The Archmage’s Swordsmanship Is Too Strong - Chapter 30

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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30
Chapter 30. The System’s Blade
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Screeeech—!!
A sharp metallic screech tore through the stillness, piercing the eardrums.
Into the night air still thick with the lingering residue of a freshly summoned Gate, the acrid stench of burning rubber rose from tire tracks gouging the ground.
The yellow control barrier at the Gate entrance proved utterly useless.
Three massive black SUVs had plowed through it and come to rest, their polished obsidian surfaces catching and throwing back the moonlight.
On the vehicle’s flank, an eagle emblem etched in gold leaf gleamed arrogantly beneath the fluorescent lights, alongside the acronym [G.A.R.M] printed below it.
The excavation site, which moments before had been alive with the sound of pickaxes and the bustling noise of Mana Stone sorting, froze in an instant.
Tools fell from the workers’ hands, and only ragged breathing lingered in the air. At the end of their stares lay an ominous shadow beyond the dark tinted glass.
Bang, thud!
Heavy car doors opened simultaneously, and the sound of dress shoes striking pavement echoed out.
It was a sight utterly incongruous with the excavation site, which reeked of dust, blood, and the corpses of monsters.
Perfectly tailored bespoke suits without a thread out of place, Oxford shoes polished to a mirror shine.
The gold badges pinned to their left chests proclaimed the authority of the Gate Management Bureau, which reigned above all physical order here.
“Those bastards.”
Kim Dae Han, standing beside me, clenched his jaw.
The elation that had lit his face moments before—like a child discovering a Mana Stone vein—drained away, replaced by the ashen pallor of exhaustion.
The Gate Management Bureau.
The colossal organization that held the power of life and death over hunters through license management, controlled Gate ownership, and dominated the entire distribution network of excavated Mana Stones.
They always appeared first after a hunt concluded, carving away the choicest portions for themselves.
I surveyed the men who had stepped from the vehicles.
Three men leading the group. The Mana Fluctuation I felt in their strides and breathing was far from negligible.
The tension of muscle visible through fabric, the density of Aura pressing down on the surrounding air—these were no ordinary bureaucrats.
They were seasoned combat hunters, at least B-rank. There was no reason to deploy such force for a routine inspection or site visit.
“Do Jin, step back a moment, please. These are Management Bureau personnel. I’ll do what I can to hold them off.”
Kim Dae Han moved in front of me, planting his feet. His shoulders trembled slightly, but his eyes remained fixed and steady.
At that moment, the man standing foremost in the group strode forward. Mid-thirties, with sharp, irritable eyes and thin lips that made an impression.
He withdrew a business card holder from his jacket and spoke in a dry tone.
“Gate Management Bureau, Administration Division. Jung Chan Hyun.”
His voice was stripped of emotion—neither angry nor respectful toward his counterpart.
It was the voice of a bureaucrat treating the situation before him as nothing more than a tedious sheaf of paperwork to be processed—mechanical and contemptuous.
“Yes, thank you for coming. G-City Hall, Ability Management Team, Kim Dae Han. I’d like to ask what brings you here without advance notice.”
“I came because I have business here.”
Jung Chan Hyun brushed aside Kim Dae Han’s greeting and scanned the interior of the Gate.
His gaze fell on the pile of blue Mana Stones that the workers had just excavated and were loading into containers.
Upon spotting the high-grade Mana Stones gleaming with clear brilliance, the corner of his mouth twisted slightly.
“This Gate, identification number C-06720. As of this moment, it falls under direct control of our Management Bureau. All civilian workers are to abandon equipment immediately and evacuate the perimeter. Refusal will be treated as interference with official duties.”
Before he had even finished speaking, the Bureau personnel behind him fanned out in a semicircle, pressing the workers back. It was a unilateral declaration.
“That makes no sense! This Gate was Cleared by a hunter from our team, and we transmitted the Conquest Authority completion report to the System just moments ago. By law, the right to manage and excavate naturally belongs to G-City Hall!”
“Team Leader Kim.”
Jung Chan Hyun chuckled softly and tilted his head slightly. His tone was that of a teacher explaining common sense to a whining child—contemptuous and patronizing.
“How convenient administration would be if it were so simple. The Gate Management Bureau handled the initial discovery and Conquest Authority registration. We then delegated Conquest Authority to Buckler Guild, and when Buckler declared the Gate unclaimable and returned their authority to us, the system recorded that return at 18:55 today.”
He tapped the Italian watch on his wrist with his finger.
“This Gate’s administrative status is direct Management Bureau control. Whatever you did by sneaking in, it falls under the Bureau’s jurisdiction. Do you follow?”
“Don’t play word games with me!”
