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Chapter 111




SMH 111
Chapter 37 – The Empire Moves (3)
TL: Boko
Editor: Frost
“L-Let me live…”
A middle aged Mage wearing the robes of the Tactical Magic Tower looked at Sung Joon and pleaded for his life. However, Sung Joon stared down at him, his expression cold, like that of ice.
“Let you live?”
“Y-Yeah! Let me live! Please!” Sung Joon also replied in the other world language. As soon as the Mage realized that Sung Joon could speak their language, his face lit up with hope.
“You probably heard others plea for their lives several times before, too…” Sung Joon smiled cynically and said. The Mage couldn’t say anything.
“Did you let those kids live, the ones who pleaded for their lives?” Sung Joon asked, and the Mage remained silent. Sung Joon wordlessly raised his sword, and then, the Mage hastily opened his mouth.
“Why should I worry about those refugees!? No one cares about the likes of them!”
He didn’t need to hear anymore. Sung Joon swung his sword, and decapitated the Mage’s head. The severed head rolled onto the cold, stone floor, and the headless body spurted blood and collapsed.
“The eighth floor’s clear.”
Sung Joon brushed the blood off his priest vestments, and muttered. An icy killing intent overflowed from his voice. After Rishubalt checked their surroundings, he looked at Sung Joon and opened his mouth.
“You’ve completely cleared this floor. Please go up to the ninth floor.”
Sung Joon nodded his head and walked over to the ninth floor. The top floor of the Tactical Magic Tower was the twenty fifth floor. He hadn’t even gotten half way through yet.
When he reached the ninth floor, he was met by a vast plaza. Dozens of Magic Knights and three Mages were guarding the floor.
“All three Mages are high ranked,” Rishubalt warned. Through his own senses, Sung Joon felt that the amount of mana that these Mages possessed wasn’t normal.
“Facing the Sword Saint[1] with high rank mages, as well as dozens of Magic Knights, huh… Not bad.”
Sung Joon’s eyes gleamed.
“There’s also a high rank Magic Knight mixed in as well,” Rishubalt reported.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll kill them all instantly,” Sung Joon replied. He had consumed a lot of mana to reach the ninth floor, but because he had constantly absorbed their stamina and mana, he was still comfortable.
“Wouldn’t it be best to use the Dragon Fear?” Rishubalt said. The high rank Mages and the Magic Knights had already begun their casting. One of the high rank Mages, and the Magic Knights possessed incredible fast casting speed, and a few of them were already speaking the activation words.
“Howl, Roel!”
Sung Joon infused mana into his sword, Roel, and dashed forward. His speed was such that he was like a gunshot.
Roar.
Sung Joon pushed past two Magic Knights, and the moment he got into the center of their formation, Roel cried out.
“Ugh!”
“D-Dragon… Urgh!”
The roar halted the casting of the three high rank Mages, as well as the dozens of Magic Knights, and caused their bodies to stiffen. The few of them that had been gathering mana had that same mana twist within their bodies, so they sustained internal injuries and even vomited blood.
“Tempest Sword.”
Sung Joon calmly spoke the activation words from within the center of their formation, and used his Tempest Sword. As the sword winds raged, the group of Magic Knights were cut apart.
“AH!”
“S-Save me!”
They attempted to use their Shields, but their bodies hadn’t loosened completely. Therefore, they weren’t able manifest the Shields, and simply spurted blood and collapsed.
“Shield!”
One of the high rank Mages who had regained control of his mana first, cast his Shield. He saved eight of the Magic Knights with his Shield, but the others either died, or were fatally injured and collapsed.
“All of you, be careful! His swordsmanship’s from the Knight Brigade!”
A different high rank Mage warned. The Magic Knights uneasily nodded their heads. Their sight was filled with the bodies of their fallen comrades who couldn’t even resist and fell against that cruel swordsmanship like scarecrows.
“Nothing’s changed.”
They saw through his swordsmanship, but Sung Joon didn’t panic, and calmly swung his sword, cutting down the number of Magic Knights.
“Fire Wall!”
The moment he cut down the final Magic Knight, he heard a sharp cry, and two high rank Mages blocked off his path from the front and back with their Fire Walls.
And the last remaining high rank Mage completed his casting, and drew up a considerable amount of mana.
“Blizzard!”
