Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1102

Thwack!!

Beyond the door of blood, they descended into a vast palace shrouded in red shadows.

This was the third time Lenox had come to the Blood Shadow Palace, a place existing on the border between reality and the imaginary dimension.

However, the scene that unfolded before Lenox was neither the audience chamber nor the reception room he had visited the second time.

A desolate bed dimly lit by red lanterns. A cold scene with various tools and IV drips reminiscent of a surgical table.

“…Where is this?”

“The blood transfusion management room.”

The girl, who was organizing the IV drips and various syringes next to the bed, said nonchalantly.

“I’ll treat you, so lie down properly. First, I’ll normalize your blood pressure.”

“Treatment?”

“Maleon, who has become an Ascendant [a being who has transcended their mortal limitations], can endure in the Outer Abyss at any time, but we can’t.”

Po Hyulgong said, glancing with her red eyes.

“You were practically outside the Outer Sea for dozens of hours with your bare body. Isn’t it natural to suffer from symptoms like decompression sickness?”

“……”

“First, I’ll expel the impurities that have dissolved inside your blood vessels, and then I’ll re-inject your blood, which has an increased magic saturation.”

Click!!

Po Hyulgong, connecting the blood pack hanging above the bed to the IV drip, said,

“It’s a doping method commonly used by drug addicts or those with enhanced physical abilities. Will you do it, or not?”

“…I know about the procedure. I’ll do it myself.”

Lenox also knew about blood doping, so it would be better to do it himself than to leave it to someone else.

The moment he inserted the needle Po Hyulgong gave him into his wrist, blood began to circulate through the IV drip.

His head spun, and he felt a powerful dizziness.

“Hoo…”

It was difficult to maintain consciousness as he was drawing blood in his exhausted condition.

“There will be some time while you’re receiving the transfusion.”

Po Hyulgong, sitting next to Lenox, put her hands together and said,

“An explanation of the situation. Can you tell me yourself?”

“…It’s hard to summarize briefly.”

Even as Lenox answered, he briefly explained what had happened in the Outer Abyss.

The depletion of magic power immediately after the ascension ritual. The process of crossing the Outer Sea to the Outer Abyss.

Maleon, who was injured and breaking through the Outer Abyss alone, and the Seonjong’s [a powerful, possibly divine, being] thought that appeared from the Ten Sanctuaries.

And finally, Oliviera Ron Maze’s decision to remain alone in the Outer Abyss.

“……”

Before he knew it, Lenox found himself reviewing what had happened in the Outer Abyss while explaining it.

As if he were counting the moves belatedly after finishing a long game.

He was thinking, going over the defeat at the last moment dozens of times.

‘……Oliviera.’

In a situation where he had used all his magic and mental strength while undergoing the ascension ritual and breaking through the Outer Abyss.

At the point where he had even used an elixir, the cards Lenox could use were limited.

Life Vessels or resurrection spells, lifelines that could only save Lenox’s own life.

A gamble, like the remains of the Vajra Dragon he received from Maleon, which was dangerous but had an unknown outcome.

Escaping alone was not entirely impossible even in that situation.

But if that happened, Oliviera would be left alone in the place where Lenox had escaped.

That’s why Lenox intended to cooperate with her as much as possible from the moment Oliviera intervened.

But he had not anticipated that she would be moving with the intention of letting Lenox escape alone.

‘Should I have stopped her before she used the magic eye on Kaise’s corpse?’

Once the blood contract was activated, there was no turning back when a being without true blood was expelled from the Outer Abyss.

The reason Oliviera could let only Lenox escape was because she, too, was a being with true blood.

A true blood holder could fight without being suppressed by spiritual pressure inside the Outer Abyss where the blood contract was completed.

That’s why Oliviera was able to fight on par with Maleon for a while even with such a body, but-

“…I see.”

At that moment, Lenox realized that he had been regarding his relationship with her as more equal than he had thought.

Enough to try to respect Oliviera’s judgment as much as possible before making a decision in a tense moment.

Enough to try to cooperate with Oliviera’s plan, the details of which he did not know, on a battlefield where lives were at stake.

He had that much trust in her, the great mage who had followed him all the way to Kundara alone, never losing her cynicism and pessimism.

“I have to save Oliviera.”

Lenox, who had quietly opened his eyes, said.

“Regnus said that time flows differently inside the Outer Abyss than in reality. If we hurry, it might not be too late.”

It was not the time to be disheartened by dwelling on defeat. There was still something Lenox could do.

Above all, Lenox had not yet forgotten the message Oliviera had left at the last moment.

