The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 87

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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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#087. Turning Point

Having completely claimed ownership of the Key of the Dead, Sung-jun summoned Argen, the Count of the Funeral Night, who had been sleeping in the Shrine of the Necromancer, and instantly annihilated all the monsters on the 90th Floor.

Then he announced to the adventurers who were staring at him with soul-drained expressions.

“We’ll set up a base camp, so wait here. From now on, I’ll go alone.”

“What?”

“What do you mean!”

The adventurers, flustered by Sung-jun’s unilateral announcement, shouted at him, but Sung-jun did not bend his opinion.

“Since I’ve recovered the Key of the Dead, I can clear the remaining sections alone. I’ll clear the remaining sections solo, so rest here and depart once reorganization is complete. Anyway, passing through the remaining 10 floors will be much faster for returning to the surface than going back up the 90 floors.”

“Is the Key of the Dead such a powerful item? Of course, I agree that the skeleton legion sleeping within it and the strength of the Count of the Night are extraordinary, but…”

Hearing Amano Jugo’s words implying ‘wouldn’t that alone be insufficient,’ Sung-jun smiled and said to him.

“The Count of the Funeral Night Argen that I summoned is only about the 4th strongest among the undead monsters sleeping in the Key of the Dead in terms of pure strength. The actual combat power I can deploy is even greater.”

The Key of the Dead was an authentication key that could access four subspaces where undead slept.

The Bone Ossuary where 20,000 skeleton soldiers slept.

The Tomb of the Mournful Soldiers where 5,000 spirits from the Otherworld slept.

The Shrine of the Necromancer where 8 Achritches slept.

Finally, the Palace of the Deathless King where 5 demigods slept.

The undead sleeping in the Bone Ossuary and Tomb of the Mournful Soldiers were designed to serve as soldiers, while those sleeping in the Shrine of the Necromancer and Palace of the Deathless King could serve as commanders.

Among them, the undead housed in the Shrine of the Necromancer and Palace of the Deathless King were special beings that had been assigned symbols of pawn, rook, knight, bishop, queen, and king like chess pieces.

‘Count of the Funeral Night Argen was a bishop.’

Although there were undead stronger than Argen housed in the Palace of the Deathless King, unfortunately those undead were ones that the current Sung-jun could not control.

Due to the powerful contract placed on the Key of the Dead, summoning itself was possible at any time, but to gain control after summoning, it was necessary to subdue each undead through one-on-one combat.

Since Count of the Funeral Night Argen, corresponding to a bishop, was the only undead monster that Sung-jun could control without a contract, Sung-jun summoned only Argen to clear the monsters on the 90th Floor despite being able to summon stronger monsters.

Of course, Sung-jun also had the desire to bring all the undead monsters sleeping within under his control since he had gone through the trouble of recovering the Key of the Dead, but the problem was that his current power was not strong enough for that.

After all, even Count of the Funeral Night Argen, whom he had just summoned, was such a powerful being that Sung-jun couldn’t guarantee victory with his abilities.

To summon undead stronger than him, his current self needed to become significantly stronger than now.

‘Well, for dungeon clearing, there’s no need to bring out more.’

Indeed, the Corrosion Entity that appeared in Japan was, from Sung-jun’s perspective, literally substandard.

They were so weak that it wouldn’t be strange to say they were on a different dimension from China’s apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity ‘Yeojiggwi,’ which he had to face using even the underhanded method of the Coin of Fate.

Of course, that was from Sung-jun’s perspective.

If Sung-jun hadn’t come to Japan, the adventurers in Japan would have gradually become tamed by the ‘feed’ dropping in the dungeon and slowly met their end by withering away.

The strategy chosen by the enemy was efficient.

Continuing life-or-death battles while enduring thirst and hunger without proper rest in a dungeon where intermediate supply or escape was impossible was an act that put tremendous stress on human adventurers.

