Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 639

The Godslayer (6)

A ring of light burst open, and Lenox was thrown out, landing hard on the ground.

*Swoosh!!!*

“Cough!!”

Lenox collapsed, rolling on the floor as he coughed violently, gasping for air.

“Haa, haa…!!!”

His entire body was drenched in cold sweat, and he could feel his arms and legs trembling.

“Ugh…!!!”

He half-removed his iron mask and vomited.

The side effect of being completely submerged beyond the Ascension Gate [a portal to a higher plane of existence]. The magical energy in his body vibrated erratically, and his physical responses were malfunctioning.

With a trembling hand, he reached into his pocket, took out a pill, and swallowed it.

After injecting a stabilizer ampule into his shoulder, he downed a potion to forcibly stabilize his condition, suppressing the magical energy raging within his body.

A violent backlash and foreign sensation that could endanger his life if not dealt with quickly.

But even amidst the convulsions and recoil that shook his entire body, Lenox was recalling what he had seen beyond the Ascension Gate.

“Memory…”

There was a memory.

An overwhelming memory. A vast and intense ego that even Lenox was momentarily captivated by was there.

The memory of a transcendent being qualified to attempt ascension [the process of achieving a higher state of existence].

The most intense fragment of emotion that remained in his life of over hundreds of years.

The space beyond the gate. What Hermes had seen was the memory of an ascender who had dreamed of saving the old world.

This was not what he had expected.

He had never imagined that he would see such a memory, in this place, in this way.

That’s why he was shaken, agitated, and afraid, but at the same time, he was convinced.

Because the memories that were stirring in his mind were ones that could not have existed without such a great feat, without such trial and error.

“…This isn’t it.”

At Lenox’s quiet murmur, Hermes replied in a voice that seemed to break.

“This… is truly, amazing… How can a human, see it, and, return…”

“It wasn’t.”

Lenox, gritting his teeth, stood up abruptly and stood before Hermes’ head with staggering steps.

Lenox’s eyes, which had grabbed his hair, flashed with intense light through the iron mask.

“It wasn’t the godslayer of the old world… What you want…”

The memory Lenox had seen.

It was not the memory of a transcendent being trying to kill a god.

It was the memory of another ascender watching the godslayer from the side.

A manifestation of intense emotions and ego.

It was a blaze that could have easily swept Lenox away, assimilating him to the point where he would have lost himself.

The idea of a transcendent being who establishes laws and challenges ascension with his own will.

If Lenox had not possessed a transcendent mind and an unwavering spirit, he would have been swept away by that memory and idea, losing his ego.

But even as he was helplessly looking into the transcendent being’s memory, unable to control it, Lenox could tell.

The last memory of the transcendent being.

The fleeting moment when he looked at his face reflected in the sea in the vast ocean.

Lenox remembered the appearance of a young man with pure white hair and an inorganic, neat appearance.

Lenox realized that the transcendent being’s face was exactly the same as Hermes’ current appearance.

“Who are you?”

Lenox asked, grabbing Hermes’ head.

“What’s your real name?”

This man is not Hermes.

Perhaps he was not even a young man with white hair and a neat impression.

He was just another seeker who, like Lenox, had faced the memory of the ascender left behind beyond the gate.

But unlike Lenox, who had returned without losing his ego from beyond the memory, Hermes had been completely swallowed by the ascender’s memory and had turned into a completely different person.

A being who relies on the ascender’s incomplete memory for his ego and spirit, moving according to the direction of that memory.

Hermes did not bother to deny that fact.

“Does it matter who I am… But…”

Rather, he just stared at Lenox and smiled with his head, which was only a face left.

“You know, don’t you…”

“…”

“You know who the godslayer is…”

His clear gaze quickly faded.

The gaze that had been calmly observing the situation even after his head was cut off, was now completely losing its strength and beginning to fade.

With his two eyes rapidly losing their light, Hermes whispered, trying to look at Lenox until the end.

