Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1128

“Actually, I wasn’t planning to move until the concert…”

A casino hotel located in the heart of downtown Tokerphos.

Inside the burning lobby, a clown bathed in blood lay atop a mountain of countless corpses.

At the center of this bizarre and unbelievable scene, the clown opened his mouth with a languid expression.

“Well, these folks were suddenly running a human trafficking operation in the middle of the casino hotel, you see.”

“…Human trafficking?”

“You know, buying rare slaves or prisoners. They were doing it quite seriously.”

The clown, leaning back in the tub, grinned.

“How could I miss out on such an interesting event? I rushed over to see what kind of ‘merchandise’ they were selling, and wouldn’t you know-”

Thud!!

The clown picked up a head rolling on the floor, grabbed its chin, and held it up for a good look.

“Ta-da! It’s none other than the mayor of Tokerphos. Amazing, right?”

“……”

The face of a middle-aged man, twisted in pain, was severed.

It was a face Lenox had seen on the news while wandering around Tokerphos.

The only difference was the bizarre mask pressed onto his face, its meaning unknown.

Only then did Lenox realize that everyone who died in the hotel was involved in human trafficking.

The casino hotel itself was an auction house for trading humans, and the mayor of Tokerphos was involved.

“After playing around and torturing them a bit, it seems they gathered to finalize the deals before the merchandise arrived.”

The clown said slowly, playing with a dagger in his hand dangling outside the tub.

“They seemed to be using central war prisoners as a kind of ‘material,’ and it seems the mayor was leading the deal.”

“So, you killed everyone gathered here?”

“Ah, that was more the result of the consultant I hired for this job, rather than me…”

The clown, openly trailing off, smiled and waved his hand.

“Anyway, I got a good warm-up after a long time. Victor, have you been well?”

“……”

The clown lay in the blood-filled tub, casually greeting him.

But instead of answering, Lenox carefully observed the clown.

Crack…!!

Just by moving his body slightly, his skin cracked, and blood flowed out.

His skin and muscles were torn as if cut by a knife, and fresh blood seeped out, filling the tub.

He looked weak and limp, barely able to move.

“I see.”

Lenox nodded, meeting the smiling clown’s eyes.

“This operation was a failure from the start. I wasted my time for nothing.”

“Huh?”

“I’m leaving.”

“Wait, waaaait!”

The clown, who had been chuckling, waved his hand in a fluster.

Only after seeing the blood flowing down to his feet did Lenox stop.

The clown, sprawled in the tub, finally let out a sigh of relief and said,

“Why are you being so cold to me? If you make jokes like that, my fragile heart will flutter and tear to shreds.”

“Then you were planning to participate in this operation looking like that?”

Lenox looked down at the clown with a cold gaze.

“You look like you can’t even move, let alone breathe. That tub must be to keep your blood levels stable.”

“Hehe, you noticed?”

The clown pointed to the tub with an expression as if showing off a prized possession.

“It’s a magical artifact from the Ilkanthara demon worship group, the Blood Tub. Inside, no matter how much blood you lose, it keeps the person submerged ‘alive’.”

“……”

“Of course, it’s originally a ritual tool used for human sacrifices, purification, and activating forbidden arts, but it also has considerable medical value.”

“……”

“It’s a crude form, but the ability to keep the user alive regardless of blood loss is quite rare. You really do see right through things.”

The clown was a transcendent illusionist and an outstanding researcher on par with a doctor.

Although his field was biased towards forbidden arts and bioengineering, his own thirst for knowledge was considerable.

So, it was no wonder that the clown cherished or boasted about that gruesome tub.

Unfazed by Lenox’s cold gaze, the clown proudly said,

“I don’t know how many demon worshippers’ brains I had to rummage through to get this a few years ago… Ahem, not that it’s something to be proud of.”

“I’m not particularly interested in your pathetic boasting.”

Lenox, narrowing his eyes at the clown’s blatant boasting, asked,

“What did you do to get so hurt? It shouldn’t have taken that much effort to kill the humans gathered here.”

Circumstantially, it was clear that the clown had killed the human traffickers at the casino hotel.

But there was no possibility that the clown would struggle to kill the humans gathered here.

If he was injured to the point where his whole body was ‘splitting’ just by moving, he must have been injured somewhere else.

“Well, there was a problem.”

Crack!!

As the clown leaned his arm on the tub, the muscles in his shoulder and forearm split.

The clown, bleeding profusely, leaned his half-naked body and said calmly,

“I overdid it a bit while checking the [Gate] in the capital of Kabahim. The security there is unbelievably tight, you know?”

“……”

“The blessing cast over the entire capital was more powerful than I thought, so I used up quite a bit of my spells.”

“…The blessing of Kabahim’s capital was enough to give you trouble?”

The clown was an outstanding illusionist that even Lenox couldn’t let his guard down around.

The illusions he used by manipulating the hierarchy were a power close to reality manipulation.

Moreover, the clown’s combat power and judgment were on a different level than Lenox’s.

In terms of uniqueness and unconventional talent, he was a monster at the very top of Pandemonium.

For such a monster to damage his spells just by visiting Kabahim’s capital.

