Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 840

Even now, if I close my eyes, I can remember it vividly.

The way I was panting as I ran with Dylan through Charlotte’s cosmetics factory site,

the appearance of the giant crocodile I saw for the first time, its unreal strength and roar.

And even the cold gaze of the agent who saved Lenok’s life.

It’s been a long time, and many things have happened to overwrite those memories, but there are still things that don’t easily disappear.

Regardless of their value or importance, memories that are fleeting and futile, yet still linger in my mind.

It was past midnight. Under the quiet moonlight, a pair of green eyes shone clearly.

Even that gaze, looking at Lenok in the open field, was like that.

“Is it okay to start in a place like this?”

Lenok asked, looking around with a cigarette in his mouth.

A deserted field on the edge of Sector 33, once presumed to be a zoo.

A desolate landscape with old, rusty cages and iron bars scattered here and there.

But Lenok knew that even this stage was far from enough for the two of them.

“If you’re really going to do it properly, this won’t be nearly enough.”

A battle between two 8-level transcendent ability users who have surpassed their ranks in different ways.

Moreover, it’s a fight of seekers who have tried not to abandon their humanity even while reaching the pinnacle.

Whether it’s Lenok or Evelyn, if either of them goes all out, it wouldn’t be strange if this entire area were swept away.

But Evelyn didn’t seem to care much about that fact.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Click!

Evelyn, adjusting the string of the short bow on her wrist and pressing down her visor, replied.

“I believe you’ll adjust accordingly.”

“…In this situation?”

“Why, can’t you?”

“……”

At that voice, which sounded genuinely curious, Lenok couldn’t answer and smiled bitterly.

He knew what Evelyn wanted from him right now.

She didn’t want to engage in a life-or-death battle with Lenok.

She didn’t want to beat him to a pulp until she felt better.

Despite possessing unparalleled martial prowess, she didn’t favor violence as a means in itself.

What moves Evelyn Marcia is not the logic of power, but the duty and pride for the vast majority of people.

The fact that a peerless archer like her is bound to a special agency like the Agents is her own will.

It was the result of her judgment that her own talent and martial prowess should be placed under the rules of order.

Lenok had never agreed with or sympathized with Evelyn’s way.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged that her foundation was incomparably arduous and noble.

It is because it is a path not taken that it is dazzling, and it is because it is a path not to be taken that it is admired.

That’s why Evelyn might have been constantly drawn to the mage walking a different path from her.

“……”

In the middle of the dry field, she looks at Lenok with a precarious gaze, as if he might disappear at any moment.

Evelyn’s lips, which had been hesitating as if she had something to say, moved quietly.

“I’m sorry for coming to your house without permission. You must have wanted to hide it.”

“It’s okay.”

Lenok smiled, exhaling smoke.

“If the best agent in Balkan has to use the power of an Ascendant [a being who has transcended human limitations] to find me, it’s proof that I’m safe.”

“……”

Evelyn’s visit to Lenok’s mansion was possible because she used the Ascendant’s power called the Lighthouse.

Moreover, if even Evelyn, a patrol agent, had to use her unique observation skills and spend a long time to find it, even with the help of the Lighthouse’s power.

That was proof that Lenok’s efforts to hide his laboratory and residence were perfect.

“Rather, I should be the one apologizing.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve been pretending not to know, even though I knew you were worried.”

Lenok quietly looked up at the night sky.

“Maybe I thought it would be okay if I got caught. That it was inevitable to leave room in a rapidly changing situation. Maybe I was presuming that you would understand.”

“……”

“I was understanding alone, expecting and getting disappointed, and imagining things without realizing it.”

He turned his gaze along the falling starlight and made eye contact again.

“I was concluding that I knew what you wanted, all on my own.”

“…Ban.”

Without any hesitation, he chose words that Evelyn disliked, piercing her heart.

To push her back, who was unsure even after making her own choice. To make sure Evelyn could do her best in this moment.

It is so easy to earn someone’s hatred.

Unlike how difficult it is to win someone’s heart.

