Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1012

Whoosh…!!

The countless fiery petals scattered around the corpse of the Long-lived Species.

After releasing the Conjunction Spell, Lenok wandered through the still-active Self-Domain.

Even after the Conjunction Spell vanished, the life domain he had constructed still burned within the area.

The special-type, installation-based life domain, the operating room, which the Spell had prepared and manifested over several months.

The reason the life domain maintained its form within the Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance wasn’t because the domain’s strength was greater than the Spell’s.

It was simply Lenok’s intention to collect the supplies and items left in the operating room after completely settling this battle.

[Ooooooh…….]

The Long-lived Species Chimera, now one with the life domain, let out a slow groan from within the pillar of fire.

If left untouched, it would soon turn to ashes.

Crack!!

With a downward swipe of his finger, the fleshy wall split open, revealing the inner corridor of the operating room.

Leaning against the wall, Lenok stared blankly at the far end of the corridor and muttered.

“I smashed the entire domain, and there are still intact areas left….”

The battle between Lenok and the Conjunction Spell was a series of bombardments that burned and crushed the entire domain.

Amidst the heat magic, spatial conjunction, and the Chimera’s rampage, the life domain was torn to shreds.

Yet, Lenok realized what it meant that there were still intact spaces remaining.

Crack!!

Lenok pushed his hand through the fleshy wall and pulled out a blood-soaked arm.

Lenok smiled wryly as he recognized whose arm it was.

“Did he dissect Michal Jellich’s body parts and embed them throughout the domain?”

A congenital ability user with super regeneration, the immortal Michal Jellich.

If his flesh was dissected and ‘conjoined’ into the domain, it was no wonder that the damaged inner space of the domain was regenerating.

Lenok could understand why the Spell had done such a thing.

Before conjoining with the remains of the Long-lived Species, this operating room was purely a domain made of flesh.

There must have been spaces that collapsed or compressed under their own weight.

The Spell had embedded Jellich’s body parts to prevent the domain from self-destructing under its own weight.

“The things I need to recover from the operating room right away are….”

Although the Conjunction Spell was dead, the reason Lenok had left his operating room within the Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance’s domain.

It was because Lenok was certain that there were still items he needed to collect from the operating room.

A series of battles that began when the Spell noticed Lenok’s purpose much faster than expected.

At that time, the equipment and consumables inside the operating room had been temporarily excluded, but at this point, they could be recovered.

Whirr…!!

He rummages through the spare medicine storage and catalyst processing room located on the outskirts of the domain, taking all the remaining loot.

Salt mushrooms and Ghost Spirit Grass that only grow in the center. Ice Urine roots collected from the Northern Snowfield cultivation site. First-aid medicine for mages processed by the Alliance.

“As expected, it would have been a shame to just pass by.”

The Conjunction Spell was a doctor as skilled at healing as he was at destroying humans.

The medicines he had stored in the operating room were, by Lenok’s standards, very excellent.

Lenok, leaning against the storage shelf, tore open a package and swallowed a small pill.

The pungent aroma that lingered on his tongue spread throughout his body, and sweat quickly beaded on his skin.

Sizzle!!

A therapeutic item that liquefies and forcibly expels impurities and waste accumulated in the body.

Just by sweating, his body felt lighter, and his energy seemed to be replenished.

“Hoo….”

Lenok let out a satisfied sigh and tilted his head back.

It was fortunate that he could attempt to recover even a little in the place where the battle had ended.

He wouldn’t be able to recover from all his injuries right away, but it was clear that the faster he took action, the higher the recovery efficiency would be.

‘Thanks to the power of the Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance, my mana has recovered a lot. This alone gives me some leeway, but….’

The true value of the Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance was not only in its scale and duration.

Within the domain that blooms over time, the spell effect and mana density increase explosively.

Lenok’s mana, which had been depleted immediately after the battle, had already recovered to nearly half.

The headache that had been throbbing subsided, and as he regained his energy, he felt a little hungry.

Clunk, clunk!

Antler velvet made by melting the horns of a Mythical Beast. Concentrated extract made by squeezing the fruit of Larabelle.

Lenok, who had collected medicinal herbs that helped restore energy, stopped when he found dried jerky made from ground-up monster innards.

“……”

Why was something that should be given to a Chimera as a snack in the medicine storage?

Perhaps the Conjunction Spell often enjoyed such bizarre food as a hobby.

While Lenok was pondering, Davi, who had smelled the dried jerky from inside his pocket, stuck out his tongue.

[Ewweee.]

“……What are you doing by yourself?”

[Do these organisms here not have a sense of taste?]

Judging from Davi’s reaction, it seemed that it was definitely something that ordinary humans should not eat.