-Not a simple sacrifice or whim-

Oliviera’s words were, literally, an assertion that she was not sacrificing her life.

Her words to find a way and return meant that she would hold Maleon until then.

“Yeah. I have a similar thought.”

Po Hyulgong, who had been lost in thought, said.

“Although the basis is different, the possibility that Oliviera Ron Maze is still alive seems quite high.”

“What do you mean?”

“Among spells or innate abilities, there are abilities that become stronger after the user dies.”

Po Hyulgong said.

“The more one relies vaguely on their innate talent, the more so. Even after the caster dies, they cling to reality like a curse.”

“……”

“If Oliviera dies, the power of the magic eye might become even stronger and bind Kaise’s corpse. Then, the Seonjong’s plan would be greatly disrupted.”

“…The Seonjong won’t kill Oliviera because he’s worried that the power of the magic eye will become stronger after she dies?”

“According to you, the Seonjong had such deep insight that he could guess the ability of the magic eye as soon as he saw Oliviera.”

Po Hyulgong replied.

“If so, he wouldn’t ignore the possibility that Oliviera’s death would leave the power of the magic eye more strongly in reality.”

“That’s…”

“At least, it seems clear that Oliviera stayed alone in the Outer Abyss with that in mind.”

Having said that, Po Hyulgong raised her gaze with a strangely impressed expression.

“She made that decision in that moment to save you and her own life while also blocking the Seonjong’s plan.”

“……”

“She’s still brilliant. She was like that when we met in the project.”

Po Hyulgong and Oliviera knew each other through the project, but they didn’t reveal that fact much.

Perhaps the two were not that close during the project.

“…Unlike the Seonjong, you already knew that Maleon had become an Ascendant.”

Lenox, who had been lost in thought, immediately continued the question.

There were a few more pieces of information that needed to be confirmed through Po Hyulgong.

“You wouldn’t have been watching the scene directly, so did you hear about the results of the ascension ritual in advance?”

“What are you talking about, the person who presided over the ascension ritual?”

Po Hyulgong retorted, sounding indifferent.

“Meteor showers were visible throughout Kundara. No one who saw that would have thought Maleon had failed.”

“Really?”

“Conversely, the entire Kundara would have watched you fall from the Outer Abyss to the ground.”

“……”

“By now, all the long-lived species in the outer city will know that there has been an anomaly in the Outer Abyss.”

The girl’s red eyes shone.

“Even the fact that you are deeply involved in that matter.”

“You know more about the current situation than I thought.”

Lenox smiled wryly.

“I thought that the fact that contact was cut off after the Nivex incident was proof that you had completely withdrawn from this matter.”

“……”

After recovering Nivex Orosia’s true blood in the Toxic Zone, Po Hyulgong completely stopped contacting him through blood writing.

That’s why he didn’t expect her help at this point, but surprisingly, Po Hyulgong had remained in Kundara.

And if there was one reason why Po Hyulgong was moving to help Lenox again, it was this.

“You thought that even after Maleon reached level 9, he wouldn’t get the answer he wanted.”

“……”

“You knew that moving Kundara outside the barrier was a wish that couldn’t be achieved normally.”

Lenox’s voice echoed softly under the dim lantern.

“Did you know that Kaise Bajur had become like that?”

“The Iron Fortress.”

“Did you know that someone had desecrated his end in such a way?”

The blood flowing from his wrist circulated through the IV drip, passed through the blood pack, and flowed into Lenox.

Each time, his vision blurred and then cleared, and his mind gradually became clearer.

It was more important to improve his overall condition by increasing the purity of his blood than to treat his battered body.

The emergency treatment that Po Hyulgong had recommended to Lenox was absolutely correct.

Even her concerns about Maleon’s plan might have been correct in the end.

That’s why Lenox was asking if Po Hyulgong knew about Kaise’s appearance.

“I knew about Kaise’s end.”

The black-haired girl quietly looked at Lenox, her red eyes shining.

“But I don’t know why he became like that.”

“Playing with words-”

“You saw the throne Kaise was sitting on, right?”

“……”

Po Hyulgong, interrupting Lenox, said quietly.

“It was made by the Fire God of Makina. It was designed by borrowing the principle of the Ascension Gate to preserve his death even after the destruction.”

The Fire God.

It had been a long time since he had heard that name, but Lenox still remembered it.

The master of Mauzer Blofeld, the artisan he had met in the Machine City, and the best blacksmith in Makina.

He had obtained the blueprint of the simple Ascension Gate that he had left behind in the Machine City, which he had visited to find traces of Kaise.