“To be precise, it was the process of adjusting… cough!… luck.”

Blood dripped from the clown’s mouth as he coughed up blood.

The clown, wiping away the blood with a chuckle, said,

“If you use luck that you’ll never have in your life, you have to experience misfortune that you’ll never have in your life, right?”

“……”

“In a way, it’s fair. So… cough!… I was planning to adjust it separately in this city…”

“So, things went wrong in Kabahim, and your calculations were thrown off.”

Illusions were a power directly and indirectly linked to reality manipulation among the special trait spells.

Therefore, illusionists eventually deceive themselves to deceive reality.

As they become increasingly unable to distinguish between hallucinations and reality, high-ranking illusionists inevitably go insane.

The clown lowered his hierarchy on purpose and only raised it when necessary to resolve the backlash.

Perhaps that method itself was proof that the clown was more insane than anyone else, but as a result, he had succeeded in controlling his madness.

He manipulated reality using a gamble-like geas [a magical compulsion] that relied on luck, but that was why he couldn’t avoid paying the price.

‘Is the backlash of the severed hierarchy manifesting as his body ‘splitting’?’

There must be a reason why the backlash of using luck was manifesting as his whole body ‘splitting’.

Even the bizarre white makeup on his face might be to prepare for such a phenomenon.

Thinking that far, Lenox stood up.

“How much time do you need to recover?”

“Hehe, don’t worry.”

The clown said, spreading his hand in the tub.

“I have a plan even if you don’t say so.”

“…Dice?”

In the clown’s blood-stained hand were several cubic dice.

Lenox, frowning, immediately remembered the purpose of the dice.

A medium for manipulating luck that the clown used to raise his hierarchy in the Well of the Compendium [a place of knowledge].

An artifact unique to the clown that manipulated the hierarchy through the result values from [1] to [6].

“I made these while dealing with these guys. Let’s test them out right away.”

The clown said, tossing the dice.

“I don’t need that much luck. Even level 4 is enough to recover my body, right? Please!”

Roll…!!

The four dice bounced and rolled on the floor outside the tub before stopping.

[1] [3] [1] [1]

“Oops.”

Three [1]s came up when he threw four dice.

There was no need to ask whether it was a win or a loss.

Pshoo!!

The top of the clown’s head split open slightly, and blood spurted out.

“Kkueeet!!”

“……”

Lenox looked at the clown, who was screaming and thrashing, with a contemptuous gaze.

“Can I assume this operation is over?”

“No, don’t just watch! Can you help me?!”

The clown was flailing in the tub, holding his split head with his hands.

At that moment, a huge shadow fell over the clown’s head.

At the same time, a dull voice and a sharp female voice echoed simultaneously.

“I brought her. Is it okay to drop her here?”

“Ah, yeah. That side would be good.”

Agnetta, the manipulator who had guided Lenox to the casino hotel and disappeared, had returned.

On the back of a spider hanging upside down from the burning lobby ceiling, a red-haired woman sat, looking down at them.

Lenox glanced up at that familiar face, which had become sullen and even venomous.

“Freya.”

The star of a world tour that traveled across the continent.

The world-famous diva and sound manipulator of Pandemonium, Freya Collins.

She had taken Freya, who was staying at the Alcantara Casino Hotel, and brought her back here.

Thud!!

“Ah, damn it.”

The giant spider landed lightly in the middle of the lobby, and Freya got off.

Looking around the blazing lobby with a disgruntled expression, she opened her mouth.

“I should have known when the mayor suggested a different hotel than the one I usually stay at.”

“……”

“Thanks to that, I almost got caught up in it. How many times have I been to Tokerphos, and why is this happening now?”

Freya scratched her head irritably and looked around.

“Who even does human trafficking in a hotel these days? So old-fashioned… Ah.”

She spotted Lenox next to Agnetta, who was stitching up the clown’s head, and her eyes lit up.

She walked briskly forward, looked up at Lenox, and smiled coyly.

“Hey, Victor. Long time no see?”

“……”

“I heard about it last time. You stole some weird weapon and screwed over some other guys.”

Freya had also heard about what happened at the Anathema Temple.

The battle over the ownership of the forbidden weapon had caused quite a stir within Pandemonium.

As Lenox ignored her words, Freya looked around, her gaze darting here and there.

“Show it to me. If that annoying prince wanted it, it must be something special.”

“Why should I?”

“I’ve received so many valuables and artifacts that I’m sick of them.”

Freya gracefully swept her hair back.

“I can tell how precious something is just by looking at it. I’m much more accurate than that idiot bathing in his own blood.”

“……”

It was quite convincing, coming from a diva who was famous across the continent.

But Lenox didn’t show any of those thoughts and crossed his arms.

“It’s not something I can take out in a place like this. There will be a chance soon enough.”

“What? How boring.”

Freya grumbled and turned to the clown.

“Hey, clown. So, what are you going to do?”

She kicked the clown’s tub and said indifferently,

“You killed the mayor of Tokerphos. Is it okay to proceed with the plan as is?”

“The preparations are all done.”

The clown lying in the tub replied leisurely.

