The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 72

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

#072. The Beginning of Disaster

Sung-jun’s Yokohama Dungeon raid, which originally aimed to break through the 80th Layer, ended at the 75th Floor due to the changed monster appearance patterns starting from Floor 71.

This was a mutual decision by Sung-jun and Amano Jugo that continuing the raid further with an attack team configured for single combat rather than group battles would be unreasonable.

“We’ll need to increase the ratio of adventurers capable of area attacks and also increase the number of healers and supporters. If future layers follow this structure, Sung-jun’s burden will increase excessively.”

That assessment was accurate.

In fact, from the 73rd Floor onward, Sung-jun eventually had to involve his companion Shirasaki Miyu as well as his still-immature disciple Seoa in combat.

If the rest of the attack team could have fulfilled their roles, Sung-jun alone could have covered for them, but expecting that much with the current personnel composition was unreasonable.

Eventually, Sung-jun decided to establish the final base camp on the 75th Floor and return to the surface, but despite not achieving the previously declared goal, the attack team’s atmosphere was quite bright.

The goal of conquering up to the 80th Floor had been Sung-jun’s independent decision from the start, and just conquering from the 40th Layer to the 75th Floor had achieved such overwhelming returns that most Wealthy Patrons who participated in the conquest had nearly exhausted all the credits they had prepared.

Thanks to this, the raid members who had struck it rich from a single raid were all hurrying their return preparations with very bright expressions without exception.

“I’m sorry, but we will leave the attack team and return to the surface separately.”

“May I ask the reason?”

“I have a bad feeling. I hope it’s just my groundless worry.”

Amano Jugo, who realized that only Sung-jun had a poor expression while everyone else was happy about becoming rich, asked cautiously.

“Is there something you’re worried about?”

“The reason I decided to abandon the original goal of breaking through the 80th Layer and return from the 75th Floor was because I felt like the enemy was openly using delay tactics.”

“Ah, you said you think dungeons are spaces that someone is manipulating with intent, right?”

“There are too many elements that can’t be explained otherwise.”

“But if there really is an entity that can manipulate dungeon rules as you say, why did they specifically change the rules starting from Floor 71? Since we started our conquest from the 41st Layer, if they had deployed large-scale army formations from the 41st Layer instead, they could have dragged out much more time.”

“If they had done that from the 40th Layer, I would have immediately returned to the surface. At that distance, it would be much faster to quickly return and reorganize the attack team before coming back down. It waited. Until we reached a point where it would be awkward to easily return or advance forward.”

Sung-jun’s words had a strange persuasiveness, but Amano Jugo shook his head and denied Sung-jun’s opinion.

The dungeon space he envisioned was one that provided food to hungry Japanese citizens and offered experiences for Awakened to grow in a safe environment.

Whether the reason for that denial was because he couldn’t believe Sung-jun’s words or because he didn’t want to believe them, he was deliberately denying the fact that dungeons were terrible spaces designed purely with malice.

“That’s too much of a leap. Take this raid for example. The entire attack team earned tremendous credits, and the government secured massive amounts of food and support materials to feed the citizens by selling those credits to Wealthy Patrons.

The Wealthy Patrons obtained powerful artifacts rarely seen in auction houses, and new Awakened who awakened with those artifacts will become adventurers and dive into dungeons. This is a virtuous cycle. Not a vicious one.”

Amano Jugo argued that the change in monster composition ratios from Floor 71 was also due to the original design, not malice.

All of Sung-jun’s suspicions were mere speculation, and Japanese adventurers would eventually overcome this crisis together with the citizens by joining forces.

Then Sung-jun, who had been listening to that argument with his mouth closed, spoke in a low voice.

“Amano-san.”

“Yes. Please speak.”

“Have you ever been to any country other than Japan since D-day?”

“What? Of course I haven’t…”

“I have.”

Sung-jun revealed that before coming to Japan, he had hunted an apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity that appeared in China.

Starting to tell the story of what he experienced in China, Sung-jun told Amano Jugo, who was looking at him with disbelief, about China’s current situation.

“On the very day called D-day, I heard that Japan suffered no particular damage other than crops dying from black rain. An apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity that suddenly appeared created the Tokyo Dungeon where the Temple of Awakening used to be, numerous dungeons appeared nationwide, and Pandora’s box simply disappeared.”

“That’s correct.”

“China had to drop nuclear weapons on their own capital, Beijing, that day. In Seoul, my Teacher risked his life that day to seal an apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity that appeared in Seoul Airspace. I don’t know yet what the situation is like in other countries, but I’m confident it’s not very good.”

“So… because Japan’s damage was relatively light compared to other countries, you’re saying there’s a high possibility that dungeons are spaces created by someone with malice?”

“At least that’s what I think. To be honest, the apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity that appeared in China was powerful enough that I had to risk my life, but in terms of combat power excluding precognitive abilities, it was a much easier opponent than the Silermantis that appeared in Seoul. There’s definitely an apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity in Japan too, but that thing isn’t even showing its face right now. Is that really because it’s weak? Or because it has other means and is confident it can handle the adventurers in Japan?”