He had visited Yorta and Kundara through the clues he had obtained in Makina, and had come this far to see his end.

But-

“Kaise tried to use even his own death until the very end.”

Po Hyulgong explained softly.

“The Fire God sympathized with that intention, so he tried to preserve his death beyond the world by borrowing the Ascension Gate.”

“……”

“But someone broke through that restraint, desecrated Kaise’s corpse, and ruined his end.”

The girl’s expression turned cold for a moment.

“I had no choice but to remain silent. Almost all the people involved in the project were dead, and I, who had already failed, had no right to intervene.”

“…Po Hyulgong.”

“I thought someone might have left an arrangement. But I couldn’t be sure who had beheaded Kaise. So I couldn’t say anything.”

Click.

The girl, who had finished the transfusion and stood up, looked down at Lenox with her red eyes.

“Even if I shook you and Maleon with such uncertain assumptions, the success rate of the ritual would only decrease.”

“……”

“In fact, after Maleon became an Ascendant, I thought my worries were unfounded. But…”

While doubting Maleon’s intentions, she wanted Maleon’s plan to succeed.

While disliking the changes Maleon would bring, she wanted him to get the answer.

Because Maleon’s plan could lead to clarifying the end of Kaise, who was enshrined in the Ten Sanctuaries.

She wanted Maleon, who was born as an Ascendant, and Lenox to find the truth in the Ten Sanctuaries, but.

On the other hand, she had a vague feeling that things might turn out this way.

That’s why she was able to find him and help him at the same time as Lenox fell from the Outer Abyss.

Click.

Lenox looked at Po Hyulgong’s profile, then removed the IV drip that had finished the transfusion from his wrist.

He removed the patch he had been wearing on his arm and took out the needles that had been inserted into his shoulder and collarbone one by one.

“The treatment isn’t over yet.”

Po Hyulgong finally calmed her expression and turned around.

“Your body is a mess. If you stay like this, you’ll need more than 35 blood stabilization measures to recover.”

“……”

“I’ll accelerate blood flow and increase the cell activity of your body. If I forcibly inject nutrients and activate your metabolism, I can increase recovery efficiency without rebound.”

“I don’t have much time. I’ll move as soon as my magic power is restored.”

Lenox replied, getting up from his seat.

“I heard the long-lived species talking outside. I also saw the fog in the sky moving at an incredible speed.”

“……”

“Is Kundara falling outside the central front right now?”

The reason Maleon tried to enter the Outer Abyss as an Ascendant was because Kundara could only move if life existed in all nine abysses.

And Kundara was a city designed to ‘function’ to move outside the world to avoid destruction.

If Kundara was moving outside the barrier now, it must be because of Maleon’s presence in the Outer Abyss.

What was incomprehensible was that Kundara was reacting more violently than expected to that fact.

Was the fact that Kundara was falling outside the central front an unplanned situation?

“To be precise, it’s not falling outside the central front.”

Po Hyulgong, slightly lowering her gaze, said.

“It’s a much more serious problem than that.”

“Is there a more serious problem than the outer city falling into the middle of the central front?”

“…It would be faster to talk while looking at it directly.”

As the girl raised her hand, the ceiling turned transparent like a screen and projected something.

A pure white satellite moving at an incredible speed, traversing a foggy space-time.

Kundara, which had been located on the other side of the barrier, was rising endlessly into the sky.

“Is the city… rising?”

“The entire city is being pulled by the ‘gravitational force’ generated in the Outer Abyss.”

Po Hyulgong said.

“In the first place, the Outer Abyss was a place created for that purpose.”

“……”

The fact that the space-time of the Outer Abyss existed outside the Outer Sea, not inside Kundara.

Was that why it was designed in a form similar to a giant space station?

“According to the plan, Kundara’s movement should have been very brief. Even with a brief ‘gravitational force,’ Kundara would have been pulled out of the barrier by inertia.”

“What about now?”

“Upward. It keeps getting pulled.”

The red-eyed vampire pointed to the sky.

“Now, it won’t stop until Kundara is pulled out of the Outer Sea.”

“…That’s.”

Does that mean that because Maleon went berserk and didn’t stop functioning, Kundara was also being continuously pulled into the Outer Abyss?

“The Eight Dragon Kings are slowing down the speed by attaching their territories, but they won’t be able to hold out forever.”

Po Hyulgong stared intently at Lenox.

“Apart from not being able to endure outside the Outer Sea, Kundara and the Outer Abyss will eventually collide at one point.”