Kim Dae Han’s voice rose sharply, trembling. His fists clenched so tightly the knuckles turned white.
“Buckler caused a disaster and fled. Our team’s hunter risked his life going in to clean up their mess! If we’d been ten minutes later, the goblin forces would have poured into the surrounding residential areas! Isn’t it the foundation of Hunter Special Law that priority goes to whoever actually Clears the Gate?”
“Foundation of the law?”
Jung Chan Hyun let out a short, hollow laugh. In the next moment, the formality drained from his gaze, replaced by cold contempt.
“You bureaucrats got lucky landing the final blow—now you want to talk about rights? I heard it was a goblin Gate. We would have handled it easily enough. Don’t take credit you don’t deserve.”
In his words, I felt the bitter mockery that poured out from somewhere behind him.
No—they knew the truth.
They knew, but they had to diminish its value to justify their own seizure. I took a step forward.
“It wasn’t merely goblins. The System logs record Mana Fluctuation from a Legion-class Shaman. You couldn’t have missed that.”
At my words, Jung Chan Hyun’s gaze finally fixed on me. He looked me up and down, then let out a scornful snort.
“The Clear time was 19:05?”
He laughed bitterly and continued.
“You’re telling me you took down a legion led by a Shaman in ten minutes alone? At least make your fiction plausible. Did you hide in some cave corner and watch, then plant your flag after it was all over? Or did Buckler do all the work and you just threw in a spoon?”
The Gate Management Bureau hunters behind him snickered and jostled each other’s shoulders. The air grew heavier by the moment.
“Fine, if you want the Gate Clear achievement that badly, take it. I’ll throw in a commendation too, and get you an award from the mayor. Should I have the Bureau Chief send over a plaque by courier?”
Jung Chan Hyun folded his arms and tilted his chin up with arrogant defiance.
“But this Mana Stone isn’t negotiable. It’s a national asset. So don’t overstep your authority and clear out—take all those workers with you.”
“You crazy bastards—! Get the Bureau Chief on the phone right now! I’ll turn this whole thing upside down myself!”
Kim Dae Han exploded with rage. But Jung Chan Hyun didn’t even blink. Instead, he affected a casual air, pretending to clean his ear.
“Don’t be unreasonable, Team Leader Kim. We operate strictly by the regulations.”
“What?”
He pointed at me dismissively with a single finger.
“Mana Stone mining rights can only be exercised by registered Guilds or the Bureau’s headquarters—surely you haven’t forgotten Hunter Special Law Article 12? Your esteemed Hunter here, does she belong to a registered Guild? No. The G-City Hall Ability Management Team is just a related agency without Guild registration. You have no mining authority whatsoever.”
It was a loophole exploited with surgical precision—the bureaucrat’s signature move. Ignore the sweat and blood of the field, then rob away all value with a few words scrawled on paper.
“Still, that Barrier you set up is impressive. Thought you were just an incompetent paper-pusher, but looks like you earn your keep.”
Jung Chan Hyun sneered and jabbed the toe of his shoe at the Mana Fluctuation line of the defensive Barrier that Kim Dae Han had erected.
The previously clear surface of the Barrier trembled and shrieked under his boot.
I watched the thread of patience snap in Kim Dae Han’s eyes.
“These bastards… what do they know about the field?!”
Kim Dae Han clenched his fist and lunged forward in a single aggressive stride.
Whoosh—
As though he’d been waiting for exactly that reaction, a hulking hunter stepped out from the shadow behind Jung Chan Hyun. His face twisted with malice, his eyes cold with killing intent.
He reached for Kim Dae Han’s clavicle, his massive hand spreading like a pot lid. This was no mere threat.
Dense Aura coalesced at his fingertips, cleaving the air with a sharp whistle.
If that blow connected, it would be far more than shattered bone.
‘Goblins.’
Creatures that trampled the weak, extorted the achievements of others, and hid behind the mask of authority.
If they were indistinguishable from monsters, then the treatment they deserved should be the same.
“Aaaaaah!!”
A dull, tearing sound and a scream that shattered the silence engulfed the site.
The scream did not belong to Kim Dae Han. It came from the massive Bureau hunter who had been trying to pulverize his shoulder.
His enormous wrist was bent at an impossible angle in mid-air, and my hand was twisting it without mercy.
Each time my fingers drove deeper between the bones and joints of his wrist, a sickening crunch rippled outward.
“Let go… let go!! Argh!!”
I now stood before Kim Dae Han, looking down at the man with his face flushed crimson with agony.
The muscle in his arm convulsed in my grip, and his Aura scattered into fragments.
“No.”
Crack. Snap.
Bone and cartilage tore with a horrible sound that rang through the night air. The faces of the agents standing nearby drained of all color in an instant.
