Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 517

Curtain Call (1)

[Ivelyn Marcia.]

[Tracker above Level 5. Hunter above Level 6. Combatant above Level 7. Magic User above Level 7. Specific achievements are unmeasurable.]

[Many evaluations state that she has already transcended the hierarchy in archery. Judgment grade is outside of specifications.]

[Joined the organization at a young age. Since then, there has been no one to compare to her sniping ability.]

[Presumed to be from the Eastern Outer Tribe. One blood relative exists in the Blaver Magic Tower.]

[Special Operations Agency Agent. Hyun-gung [a title or codename]. Chief graduate of the 446th training curriculum for the Executor of the Mechanical City.]

[Retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the Defense Force Special Forces. Specific operational details are not disclosed.]

[Confirmed participation in the Battle of the Trama Sanctuary.]

[Confirmed participation in the subjugation of the Seven Apostles of the Order.]

[Confirmed participation in the 4th War of the Southern Continent.]

[Presumed participation in the Balkan Outskirts Civil War.]

[Presumed participation in the Defense Force Shadow War.]

…….

[Scheduled to participate in the Central Front Annihilation Battle.]

* * *

It wasn’t long after Lenok had reached the 7th level of his hierarchy.

There was a time when he had journeyed to the Blaver Magic Tower with Ivelyn.

It was after killing Parden McQueen, the first president of the Cartel, and experiencing the Kaleidoscope domain for the first time.

While passing through a meadow on the way to the tower, they had engaged in a few light sparring matches to test each other’s skills.

Since then, Lenok had never witnessed Ivelyn using her full power.

‘This is the worst.’

Lenok thought, watching Ivelyn lightly jump off the swaying train.

What did it mean that she had appeared on the very train Lenok was planning to escape on?

It was impossible without knowing the routes and locations of dozens of trains within Bairuitz.

While continuing her monstrous sniping and bombing from outside the city, she analyzed the train’s movements and confronted Lenok with a single, precise move.

It was absurd, but Lenok knew that it was not impossible for the archer with the emerald eyes.

“……”

Even the moment she faintly twitched her fingertips was under her green eyes’ observation.

Ivelyn’s gaze, observing Lenok with an utterly cold expression.

Not the gaze of an acquaintance, but a chilling gaze directed at an enemy to be eliminated.

Her clear green eyes assessed Lenok’s posture, balance, and center of gravity from head to toe, quickly drawing a conclusion.

“You’re drugged.”

That was the first thing Ivelyn said after seeing Lenok.

“You’re barely standing by relying on something. Or are you just hanging on?”

She gauged Lenok’s height and weight through his loose robe, and from that alone, she discerned that he was not standing properly.

She even knew it was the effect of a drug, and that he was only maintaining his balance through magic.

“You seem to have some leeway. It doesn’t seem like you overdid it in the battle. Geas [a magical compulsion] or Trigger? The conditions for the manifestation of the technique… no, it’s closer to personal preference.”

Click, click!

Ivelyn tilted her head, lightly touching and checking the short bow hanging on her forearm.

“The only thing that comes to mind is a variation of style… but why at this point? I don’t understand.”

“……”

Just by looking at his standing posture, she figured out how Lenok had dealt with Logier and what state he was in now.

Not by guessing the motive and deducing the result, but by confirming the result and then tracing the motive backward, a chilling observation.

Ivelyn’s talent and strength did not come solely from her divine archery.

Even Lenok, who had worked with her, was sometimes surprised by her sensitive senses and sharp eye.

The senses and judgment that allowed her to do her part in close combat, even with the talent of an archer.

Even if she had no talent for archery, Ivelyn would surely have become as strong as she was now.

Clank!!

Ivelyn, who had taken an arrow from her waist and spun it around, lowered her head.

“I won’t make it long.”

“……”

“That werewolf you captured. Put him down and slowly step back.”

Her green eyes shone coldly.

