The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 80

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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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#080. What He Sees

 

Until now, the portals that had appeared randomly at various locations began to blatantly regenerate in the same spot inside the base camp every day at the same time since the day the attack occurred.

 

As if tempting them that ten people a day could be sent out from this hell.

 

Exactly two hours after the portal was generated, hordes of monsters would attack at the same time every day as if by appointment.

 

As if to prevent the adventurers from getting used to defensive formations, they cleverly changed the ratio of monsters that appeared each time.

 

It was quite an effective pressure tool.

 

Behind them was a lifeline that could get them out of this hell at any time, while in front of them unfolded a hellish scene where comrades who had fought back-to-back protecting each other died meaninglessly every day.

 

In that situation, human will crumbled all too easily.

 

Ryusei thoroughly controlled the portal to prevent internal unity from collapsing.

 

No, he had to control it.

 

Every morning, when the shining dimensional gate opened in the middle of the base camp, he was the first to head there.

 

Ten people.

 

To select the chosen ones who could escape from this hell for the day.

 

“I will announce today’s portal users. First, three severely injured. Nakajima Sota, Aoki Ryo, Nishikaidō Fumi. The two lightly injured who will escort the severely injured will be Nishino Aya and Suzuki Kyōka.”

 

Ryusei read down the list.

 

The selection criteria were brutally clear.

 

Among the severely injured who would die without immediate treatment, only those who still had enough strength to move to the 65th floor on their own.

 

Those confirmed to die or those with recoverable injuries were excluded.

 

“Master! Please reconsider!”

 

“Seino’s injuries are more serious than Nakajima’s! If you’re going to send someone, send her instead!”

 

Every time Ryusei announced the list of escapees, fierce opposition erupted.

 

From outcries protesting why they weren’t included in the list, to voices raising objections to the selection criteria.

 

However, Ryusei only repeated with a firm expression that ‘no objections to the already decided list will be accepted.’

 

Desperate pleas to save a beloved lover’s life while offering to stay and sacrifice their own.

 

Accusations demanding at least a chance to return to the surface if they were going to die anyway.

 

Ryusei silently endured all that resentment and pushed the ten injured into the portal.

 

The moment the last escapee disappeared beyond the portal, it emitted a dim light and vanished like mist.

 

The existence of an escape portal when the enemy attacks began would only cause internal strife.

 

“Damn it…”

 

Since the only abundant resource in the camp was water that could be generated with magic stones, Ryusei rubbed his face with ice-cold water to relieve his frustration.

 

After repeating this for days, he felt like his mind was rotting away before his body.

 

Father Michele’s situation was no different.

 

Managing the outlaw camp personnel, who already had weaker unity than the regular clan Black Spear, he had to be grabbed by the collar and cursed at dozens of times a day.

 

“Father! Why are the numbers of escapees from Black Spear and the outlaw camp the same! Since we have more people, we should have more escapees too!!”

 

“Shouldn’t the raid clans be the ones responsible for the anomaly that occurred in the dungeon? Since all this happened due to their negligent management, they should be held accountable!”

 

The worst situation occurred yesterday.

 

An adventurer appeared who, to get a chance to escape, deliberately exposed his arm to a monster’s attack while pretending it was an accident.

 

“His arm is severed so further combat is impossible, but he should still be able to protect the injured with his remaining arm. What do you think?”

 

The adventurer who lost one arm was one who used bow-type artifacts that required both arms to operate.

 

When someone who should have been providing support fire from the rear deliberately rushed to the front and lost an arm to a monster’s attack, whether it was an accident or intentional, no adventurer remaining here didn’t suspect his motives.

 

What he did was something everyone had thought about but couldn’t bring themselves to execute – ‘escaping the battlefield through deliberate injury.’

 

And that madness spread like a plague.

 

Adventurers who should have been in the rear pushed their limbs toward monster claws with gleaming eyes, and adventurers who should have been holding shields pretended to make mistakes and dropped their shields.

 

A twisted survival instinct – if you had to become injured to get out, they would gladly become injured.

 

Eventually, seeing some adventurers deliberately injuring themselves, the adventurers who had been risking their lives fighting monsters erupted in dissatisfaction, and what started as a small argument quickly escalated into a bloody incident with artifacts drawn.

 

And when even Father Michele, who tried to stop that chaos, was stabbed and fell, Ryusei finally drew his sword.