However, since the profession of ‘mage’ possessed the ability to break through all those restrictions, Sung-jun could mobilize all his abilities to instantly tear down all the strategies that Japan’s apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity had painstakingly built up.

And finally, he succeeded in inducing the opponent’s impatience and obtaining the ‘Key of the Dead,’ which had been his original objective.

There were no longer any obstacles that could block Sung-jun’s path.

***

“Good work. The Count of the Night may return to where he originally belonged.”

When Sung-jun spoke while looking at Argen, who was following behind him like a butler, Argen bowed.

“I beg your pardon for the presumption. Please allow me to remain by my lord’s side until this war ends.”

“I want to check the abilities of the other children too.”

“I will only stay by your side. I swear not to interfere in any battle unless a threat approaches my lord’s person.”

Although Argen’s tone was extremely polite, Sung-jun felt some psychological resistance.

After all, a summoned creature that should absolutely obey its master’s words expressing its own opinion to the master itself meant that he wasn’t properly controlling Argen.

However, since there was no need to show this fact outwardly, Sung-jun silently nodded to allow Argen to remain by his side.

“Come forth. Army of the Lion.”

When Sung-jun extended his hand, numerous skeleton soldiers and specter knights were summoned to the open field ahead.

5,000 skeleton soldiers who had been sleeping in the Bone Ossuary and 2,000 heroic specters who had been sleeping in the Shrine of the Necromancer.

If the skeleton soldiers encountered as enemies on the 90th Floor were the essence of ‘corpse creation’ enhanced with alchemy and magical enchantment, then the 5,000 souls sleeping in the Tomb of the Mournful Soldiers were the pinnacle of necromancy that had used necromantic arts to escape numerous heroic souls from the Otherworld who deserved to be called ‘heroes’ from the chains of reincarnation.

A legion of specters created so that each of the 5,000 souls, having become immortal undying souls, could fully display the combat power of their strongest prime when they were alive.

Unlike the 20,000 skeleton soldiers who had standardized equipment and unified combat methods reminiscent of an ‘army,’ the 5,000 specter legion was equipped with various armaments that each had used in their prime, manifested in soul form.

‘If the skeleton legion is an army, the specter legion feels like a mercenary unit.’

Having left the adventurers on the 90th Floor and descended alone to the 91st Floor, Sung-jun immediately began testing the combat power of the undead legion he had summoned.

And as if to block Sung-jun’s path, the monsters of the 91st Floor stood in the way of Sung-jun’s summoned undead legion with even more powerful forms than those on the 90th Floor.

-BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!-

When a giant monster charged at full power and rammed into the skeleton unit’s formation, an explosive sound like a bomb going off echoed through the dungeon.

And at that moment, the skeleton soldiers behind those with swords and shields simultaneously drew their bowstrings and began attacking the giant monster blocked by the barrier.

-Thud thud thud thud thung! Thung! Thud thud thung!-

The arrows shot by the skeleton soldiers were also special products enhanced with alchemy and enchantment magic like the swords and shields the skeleton soldiers carried, but unfortunately, the arrows’ penetrating power seemed insufficient to pierce the thick hide of the 91st Floor monster.

Seeing this, Sung-jun concluded that while the skeleton legion alone might be able to handle monsters around the 80th Floor level, it would be difficult for skeleton soldiers alone to face 90th Floor monsters.

“Move aside, move aside, move aside!!”

Suddenly, a specter soldier who had broken through the middle of the formation where skeleton soldiers were gathered without any resistance swung the greatsword in his hand.

Then the translucent greatsword, which had just passed through the skeleton soldier’s body, roughly dug into the monster’s incredibly tough hide.

“GRAAAAAAHHH!”

The monster, whose flesh was instantly torn away, swung its giant claws to attack the specter, but the monster’s claws passed through the specter soldier’s body without resistance, as if piercing through fog.

This was because the characteristic of ‘specters’ that ignore all physical attacks without limit was applied to the specter knight’s body as well.