“Then I’ll let you live.”

“……Agent Hyun-gung. I never thought I’d run into you here.”

Only after confirming the voice modulation did Lenok slowly open his mouth.

It was completely different from dealing with a stranger. Ivelyn was one of the very few acquaintances who understood many of Lenok’s secrets.

He had to be careful not to raise even a hint of suspicion due to differences in tone, manner, or nuance.

“I was wondering where such a brutal sniper was shooting from, but you weren’t even pulling the bowstring yourself?”

“……”

“It’s an amazing skill. I’m not sure if I should call it archery, though.”

Ivelyn did not respond to Lenok’s joking praise.

Because she realized that the person in front of her had noticed how she was scattering a rain of arrows all over the satellite city.

She was not sniping by loading arrows onto the bowstring one by one from outside the satellite city.

Ivelyn had already shot the arrows long before entering the city, and had arranged for the fired arrows to fall in various parts of the city with a time difference.

An archery technique that involved shooting a bundle of arrows into the sky using a large bow, and then bombing the outskirts of the city with a time difference.

It was a near-miraculous skill that could not even be attempted without a level of judgment and eyesight that was almost like predicting dozens of minutes into the future.

All the arrows except for the ones that directly hit Vernon or the train were the result of being fired a long time ago.

Ivelyn had made them believe that she was still outside the city by firing a rain of arrows in advance from outside the satellite city.

Taking advantage of that illusion, she had directly entered the outskirts of the city and was tracking down the members of Pandemonium.

“If it weren’t for this werewolf, you wouldn’t have found me, but it’s the same for both of us.”

Lenok said, letting out a low laugh.

“I was waiting too, knowing the risk.”

“……That man is a suspect who has profited by going back and forth between Pandemonium and Aegis.”

Ivelyn said calmly.

“If you hand him over, I don’t intend to hold you back.”

“……”

“I’m just cooperating with Aegis’s operation, so I don’t intend to take all the credit… but I have to do my job. Decide.”

Her green eyes shone coldly.

“I won’t listen to any more answers.”

A declaration that was nothing short of resolute.

Lenok knew better than anyone that the confidence in her words was a conviction built on legitimate ability and qualifications.

An overwhelmingly strong person who would be difficult to guarantee a clear victory against even if Lenok fought with all his might.

Ivelyn was a superhuman who was complete in both strength and skill, to the point that Lenok had even received advice from her while working together.

She had stepped down from her position as an agent and was living a semi-unemployed life, but that was only a decision made by her own will.

The moment she pulls the bowstring, she puts someone’s life on the tip of her finger. That was the true nature of the archer, Ivelyn Marcia.

Staring at the Hyun-gung, which was scattering an infinitely sharp aura, Lenok came to a conclusion.

‘It would be difficult with my attribute-based magic sealed.’

The only special attribute magic that he could use under Victor’s identity was manipulation and space-based magic.

He used the Shadow Robe and various items to add tricks, but that was not the essence.

Not only was electric magic unusable, but so were the magnetic field and Ouroboros [a symbol of a serpent eating its own tail, often representing infinity or cyclicality].

There was no need to say how difficult it would be to face Ivelyn with most of Lenok’s most powerful cards hidden.

At this point, facing such a strong opponent, Lenok knew what he had to do.

He quickly adjusted his magic threads, as if doing cat’s cradle with both hands, and calmed his breathing.

‘The odds aren’t high. But…….’

He had no intention of handing over Logier’s custody so easily.

As Ivelyn said, Logier’s existence was the only way to secure information from both the Underworld and Aegis at the same time.

He had expected that Aegis and the city government would try to recover him to some extent.

Although it was a heavy burden to face Ivelyn at this point, he could not hand over Logier’s custody prematurely.

Not until he had organized the memories Lenok had extracted from his mind, and confirmed that Logier’s condition made it difficult for him to reveal Lenok’s secrets.

