The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 93

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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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#093. Divine Words

When Sung-jun’s words about taking revenge on his behalf appeared as text on the screen, the man in front of the computer leaned back against his chair.

Then, from behind the man, a fairy’s voice could be heard.

“Giving up?”

“I’m giving up.”

“You know what will happen, right? There are still points remaining. If there’s anything you can do, you might as well try more.”

“No, I can’t win. It’s not like I can beat him by stalling for time anyway, so let’s just end it here.”

Suddenly, from behind the man, the sound of breaking bones echoed along with something bursting out.

It was like the sound of something inside a living creature’s body being torn apart and forcibly trying to burst out.

Hearing that terrible sound, the man did not turn his head.

No, he couldn’t turn it.

Because he knew all too well that the result of the terrible event happening behind him would be a death march that would soon take his life.

‘I’m going to die.’

He had been prepared for it.

Sitting in front of the monitor in the dark room, watching countless texts appear on the screen and deciding the deaths of adventurers who had once been living humans countless times, he knew that he too would someday meet a miserable end.

However, being prepared didn’t make the fear of death disappear.

-Crack-

The sound of something massive that had burst out from inside the small fairy’s body kicking off the ground echoed through the room.

“Look at me.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Before I grab your head and force you to turn around.”

The man sighed and forcibly turned his chair, which didn’t want to turn, to look behind him.

There, instead of the fairy that had always chattered and flown around beside the man, was a 2-meter-tall monster dripping red blood from its entire body.

“Is that your true form?”

“I have no true form. Just as you hoped for the appearance of a winged fairy when you first met me, my current appearance is merely the form of death you desire.”

“I never wished to be killed by such a terrible monster.”

“Your subconscious says otherwise. I am a dream. Some call me night, some call me nightmare. Some call me hope, some call me goal. I existed even before the first intelligent being awakened its ego, and countless civilizations have walked the path to destruction while chasing the illusions I showed them. I ask you: what is a dream?”

If the same question had been asked in the past, the man in tracksuit would have given a completely different answer, but now the man knew the definitive answer to the monster’s question.

“It’s nothing.”

“That’s right. A dream is just a dream, nothing when you wake up and see. So don’t be afraid. You too are just waking up from a long sweet dream and having a brief nightmare.”

Watching the monster’s mouth open with a ‘crack’ sound wide enough to swallow him whole, the man thought.

‘Dreams are beings that fulfill what you desire, even if only in delusion. Was I also one of those powerless beings who was dreaming?’

Now the moment to wake up had come.

Perhaps the moment had come to escape from a happy dream and dream a new dream called nightmare, the man thought as he slowly closed his eyes.

“You’re not even struggling?”

“Well, it’s not like I could win even if I struggled. Do as you please. This was promised from the beginning anyway.”

Unlike the man’s words that sounded like he had given up, there was a small smile on the man’s lips.

‘I left a hint. The rest depends on what that mage does.’

-Crunch, squelch, crunch-

In the room where only the faint light from the old computer monitor flowed out, the terrible sound of chewing bones and flesh echoed chillingly.

***

“Dream, huh…”

Sung-jun was looking at the magic clay remaining where the sorcerer-type monster’s body had collapsed.

Among the irregularly collapsed clay pieces, clay shaped like the Japanese word ‘ゆめ (dream)’ that had been cleverly left behind caught Sung-jun’s attention.

Looking at the characters presumably left by the person who had been controlling the monsters in the dungeon until now, Sung-jun was pondering why that person had left him the message of ‘dream’.

‘Dream… dream…’

The first thought that came to Sung-jun’s mind was whether this message itself might be a trap.

However, Sung-jun dismissed the first possibility, judging that there wouldn’t be a trap that could cause fatal damage to him just by showing the word ‘dream’.

‘Even after using every available means, he was defeated, so the man in tracksuit who was controlling the monsters was probably killed by the Corrosion Entity. Then this is likely a message he left for me.’

Wondering why the man facing death had conveyed the word ‘dream’ to him, who was essentially an enemy, Sung-jun began to contemplate the meaning of the word ‘dream’ itself.

A space that could make everything you imagine come true like reality.

A space that was difficult to control according to your will, even if it was your own dream.

A space where it was difficult to easily realize that you were dreaming while you were dreaming.

A space where all kinds of transcendent things impossible in reality could happen.

Having contemplated that far, Sung-jun soon realized what kind of space the word ‘dream’ had similar characteristics to.

‘A dungeon. Then am I dreaming right now?’

It was possible.

A method of extracting only consciousness the moment you pass through the dungeon entrance that looks like a dimensional gate, pushing it into a world made of dreams, and when you come out, applying the rewards obtained in the dream and the trained body to the original flesh and sending it out.

While designing magic in his head that could implement a similar world with complex spells of dimension, mystery, element, illusion, mind, life, transformation, and foresight, Sung-jun soon discovered the fatal flaw in the spell he was creating and shook his head.

‘No, it might be possible if the target is a single entity, but making tens of thousands of people simultaneously active in the same dream world is nearly impossible. Above all, the efficiency is too poor.’

Such large-scale magic was magic that even his Teacher, who was stronger than himself, would be unable to implement, so Sung-jun erased from his mind the possibility that the entire dungeon might be a space made of dreams.

‘However, it might be possible to implement it partially.’

The moment Sung-jun thought of new magic in his head, a dimensional gate opened in the middle of the dungeon.

And from within it, a black monster slowly walked out, chewing on a severed human arm.

“Finally here.”

“The core is one more floor down, but it’s too cramped there. This place is suitable for a proper fight. Shall we start with introductions? My name is Lord of the Labyrinth. There’s an original pronunciation, but it’s difficult for humans to pronounce, so it would be convenient to call me by the roughly translated name.”

