Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 359

“If you step on a block carelessly, it’s hard to go up.”

“Is there any correlation between the size and height… it’s surprisingly hard to find a connection.”

Realizing they couldn’t ascend the blocks using ordinary methods, people began fighting to pull each other down.

“That sorcerer over there found a way!”

“There was a set way to cross, get out of there!!”

“Screw you, you bastards. Why should I!!”

KWA-AAAAAANG!!

Attention focused on the first person to step on a high block, and not only on the ground but also between the blocks, dozens of superhumans clashed.

While Lenok and Evelyn were quickly distinguishing friend from foe amidst the chaotic battle dozens of meters below.

“You two. Do you remember my face?”

A familiar, soft voice echoed nearby.

It was Dane, the leader of the Cavahim Knights. He had leaped up to the block where Lenok and Evelyn were and asked.

“These blocks in this chamber. It seems like they’re preventing us from reaching the gate unless we step on them in a specific order.”

“……”

“If you happen to know the order, I’d appreciate it if you could tell us. I’ll reward you handsomely after I pass through my gate.”

“If we knew that, we would have passed through this gate already.”

Lenok replied with an indifferent expression.

“Still, you must know the way you came up here, right?”

“We just stepped on any block and came up here, so here we are. We’re also stuck and were just thinking about it.”

“Is that so?”

Dane’s eyes flashed ominously.

“A level 7 Saint-rank mage, not remembering the path you just took… that’s very convincing.”

“……”

“In my opinion, it’s not that you’ve lost your way, but that you’re deliberately occupying that block. As if you can’t pass through the gate without going through there.”

Srrrring!!

A sharp sword sound.

The moment they noticed the sound, a silver blade flickered from Dane’s left hand.

A flash of light passed through the chamber. Immediately after, the block Lenok and Evelyn were on was split in half.

“So, why don’t you come down from there and talk.”

At the same time, Dane’s body, after 10 seconds, teleported to the ground. He had deliberately ignored the order and climbed up to their block to pull them down.

KUUUUNG!!

As the block, which had occupied a considerable volume, shattered, Lenok and Evelyn both staggered, but neither of them fell off the block.

Unlike Maiya, the two had no way to resist the forced teleportation occurring in this space.

Regardless of Dane’s misunderstanding, they had to hold out on this block until Davi finished his calculations or the Evil Eye activated.

“It seems like you’re misunderstanding. If you come at us like this, I’ll have no choice but to use force.”

Lenok, re-gripping his rifle on the quickly repairing block, retorted.

“I appreciate your consideration for not drawing your sword last time, but can’t you think a little more rationally?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

Dane, having regained his stance below, smiled sharply.

“Half of the knights who entered this maze have already died. For those friends, I must achieve my goal.”

“……”

Lenok could sense the blatant fatigue mixed in his words.

“If we’re going to compete for the Ascendant’s relic someday anyway, I won’t hesitate any longer…!!”

With those words, Dane’s body broke through the air for dozens of meters and charged towards Lenok.

He lightly stepped on the floating blocks in the air and rose up without hesitation.

He was planning to do his best to subdue Lenok within the 10 seconds allowed to float in this chamber.

“I see.”

Lenok, once again adjusting his rifle, smiled.

“Actually, I think so too.”

TAAANG!!

The flames flowing from the long barrel of the rifle instantly propelled the bullet at supersonic speed.

Immediately after, the bullet split in all directions, deploying over hundreds of strands of mana within.

The net of mana threads, so dense and faint that it was invisible to the naked eye, was aimed precisely at Dane’s figure.

PAAT!!

A silver flash, rotating clockwise, instantly cut through the net and propelled the knight’s figure upwards.

An intangible sword aura that Lenok couldn’t even properly perceive with his naked eye.

Not only did it cut through the net that was trying to trap him, but it also accelerated Dane’s body in the air. How exactly did he swing his sword to achieve that?

There was no time to ponder.

A chilling noise, like a blade slicing, was echoing from within Dane as he rapidly closed the distance.