“I won’t miss it… Soon, again, soon…”

Hermes’ head, unable to continue speaking, lost its breath.

At that moment, from the tip of his head, his white hair turned black, and the man’s face began to change.

The neat face of the young man was nowhere to be seen, and the face of a young man twisted with some kind of terrible madness was there.

At the same time, behind Lenox, the huge ring of light completely lost its power and collapsed.

*Kugwagwagwagwang!!!!*

A powerful roar that shook the heavens and the earth spread rapidly in all directions across the surface of the lake.

The other soldiers and surviving Meisters [skilled magic users] who were waiting at the seabed barrier would have also sensed that something was wrong.

Lenox silently looked down at Hermes’ head, then quietly put it down and got up from his seat.

Davy, who had watched all the scenes from inside his pocket, asked cautiously.

[Master, what are you going to do?]

“…Hermes isn’t dead. He’s just moved on.”

Lenox answered, struggling to catch his breath.

“The fact that he could still leave his will and talk even after his head was cut off… It’s because he was essentially a being who relied on the memory of an ascender. Considering that, there will probably be more.”

Until the very end, Hermes did not imply his death, but rather the next time.

That’s because Hermes himself did not die like this, but could switch to another body and aim for the next opportunity.

And it was clear what kind of opportunity he wanted.

“Hermes didn’t want the power of the godslayer.”

Lenox muttered.

“He’s trying to manifest himself, the ascender Hermes, in this world, using the memory of the godslayer as a medium.”

The ascender of the old world, Hermes.

The memory of a transcendent being left behind in the destroyed world is devouring the humans of this world and trying to be reborn.

The reason why Hermes was so adept at handling the power of the gate, why he referred to himself as ‘we’, and why he was able to communicate directly with the spirits of the old world and bring them out.

It was because Hermes himself was essentially the memory and existence of the old world.

“Escape the seabed barrier and find Hermes’ true body. There isn’t much time.”

After saying that, Lenox turned around with a pale face.

“Find the Magic Gun and escape immediately. I think I know where it is now.”

But even as he said that, Lenox’s face was as stiff as it had ever been.

As he quickly left the lake with staggering steps, he was only thinking about one thing in his head.

“…The godslayer of the old world.”

Hermes’ words were not wrong.

The memory of a transcendent being. The blaze of someone who watched someone trying to kill a god from the side.

In the end, although the godslayer’s identity, name, and face were not revealed in the memory.

Lenox was able to know who the godslayer was the moment he faced that memory until the end.

A transcendent being who was a Magic Gunner, but who reached the realm without using the Magic Gun.

A monster who changed the concept of shooting itself, redefining the meaning of bullets and targets.

An heretic who twisted his own talent to kill a god in the end.

The original owner of the old world’s Magic Gun, the End of Teremer.

“It was you…”

The Southern Great Forest. He still remembers the events at the Well of the Compendium [a place of knowledge and power] as clearly as if it were yesterday.

The end of that grand feat of using Gye Baek’s body as a bullet and shooting it at the outer god roaming beyond the outer sea.

He had always wondered how that was possible, and what the arrangement that the Commander had prepared was.

But now Lenox had finally realized what it meant to do what he had done with Pandemonium [a powerful artifact or entity] at that time.

At that time, what the clown and Lenox had done was to push Gye Baek’s body beyond the well, breaking through the Compendium’s interference.

At the time, Lenox’s contribution in completely dismantling Gye Baek’s geas [a magical binding or curse] and forcibly throwing it into the well was enormous, but its true value was in a completely different place.

A single shot that used Gye Baek’s body itself as a bullet and aimed at the outer god as a target.

No, could that even be called a shot anymore?

A miracle-like power that embodies the concept of shooting by using transcendent beings beyond the standards, such as ascenders and outer gods, as tools.

“Commander, it was you…”

The Magic Gunner of the 2nd world. A transcendent being who had obtained the qualification to challenge ascension.