Lenok, patting Davi’s head as he grumbled, left the medicine storage and immediately began searching the remaining rooms nearby.

“This is… a warehouse?”

He cut through the flesh-covered wall and opened the warehouse door, and all sorts of equipment and items poured out.

Thud!! Clatter!!

“……”

Axes and staves. Grimoires and spear blades. Magic arrows that spilled from the quiver.

Lenok, staring at the dozens of pieces of equipment that had poured out, picked up a staff that had rolled to his feet.

“There are traces of someone using it. The talisman wrapped around the handle is worn out.”

Lenok’s eyes sank deeply as he stroked the staff with one hand.

“A staff that assists in the transformation of mana… It’s not a low-level piece of equipment. But it’s even less something the Spell would use directly.”

Throughout the battle with Lenok, the Conjunction Spell did not use any equipment other than simple surgical tools.

Rather than looking down on Lenok, it was probably because they would only be a hindrance in handling special-type spells.

It was more accurate to say that they were spoils of war that the Spell had acquired, rather than something he had used directly.

“Should I take it for now?”

He opens a subspace and sweeps the equipment that had spilled at his feet into it.

The subspace quickly filled up because it wasn’t very large, but by casting a shrinking spell, he could somehow cram it in.

[There’s hardly any equipment that would be of much help to Master?]

“If I recover them, they’ll be useful somewhere. If not, I can just sell them in a nearby city.”

If they were ordinary weapons, he would have passed them by, but most of them were items or artifacts imbued with mana.

Moreover, if they were items that the Conjunction Spell had kept as spoils of war, they would be useful somewhere, even if only for that reason.

Thinking that, Lenok moved towards the upper part of the domain.

He was deliberately suppressing his power to preserve its original form, but now that the Conjunction Spell was gone, the domain wouldn’t last long either.

There was something he needed to check before the operating room was completely burned by the flames of the Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance.

Crash!!

He passed through a familiar corridor and smashed the door of the second main operating room with a small fireball.

Lenok, who had entered the operating room with the hot flames, frowned at the sight of the empty operating table.

“……It’s not here.”

Only a blood-soaked surgical gown was left on the operating table.

The Blayver Magic Tower Lord, who had been undergoing surgery by the Spell, was nowhere to be seen.

“…….”

It wasn’t that Lenok was certain that the Tower Lord would be dead in this place.

The Magic Tower Lord that Lenok knew was someone who was very obsessed with and careful about his own safety.

There was no way that such a Tower Lord would have entrusted his body to the Spell without any precautions.

“I’m constantly running mana detection, but I can’t pick up any signs… He might have already left the Gate City.”

Lenok, stroking the operating table with one hand, fell into thought.

The patient gown on the operating table was placed in the same position as if the patient was lying down.

A strange trace, as if only the Tower Lord’s body, which had been wearing the patient gown, had been neatly removed.

‘Long-range spatial jump or teleportation. Or perhaps a sign of a transfer ability equivalent to that….’

Considering the oath of the physician that the Conjunction Spell had sworn, there was a possibility that he had evacuated the Tower Lord in advance before the battle.

If it was certain that he had left the Gate City, it would be impossible for Lenok to track the Tower Lord in his current condition.

It was a shame that he couldn’t take away more of his embers and magical treasures, but there was a reason why Lenok had returned to this place even knowing that.

“It’s not like there’s no gain.”

Thump!!

A shelf in the back of the operating room where the patient’s belongings were kept.

Three pieces of clothing emitting a radiant light were placed on the shelf.

A phoenix robe woven with luxurious red embroidery.

A belt with several ornate jewels embedded like sockets.

A single white glove with a red magic circle engraved on the back of the hand.

The Tower Lord had escaped, but he had not been able to take his belongings that he had changed into for the surgery.

Lenok picked up the robe woven with red embroidery and chuckled.

“Typical of a Magic Tower Lord. All three pieces of clothing are top-tier artifacts….”

They were items that the Tower Lord, who cherished his body so much, always wore.

Each one was undoubtedly a top-tier artifact or a relic or item of equivalent value.

[Huh.]

Davi, who was looking at the artifacts from inside his pocket, tilted his head.

[Does this organism not wear pants?]

“……I’m not particularly curious. Don’t ask.”

Perhaps they had been burned and disappeared during the battle with the Conjunction Spell.

Deciding to believe that, Lenok quickly changed his thoughts and grabbed the robe and belt in both hands.

“Hmm….”

He could roughly guess what kind of ability the phoenix robe had.

Overall, it would have abilities that assist in the chanting or mastery of heat magic.

Considering the fire resistance that the Tower Lord had shown in the battle with Lenok, there might also be a blessing related to that.

