had struck it rich.

 

Thanks to this, it became quite common to see civilians with massive credits hiring small groups of Awakened to venture into dungeon exploration.

 

If Japan’s economy had previously been maintained in a form that ‘depended’ on dungeons, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Japan now had literally transformed into a form where dungeons carried the national economy.

 

At the center of that massive change was none other than the figure known as Ma Sungjun.

 

“A raid participation request has come from Yokohama Dungeon for Sung-jun.”

 

Shindo Ayaka, the clan master of the raid clan ‘Goddess’s Guidance’ in Tokyo, said to Sung-jun.

 

Since Sung-jun, who had completed the conquest of the 80th layer of Osaka Dungeon, had accepted her proposal and was staying at the Goddess’s Guidance clan headquarters, Sung-jun’s party had been staying at the raid clan headquarters, which had better facilities than hotels, instead of hotels, while observing the situation after the dungeon conquest.

 

From here, they could immediately obtain various information about dungeons in each region, and above all, they could use the clan network that allowed communication between the five major raid clans.

 

After reviewing the base camp installation request from the raid clan ‘Unbreakable Shield’ at Yokohama Dungeon, Sung-jun frowned and leaned back against his chair.

 

“You don’t seem pleased.”

 

“They seem to be showing their greed too blatantly.”

 

Having directly witnessed a fragment of Sung-jun’s abilities through Seoa in the Kyoto Dungeon raid, plus hearing rumors about Osaka Dungeon, the Unbreakable Shield clan was requesting Sung-jun’s raid participation while presenting a goal of conquering up to the 80th layer.

 

And just like Osaka Dungeon, without any backup clans.

 

‘They couldn’t have been unaware that I solo defeated 10 layer bosses in Osaka Dungeon…’

 

The conquest layer of Yokohama Dungeon that Sung-jun confirmed was the 40th layer.

 

To proceed with the conquest as requested, he would need to defeat as many as 40 layer bosses with a limited attack team.

 

The problem was that with the specs of the attack team delivered to Sung-jun, it would be absolutely impossible to break through 40 layers consecutively.

 

In other words, it was essentially the same as asking Sung-jun to perform solo subjugation like he had done in Osaka Dungeon.

 

‘What should I do…’

 

After pondering for a moment, Sung-jun spoke to Shindo Ayaka, who was waiting for an answer.

 

“What do you think?”

 

“Well, Yokohama Dungeon doesn’t have conquest layers as deep as other large dungeons. They probably want to make a big leap with this opportunity.”

 

“I think so too, but I didn’t expect them to ask so blatantly.”

 

“The clan master of Unbreakable Shield, Amano Jugo, is what you might call the type whose exterior matches his interior. He probably wasn’t thinking of using you.”

 

“If not using me, then?”

 

“He’s making a proposal. This is what he wants. So if you want something, please say so. Isn’t it written at the bottom? That he’ll provide everything needed in the process of fulfilling those conditions.”

 

“So that sentence meant that…”

 

After pondering for a moment, Sung-jun stood up and said.

 

“Please reply to Unbreakable Shield. Tell them I accept the proposal.”

 

***

 

Sung-jun’s party, who had moved to Yokohama for the raid, exclaimed in admiration at the supplies prepared for this raid.

 

Before Sung-jun’s eyes now was a mountain of supplies in such massive quantities that they couldn’t even be compared to what had been prepared for other raids.

 

It was such a vast amount of supplies that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they had pulled up the clan’s very foundations to prepare them.

 

“Did you sell the clan headquarters?”

 

“Hahaha! Is it a bit excessive after all? Well, I prepared this after receiving a reply that the transportable quantity was unlimited, but moving this much at once would probably be too much, right?”

 

“No. Moving it itself isn’t a problem. I was just amazed that you managed to obtain this level of supply materials at this time.”

 

“Fortunately, thanks to the rise in credit prices, obtaining supplies wasn’t difficult. Instead, we had to put most of the artifacts stored in the clan warehouse up for auction.”

 

“I heard that legendary-grade artifacts were released in large quantities at auction houses recently. So those were items put up by Unbreakable Shield?”

 

“Anyway, if we can break through to the 80th layer in this raid, we should be able to replenish that much.”

 

“According to regulations, all artifacts that drop during layer boss subjugation belong to on-site auctions rather than the raid clan. How do you plan to replenish that? Let me say in advance that I’ll refuse any request to make this raid an exception.”

 

After the exclusive ownership rights to layer boss drop items were lifted, the most reliable way for raid clans to earn credits was to bring ‘wealthy patrons’ who wanted on-site auctions to the attack team.

 

Otherwise, they could use credits owned by the clan to win items at auction, then dispose of the items at higher prices through official auctions after returning from the raid.

