Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 689

The Witch and the Magic Tower (4)

Five rosary beads of the same rank as Tatiana Chiglet.

One of the war mages who led the war as the head of the Magic Tower had arrived in Balkan.

Not only did they track down Tatiana, but they also managed to cast a reverse summoning the moment she took out the Phoenix War Fan.

It was clear that their plan was quite elaborate and meticulous.

‘A war mage. Probably one of the soldiers who are seasoned in combat.’

As Lenox left the bar and snapped his fingers, a monster bike sprang up from under the shadow as if it had been ejected.

Bwaaang!!

He got on the bike that had warmed up in an instant, and as he gripped the throttle, the automatic driving algorithm activated.

It spun around in place and began to race onto the road as if it had been ejected.

A meter showing a fox running appeared on the bike’s system screen, and Davi spoke quickly.

[Coordinates input complete. Preparing to estimate the approximation!]

‘I did intervene in the reverse summoning process and forcibly twisted the location coordinates, but there is a distance error based on the map of Balkan.’

Lenox said quickly.

‘Roughly calculated, it’s around the 13km radius of the factory area in District 46. I’ll have to search for Tatiana by using magic detection around there.’

Lenox quickly tapped the screen, guessing the location before the algorithm’s calculation was even finished.

Davi asked, sounding puzzled.

[Since you succeeded in interfering along the way, isn’t there no need to rush?]

‘Tatiana’s condition seemed worse than I thought.’

Lenox replied, looking pensive.

‘She was too easily caught by the reverse summoning attempt, even though she was caught off guard. There must be a reason for that.’

A Saint-level mage who has completed their hierarchy can resist the power that forcibly designates them in some way.

Even if she was caught off guard, it was strange that a mage of Tatiana’s caliber was caught by the reverse summoning without any resistance.

It was proof that Tatiana’s condition was not good enough to resist the opponent’s will.

Davi, who understood Lenox’s words, immediately reacted and increased the speed of the bike.

[Coordinate setting complete. Calculating the optimized route. Algorithm activated.]

Screech!!

The bike quickly exited District 49 and sped along the unpaved road.

The bike’s body was faintly reflected on the tires that were spinning as if they were smashing the ground.

‘…Found her.’

Lenox, who had spread out his magic detection widely and sensed Tatiana’s presence, frowned immediately after.

The presence of Tatiana, felt through his sensory range, was rapidly moving away in the opposite direction from the bar.

Even though she must know that she was forcibly dragged out by the same rosary, she didn’t seem to have any intention of returning.

[Aren’t they on the same side as the Magic Tower? Maybe they’re trying to deceive Master!]

Lenox shook his head at Davi, who was grumbling about how you can’t trust smart organisms.

‘If that were the case, information about the Phoenix War Fan wouldn’t have leaked into the Underworld’s information network. There’s no possibility that Tatiana would betray us now…’

Lenox’s words, which had been going on with various speculations, suddenly stopped.

Screech!!

Lenox, who had estimated the location where Tatiana had fallen during the reverse summoning process, stopped nearby and snatched an object that had fallen on the floor with his magic power.

Three skull patterns with red eyes imprinted on them. The symbol of the Cerberus Slaughter Corps.

Was it a coincidence that this object happened to be dropped near where Tatiana was reverse summoned?

‘…’

He quickly combined several situations and memories that seemed like coincidences in his head.

The attitude of the Cerberus Corps member who first approached Tatiana at the bar and talked about the satellite factory.

And their movements after leaving the bar, approaching Tatiana before anyone else.

It didn’t take long to come to a conclusion.

‘The rosary who tracked Tatiana hired the Cerberus Corps. From the fact that they were originally members of the central front…’

It meant that they were also part of the group that had flowed into Balkan in pursuit of the Witch of the Flame.

Then the story they told Tatiana… was it not a simple request, but a probe of Tatiana’s reaction?

‘Davi, contact Jenny and ask her to find out information about Tentacion’s satellite factory. There’s something there.’

The reason why Tatiana ran away from the Magic Tower with the Phoenix War Fan might be there.

If that was the case, then the reason why Tatiana was moving alone instead of returning to the bar when she was caught up in the reverse summoning could also be understood.