Inner world, microcosm deployment. Distortion of physical laws.

As if to keep his word, he was truly using all his power to pull Lenok and Evelyn down.

[Taihoe Sword Chain] [A sword technique]

[8th Style, Wide Range]

[Group Axe]

KWA-AAAAAANG!!

The silver sword aura, rotating around Dane, turned all the surrounding blocks into dust.

‘He’s planning to destroy the entire foothold and force us off the block…!’

Without stopping there, Dane’s blade relentlessly aimed for Lenok’s solar plexus.

The cold murderous intent in his eyes proved that Dane’s words were not empty threats.

“Ugh…!!”

Evelyn immediately stepped in front of Lenok and tried to intervene, but she groaned as if the aftermath of the battle with Maiya had not yet subsided.

Seeing this, Lenok, to block Dane’s sword technique, began to gather mana, but at that moment.

A brown-haired woman appeared right next to him and kicked Dane in the side, sending him flying.

KWA-AAAAAANG!!

Messy brown hair. A somewhat languid expression. A simple longsword slung over her shoulder.

Evelyn, immediately recognizing her face, shouted with a bright expression.

“Jiel!!”

“Who’s this idiot again? Why is he picking a fight with you guys?”

One of the high-ranking Watchers who had reached level 7.

Jiel, a Saint-rank ability user from the Azure Eye, whom they had met once at the conference hall, muttered indifferently.

She glanced back at the two of them, then nodded with a suspicious smile.

“Well, whatever. I’ll deal with that guy, so consider this as repayment for the debt.”

“Debt?”

“I heard you helped some of my disciples at the first gate. Thanks to that, they managed to grab some useful relics nearby and get out.”

Who would have thought that Jiel knew about the help Lenok and Evelyn had given while passing through the secret passage of the gate.

Jiel ignored the two of them and pointed below, grinning.

“I’ll be sorting things out here with that dog bastard, so just tell me the way out before you leave. Deal?”

“AWOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Lafford, a dog-headed giant carrying a huge temple pillar, was howling with a huge spirit manifested on his back.

“It seems other Watchers are gathering one by one…”

“Not everyone can pass through the gate, so let’s just do what we need to do… huh?”

PAT!

As if the 10 seconds had passed, Jiel, who was speaking leisurely, teleported to the ground.

Lenok was speechless at the sight of the swordsman, who had started to hold back other competitors with Lafford instead of planning.

“Evan. We can’t hold out for long.”

Evelyn, looking at Lenok from the side, quickly said with a slightly frowning expression.

“Because of Dane, the guys who were watching the situation below have started to recognize this side. Whether we advance or retreat, we need to decide quickly.”

“…It’s okay. We’re ready on this side now too.”

“What?”

Instead of answering Evelyn’s words, Lenok brought his finger to his left eye.

At the same time as he touched his eye with the mana gathered at his fingertip, Lenok’s pupil began to rotate in a purple color.

“The Evil Eye has returned.”

* * *

Red is the area of danger. Blue is the area of opportunity.

Lenok had always thought that these two colors, which he saw with the Evil Eye, visualized possibilities with contrasting tendencies.

Although he had consciously avoided relying on the Evil Eye’s ability, he had not completely ignored the visualization of possibilities.

However, after confirming that the scenery shown by the Evil Eye and the direction indicated by the man’s illusion often differed while passing through the constantly changing maze.

It didn’t take long for him to realize that danger and opportunity were not different things.

In this endless feast of red and blue visions, if one could realize that blue light was not always safe.

If there was a block that shone blue alone in a red area.

It was possible to suspect it instead.

“It was there.”

PIZZZZZZT!!!

Lenok, instantly gathering mana, formed an intense electric light in his left hand.

[Constant Thunder] [A magic spell]

He unleashed a circular wave of lightning, flashing between his fingers, and struck a block floating near the chamber wall.

KWA-AAAAAANG!!!

Looking beyond the shattered block, Lenok said.

“How long are you planning to hide?”

“…If you knew, you should have told me sooner, friend.”

