Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 447

Tens of thousands of people were clumped together, forming a single, writhing mass. Moving only with their arms, they dug into the ground with their bare hands, rolling forward in a grotesque, unified motion.

Despite possessing a bizarre power that could gather such a vast number of people into a single entity, it insisted on moving in an extremely primitive way.

Nowhere in the sight of the monsters, flailing their arms as if in a frenzy, was there a sense of powerful strength or presence.

Only tens of thousands of black chains were wrapped around their necks, tightly binding their lower bodies.

After a long silence, Lenok asked,

“…What the hell… is that?”

A world where magic and mystery were alive.

He thought he had seen all sorts of strange and mysterious things, having spent a considerable amount of time in a large city, but this was the first time he had witnessed such a bizarre and contradictory being.

Despite possessing the physical power to alter the terrain simply by moving and a strong infectious ability, the power emanating from the being itself felt strangely weak.

It wasn’t that the being’s power was inherently lacking, but rather that it seemed to be completely restrained, preventing its true potential from being unleashed.

“His name when he was human was Aurel Silford. A soldier from the central city of Ars Nova, and a superhuman who was called the most promising holy knight in Ars Nova hundreds of years ago,” Myung, who had been standing silently next to Lenok, answered.

“And now, he is called the Ascendant Gyebaek, a living natural disaster.”

“Gyebaek…? That human sphere is the Ascendant Gyebaek?”

Lenok also had a rough idea of what kind of being Gyebaek was.

There were less than thirty transcendents in history who were officially recorded as qualified to challenge the Ascension, and less than ten of them were still alive.

It wasn’t difficult to study and remember their names and existences.

Among them, Gyebaek, unlike other Ascendants, did not fail in his Ascension and die, but went mad and became a monster unlike any human.

A being that doesn’t listen to anyone’s words or control, moving only as it pleases and staining the surroundings with death, no different from a natural disaster.

But he never imagined that Gyebaek would look so terrible and bizarre.

Could it be that he didn’t just go mad and become corrupted, but became a phenomenon that indiscriminately makes other living beings his subordinates and moves them?

Unlike his noble reputation for challenging the Ascension, his grotesque appearance was beyond ugly.

“One of the most hideous failures of the central city of Ars Nova.”

However, Myung’s gaze towards Gyebaek was somewhat lukewarm.

“Silford had a talent that would have gone down in history, but Ars Nova at the time had no room to spare. So, they tried to control the direction of his talent’s potential with all sorts of geas [a magical binding or oath].”

“…”

“Even though they bound him with absurd shackles, he was granted the qualification to challenge the Ascension with his talent alone, but he went mad immediately after failing, as if it were natural. A monster who was challenged to ascend, not one who challenged it… that is the true nature of Gyebaek.”

Geas, a binding and a covenant. The more difficult the conditions of the restriction, the more powerful force and direction it is given, but if it is violated, a corresponding price must be paid.

An Ascendant forcibly created through forced transformation and growth by adding all sorts of conditions and restrictions to an unrefined talent.

That was what Myung was telling Lenok about the existence of Gyebaek.

A fantasy that any sorcerer would vaguely imagine, but would think impossible in reality.

Was it that the central city had directly put it into practice and achieved meaningful results? Lenok couldn’t easily accept those words even as he heard them.

Sorcery restrictions like geas or triggers are not simply techniques that give humans pluses and minuses to modify them.

It is an act of digging into the depths of the mind, forcibly fixing a person’s identity and giving them corresponding contradictions.

Even if it is forcibly imposed, what use is it if the output and intensity of the person’s mind cannot withstand it?

How great was Gyebaek’s innate talent and vessel when he was human, and how strong and solid was his mental strength that made it possible?

Myung turned his gaze away, leaving Lenok, who was lost in thought, behind.

“Ars Nova didn’t want to create an Ascendant with their own hands. They have known for a long time that there is no next step. They just wanted to use a monster who failed to ascend and lost his intellect… as a weapon.”

It was a shocking story.

That the central city of Ars Nova was such an overwhelming yet hideous city.

That they were so desperate that they deliberately made him fail to ascend and used the result as a weapon.

Even the existence of Myung, who explained all these facts so casually.

“Do you know why I’m telling you this story?”

Myung’s lips, glancing at Lenok, were already curled into a cold smile.

“In a way, that appearance best explains what we are trying to do.”

“What… do you mean by that?”

“The commanders of Ars Nova kneaded Gyebaek’s talent with geas until he was qualified to challenge the Ascension. But when Gyebaek failed to ascend, his identity was completely reversed.”

Myung nodded his head.

“The tens of thousands of geas that had raised him to a level equivalent to level 9 have instead become the essence that makes up Gyebaek.”

Only then did Lenok, realizing what Myung was saying, slightly open his mouth.

“Wait, then that’s not just a simple living being, but…!!”

“That’s right. Gyebaek’s identity is not simply a monster who failed to ascend.”

Myung muttered coldly.

“That is, in fact, an existence that is no different from a living mass of geas. It’s closer to a conceptual existence that carries tens of thousands of geas and binds living beings into it as they come.”

The reason why he didn’t feel any magic or presence, which was strange considering his huge size and physical power.

It was because Gyebaek’s existence was no longer even a living being in the first place.

It binds the minds of those who approach it and binds their bodies and existence with geas, making them a part of itself.

Was it that the form of covering the human Silford with geas was reversed, and the form of life clinging to an existence made of geas had become the new norm?

Myung, who had clearly explained the bizarre and terrible appearance of Gyebaek with just a few words, said,

“There has never been a monster in human history that has embraced such a massive amount of geas and become a concept itself. Can you imagine how complex the flow of causality is swirling inside?”

