Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 568

Immediately after recognizing the opponent’s identity, Gyeolbaek’s figure in the distance blurred.

It was obvious that this distance would have no impact on a superhuman battle.

The first to move was Felix.

Even with his tattered body, he somehow managed to grip his hammer and squeeze out his magic power, blocking Lenox’s path.

Immediately, Gyeolbaek’s fist, bursting out as if shattering space, struck Felix’s hammer with his bare hand.

Kwaaang!!

“Kuh…!!”

With a strange noise of the hammer’s face being crushed, Felix’s massive body was pushed back.

In the meantime, Felix, who somehow managed to hug Lenox with his other arm and absorb the impact, shouted.

“Azlan-nim…!!”

“…!!”

The pure white light shining through his white hair wavered aimlessly, then stared intently at Lenox like a beast.

Lenox shook his head, looking at Claude’s appearance.

“It’s no use. He’s already halfway across the border.”

“This…!!”

Kwaaaang!!!

Even though he was just slashing at the air with his bare hands, the magic power emanating from his fingertips swept around and turned into a storm.

Ilya, who stepped forward instead of Felix, held a spear and pierced through the storm, neutralizing the impact.

Chwaaak!!

“How can he have such power with his bare hands…!!”

“While fighting Madrich Onion, his madness must have spread to his very core. It seems like he fought until the moment the past spacetime was about to disappear…”

Lenox’s words were buried and disappeared amidst the white magic power, and a huge pillar of light rose from where Felix had been standing.

Kugwagwagwagwa!!!!

Felix, who quickly picked up Lenox and retreated, asked urgently.

“Is there a way?!!”

“Well…”

Lenox said, shaking the chain of the pocket watch he was holding.

“Claude Azlan went completely mad not only because of the battle with Onion, but also because he thought there was no hope for himself anymore when he returned to reality.”

Kwaaang!!

The moment a white flash narrowly grazed Lenox’s neck.

Lenox jumped off Felix’s shoulder and lowered his hand.

Click!!

Lenox, who pulled the chain and took out the old pocket watch, connected dozens of magic threads to his body and muttered.

“Then I have to let him know that there’s still a way.”

“…What?”

There was no answer.

Paat!!

Lenox’s figure flickered through the slashes Gyeolbaek unleashed.

Lenox, who had closed the distance in an instant, stood in front of the staggering monster with a slightly lowered stance.

Peeking through his disheveled white hair, his hazy white eyes.

His eyes were bloodshot and congested, the sclera more red than the pupils, a bizarre sight.

Gyeolbaek’s face, upon seeing Lenox’s face, contorted like a demon, and his left forearm, which had been shaking like a ghost, disappeared on the spot.

Swaeeek!!

A close-range strike that seemed to transcend space, instinctively trying to tear through skin and muscle and take the heart.

But Lenox didn’t care and manipulated his magic threads, twisting his body like a puppet.

“The fact that you can maintain that combat power even after completely losing your reason, that must be the power of the Tu-in, right?” [Tu-in: A type of power or ability]

Kkigigik!!

Gyeolbaek’s hand brushed past the back of Lenox’s neck, who had slightly disrupted his body’s balance by twisting his shoulder and neck in opposite directions.

The light that burst out from behind Lenox’s back drew a dazzling wave of light across the horizon.

Kwaaaang!!

Gyeolbaek’s hand, which was pulled down through the heated air, stirred the gap like the scythe of a death god taking lives.

The pure white crescent moon shattered in all directions, following the misaligned breath.

Even though he had lost his reason, it was a killing move unleashed with all his might by a level 8 physical ability user.

It was not an area that could be avoided by seeing and reacting.

It was an art impossible without reacting as if inputting a motion, knowing from the beginning that he would strike first in that direction.

But Lenox, with a pale face and dripping sweat, manipulated his body as if walking a tightrope, repeating the process with a hair’s breadth difference.

Lenox, who had come right in front of Gyeolbaek with a single evasive maneuver, whispered quietly.

“I believe that you gave me the Tu-in’s formula in advance for this moment.”

A monster who had lost his reason and was consumed by the Tu-in’s mind was bound to follow the original movements of the formula, without any application or variation.

Lenox, having memorized all of the Tu-in’s formulas, had forcibly drawn out the moment when Gyeolbaek would most honestly follow the movements of the wooden statue on which the formula was written.

Click!!

The moment Lenox smeared a drop of his blood on the back of the pocket watch, the glass plate opened and the second hand popped out.

Without even checking the hour hand of the watch that had been set in advance, Lenox forcefully stabbed the needle into Gyeolbaek’s temple.

Pook!!

One of the two gifts that Kaise left for Lenox when he chose to self-destruct.

The pocket watch, which existed as a real artifact, stirred Gyeolbaek’s head in place of Kaise.

Deudeudeuk!!!

Claude’s eyes rotated as if they would flip over on the spot, and then the blood vessels that had sprouted between his eyes began to subside as if by a lie.

“…”

In the ensuing silence, Gyeolbaek’s breathing gradually calmed down.

