Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1011

The Conjunction Master (13)

“Haa, haa…!!”

On the frozen icy road, Angel panted as he ran.

The moment he escaped the ruined fortress, carrying the unconscious people.

A fireball from the sky crashed down where Angel had been standing.

Kwaaaang!!

“Uwaaaah!!”

Angel screamed, sliding across the icy road.

Barely escaping the epicenter, Angel slumped down, sighing in relief.

“Hoo, hoo!!”

“You did well, Angel.”

Bernard, covered in soot, patted Angel’s shoulder.

“The evacuation of the city’s residents is complete. There won’t be any casualties.”

“Puhah! Hahaha…!!”

Angel gasped for breath, then burst into laughter as if it were absurd.

“I’ve never been involved in relief efforts since joining the Cartel… I guess you see all sorts of things when you live long enough.”

“It wouldn’t have been possible in the first place if we hadn’t been on the same page with the other forces stationed in the city.”

Bernard looked towards the gate city with a complicated expression.

“That just shows how much of an emergency situation is unfolding inside that city… it’s beyond the norm.”

“……”

At those words, Angel also fell silent, gazing at the catastrophe that had erupted on the other side of the city.

A magnificent flame that connected the ground and the sky blazed.

The crimson-black pillar of fire that had risen above the gate city pierced through the cloudy sky, rotating.

Kuooh…!!!

An immeasurable number of fiery petals swirled around the gate city, blazing fiercely.

The fiery petals fluttered, covering the ground, and even devoured the clouds in the sky, burning them away.

A runaway caused by magic resonance. A sea of magic overflowing, devouring the gate city.

The pillar of fire that erupted as the flame flower bloomed in the heart of the gate city.

The petals, divided into millions of branches, spread out and gathered, forming a majestic pillar of fire.

A radiance and heat that wouldn’t allow anyone to approach, let alone gaze at it for long.

Would it look like this if the sun were molded and dropped onto the ground?

Even if a pillar of hell were pulled out to burn the heavens and earth, it wouldn’t be this precarious.

The one-on-one battle between the Conjunction Master, Abesta Chapman, and the Thousand-Times Evan Martinez.

Everyone now knew which side had won the battle between the two sorcerers, which had taken place across the entire gate city.

“I had an idea when Odon of the Six Seats was defeated, but this… I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”

Bernard, looking back at Angel with a bewildered expression, asked.

“Did the city really return to normal after such a monster rampaged in Vulcan?”

“…I guess so.”

Just by looking at the scene from thousands of meters away, one could tell the level of power Evan Martinez had reached.

Even Bernard, an explorer who had witnessed many miracles and mysteries of the world, was seeing a talent he had never seen before.

That was why Bernard couldn’t believe that such a mage had lost even after exerting his full power.

“Just looking at the scale and magnitude of the magic, it seems like he’s one of the top sorcerers I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“……”

“You’re saying that Vulcan’s Iron Wall fought and won against such a mage…”

Bernard muttered in a dumbfounded voice.

“There was a reason why they were quietly bowing their heads in the Cartel. What kind of monster lives in that city?”

“They weren’t exactly bowing their heads though…”

Angel protested, feeling wronged, and followed Bernard’s gaze.

“But the power of the Thousand-Times I faced before wasn’t this strong. Especially the magnetic field he used…”

The endless sea of petals covering the sky above the city.

They shone beautifully like cherry blossoms, yet burned everything they touched to ashes.

Angel, staring blankly at the flame flower that had bloomed in the heart of the city, murmured.

“His magic power has increased since then. So the size of his domain has also increased proportionally.”

“……”

“I can’t understand it either. After losing to Ban, maybe his true power has become stronger…”

The battle between the Thousand-Times and the Iron Wall that shook the entire metropolis.

But contrary to Angel’s worries, the Thousand-Times had not lost any of his power even after losing to the Iron Wall.

The image of the magnetic field, far stronger and more dangerous than the day he had desperately tried to save the Lighthouse Keeper.

Trampling and burning everything on the battlefield, yet not hiding himself for even a moment.

It was exactly as Angel remembered him.

Perhaps, he knew that things would turn out this way from the moment he arrived at the central front.