She also realized that the Cerberus Corps had been hired by the rosary and was planning to interrogate them directly.

Lenox came to that conclusion and immediately pulled the throttle.

‘I need to chase after her quickly. It’s raining.’

Not only did they quickly track Tatiana to Balkan, but they were also meticulous enough to hire the Cerberus Corps in the meantime to provoke Tatiana and see her reaction.

The subtle intention of attempting a reverse summoning by targeting the very moment Tatiana tried to take out the Phoenix War Fan, and even trying to pinpoint her location.

The opponent must also be a seasoned mage who has survived countless battles.

Considering that Tatiana’s condition is not good right now, it probably won’t take long for the outcome to be decided.

The bike Lenox was riding quickly sped away in the direction where Tatiana had disappeared.

* * *

Swoosh!

A dark alleyway where rain was pouring down.

A ruin where torn garbage was rolling around and a terrible sewer stench was emanating.

A nasty and dirty wasteland that no one would dare to go near in such harsh weather.

Among such piles of garbage, Tatiana was staggering, barely managing to keep her balance.

Crack!!

‘The Witch of the Flame, who is said to burn humans alive, is not so special after all.’

A young man who had kicked Tatiana hard on the shoulder opened his mouth with a smile.

‘I heard that her wounds from the battlefield had festered, and it wasn’t a lie. I didn’t know she would become so helpless just because it was raining.’

‘…’

Tatiana silently raised her gaze and stared at the skull-patterned dagger dangling from the young man’s waist.

More than a dozen people were standing around her, surrounding her. They were all holding bizarrely shaped blades.

Crude weapons that seemed to have been designed only to painfully cut through human flesh. Without exception, three skull patterns were hanging from the ends of the handles of such weapons.

‘Everyone is mistaken, but killing a war mage is not entirely impossible.’

The young man whispered.

‘Especially if they are injured and exhausted, and in an environment where it is pouring rain like this?’

The young man who grabbed Tatiana by the collar said.

‘It would have been much easier if you had just crawled out of the bar nicely. You knew this was going to happen from the beginning.’

‘The habits of the trash who count the necks of corpses on the battlefield are obvious.’

Tatiana spat out blood and smiled weakly.

‘If you show them a weakness, they’ll go crazy and try to stab you…’

The young man didn’t listen to Tatiana and punched her straight in the face.

Thud! Thud! Thud!!

The young man, who silently beat Tatiana with a smiling face, said.

‘You’ve been rolling around on the central front for too long, you’ve completely lost it. Do you think you’ve survived this far purely because of your skills?’

Thud!!

The young man, who kicked Tatiana and stood up, put his hand on his waist and said.

‘Yeah, everyone dies so pathetically like that. They only realize how lucky they were right before they die from a single mistake.’

‘That’s right. Actually, I’m no different.’

Tatiana smiled.

‘But after seeing those guys die a few times, you learn something, even if you don’t want to.’

‘…What?’

Fzzzz…!!

A pile of garbage that was cleverly hidden between Tatiana’s body.

Underneath it, a faint ember that was not wet by the pouring rain could be seen.

One cigarette that Lenox had given her at the time of the reverse summoning. The moment the ember that had not gone out at the end of it entered the young man’s sight.

The ember that had risen at the end of the cigarette instantly swelled in size and began to burn everything in the junkyard.

[Flame Armament No. 14]

[Designated Incineration]

[Calamity Garment]

Whoosh!!

The flames that rose from behind Tatiana’s back turned into a huge sphere of flames that surrounded a radius of more than a dozen meters.

The extreme determination to burn everything inside it without exception, except for herself, the caster.

‘Kkyaaaaah!!’

Those who had been silently watching the scene from behind the young man disappeared in flames one by one….

The tips of their feet burned, their flesh and muscles melted and flowed down, and their bones turned to ash and crumbled.

Designated immolation, where they die while still conscious.

Terrible screams echoed from all directions, and the young man who had been threatening Tatiana was no different.

‘Haa, aaaaack!!’

The young man’s arms and legs burned and disappeared as he let out a rough voice with a hoarse voice.

His smiling face was nowhere to be seen, and he was trembling with a pale face, convulsing as if he was about to die.