His hunched back slowly straightened, his aura calmed down, and the moment the focus returned to his hazy eyes.

Gyeolbaek’s mouth slowly opened.

“I knew that your success would be a failure for me.”

“…”

“It was also clear from the beginning that you had no intention of confronting my past self. Nevertheless, I cooperated with the plan because I thought you would eventually settle things for me…”

Gyeolbaek, looking down at Lenox with a complex gaze, sighed and slowly grasped Lenox’s hand.

Cheeik!!

Gyeolbaek, who slowly pulled out the second hand of the pocket watch that had pierced his temple, said.

“You are asking me for the next step after all.”

“Did you think I would kill you? There’s no way.”

Lenox chuckled and wiped the second hand of the pocket watch, reorganizing the artifact.

“It’s difficult to deal with the aftermath of killing a guardian of the Tu-Ryeon Gate [Tu-Ryeon Gate: A significant location or organization] who has reached level 8. You are different from the case of Madrich Onion.”

“…”

“If it weren’t for the current situation, I would never have laid a hand on you in any case.”

Madrich Onion, who had left his official position and was almost a recluse, and Gyeolbaek, who was clearly a guardian of the Tu-Ryeon Gate, were different cases.

No matter what happened during the operation, if Lenox had killed Gyeolbaek directly, the fact would not have been hidden, nor would its aftermath have easily subsided.

If it weren’t for the pocket watch that Kaise had left behind, Lenox would have just left Gyeolbaek here and left the cleanup to others.

He had no intention of directly granting Gyeolbaek’s wish.

“Ban!!!”

Felix approached Lenox with a horrified expression and stared at the two of them with a dumbfounded look.

“What was that just now…?”

“An artifact left by Kaise Bajur.”

Lenox replied.

“It’s a medium that allows him to control the innate magic mind he was born with.”

Kaise didn’t give any explanation when he left this pocket watch, but Lenox understood its ability as soon as he saw it.

Kaise’s self-magnetic field, the Tae-Yeok Swirl Leaf [Tae-Yeok Swirl Leaf: A unique ability or concept], which reversed time using the magic power of reverse heaven as its power source.

His existence had now completely disappeared, but his mind remained as a branch point within Lenox.

Before he completely disappeared, Kaise had gifted Lenox this pocket watch, which contained a way to control the power of the field.

Kaise’s legacy that remained without disappearing from the past timeline.

The will to save the world, which had not faded even after decades.

His existence had completely disappeared, but the mind of the Tae-Yeok Swirl Leaf and this artifact still remained with Lenox.

“In the end, this would not have been possible if Claude, you hadn’t gone looking for your past self.”

Just now, Lenox had forcibly hammered in the mind of reverse time through the pocket watch, completely restoring Gyeolbaek’s damaged pituitary gland.

To be precise, it could be said that he forcibly rolled back the condition of that time he had remembered once when he faced the past Claude to the current Gyeolbaek.

It was like forcibly overwriting the overloaded computer memory with old, intact data.

Gyeolbaek’s madness, which had transcended the hierarchy as a Tu-in, would not completely disappear, but it was a gift of time that would at least leave a grace period.

“Be grateful to him. It’s the same as him saving you once.”

As Lenox said that and shook the pocket watch, Gyeolbaek’s expression changed in a complex way.

“Kaise-gong… I see. He was a person whose thoughts I couldn’t understand even back then.”

“…”

“I never thought he would give me a second chance. I thought he was just a passing acquaintance…”

Looking at Gyeolbaek, who had slumped down in exhaustion, Lenox slowly stepped back and took a breath.

The time he had concentrated on stabbing the second hand into the temple of the mad Gyeolbaek was less than 20 seconds.

But in that short time, Lenox’s whole body was drenched in sweat and he was experiencing extreme fatigue.

It was nothing short of a suicidal act to try to fight a level 8 physical ability user directly by hammering in the little remaining magic power.

Just being briefly exposed to that murderous intent had put his body in a state of extreme tension.

The remaining magic power was now depleted, and he was close to his limit just by being conscious.

If he hadn’t forcibly manipulated his body through magic threads, it would have been impossible to even briefly match moves with Gyeolbaek.

Felix silently watched Lenox, then slammed his hammer heavily in front of the collapsed Gyeolbaek.

Kuuung!!

Felix, who was coldly staring at Gyeolbaek through his hammer, spoke without turning to look at Lenox.

“Ban, I will take responsibility for Claude Azlan and keep him under direct surveillance. It would be best for you to rest a little further away.”

“…No.”

Lenox, wiping away his sweat, took out a potion from his pocket and drank it as he answered.

“The anomaly itself has disappeared, but the work is not completely over. We need to explore the closed district and confirm whether the radiation exposure has completely disappeared.”

“…”

“Decades ago, Kaise actually conducted research on spacetime fixation in this area and failed. If so, there’s probably a high probability that traces or clues related to him remain.”

“I will help you.”

Ilya supported Lenox and helped him up as she answered.

“Magat-nim, please watch over Azlan-nim here to make sure he doesn’t show any abnormal behavior. We will look around the remaining facilities of the particle power plant and collect the necessary results.”

