Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 878

“……No. But I can tell you’re a lot more dangerous than I thought.”

Dylan’s face subtly hardened as he rose from his seat and spoke.

“To think you’d consider using the entire city as kindling to get your master back, you’re completely insane. I misjudged you.”

“Like I said, it’s not something I’m doing because I want to.”

Lenok, walking towards Dylan, lightly spread his hand.

At that moment, the flames burning around the shop began to coil around Lenok’s arm like living creatures.

“It’s just that if it’s necessary, there’s a reason why I have to do it, even if I don’t want to. That’s what I’m saying.”

“That’s why I’m saying you’re crazy for even thinking that way after seeing only half of it!!”

With those words, Dylan immediately lunged at Lenok.

The flames coiling around Lenok’s arm twisted wildly in all directions, colliding with Dylan’s polearm and distorting.

Kwarururuk!!

The dilapidated alley, with its abandoned shops, distorted with heat and shimmering air, reflecting the glint of the blade.

Dylan’s figure, violently thrashing within the flames, instantly broke through the wave of fire and landed in front of Lenok.

He unhesitatingly discarded the half-melted blade and grabbed Lenok by the collar.

“Damn it, this was an expensive sword…!!”

Dylan, gritting his teeth, slammed his head into Lenok’s forehead and shouted.

“I’m going to make you pay for this, you bastard!!”

Kwaaang!!

Lenok’s head snapped back from the headbutt.

Without stopping, Dylan, still gripping Lenok’s collar, pushed his entire body forward, slamming him into the wall of a commercial building.

Deudeudeuk!!

“Haaaah!!”

Dylan kicked off the wall, soaring upwards, dragging Lenok’s body through the gap between the dilapidated building’s wall and window, and threw him onto the rooftop.

A violent collision intended to break every joint in his body and snap his neck, rendering him unconscious.

But just before impact, Lenok, who had placed both hands behind his neck, kicked Dylan in the stomach with one foot.

Peok!!

“……!!”

An unexpected amount of leg strength from his slender frame. Dylan’s expression twisted from the intense heat that burned through his body with the impact.

A nasty sensation, as if all the magic in his body was not responding to his physical movements, but was being suppressed by the heat.

The moment Dylan’s grip on his collar loosened, Lenok bounced away, landing on the rooftop.

He slid across the rooftop floor and stumbled, Lenok’s figure swaying as he stood up.

“Cough, cough!!”

“……”

Watching Lenok cough as if he was out of breath, Dylan’s gaze deepened.

Something had changed.

That kick just now. That counterattack that pierced Dylan’s vitals.

The danger that had been felt from that mage until now had changed in a slightly different way, a strange sense of incongruity.

“What did you say your name was? Was it Evan on the wanted list?”

“Why are you asking when you already know?”

“……No. I think I know what this feeling is.”

Dylan glanced down at the rooftop below.

Wharuruk!!

The flames burning around the building surged, burning the ground and asphalt indiscriminately.

Except for the area around the rooftop where the two were standing, there was no space left to set foot.

The mage had used only two types of magic to create this disastrous scene.

Dylan, looking at the flames surging beneath his feet, chuckled and muttered.

“So, this is how those idiots felt when they were fighting Ban.”

“……”

“I don’t understand why you’re so strong. Why the power of every magic you use is so ridiculously amplified, and why you’re so weak despite knowing martial arts.”

Dylan, taking a light breath, gathered all his remaining magic and placed his foot on the edge of the rooftop.

“Hoo, good… If you’re a mage similar to the old Ban, then to avoid dying like those other idiots-”

Tak!

Dylan, untying and tightening the knots of his still intact polearm, said.

“I’ll have to risk my life too.”

The skin and muscles burned by the heat magic had already regenerated, but the aftereffects of the burns still lingered, throbbing.

But ignoring even the stiffness caused by the pain, he grabbed the remaining polearms one by one.

‘He’s not unskilled in martial arts. But he’s not a trained fighter…!!’

He seemed quite accustomed to moving his body, unlike a typical mage, but his physical abilities were not comparable to Dylan’s.

If he were, he wouldn’t have been caught by the restraints in the first place; he would have knocked Dylan down right away.

No matter how hot and vast his flames were, he had confirmed in the first clash that the caster was also affected at this distance.

On this rooftop, where the distance had inevitably narrowed, it was essentially a battle of who could endure even a little longer.

‘If it comes down to a battle of endurance, I have the advantage. If I force an exchange of blows, considering even breathing capacity, I can win.’

He took a deep breath of the air that was burning and disappearing in real-time, held his breath, and lowered his stance.

He threw three daggers he was holding in his fingers above his head and grabbed the hand axe hanging from his thigh with one hand.

‘I’m going…!’

Tak!!

At the same time as pushing aside the hot, stagnant air, he broke through the gap.

Before he could even recognize the close approach, he twisted his entire body and swung the daggers he was holding.

He slammed the hand axe down on his knee, pressed the curved blade into his abdomen, and slid the straight sword’s blade over his shoulder.

Kagagagak!!

The sound of weapons being swung and the explosion of crimson flames scattering before his eyes.

Was he chanting heat magic in that brief moment to counter Dylan’s attacks?

He briefly entertained a sense of admiration, but soon, all of Dylan’s focus was entirely on controlling his body.

‘Sever the tendons. I have to keep him alive…!!’

With every minimal breath Dylan could take, he simultaneously gripped and swung three or more weapons as he charged forward.

It wasn’t something he understood with his head and moved, but a technique he had mastered through countless experiences and practice.

