The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 85

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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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#085. Avatar of Irrationality

“Block him! Block that bastard! Use whatever means necessary to prevent him from approaching!”

As the Immortal King shouted with a voice trembling with fear, about 5,000 skeleton legions simultaneously raised their shields.

And the remaining Skeleton Soldiers raised their bows and drew their bowstrings toward Sung-jun’s direction.

-Whooooooooosh!-

No shouts like ‘Fire!’ or ‘Begin shooting!’ echoed through the air.

The Skeleton Soldiers simply released their bowstrings silently the moment their aim was complete.

The 5,000 arrows fired simultaneously cut through space and flew like lightning toward a single point.

Their one and only target.

Toward where Sung-jun stood.

“Hyper Bonding.”

As Sung-jun swung both hands and chanted the spell, countless magic circles were summoned in mid-air, pouring down sticky green mucus like rain.

The arrows that had been flying with tremendous force were trapped in the flood of mucous membrane and fell straight to the ground.

“…He could use that spell!”

The battlefield instantly became chaos.

Not only the Skeleton Soldiers who had been fighting entangled with the adventurers, but also the newly summoned Skeleton Soldiers were all within the spell’s area of effect.

Thanks to this, the skeleton legion summoned with the intention of throwing in all remaining forces was writhing violently as a giant green mass, unable to offer any significant resistance.

“How… how is this possible…”

Irrationality.

That was the first word that came to the Immortal King’s mind.

Originally, the 20,000 Skeleton Soldiers sleeping in the Bone Ossuary were by no means easy opponents to defeat.

Regenerative power that endlessly restored them to their original state unless their cores were destroyed.

War specialists, each one a master of swordsmanship, shield techniques, and archery.

Each piece of equipment they wore was also a magical artifact made from extraordinary materials, and even each bone fragment forming their bodies was a masterpiece among masterpieces, imbued with magic resistance and physical resistance.

In terms of grade, each individual Skeleton Soldier corresponded to a quasi-legendary magical artifact – a full 20,000 of them.

Without exaggeration, mobilizing just the skeleton legion alone should have been enough to annihilate all the adventurers in this dungeon.

If only there hadn’t been the existence of Sung-jun, the mage who used mysterious magic of unknown origin.

The being called Sung-jun that the Immortal King observed was definitely an existence that transcended the bounds of ‘common sense’ strength.

He didn’t possess strength in the simple sense of having strong offensive or defensive power, but rather had the mysterious ability to forcibly twist battlefield situations to his advantage.

The problem was that this twisting was so irrationally unfavorable for those facing Sung-jun that it was utterly frustrating.

“Hey, skull bowl.”

Having easily neutralized over 10,000 defensive forces, Sung-jun flew before the Immortal King and spoke while floating in mid-air.

“Hand it over. My key.”

“This… this isn’t yours! This is something I received from the great Creator!”

Knowing what ‘key’ Sung-jun was referring to, the Immortal King grasped the necklace around his neck tightly with his bony hand and shouted.

Then Sung-jun looked at the Immortal King with a mocking expression and said:

“Creator my ass. Just a thief playing around with someone else’s legacy.”

From Sung-jun’s perspective, all the Japanese Awakened were essentially thieves who had arbitrarily taken his Teacher’s legacy.

After all, even the magic book Grimoire that Shirasaki Miyu, the first Japanese Awakened Sung-jun had met, was carrying was originally a legacy that should have been in the Treasure Trove where the treasures created by the Former Demon Lords slept.

Of course, strictly speaking, it couldn’t be called theft.

The person who had transferred the authority to remove items from the Treasure Trove to non-mages was Minastrias, who was Sung-jun’s teacher and a Former Demon Lord.

Minastrias had transferred access rights to the Treasure Trove, where magical artifacts of tremendous value were piled up like mountains, to Pandora, who was one of her companions, and Pandora used the power of that Treasure Trove to grant special abilities to Japan’s Awakened.

And ‘Pandora’s Box’, the entrance to that Treasure Trove, had disappeared to the 100th floor of Tokyo Dungeon due to the Corrosion Entity that appeared in Japan on D-day.