 

“From now on, anyone who deliberately harms themselves or others will not be sent out regardless of what injuries they sustain!”

 

The frenzy subsided at his fierce declaration, but the camp’s atmosphere was already damaged beyond repair.

 

Eyes that didn’t trust each other, distrust that anyone could stab you in the back at any time.

 

It weighed more heavily on the adventurers’ shoulders than the monster hordes.

 

The situation was heading toward the worst.

 

The injured increased while medical supplies ran out.

 

The food storage was already empty, and though Ryusei tried to secure additional food by sending out harvest teams despite the danger, the monsters who had grasped the movement patterns of adventurers searching for harvest sites immediately began targeting the harvest teams intensively.

 

Eventually, as situations increased where harvest teams returned with more comrades’ belongings than food, Ryusei had no choice but to drastically reduce the amount of food distributed to the adventurers.

 

Hunger and despair.

 

The only hope that could end this hell was the ‘rescue force’ that would come from the surface.

 

“It will be difficult, but let’s trust and endure. The government will never abandon us. Ma Sungjun. If that person brings reinforcements, somehow a path to escape will open.”

 

Ryusei repeated those words like a mantra while comforting people.

 

Until finally a clan member who had rushed over opened the office door and shouted toward him.

 

“Master! Reinforcements! Reinforcements have come down from the 65th layer portal!”

 

Ryusei rushed out as if he would smash the office door.

 

Finally, they had come.

 

The savior who would end this damned hell.

 

He ran toward the camp entrance with his heart swelling with emotion.

 

But the moment he confirmed the figures standing there, strength left Ryusei’s legs.

 

“Two… people? How? Where are the reinforcements? Where is Ma Sungjun?”

 

There were no thousands of troops, no great mages boasting overwhelming majesty.

 

Only a young student with a youthful face and a girl holding a large book.

 

The arrival of the ‘reinforcements’ Ryusei had so desperately awaited.

 

Their identity was Ma Sungjun’s disciple Yeonse-a and his companion Shirasaki Miyu.

 

***

 

“What you just said… means that Sung-jun headed to Tokyo Dungeon with most of the adventurers remaining on the surface?”

 

“That’s correct.”

 

Meeting Seoa’s clear eyes, Ryusei hung his head.

 

He felt his blood run cold.

 

“Have we… been abandoned?”

 

It was a desperate conclusion.

 

To rescue this 70th floor with its limit of 10 people per day, they needed help from additional forces including Sung-jun to break through to the 100th floor with overwhelming numbers.

 

An operation that required at least 500 elite raid clan members even if they added all the adventurer forces here.

 

But they sent only two people?

 

And not even himself but his disciple?

 

To him, this was clearly ‘cutting losses.’

 

The Japanese government’s cold calculation to abandon Osaka Dungeon and focus on Tokyo Dungeon.

 

However, seeing Ryusei fall into despair, Seoa shook her head and said to him.

 

“I don’t think so.”

 

“Why? As you know, Seoa, the limit here is sending 10 people to the surface per day. The government knows this situation well, so the reason they sent only you two is obvious. They mean to buy as much time as possible while sending whoever can be saved to the surface, don’t they?”

 

“That’s right. Before we departed, the government’s instructions to us were indeed to buy as much time as possible while sending strong adventurers back to the surface, as Ryusei said. But…”

 

Seoa’s eyes sparkled.

 

“My Teacher gave completely different instructions.”

 

“By Teacher… you mean Ma Sungjun?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Seoa conveyed what Sung-jun had said before leaving.

 

That the anomaly in Osaka Dungeon wasn’t a simple accident but someone had intentionally set up the situation, and probably the ‘master’ who set up this game was someone with the ability to freely adjust the dungeon’s portals and the ratio and composition of respawning monsters.

 

Without catching that ‘master,’ no matter how many monsters they killed here, it would just be pouring water into a bottomless jar.

 

“Teacher said that even if the Japanese government mobilized all its forces and succeeded in conquering the 100th floor of Osaka Dungeon, there’s no guarantee there would be a portal connecting to the surface on that 100th floor.”

 

“But there should be a portal that leads directly to the surface in the deepest part of the dungeon…”

 

“That’s just our assumption. There’s no way for us to know what kind of plan the dungeon master has. Everything is just a game rolling on the board they’ve laid out.”