The problem was the belt with the jewel sockets and the glove with the magic circle engraved on the back of the hand.

He had seen Maya Renslit use similar items with jewel sockets, but the energy he felt from the glove was unusual.

It was perhaps the best item among all the artifacts Lenok had seen in the operating room.

“The magic circle engraved on the glove. I can’t interpret what kind of magic it is with my knowledge.”

Lenok frowned with a suspicious look and muttered.

“Could it be a relic from the Old World…?”

Previously in Vulcan, the Tower Lord had tried to kill Lenok using Old World combustion magic.

Could the magic that the Tower Lord had used at that time be related to this artifact?

He pondered for a moment, but he couldn’t test all the abilities of the artifacts here.

He picked up the robe and belt, and put the glove directly on his hand.

“…….”

The fit itself was quite satisfactory, as it clung to his hand.

Lenok, who was testing the strength of the glove by pulling on the back of his hand, began to carefully examine the operating table again.

The appearance of the scalpels, scissors, and tweezers neatly placed on the washing device next to the operating table.

Lenok, staring blankly at them, wrapped the set of surgical tools in a towel and took them.

“Jorden would like this.”

Since they were surgical tools that the Conjunction Spell himself had used, they wouldn’t be ordinary items.

“Now, then-”

The last thing to find, recover, and interrogate in this operating room.

The staircase of the life domain, which was burning and melting into a mess.

Among the remains of the internal organs engulfed in flames, a half-destroyed water tank was buried.

A half of a grayish-white brain inside the water tank was trembling and convulsing.

Lenok, who slowly stood in front of the water tank, looked down at the brain with cold eyes.

“Michal Jellich. There were still things we hadn’t talked about, right?”

* * *

[……I can’t believe it.]

That was the first mental wave that Jellich sent from the dried-up water tank.

[That Avesta Chapman… was defeated by you.]

“It must have been quite a difficult fight for him.”

Lenok replied, rubbing his neck with one hand.

“The domain itself wasn’t a power that helped in battle, and he had split his own head in half to conjoin your brain.”

[…….]

“Also, I started by matching the backlash of the spell to make him near death, and the situation aligned so I could force a handicap and fight-”

[No. Those things can’t be any excuse.]

Jellich, cutting off Lenok’s words firmly, said.

[The Spell was not someone who would be swayed by such environments and conditions and fail to produce results.]

“…….”

[He fought you in his own domain and was defeated. That’s all there is to it.]

A despairing mental wave faintly echoed from within the water tank.

[Evan Martinez. You… were a stronger being than the Alliance’s Grand Spell. How on earth-]

“It would have been nice if you had known that before the fight started, wouldn’t it?”

Crack!!

Lenok kicked the water tank and smashed it, then grabbed Jellich’s left brain with his mana.

As he lifted half of the brain into the air and applied pressure, a painful mental wave flowed out.

Lenok said, looking at Jellich.

“As the person who provided the Spell with immortality, don’t you think you are responsible for this outcome?”

[…….]

“I wonder what kind of reaction the leader of the Ability Awakening Squad, whose name was Aphelia, would have if she found out that you betrayed the squad and joined the Alliance.”

[Aphelia is…….]

Jellich let out a mental wave with a wry smile.

[Aphelia, the Lord, won’t care. She can no longer distinguish the members of the squad individually.]

“What?”

[To unite the squad and stabilize their rampaging talents, she became one with the collective mental network….]

“…….”

[Now she is more of a collective than an individual. Her consciousness is also closer to a program than a human. Some even call it a ‘disease’ but-]

Jellich, who had spoken up to that point, changed his tone and sighed.

[That’s enough. What can I say about the squad now?]

“……You.”

[I will answer anything I know. So after hearing everything, please throw me into that hellfire at the end.]

Jellich’s mental network seemed to be heading towards the huge pillar of fire that engulfed the domain.

[If it’s your flames that killed the Conjunction Spell, they will be able to burn even my consciousness completely. I beg you.]

“…….”

It wasn’t impossible.

The Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance was a power that killed the unkillable in a different way than the Gwangramuhae Palace [a place known for its extreme training methods].

Jellich’s brain would also not be able to withstand the flames of the Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance and would be incinerated into particles.

But Lenok had no intention of giving Jellich such a comfortable ending.

“Unfortunately, that seems difficult.”

Lenok said.

“The incineration of the life domain is over. My domain will now change into a completely different form.”

Whoosh…!!!!

At that moment, the huge pillar of fire that had been engulfing the corpse of the Long-lived Species began to rotate and soar into the sky.

After incinerating everything that needed to be burned on the ground, it now directed its flames high into the sky.

The [Barrier] that hung over the Gate City.

The flames of the Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance, which had moved onto the shadow of the star, spread along the barrier and began to glow.