This was precisely why monsters appearing in dungeons throughout Japan were dropping magical artifacts that should have originally been inside Pandora’s Box like drop items.

They were scattering magical artifacts throughout the dungeon as if they were their own, when they weren’t even theirs to begin with.

Of course, Sung-jun had no intention of claiming ownership of the legacy and recovering the magical artifacts obtained by Japan’s adventurers.

Just as the Grimoire itself was of no help to Sung-jun, who was a Demon Lord, most of the magical artifacts in the Treasure Trove were ‘failures’ created by the Former Demon Lords in their process of fighting Silermantis.

However, the ‘Lion’s Key’ that Sung-jun was now trying to recover was an exception.

Rather than the Lion’s Key’s own abilities, the undead sealed within it were made from precious materials that couldn’t be created on present-day Earth.

“You can’t even properly use that artifact with your abilities anyway. Hand it over. I’m the original owner of that thing.”

“What if I refuse?”

“At the point where you’ve already taken out all the Skeleton Soldiers inside, that artifact is nothing but an empty shell, isn’t it? There wouldn’t be any benefit to protecting it, would there?”

“That’s a persuasive argument, but you’re hiding an important fact. If you can create that sticky mucus, you should also be able to use magic to remove that mucus. Then the 20,000 Skeleton Soldiers I summoned would come under your control.”

A smile appeared on Sung-jun’s lips upon hearing the Immortal King’s words.

“Just because you’re a skeleton doesn’t mean your skull is completely empty, huh?”

“Sorry, but I can’t hand over the key. And to correct one more misconception…”

A powerful aura so strong it made skin tingle began emanating from the Immortal King’s entire body.

“I’m strong even without a key.”

***

-Whooooosh-

Sensing danger, Sung-jun hastily retreated and summoned his Void Piercing Spear.

Whatever the nature of the aura his opponent had unleashed, he thought that unless dozens of layers of anti-physical magic circles were deployed, nothing could withstand the attack power of the Void Piercing Spear fired at hypersonic speed.

However, the red-hot metal pillar shot at 13 times the speed of sound instantly rusted and decomposed the moment it touched the black aura emanating from the Immortal King’s body, as if it had been directly hit by hundreds of millions of years of time.

‘Is it death aura?’

It was a troublesome attribute.

If it were a ‘Divine Blessing’ series spell used by holy priests of Legio Apocalypsis, it wouldn’t be difficult to counter, but for Sung-jun, who couldn’t use holy attribute spells, death aura was the most troublesome type of energy to face.

There were broadly two ways for a mage to deal with enemies using death aura.

One was to use the same death aura to overpower them with ‘force’, and the other was to use undead-attribute summons that weren’t affected by death aura to subdue them.

The death attribute had the property of returning all matter and mana within its range to nothingness, but none of the Former Demon Lords had properly studied death attribute spells due to the unique characteristic of death attribute magic.

Death magic devours the caster’s lifespan.

And not at a level where the lifespan was worth risking, but at a level where decades of lifespan had to be paid just to use the aura for a few minutes.

An attribute with overwhelmingly poor cost-effectiveness that no one used.

That was the true nature of death attribute magic.

‘But for undead whose basic nature is immortality, lifespan has no meaning. It’s a good idea.’

Of course, even undead couldn’t use death attribute magic indefinitely.

It was just that, given the undead’s characteristic of having a lifespan of at least ten thousand years, they could maintain spells for an overwhelmingly longer time compared to when living mages cast the same magic.

And unfortunately, Sung-jun currently possessed no useful magic that could counter death attribute magic.

‘For now, let’s try pushing through with quantity.’

Dozens of layers of protective magic capable of blocking even attack magic at the level of the Void Piercing Spear were summoned layer upon layer in front of Sung-jun.

However, the moment the aura emitted by the robed skeleton mage touched the protective magic, the translucent barriers shattered and scattered like someone stepping on thin ice.

‘Then.’

Sung-jun prepared his next spell with a resigned expression while creating distance.