The owner of Pandemonium, and the answerer who endlessly walks back through the timelines of the world.

A madman who kills a god with his own power and carries on that feat to the next world.

The godslayer of the old world was referring to the Commander of Pandemonium.

* * *

Drop, drop…

In the quiet darkness, only the sound of water droplets falling echoed softly.

The light of the water droplets that fell regularly was as dark as pitch black.

He, who had been listening to the sound of the water droplets, slowly lifted his eyelids.

“Commander, are you awake?”

A flat voice was heard from above his head.

The owner of the voice is not present beside him.

However, he only reads his consciousness that intermittently awakens and reacts to the surroundings from beyond the imaginary dimension and speaks to him.

The ability to convey one’s will to anyone they want, transcending the limitations of time and space.

Moreover, the fact that the medium passes through the imaginary dimension is not something a human can do.

A mixed-blood of an ancient species who resided in the imaginary dimension.

“…Agneta.”

“It’s been a few months. There are many people looking for the Commander.”

“…”

He did not answer Agneta’s words and stared blankly at the water droplets falling in front of him.

A huge obsidian coffin.

The black water droplets falling from its end are slowly collecting in a glass placed directly below.

“The Doctor and the Clown want to contact you because of their respective tasks. The Prince is still chasing you, and the Fisherman found another gate outside the continent. What are you going to do?”

“The necessary measures have been taken.”

He answered, lifting his heavy eyelids with difficulty and raising his gaze.

“I have nothing to say… Leave it to your own judgment.”

“If I give them the same answer, everyone’s reaction will be worth seeing.”

Agneta said that and then asked the Commander instead.

“Where are you now? Weren’t you turning your consciousness on because you had something to do?”

“…”

Instead of answering that, the Commander slowly touched his face.

His appearance is still covered in intense noise, as if it does not blend into this world, and cannot be seen properly.

The voice is not heard as belonging to any one person, and his existence is not fixed in one place.

He only appears where he is needed, exists where he is needed, and does what is needed.

But the price he has to pay to exist like that is not light either.

He is paying the price of transcending the laws of the world every moment he breathes and moves.

Now, even the reason why he has to do that is fading, and even his feelings are becoming faint…

“Memory is a scary thing.”

“…What?”

“When it comes to defining oneself, one’s own will is surprisingly unimportant. Perhaps it is more efficient to leave it to others.”

That’s why coincidence trapped him between the beliefs and worship of others, not himself.

By hiding and concealing himself in the gaps of memories and thoughts, he was able to protect himself from the backlash and harm of ascension.

He understood the idea but did not sympathize with it, but he agreed that the method itself was a powerful and dangerous way of existence.

Just by touching a memory related to him somewhere in the world, he was unconsciously reacting and waking up like this.

A connection is that powerful, but it is also not easy to break.

In a way, that was the only way to define himself.

“I was reminded of something from a long time ago… It was quite an unpleasant way.”

“Commander…?”

In that tone of voice, where even gender and age could not be guessed, there was a rare, faint sneer.

A clear reaction that even Agneta, who has a faint innate sense of emotion, was tense about.

But instead of answering Agneta’s words, he slowly got up from his seat.

Should he intervene?

He hesitated for a moment, but from the moment he opened his eyes, he stopped thinking about it.

It was something that happened so long ago that he could not even perceive the time of the world.

There was much more meaning and lament after he had passed the end of causality than when he was facing the eyes of the outer god and preparing for the end.

If someone he had been with at some point remembers him in the destroyed world, that was enough.

“Tell the Doctor to finish what’s left to do in advance. There isn’t much time left.”

“If it’s about Jinwa, it’s already…”

“No.”

The Commander, interrupting Agneta’s words, silently stroked the huge obsidian coffin.

A small nameplate attached to the bottom of the coffin sparkled.

[Jindun. Zaigis Ithernoer.]

“It’s the other side.”