Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 288

“How unfortunate. Though our thoughts differ, I believed we could walk the same path… It can’t be helped,” Walter lamented, touching his forehead. Immediately after, the mouth hidden behind his face stretched wide open. “That overflowing talent, both intellect and physique, will have to be used as nourishment along with Ivon.” “Wait, Walter,” the Ivon family head, who had been watching the two with a tense face, interjected with a surprised expression. “What on earth are you talking about-” Crack!! At that moment, a pale flash of light shot out from between the pillars, piercing the Ivon family head’s body. “…Ah?” It wasn’t that she didn’t have time to resist. In that fleeting moment, Ivon had actually released her magic power and willingly offered her body to the flash of light. Her expression was vacant as she looked down at her chest, as if she couldn’t believe her own actions. “Don’t resist. Didn’t we promise in the name of God?” Walter smiled. “That I would grant you an immortal body.” The Ivon family head’s face crumbled as she instantly understood his words. “I, I never heard of this!! The body I wanted wasn’t like this!!! Just, just to become one with another like this…!!” She struggled, rejecting the pale light that enveloped her entire body. She tried to hold on using the tree roots pulled up from below, but it was futile. A contract sworn in the name of the Order’s god. With her will having accepted and understood even a part of that belief, she could no longer escape. Her body, which had been thrashing and screaming, was sucked into the pillar of light. Whirrrrrrrrrr!!! “Kyaaaaaaaaaaak!!!!” A desperate scream echoed from inside the pillar. “…” Renok frowned, but he didn’t move rashly. Instead, he unleashed his magic power and simply struck Walter’s body. Kwaaaang!! “Hahahaha!” Walter, his body tattered, laughed maniacally as he tumbled to the ground. “It’s already too late. You can’t stop anything! Just witness and worship, the incarnation of the great will that has descended upon this world!!” At that moment, the pillar of light that had descended from the sky split open to both sides. From the center of the massive light mass that covered the mansion’s sky, something slowly began to stretch. Walter shouted. “The Apostle’s Descent!!” Crack, crack, crack, crack!! As if a glass window was breaking, a completely different space was visible beyond the cracks in the ruins, and something pale flickered. The moment he noticed, it was already present in this world. Whoooooosh!! A massive body that filled the sky above the mansion. Dozens of swaying legs and a floating head. It had the form of a cephalopod, yet its body was angular, as if covered in hard armor. Hundreds of eyes gleaming between the armor calmly looked down at the scenery on the ground. In response to that gaze, immense magic power began to press down on the ground and explode. Kugugugugugugu!!! Even at the lowest estimate, it far exceeded the standard of level 7. Just by manifesting its body in this space, it was emitting enormous magic power in all directions. A chaotic self-aggrandizement that didn’t even consider controlling its power from the start. With the expression of a will that seemed to lack any intelligence, the streets of the fortress, which had already been in ruins, collapsed completely. “Kahaak…!!” Even Walter’s body was swept away helplessly by the pressure of magic power that was difficult for a human body to withstand. Kwaaa kwa kwa kwaang!! The intensity was on a completely different level from the unidentified mass of flesh that Walter had manifested in Lavatenon. A solid sense of stability, already complete as a single entity, was clearly felt. [Finally…!!] At that moment, a telepathic message echoed through the sky above the mansion. Absurdly, it was Walter’s, who had just lost his body and disappeared. The voice was coming from near the head of that deformed apostle’s body. [Finally, you’ve come this far…!!] The tone, trembling with emotion, clearly showed how much he had been waiting for this moment. Renok, who had been watching them devour each other and self-destruct, understood the situation and clicked his tongue. “There was a reason why you put so much effort into proselytizing. Were you aiming for this from the start?” Now, the inner workings of Walter’s fanaticism, his obsession with proselytizing, could be guessed. The series of processes that Walter had just shown, though they seemed like chaos at first glance, had clearly gone through preparation and process in terms of technique. The will sent down by the monster of the outer sea. The body of a superhuman, the Ivon family head. And the vessel of descent made up of the intellect of the Order’s bishop. The existence of the ‘Apostle,’ as defined by the Guido Order, was the result of gathering these three different phases into one body and causing it to descend. “So that’s why the proselytizers were possessing other people’s bodies without their own. They’ve been repeating this kind of thing, selecting only candidates to become the Order’s Apostles.” [Hahahaha!!] Walter burst into laughter at Renok’s words. Immediately after, one of the apostle’s legs, which had been wriggling, split open at the end and instantly took the form of flesh, transforming into that of a human. [Aaaaaaaah!!] The face of the Ivon family head, screaming desperately. The immense magic power that burst out from her wide-open throat shot out like a bullet, landing like a bomb next to Renok. Kuuuuuung!! The shockwave far exceeded that of any ordinary explosive weapon. The aftershock alone was enough to shave off his shield, exposing Renok’s bare body. Walter, who had calmly lowered his tone in an instant, opened his mouth. [If you’ve realized that, then please cooperate quietly.] “…” [It will be easier to adjust later if we replenish the body before this body finishes adapting. There’s no need to make things troublesome, is there?] As he said that, he naturally lifted the remaining dozens of legs all at once. Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak!! Renok frowned at the bizarre sight of the ends of those legs all transforming into the same Ivon family head’s torso. If he accepted Walter’s offer, would Renok also end up like that? If he didn’t accept the offer, it wouldn’t be strange if he was torn to pieces on the spot. “Adjustment…” He hadn’t heard much about the Order’s Apostles, but if all the Apostles were in the form of such monsters, there was no way Renok wouldn’t have heard of their infamy. After the adjustment that Walter was talking about was finished, it would probably be possible to discard that monstrous deformity and transform it into a human body. While Renok was lost in thought, Walter took action. He plunged some of his legs into the ruins of the mansion and began to unleash a barrage of immense magic power. Thud thud thud thud!! It was like the actions of a child trying to show off his power. Was it because he had obtained the apostle’s body that he was now openly revealing his inner desires? [It’s a strange feeling.]