Even though he knows how to handle thousands of spells, he is here because he can’t properly answer one person’s worries.

Surely, this is the only thing Lenok can say right now.

“You said you would listen to an answer that couldn’t be conveyed through words. You’re right.”

Lenok said, tightening his grip on the cigarette.

Kiiing…!!

At the same time, a tingling magic power rose from Lenok’s fingertips, slowly covering his skin.

“No matter how hard you try, sometimes a single gesture is more touching than a thousand words.”

“……”

“Come, Evelyn Marcia.”

Lenok, pulling back his coat and placing one hand behind him, slowly lowered his stance and spoke.

“See for yourself if what you’ve been wondering is the answer.”

There was no reply.

Instead, Evelyn’s gaze, reflected beyond her visor, only sank coldly.

The moment Lenok realized that it was the gaze of a hunter that transcended public and private matters.

Whoosh!!

A streak of light, darker than the darkness, went wild.

It twisted and danced in the air, then struck down towards Lenok’s figure.

If you see it with your eyes and react, it’s too late, and if you hear it with your ears and move, you’ll be left behind.

The archer’s shot, which surpasses Lenok’s inferior senses from the start.

As always, the arrow shook off her lingering attachments and worries and ran forward.

[Blink]

Whoosh!!

Tilting his head to the side and leaping through space, the black flash pierced the spot where Lenok had been standing.

A chilling and intense acceleration as the entire arrow shaft was buried into the ground and disappeared.

If you try to block it vaguely, or if you try to dodge it halfway, you’ll just be pierced on the spot.

It’s absurd to save means against an opponent of her caliber.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Lenok used Blink to avoid the first attack, then massaged his shoulder and turned his gaze.

‘Evelyn Marcia has three ways of using ranged attacks.’

Throwing arrows with her bare hands. Rapid firing using the short bow attached to her wrist. And sniping with the great bow, which is larger than her body.

But even that first attack, which was thrown without placing the arrow on the string, far exceeded the capabilities of an ordinary archer.

‘There’s no delay in aiming and firing. If I can’t read the trajectory, I might have to be prepared to be hit.’

The moment she takes out an arrow is the minimum preparation movement that Lenok can perceive.

If he tries to read more than that, he will be robbed of his timing and lose the initiative in the attack and defense.

Evelyn’s combat style and style haven’t changed much from the past.

Even before she transcended her rank, she had already perfectly understood her talent and aptitude.

She had simply honed that talent to perfection and made it a power that was not bound by means and methods.

“……”

Evelyn silently watched Lenok, who was regaining his balance and turning around, then slowly closed her eyes.

The moment the green eyes that had been faintly shining in the darkness disappeared, her presence was erased from that spot.

Saaak…!!

A presence so faint that even Lenok’s magic detection could barely perceive its traces.

The fact that she can erase her presence so perfectly even after reaching level 8 is proof that she has her power and rank under perfect control.

In the darkness, Evelyn’s figure is felt accelerating at an invisible speed and changing positions in an instant.

Knowing that she can’t completely evade Lenok’s magic detection, she is confusing his senses by changing coordinates and directions.

Tatak!!

A faint footstep brushing against the field. A light step that is not even certain if she landed there.

The fingertips of Evelyn, brushing against the rusty iron bars, twisted faintly, and the moment he felt that even her appearance had completely disappeared.

Black arrows were fired simultaneously from three different directions.

Swaeeeeeek!!

A sonic boom that pierces the eardrums. Speed and trajectory that surpass air resistance.

Even though they are not placed on the string, their speed surpasses the incantation or slash using thought power.

If you were to compress the archery that creates the result of hitting by aiming from a distance into a single process, would it be like this?

Whoosh!!

Two flashes that brushed below his knees.

Three arrow shafts that grazed his spine.

Five thoughts that aimed for his side and ribs.

The number and trajectory of arrows, falling and increasing like black tears, constantly change, confusing his senses and predictions.

The microcosm of Evelyn Marcia, manipulating inertia to change the trajectory and adjust the speed of arrows.

Evelyn is already going all out from the moment she started this fight.