Then the Immortal King, who had been pursuing Sung-jun while emanating black aura from his entire body, whispered toward Sung-jun:

“Planning to create distance? You haven’t forgotten that your comrades are behind you, have you?”

“As if I would.”

As Sung-jun extended his hands forward and backward, two different types of magic simultaneously burst forth from his arms.

From the hand extended backward came wind magic powerful enough to push away both the giant skeleton mass behind him and his fellow adventurers in one go, while from the hand extended toward the enemy came magic summoning a giant rock barrier to block the approaching enemy’s path.

Sung-jun’s idea was to push away the attack team members who were fighting in a tangled mess to the rear while slowing his opponent’s approach speed with a thick rock wall dozens of meters thick to the front.

However, the Immortal King, who had begun emanating death aura in earnest, lightly pierced through the middle of the thick rock wall Sung-jun had summoned like poking tofu with a finger, and reached Sung-jun’s front in an instant.

“Too late.”

Sung-jun tried to swing his hand with an urgent expression, but his opponent’s movement was slightly faster.

Black aura that shot out like a whip in an instant struck Sung-jun’s left wrist, and Sung-jun’s left hand was instantly deleted as if erased with an eraser.

“Sung-jun!!”

Even while being blown away like a fallen leaf by the strong wind Sung-jun had shot out, Shindo Ayaka saw Sung-jun’s left arm flying off and screamed with a voice filled with horror.

However, Sung-jun raised the index finger of his right hand extended toward where the adventurers were with a calm expression, making her close her mouth.

‘That is…’

A bracelet-shaped green magic circle wrapped around not only the other adventurers but also her right wrist.

The regeneration authority that heals all injuries inflicted on the body for a designated time was spinning fiercely on Sung-jun’s right wrist.

‘Think. Sung-jun. Think! There’s no spell in the world that can’t be broken. Magic is originally an omnipotent if not omnipowerful means. An absolute attack that pierces through the Void Piercing Spear, dozens of layers of top-tier defensive spells, and rock walls dozens of meters thick without any resistance…’

It’s not erasing the magic effect itself. The Void Piercing Spear only operates magically until it’s fired, but after being shot it’s like a large iron pillar advancing at hypersonic speed. Then is it matter decomposition ability? No, that can’t be it either. If it were matter decomposition ability, it shouldn’t have been able to break through protective magic.’

Swinging his left arm that regenerated in an instant, Sung-jun cast the highest level physical enhancement magic on his entire body.

Then he quickly created distance while casting a new spell.

A spell that transferred absolute ‘force’ that acted on all things, belonging neither to barriers made of mana nor ‘matter’ created by spells, onto the opponent.

“Gravity Enhancement.”

In an instant, the Immortal King’s body, which had been charging toward Sung-jun, came to a complete stop.

Black energy poured out even more violently from the Immortal King’s body as it tried to make the force pressing down on it disappear, but removing pure ‘force’ without substance was something even the energy of death could not accomplish.

“You’re a cunning one.”

“I’m a mage, after all.”

“But that’s as far as you go. All you can do at best is hold my ankles. You cannot pierce through my death energy with magic like Gravity Enhancement. No matter what magic you fire, none of it will be able to inflict even a single wound on my body.”

“Well, you’re right about that. I succeeded in holding your feet for now, but eliminating you with a Gravity Enhancement spell seems difficult.”

“The moment your mana runs out will be the moment you die.”

Instead of answering, Sung-jun waved his hand to summon a Dimensional Gate.

“What are you planning to do? I told you, nothing can harm my body…”

“I know. I’m doing this knowing that.”

When Sung-jun flicked his finger, a sack of corn popped out from the Dimensional Gate he summoned and fell to the ground.

And Sung-jun spoke in a voice overflowing with leisure as he looked at the Immortal King, who was staring at him with a puzzled expression, wondering what he was trying to do.

“Consider it an honor.”

“Consider what an honor?”

“That you might become the first monster to be killed by corn.”

Sung-jun’s voice as he said this didn’t contain even a hair’s worth of playfulness.

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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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