Lenok slightly lowered his head on the swaying train roof.

“I’m sorry, but that’s going to be difficult.”

“Do you think you can escape?”

Lenok smiled quietly before answering.

In that fleeting moment when Ivelyn slightly frowned at the sound of his laughter.

“I’ll do my best.”

There was no answer.

Right after he thought he saw a green glow flickering faintly in the darkness, she was already right next to Lenok.

Whoosh!

She casually stabs the arrow she was holding in her bare hand into his side. The simplicity of her indifferent movement was close to the speed of sound.

He reacts to the subsonic preemptive strike purely by intuition.

‘Should I grab it? No……!!’

He deflects the direction of the arrow tip by flicking the rotating magic threads from both hands, barely avoiding it.

Screech……!!

The black flash that missed in the darkness grazed the hem of the Shadow Robe and neatly cut through the asphalt.

Ivelyn’s eyes lit up as she confirmed Lenok’s response.

“You reacted? It wasn’t barehanded.”

“……”

“If you can take a preemptive strike at this distance, your senses are impeccable, and your judgment to let it go without grabbing it is sharp.”

She doesn’t care at all that her first attack missed.

It was as if she had been waiting for Lenok to react and deal with it properly. That fact made his spine tingle.

“Shall we take a closer look?”

Ivelyn’s hand, holding the arrow in reverse, swayed a few more times in place, and Lenok’s hands danced along with it.

The magic threads that rose around the two of them rippled like waves, deflecting all the flashing lights and burying them in the ground.

Clatter!!!

A chilling cutting sound echoed between their feet, cutting through the hard train steel plates and joints like trash.

Lenok and Ivelyn’s figures clashed, switching positions dozens of times in a fleeting moment, disappearing from the spot and reappearing as if exploding and scattering.

The extreme contrast between Lenok, who barely dodges and endures by manipulating his own body with magic threads, and the hunter who leaps through the darkness as if disappearing with each step.

Thud thud thud!!!

They jump over several precarious lines that cannot even be compared to what they have done so far, among the train debris.

An exchange of attacks so sharp that the skin tingles just from the aura alone.

However, the expression on Ivelyn’s face was becoming more and more curious and interested.

“Manipulation system. Magic threads. Thickness is less than 0.2mm.”

Ivelyn, who had quickly recognized the identity of the weapon Lenok was using, said, rubbing her cheek.

“The tension and length seem to be adjusted in real time, and the number of magic threads manipulated at once is more than 54… you’re even manipulating your own body and external combat separately.”

In a moment that would have only taken a few breaths, she analyzes Lenok’s abilities and conditions with a chillingly accurate and clean manner.

She goes beyond simply seeing what is visible, and tries to see and guess beyond what is invisible, and tries to confirm its essence.

An inhuman intuition that only a monster who has completely awakened and transcended their own essence can possess.

That made Lenok realize all the more that he was facing Ivelyn’s offensive.

“You seem proficient in close combat, but the details of your movements are not. But it’s not wrong either. It’s quite a unique style. Is it the effect of the drug?”

“Huuu……!!”

Unlike Ivelyn, who was speaking leisurely, Lenok’s nerves, which had been receiving attacks with only one magic thread, were on the verge of burning out.

He had to gain an equal or higher position in the mind game against a level 8 extreme ability user.

No matter how much Lenok had gained overwhelming performance in combat judgment and intuition, it was difficult to endure without even using his magic eye.

“I don’t know where that organization gets such oddballs like you.”

Ivelyn said, readjusting her arrow and taking another step forward.

“I think every time I deal with Pandemonium’s work, is there really such a thing as a nature that can only be obtained after being twisted somewhere?”

“Why don’t you find out slowly by yourself……!!”

Lenok said, manipulating his own body with magic threads, and barely avoided the arrow tip by quickly tilting his head back.