It was a powerful attack that eliminated any room for the opponent to react, as he unleashed all his remaining energy and magic forward like an explosion.

Following the explosive acceleration of his body that surpassed human limits, a dozen blades slid through the air in different directions, occupying space and taking away gaps.

The moment a sharp spearhead slid down towards Lenok’s abdomen, cutting through the torrent of flames, the flames that exploded from Lenok’s back forcefully pushed his body to the side.

Kuwaak!!

“He dodged?!”

A self-destruct move where he set himself on fire to forcibly change his position.

But even with that, the spearhead that Dylan had launched last barely tore through his clothes and grazed Lenok’s side.

“Ignition Chapter.”

Hwaruk!!

Flames erupted on the back of Lenok’s hand and elbow.

The five flames that erupted around his left arm changed their output and direction, instantly accelerating Lenok’s arm.

[5x Ignition: Acceleration]

Pat!!

Instead of burning his skin, he used the ignition of the flames as a recoil, pushing Lenok’s body like a propellant.

The blades and polearms that Dylan had wrapped around his body immediately tracked his movements and blocked him, but the coiling flames protected his arm like a gauntlet and broke through all defenses.

“This is…!!”

It wasn’t about seeing and reacting to attacks, but a one-sided battle of wits that predicted all the underlying psychology and suppressed it from the start.

The moment Dylan, feeling a faint sense of incongruity from that overwhelming powerlessness, suddenly raised his head.

Lenok’s explosively accelerated rocket punch connected with Dylan’s jaw.

[Flame Seal]

[Heavenly Collapse]

Peoeok!!

A powerful fist that used his entire arm as a propellant, shattering his lower jaw.

As Lenok’s body accelerated and rolled forward, Dylan’s neck was bent in half on the spot.

“Ugh…”

His eyes spinning, Dylan tried to regain his balance.

“M-my head…”

Even after being directly hit by the shock that rattled his brain, he somehow managed to maintain his balance and stand on his two feet.

Lenok, who had fallen at the edge of the rooftop, looked back at Dylan with a disgusted expression.

“His endurance is monstrous. Even hitting his brain directly with a hammer would have been weaker than that.”

To end the fight without killing Dylan, he had chosen a melee battle, which Kyeonroe would never have chosen, and had won.

Even after being hit by a fist accelerated with a 5x booster, Dylan was still standing, not even knocked out.

“Stay there… you bastard…”

“That’s enough, just sleep.”

“I-I’m going… to Ban…”

Kwal kwalkwal!

He approached Dylan, who was still not conscious, and poured an entire bottle of strong liquor into his mouth.

Even after smelling the liquor he loved so much, Dylan desperately tried to resist, but only after Lenok shoved the liquor bottle down his throat and cast a sleep spell did he start to doze off.

“Hoo…”

He had to hammer his brain, soak him in alcohol, and then cast a sleep spell just to knock him out.

Regardless of whether Lenok had helped Dylan’s skills or regeneration abilities grow, he was this strong when facing him as an enemy.

It was even more amazing that he had endured this much even after being caught off guard by Lenok and allowing a fatal blow.

Lenok, staring blankly at the unconscious Dylan, chuckled and patted his shoulder before turning away.

“You’ve done well.”

That day when he had infiltrated Charlotte’s cosmetics factory with Dylan, faced Crocken, and almost died.

He still remembered the cigarettes they had shared while sitting on the street after everything was over.

Wasn’t it for a similar reason that Dylan had volunteered to help Ban?

That’s why Lenok didn’t just think of Dylan’s actions as annoying.

“Well, then…”

As he reached out towards the flames that were still burning below the rooftop, the flames slowly began to be sucked into Lenok’s hand.

Kururururu!!

With a strange vibration, the essence of the intense flames began to condense into a dark red sphere in Lenok’s hand.

Lenok stared blankly at the small sphere before tossing it up above his head.

The heat magic, which was not controlled by the magic of the outer sea, was extremely dangerous, and leaving it in a place like this could cause unnecessary damage.

But there was no reason to extinguish the flames that had already been preheated, so Lenok intended to carry it with him.

Woowoong!!

The sphere of flames coiling around Lenok’s wrist began to rotate behind him like a large rosary.

Lenok shrugged as he watched the compressed flames rotating in a fixed orbit, like a planet revolving around its caster.

“Let’s go.”

Lenok, who had descended to the street that had been completely extinguished and turned to ashes, slowly began to walk.

Many of the conversations he had with Dylan were not his true feelings, but at least one thing was not a lie.

Evan Martinez. A heat mage cooperating with the Eyes of Azure.

Apart from the fact that it was not yet properly known in Vulcan, Lenok had never underestimated the power of this identity in the first place.

The great achievements he had made under the name of Evan while fighting alongside the Eyes of Azure were more than enough to shake the Northern Continent.

If the great city still believed that this name could not be compared to Kyeonroe, then so be it.

How far Lenok, who had once again fallen into the shadows of Vulcan under the name of Evan, could go was ultimately up to Lenok himself.

* * *

A silence so profound it was deafening.

The desolate obsidian chamber, shrouded in darkness.

Even the sound of swallowing dry saliva seemed like thunder, making it impossible to move.

That was how Lapis felt about this space she had encountered for the first time after opening her eyes.

In this space, which was dark yet not dark, there was a warm air circulating.

A gentle breeze like a breath blew, yet at the same time, a cold exclusivity that did not allow any interference was felt.

A calm space, as if someone’s heart had shaped the ideal world they desired into a real landscape.

“You’re awake.”

“……”