But even after realizing that, Lenok slowly raised his magic power with his eyes closed.

Woong!!

A slow pulsation that could be considered almost motionless compared to the speed of the arrows rushing in front of him.

However, what is important in handling magic is not the concept of relative speed or reaction.

The moment you perceive it, it’s already there. The moment you understand it, it’s already starting.

The magic power and thought power rotating within have already surpassed the concept of speed and reached the realm of preemption-

Faba bat!!

Two blinks. Three steps back. And fifteen perfect dodges and six collisions.

The arrows that had been rushing in as if to pierce his entire body twisted and bounced off, entangled around the mage’s figure.

Kagagagak!!!

At the same time as the sound of glass breaking, Lenok’s body seemed to ripple and escape through the countless trajectories of the arrows.

A miracle of breaking through all the attacks launched by an 8-level archer with three blinks and five shield incantations, without a single counterattack.

The moment the shattered shield fragments and the shadows of the arrows fell like rain over Lenok’s head.

Kilik…!!!

From the darkness, Evelyn raised her hand towards Lenok.

Not aiming properly at Lenok, but showing the back of her hand with her hand lowered.

The string of the short bow hanging on her wrist was pulled taut, which could be known without having to hear the sound.

A simple weapon that sacrifices all other advantages and features except for the single function of shooting arrows.

A tool that allows her, a born archer, to perform the minimum actions that can be defined as ‘archery’.

But the moment she aimed it at Lenok, Lenok intuitively felt that he might not be able to avoid this attack.

The intuition of a mage, completed after countless battles with innate reason, talent, and experience.

Kooong!!

He chanted a summoning spell at an invisible speed and summoned a huge carapace shield in front of him.

The moment the arrow fired by Evelyn collided with the carapace fragment of the Apostle Martinez.

“…!!!”

Lenok felt his intuition, which transcended the five senses, react and pulled up his magic power with all his might.

Immediately after, a dark flash flickered inside the shield, grazing his neck, breaking through the shield, and missing.

Kagagak!!

The Apostle’s carapace shield. The inviolable barrier that had never been damaged except by Kraken Acilus was pierced.

But Lenok could perceive how Evelyn did it on the spot through magic detection.

“Multiple firing. Is it like gaining propulsion once more inside the shield?”

Evelyn’s microcosm, inertia bias, is the ability to twist and bias the force of inertia applied to an object with the power of thought.

That image does not end with the manipulation of her body, but is applied equally to the arrows that have left her fingertips.

‘She increased the penetration power by overlapping inertia more than five times inside the shield. She used the fragments that had even lost the shape of the arrow as weapons.’

There is not even a trace of an arrow left where the carapace shield was pierced.

Evelyn had predicted that the arrow itself would be blocked by the shield and shattered the arrow immediately after the collision.

She gathered all the inertia of the scattering fragments at one point and maximized the penetration power.

As a result of overlapping that process more than five times in an instant, only one fragment thinner than a hair pierced the carapace shield.

But that alone was enough to send a chill down Lenok’s spine.

‘She knows.’

Evelyn knows how Lenok deals with fast attacks that he cannot perceive.

She also knows about the magic and equipment Lenok uses, and how he handles and wields them.

The only companion and powerful superhuman who has fought together while moving under the two identities of Ban and Evan.

She properly understands what kind of mage Lenok is, as much as the time they have saved each other’s lives.

Then, what she is preparing next by buying time through the performance of piercing the shield is-

‘Long-range sniping using the great bow.’

Whoosh!!

Realizing that, Lenok used Blink to step back, then gathered his hands and began to form hand seals.

The most powerful weapon of Evelyn, a born archer, and a sure-hit magic bow that is like her signature move.

Unlike the one she just shot with the short bow, he shouldn’t even consider blocking it head-on.

Kiiing!!

He spreads his magic detection wide and shallow to hear all the movements around him.

To avoid the sniping that starts without even a sign, he must read the direction and trajectory immediately after the shot and move to get ahead in the battle of wits.