At the same time as avoiding the follow-up attack that barely grazed the edge of his mask, the unconscious Logier and Lenok’s body began to be pulled away as if caught by something.

Whoosh!

He attached the magic threads to the end of another train passing overhead and forcibly created distance.

Agile mobility that instantly creates a distance of tens of meters or more.

At the same time, Lenok tore off part of the Shadow Robe, wrapped it around Logier’s body, and processed it into a shape similar to Lenok’s own, dividing it into two.

“Did you create distance? Are you confident you can avoid it?”

Ivelyn, who immediately noticed what Lenok was trying to do, grabbed the arrow in reverse and shrugged her shoulders.

“I won’t let you escape.”

Kkiririk……!!

With the illusion that Ivelyn’s arm below her shoulder disappeared for a moment, a black flash faintly bloomed from her fingertips.

It was fired at a speed that surpassed sound as soon as it left her hand.

Paang!!

A single arrow that pierced the night sky instantly penetrates the Shadow Robe sliding between the building walls.

But immediately after that, the robe collapsed as it was, and she appeared on the roof of a building on the opposite side of the distance.

A speed that was so agile and rapid that it was hard to believe that she had changed her aura.

Ivelyn’s eyes coldly sank as she instantly sensed that the opponent’s mobility was at an unusual level.

“A hair’s breadth with the throw. You read the speed. You predicted it?”

The moment she took another step forward, holding two more arrows, Ivelyn’s figure instantly climbed onto the roof of a building tens of meters away.

She quickly ran across the rooftop and swept down her left arm, and a black short bow unfolded and assembled between her forearms.

The large bow that she mainly used was currently being used for wide-range sniping all over Bairuitz, so she could not use it right away.

However, this short bow was enough to demonstrate Ivelyn’s talent for archery.

Screech……!!

She lowers her center of gravity, sliding as if gliding across the wide rooftop.

She takes two arrows from her waist, places them on the bowstring of the short bow, and infuses magic into her fingertips.

The moment she felt a black-green glow flowing and rotating along the arrow shaft, the bowstring had already left Ivelyn’s hand.

Whoosh!

The two arrows, which had pierced through the buildings in a double helix, quickly chased after Lenok’s figure, which was moving away.

Lenok teleports once more and changes his position in the same way as before, but one of the arrows that followed directly hits the arrow that was fired first.

Thud thud thud!!!

The arrow tip explodes as it is, scattering its fragments like shrapnel, tearing apart the area near the railroad where the robe was located.

A shrapnel explosion that was so intense that even Logier’s body, which was shaking behind Lenok, flinched.

But even so, Lenok was escaping out of Bairuitz without stopping.

An absurd evasive maneuver that did not even come close to hitting, let alone hitting the target, even though Ivelyn herself pulled the bowstring.

Only then did Ivelyn, who realized that the opponent had more than just manipulation-based techniques, adjust her stance.

“The life reaction itself is incredibly bizarre. On top of that, a leaping ability that transcends space itself. I see……”

Her green eyes shone, scattering a faint aura.

“You know me. Do you know about my abilities?”

A monster who uses two special attribute techniques, manipulation and space-based.

It must be because he was a sorcerer with that level of talent and aptitude that he was calmly going in and out of this city as a member of Pandemonium.

It was not surprising.

However, it seemed necessary to change the attitude she had been using so far, which was to assess her opponent to some extent.

Clank!!

At the same time as pulling the end of the short bow twice, the length of both bow limbs increased slightly, transforming into the shape of a long bow.

A temporary measure to increase the range and power, although the stability is reduced.

But Ivelyn was confident that she could perfectly control even that subtle sensation.

“Can you avoid this too?”

The moment she shrugged her shoulders and pulled the bowstring of the long bow, the overwhelming image that resided within her rose along the tip of the arrow.

* * *

‘I know how Ivelyn uses archery.’

Lenok thought quickly, creating distance by spamming the few remaining teleportation techniques.

