Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 179

[I’d like to ask the reason.]

The flesh quivered, and a low voice echoed.

[It’s been over three months since you were last seen at the Western Resistance Front. It’s also been more than half a year since that old geezer, Cheon-gyeon, died. So, why are you showing your faces in Phileon now?]

“Did you think we’d answer that?”

Grischa retorted sharply.

[Oh, that voice… It belongs to a shaman I very much dislike. I can definitely smell the scent of the jungle that has now burned away.]

It wasn’t a delusion; Dominic’s voice was laced with laughter.

He was openly mocking her, but Grischa’s expression remained as cold as ice.

Instead, she looked at Lenok and silently pointed to her eyes.

She realized that the drug lord couldn’t see Lenok and Grischa’s faces at this point.

[Actually, I didn’t think this spell would activate. I did take out insurance for business purposes, but there was no news from the Autonomous Territory. So, I thought all you Lighthouse folks had abandoned this beautiful land…]

The flesh quivered and let out a low chuckle.

[I was mistaken. You were waiting for an opportunity.]

“……”

[This is a very pleasant miscalculation. The fact that a Lighthouse keeper is moving at this time must mean that the nest of that damned woman is still in the Autonomous Territory.]

The mere hint of killing intent in his voice was enough to create a heavy pressure around them.

This aura, felt without the use of any magic or power, must have stemmed from Dominic Cabaro’s overwhelming presence.

[And that means it’s time for me to recover the investments I’ve poured into this land.]

[So… wait in this prison you’ve created. I’ll come and pluck out the eyes of the Lighthouse keeper myself.]

No sooner had he finished speaking than the holes in the flesh contracted, and a non-human sound leaked out.

Ziiiiiiing-!!!

A deafening noise.

But Lenok realized that it wasn’t just a simple scream, but a kind of resonance with special wavelengths mixed in.

“Dabi!”

[Magic wave with a fixed pattern. Authority detection penetrating the spell system. Starting jamming.]

Fzzzzzt!!

Dabi immediately began to emit electric shocks from his entire body, trying to counteract the sound by colliding with a similar resonance, but it was already too late.

As if a power switch had been flipped by the sound, deep red sirens began to blare all around, and a loud announcement began to play.

[Change in Autonomous Territory security authorization detected. Special emergency system activated. Emergency barrier will be deployed throughout the floating island cluster in 5 minutes.]

Lenok and Grischa’s expressions hardened at the completely unexpected announcement.

“Kieeeeeeeeee!!!”

Immediately after, the flesh lump stood up from its spot and rushed towards the two mages.

The movement, clearly filled with murderous intent, was probably part of a spell that Juice Master had instructed in advance.

Lenok sighed and began to gather his magic power.

The knowledge of fire-type unique magic that he had absorbed like a sponge while staying up all night with Vizen unfolded in his mind.

Whirr!

[Flame Orb]

[Eightfold Bloom]

The Blayver Magic Tower’s fire-type unique magic basically recommends starting by deploying this palm-sized flame orb.

This is due to the explosive growth potential of fire-type magic.

The idea is to implement its destructive power, which spreads like wildfire, step by step.

In addition, the creator’s intention to not forget the basics through the first magic one learns was also embedded in it.

Although he couldn’t feel it at all from the mage Vizen, Lenok could glimpse the thoughts of the person who first created this magic by looking at the fire-type unique magic through him.

Unlike the arrogant and lazy mages of the Magic Tower, this magic system had a devout faith similar to that of a seeker.

The struggle of an ancient person who never stopped for a moment to avoid being consumed by the flames they had created.

The eight flames that bloomed softly split and rotated, gently embracing the charging flesh lump.

The split flames transformed into huge petals, forming the shape of a red lotus, and the flesh lump exposed to the immense heat at its center began to turn to ash.

[Red Lotus]

Whoooosh!!

“Kieeeek…!!”

The flesh, unable to feel proper pain, struggled and slowly turned to ash and disappeared.

Only faint smoke remained, proving that dozens of lives had once existed in this place.

It wasn’t that he felt any sympathy for the soldiers who had tried to kill them, but Lenok felt like he understood why fire magic was created in this way.

If you couldn’t leave anything behind when using magic, you would end up feeling nothing but emptiness.

In the empty underground space, only the collapsed iron shelves remained desolate.

Grischa pressed her temples, her face clearly showing fatigue.

“Damn it… I didn’t think things would escalate this much. We need to return to the Lighthouse immediately.”

Even at her urgent words, Lenok didn’t pay any attention and moved to the spot where the flesh lump he had burned had been.

“Evan, what are you doing?!”

“Wait. This is…”

Grischa was right.