Bernard, glancing at Angel who had closed his mouth with a complicated expression, asked.

“You’re an ice ability user, aren’t you? Can you break through this fire and approach the Thousand-Times?”

“Are you crazy? You want me to go to the Thousand-Times through this?”

Angel made a dumbfounded expression and reached out his hand.

Crack!!

The ice that extended from his hand melted away, unable to withstand the flames near the fortress.

“This isn’t a fire that burns matter, but one that burns properties. If I try to resist it, my ability itself will break down.”

“……”

“Unless the Thousand-Times himself opens a path, no one will be able to approach the gate.”

“…Huh. I guess there’s no other way.”

Bernard sighed softly and took out a terminal from his pocket.

“What are you trying to do?”

“Since the first gate is like this, it means that the Thousand-Times himself has no intention of hiding it.”

Bernard replied indifferently, tapping on the terminal.

“In just half a day, related information will spread throughout the entire front. We need to check the trends first and inform them.”

“Trends, you mean…”

“From today, there will only be one piece of information spreading through the gate.”

Bernard turned away, leaving Angel with a wry smile, and muttered.

“Evan Martinez… defeated the Conjunction Master of the Order Alliance.”

* * *

Everything before his eyes burns and disappears in a crimson-black form.

Even the lumps of flesh that desperately struggled in the raging sea of fire soon lost their strength.

The life domain that the Conjunction Master had deployed began to lose its vitality and turn into a handful of ashes.

The full bloom of the Thousand-Mile Fragrant Flower’s magnetic field.

The power of the domain, which had been amplified through the constraint of warm-up, was a miracle that burned the heavens and the earth.

But the true value of this magnetic field lay in its semi-permanent duration, which no other domain could match.

Whirr!!

Among the kaleidoscope’s images, the domain was drawn out with an extremely demanding condition of consuming additional time immediately after deployment.

The Thousand-Mile Fragrant Flower, deployed with a time constraint, was no longer bound by time after it had fully bloomed.

A domain that literally burned the target semi-permanently without being affected by time.

It continuously poured out the output, which was among the top of Lenok’s domains, until the target was completely annihilated.

Lenok had decided which domain to use against the Conjunction Master even before the fight had ended.

Kugwagwagwagwa!!!!

“…Ah.”

The Conjunction Master’s figure, buried in the center of the flame flower that burned the heavens and earth, was being torn apart.

The millions of petals that were divided, brushed against and rotated, burning his body without rest.

His body was completely incinerated by the flames of the domain, and conversely, it regenerated with his immortality.

He was semi-permanently exposed to the pain that pierced his brain, constantly repeating regeneration and incineration.

Even the body of a sorcerer who had grafted immortality was nothing more than firewood in front of the endlessly burning flames of the domain.

And in front of the superiority of the laws that Lenok had established, even the foundation of his innate abilities burned and disappeared.

“You are…”

Kuooh…!!!

In the storm of countless fiery petals, Lenok, who was battered, walked towards the Conjunction Master.

He clutched his bloodied side, staggering as if he would collapse at any moment, yet he maintained his balance.

The moment the Conjunction Master, who was being torn apart by the endlessly burning magnificent flames, and Lenok, who was covered in blood, met eyes.

Paat!!

The two were suddenly standing in the middle of a magnificent hall of flames.

The Conjunction Master, looking back and forth between himself and Lenok, who were both unharmed, immediately understood the situation.

“…A consciousness space, is it?”

“I guess you understand quickly, being a sorcerer of the same level.”

A simulated consciousness space that was arbitrarily constructed by modifying or connecting the consciousness of high-ranking transcendents.

“I borrowed the image of the consciousness space used in the Blaver Magic Tower and modified it a bit.”

Lenok said.

“It would save more energy to manifest by borrowing an already existing form.”

“As the Tower Lord said, you were an apostate who inherited the will of the previous Tower Lord.”

The Conjunction Master looked at Lenok with a calm expression.

The excitement he had shown before the Thousand-Mile Fragrant Flower bloomed was gone, and he accepted the outcome with surprising composure.