The high ranked magic, Blizzard.
A tempest of ice rained down upon him. However, Sung Joon didn’t panic and calmly dashed towards the Fire Wall, and used his Spell Breaking Sword.
The Spell Breaking Sword, the technique which dismantled the mana and destroyed the magic spell. At Sung Joon’s current level, he could use the Spell Breaking Sword against high rank magic as well.
So, the high ranked[3] Fire Wall was futilely cut through.
“He knows the Spell Breaking Sword too?”
“Is he the disciple of a Swordmaster?”
“Who betrayed us?”
The Magic Knights panicked at the sight of the Spell Breaking Sword. Though one could imitate the Spell Breaking Sword, using it this perfectly required that one learn a Swordmaster’s sight technique.
Sung Joon’s memories of his past as a Swordmaster weren’t complete, but a portion of them were left intact, so he was able to use the Spell Breaking Sword to nigh perfection.
“I don’t think that’s what you should be worried about right now.”
Sung Joon had already gotten behind them.
“Ugh!”
“AH!”
He swung his sword and two of the high rank Mages futilely fell. Sung Joon saw the last remaining Mage, and when he raised his sword…
“Blink!”
The high rank Mage utilized Blink and widened the distance. He was smiling; Sung Joon looked at the Mage, grinned, and opened his mouth.
“Blink.”
He spoke the activation words, and the ‘Imperial Army Pan-Dimensional Task Force’s Combat Boots’ skill, Blink, activated, and Sung Joon’s body disappeared, and reappeared right in front of the high rank Mage.
“T-This is the Pan-Dimensional Task… Ugh!”
Sung Joon’s lunge pierced through the Mage’s stomach, so he couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Absorb.”
Sung Joon had annihilated all of the ninth floor guards, and absorbed the mana and stamina from their corpses; after that, he went up to the next floor.
Perhaps the ninth floor was a center defense line, as he didn’t see any guards until the nineteenth floor, where he experienced a magic ambush. With Rishubalt’s help, he was able to break through the magic ambush.
“Welcome.”
As soon as he reached the twentieth floor, only one Mage greeted Sung Joon. He wore the robes that represented a high rank mage, but the amount of mana he possessed was close to that of an Archmage.
“It seems like he is close to becoming an Archmage,” Rishubalt reported. Sung Joon agreed with the opinion, so he just nodded very slightly. Eventually, Sung Joon walked to the center of the plaza, and the Mage opened his mouth with a calm expression.
“My name is Dukelis. I’m not curious about your name, but may I ask you a question?”
“Fine,” Sung Joon replied.
The Tactical Magic Tower was imprisoned within a barrier, and it was not only something that could never be broken from the outside, time also didn’t flow, so he had all the time in the world.
“You created a powerful dimensional barrier that cuts us out from the outside, as well as utilizing Dragon Fear… Are you a Dragon?”
“Nope.”
Sung Joon shook his head and replied. As soon as he did, Dukelis smirked.
“Good. If so, then I have no reason to be afraid of you!”
Dukelis shook his staff and lightning rained down upon Sung Joon. Sung Joon used his high-speed movement and opened his mouth as he avoided the spell.
“You should be more afraid of me, than a dragon.”
Sung Joon disappeared. Eventually, he reappeared behind Dukelis. The Mage, wearing a blue robe, didn’t panic and used Blink to widen the distance, while pointing his staff at Sung Joon.
“Lightning Bolt!”
A high rank magic; powerful lightning flew towards Sung Joon. He didn’t panic and cut through the lightning with his Spell Breaking Sword.
“A Swordmaster’s Spell Breaking Sword? I’m becoming more and more curious about you! I’ll capture you and…”
“And what, torture me in the basement?”
“Blin…”
“It’s too late.”
He lunged with his sword, aiming for Dukelis’s chest.
“Ugh!”
However, Sung Joon was the one who yelled in agony.
“My lord!” Rishubalt yelled urgently. Someone had stabbed Sung Joon from behind. He had aimed for Sung Joon’s head, but the instant his stealth had been released, Sung Joon had detected the person’s  presence and turned his body to the side; because of that, it ended with only his left shoulder being cut.
“Healing Spray!”
Sung Joon spread orbs of white light to confuse his enemies, then widened the distance with high-speed movement.
And he was able to see the assassin wearing a mask.