From among the fragments of the block, the shadow on the wall distorted, and a young man wearing a robe appeared.

“Jaun Odis…”

Only then did Evelyn recognize Jaun’s identity and faintly furrow her brow.

A secret space hidden in the vast chamber wall.

There was a narrow gap, cleverly hidden by the shadow of the block, where a person could barely hide.

Jaun had been using that space to observe all the competition that had taken place in this chamber so far.

“I can’t believe you noticed that I was hiding. You have an overly good sense.”

Jaun Odis, grinning and looking up at Lenok, asked while staring directly into Lenok’s eyes.

“Is that the power of your eye?”

“……”

“It didn’t seem to have any special features, but there was a reason why Hyun-Gung was keeping you around.”

“You talked about cooperation, but it was all bullshit.”

Evelyn, glaring at Jaun with a cold gaze, replied.

“Like a terrorist, you were only thinking about backstabbing everyone else in this maze, weren’t you?”

“Marcia, don’t be so negative.”

Jaun shrugged and laughed, lowering his stance.

“It’s not like it only happens in this maze, right?”

TAAANG!!

At that moment, Jaun’s figure instantly shot through the air towards the two of them.

As he passed by the two of them, two gems that were held between his fingers disappeared.

The gems, rolling between the blocks, emitted light and exploded.

Completely shattering the block that Lenok and Evelyn were standing on.

KWA-AAAAAANG!!

“I’m different from that dull-witted knight from before.”

Jaun, grinning as he fell towards the ground, snapped his fingers.

Immediately after, an unknown field was generated where the gems had exploded, preventing the blocks from being restored.

“10 seconds. Stop holding out and go down to the ground and bicker. In the meantime, I’ll go up first.”

[Not a bad result.]

A voice from within Jaun’s robe agreed with a satisfied tone.

As a result of observing the maze entrants from the wall near the chamber, he had identified the people who would be real competitors in passing through the gate.

The tendencies and abilities of those who were focusing on fighting rather than climbing onto the blocks right now.

Even the judgment and insight of the explorers who were focused on solving the gate’s puzzle.

Except for a few skilled individuals who had power but were not actively trying to break through the maze, the two people who needed to be eliminated first were those two.

Once they fell to the ground, it would take a long time to climb back up here.

Since they didn’t seem to have solved all the secrets of this chamber yet, Jaun’s only competitor while reaching the third gate was, in fact, the woman he had encountered before entering the maze.

As Jaun was thinking that and was about to watch the moment when Lenok and Evelyn teleported back to the ground.

“No.”

Lenok extended a mana thread between his fingers and grabbed it.

Jaun’s expression changed drastically as he confirmed the direction of the thin mana thread that had pierced the air.

Lenok, who had attached the mana thread to the very wall of the chamber where Jaun was hiding, pulled himself and Evelyn towards it.

PAAAT!!

Almost at the same time as the two of them stepped onto the chamber wall, a block appeared from the wall.

“…!!”

“Being able to destroy a block means you can also forcibly move its position and hide it.”

Lenok smiled as he looked down at Jaun’s bewildered expression.

“I didn’t suspect that possibility because I didn’t think you would still be hiding in this chamber… but now it’s different.”

Jaun wasn’t simply hiding in the shadow of the chamber wall.

The secret space where he was hiding was actually one of the blocks floating in the chamber, which he had arbitrarily attached to the wall and hidden.

The reason why Davi’s mana teleportation-based direction calculation was blocked was because Jaun had meticulously hidden the existence of the block with his gem technique.

If a puzzle piece had disappeared entirely, it would be impossible to calculate its order.

Confirming that Jaun’s face was turning from bewilderment to anger, Lenok waved his hand.

“So, go down and buy us some time instead. It seems like the person who was chasing you so desperately is waiting eagerly below.”

“…Shit.”

Jaun, turning his gaze at those words, let out a hollow laugh as he confirmed Dane’s figure glaring at this side from below.

Lenok also laughed as he saw that.

“Let’s go first. Let’s make sure we don’t meet for the third time.”