“…It’s dangerous. It’s practically a bomb. No one can imagine its internal form.”

What on earth was happening inside Gyebaek, which was made up of tens of thousands of geas?

Since no one could guarantee the outcome, such a natural disaster was rampaging across the continent without any hindrance.

As long as the harm and aftereffects could not be predicted, no one in their right mind would try to touch it rashly.

“The flow of geas tangled inside is already so twisted and altered that no one can unravel it. The moment anyone opens it, they will be swept away by laws completely different from reality and face a fate worse than death.”

After saying that, Myung chuckled meaningfully and muttered,

“Even if it’s an Outer God floating in the dark sea.”

“…”

At that moment, Lenok couldn’t answer immediately and remained silent.

He understood immediately why Myung was saying such things, but at the same time, he couldn’t understand it.

Lenok, realizing why Myung had been saying all this, slowly took a breath and chose his words.

“You’re crazy… Could it be that one of the goals Pandemonium wants is…!!”

“That’s right.”

Myung smiled.

“We plan to use that monster as a bullet to shoot towards the end of the Outer Sea.”

“That’s absurd… Where on earth is there a hole to go out of the Outer Sea at this point…!!”

Lenok also understood that this closed world was not intact and that there were cracks connecting to the Outer Sea here and there.

It was because of the existence of such cracks that relics and technologies from the old world had flowed into this world.

But where in the world was there a crack big enough to push a monster that had failed to ascend and gone mad out of the Outer Sea?

If such a space existed, it wouldn’t be strange if this world had already been submerged by the monsters of the Outer Sea that had come down through that crack.

“The Well of the Guide, located in the southernmost jungle of the continent. It’s one of the very few [Gateways] left in this world, less than ten.”

“The Well of the Guide…?”

The words of the cult leader flashed in his mind.

‘I don’t have high expectations. The snake guarding the well has been consumed by its regrets, and no one will remember their mission.’

The snake guarding the well must have been talking about the Guide.

Was the cult leader aware of this situation a long time ago?

“You will know what we want at the end of this, whether you like it or not. But once you step in, you won’t be able to get out.”

The deep, sunken black eyes stared at Lenok’s mask.

“I told you that you don’t have to choose just one side. That’s not a lie. But what you can choose and what you must choose are different matters.”

Myung, who had been staring intently at Lenok, slowly blinked and said,

“The situation has become uncontrollable due to the intervention of the Council of Elders, and now there is not much time left… We need not just a great superhuman, but a talent that can twist fate.”

“…”

“Ban, how about you? Can I assume that you are finally ready to answer our question?”

After a long silence, Lenok finally spoke.

“…You already know, yet you still ask again.”

It was a strange feeling.

It had only been half a day since he had made such a fuss to get the tears of the archangel.

And now, he was suddenly in the middle of a clash between Ascendants.

That meant that the clash between Gyebaek and the Guide was a sudden event, and that Pandemonium had judged it as a problem that needed to be dealt with quickly.

But regardless of that, Lenok had no intention of backing out of this matter that Myung was talking about.

Wasn’t it to grasp the intentions of the Underworld and to judge its potential that he had picked up the mask in the first place?

Just as the leader and Myung were judging Lenok, Lenok also had to gauge their judgment and will and confirm their answers.

“I didn’t come back to rely on the Underworld. If there are any hidden secrets about the Ascension, I will have to see them with my own eyes.”

What one desires is always far away. The more you reach for it, the more it seems to move away.

It would be a lie to say that he didn’t feel powerless, but could he say that there was no meaning in the process of moving towards his desire?

It was because he had yearned so desperately and struggled so much that he was able to grasp even a fragment of it.

Lenok had never doubted that conviction, and perhaps Myung had lived such a life as well.

Time lines that would never have overlapped, had accidentally intersected in a place where they would never have met, and had been able to reach this point.

Whether it was the old days when he was rolling around in the dirty back alleys, or now when he was with the great black magician, nothing had changed.

Even if that wasn’t the case, he believed that he wasn’t wrong.

Click!

Without hesitation, he reached into his pocket, took out the luminous tears, and chewed and swallowed them whole.

Crunch!!

Lenok, who had taken the tears of the archangel on the spot, slowly put his mask back on and answered,

“If I didn’t think that way, I wouldn’t have started in the first place.”

“…Yes, it seems so.”

Myung, hearing Lenok’s unwavering answer, smiled brightly for the first time.

Squeak!!

The moment Myung opened the back door of the truck and stretched his hand towards the sky, a huge black passage began to open in front of the two of them.

Beyond it, the scenery of another region flickered with faint heat haze.

The moment Lenok realized that it was the shape of lush bushes and jungles and gasped,

[Haaaaaaaak!!!!]

As if they had noticed the existence of the two at that moment, Gyebaek instantly turned his direction and began to chase after them.

To be precise, the tens of thousands of people attached to Gyebaek’s body.

“When you arrive, the clown will be waiting for you. The south is under his jurisdiction, and he has been appointed as the right person to handle this matter.”

Myung nodded his head, looking at the disgrace with a calm expression.

“There are so many things to do… Yet, the necessary power is still sorely lacking. Can you really be our answer?”

Even as he watched the black people screaming and twisting their bodies out of the canal, Lenok’s eyes slowly began to close.

At the point of taking the tears of the archangel, his body’s functions were completely improved, and his consciousness was rapidly falling asleep.

Myung grabbed Lenok by the scruff of his neck and pushed the truck’s cargo hold into the black passage without hesitation.

Just before Lenok’s eyes closed and his consciousness completely disappeared, Myung, who was looking down at him, seemed to smile bitterly.

“I’m looking forward to it too. Welcome to Pandemonium.”