“It seems like he’s part of the Empire’s Special Forces, the Ghost Squad,” Rishubalt said.
“Yeah… I could barely feel his presence, so he should be a first class assassin.” Sung Joon nodded his head.
If he was a first class assassin, then his combat skills would be equivalent to a high tier S-rank monster.
Dukelis’s combat abilities also surpassed that of a low tier S-rank monster, so it was the same as him fighting against two S-rank monsters.
‘I can kill Dukelis instantly, but the assassin’s the problem.’
A first class assassin’s stealth was exceptional. It would be difficult to recklessly aim for the Mage in a situation like this.
Sung Joon narrowed his eyes and inspected the first class assassin’s movements. He silently hid his form within the darkness.
“Stealth.”
Sung Joon didn’t stay still. He also used his stealth and hid his form within the darkness. Seeing that, Dukelis was astonished.
“So you can even use stealth? But even so, I have a solution for that!” Dukelis yelled, overflowing with confidence, and began casting. Sung Joon wanted to stop him from doing so, but because the first class assassin was somewhere out there, he couldn’t move easily.
“My lord! It’s Arcane Magic[2]! It seems like it’ll be completed soon!” Rishubalt warned, but Sung Joon was on guard for the assassin that was aiming for his life, so he couldn’t move easily.’Since it’s come to this, I have no choice but to use the ‘Dragon’s Protection’ if I’m in a pinch.’
Sung Joon grabbed the ‘Dragon’s Protection’ that hung from his neck. The red gem felt cold to the touch. He calmly retreated to create as much distance as he could.
Because stealth wasn’t omnipotent, he didn’t forget to reduce his presence as much as possible.
“Ha!”
Eventually, Dukelis completed his magic and rather than speaking the activation words, he emitted a strange battle cry instead. Sung Joon heard the sound of thunder and lightning came from all directions. Seeing that, he smirked, and spoke ‘Shield’.
The magical barrier manifested and blocked all of the lightning, but he exposed himself to danger from the assassin who waited in the shadows looking for an opportunity to strike.
“S-Shield!”
Perhaps the assassin possessed a Shield item, as he spoke the activation words, but it wasn’t able to block the Arcane Magic. As the assassin’s Shield shattered, the first class assassin was killed by the electric shock.
“AH!”
The first class assassin yelled gruesomely and collapsed.
“N-No!”
Dukelis, who had unleashed the lightning type Arcane Magic, belatedly realized his folly, and cried out, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
Seeing that, Sung Joon grinned.
“What a nice team kill.”
Sung Joon’s stealth was released when he used his Shield, and before Dukelis could get a hold of himself, Sung Joon used his high-speed movement and closed the distance. Dukelis attempted to defend himself, but because he had used Arcane Magic just a little while ago, he couldn’t immediately cast magic right away.
“Illusionary Sword!”
“AH!”
Sung Joon used his decisive, finishing blow, Illusionary Sword, in order to kill Dukelis with certainty; he was stabbed gruesomely and died.
And Sung Joon absorbed the mana of his fallen foe.
“Your synchronization rate has become 43%,” Rishubalt reported. And Sung Joon’s measuring tool also responded, signaling that he had cleared the dungeon.
“This guy was the Boss?”
“The leader of the Magic Tower was probably absent, so it seems like he was recognized as the Boss. Your synchronization rate has additionally increased to 44% as a reward for clearing the dungeon.”
“Nice,” Sung Joon replied, and searched the assassin’s body, whose body was burnt black.
“Based on the gear he carries around, he’s definitely part of the Ghost Squad.”
“It seems like he was laying in wait. It seems that…”
“Yeah. The Empire is slowly starting to take notice of me and preparing.”
“It seems like the Awakening Dungeon’s difficulty will become even harder from here on out.”
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“But does that actually change anything? I’ll just kill them all,” Sung Joon replied without hesitation.
[1] Referring to his past self.
[2] Lower level than Blizzard. Both descriptors in front of the spell translate to “high rank” but the difference is only really noticeable in the original Korean. You’ll usually be able to tell which magic is more powerful just by seeing the names. e.g. Ice Spear should obviously be weaker than Blizzard
[3] Highest level of magic thus far. I believe this level of magic was used earlier by a Vampire. Can also be translated as Great Magic or something like that.