Gazing at the scene of destruction he had created, Walter murmured as if drunk.

[I’ve always longed for and anticipated this moment… but rather than joy, a sense of responsibility comes first. I can only think about spreading this great divine power to the world as soon as possible.]

“……”

[It’s a shame that I only managed to secure one of the three locations where the ‘Bicheo’ [likely referring to a specific type of entity or artifact] were, but this is enough. Now, the time of wandering without even a body is over.]

He spoke in a voice that seemed filled with regret.

[I have now evolved into an existence that the Order can never ignore.]

“That won’t happen.”

Woo woo woo woo woong!!!

Looking up at the Apostle’s body floating above the fortress, Renok slowly gathered his magic power.

The magic power rotating within his body spread from head to toe, instantly leaving Renok’s body and scattering its presence in all directions.

Paahhh!

Renok’s magic power, which had instantly shaken off the Apostle’s pressure pressing down on the ground, rotated and spread a colorless wave.

“Because you won’t be returning to the Order.”

Weeeeeeeng!!!

He completely saturated the entire space with his own essence, and then projected the scenery of his inner mind, imprinted within, into his own domain.

[A Self-Domain? Well, fine. Go ahead and do as you please.]

However, Walter responded with composure even after confirming the magic power that Renok had manifested.

An extremely arrogant demeanor. But Walter also had his own intentions.

While breaking through the barrier, he had roughly observed the type of magic Renok was using near the heart of the tree giant.

As someone not well-versed in magic, it was difficult for Walter to guess the exact lineage, but he had a rough idea of the attributes Renok was wielding.

The monstrous mage mainly used two types of magic: lightning and ice.

Although he had burned Ivon’s proxy in the proxy war, seeing that he used the flames of a fire starter as a catalyst, it was unlikely that he had mastered opposing attributes.

Walter had calculated all of that and decided to follow the will of the end that governs the ice domain among the outer sea monsters.

No matter what, he could not afford to lose in this place.

Even if he couldn’t obtain the body by killing that mage, Walter himself had to return to the Order by any means.

Originally, he had planned to escape using the teleportation technique ‘Amrita’s Scale’ the moment he succeeded in summoning the Apostle’s body, but seeing that he had broken through the previous two teleportation techniques in different ways, it didn’t seem impossible that he would break through the third as well.

Moreover, to teleport the Apostle’s body, he would need at least dozens of lives.

The probability of Renok leaving Walter alone until then seemed infinitely low.

It was better to exhaust all of Renok’s magic power here and then completely break his body and will.

[Once you, a mage of your caliber, have poured out all your capabilities and potential, you will be forced to realize what the truly correct foundation is in this world…]

Booooooom!!

Walter’s speech was abruptly cut off as he saw the golden light rotating in the darkened void.

The light, rotating clockwise, drew a huge golden ring and floated up hundreds of different circles.

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

The traces of destruction created by the three people, the remains of the mansion, and the swollen landscape of the ground vanished.

