The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 91

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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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#091. Pandora’s Box

Unlike the Yejigwi, which required risking his life to defeat even after sealing its precognitive abilities, Sung-jun was blocking the attacks of the apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity far too easily after arriving at the 100th floor of Tokyo Dungeon.

Of course, unlike that time, Sung-jun now had two powerful subordinates, Argen and Karcerion, by his side, but even considering that, the combat power displayed by the ruler of Tokyo Dungeon was far below the level Sung-jun had expected.

If the Yejigwi had been the opponent, Karcerion and Argen wouldn’t have been able to block even a single strike from the Yejigwi and would have been instantly retired.

However, the appearance of these overly weak enemies was conversely instilling a sense of crisis in Sung-jun.

‘This can’t be the enemy’s full strength.’

The mage Sung-jun’s brain began spinning rapidly.

And shortly after, having reached a conclusion, Sung-jun issued a retreat order to his two subordinates who were wreaking havoc across the battlefield.

“Fall back.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Why is that?”

Unlike Karcerion, who returned to Sung-jun’s side as soon as the order was given, Argen asked his lord for the reason behind the command while moving to Sung-jun’s side in accordance with the order.

“The enemy’s purpose is to buy time. They’re bringing out magical beasts that endlessly evolve and adapt to their opponent’s attacks, aiming to understand what cards their opponent holds. Once they finish analyzing, they’ll bring out magical beasts modified specifically to counter their opponent.”

“You’re quite perceptive. So you do have the ability to defeat that Yejigwi.”

As soon as Sung-jun finished speaking, the Dungeon Master’s voice echoed throughout the cave.

Simultaneously, the bodies of the monsters filling the dungeon collapsed in an instant.

-Crack, crack. Crunch.-

The gray clay began gathering in one place like liquid metal moving with its own will, starting to compress into a single point with tremendous pressure.

And shortly after, two monsters revealed themselves: one in heavy armor holding a long spear and shield, and another in the form of a female elf holding a bow larger than her own height.

‘They created a spearman to counter Karcerion the cavalry, and an archer to stop the high-speed maneuvering Argen.’

Defeating Karcerion, whose attacks were mostly hypersonic straight charges, wasn’t particularly difficult.

All one had to do was point a spear at the enemy charging straight forward.

Of course, aiming a spear at an opponent too fast to see wasn’t easy either, but for the enemy, that wasn’t much of a problem.

Having withstood hundreds of attacks from the previously summoned monsters, they would have completely analyzed most of Karcerion’s attack trajectories and speeds.

‘If Karcerion charges at that spearman-type monster in this state, he’ll suffer fatal injuries.’

The archer-type monster was the same.

To catch the high-speed flying Argen, it would likely perform ranged attacks imbued with tracking abilities.

The easiest way to deal with them would be to have Karcerion the cavalry take down the elf archer and have the highly mobile Argen handle the spearman-type monster, but the enemy surely knew this fact and would definitely pull some trick.

‘Let’s try dealing with them conventionally first.’

Sung-jun immediately summoned all seven Achritches sleeping within the Lion’s Key and the entire skeleton army of twenty thousand.

And as if that wasn’t enough, he also summoned the spirit army numbering five thousand.

With literally all the forces Sung-jun could deploy now brought out, Sung-jun commanded.

“Knights and Bishops stand by at current positions. The rest of the forces bind the enemy’s feet while being careful not to be completely destroyed.”

Sung-jun’s plan was to block the enemy’s movement with large-scale forces, then swap the Knights and Bishops to have them take down enemies suited to their compatibility.

However, the moment Sung-jun’s summoned skeleton army took one step forward under the Achritches’ command, hundreds of giant slime-type magical beasts emerged from the previously empty dungeon floor.

‘As expected, they copied countermeasures from my fighting style.’

Seeing the slime monsters spewing large amounts of green sticky substance similar to what Sung-jun had used, Sung-jun swung both arms.

He thought that if he cast the sticky substance nullification spell he had given to the Four Major Clans’ adventurers on his skeleton army, they could counter the enemy’s sticky substance.

However, despite the buff spell Sung-jun cast, the skeleton army that contacted the sticky substance began clumping together into a giant mass while fixed in place.

“Hehehe. It won’t be that easy. The form is similar, but it’s a different substance from what you created with your spell.”

“That would be the case. But my skeleton army is also different from before. This time they have commanders attached.”

As Sung-jun said, unlike before when the skeleton army would charge into the sticky substance without any countermeasures, now they were performing flanking maneuvers to avoid the slimes while suffering only minor damage.

And behind them, seven Achritches holding crystal orbs and death scythes were controlling the battlefield situation and adjusting the skeleton army’s positions.

“Don’t think you can avoid them just by going around!”

With an angry voice, dozens more slime-type monsters rose from the dungeon floor, and Sung-jun waved his hand while chanting a spell.

Then pillars of cold generated from thin air instantly turned the newly appeared slimes into blocks of ice.

“You seem to have many tricks, but I’m not lacking in tricks either. Shall we compete to see who can do more?”

When Sung-jun waved his hand again, the temperature inside the dungeon began dropping rapidly.

Soon, with a blizzard blowing from somewhere, the sticky substance spewed by the slime-type monsters began freezing rapidly.

As the skeleton army trampled over the frozen sticky substance, the battlefield was quickly being reorganized in Sung-jun’s favor.

“…Did you know I would copy your methods?”

“Anyone stupid enough to fall victim to magic they themselves used doesn’t deserve to be called a mage. Though it’s not magic, since you also use various abilities, I thought there was a possibility.”