“That opinion is just speculation. In reality, it might really be weak, or perhaps no apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity appeared in Japan at all. Is there any reason we must move while assuming the worst-case scenario?”

“Amano-san. There’s a reason the South Korean government named apocalypse-class Corrosion Entities ‘apocalypse-class.’ Not a single Japanese adventurer has seen an apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity that appeared in other countries. I’ve only encountered two entities so far, but I completely agree with the name the South Korean government gave them. From my perspective, the ‘dungeon conquest’ you’re currently doing is…”

Sung-jun looked at Amano Jugo with cold eyes of unfathomable depth.

“Nothing more than playing house.”

***

Upon receiving a report from a clan member that the portal leading to the upper floor had disappeared, Clan Master Kurosaki Ryusei immediately divided the remaining clan members into small groups and began a large-scale search.

Determining whether the portal had completely disappeared or had moved to another location was the most important task right now.

At the same time, he divided the clan members and put all efforts into securing food in case the situation became prolonged.

Currently, there were about 300 Black Spear clan members active on the 70th Floor where he was located, but including adventurers from other clans who came after hearing rumors and civilian workers who came down for harvesting work on the 70th Floor, over 2000 people were active on the 70th Floor alone.

If the information about the portal disappearing was confirmed as fact, a battle royale over limited food supplies could break out, so Kurosaki Ryusei was struggling desperately to handle the worst situation he had experienced since becoming an Awakened.

“What’s the current amount of secured harvest?”

“If distributed only to clan members, it’s enough for about 20 days, and if distributed to everyone, about 5 days.”

“Isn’t that much less than expected?”

“As rumors spread that we’re buying up food, adventurers aren’t giving up their harvest. Even when we offer more credits, some adventurers insist on keeping what they have.”

“What about the supply materials that the 65th Floor camp promised to send down?”

“If the ascending portal disappeared, would the descending portal be fine?”

“We don’t know that.”

Then, the meeting room door opened and a clan member rushed in with an urgent expression.

Since Ryusei had declared a state of emergency and told anyone with urgent reports to come to the meeting room, Ryusei didn’t particularly criticize the clan member for bursting into the meeting without knocking.

Now was a time when rapid reporting systems and information gathering were more important than ever.

“What’s the matter?”

“Clan members have arrived with supply materials that departed from the 65th Floor camp!”

“Is that really true!?”

Ryusei jumped up from his seat and asked with a bright expression, but the clan member who came to report didn’t look very bright.

For someone reporting the arrival of the desperately wanted supply materials, his expression was far too dark.

“Is there some problem?”

“Well… that is…”

“What?”

“Only part of the supply materials arrived. For details, it would be better to hear directly from the clan member who brought the supplies.”

“Didn’t you bring them to the meeting room?”

“They’re in the Medical Room. They’re quite badly injured.”

What awaited Kurosaki Ryusei, who rushed to the Medical Room with an urgent expression, was the sight of a clan member wrapped in bandages all over his body.

The clan member, whom Ryusei knew, was groaning while receiving treatment from the medical team along with other clan members who arrived together.

“Master…”

“What happened? Why are only you here? Considering the amount of supply materials we requested, there should have been many more people? How did you get down to the 70th Floor?”

The man who received a barrage of questions endured the pain and reported to Ryusei.

Although terrible pain was surging from wounds all over his body, the man had a responsibility to convey content so important to Ryusei that he had to refuse painkiller injections for the sake of reporting.

“I heard that the portal going up from the 70th Floor to the 69th Floor disappeared. Fortunately, the portal going down from the 69th Floor to the 70th Floor was operating normally. However, unlike before, instead of arriving near the portal going up to the 69th Floor after taking the portal, we seemed to be transferred to completely unrelated random locations.”

According to the man’s report, the total number of clan members who came down from the 69th Floor to the 70th Layer with supply materials was about 50.

And those who took the portal all scattered and learned that they were transferred to unknown locations somewhere on the 70th Layer.

“Fortunately, we were transferred in small groups of 5, but we who came down to the 70th Floor knew neither our current location nor which direction the base camp was. While continuously defeating monsters that kept attacking us, we had no choice but to wander around the dungeon somehow searching for where the camp was located.”

“If 50 people were transferred in groups of 5, then a total of 10 parties scattered throughout the dungeon with supply materials.”

“Probably so. We were lucky enough to find the camp’s location and arrive safely, but there’s a high possibility that other parties are still wandering around looking for the camp’s location. If possible, we need to dispatch support forces as quickly as possible to bring them safely to the camp.”

“Currently, half of the forces at the camp are searching to find the portal going up to the upper layer. If we’re lucky, the supply teams might encounter the search teams and come safely.”

“Half isn’t enough. We need to send additional forces right now!”

“Why? Personnel coming down from the 65th Layer camp should be elite forces with enough ability to protect themselves. Besides, with adventurers moving around everywhere right now, if they get their cooperation, they should safely reach the camp…”

“Those adventurers are the problem.”

Showing his arm with one wrist completely severed, the clan member said.

“Those adventurers are now attacking our clan members who are moving for resupply.”

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