The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 94

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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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#094. Inherent World

When fighting dragons that use dragon speech, the most troublesome point was that ‘dragons are not subject to magic.’

Of course, dragons can also be wounded by magic.

However, magic that could wound dragons was limited to indirect damage from ‘matter’ created by magic, like metal pillars summoned through Void Sky Spear or meteors summoned through Meteor spells. Spells that targeted the opponent directly, such as curses or mental magic, could not be used on dragons.

In the first place, for mages who manipulated reality through will using mana, overwhelming a dragon’s reality manipulation ability that could alter reality with a single word was nearly impossible.

Having learned this fact from his teacher, Sung-jun judged that the Dungeon Master who used divine speech similar to dragon speech would have similar abilities, so he sealed most spells that targeted opponents and engaged in combat using only spells that indirectly exerted physical force.

Conversely, the opponent was mainly using divine speech that targeted Sung-jun’s body, trying to destroy Sung-jun’s flesh.

“You cannot regenerate your body!”

The moment the Dungeon Master shouted, Sung-jun’s body began to change violently.

Feeling that the body restoration spell he had cast on himself was being violently interfered with by the divine speech the Dungeon Master had declared, Sung-jun immediately imbued his mana with strong will to alter reality and nullified the Dungeon Master’s divine speech.

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

“How dare you try to ignore the rules I created in the world I made!”

“Mages don’t believe in gods!”

“I’ll burst that useless mouth of yours first!”

Sung-jun felt all the blood in his body rushing to his head and staggered with dizziness.

However, Sung-jun ignored the pain in his head that felt like it would burst at any moment and swept both hands left and right.

Then the blood that received Sung-jun’s will returned to its proper place, and Sung-jun’s blood flow was forcibly normalized.

“Why won’t it burst!”

“Because my body belongs to me.”

Feeling the body restoration magic rapidly recovering from the damage inflicted by the divine speech, Sung-jun said.

“A mage’s body is itself no different from a magic tower. Just as an excellent lord builds solid fortress walls and cultivates their territory, a mage wields mana to train their flesh and build circles. What’s most important to a mage is mental imagery. Making the impossible possible through will alone, making things that could never happen come to pass. That is the essence of magic.”

The words coming from Sung-jun’s mouth were also divine speech.

Not divine speech that redefined the world’s rules like the Dungeon Master’s, but divine speech that redefined his own body.

Mana imbued with Sung-jun’s will was reconstructing every part of Sung-jun’s body, newly building Sung-jun’s flesh.

‘Meeting this guy here was actually fortunate.’

Fighting an opponent who used divine speech for the first time in his life, Sung-jun was rapidly learning how to use divine speech.

From the method of imbuing words with will to change reality’s rules, to the flow of mana that fluctuated each time the opponent uttered divine speech.

A theoretical genius who had crossed the wall of the 10th Circle without even knowing it while refining magic he couldn’t even use only in his imagination was now trying to make even divine speech his own.

“Split!!”

The divine speech that had severed Sung-jun’s arm in an instant just moments ago echoed through the dungeon once more.

However, his body, which had already come completely under Sung-jun’s control, ignored the divine speech the Dungeon Master uttered and followed only Sung-jun’s control.

“Burst!”

Once again the divine speech that had burst Sung-jun’s body erupted, but no change occurred in Sung-jun’s flesh.

Then the Dungeon Master, clearly flustered, shouted at Sung-jun.

“What the hell did you do!”

“I told you. A mage’s body is itself no different from a magic tower.”

Sung-jun pounded his chest with his fist as he spoke.

“This is my domain. It’s not a domain that someone like you can dominate with a few words.”

Even while having this conversation, Sung-jun’s body was endlessly collapsing and being rebuilt, advancing step by step toward a new realm.

-What do you think magic is?

Teacher’s voice echoed in Sung-jun’s head.

-It is using mana to change reality with one’s will.

Past Sung-jun had answered Teacher that way.

However, Sung-jun’s teacher smiled at his disciple’s answer and shook his head.

-No.

-Then what is magic?

-Magic refers to all acts of changing reality by imbuing it with will.

-Isn’t that what I said?

-No. You’re interpreting magic within too limited a meaning. A woodcutter cutting trees with an axe to build a house is also magic, and a swordsman swinging a wooden sword to build muscle is also magic. A lion biting a sheep’s neck to change a living sheep into a dead sheep is also magic, and weeds receiving sunlight to bloom flowers is also magic.

-If all of that is magic, what am I learning now?

-Well…

With a mysterious smile that was incomprehensible at the time, Teacher said.

-You might be studying more efficient ways to change reality.

Listening to Teacher’s voice echoing in his head, Sung-jun opened his mouth.

“Burst.”

-Boooooom!!-

With the sound of living flesh exploding, the giant arm of the black magical beast scattered in all directions.

Then the Dungeon Master, looking at his arm with disbelieving eyes, opened his huge mouth and let out an angry roar.

“Gaaaaaahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Shut up.”

The moment Sung-jun spoke, invisible enormous pressure crushed the Dungeon Master’s jaw.

As the Dungeon Master’s mouth was forcibly closed, amazingly, the Dungeon Master’s upper and lower lips began to melt together as if they had been one from the beginning.

-Sizzzzzzle-

“Don’t… mock me!!”

Dark red blood flowed like a waterfall from the mouth of the Dungeon Master, who had forcibly torn apart his mouth that had already become a lump of flesh, spilling onto the dungeon floor.

“I… told you, didn’t I? …This world is mine.”

The moment the Dungeon Master finished speaking, the world began to turn upside down.

