The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 88

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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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#088. The Decisive Move

Sung-jun, who had begun the full-scale practical testing of the Lion’s Key, confirmed the specific combat power of the Lion’s Key with his own eyes by increasing the number of summoned troops as he descended through the layers.

On the 92nd layer, he confirmed the power of skeleton soldiers strengthened by applying auxiliary magic to his existing summoned forces, and in the process, he was also able to confirm that buff magic did not work on specter soldiers who were in a ghostly state.

On the 93rd layer, he tested how many skeleton soldiers one Achritch, serving as a battlefield commander, could control. Basically, controlling only skeleton soldiers required one Achritch per 5,000 skeleton soldiers.

The problem was that the moment specter soldiers were mixed in, the number of skeleton soldiers that could be controlled was greatly reduced.

Ultimately, Sung-jun’s test concluded that summoning all 8 Achritches was essential to control both 20,000 skeleton soldiers and 5,000 specter soldiers.

Having summoned all currently available forces to conquer the dungeon, Sung-jun finally deployed Argen, who had been waiting by his side, into combat on the 99th layer.

This was because a powerful monster that couldn’t be defeated even with 20,000 skeleton soldiers, 5,000 specter units, and 8 Achritches had appeared on the 99th layer.

It was so powerful that even Argen, who was strong enough to match Sung-jun himself without necromancy magic, had to struggle to win even with the help of the skeleton legion.

However, even seeing the enemy that had given Argen such difficulty, Sung-jun did not slow his steps toward the 100th floor.

‘I must conquer it as quickly as possible.’

This wasn’t simply a decision for the adventurers who might be isolated in Osaka.

Even at this very moment while he was fighting to conquer the 100th floor of the Tokyo Dungeon, an enormous number of civilians in other countries around the world were being massacred by Corrosion Entity attacks.

‘I haven’t seen hell yet.’

There was a reason these beings carried the title of ‘Apocalypse-class.’

If the subjugation of Yeojiggwi that appeared in China had been delayed, hundreds of millions of people might have been annihilated by Yeojiggwi’s hands once it began its full-scale attack.

Moreover, if Minastrias, his teacher, hadn’t risked her life to seal the Silermantis that appeared in South Korea, South Korea would have been devastated by that giant serpent’s hands as well.

It wasn’t a balanced fight to begin with.

The reason the Pioneers, messengers from the otherworld, awakened numerous humans into superhumans wasn’t to save humanity from the coming disaster, but simply to transfer Apocalypse-class Corrosion Entities from their world to Earth where humanity lived.

Even his teacher, whose limits of strength he still couldn’t see, had failed to subjugate Silermantis alone.

And the Previous Demon Lord who created the Lion’s Key that he now possessed had also lost his life to Silermantis.

The Demon Lord of that time would have been able to summon and command not only Argen but all the undead in the Lion’s Key, so he must have been much stronger than Sung-jun’s current self.

Despite that, his predecessor had been defeated by his nemesis.

And the fact that his current self was weaker than that defeated predecessor was making Sung-jun’s heart anxious.

‘Teacher. The salvation of humanity? You’ve placed too heavy a burden on your unworthy disciple.’

There was once a time when he had thought about giving up everything and fleeing to another dimension.

While it would have been impossible for an ordinary mage even with a lifetime of training, for Sung-jun who possessed all the magical knowledge accumulated by the Previous Demon Lord, finding a planet suitable for human habitation among countless parallel universes and fleeing there was one of the selectable options.

The only problem was that even if he fled to another dimension like that, another problem would be waiting for him.

‘The problem is that beings from other universes are basically treated as viruses.’

Since it was something that ‘shouldn’t exist’ originally, visitors from otherworlds had to fight against the ‘resistance’ of all the laws that constituted that world.

And that resistance grew proportionally to the time the visitor had spent in the otherworld.

‘Perhaps the reason I was able to subjugate Yeojiggwi so quickly was also due to the help of that resistance.’

He couldn’t be certain, but Sung-jun thought that he too might be part of a kind of resistance force that opposed the Corrosion Entities.

Speaking in hindsight, if Sung-jun had come to Japan first to obtain the Lion’s Key and then arrived in China instead of going to China first to subjugate Yeojiggwi, Yeojiggwi’s powerful future sight might have manipulated it to move directly to eliminate the threat called Sung-jun.

No, it probably would have done so.

But Sung-jun had judged according to his intuition that Yeojiggwi in China was a more threatening existence than Japan, and in hindsight, that judgment had been the right choice.

And now, that intuition was telling him to defeat Japan’s Apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity and recover Pandora’s Box as quickly as possible.

“The problem is whether that’s possible with our current forces…”

Sung-jun was contemplating.

Whether to delay here a bit longer to gain additional authority to control the highest-grade undead sleeping in the Lion’s Key and safely attempt the 100th floor conquest, or to attempt the 100th floor conquest with only the forces used to break through the 99th layer.

After pondering for a moment, Sung-jun asked Argen, who hadn’t left his side for even a moment since being summoned.

“Argen.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“If I were to have an authentication battle with Queen or King, could you help me and fight together?”

“I’m sorry, but that would be against regulations. Of course, I would obey if you commanded it, but even if you won that way, you wouldn’t be able to gain true loyalty.”

“So in the end, I have to defeat Queen or King by myself?”

“I believe it would be difficult at this point in time.”

“Are they that strong?”

“Based on my lord’s memories that I’ve read, Queen is strong enough to last 20 minutes in a direct confrontation with Yeojiggwi. And that’s without auxiliary means like the Coin of Fate.”