“My name is Ma Sungjun. I am the 31st Demon King and disciple of the 30th Demon King Minastrias.”

“Ah, so you were that one’s disciple. No wonder. Then it makes sense. The ability that one has doesn’t have good compatibility with me.”

Magic that implements imagination into reality and the Lord of the Labyrinth’s ability to implement dreams into reality were abilities that were practically polar opposites.

Since both were abilities that forced the reality they wanted onto their opponent, if they had similar levels of reality implementation ability, no winner could be determined.

Knowing this well, the Lord of the Labyrinth immediately launched a preemptive attack toward Sung-jun.

“Well, still, a mere mage can’t beat me in the world I created. I already dominate the laws of this space. So die.”

In an instant, before Sung-jun could even react, Sung-jun’s upper body exploded.

Then the restoration magic Sung-jun had cast on his body immediately tried to restore Sung-jun’s broken body, but black flames were burning the wounded area, preventing Sung-jun’s body from regenerating.

“Sorry, but regeneration abilities based on magic don’t work. My flames can block all recovery abilities within the world I dominate.”

Suddenly, the black flames that had been fiercely burning around Sung-jun’s body changed to rainbow colors with light.

Then they were sucked into Sung-jun’s wounded area and instantly restored Sung-jun’s blown-away upper body.

“You’re absorbing flames imbued with the authority of non-regeneration?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. I’ve already figured out that you don’t have that ability.”

As Sung-jun expected, the ability the opponent was using was an authority close to a kind of suggestion.

An authority of world erosion that would be fulfilled if the opponent believed his words and thought that regeneration authority was being hindered, and would have no effect if the opponent didn’t believe it.

Coincidentally, twisting the laws that constitute the world and implementing phenomena he thought of was one of a mage’s specialties, so Sung-jun easily nullified the ‘divine words’ the opponent uttered and forcibly activated his magic.

“The most basic of magic basics is believing in your own imagination. I trained believing that magic I had never seen or experienced would exist, even in situations where mana was too scarce to use almost any magic. Since the structure was theoretically possible to activate with just mana, I learned magic by implementing in my imagination and mind magic that I couldn’t test or use. Don’t think you can shatter my belief with mere divine words spouted from your mouth.”

When Sung-jun spread both arms, two huge magic circles were summoned at his fingertips.

“Come at me. Let’s test whose conviction is stronger – mine, who reached the 10th Circle with the belief that unusable magic exists, or yours, who believes you can dominate reality with a single word.”

***

There was a young monster born as a mutant and abandoned at the edge of a forest cliff full of magical beasts.

A young monster with the terrible talent of being able to cause pain to listeners with just its crying.

The young monster abandoned in the forest cried out desperately in hunger, and the weak infant’s crying was like bait that attracted the attention of powerful magical beasts.

Seeing the monsters approaching with gleaming eyes to devour it, the young monster felt a threat to its life.

And it began to cry louder.

‘Stay away from me!’

Divine words filled with will struck the magical beasts’ eardrums, but the beasts’ steps did not stop.

Because the intent contained in the baby monster’s crying was just unpleasant noise to the beasts who were like rulers of the forest.

The moment the panther-like monster that had been approaching the young monster first bared its huge fangs, a statistically impossible miracle occurred.

The ground the panther had stepped on with its weight could not bear the weight and collapsed.

Whether this was simply a phenomenon by chance or a phenomenon caused by the young monster’s divine words trying to eliminate the monster approaching it, it was the moment when the will contained in the child’s crying was first ‘fulfilled’ into reality.

‘I screamed for it not to come, and the approaching monster fell off the cliff and died.’

The young monster didn’t have enough thinking ability to consider that this might be a coincidence.

It was simply unable to hide its amazement at the reality that the result of its screaming had unfolded before its eyes.

And at that moment, the Young Monster’s cries began to be imbued with a completely different ‘authority’ than before.

‘Die! Fall! Don’t come near me!’

When the Young Monster shouted with will, the giant monsters coughed up blood and collapsed, leaping off the cliff.

The mutant, who had come to ‘believe’ that everything it desired would be realized in reality, acquired the absolute magic that manifested the phenomena it imagined into reality with a single word. ‘Divine Speech.’

‘Magic manifested through Divine Speech is theoretically identical to magic. It’s just that since it can be activated through will and imagination alone, the manifestation speed is incomparably faster than ordinary magic, and the magic’s manifestation power is strengthened by the caster’s belief contained within.’

If mages manipulate reality through mana, then the Lord of the Labyrinth manipulates reality through will.

Before an opponent who manipulated reality freely through what amounted to cheating, Sung-jun was frantically pouring out incredibly complex high-level spells at an insane calculation speed.

“Explode! Burn! Pierce! Shatter! Tear!”

Every time the angry Monster’s roar echoed through the dungeon, the mana masses Sung-jun had fired were shattered, burned, and exploded in midair.

Watching the mana masses created through tremendously complex calculation processes crumble futilely, Sung-jun wore a smile on his lips.

‘It’s like fighting a Dragon.’

The beings with abilities most similar to ‘Divine Speech’ were Dragons, who could use ‘Dragon Speech.’

Unlike mages like Sung-jun who used magic dependent on mana circuits, Dragons born with absolute mana control abilities could produce effects equivalent to absolute magic simply by uttering words imbued with their will.

Therefore, Dragons who encountered mages challenging them would invariably say the same thing.

‘You dare challenge the master of magic while crudely copying others’ authority!’

When Sung-jun asked Teacher, who was talking about Dragons, ‘Then can mages never defeat Dragons?’, Minastrias, Sung-jun’s Teacher, answered him like this.

‘Among the lizards that said such things to me, not a single one is still alive today.’

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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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