The moment Lenok thought that and was about to deploy the barrier of Jintun and surround himself with it.

“Are you just going to keep hiding like that?”

Evelyn’s quiet voice echoed from behind him.

A light gesture of twisting her shoulder and shooting up while holding a black arrow in reverse.

The moment Evelyn’s hand was about to slash and stir as if unraveling Lenok’s shadow.

Lenok’s figure disappeared and reappeared on the spot, changing his posture and direction to avoid it.

“…!!”

Faba bat!!

The shadows of the two people flickered and disappeared in the air.

By simply repeating Blink in place, he barely avoids Evelyn’s close-range attacks, which are invisible to the eye.

Evelyn’s close-range reaction and evasion, which she had never seen from the Lenok she knew.

Evelyn’s magic power rotated strongly for a moment, distorting her mouth, and the arrow that left her hand surpassed the speed of sound and pierced under Lenok’s chin.

A predictive projection that was hammered into the spot where he used Blink and reappeared.

Faaaaaang!!!

At that moment, Lenok’s figure scattered and disappeared on the spot, then reappeared right in front of Evelyn.

Evelyn’s attack completely missed, and her green eyes wavered gracefully.

“Hoo…!!”

The ring of Feigenbaum obtained from the Cradle of Jintun [a powerful artifact].

A relic that forcibly moves the user to a false space for less than a second, making them evade all attacks.

Just now, Lenok used an item with a cooldown of almost a month to avoid Evelyn’s attack.

But that was not because Lenok failed to read Evelyn’s attack or judgment.

On the contrary, it was because Evelyn’s movements were illogical, not following the battle logic they both knew.

“…You.”

After piercing Lenok’s shield and diverting his attention, the only judgment Evelyn should have made was long-range shooting using the great bow.

It is the most powerful attack she can prepare and the only means to maintain the distance that was created immediately after the start of the battle.

But instead of starting to snipe with the great bow, she chose to close the distance and engage in close combat by directly wielding the arrow shaft.

At first glance, it seems like a surprise attack, but it is not very effective against a combat mage like Lenok.

A combat mage who has reached Lenok’s level is not shaken by closing the distance.

Rather, he could have reversed the situation by hammering in an instant, zero-range, high-firepower incantation that he could use at close range.

Evelyn would know that he has plenty of means of evasion and ways to save his life.

In fact, Lenok could have launched a fatal counterattack immediately after using Feigenbaum’s Eye to avoid Evelyn’s attack.

But the reason he didn’t move first, even though he knew the loophole she had revealed, was because he knew why Evelyn had acted this way.

“……”

Evelyn is not here because she wants to kill Lenok or inflict a fatal wound on him.

If that were the case, a sniper shot from the great bow would have flown in from thousands of meters away without even having this conversation.

What she wants is something else.

The fact that she chose this area as the stage, where she has to consider the aftermath, even though she said they should fight properly as level 8 superhumans.

The fact that she is closing the distance to a level that is rather disadvantageous for an archer, and not recklessly rampaging using large-scale techniques.

It must be because what Evelyn wants to show and see is not that.

She thinks that Lenok, who has not used electric magic so far, would also know, and that he would have understood it long ago.

“You can do more.”

Evelyn said in a steady voice.

She was already sure.

“You can do much better than this.”

“……”

The closer people are to Lenok, the more deeply they know him, the more they highly evaluate his abilities and talents.

Human imagination cannot keep up with the vessel to be inflated by rumors, and the standards cannot gauge the limits to be judged by external evaluations.

Because they realize that all the actions and time that Lenok shows as if he is breathing are impossible without being more than his reputation.

And Evelyn was one of the people who had watched Lenok the closest.

Anytime, anywhere, in any situation, and against any opponent.

Lenok can do more than he imagines, more than he is expected to do.

Lenok’s efforts to not be limited by the environment, place, or conditions had long been bearing fruit.

That’s why-

“…Okay.”

The moment Lenok nodded and touched his thumb and index finger.

Sarak…!!

Blackened magic power flowed down from his fingertips, and began to devour the space with a chilling and ferocious momentum.