They hadn’t even been able to track my movements.
“Protecting my superior is part of my job.”
I wrenched the captured wrist and drove it downward. A wave of killing intent poured out from my body, sweeping across the surroundings.
The screaming hunter’s breath cut off, and his massive frame crashed to the ground like a doll with its strings cut.
He lay on the pavement, clutching his broken arm and emitting choked, strangled moans.
I shoved the pile of meat aside like garbage and turned slowly toward Jung Chan Hyun.
With each step I took, the ground seemed to quake, and his pupils shook violently.
“What—what are you doing—?!”
Jung Chan Hyun stumbled backward in panic. The weakness inherent to those who hide behind the fortress of law and regulation and prey on others was laid bare for all to see.
Before actual, overwhelming violence, all the authority he possessed was nothing but scraps of paper. His heel caught in the gravel, and he nearly fell.
The fear that had trembled before my blade in the Gate was now mirrored perfectly in his expression.
“We’re also performing our official duties.”
One of his subordinates, frozen behind him, whispered urgently in his ear, his face ashen.
“D-Director… it’s that person. The A-rank hunter who was specially recruited this time…”
“A-rank…?”
The color drained from Jung Chan Hyun’s face. His pupils dilated as they searched my face.
His mind was now racing through legal precedents and political calculations to escape this situation.
But the thrashing of a terrified rat always falls within predictable bounds.
“So what if you’re A-rank?! You just assaulted a Bureau official performing his duties! That’s aggravated assault—license revocation and hard time, you know that?!”
“Assault?”
I didn’t slow my pace. Thud, thud. Each rhythmic step sounded like the tolling of a death knell in his ears.
Kim Dae Han had already retreated to a safe distance behind me, and nothing stood in my way.
“He was the one who reached out with killing intent. And you trespassed on someone else’s legitimate management zone, destroyed property, and made threats. I’d say Self Defense more than covers it.”
“We were exercising our Conquest Authority according to legal procedure—!”
“Stop the wordplay.”
I stepped forward until I was inches from his face, and when I stared down at him—a full head shorter than me—Jung Chan Hyun froze, barely able to draw breath.
A bead of cold sweat traced down his jawline from his forehead.
“Why don’t you go check the system again? See who really has the Conquest Authority.”
“···What are you saying?”
“The Conquest Authority. It’s been confirmed as ours—the Ability Management Team.”
Jung Chan Hyun furrowed his brow and gestured with a trembling hand to the subordinate standing behind him. The man scrambled to pull out a terminal and began typing frantically.
A moment later, the subordinate’s face drained of all color as he stared at the screen.
“S-sir···”
Jung Chan Hyun snatched the terminal from his hands. His eyes convulsed violently as he read the display.
The data I’d transferred to myself inside the Gate by directly interfering with the System’s authority hierarchy had already overwritten the central server’s administrative records.
Before the absolute proof granted by the System, any document created by human hands was worthless.
“How is this···? Just moments ago···”
He fought to steady his trembling hands, then twisted his face into a bitter smile, drawing himself up.
“Fine, fine. Conquest Authority? All right, let’s say it was a System error or whatever—you took it. But there’s one thing that doesn’t change: when there’s no Guild, mining rights automatically revert to the Management Bureau. That clause is ironclad!”
He thrust his chin forward, mustering what remained of his arrogance.
“Your Ability Management Team isn’t a Guild, is it? The law is clear—the law! How could a bunch of bureaucrat Hunters without so much as the qualifications to bring in mining equipment possibly take the Mana Stones?”
He wasn’t wrong.
Government Hunters, mostly F-rank and E-rank, couldn’t even meet the requirements to establish a Guild.
A Guild Master had to be at least B-rank, and registration alone took a minimum of a month. He’d found his loophole in the system’s red tape.
“No Guild, so no mining rights?”
“Exactly. Like I said, we follow the law and procedure.”
I pulled out my smartphone. The personal contact an old woman with cold eyes had pressed into my hand during the final interview of the Hunter Exam.
Her words echoed in my mind—that she’d be there for me whenever I needed her.
I pressed the speaker button and initiated the call.
Beep… beep… beep…
The ringtone flowed through the speaker, filling the space before the Gate with sound.
Jung Chan Hyun glared at my phone without understanding, while the Management Bureau agents swallowed hard, their ears fixed on that ringing tone.
Click.
The tone cut off, and a smooth, cultured woman’s voice came through the receiver.
[My, Kim Do Jin. What brings you to call at this hour?]
[I do hope your first day was satisfactory.]
The moment that voice reached his ears, Jung Chan Hyun’s face turned to stone. The arrogance that had gleamed in his eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by primal terror.
“Association Chairman, I’d like to form a Guild.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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