“……”

“The gravitational force will increase until just before the collision, reaching speeds of kilometers per second, and this city will shatter like broken glass.”

Po Hyulgong said calmly.

“All the long-lived species living in Kundara will die, and the fragments will fall into the central front.”

“…The fact that it falls into the central front itself was a way of saying that it would end like that.”

At this rate, not only the long-lived species of Kundara but also Lenox would be caught up and die.

He had to stop Maleon’s rampage before Kundara collided with the Outer Abyss.

Lenox, who had closed his eyes and was lost in thought, said softly.

“I’m going to go back up to the Outer Abyss before Kundara leaves the Outer Sea.”

“……”

“I have a method in mind. It’s a method that can’t be tried if it’s not now.”

The silent vampire and Lenox made eye contact.

“I just need to get to the trials of the Outer Abyss. I’ll take care of the rest from there.”

“It won’t be easy. All of the Eight Dragon Kings who were guarding the outskirts of Kundara have descended upon the city.”

Po Hyulgong replied immediately.

“They all watched you survive alone in the Outer Abyss and fall into the city.”

“……”

“They think you’re the one who made Maleon go berserk. They’re sharpening their knives to find you and kill you.”

Algon, the Dragon King of the Sea, who guards the deep sea region, and seven other Dragon Kings comparable to him.

Were the transcendents who had reached level 8 moving to hunt down Lenox throughout the outer city?

It wouldn’t be easy to reach the Eight Abysses while avoiding their eyes, nor would it be easy to fight them head-on to clear a path.

Even if he explained the situation and asked for their understanding, how much would they believe Lenox’s words?

Po Hyulgong, who had been staring at Lenox, who was lost in thought with a stern expression, asked.

“Just one thing. There’s a way to safely reach the entrance of the Outer Abyss, do you want to try it?”

“What method are you talking about?”

“The summoning contract. You have it, right?”

Po Hyulgong said, reaching out her hand.

“Give it to me. I’ll tell you in exchange for that.”

“…You’re asking for the long-lived species summoning contract as a price?”

“The materials needed to make the contract are extremely rare items to find in Kundara.”

Po Hyulgong said.

“It seems that a long-lived species named Olber had some left over, so I’m going to collect them while I have the chance.”

“……”

It was something he had saved to make a powerful long-lived species his summon, but he never thought that Po Hyulgong would know about the contract.

He had used the contract to make Nivex Oliviera’s summon, so it was natural that Po Hyulgong knew about it.

It was a shame, but there was no room to save anything in the current situation.

Lenox opened his mouth as he took out the summoning contract from his chest.

“I don’t mind giving you the contract… but there’s a minor problem.”

He had jokingly told Davi that they should forcibly stamp their fingerprints to make a powerful long-lived species their summon.

He had laughed it off at the time, but just in case, he had imprinted his magic power on the summoner signature field in advance.

“I’ve already put my magic power in the summoner signature field.”

Lenox said, scratching his cheek.

“If you want to use it for another purpose, you’ll have to scrape off my magic power first.”

“…Hmm, is that so?”

“So, what is that method?”

Lenox asked, looking at the girl who had unfolded the contract with both hands with a strange answer.

“Is it a means to move to the Hall of the Eight Abysses while avoiding the surveillance of the Eight Dragon Kings?”

“Maybe?”

“Maybe? With such an uncertain answer-”

“Eek.”

At that moment, Po Hyulgong pressed her finger firmly on the signature field of the contract.

The blood that seeped from her finger instantly stained the summon signature field.

“…Wait a minute.”

Next to it, Lenox’s magic power, which Lenox had imprinted in advance on the summoner signature field, was connected.

The moment Lenox realized what Po Hyulgong had done belatedly.

Kiiiiing…!!!!

From within Lenox, he felt a red and clear path connecting to Po Hyulgong.

It was invisible and non-existent, but it was definitely a ‘contract’ connected to one corner of his consciousness.

Lenox, understanding that it was proof that Po Hyulgong had accepted the summon contract, slightly opened his mouth.

“What… did you do?”

“A way to enter the Eight Abysses while avoiding the surveillance of the Eight Dragon Kings.”

Po Hyulgong, dusting off her hands, handed the contract with her magic power back to Lenox.

“The contract was made with me as the summon, but the important thing was that the path was connected in some way.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“My status in Kundara isn’t that low. It’s a city where it works to suppress with authority.”

Po Hyulgong smiled.

“You’re going to pretend to be my summon until the Hall of the Eight Abysses. Simple, right?”