A strange sensation as if he were not human but a small piece placed on a board game.

And the feeling of giant hands roughly kneading the board on which that piece was placed.

A sun rose in a space that should have been a cave, and an endless horizon revealed itself.

Irresistible waves rushed in to surround everything, and the ground supporting his feet crumbled away.

In cold fire, hot ice, and reversed gravity, the world was spinning furiously.

‘Inherent World.’

The ultimate realm pursued by mages who ignite flames in empty air and turn stones into gold.

The ultimate magic of creating worlds through will alone, ignoring all laws of reality, unfolded before Sung-jun’s eyes.

“This world is my world. Your magic will have no power, and all rules will be as I desire them to be.”

Sung-jun intuited that all the phenomena madly stirring the world he stood in were not illusion magic but actually occurring reality.

The fact that he had literally entered a world created by his opponent.

Like dirty germs that had entered a healthy body, every element composing the world was rejecting Sung-jun’s very existence.

‘Disappear. Disappear. Disappear.’

Under the enormous pressure as if the world itself was denying his existence, Sung-jun quietly smiled.

“Really? Your world, you say?”

Then he raised his hand to point at his opponent and said.

“Then why are you still bleeding?”

Blood was still trickling from the Dungeon Master’s mouth.

As if showing that while he could manipulate all the world’s rules according to his will, he couldn’t heal the wounds Sung-jun had inflicted according to his will.

Sung-jun was seeing through the sensation of ‘fear’ carved deep in his opponent’s eyes that were stained with madness.

“Extinguish the sun, burn the moon, overturn the earth, dry the seas. This is certainly your world. And I’m just an uninvited guest who has entered your world.”

“If you know that, then why do you reject the world’s laws!”

“Because I’m a mage.”

Sung-jun smiled and spread both arms left and right.

Then the world that had been mixed in chaos began to change rapidly.

Not the space inside the dungeon where the two had existed, but into a world like cosmic space where countless magic circles sparkled like stars in the night sky.

It was Sung-jun’s created Inherent World that looked like a special space existing only for mages.

“Welcome to my world.”

Toward the Dungeon Master who was looking at him with disbelieving eyes, Sung-jun said.

“Uninvited intruder.”

The flow of the world that had been denying Sung-jun’s existence began to move to erase the Dungeon Master’s existence.

***

“A mere mortal who is not even a god dares to declare himself master of the world!”

“Sorry, but you’re not a god either. No, even if you were a god, it wouldn’t matter. I don’t believe in gods anyway.”

As two beings with absolute will clashed their intentions against the world, two different worlds violently collided and exploded outward.

It was a battle like black paint and red paint mixing together like ink in painted worlds.

-KWAAAAANG!!-

With an explosive sound, the red world pushed back the domain of the black world, and countless magic circles at the boundary of the domains spun fiercely while emitting light.

Then the black world that had been tainted by the red world instantly regained its darkness and began erasing the red world.

In a battle that seemed more like worlds colliding with each other rather than magic versus magic, Sung-jun calmly adjusted the laws of the world.

And finally, the black world Sung-jun created began erasing the opponent’s world like an eraser.

“Why! This is impossible! A world created by a mere mortal!”

The power to twist the laws of the world and make one’s will into reality.

Amid the fierce collision between the two forces that the Dungeon Master called ‘divine will’ and Sung-jun called ‘magic’, Sung-jun’s magic was overwhelming the divine will.

-KWAAAAANG!!-

The red world that had resisted until the end disappeared with an explosive sound, and the Inherent World Sung-jun created completely enveloped the Dungeon Master’s body.

This meant that the dominion over the world the Dungeon Master had created had completely passed to the mage before him.

“This is my world now.”

Hearing Sung-jun’s voice that sounded like divine words, the Dungeon Master collapsed to his knees.

Watching this, Sung-jun slowly raised his hand as if to finish things.

“Let me ask one thing.”

Hearing the Dungeon Master’s voice that seemed to have given up everything, Sung-jun stopped his movement.

“I am a god. You are human. Why did the god lose in a world created by the god?”

After pondering for a moment, Sung-jun sighed and opened his mouth.

“Because I’m a theorist.”

“What do you mean?”

“When you put your will into creating flames, you probably thought like this: ‘Burn bright.'”

“Because that’s how to use divine words.”

“Mages are different. They control the oxygen concentration in the space to be burned and determine the catalyst to combine with oxygen. They adjust the wind direction so the fire stays within the desired range and control the amount of mana to supply so the flames are maintained for the desired time.

If you command the world to change reality, mages create ‘procedures’ to change reality. When you desperately wish for flames to appear to burn the opponent before you, mages create definite ‘conditions’ that make it inevitable for the opponent to burn.

If beings who use divine words ‘believe’ their desires will be fulfilled when they speak divine words, mages ‘know’ their desires will be fulfilled when they cast spells.”

“…Is it a difference in faith?”

“That’s right. And I ‘know’ this. The moment I snap my fingers, all ‘illegal intruders’ in my world will disappear from my world.”

“…I see…”

Watching Sung-jun press his thumb and middle finger together to snap his fingers, the Dungeon Master said.

“It was a mistake. Showing you divine words.”

“Thanks to that, I learned something good.”

-Snap!-

When Sung-jun snapped his fingers, the pitch-black world filled with magic circles slowly crumbled and began returning to the original space.

Along with the black monster that was glaring at Sung-jun from within.

Following Yeojiggwi, this was the futile end of the second Apocalypse-class Corrosion Entity that Sung-jun had defeated.

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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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