However, just before the young man’s breath was cut off on the spot.

The huge sphere of flames surrounding Tatiana compressed in an instant and turned into a red curtain surrounding her.

Whoosh!!

The raindrops falling on her head evaporated without even touching the heat emitted by the Calamity Garment, creating steam.

Tatiana, who had instantly completed a magnificent coat of flames that protected her, lowered her head towards the young man and asked.

‘The location of the engine room of Tentacion’s satellite factory. Do you know it?’

‘Kua, ugh…!!’

‘If Melter hired you, he would have told you to lure me. Tell me where it is!!’

The young man, trembling with pain and getting rained on, spat at her with a blurred face.

‘You, bitch… We’ve already, prepared…!!’

‘…’

‘Keuheut…’

At that moment, the young man’s face turned purple and he completely lost consciousness.

He was still breathing, but he couldn’t withstand the shock of his whole body burning away for long.

Tatiana stared at the scene and was about to slap the young man on the cheek to wake him up when.

A sharp voice echoed from behind her.

‘You seem to be in a lot of pain, why don’t you stop there?’

Kwaaang!!

A semi-circular shockwave struck Tatiana, and in an instant, her figure was thrown into the far side of the junkyard.

‘…!!’

Following Tatiana’s flames, which had been turned upside down among the stinking garbage, the surrounding garbage also caught fire.

She brushed back her disheveled red hair and raised her gaze to see a blurry figure.

A woman with a mask completely covering the lower part of her face and long black hair that stretched down to her toes.

She was holding a huge scythe that was bigger than her body in her thin hands, and three skull patterns were dangling from her waist.

The woman with the scythe looked at Tatiana and said with a sneer.

‘Oh my, you burned them all in that short time. How cruel.’

‘…’

Instead of directly touching the burning coat of flames, she used a shockwave to push it away from the spot with her immense power.

The speed of the blow that pushed back the Calamity Garment was close to the speed of sound for a moment.

A powerful superhuman that was incomparable to the young man Tatiana had just faced.

However, the moment Tatiana turned the flames of the Calamity Garment to be wary of her.

A net shining with blue light covered the entire junkyard and instantly began to suppress Tatiana’s use of magic.

Cooong!!

‘Balkan’s technology is really convenient.’

‘…!!!’

A gray-haired man appeared from behind Tatiana, holding an unknown mechanical device in his hand.

‘Achilles’ formula interception system. It’s a much better product than I thought. It can’t suppress a mage, but if it’s just to suppress one designated formula, it’s like this…’

Fzzzz!!

The coat of flames that had been burning on Tatiana’s shoulder gradually lost its power and faded away.

‘It can even block the activation itself.’

Tatiana glared at the man at the strange sensation of not being able to control her own magic.

‘Melter…!!’

‘Call me Halfman, Tatiana?’

The gray-haired man called Melter smiled at the sight.

He said, clicking a small oil lighter in his other hand.

‘I don’t want to be called by name by a mage who has been expelled.’

‘…’

‘The time limit is about 10 minutes. It’s not cost-effective to burn 300 million cells worth of compressed preservation magic to seal one specific formula… but it’s not bad if it’s the price for catching a traitor who ran away with the seal.’

A strange device that erases the only defensive magic that she used to protect her body by compressing the amplified heat to the fullest.

‘…I’m not going to explain the situation now.’

Tatiana got up from her seat with an exhausted look and turned to look at Halfman.

‘The location of Tentacion’s engine room. Where are all the ‘materials’ used as parts inside?’

‘Yeah. I knew you’d be looking for the engine room. That’s why you ran away with it, right?’

Halfman nodded, putting down the mechanical device he had been carrying on his back.

‘Don’t rush me. I was going to take you there anyway. It will take some time to process, but if it’s a vessel like you, it won’t take long.’

‘…’

‘Malasia. Please prepare.’

The moment the woman with the scythe, called Malasia, took a step at Halfman’s words.

Zzpat!!

Her figure, which had slipped from her spot, suddenly rose from behind Tatiana.

She casually draped her long black hair over Tatiana’s shoulder and gave a ghostly, bizarre smile.