It began to scatter thousands of fiery petals like snow.

Swoosh…!!!!

Hot snow fell endlessly over the Gate City and spread across the prairie.

It was not simply leaving the flames in the gate, but the power to change the environment itself near the first gate.

Only then did Jellich realize what kind of domain Lenok had deployed in the first gate and let out a groan.

[Crazy… It was a mental image that changed the environment of the gate itself?]

“Now that the corpse of the Long-lived Species is gone, a medium to act as the [Gate] of the barrier is needed.”

Lenok said, looking at the burning barrier with indifferent eyes.

“The flames of the Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance have already left my hands. The flames that have transcended the constraints of time will burn the barrier and become a new gate in themselves.”

[…….]

“Everyone will remember that I broke and remade the first gate of the central front.”

Lenok smiled.

“That’s enough.”

Whoosh…!!!

The flames that had moved onto the barrier gathered into one point and rotated in a circle.

A huge ring of fire that had risen into the sky brightly illuminated the ruined ground.

Lenok, looking at the ring of fire that had risen above the ruined Gate City, moved his feet.

A desolate street where fiery snow was falling. A stillness as if time had stopped amidst the scattering flames.

“This is the end, Michal Jellich.”

Lenok said as he walked alone through the city where the flames of the Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance had ascended and everything had quietly subsided.

“When you first met me and tried to persuade me, you mentioned an artifact for pyrokinesis [the ability to control fire].”

[…….]

“The consciousness weapon, the Mars, that Lord Aphelia had bestowed upon you. I couldn’t even find a trace of it even after searching the Spell’s life domain.”

The consciousness weapon that he had mentioned to persuade Lenok the first time he met Jellich’s left brain.

Lenok had not forgotten its existence from the moment he met Jellich again.

The existence of a weapon and artifact that he had to take with him as the last thing in this Gate City.

The reason why he had recovered and kept Michal Jellich’s left brain alive was also to recover the Mars.

“Where is it?”

[……That is.]

Jellich trailed off.

After hesitating for a long time, he asked in a broken voice.

[If I tell you that… can you kill me with your flames?]

“It might be possible depending on your answer.”

At Lenok’s indifferent answer, Jellich, who had been hesitating, muttered.

[I have lived for too long… Most of my life has been a time of suffering at the hands of those who coveted my abilities.]

“…….”

[I was not strong enough to endure a life I did not want. From the beginning, this talent… was not suitable for me.]

A life of suffering and pain, born with an uncontrollable talent.

The life that Michal Jellich had lived was no different from experiencing the pain that other congenital ability users had suffered, multiplied tenfold.

It was not strange that he, who had not found a suitable answer himself, wanted to be at peace before the end.

Was it Lenok’s unresponsive reaction that gave Jellich certainty?

[The consciousness weapon, the Mars, is not a weapon that has a form.]

Only after a long time did his left brain emit a slow mental wave.

[To receive it, you need the life of a member connected to Lord Aphelia’s mental network.]

“……You need the life of a squad member to receive it?”

The existence of a consciousness weapon that could only be handed over at the cost of a life.

At that unexpected fact, Lenok suddenly stopped walking at that moment.

“Aha.”

A low male voice echoed from behind Lenok.

“You’ve finally cleared that monstrous Self-Domain.”

Whirr…!!!

A huge drill that had burst through the ruins of a building rotated violently.

In the blink of an eye, it swept away the spot where Lenok had been standing, leaving a huge scar on the ground.

Crash!!

A heavy roar erupted through the silent ruins of the Gate City.

Someone scratched his head as he looked at Lenok, who had avoided the drill using Blink.

“Oh, your reaction is faster than I thought. Were you really fighting the Conjunction Spell until just now?”

“……It’s not a spell.”

Lenok, with a hardened expression, turned his gaze and looked back at the opponent standing on the collapsed bell tower.

A silver-haired man wearing light travel clothes. A sharp impression that looked to be around thirty years old.

It was a face he had never seen before, but what Lenok noticed about him was not his appearance.

The huge metal drill that the man had shot at Lenok. It was because he realized that it was not a spell.

A psychic power that manipulates metal based on mental strength.

And at this point, there was only one psychic organization that could break into the Gate City.

Was it really a coincidence that things had turned out this way after hearing Jellich’s explanation?

Lenok, who quickly reviewed the situation in his head, raised his mana and asked.

“Ability Awakening Squad. Don’t you think it’s too early to stab me in the back at this point?”

“That question is meaningless from the moment you stimulated the collective mental network.”

The man, who slowly lowered his hand, looked down at Lenok with sharp eyes and said.

“Lord Aphelia has recognized your existence. She is looking for you.”