 

Adding ‘That’s what Teacher said,’ Seoa smiled.

 

“That’s why Teacher decided not to come here for support, but to conquer Tokyo Dungeon instead. He thought that Tokyo Dungeon, built where the Awakening Shrine was located, had the highest probability among all dungeons in Japan of hiding the ‘Dungeon Master.'”

 

To protect the survivors of Osaka Dungeon until then.

 

That was the ‘real mission’ Sung-jun had given to Seoa and Miyu.

 

“But… there are only two of you, aren’t there?”

 

At Ryusei’s dejected question, Seoa chuckled softly.

 

It was a confident smile that perfectly resembled her Teacher.

 

“That’s right. We’re just two people. However, we are mages.”

 

Seoa stood up from her seat and led Ryusei to the open field in the center of the base camp.

 

Then she pulled out a scroll engraved with complex magic circles from the leather bag hanging at her waist and said:

 

“A being who can change the flow of battle with just one person’s existence. That’s what a mage is.”

 

-Flash!-

 

Brilliant light burst forth from the scroll Seoa tore, and an enormous amount of supplies was summoned to the open field.

 

Food boxes piled up like mountains.

 

From hygiene products like soap, shampoo, and toothpaste to medical kits containing bandages, potions, and antibiotics.

 

A massive quantity that could easily sustain thousands of people for several weeks filled the camp’s front yard.

 

“Th-this is…!”

 

“Supply materials! Food has arrived!”

 

Adventurers who didn’t know much about Sung-jun’s abilities or had only heard rumors without seeing them directly stared at the scene before them in a daze.

 

In a place where fights broke out over a single piece of dried bread, a buffet had been laid out.

 

“This is only a ‘part’ of the supply materials I brought.”

 

Seoa said calmly.

 

Then she winked at Ryusei, who was standing there with his mouth agape.

 

“Oh right, Teacher told me to make sure to tell you something when I met you, Ryusei.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“He said that war is fundamentally fought with supplies.”

 

‘Protect as many people as possible until I destroy the Tokyo Dungeon.’

 

That was the ‘top priority order’ Sung-jun had given to his disciple Seoa.

 

***

 

After Seoa and Miyu joined them, Ryusei immediately summoned Father Michele and completely revised the defense plan.

 

“From today, the number of personnel being sent to the surface is zero.”

 

Michele’s eyes widened at Ryusei’s declaration.

 

“Zero? What about the wounded…”

 

“In the current situation, wounded who cannot be treated would likely die even if sent to the surface. Those who can be treated can somehow return to the battlefield after treatment.”

 

What Seoa had brought wasn’t just supply materials.

 

Sung-jun, who had mastered almost all schools of magic, had given his only disciple a vast amount of scrolls and magical tools needed for various barrier magic, purification magic, and regeneration magic, and the artifacts Sung-jun had created using magic stones had performance powerful enough to instantly heal dying wounded.

 

Dying wounded got back on their feet and returned to the front lines, and festering wounds healed cleanly.

 

Seeing this, Ryusei went one step further and sent messengers to the base camp on the 65th Floor to call the remaining forces at other base camps to the 70th Floor.

 

Since the food supply problem had been resolved, he judged that concentrating forces in one place to deploy defensive lines would be more advantageous for survival.

 

What Seoa had resolved wasn’t just simple supply and treatment environment improvements.

 

“This… isn’t this cola?”

 

“My goodness, there are cigarettes too!”

 

When Seoa tore the scroll, all kinds of luxury goods and indulgences that were hard to find even on the surface poured out.

 

These were luxury items like cola, coffee, chocolate, and cigarettes that the government had provided at Sung-jun’s strong request.

 

With one sip of carbonated drink and one puff of cigarette, the adventurers’ eyes changed.

 

The hellish dungeon had now transformed into a fortress that was ‘worth enduring.’

 

“Lord Ryusei! Repairs on the eastern outer wall are complete! Thanks to the materials Lady Seoa brought, it will hold much longer and stronger than before!”

 

“Western watchtower repairs complete too! With Lady Seoa’s help, we’ve even installed magic turrets!”

 

Looking at the camp that was beginning to come alive, Ryusei clenched his fists tightly.

 

With this much, they could hold out.

 

No, they could win.

 

The people who until yesterday had been begging to be sent to the surface were now volunteering to stay at the camp.

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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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