‘Mages who have stayed on the battlefield for a long time are famous for increasing their efficiency by applying a lot of geas [magical restrictions].’

Malasia whispered.

‘Now that you don’t have the ’ember’, you can’t even use magic properly, can you?’

The level 7 Saint-level mage. There was another reason why she, a war mage called the Witch of the Flame, was struggling against the Cerberus Corps.

While being pushed around on the central front, her magic, which had been adjusted to produce maximum output under specific conditions, had now become so broken that its power would weaken unless those conditions were met.

Melter Halfman, who was the same rosary, had noticed this fact early on and had borrowed Achilles’ formula interception device to intercept the Calamity Garment she had built.

The cigarette that she had used as the ember of her magic.

If she was so desperate that she had to use even the cigarette ember as a material for chanting, it was certain that she didn’t have many means to fight left.

‘A war mage specialized in group firepower. You probably don’t have many spells left that you can use in a one-on-one battle.’

Malasia, with her hands behind her back, lightly flicked her fingers, and the blade of the long scythe she was holding at the end of it accurately aimed at the end of Tatiana’s neck.

A distance that would be enough to pierce her neck and cut off her breath if she twisted her wrist just a little.

‘It’s admirable that you ran away so hard, but you should have managed your hand well until the end… Then you wouldn’t have been caught so pathetically like this.’

‘…That skull pattern.’

Ignoring the slippery sensation of the long scythe at the end of her neck, Tatiana lowered her gaze.

The skull pattern of the Cerberus Corps was dangling from Malasia’s long, curved waist.

However, Tatiana could recognize a different sense of incongruity from Malasia’s in the ornament.

‘The focal point of the red eyes is not aligned. The lower part of the jaw is worn out because it was roughly rubbed.’

‘…’

‘If you’re one of the idiots who are obsessed with the number of necks you’ve killed, you’d cherish that pattern that much.’

Tatiana asked.

‘You’re not part of the Cerberus Corps, are you?’

Malasia, who grinned, crushed the skull pattern hanging from her waist with her thin fingers.

Crack!!

‘Hehe, was it too obvious after all?’

‘…’

‘Rosary. Look at this. You can’t fool me with trash looted from the corpses of dead corps members.’

Halfman did not respond to that. Instead, he just clicked the oil lighter in his hand.

‘It’s unpleasant to act like those bugs who cut off heads and carry them around, even if it’s just a job.’

Malasia licked her tongue and quietly whispered to Tatiana.

‘I prefer to work for a military company that buys and sells death more elegantly than that.’

‘…!!’

A military company operating on the central front.

Before Tatiana could answer, realizing the meaning of those words, Halfman cut her off sharply.

‘Malasia. That’s enough. There’s no need to talk anymore.’

Halfman, who had taken out something like a small stamp gun, nodded to Malasia.

‘It’s a little early, but we’ll finish the processing here. Get ready.’

‘That, I hate it just by looking at it, but… I can’t help it.’

‘…!!’

The moment Malasia’s wet hand stroked Tatiana’s neck, her whole body hardened with an unknown viscous substance.

Halfman brought the stamp gun to Tatiana’s forehead and drew up his magic power.

Keeing…!!

At the same time as an unknown resonance sound erupted, a strange energy began to concentrate beyond the stamp gun.

‘I’m going to extract your consciousness and fill it with a new substitute.’

Halfman explained.

‘Don’t worry. You’ll be able to watch everything we do from the other side.’

Halfman, who had finished charging by filling it with magic power, slowly pulled the trigger of the stamp gun.

The Achilles’ formula interception system only works properly for a short time of less than 10 minutes.

There was no need to waste time and give Tatiana a chance to use the Calamity Garment again.

At the same time as Halfman pulled the stamp gun with all his might, Tatiana’s gaze turned to her own blood flowing down her neck.

Click!!

Immediately after the sound of the trigger being pulled, all the surrounding scenery fell into silence.

‘I don’t know why everyone tries to go the long way around.’

Before everyone could properly recognize the incongruity of the gap, someone’s voice was heard right next to them.

Lenox, wearing a coat and leaning on a cane, was fiddling with the stamp gun with his other hand.

‘Is this how you handle things on the central front these days?’