The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 84

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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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#084. The Decisive Move (2)

“What the hell?!”

The monster that had received the title ‘Immortal King’ from the Dungeon Master looked forward with an expression of bewilderment.

There, skeleton soldiers had become giant masses due to the sticky green substance, and human adventurers were fiercely attacking the monsters positioned throughout those skeleton soldier clusters.

‘I can understand that the green liquid is the skeleton soldiers’ weakness. But why aren’t the human adventurers affected by that sticky liquid at all!’

Surprisingly, the human adventurers moved freely as if completely unaffected by the green sticky substance, attacking the monsters.

As if the incredibly sticky pond was just a water puddle.

Of course, this was because Sung-jun had previously cast buffs on all attack team members to neutralize the sticky substance, but the Immortal King had no way of knowing this fact.

‘But it’s fine. Only some of the skeleton soldiers were neutralized, I still have troops remaining.’

Making a quick decision, the Immortal King gave orders to retreat the front line, pulling back the remaining monsters.

The monsters also had green sticky substance clinging all over their bodies, but unlike the skeleton soldiers, most monsters had enough strength to overcome the viscosity of the sticky substance, so the Immortal King and monsters could slowly move the front line backward.

And finally, when the front line moved to a range unaffected by the sticky substance, the Immortal King grasped the lion’s key hanging around his neck and infused it with power.

‘Legion of the undead. Heed your master’s command and destroy your master’s enemies.’

Then numerous magic circles formed and thousands of skeleton soldiers armed with swords and shields slowly rose from the empty dungeon floor.

“Additional troops?!”

“Just how many more are there?!”

As Shindo Ayaka and Yaiba Ryo shouted simultaneously, Sung-jun answered.

“With this summoning, about half have been brought out.”

Striking down a charging skeleton soldier with his massive black shield, Amano Jugo called out to Sung-jun.

“Can you use that sticky spell from before one more time?!”

“I can use it again, but not immediately. It’s a spell that takes time to create.”

Like the attack spell ‘Void Spear’ that required pre-generating metal pillars and going through an acceleration process in airless subspace, the Hyper Bonding spell was also one of those spells requiring preliminary processes.

The identity of the Hyper Bonding spell was to create through magic alone what would normally require an alchemy-type ability user to combine numerous materials over a long time, using complex casting of four spell types: elemental, transformation, mystical, and life.

Naturally, since it was a spell that generated alchemical substances using only mana without materials, maintaining the spell for a considerable time was necessary to create large amounts of sticky substance.

The sticky substance that had been prepared in large quantities in subspace for unforeseen circumstances had been completely consumed by the previous spell.

Sung-jun roughly calculated the amount of sticky substance remaining in subspace and told them.

“Just hold out for 15 minutes.”

“15 minutes against those things…”

Amano Jugo gripped his shield tighter and grinned wickedly.

“This should be interesting.”

Though he was trying to appear bold, his hand holding the shield was trembling slightly.

Each individual skeleton soldier wasn’t particularly difficult for him as a Raid Clan master to handle, but the problem was that there weren’t just one but what looked like over 5,000 by rough estimate.

Moreover, dozens of sub-boss level monsters carrying legendary or mythical artifacts were positioned throughout their ranks.

The issue wasn’t blocking for 15 minutes, but whether they could survive for 15 minutes.

‘What am I doing being afraid!’

Amano Jugo stabbed his sword into the ground and slapped his cheek hard with his gauntleted hand.

Then he picked up the sword from the ground and pointed it at the enemies.

“Don’t retreat…”

Just as he was about to shout ‘back down!’, Sung-jun from behind called out to Amano Jugo.

“Ah, if possible, please just buy time and don’t destroy the skeleton soldiers.”

“What? What do you mean…”

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m taking the artifact needed to summon skeleton soldiers.”

“Just to be sure, you don’t mean…”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

With a tone full of confidence as if ownership of the lion’s key was already his, Sung-jun said.

“Every single one of those skeleton soldiers is a relic of my late Teacher. In other words, they’re my property.”

***

Of course, Sung-jun’s request to ‘not destroy the soldiers’ didn’t mean to avoid destroying skeleton soldiers at the cost of allied sacrifices.

Since skeleton soldiers themselves were extremely difficult enemies to destroy, he simply meant not to make special efforts to find and destroy their cores.

When Sung-jun finished his request and waved his hand, green magic circles attached like bracelets to the wrists of all attack team members at the front.

“What I’d like to ask of you all is to buy time until the binding spell is completed. The spell I just cast grants regenerative power to the enchanted body for a certain time, so don’t be afraid and fight against the enemies.”

“What kind of regenerative power…”

“Most sword wounds will heal in about 10 seconds, and you won’t fall even if your heart is pierced.”

“You’re saying such an insane spell exists?!”

“Doesn’t that mean we’re invincible with just this spell?!”

Sung-jun corrected the panicked adventurers’ words.

“I said you won’t fall, not that you won’t die.”

“What does that…”

“Exactly what it sounds like. The spell I just cast turns the living into preliminary undead. Basically, most wounds can be healed instantly, but it uses lifespan as the cost. The greater the wound to be healed, the more lifespan is consumed. Moreover, if you suffer fatal injuries beyond recovery, you’ll become undead.”

The spell Sung-jun had just cast was an original spell he had created.

Since it was more efficient to turn someone who was ‘going to die’ into undead rather than reviving an already ‘dead’ corpse.