If the only enemies to face were Karcerion and Argen, the two monsters summoned earlier would have been sufficient, but since Sung-jun had summoned an undead army of twenty-five thousand, defeating the opponent with just two monsters was impossible.

Judging this, the Dungeon Master immediately summoned a large-scale monster army to counter the skeleton army and blocked the skeleton army’s charge.

“Haven’t you realized yet that engaging in large-scale combat against a mage is tantamount to suicide?”

Even if twenty-five thousand troops clashed, the actual combat would only involve a small number of forces directly crossing swords and shields with the enemy.

The remaining personnel had to wait in the rear for the battle lines to collapse, so they were inevitably clustered somewhat in the rear, and Sung-jun targeted that rear where only enemies were gathered, firing Void Spears.

-Bang! Kabang! Kababang!-

A mage of Sung-jun’s level didn’t need to shoot magic forward from his own direction.

Whether the desired position was above the enemies’ heads or in their rear, he had the skill to freely fire attack magic from any position he thought of toward any direction he aimed for.

Therefore, the Void Spears Sung-jun summoned could skillfully target only areas where enemies were clustered, concentrating on annihilating forces without causing any damage to his allied skeleton army.

‘Every time that damn metal pillar falls, points get carved away in chunks.’

Facing a 10th Circle mage who could fire almost infinitely if it wasn’t authority magic but regular magic in a war of attrition was a mistake in itself.

However, he couldn’t retreat.

The fairy watching the battle situation from behind him was looking at the monitor with greedy eyes as if ready to reclaim his soul at any moment.

“Not yet. Not yet.”

“I didn’t say anything. But don’t forget the promised conditions. If I judge that you can’t handle the situation, I’ll reclaim your soul and intervene directly.”

The man in tracksuit that Sung-jun was facing on the 100th floor was a replica of the man here, created using magic clay.

The man’s main body was still in the control room, controlling the dungeon through a spherical computer-type magical device, and the fairy watching the monitor behind the man, not the man himself, was the true identity of the apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity that appeared in Japan.

The man recalled in his mind the moment he first met the fairy.

‘So this is the planet called Earth? Hmm? What are you?’

On D-day when apocalypse-class Corrosion Entities appeared simultaneously around the world, the man who was seeking the Temple of Awakening to become an Awakened encountered the apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity that appeared in Japan.

Though it looked like a fairy that might appear in fairy tales, the aura emanating from that small body carried such a thick scent of death that human minds couldn’t endure it.

‘Ugh, ughhh…’

‘Hmm? Is that liquid between your legs bodily fluid? Ah, so the human species is a creature that releases bodily fluids when faced with insurmountable fear. That part is the same as the intelligent beings I met in the previous world. The form is similar too.’

‘Will, will you kill me?’

‘Kill you? Ah, right. That is the purpose after all. But before that, I need to gather some information about the human species.’

The fairy, who rummaged through the tracksuit man’s mind with tremendous pain, smiled and released the man.

Then it spoke to the man who was showing the whites of his eyes, unable to overcome the pain.

‘I understand most other things, but what is this ‘dungeon management’? You deliberately call strong people to an area you control and even give them treasures?’

Among the memories the fairy read were contents about the man’s hobby, ‘isekai reincarnation stories.’

Novels about protagonists who received cheat abilities from gods, reincarnated into other worlds, and used those cheat abilities to control the world.

Among these, what caught the fairy’s interest were ‘dungeon management’ type novels where one becomes the owner of a dungeon in another world and develops it.

‘Cough… That’s… content from fantasy novels popular in the world I live in…’

‘Fantasy? From what I can tell, it means stories that aren’t real but imaginary. So that ‘dungeon management’ you mentioned earlier is also an imaginary story created by the intelligent species called humans?’

‘That’s… correct.’

‘Good. Interesting. Looking at your mind, I confirmed you have vast knowledge in this field. Are you an expert in those imaginary stories?’

The man couldn’t readily answer the expression ‘expert.’

Of course, it was true that he had read all kinds of isekai novels as an avid reader, but he wasn’t a writer.

However, sensing that answering ‘no’ here would result in 100% death, the man shouted desperately toward the fairy.

‘That’s right! You saw correctly! Yes! I am exactly that expert in dungeon management!’

‘Interesting. Then I’ll give you abilities. That ‘cheat ability’ that humans so desperately craved, even if only in their delusions! Become my subordinate and face the superhuman former humans. As compensation, I’ll give you the ability to implement the ideal world you desire!’

Having said this, the fairy took Pandora’s Box enshrined in the Temple of Awakening and moved with the man to the 101st floor of Tokyo Dungeon.

And there, it provided all the abilities needed to create the ‘ideal dungeon’ the man envisioned.

It made ‘black rain’ fall that rotted all edible crops, forcing humans to enter the dungeon, and even created a computer-shaped magical device called ‘Dungeon Controller’ so the man could manipulate the dungeon in a familiar form.

The man was like a toy to the fairy.

A toy that could be broken at any time if desired, meant to provide brief amusement to an absolute being.

Rather, because of this, the man could deploy monsters capable of killing humans against humans without hesitation.

Just as the human adventurers who invaded the dungeon fought for their lives against the monsters he deployed, he too was in a position of writhing like a worm before a fate where he could die at any moment.

And now, the absolute being holding the fate of that worm was watching his desperate struggle with a dissatisfied expression.

“Just… just wait a little. I’ll figure something out.”

The man who had been desperately pounding the keyboard finally completed all the preparation work.

Preparation to summon the strongest monster he could currently create.

‘If this doesn’t work either, then there really is no answer.’

The moment the man pressed the enter key, all the monsters that had been fighting against the Skeleton Army collapsed in an instant.

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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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