The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 74

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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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#074. We’re Going Down

While moving to the Outlaw Camp with his clan members, Ryusei had to face the gazes of countless adventurers who glared at him with their grimy appearances.

Hostility, hatred, resentment, jealousy…

Some of them even drew their weapons the moment they saw the Clan Members of Black Spear, but Ryusei controlled the situation by raising his hand to stop the clan members who stepped forward to protect him.

“Don’t step forward. The resentment they’re sending our way is also something we brought upon ourselves.”

“But that’s not our fault, is it? We didn’t seal the portal leading to the upper layers…”

“Everyone has their own position. Among them, there might be people who think they lost their comrades because of us, and there are people who think the inconvenience they’re experiencing is because of us. Or are you planning to go around and persuade each of them? That it’s not our fault. So if they want to resent someone, they should resent someone else.”

“…”

“When the portal leading to the upper layers was deactivated, I made a decision as the clan master. And all the resentment that arises from that is my responsibility. And of course, the responsibility for the greater resentment that will occur in the future is also my responsibility. If someone asks me to take responsibility for the casualties caused by this incident, I’m prepared to accept it calmly.”

Having said that, Ryusei grabbed the spear strapped to his back and held it forward.

There stood another ruler who controlled the 70th Floor of Osaka Dungeon along with the Kuro no Yari Clan, the leader of the Outlaw Camp ‘Michele Morone’, glaring in Ryusei’s direction with a massive cross strapped to his back.

***

“I should offer you at least a cup of tea, but the situation doesn’t allow it. Anyway, you probably have more than enough water rotting away in your camp, so just pretend you drank some.”

The leader of the Outlaw Camp was surprisingly not Japanese, but an Italian priest belonging to Legio Apocalypsis.

The man who appeared to be in his late fifties was an Awakened with an impression that seemed difficult to handle at first glance.

“I never would have thought that the leader of the Outlaw Camp would be a priest.”

“This must also be the Lord’s guidance. I’m rather pleased. In extreme situations like this, the Lord’s grace feels all the more welcome.”

“Do you mean you’re controlling the camp by holding healing abilities hostage? That doesn’t sound like something a priest from Legio Apocalypsis would say.”

“Strangely, Japanese Awakened seem to have some kind of strange fantasy about Awakened belonging to Legio Apocalypsis, but not everyone in Legio Apocalypsis is a priest who graduated from seminary. Rather, the proportion of Authorized Priests who awakened to faith after becoming Awakened is higher.”

“Authorized Priest means?”

“They’re not formal priests. However, they are those who received temporary ordination from the Papal States to perform consecration and miracles by borrowing the Lord’s power.”

Ryusei furrowed his brow.

“Even without ordination, if you’re an Awakened, you should be able to use healing abilities, right?”

“Of course.”

Michele nodded calmly.

“The Lord’s will is originally like that. The most devout priest might not be chosen, while miracles might descend upon unbelievers who didn’t believe in God.”

He added this at the end.

“But to operate as a member of Legio Apocalypsis, proof that those miracles are under the management of the Papal States is necessary. Receiving miracles is accomplished by the Lord’s choice regardless of faith, but to continue performing those miracles, faith is required.”

Ryusei was curious whether Buddhists or Muslims could also become Authorized Priests if Awakened belonging to Legio Apocalypsis needed faith to use their abilities, but he didn’t bother asking that question in this situation.

Right now, there was a bigger problem thrown before him than resolving his curiosity about Awakened belonging to Legio Apocalypsis.

“Well, that’s not really an important matter. What’s important is getting through the crisis we’re currently facing with minimal damage. I believe you’re also aware of the news that our clan has obtained information about a portal that can lead to the upper layers. And I can somewhat guess the reason why you’ve kept quiet about that information even to the personnel inside the Outlaw Camp.”

“You can guess the reason…”

Unlike the Base Camp, which had all kinds of living necessities from beds to chairs thanks to Sung-jun’s help, the Outlaw Camp had nothing but tents as furniture.

So Father Michele was using a fishing chair that someone had brought for him as the camp leader instead of a wooden chair, and the sight of the massive priest, nearly 190cm tall, sitting in a small fishing chair while wearing black priestly robes somehow conveyed a pitiful atmosphere.

Thanks to this, the already tall priest ended up looking down at Ryusei, but Ryusei didn’t mind much.

No matter who looked, in the current scene, he in armor would appear much more threatening.

However, Father Michele continued the conversation peacefully with the expression of a priest comforting a lost lamb, even with an opponent who could thrust a spear tip into his heart at any moment right in front of him.

“So, how does the Kuro no Yari Clan plan to resolve this situation?”

“First, I think it would be better to continue hiding information about the portal. The moment the information is exposed, there will be people who will try to escape to the upper layers even if it means killing others.”

“What about after that?”

“First, we’ll send some Clan Members of Black Spear through the portal leading to the upper layers to send a rescue request to the surface. We’ll request help from all the remaining Four Major Clans in Japan to gather all Awakened who can enter here.”

“But wouldn’t the personnel who enter that way be unable to return to the surface?”

“That’s true for returning to the upper layers. But the portals leading to the lower layers are functioning normally.”

If the portal leading to the upper layers was broken, there was only one method left.

Using all remaining means to break through to the 100th layer in one go.

Of course, since no one had ever attempted it and there was no guarantee anywhere that the end of Osaka Dungeon was the 100th layer, Ryusei’s plan could be said to be a decision involving serious risk.

Moreover, there was no guarantee that all the remaining Four Major Clans would respond to the request even if the Kuro no Yari Clan sent a rescue request.

