Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 347

Over the past three days, the number of enemies felled by their arrows and bullets numbered in the hundreds. Instead of focusing on killing many enemies quickly, they had concentrated on targeting the leaders of the organizations gathered here. If such relentless sniping, which could not be ignored, continued, it was only natural that attention would be diverted. Naturally, the number of movements that other observers near the labyrinth could choose from changed. It was too far to directly intercept them, but the sniping was too sharp to ignore, creating a dilemma. After securing that perfect distance, Lenox and Ivelyn had been continuously focusing on shooting and eliminating enemies in the vicinity. Clack…!! [Aiming Correction: Level 4] [Trajectory Guidance: Level 2] [Designated Shot: Level 2] [Firing Acceleration: Level 3] [Impact Enhancement: Level 2] [Recoil Control] [Bullet Preheating] [Large-Caliber Bullet Loaded] [Wind Speed Measurement, Wind Direction Correction] [Atmospheric Pressure and Temperature Correction Ready] [Firing Range Calculation Complete] A super long-range designated shot with 11 layers of stacked shooting support magic. Only after borrowing Davi’s calculation ability to correct the trajectory and pump up the shooting ability was it possible to imitate even a fraction of the divine skill Ivelyn displayed. But that was enough. The stacked support magic on the long barrel of the rifle rotated and interlocked in unison. Like gears meshing perfectly, they pushed the bullet out of the muzzle. The bullet, which had exceeded the speed of sound, accelerated once more as it left the muzzle. It slid along a rail of magic woven in the air, curving precisely in the direction Lenox wanted. Screeeeeech!! A heavy noise that seemed to tear through the wind. The bullet, which had traveled thousands of meters, pierced the cold air of the Northern Continent and accurately hit its target. Thwack!! The head of the summoner, who was standing on top of an elephant-like summon and directing the surroundings, exploded like a watermelon, scattering blood. The power was enough to push through the shields and various artifacts protecting the summoner’s body and burst the target. It was only natural that the faces of the other superhumans watching the scene turned pale. “Sh, shit…!!” “It’s him, the gunslinger is looking this way!!” “Wh, where’s the archer? Check where they’re shooting!!” The influence that Lenox and Ivelyn had exerted on all sides during the three days they spent near the labyrinth was not negligible. Rather than quantity, they had thoroughly pursued quality, consistently sniping only the core members of the organization gathered here. The superhumans gathered on this battlefield were aware that there were two snipers, one with a gun and one with a bow. Lenox nodded as he watched the summon, now without its master, go berserk and the battlefield quickly descend into chaos. ‘It would be difficult for me to inflict this level of damage alone, but it’s different if Ivelyn is with me.’ The support magic and mana consumption that Lenox had to build up to perform a snipe of this level were enormous. He forcibly linked and stacked support magic that would normally decrease in efficiency after 8 layers to increase the distance and power. The amount of mana consumed was comparable to the highest-level 6th-level military magic. Even if it didn’t affect his condition, it was still a consumption that couldn’t be ignored. Moreover, a snipe of this power had to be used carefully, considering the durability of the rifle. But Ivelyn was different. Her arrows didn’t tear through the wind like Lenox’s, but rather rode it smoothly, accelerating faster than the speed at which they were shot, piercing through the enemy. The mana consumed to draw and shoot an arrow was less than half of Lenox’s 11-layered super long-range snipe. Moreover, there was no need to worry about the durability of the longbow she held. When Lenox designated a target with his unique senses and made the first move, Ivelyn would use her excellent eye to pick out and snipe the few who reacted quickly. It was obvious that those who reacted exceptionally fast were the ones with the most threatening skills on this battlefield. The chaotic reactions they were showing from thousands of meters away proved how effective this simple dilemma had been over the past three days. “Ivelyn, is your mana still okay?” “So far, yes.” As she drew the bowstring all the way back, her suit naturally assisted her movements. The most important thing for drawing a bow was, of course, strong physical strength. But ultimately, the result of archery depended on the archer’s eyes and skill. Even after spending three full days in a tent near the snowy mountain overlooking the canyon, her eyes and concentration showed no signs of faltering. Lenox took out a bundle of mana recovery potions from his pocket and placed them next to her before standing up. “I’ve roughly cleared the battle zone near the labyrinth, so take a break and eat some of these.” Only then did Ivelyn turn her head. “Where are you going?” “I’m just going to maintain the barrier I set up nearby.” Ivelyn stared at Lenox, who replied nonchalantly, before turning her head. “Don’t forget, you can’t erase all the traces.” “…Okay.” Although he said that, it seemed Ivelyn had a rough idea of what he was doing. Lenox chuckled and roughly gathered his equipment before moving down the snowy mountain. As he approached the edge of the barrier he had set up, a faint vibration and a