“According to the consultant, the concert will proceed normally. I’ll be able to move before the show starts.”

“I heard that we need to cause a disturbance on this side when the concert starts.”

Lenox said, rubbing his hand lightly.

“But I haven’t heard why we need to commit terrorism to go to Kabahim. Explain the reason.”

“Ah, that’s not difficult to answer.”

The clown flicked his hand.

“I think Victor felt it last time, but Kabahim is a country that severely restricts the entry of foreigners.”

“……”

“The entire country is closed and exclusive, and ancient blessings for their knights are constantly maintained.”

Lenox also remembered when the clown was referring to.

When he infiltrated the castle of Jillian, the Archduke of Kabahim, to find the Ring of the Guide.

He had achieved his goal but was discovered by the Archduke himself, fought, and escaped.

Remembering that time, Lenox also agreed that Kabahim’s security was tight.

“If we move according to the normal concert schedule, the capital’s security system will be fully prepared. Even if we enter the capital, it will be very difficult to pull off any tricks.”

“Are you saying we need to move up the existing schedule to break the capital’s security system?”

“If there’s a big enough terrorist attack to turn Tokerphos upside down, it would be natural for Freya to move to the next venue in advance.”

The clown, meeting Lenox’s gaze, smiled.

“Wouldn’t it be natural for a gap to appear in the security of Kabahim’s capital in the process?”

“……”

“All that’s left is to completely turn this city upside down and escape. The concert starts in about a day, right?”

The clown grinned, staring at Lenox’s mask.

“I think that’s enough time for a special trait manipulator to finish the preparations. What do you think?”

Lenox understood why the clown was trying to entrust these preparations to him.

There had to be enough chaos to completely turn this huge entertainment city upside down, so Freya would have a reason to stop the concert and evacuate.

Everything was to arrive at the capital faster than Kabahim had planned by moving up the existing schedule.

“If the goal is just to cause a disturbance, there’s no need for any special preparations.”

Lenox said, tilting his head with his arms crossed.

“If it’s just about destroying Tokerphos, I can start right now.”

“Ooh?”

“But according to your explanation, there shouldn’t be any casualties in this. If civilians die during the concert, we’ll be unnecessarily stuck in the city.”

Lenox looked at the clown, his eyes gleaming behind his mask.

“It would be appropriate to make it look like the terrorist attack itself failed.”

If a large number of casualties occurred due to the terrorist attack, it would be impossible to leave Tokerphos.

In the worst case, martial law could be declared, and the entire city could be blocked, making it impossible to pass through.

Above all, Lenox had no intention of killing thousands of innocent people because of Pandemonium’s operation.

“Well, I was planning to consult on that part, but… if Victor wants to, go ahead.”

The clown smiled, resting his chin on his hand.

“In this situation, who else would be more reliable than a fellow special trait manipulator to turn the tables?”

“Enough with the nonsense.”

Lenox said, turning his gaze.

“Is everyone here? There should be more members confirmed to participate before we start the operation.”

The operation to attack the [Gate] under the capital of Kabahim was planned by the clown and the fisherman.

But the one called the fisherman was nowhere to be seen.

He knew it was a small elite operation, but attacking the capital of Kabahim with this number of people-

“Ah, Victor, there’s someone you’ll be seeing for the first time this time.”

“Is it a new member who joined Pandemonium?”

“No, rather than a newbie… I’d say they’re more of a veteran?”

“…A veteran?”

“Well, it’s a bit cumbersome to explain myself…”

The clown smiled languidly and slowly tilted his head.

“They should have been contacted by now. They’ll be back soon.”

“Back? What do you-”

Crash!!!

At that moment, the lobby window where Lenox was standing shattered, and something fell down.

Two shadows of different sizes collided in the air and fell rapidly.

Between the intersecting shadows, a sharp and cold aura intertwined and scattered.

Clang!!!

He knew what kind of organization Pandemonium was, but were the members fighting each other until now, with only one day left until the concert?

Lenox, annoyed, turned his gaze and raised his magic power.

Thud!!

The figures of the two people who had collided roughly in the air landed inside the burning hotel.

A cold-looking young man, Soryu, slid down, half of his body turned to ice, scattering a cold breath.

A direct descendant of the Kabahim royal family and a saint-level ability user who wielded the bloodline ability of ice.

Since this was an operation, it was natural for Soryu, who was from the royal family, to participate.

But the moment Lenox saw the face of the person confronting Soryu, he forgot all those thoughts.

“…Wait.”

Thud!!

A tall figure emerged from the flames. A formal suit.

A young man with a thick fur coat draped over his shoulders and black hair swept back.

And a calm and serene face that was familiar to Lenox.

It was exactly as Lenox remembered, someone he never thought he would encounter outside of Balkan-

“As you know, this operation is aiming for a dangerous and difficult goal in many ways, right?”

At that moment, the clown opened his mouth with a meaningful smile.

“We had to bring in an ability user that we couldn’t find in Pandemonium. It’s someone Victor will be seeing for the first time.”

“……”

“Let me introduce you. The new advisor for the attack on the capital of Kabahim-”

The clown, leaning back in the tub, smiled and said,

“It’s Antares.”