The most serious problem was that if a large-scale expedition was formed and reached the 70th Floor of Osaka Dungeon but failed to conquer up to the final layer where return to the surface was possible, there was a risk that most of the top-ranked adventurers who could be called the ‘main force’ for the Japanese Government would perish inside the dungeon.

“In the end, summarizing the opinions, several conditions must be met for that plan to work.”

The condition that portals leading to lower layers continue to function normally as before.

The condition that the lowest layer of Osaka Dungeon must be conquerable with the additional support forces.

Finally, the condition that everyone can immediately return to the surface upon successfully conquering the final layer.

In a situation where the major premise that ‘using portals allows free movement to upper layers’ had already collapsed, there was no guarantee anywhere that the remaining rules would operate normally.

Literally, if the 70th layer portal was broken by malicious intent, there was a possibility that other portals could also change ‘in the way the owner wants’ at any time.

Nevertheless, Ryusei could not withdraw his current decision.

That plan was not the ‘optimal choice’ to break through the current situation, but closer to a ‘decision that must be made’ necessary to somehow survive in this hellish space.

“If you agree, we’ll mobilize all our clan’s resources to provide all necessary supplies free of charge until reinforcements arrive at the 70th layer. Of course, not only for the personnel at the Base Camp, but for all adventurers belonging to the Outlaw Camp.”

“An expedition of the scale you mentioned would take quite a long time to reach here, and I’m not sure if it’s possible to hold out until then.”

Michele’s statement was a kind of pressure.

Pressure to share the supply materials currently at the Base Camp right now, not after the materials arrive.

“At least you should do that much for us to believe in your sincerity, shouldn’t you?”

After hearing those words and thinking for a moment, Ryusei nodded.

“It would be unconscionable for only our side to join the gambling table without any stakes. We’ll do that. So we can all live together, and if we die, we can all die together.”

“Master!”

When a Clan Member standing beside him called Ryusei with an urgent expression, Ryusei raised his hand to stop him.

“Of course, I wouldn’t have made this decision either if I had to endure without any chance of winning. But now it’s different. If adding even a little more to the stakes can influence the outcome of the match, it’s better to enter the match by betting all the stakes we can bet now. Anyway, if this plan fails, everyone except the very few who can go up to the upper layers will starve to death inside the dungeon.”

Ryusei stood up and shook hands with Michele, concluding this negotiation.

And that afternoon, Ryusei arrived at the Base Camp with people from the Outlaw Camp to receive supply materials, and as he had promised, he handed over part of the supply materials stacked in the warehouse to the adventurers who had followed him.

Supply materials in not very large quantities that would clearly be insufficient considering the number of adventurers active on the 70th layer.

An Adventurer from Outlaw Camp showed hostility by baring his teeth upon seeing the smaller amount of supply materials than expected, but the amount of supply materials was something even Ryusei couldn’t help.

From the beginning, the amount of supply materials stacked in the warehouse made it impossible to feed everyone to their fill, and it was agreed from the start to hand over only the minimum amount that could be given per day.

-If you hand over all the promised supply materials at once, there’s a high possibility of internal conflict on our side. So please do it in the form of distributing a fixed amount of materials little by little once a day.

Ryusei knew.

That a considerable number of the adventurers who followed him to receive materials would probably try to secretly siphon off supply materials on the way back to the Outlaw Camp.

However, that too was part of the strategy that Father Michele had calculated in advance.

If it was difficult to prevent siphoning off in the middle anyway, it would be better to reduce the amount of materials received at once.

If they received all the promised materials at once, they would think that even siphoning off large amounts wouldn’t be noticed, and if the amount was small from the beginning, those doing the siphoning would also feel burdened and likely only touch small amounts – this was Michele’s thinking.

And even if someone decided to attack in the middle, if the amount that could be siphoned off through the attack was woefully insufficient, there was a high possibility they would abandon the plan to avoid losses.

Moreover, if the personnel receiving daily supply materials were organized by rotating evenly, there was also the advantage of not having to solve the distribution problem, which could become a seed of conflict, with their own hands.

Of course, doing so risked concentrating resentment on the Kuro no Yari Clan, which only handed over small amounts of supplies each time, but Ryusei gladly accepted Father Michele’s proposal.

Right now, it was important to gather the strength of all adventurers on the 70th layer and extend as much as possible the time they could hold out until support arrived.

Having dealt with the supply materials issue to hand over to the Outlaw Camp, Ryusei immediately selected clan members to go up to the upper layers and gathered them in his meeting room.

“From now on, your role is especially important. Those assigned to scouting, please explore routes to the upper layers with as little combat as possible, and minimize the time spent sleeping and eating. The goal is to deliver this letter to the Clan Headquarters on the surface in the shortest time possible.”

Like a Messenger changing horses at relay stations to save time, Ryusei made delivering the letter containing the rescue request to the surface the top priority, rather than sending a messenger who understood all situations to the surface.

When 10 Clan Members departing from the 70th layer arrived at the 65th Floor camp at full speed while saving sleep time, new clan members from the 65th Floor could move at full speed to the next camp on the 60th layer with the letter they delivered.

If personnel who had rested sufficiently at each camp could quickly depart for the next layer like this, Ryusei thought the time to deliver information to the surface would be shortened to the extreme.

Of course, he couldn’t know how long it would take for the Clan Headquarters that received his letter to organize support forces and send them to the 70th layer, but at least they could save the time it took to send the support request.

“The lives of all adventurers here depend on you. Please do your best to deliver this letter to the next camp.”

The die was cast.

All that remained was to hold out with all their strength until support arrived.

Ryusei earnestly prayed that they could hold out with the materials remaining in the warehouse until support arrived, watching the departing clan members’ backs with eyes filled with desperation.

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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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