The pillar of light that connected the sky and the earth disappeared in an instant, and hundreds of golden circles floated up in the vast universe, illuminating all directions.

A golden kaleidoscope surrounding the giant Apostle’s body and a mage looking up at all the scenery below.

In the midst of the countless branching points that were reflected, the Apostle’s swaying legs stopped moving all at once.

[W-wait a minute… what is this…]

Only then did Walter murmur in a voice that had completely lost its smile, but Renok did not stop.

“I knew there was only one chance. You must have known that too.”

Renok said as he began to walk towards Walter, with the dazzling golden light behind him.

“So I was waiting for the moment when you could never escape. Because once that body is fully incarnated in this world, no one can escape death.”

He remembered how the mass of flesh that Walter had summoned at Lavatenon University had met its end.

Although it was a weak existence that was on a different level from the Apostle’s existence that Walter had summoned now, it had also met its death after being torn apart by Aris’s magic.

It was the same.

Even if it had the grand name of Apostle, it was still an existence that had been given the cycle of life and death once it manifested in this world.

If that was the case, then what Renok could do was decided.

Without paying any attention to Walter’s dumbfounded expression as he looked around, Renok quietly reached out his hand.

The hundreds of golden circles floating in the air slowly began to rotate and approach Renok.

A kaleidoscope that showed countless different landscapes and different futures within.

While observing the countless mirrors of branching points, Walter, who belatedly realized the meaning of Renok’s words, stammered and shouted.

[N-no way… you were waiting from the beginning with the intention of facing me…!!]

“……”

[Do you think you can guarantee victory against an Apostle with just the realm of a Saint!! How dare, how dare a lowly non-believer harbor such arrogance!!!]

Walter shouted at the top of his lungs, seething with anger.

The Apostle’s voice echoed loudly through the empty darkness.

At the same time, the magic power emanating from his massive body swept through all directions and raged fiercely, but nothing changed.

Renok turned to look at Walter and said.

“You wouldn’t understand. But this is not the end, it’s just a process.”

[…What?]

Walter, who had forgotten his own tone, asked back.

Instead of answering, Renok silently raised his hand.

He does his best to survive. He moves forward without leaving a moment of hesitation.

He does not hesitate to use any means to win, and he thoroughly calculates his chances of success, but he understands that this is not enough.

He knows that there may come a time when he cannot fight with a way out, and that he may have to risk his life against an opponent whose chances of victory cannot be guaranteed.

Because he knows that a moment when he cannot escape will come someday.

That is why he must now go all out to gauge his limits and expand his horizons.

He questions and proves every moment how far the scenery of his heart, which he has established with all his heart, can reach.

This is possible because Renok was born into this world with a vessel and will that are fundamentally different from other ordinary mages.

It is a longing given only to those who truly yearn for life and desire the remaining time, not just to improve their skills and realm.

The desperate longing for life that Renok yearns for and begs for within him awakens.

The answer was decided from the beginning.

The crimson book in Renok’s hand. Through the catalyst he obtained after defeating Gionis in the volcanic region, he grasps one of the most powerful branching points.

Charrrrrrrrk!!

The golden circles that had been shining brightly behind him were painted over with a dark red flame, rapidly devouring the void and instantly turning the inner scenery upside down, drawing it into the universe.

The chief disciple of the Blaver Magic Tower, and one of the five strands of prayer beads [likely referring to a group of powerful mages or artifacts].

The non-existent future of a being who threw himself into the endless war alongside the Tower Lord and broke through countless battlefields unfolds in this place.

The moment he opened his eyes, everything had already changed.

Wheeeeeeeeng!!

A wind as hot as it could burn flesh blew.

What unfolded before his eyes was not a manor filled with splendid flames, but an endless black plateau.

The fiery feast that symbolized his own will was nowhere to be seen, and the hills of burnt-out ashes unfolded before the Apostle and the mage.

Above the sky, which had darkened so much that he could not see an inch ahead, was a faintly shining ring of light.

Above the black sky where a total solar eclipse was unfolding, Renok was looking up at the Apostle’s massive body.

Self-Domain Deployment: Branch Point Observation.

Origin Hierarchy Mindscape Manifestation.

[Black-Haired Starfall]

There is not even a trace of flames in the scenery of the domain, but the heat rising from this ashen field is undoubtedly the essence of the flame system.

Renok, standing on the remains of a world that had been burned and disappeared, exhaled smoke.

“I’m going.”

Booooooom!!

With those words, the black sky that had been shining, leaving only a ring of light, began to shake violently.