The Conjunction Master, who had been staring at Lenok, gave a lifeless smile.

“This battle was nothing but miscalculations from beginning to end. I couldn’t understand how you could endure until the end with such a body…”

“……”

“It was the barrier art of Jintun. You had already prepared for my sorcery from the very beginning.”

Instead of pouring out hatred or anger, the Conjunction Master asked, reviewing the battle that had already ended.

Did he understand that no matter what he did, he could not reverse the outcome at the point where this fight was decided?

But Lenok did not bother to deny the Conjunction Master’s point.

The ten great barriers that he had spread all over his body before encountering the Conjunction Master.

The Jeongryun Barrier, specialized in defense and harmony. The Yuseon Barrier, specialized in exploration and vigilance. The Chulseong Barrier, specialized in exclusion and rejection.

The true ability of the Divine Barrier (身隔結界) [a barrier that isolates the body], which was deployed last on top of the nine great barriers.

Lenok also knew that the Conjunction Master had recognized it.

“At the point of deploying the barrier, I record and store the information of my body’s metabolism and physical functions, and then ‘isolate’ it.”

Lenok replied.

“If physical abilities are lost, I recall the recorded information and reproduce it with magic power. While the barrier is maintained, I can move my body normally.”

“It was an ability to continue fighting until the moment of death, regardless of injuries.”

“There are two drawbacks. It is impossible to reproduce anything beyond the point where the information was recorded, and the consumption is enormous because physical functions are reproduced with magic power. It would have been impossible to maintain it without using the Red Star System, but…”

Lenok said, raising a pale green flame.

“From the moment I had to fight you, I had to take your conjunction sorcery directly at least once.”

The special-type conjunction sorcery that had reached level 8. A superior martial art that allowed him to fight Lenok head-on.

He could freely control thousands of chimeras and use various types of sorcery that were activated once.

Even the senses that he had gained by grafting immortality and even the space itself.

Among the strong opponents Lenok had faced, there was no transcendent who had handled such dangerous abilities so perfectly and diversely.

It would have been a much more difficult battle if he hadn’t started by detonating the backlash of the sorcery using target designation resistance.

That was why Lenok had not lightly dismissed the fact that he might have to take the Conjunction Master’s sorcery directly at least once.

The reason why he was able to continue fighting despite the injuries to his side, back, shoulder, and arms, blood vessels and muscles, and internal organs.

He replaced his physical functions with the power of the Divine Barrier until the end of the fight, and then restored his body with the embers of healing.

At the point when the Thousand-Mile Fragrant Flower was detonated, all the sorcery inside the domain gained an amplification efficiency of dozens of times.

Now, he could amplify the effects of the embers of healing and heal his wounds a little.

“I have researched how to kill what cannot die.”

As Lenok gestured, the hall of flames rotated, engulfing the two of them.

Whirr!!

“I could have used the power that killed the apostle to fight you, but if I had, the outcome would probably not have been the same as it is now.”

The branching point of the kaleidoscope where Lenok joined the Order and awakened as an apostle of the No Sea.

If he used the Mad Naked No Sea Palace (狂裸無海宮) [a powerful technique], he could have ignored the Conjunction Master’s immortality and killed him.

But Lenok, knowing this, chose the method of tearing the Conjunction Master apart head-on by choosing the Thousand-Mile Fragrant Flower.

The reason why he was able to use the No Sea Palace in the battles with Amrita and Dorae was because there was a very powerful trigger called the apostle selection ritual.

To use the No Sea Palace without such support, he had to refine the power or authority related to the Order before the battle.

Even if he did, he would have suffered very severe aftereffects immediately after deploying the domain.

“I had to endure the supply of chimeras because I was fighting inside your life domain, but conversely, I was also able to limit your large-scale use of sorcery.”

“……”

“You also realized that in the end and tried to change the location of the battlefield-”

“By then, your magnetic field was already prepared. I understand.”

The Conjunction Master nodded.

Since the Conjunction Master’s goal was to connect the life domain to the first gate, he could not use large-scale sorcery inside the domain.

Moreover, at the point when the domain was confined by the barrier of the Thousand-Mile Fragrant Flower, even the damage to the corpses of the long-lived species had to be taken into account.