If the head of the Artifact Department, who was directly connected to the Lighthouse, had been attacked, it was impossible to guess how far the drug lord’s influence had spread.

It was right to leave the government building immediately and plan for the future, but Lenok didn’t stop.

The sense of familiarity he felt from the spell that made up the flesh lump was definitely intense beyond words.

It was strange that Lenok, who rarely forgot anything related to magic or spells, had such a faint memory.

What if Lenok hadn’t simply forgotten it, but a more important fact was hidden from the drug lord?

If he didn’t confirm this sense of familiarity now, while the embers of the flesh lump were still burning, he might never find the clue again.

He placed his hand on the floor and tried to clearly remember the remnants of the spell that remained.

At first glance, it seemed as if the drug lord had used a strange drug to orchestrate all of this, but there was definitely some kind of spell power embedded in it.

Perhaps this could be the solution to the problem they were facing now.

“……Okay.”

Lenok, having memorized the traces of the spell, picked up the statue he was holding and immediately stood up.

“Let’s get out of the government building and observe the situation. We need to figure out exactly what’s going on.”

* * *

Lenok and Grischa immediately returned to the Lighthouse.

Instead of the spacious common area located on the upper floors of the tower, Lapis greeted the two in a well-decorated conference room.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

In addition, there were at least ten other people who had already taken their seats in the conference room.

It seemed that they didn’t use the Celestial Common Area in these kinds of general situations.

As soon as Lenok stepped into the conference room, gazes poured in all at once.

It wasn’t hard to understand.

They had caused such a commotion as soon as they arrived at the Lighthouse, so it would be stranger if they didn’t attract attention.

Lenok also calmly looked around at those who were staring at him.

There were only about ten people sitting in the spacious conference room that could seat at least fifty, but all of them were magic users of considerable skill.

They had been recruiting talented individuals one after another to deal with the Demonic Realm, and it seemed that the words were not entirely false, judging by the people gathered here.

Of course, there was no one as overwhelmingly strong as Grischa, but at least the organization seemed to be running with self-sufficiency, which was a good point.

Once Lenok had chosen a chair in a distant corner of the conference room and sat down, the agenda was immediately opened.

“The situation has become serious.”

Lapis said with a dark expression.

“To think that the security system of the Autonomous Territory government has become so lax that it can activate an emergency situation even from a distance…”

While the two mages were returning to the Lighthouse, the Eye of the Azure had grasped the situation before and after the incident as follows.

While the Eye of the Azure was struggling at the Western Resistance Front, the drug lord had concluded that the Lighthouse had left its post and began to reach out to the Autonomous Territory.

Even if he was one of the top tycoons on the continent, it was difficult for him to completely control the Autonomous Territory from thousands of kilometers away, so he seemed to have selected a few departments and jurisdictions to reach out to. Unfortunately, at this point, the identity of Enrico, who was a member of the Lighthouse, was exposed.

The drug lord’s associate, who had infiltrated the Artifact Department, killed Enrico, disguised himself with his face, and tried to capture the Lighthouse’s associates.

Realizing that his plan had gone awry, the drug lord directly revealed himself and forcibly declared an emergency system in the Autonomous Territory.

“Why the Artifact Department of all places?”

Grischa muttered with her arms crossed.

“It’s true that a considerable amount of artifacts are traded in the Autonomous Territory, but there aren’t many artifacts that are actually valuable enough for him to covet.”

“The ones that do exist are mostly ancient artifacts that are used only within this floating island cluster… It wouldn’t be that important to a guy who runs a business across the entire continent.”

“The problem is the large-scale emergency barrier that surrounds the entire Autonomous Territory right now.”

The Watcher standing next to Lapis said with a serious face.

“It would be fine if the emergency system was simply declared due to the situation, but the emergency barrier has been activated because the drug lord had tampered with the security authorization.”

“I’ve heard that it’s a huge barrier that can protect the entire Phileon Autonomous Territory. What is its exact size and power?”

Lenok asked, and she immediately answered. It was proof that the necessary information had already been perfectly collected.

Their information-gathering ability seemed to live up to the organization’s name.

“All of its functions are designed to completely isolate the inside from the outside. Once deployed, it is maintained for three days and has a limit on the number of deployments. It’s something that should only be used in a situation where the very existence of Phileon is at stake.”

Lapis took over the words.

“Normally, it wouldn’t be deployed with just this level of interference, but due to the recent series of tensions with the mega-cities, they had taken measures to ensure that it could be deployed at any time.”

“How could we be so unlucky…”

Grischa shook her head with a dumbfounded expression.

If the drug lord hadn’t touched the Artifact Department, if Enrico’s identity hadn’t been exposed, if the Autonomous Territory hadn’t been in a state of tension.