“She can hold out against a monster with future sight abilities using only physical strength without any tricks?”

“While she might not be able to win, she would be able to buy time. She could probably inflict some wounds too.”

“How am I supposed to beat that in a 1-on-1?”

“Your teacher, Minastrias, was victorious.”

“That’s because she’s my teacher.”

“Indeed, even among past Demon Lords, there haven’t been many who fully acquired control over the Lion’s Key.”

“Then let’s exclude Queen for now. What about the others?”

“In terms of strength alone, they rank Queen, Rook, Knight, Bishop in that order. Since I’m Bishop, that means there are three undead stronger than me.”

“What about King?”

“King is somewhat special, so it’s difficult to describe him in terms of strong or weak. Basically, the moment you gain control of all pieces, King automatically surrenders. Conversely, if you defeat King first without having control of the other pieces, the rest will automatically surrender.”

The clever Sung-jun immediately understood the rules contained in the authentication battle.

Why Argen had described King as a ‘special one.’

And what the reason was that all other pieces would surrender the moment King was defeated.

“King’s ability is probably to summon the remaining pieces whose control hasn’t been taken away.”

“Exactly. That’s why King is special. If there’s no one by his side, he’s infinitely weak, but if there are retainers to guard him, he displays power stronger than anyone else.”

“Then I’ll have to give up on King too. To fight King without having defeated Queen, I’d have to face Rook, Knight, and Queen together since I don’t have control over them yet. So what about Knight? You said he’s stronger than you, but I can’t get a sense of how strong.”

“He’s at a level where he could eliminate the monster we encountered on the 99th layer by himself.”

Sung-jun’s pupils dilated with shock at Argen’s words.

Of course, he knew Knight was stronger than Argen, but he was shocked to hear that Knight was at a similar level of strength to Argen combined with 20,000 skeleton soldiers, 5,000 specter units, and 8 Achritches.

‘If Knight is that strong, then Rook, and Queen who’s said to be even stronger than that, just how powerful are they?’

Newly realizing the strength of his teacher who had defeated all of them, Sung-jun said.

“Alright. Then let’s go with Knight.”

“Are you saying you’ll have an authentication battle?”

“Now that I’ve grasped how strong he is.”

“You’ll still fight even knowing that?”

“A mage’s strength isn’t something that can be determined simply by differences in combat power.”

To prevent the irreplaceable skeleton soldiers from being swept up and destroyed in the upcoming battle, Sung-jun sent all the summoned skeleton legion back to subspace.

Then, with only Argen by his side, he called forth the Knight sleeping in the Palace of the Deathless King.

“Knight of the fallen kingdom who watched the king’s final moments and swore an oath in blood. One who did not abandon loyalty even under a broken banner. Destroyer Knight Karcerion, appear before me in response to your master’s call.”

Instantly, a tremendous wave of power that seemed like it would tear flesh apart enveloped Sung-jun’s body.

Not the strength of the summoned being itself, but a fierce momentum powerful enough to annihilate an army with just the aftereffects of summoning.

The Destroyer Knight, mounted on a red horse burning like fresh blood, looked down at Sung-jun and spoke.

“Destroyer Knight Karcerion. I have appeared in response to your call. Is summoning me like this to gain recognition of your right to be my master?”

“That’s right.”

“Then there’s no need for long words. I’ll yield the first move. Do as you wish.”

“To someone who will be your master!”

As Sung-jun shouted and spread both arms, dozens of magic circles were summoned around him.

“Don’t speak informally from the very beginning!”

***

Sung-jun, who opened the battle with his signature spell Void Heaven Spear, gritted his teeth as he watched Karcerion effortlessly dodge the hypersonic metal pillar traveling at nine times the speed of sound.

The moment Void Heaven Spear attacked where his opponent had been standing, the first move was completed, which meant that the opponent who had just dodged the hypersonic attack would now attack him at that same speed.

‘I can’t handle him with existing spells.’

The Karcerion that Sung-jun saw was literally like a ‘walking Void Heaven Spear.’

An extremely simple thrust possessed penetrating power and destructive force equivalent to a hypersonically launched metal pillar, and each step taken while mounted had speed comparable to teleportation magic.

Terrifying speed impossible for human eyes to follow and a strong body that could fully withstand the aftereffects of that speed.

Sung-jun, who had tried to block Karcerion’s attack by overlapping all possible defensive spells, felt the blade of the cavalry lance piercing through his defensive spells in an instant and stabbing his internal organs, and cast a transfer spell.

‘First, I’ll create distance.’

What Sung-jun did wasn’t simply creating distance.

Creating distance with transfer magic against an opponent moving at hypersonic speeds would only provide acceleration distance, which would be a bad move.

Sung-jun cast instant transfer to his opponent’s only weak point – the rear – while installing thousands of magical chains connected to all the dungeon walls between his opponent and himself.

Not a spell to stop the opponent with simple physical force, but one that contained the concept of ‘binding’ in the chains themselves to forcibly halt the opponent.

As thousands of chains grasped Karcerion’s entire body and slowed his speed, his velocity, which had been impossible to even see as an afterimage, finally dropped to a level that could at least be followed with the eyes.

‘At this level.’

Just as Sung-jun wore a confident smile and was about to swing his hand, Argen, who had been watching their fight from a distance, shook his head.

“Restraints won’t work.”

And before those words even finished, Karcerion’s body, which had been bound by thousands of chains, vanished from its position.

“Knights are pieces that leap over obstacles, after all.”

Before he could even react, feeling the massive spear blade piercing through his lungs from behind, Sung-jun screamed inwardly.

‘You should have said that earlier, you bastard!!!’

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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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