‘If I plan my movements assuming three or more dodges, I can get ahead in the reading for the first five shots. This is as planned.’

Ivelyn Marcia is an excellent warrior and a great archer, but her essence is closer to that of a hunter.

Therefore, before starting a battle, she has a habit of assessing and evaluating her opponent rather than giving her all.

Lenok knew this, so he was able to buy some time by dodging the first few arrows Ivelyn shot with movements that exceeded her expectations.

‘The problem is from now on, when Ivelyn starts using her microcosm.’

Ivelyn’s microcosm, Inertia Bias, is a type of ability that freely manipulates the direction and inertia of objects containing her will.

It is an ability that madly enhances all of her combat styles, both offensively and defensively, as a prodigious archer and an excellent warrior.

It is a truly powerful and versatile power that allows her to break free from the limitations of archery.

Until now, he had been twisting the trajectory by forcibly twisting his movements to make the snipes miss, but under the power of Inertia Bias, such attempts would not work at all.

No matter how hard he tried to avoid the arrows, the question of whether or not he would be hit was entirely in the realm of psychological warfare, since she could change the direction of the arrows themselves.

‘It’s a matter of when to use the microcosm and teleportation techniques. It’s disadvantageous since the initiative is on her side.’

An opponent that Lenok could not even guess his chances of winning against even if he fought with all his might.

There was no way he could endure under Victor’s identity, where he had to hide his identity and power.

In order to finish adjusting Logier’s memories, he had no choice but to escape out of the city while avoiding her arrows.

However, Lenok was not just creating distance without any countermeasures.

‘In terms of time, it’s about time for the cross-city train to pass by the satellite city. It’s enough if I can reach near the station.’

Unlike the internal railway trains that Lenok had forcibly activated, there was the existence of a cross-city train that circulated between cities.

If he could get on the transcontinental train passing near Bairuitz and return to the Balkans, he could escape Ivelyn’s pursuit.

No, it would be enough to just hide Lenok and Logier’s presence from Ivelyn’s eyes.

All he needed was a very brief opening.

The moment Lenok thought that and climbed onto a nearby train while hanging on to the magic threads.

Kkirik!

A huge black line filled his mind with a burning sensation as if piercing through his brain.

“……!!!”

A huge black-green trajectory that bisected the Bairuitz downtown area.

The moment Lenok recognized it with his magic sense, it had already hit him, surpassing the speed of sound.

The arrow that barely grazed under his feet pierced through the entire train car in the center.

Boom!!!

The dozens of train cars that were hit burst like balloons, swelling up and scattering like giant aluminum cans.

“Kuh!!”

The impact shattered all of his shields, and blood oozed out through the arrows that had scratched his skin, seeping out through the torn Shadow Robe.

As soon as Ivelyn realized that Lenok’s movements were quite bizarre, she had begun to draw on the power of her microcosm.

‘Did she notice already……!’

The trajectory of the arrow was so difficult to guess that even Lenok had difficulty guessing the first trajectory.

It was almost certainly a superimposed snipe that had gone through more than five trajectory changes.

If the distance widened like this, it would be even more difficult to read the trajectory of the arrows that Ivelyn was shooting.

He could not avoid Ivelyn’s snipes if the distance widened, but he could not escape if he did not widen the distance.

Moreover, in this situation where he was carrying a burden called the unconscious Logier, it was unknown how long Lenok could protect himself while avoiding her snipes.

Kiiiiiiing!!!!

As if a distance of hundreds of meters was meaningless, a chilling, sure-hit image rose from beyond the rooftop of the building.

A second snipe fired with the image of Inertia Bias wrapped around it with all its power.

Whoosh!

But instead of timing the moment to use teleportation, Lenok tilted his body back and spread his arms wide in the air.

He had not decided to flee from Ivelyn without any chance or basis.

Rather, there was one way to deal with it that was only possible after creating this much distance.