heavy noise reverberated. At the same time, he felt dozens of intense mana signatures from all directions. “This is the place, right?” “It’s the result of watching the sky all day without sleeping. It was difficult to calculate because of the wind direction, but I’m sure of it.” “We finally found them, those bastards…!!” The expressions of those who were grinding their teeth and lifting their equipment were filled with an undisguised rage that was hard to witness. Hiding between the snow-covered pits, Lenox watched them and understood their feelings to some extent. Although Lenox and Ivelyn, who had done the sniping, didn’t know, it wasn’t hard to imagine how great the anger of those who had been sniped would be. It was said that snipers who were captured would face the most brutal deaths. The threat of death approaching from an unseen place was not something to be easily overlooked. Lenox had also guessed that among the superhumans gathered on this battlefield, there would be those who would not be able to control their immediate anger and would go looking for the two of them rather than entering the labyrinth. “To kill Greg… I’ll never forgive you…!!” “Don’t forget to contact me if you find them first. I’m going to tear them limb from limb and hang them on top of the labyrinth.” “We’ll move in as soon as the encirclement is complete. Until then, don’t touch the barrier. If we’re discovered, their arrows will reach even here…!!” Thwack!! Before the warrior could finish speaking, a spray of blood erupted from the head of the mage standing in the middle of the group. A gruesome death that made it difficult to recognize the shape of his face. The other warriors around him moved immediately. “Damn it, they already noticed us!!” “This bastard, he wasn’t neglecting the surrounding defenses either!! That son of a bitch…!!” “What should we do? Should we go in right now?” “No, retreat! The fact that they launched a preemptive strike at this point, even though they noticed us, means…!!” The last words of the warrior who shouted did not continue. Lenox, having identified the potential leader who was making the fastest and most accurate judgments in this place, pulled the trigger of the shotgun he had replaced without hesitation. The backlash of three different mana that he had not been able to show at Palmer’s workshop. The impact of the side effects caused by the collision of different mana was transmitted directly through the barrel, bursting out of the barrier without any reduction. Ta-a-a-a-ang!! The roar of the shotgun was buried in the blizzard. More than a dozen pieces of flesh scattered in all directions, and the terrified superhumans wailed. “Hwaaaaak!!” “No, no!!!” “Save meeee!!” Once he had crippled the enemy’s forces with a single preemptive strike, things were simple. Lenox pulled out a bolt of lightning and dealt with those who were still breathing before quickly moving away. The rest was a repetition of launching preemptive strikes against the superhumans who were panicking as contact was lost from all sides, and then sweeping them away by intensifying the chaos. After quickly clearing out the dozens of superhumans who had gathered near the snowy mountain, Lenox shook the snow off his coat and began to inspect the barrier. As Ivelyn had said, he had not completely erased the traces of those who had gathered nearby. Near the canyon where nearly a thousand superhumans were gathered and bickering on the snowfield. It would be suspicious to clean up the traces too thoroughly. It would be better to throw these corpses nearby and instill both confusion and fear at the same time. Thinking so, Lenox took an arrow from Ivelyn’s luggage, stuck it between the corpse’s eyebrows, and let go. Lenox, who had been looking down at the corpse falling down the snowy mountain, immediately turned around. It had been three days since the observers had started teaming up and moving separately. In that time, this was the sixth group that had come to find and kill Lenox and Ivelyn. “Should we move our location again…?” Lenox muttered to himself as he headed back to where Ivelyn was waiting. “Are you done?” “More or less.” The mana recovery potions he had placed at her feet. She hadn’t eaten a single one. She had been focusing on sniping without taking a single break. It was the time when the danger of arrows and bullets fired from super long range had reached its peak through constant sniping. Ivelyn knew that this was the point where the two of them could exert their influence on the battlefield the most effectively. Whoosh…!! While she was engrossed in sniping, Ivelyn suddenly turned her direction and released the bowstring in a completely different direction. The two arrows in her hand flew through the air with the force of the recoil. They accurately pierced the foreheads of two snipers who had been waiting on a snowy mountain of similar height. Thwack, thwack!!! “…!!!” “Guh!!” “Hoo…” Only then did Ivelyn, who had been holding the longbow tightly, let out a light sigh. Lenox quietly patted her shoulder. “You did a good job.” “It’s definitely getting harder as we go on.” She sat down in her spot and turned her neck from side to side, complaining. “As soon as they realized that sniping was somewhat effective, the number of long-range shooters increased dramatically. And each one of them is not easy to deal with…” Lenox roughly knew what Ivelyn was talking about. Basically, a battle between snipers was a situation that was perfect for wearing down nerves, no matter how much of a skill difference there was. If the opponent also had basic