It was an absurd misfortune, but Lenok knew that all of this was not just a simple coincidence.

Otherwise, there would be no way to explain why Dominic Cabaro had declared an emergency situation as soon as he was sure of the Lighthouse’s existence.

He had known from the beginning that the Autonomous Territory’s barrier activation process was somewhat loosely adjusted.

Although it was created by a combination of minor misfortunes, the situation was ultimately the result of the Autonomous Territory government’s incompetence and the drug lord’s meticulous investment.

There was no reason to dwell on something that couldn’t be helped.

“The biggest problem is that the barrier spread throughout the Autonomous Territory works by isolating the inside from the outside.”

The Watcher said, projecting a hologram created with magic at the back of the conference room.

A three-dimensional map of the entire floating island cluster unfolded, and a vast spherical barrier that covered it appeared.

“Due to the nature of the Autonomous Territory, where there is little land used and the floating islands exist at various altitudes, this barrier was possible…”

“But now it’s just a prison that confines us.”

Grischa muttered, chewing on her pipe.

The drug lord had used the barrier created to protect the Autonomous Territory as a cage to prevent the Eye of the Azure from escaping.

The fact that he had noticed the existence of the Lighthouse and executed this plan on the spot, rather than preparing it in advance, made it impossible to gauge his true power.

“The barrier lasts for three days… Considering what he said, is he confident that he can get here from the other side of the continent in just three days?”

“That’s ridiculous. He’s in the Paragini Republic, which is over thousands of kilometers away. How could he find the location of the Lighthouse?”

On Earth, it was a distance that could be covered in less than a day using an airplane.

However, in this world, where all sorts of strange natural phenomena are rampant, flying is by no means a safe means of transportation.

Even in the Balkans, communication was restricted due to the magnetic storms that raged on the outskirts of the undeveloped areas.

“If Juice Master was just a simple drug dealer, that would be the case.”

“……”

“He is a tycoon who single-handedly controls 40% of the drug distribution across this continent, and a member of the Demonic Realm. At the same time, he possesses powerful technological resources that continue to supply new drugs to the market.”

“That’s…”

“If he has that much technological power, it wouldn’t be strange if he had hidden various secret plans to manage his trade network.”

It was hard to believe, but the problem was that it wasn’t impossible.

In this world, where all sorts of spells and supernatural powers overflow, it was impossible to say that there was no powerful teleportation spell that could travel from one end of the continent to the other.

And it was impossible to guarantee that the drug lord had not obtained such a rare means of transportation.

Lenok also didn’t think that the vocal cords that the drug lord had created using human corpses were an ordinary spell.

It was probably a work unique to the drug lord, created by combining the effects of spells and drugs.

If he used such a forbidden spell that ground up living humans, it wouldn’t be strange if he could actually fly that far and arrive in the Autonomous Territory, which was isolated from the outside.

The other Watchers quickly began to exchange opinions on whether it was possible given the conditions of time and space.

The magic users gathered here were also at a considerable level, so they each had their own firm opinions, and a more in-depth discussion was taking place.

Lenok listened to their opinions appropriately, and when there was no more meaningful progress, he quickly cut off the conversation and tapped the table.

“That’s enough. There’s no reason to drag this issue out.”

The other Watchers all turned their gazes towards him.

It seemed that they had heard about what had happened in the Celestial Common Area beforehand, and their gazes towards Lenok were filled with deep curiosity.

Lenok calmly accepted those gazes and opened his mouth.

“In the end, it’s impossible for us to determine the truth of what the drug lord said. We don’t know what means he’s going to use.”

“But the other side also didn’t hear why we were trying to contact Enrico. In other words, he doesn’t know that we’re looking for his vault.”

The important thing wasn’t whether the drug lord had lied on the spot.

The range of actions they could take would completely change depending on how much information they had hidden, so it was necessary to clearly know the upper limit of the information they held.

Only then did the Watchers realize the meaning of what Lenok was saying, and their eyes widened.

“That’s right. That was the key.”

“Are you saying that we should choose the direction we move first? That’s right.”

“We were so focused on the barrier that we had put it aside. What’s been revealed to them is essentially just our existence. We clearly have the initiative.”

Once he gave them a keyword, the meeting began to shift in an instant.

They had been momentarily confused by the shock of the Autonomous Territory’s security system being shattered at once, but they were also skilled individuals who had been working in the field for a long time.

Lenok combined the conversations coming from all directions and delivered the conclusion.

“Right. No matter how much he has reached out to various parts of the Autonomous Territory, there must be a ledger on site to manage his subordinates in order to control all of that.”

And if such a ledger existed, there would only be one place where it would be likely to exist.

“Find his vault and take everything inside. That’s the first thing we need to do.”