Lenok was aware of this fact from the beginning, and even though he knew that fighting inside the domain was disadvantageous, he started the battle with the Conjunction Master.

And in the end, he succeeded in fully blooming the domain and brought the fight to an end.

Crack!!

The Conjunction Master’s left shoulder, which had been standing in the consciousness space, disappeared as if it were scattered.

The Conjunction Master tried to stand up, supporting his arm with difficulty, but he could not even maintain his balance and collapsed.

Thud!!

“This is…”

What did it mean that the Conjunction Master’s body, which existed in the consciousness space, was disappearing because it could not withstand it?

The Conjunction Master, realizing what that fact meant, lowered his head with a blank face.

“The flames of the Thousand-Mile Fragrant Flower do not stop after they have fully bloomed.”

Lenok said, looking down at the fallen Conjunction Master.

“The incineration target is everything that existed inside the barrier immediately after the domain was deployed. You and your domain could not avoid incineration in any way from the beginning.”

“……”

“You are already dead. I am only stopping the results of reality from affecting this consciousness space.”

“…I see. So this was a bonus time left for me from the beginning?”

Perhaps the Conjunction Master had also realized that.

He lay down on the floor of the consciousness space, trying to stand up with difficulty.

The Conjunction Master, scratching his chin, said.

“If I had known this would happen, I should have grafted a different body than Michal Zhelich. I shouldn’t have taken your magic, trusting in my regeneration ability.”

“……”

“I thought that a day like this might come, so I prepared many things, but in the end, I couldn’t even use half of them… It’s a shame.”

Even when faced with his own defeat and death, the Conjunction Master’s attitude was unbelievably detached.

Instead of denying or rejecting Lenok’s words, he calmly accepted them and analyzed the situation.

Perhaps it was befitting of a Conjunction Master who had captured and used countless humans as chimeras during his lifetime.

“If you had a question and delayed it, then finish it quickly.”

Fasaak…!!

The Conjunction Master’s right arm instantly turned to ashes and scattered.

The Conjunction Master, looking at his arm that had disappeared in an instant, said indifferently.

“It doesn’t seem like we have much time left, as you said.”

“……”

Only his form remained in the consciousness space due to the will of Lenok, the owner of the domain.

The Conjunction Master knew that it would not be strange if even his will disappeared at any time.

The reason why Lenok had answered the Conjunction Master’s questions about reviewing the battle was because he had a question he wanted to hear from the Conjunction Master in return.

“You must have been one of the pillars that formed the Great Connection in the Order Alliance.”

Lenok asked.

“What happens when a Great Sorcerer dies in the Alliance?”

“A suitable successor is selected to take his place.”

The Conjunction Master replied.

“Since the sorcery is not passed down, the Great Connection is adjusted with the sorcery that the new Conjunction Master has learned as the axis.”

“What is the adjustment process?”

“It’s complicated. It’s not something that can be explained in words. There are rituals that weave incantations to stimulate spirituality… and innate ability aptitude is also required.”

Crack!!

The Conjunction Master’s legs disappeared.

“The final approval goes through the Alliance Lord, but he does not directly intervene in the Great Connection. His job is only to create the stage.”

“…A stage?”

“If all the spells in this world are woven together and connected, wouldn’t there also need to be a place to put it?”

The Conjunction Master smiled faintly.

“That is the role of the Alliance Lord. He can only do that kind of thing in the first place.”

“……”

The leader of the Order Alliance, one of the largest forces on the central front.

It felt like he had heard a very important secret about the Alliance Lord.

No, would it be a mistake if he felt more than a sense of déjà vu about the Alliance Lord that the Conjunction Master had explained?

Perhaps the ‘stage’ that the Alliance Lord prepares is-

Crack!!

Before Lenok could finish his thought, the Conjunction Master’s upper body disappeared.

Abdomen, ribs, heart and collarbone, shoulder.

Without distinguishing between organs, skin, and bones, they turned into a handful of ashes and scattered.

“This is the end, Evan Martinez.”

“……”

“It was fun, even though it was a short time. The talent you showed me was also amazing, but I knew that the answer you were drawing was even more than that.”