“I’m counting on you.”

Even as Felix said that, he didn’t take his eyes off Gyeolbaek for a moment.

Apart from Lenox’s words, it was his will to not allow any more arbitrary actions or abnormal behavior from Gyeolbaek.

Ilya glanced back at Felix, then carefully supported Lenox and turned towards the power plant.

“Cough, cough…!!”

“Ban, are you alright?”

His body, which had not only escaped from the past spacetime but had also briefly fought Gyeolbaek, was experiencing extreme fatigue.

Instead of answering, Lenox took out another potion he had made earlier and poured it into his mouth.

Ilya looked at him with an admiring expression.

“How can you drink that tasteless potion so easily…”

“I don’t care about taste. Especially in a situation like this.”

Lenox’s poor physical abilities even affected the dullness of his sense of taste.

Especially when his whole body was exhausted like now, there were times when he couldn’t even feel what he was tasting with his tongue.

But Ilya, who didn’t know the whole story, nodded with a convinced look.

“The mental strength of a mage is truly amazing. There are things to learn from you.”

“…Is that usually the part where you admire someone’s mental strength?”

Lenox, who retorted as if dumbfounded, threw away the potion bottle and changed the subject.

“There’s no need to support me. Let’s split up and investigate the remaining facilities of the power plant.”

“But it’s too dangerous to encounter an enemy in your current condition. It’s better to move together…”

“The fact that the anomaly in the closed district has disappeared should have reached the city government by now.”

“…”

Lenox said, looking at Ilya, who had closed her mouth.

“Before they make a move, we need to secure the research materials and data that remain in the power plant first. Do you understand what I mean?”

The Central Council, which was endlessly sensitive about the city’s secrets, could not possibly be unaware of what had happened in this District 25.

The moment they confirmed that the distorted spacetime had disappeared, they would send someone to collect all the traces and secrets left behind.

The classified documents and data that fell into the hands of the council would never see the light of day again.

Lenox was thinking of getting all the fruits of this incident as quickly as possible before the work he had done went to waste.

Ilya, who also didn’t like the idea of having the results of the work they had struggled to achieve taken away, had a slight change in her eyes.

“…I understand. I’ll start from the back gate and go through all the auxiliary facilities, so Ban-nim, please take charge of the main building of the power plant.”

“…”

Ilya’s figure disappeared in an instant without waiting for an answer.

It seemed that what Lenox had said had properly stimulated Ilya’s feelings.

Lenox then took out his staff from his pocket and limped towards the power plant again.

“It’s completely ruined…”

Of the power plant buildings that were as good as new in the past spacetime, there were almost no parts that remained intact.

Amidst the wind mixed with acrid cement dust, the skeletal barbed wire shook, and the broken steel frames swayed inside the collapsed walls.

The entrance to the main building of the power plant had completely collapsed, making it impossible to find a way inside.

Lenox pondered for a moment, then rummaged through his sleeve and took out another shotgun.

Kwaaang!!

Each time he pulled the trigger, the explosions that burst out after eliminating the recoil with shooting assist magic cleared away the collapsed debris and opened a path.

Lenox, who emptied his magazine whenever he encountered ruins or iron doors blocking his path, easily found a corridor leading to the basement.

“Was the location of the power room over there?”

In the original history, since there was no intervention from Lenox, Kaise would have finished his research on spacetime fixation in the power room.

If so, the place where the most research materials and traces would remain was likely the power room.

Bang!

The moment he smashed the door of the power room and entered, Lenox inadvertently frowned.

“…”

The sight of pipes and wires intertwined in his memory was nowhere to be seen, and the entire room was a grotesque sight of melting and sticking.

It was as if the entire space had been shattered by an overwhelming heat source, and there was nothing that could be recognized.

‘I heard that the spacetime fixation research originally failed.’

Then, in the process of failure, did the fixation device go out of control and sweep through the entire power room and disappear?

Lenox thought so and walked slowly through the ruins of the collapsed power room with his staff and shotgun.

Using magic detection amidst the strange shapes of iron bars that had melted from the heat and solidified, Lenox sensed a familiar presence and immediately pulled out his magic threads.

Chareureuk!!

Dozens of magic threads wriggled like living things, forcibly rummaging through the debris and taking out an object that was still intact inside.

Click!!

The shape of the equipment that appeared in front of him with the sound of heavy metal friction.

Lenox’s expression faintly hardened as he realized what kind of equipment it was.

“This is…”

A giant steel wing made by gathering hundreds of steel feathers.

Inside, there was a function to store various firearms, and it was a flight device customized so that the shape of the wings could be split.

Gilleon’s wings were abandoned here, covered in dark red blood.

“Is this Gilleon’s blood… In the actual history, he seems to have suffered quite serious injuries during the research.”

Dabi, who had peeked out from his pocket, immediately dabbed the bloodstain with his front paw and rubbed it, saying.

[The blood reaction is the same as the thing Master called serum.]

“…What?”

[All the bloodstains on this scrap metal are Kaise Bajur’s own blood.]