‘An undead that doesn’t take damage from physical attacks while being able to damage opponents. It’s a bit disappointing that they’re not cavalry, but this isn’t bad either.’

The armaments of the specter soldiers Sung-jun summoned were extremely varied.

Someone had a bow, someone had sword and shield, someone had a greatsword, someone had a spear, and someone even had a staff – they had such a disunified and haphazard equipment system.

Sung-jun worried whether such diversity might clash with the skeleton soldiers who valued order and control, but the specter legion armed with various equipment actually utilized their diverse characteristics to perform perfectly suited activities throughout the battlefield.

When there was an area where the formation seemed about to collapse, specters with shields were deployed to physically block the enemy’s advance, and in areas lacking attack power, they actively performed attacks to fill the insufficient offensive capability.

However, since there was also the fact that the overall battlefield seemed to be getting disorganized, Sung-jun was pondering whether there might be a more efficient way to operate the undead legion.

“You should summon pawns from the Shrine of the Necromancer.”

Then suddenly, Argen, who had been watching the battlefield from beside Sung-jun, spoke to him.

“Pawns, you mean Achritches?”

“They are battlefield commanders originally created to command the specter army. With them present, you can efficiently operate the specter army that moves haphazardly.”

“Let me try it.”

When Sung-jun summoned 4 Achritches following Argen’s advice, 4 undead monsters appeared, each holding a crystal orb in one hand and a giant scythe in the other.

“This humble creation will obey the great master’s command.”

While Sung-jun was briefly pondering what orders to give, Argen stepped forward with a smile.

“Command the battlefield in obedience to the master’s will.”

“By your command.”

Bright light simultaneously flashed from the crystal orbs held by the 4 Achritches.

Then the specter soldiers who had been scattered everywhere fighting in disarray suddenly began forming ranks and organizing formations as if enchanted by something.

“Convenient.”

“They are beings originally created for that purpose. Originally, those archbishops were geniuses in life who wouldn’t be unworthy of being called ‘war gods.’ Since we gave the authority to command immortal soldiers and heroic spirits to battlefield geniuses who demonstrated overwhelming prowess while commanding ordinary soldiers, it’s no wonder they show such powerful performance.”

“But interfering without my permission was wrong. Even if it was done to help me, a summoned creature going against its master’s command is a grave sin. Be careful from now on.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Seeing Argen give the subtle answer of ‘I will keep that in mind’ instead of ‘I obey your command’ again, Sung-jun frowned.

He had summoned Argen believing his master’s words that he could control him without any particular master-servant consciousness, but he was showing an attitude as if viewing him not as acknowledging him as master, but as looking at an interesting toy.

‘Should I close my eyes and have a bout with him?’

Seeing Sung-jun thinking that he might be able to defeat Argen, who was the 4th strongest, even with his current self, even if he couldn’t handle the 3 stronger ones, Argen smiled.

“If the thought you’re having now matches my expectation, I’d like to correct that as a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?”

“Because I, who was created through necromancy, cannot defy the master of necromancy.”

“Ah…”

Thinking about it, Argen was right.

After all, if he fought Argen using necromancy itself rather than fighting with brute force, it would be impossible for Argen to resist him who had absolute control.

Sung-jun’s face instantly turned red as he had been thinking he had to beat him down with force based on the idea that ‘you have to win by fighting to be acknowledged as master.’

“This generation’s master is an interesting person.”

“Would that interesting master like to taste some necromancy?”

“I’ll have to decline. While I’m confident I could face you in direct combat when you fight as a mage, I have no confidence in facing you when you fight as a necromancer.”

As if offering a bribe, Argen stretched his hand into the air and summoned a teapot.

Then, with the elegant posture of a butler rather than a marquis, he extended a teacup toward Sung-jun.

Sung-jun silently sipped from the teacup Argen offered while gazing at the battlefield.

There, the monsters of the 91st Floor, which had been thoroughly exterminated leaving only a mountain of corpses, lay fallen on the ground, spilling dark red blood.

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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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