The first advantage was that the spell recipient wouldn’t fear injuries.

As long as it wasn’t a fatal wound that would cause death, they could recover from all sorts of injuries while fighting throughout the duration.

The second advantage was not having to capture the soul of a corpse owner wandering the battlefield and forcibly fix it to the corpse.

It was much more efficient to prevent the soul from leaving in the first place rather than finding and settling a soul that had already departed.

Additionally, undead created this way could move their bodies with the same sensations as when alive until the spell was dispelled, making Sung-jun’s spell a superior version of corpse revival spells in many ways.

“The spell’s effect duration is one hour. If you suffer fatal injuries and die within an hour, you’ll fight enemies as undead for the remaining time, and if you only get injured without dying, the spell will be dispelled with you fully recovered.”

“A spell that turns people into walking corpses…”

“This is ethically problematic…”

“I’ll dispel it for anyone who doesn’t want it. But if you get hurt fighting, you won’t recover. Regeneration and undead creation are a package deal.”

“Um… what about normal healing spells…”

Of course, as a mage, Sung-jun knew spells that could heal injuries with magic.

However, those spells weren’t like the one Sung-jun had just cast that automatically healed injuries throughout the duration without his attention, but spells requiring Sung-jun to directly see wounds and cast on them.

When Sung-jun explained that handling treatment of injured while facing such large-scale enemies in unpredictable situations would be impossible, Amano Jugo pounded his breastplate with his fist and shouted.

“Ah! So we just need to not die! Great! Awesome! As long as we don’t die, we’re practically invincible, and anyway, if it’s an injury severe enough to die even with this spell, we’d die even if Legio Apocalypsis priests cast healing miracles!”

Sung-jun smiled hearing Amano Jugo’s words, who had quickly grasped this spell’s core mechanic.

As he said, this spell’s core effect wasn’t turning corpses into undead, but granting a nearly invincible state as long as one didn’t die.

Eventually, with Amano Jugo’s strong persuasion, everyone accepted Sung-jun’s spell, and full-scale combat began.

‘Even though regeneration spell is cast, I can’t feel much physical difference…’

At first, everyone couldn’t directly feel the effects of Sung-jun’s spell.

Since it was a spell that only activated when ‘injury’ occurred, no effects manifested while uninjured.

However, as they exchanged attacks and defenses with skeleton soldiers who were masters of swordsmanship and shield techniques, Sung-jun’s spell began to slowly demonstrate its power among the adventurers.

“Tch!”

Before he could dodge, a skeleton soldier’s sword deeply slashed an adventurer’s abdomen.

It should have been an injury severe enough for intestines to spill out, but the moment the sword wound was about to open, the magic circle on the adventurer’s right arm spun violently and emitted brilliant light.

And at that moment, the bleeding abdominal wound began healing rapidly as if time was being reversed.

‘This is the spell’s effect!’

It was fundamentally different from the healing blessings used by divine priests.

Not the feeling of healing wounds, but forcibly ‘restoring’ created wounds to their original state.

However, though the spell might look strange to the eye, its effects showed unbelievably reliable performance.

‘With this feeling, it’s possible.’

Naturally, no one likes getting injured.

But Sung-jun’s spell was magic that made those feared ‘wounds’ no longer frightening.

Like skeleton soldiers who willingly traded bone for flesh, it was a spell that turned each adventurer into a fearless, invincible warrior.

Soon the adventurers, accustomed to Sung-jun’s spell, were actively fighting skeleton soldiers without fearing bodily injury, protecting only their hearts and heads.

“This is impossible.”

The Immortal King, watching the battlefield with fearful eyes, groaned.

The mage who had neutralized nearly 5,000 skeleton soldiers with a single spell was now using a strange spell to insanely boost the adventurers’ combat power.

Moreover, not content with granting regenerative power to thousands of adventurers, that mage was running around the battlefield, prioritizing the elimination of powerful monsters positioned throughout.

When attacked, he blocked with defensive spells; when taking a defensive stance, he fired red-hot hypersonic metal pillars that left massive holes in opponents’ bodies.

Watching Sung-jun’s performance, which could undoubtedly be called the absolute ruler of the battlefield, the Immortal King felt that the time to make a decision was approaching.

‘Should I flee like this?’

It didn’t seem like an impossible task.

The number of Skeleton Soldiers remaining in the Bone Ossuary was about half.

If he summoned all those forces at once to tie down his opponent’s feet, it seemed there would be enough time to extract his own body.

Though the sticky magic that Sung-jun had used before weighed on his mind, the Immortal King was confident that Sung-jun wouldn’t be able to use that spell again.

‘If he could use it, he would have used it already. That amount he used at the beginning was probably his limit. That’s why he’s fighting with such troublesome methods now.’

Having finished his calculations, the Immortal King immediately breathed consciousness into the Lion’s Key.

Then he summoned all the Skeleton Soldiers sleeping in the subspace to the battlefield.

Even excluding the number of Skeleton Soldiers still remaining and fighting on the battlefield, it was a massive skeleton legion boasting nearly 10,000 in number.

“Go! Go and somehow grab hold of that damn mage’s ankles!”

At the very moment the Immortal King loudly commanded the Skeleton Soldiers, Sung-jun’s gaze from far away met with the Immortal King’s.

“So. You. Were. There?”

Seeing Sung-jun’s smile like someone who had found a toy they had been desperately searching for, the Immortal King felt his second inescapable death deep in his bones.

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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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