The Conjunction Master, with only half of his face left, laid his face down and smiled at Lenok.

“Magic that dismantles the incomprehensible, and a magnetic field that binds time… either way, they are manifestations of impossibilities for sorcerers like us. You have already obtained two such miracles.”

“……”

“But what’s even more surprising is that you, who possess such miracles, lost to the Iron Wall.”

The Conjunction Master smiled even as his entire face scattered and disappeared.

“I’m so curious about the defeat you experienced in Vulcan and the existence of the Iron Wall. It would be nice if the Conjunction Master who will replace me could also know about you…”

“…Conjunction Master. Stop lying there.”

Lenok couldn’t help himself and stomped on the Conjunction Master’s half-remaining head.

Crack!!

Lenok looked down at the Conjunction Master, who was still smiling even with his face crushed, with a blank expression.

“You were only using the left hemisphere of your brain from the beginning of the battle. Do you think I would have forgotten about the other half of your existence?”

“……”

“Your ‘right brain’ that you had extracted in advance. You wouldn’t have thrown it away or discarded it. You must have been planning to hide it somewhere and use it as a starting point for your resurrection.”

At the point when Lenok had blown away the Conjunction Master’s head, the right brain no longer existed in the Conjunction Master’s head.

It must have been a measure taken in advance to graft Michal Zhelich’s right brain onto his left brain.

But the Conjunction Master would not have discarded his own right brain that he had extracted.

And Lenok knew that if half of the Conjunction Master’s brain was alive, the Conjunction Master could definitely be resurrected somewhere.

But the Conjunction Master slowly shook his head at Lenok’s point.

“Evan Martinez. You don’t know how complex the human brain is.”

“What?”

“The moment you extract the right brain and cut off the connection, the information that the left brain experienced is not transmitted to the right brain. This is because the corpus callosum itself, which transmits information, is cut off.”

The Conjunction Master said.

“Today’s fight between you and me will not be passed on to another me… ‘I’ will die completely in this place.”

“……”

“Of course, this is an explanation based on neuroscience and brain medicine, and if you go into magical medicine, there will be differences in the concept of consciousness, but-”

The Conjunction Master, making eye contact with Lenok, gave a transparent smile.

“Shall we leave the fun of that part to me, who will survive?”

“…Abesta Chapman.”

“Whether I will try to kill you, or have goodwill towards you. What I will remember when I see you. I’m so curious, but…”

The Conjunction Master’s head completely scattered and disappeared.

Only his voice echoed quietly like a reverberation.

“It’s no fun to solve all the problems before you die.”

“……”

“It’s not bad to carry one such delusion until the end. Don’t you think so?”

Lenok closed his eyes silently, without answering the Conjunction Master’s question.

The moment he opened his eyes again, the consciousness space where the two had been together disappeared.

Only the remains of the Conjunction Master, who were disappearing in the storm of flame flowers, were in front of his eyes.

Kugwagwagwagwagwa!!!!!

The Conjunction Master’s body, which had been incinerated at the particle level, finally lost its regenerative ability and became a handful of ashes.

Skin and muscles, nerves and bones. In the end, even his mind and soul were burned.

Paat!!!

His remains scattered with the petals that flew in all directions.

A rain of dazzlingly shining petals began to fall over the dark sky of the gate city.

Above the city. The flames that covered the entire curtain shimmered like a heat haze, veiling like a curtain of fire.

Dividing the ground and the sky, it melted the flames like warm sunlight.

“……”

Was the ending that the Conjunction Master accepted at the last moment the complete death that he himself had mentioned?

Even after falling in the gate without achieving his goal, he was detached until the end.

Whether it was the relief that could be seen because he had come to his own answer, or whether it was a hidden regret, it didn’t matter either way.

From the moment he recognized the existence of the right brain, Lenok had also been adjusting the board to prevent his information from being leaked.

Lenok, silently looking at the place where the Conjunction Master had disappeared, staggered and turned around.

Apart from the Conjunction Master, the Conjunction Master’s life domain still remained in its original form.

Now that he had won the battle against the Conjunction Master, there was a reward left to claim inside it.