 

The problem was that judging by the amount of supplies prepared by Unbreakable Shield, the clan’s credits were probably nearly depleted.

 

That meant Unbreakable Shield wouldn’t be able to win a single item in this raid.

 

‘And they’re spreading that information in advance.’

 

Perhaps because of the information that 40 layer boss drops would be released through on-site auctions in this raid, nearly 40 ‘wealthy patrons’ were included among the attack team members preparing to enter the dungeon.

 

The problem was that just because there were many wealthy patrons didn’t guarantee that on-site auction winning bids would necessarily be high.

 

After pondering for a moment, Sung-jun stuffed all the base camp installation supplies piled up like mountains into subspace, then moved to the attack team headquarters where Amano Jugo was.

 

“Amano. I’d like to talk for a moment.”

 

“Of course. Everyone, could you step outside for a moment?”

 

The clan members who received Amano Jugo’s order went outside the tent, and when Sung-jun gestured, Seoa and Shirasaki Miyu, who were accompanying him, also left the tent.

 

After confirming that everyone had left, Sung-jun spoke.

 

“Is Amano’s plan to secure credits by making as many wealthy patrons compete as possible?”

 

“That’s right. Since it’s a raid with as many as 40 wealthy patrons participating, if we can recover all the credits they have, we should be able to profit more than we invested.”

 

“Theoretically possible, but… will it really work out that way?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I mean there’s a possibility they might collude.”

 

“Collusion… But I heard there were no such movements in Osaka Dungeon.”

 

“Of course, collusion attempts weren’t impossible in the Osaka Dungeon raid either, but back then there was a deterrent called the raid clan. If the wealthy patrons bid too low, the raid clan with credits could just win the items themselves. In fact, Kurosaki also participated in auctions several times, and each time the wealthy patrons raised their bids. They probably judged that if it was a powerful item that the raid clan showed interest in, winning it at a high price wouldn’t be a loss.”

 

“Of course, for items with low value, some degree of collusion might occur. But if high-value items drop, the story would be different. We’ll be subjugating as many as 40 layer bosses in this raid, and with that many, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for 2-3 mythic-grade items to drop. Mythic-grade items are items that have never appeared in auction houses yet, so it wouldn’t be easy to give up on them just to save a few credits, would it?”

 

“There’s a huge gap between difficult and impossible. Moreover, breaking through 40 layers at once has its own advantages, but also disadvantages.”

 

“Disadvantages?”

 

“Rather than spending money to win lower layer items, they compromise at reasonable prices and target deeper layer items. For example, they could predetermine who takes items from up to the 70th layer at the lowest possible prices, and conduct serious auctions starting from Floor 71.”

 

“Hmm…”

 

“Could I see the list of wealthy patrons participating in this raid?”

 

“That information is classified…”

 

The list of wealthy patrons participating in raids and the amount of credits each patron owned was top-secret information that only the clan master could see.

 

While the list was information that would be known anyway the moment they entered the raid, the amount of credits each wealthy patron held was important information that could determine whether mythic-grade artifacts would be won.

 

However, Sung-jun didn’t think that information was particularly important.

 

After all, if someone was foolish enough to reveal all their assets, it would have been impossible for them to accumulate enough credits to participate in on-site auctions for large raids.

 

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s good to trust that information too much.”

 

“The amount of credits individuals possess is information that was already confirmed before the raid.”

 

“But the standard for that confirmation process was before the raid. Once the raid starts, credit transfers might occur between wealthy patrons. For example, they could distribute their original credits among three people, then concentrate credits on one person after the raid starts.”

 

“What benefit would there be in doing such a thing?”

 

“With the network they have, they’ve probably already confirmed the amount of credits their competitors prepared. If they think their opponent prepared about 5 billion credits and prepared 5.1 billion credits, but suddenly their opponent bids 6 billion credits, what would happen?”

 

“…I understand what you mean.”

 

“It would be better not to underestimate the wealthy patrons too easily. If Awakened are specialists specialized in monster hunting, they are specialists specialized in making money.”

 

After hearing Sung-jun’s words, Amano Jugo nodded and took out a piece of paper from his chest, handing it to Sung-jun.

 

He felt that if it was Sung-jun, who had been reading all these situations in advance, he might also know a solution to the current situation.

 

And Sung-jun, as he expected, looked over the list and said.

 

“Good. With this level, it should be possible.”

 

“What’s possible?”

 

“I mean I’ll drain the wealthy patrons’ credits down to the bottom.”

 

“Is that possible? How?”

 

“It’s simple.”

 

Looking at Amano Jugo, who was swallowing and staring at him, Sung-jun said.

 

“I’ll also participate in the auction in this raid.”

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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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