experience, they would hide their presence and firing position, making it even more difficult. Moreover, they had been constantly sniping for three days, relatively increasing their position and attention, so they had to be even more careful. That was why Lenox and Ivelyn had been constantly paying attention to other snipers even while aiming at the canyon below. Lenox had mainly been in charge of this for the past three days, but Ivelyn had also been keeping an eye on it. “Take a break. I’ll take care of the rest.” After saying that, Lenox climbed onto the cliff where Ivelyn had been positioned and took out his rifle. Click!! Since they had already suppressed the preemptive strike, it was not difficult to deal with the other shooters whose positions had been revealed. There were quite a few who had deployed long-range shooters following Lenox and Ivelyn, but very few of them had the same skill and ability. The important thing was that a battle between such shooters was not something that ended simply because their position was revealed. Ordinary designated shooters would often lose their lives to a single bullet flying from a blind spot, but both Lenox and the shooters hiding over there were superhumans who could easily withstand a normal bullet or arrow. That was why, at the moment they were sure of a hit, they had to put enough power into it to shatter even that defense. In this snow-covered field, Lenox’s sniping, which was diversified with all sorts of support magic, was perfectly suited to shatter the expectations of such shooters. “Ugh…!!” “The power…!!” Although the sound could not be heard, he could tell. A distance so far that it was difficult for Lenox’s naked eye to even gauge the sense of distance. In between, a corpse that had been crushed by a bullet, armor and all, was spilling hot blood. To gauge a place further than what was visible, and to aim at a place further than the reach of one’s hand. Perhaps the true talent of a shooter like Ivelyn was… “…” Ivelyn sat on the snowfield, calmly watching Lenox’s back. Ta-a-ang!! “That should be enough. Since I’ve gone this far, it should be okay for a while.” Lenox, who had stored his rifle, walked down the hill with a much more relaxed expression than before. Ivelyn, who had been crouching, waved her hand as she saw Lenox. “I’ve been watching you from the side for three days, and you’re doing much better than I expected. When did your shooting improve so much?” “Battles between snipers are not that difficult.” Lenox replied nonchalantly as he sat down next to Ivelyn. “In the end, what’s important is the psychological warfare that takes place when you’re guessing each other’s positions.” Lenox was confident that he would never fall behind others in that area. If he didn’t lose in the psychological warfare between shooters, the mind game of guessing each other’s positions and hitting them, all that was left was to reduce the number of bullets as much as possible and find the optimal efficiency. It was better than consuming a lot of mana for a snipe of thousands of meters, so should he say it was manageable? Ivelyn chuckled as she watched Lenox take out firewood from the tent and start a fire. “That’s why it’s convenient to work with a skilled mage. They’re smart, and they know how to do a lot of things.” “Is that what you’re saying now?” “I’m not just saying it? Of course, there were many skilled people while I was working as an agent for a long time… but after working for so long, these conveniences feel a bit more welcoming.” Lenox smiled faintly at Ivelyn’s frank words. He understood what she meant, as she was a veteran who had toughened up while rolling around in the shadows of the city. Logically speaking, starting a bonfire to overcome the cold was something unimaginable for a shooter like Ivelyn. However, Lenox had succeeded in creating a relatively comfortable environment by setting up a barrier near the snowy mountain and reducing the area that could not be confirmed by sight or mana detection. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason they had settled in this snowy mountain area, but Lenox had done his part just by establishing the current convenience and managing Ivelyn’s condition. “Okay. I understand. The entrance to the labyrinth will start opening in about half a day.” At that moment, when Lenox was about to laugh it off, Ivelyn shook her head. “No, it’s not enough yet.” “What?” “Come to think of it, I deserve more praise and rewards.” “…” Ivelyn’s somewhat abrupt declaration. The way she was subtly watching Lenox showed that she had brought up the words after some consideration. But Lenox, upon hearing those words, instead showed a triumphant smile. “Heh.” “…?” “I knew you’d say that, so I’ve been preparing in advance for the past three days.” “Pr, preparing?” Lenox, with an even deeper smile at Ivelyn’s slightly higher tone, leisurely reached into his pocket. The moment Ivelyn slightly flinched and couldn’t take her eyes off Lenox’s fingertips. Clack! Lenox placed a case containing dozens of wild roots in front of Ivelyn. “It’s a collection of vegetables I’ve gathered from all over the snowy mountain for the past three days.” Lenox said with a triumphant expression. “It’s something to eat to bring your condition to its peak before entering the labyrinth. I was secretly preparing it, but I didn’t think you’d notice.” “…” “…Why? Is there a non-edible species mixed in? I was thorough in selecting them.” Lenox, noticing that Ivelyn’s gaze had turned cold, subtly touched the case. [Sigh…] Davi, who was hiding inside the coat, let out a deep sigh.