Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 104

The moment he turned his head, Lennox’s gaze showed not even a hint of bewilderment.

*Thwack!*

As if his fingers were snapping, Manson’s leg slipped as if on an invisible sheet of ice, and like a lie, the blade shot into the air.

[What the hell…!!]

A curse escaped Manson’s lips as he realized that the hard, frozen sewer floor had somehow melted, and water was beginning to pool.

Lennox looked down with amusement at Manson, who had completely lost his initial composure and was flustered by the unexpected turn of events.

Wasn’t he saying that it would be good to take the head of the guy who was resisting until the end?

Lennox also enjoyed watching him flail in a panic after talking so big.

Of course, Manson wouldn’t have time to dwell on his predicament.

Even in the midst of all that, the control he showed in regaining his balance and pulling the stray blade back to strike down on Lennox’s head was enough to make even Lennox, who knew nothing about swordsmanship, admire him.

“It’s too late.”

At the same time that the shotguns in Lennox’s hands spat fire, everything was ruined.

[Recoil Control]

[Overlapping Shots]

*Ta-ta-ta-tang!!*

Modified shotguns that, through Palmer’s modifications, had their firepower pushed to the limit of their durability instead of increasing recoil.

The two huge flames that erupted from the muzzle were fired as if they were being sucked into Manson’s left shoulder.

Manson, who had put all his effort into extending his blade, couldn’t react to Lennox’s final attack at all.

[Ugh, aaaaaaaah!!!]

Once he had committed to the move, he couldn’t stop.

All his attempts to somehow hit with the blade while constantly missing and slipping were rendered futile in an instant.

Manson’s body flew at least ten meters backward and plunged straight into the water.

*Splash!!*

Lennox put away his shotgun, watching Manson’s body disappear under the floodgate, creating a huge splash.

“Hoo…”

So, he had gotten rid of the nuisance for now.

At least, there wouldn’t be any more interference in taking the pillar right now.

For him, who had begun to properly learn enchantment magic, one such firearm was now sufficient.

Common magic. Among them, if he cast lightweight magic and shrinking magic, which were relatively light in capacity, he would have a close-range firepower weapon that was both portable and convenient, and could be used at any time.

Lennox had dreamed of bridging the gap in using magic in this way for a long time, but now he had finally succeeded in realizing some of that fantasy.

Not only shotguns, but also various types of firearms, auxiliary equipment, ranged weapons, and consumables. If he equipped them one by one, he would be able to overcome the fatal disadvantage of lacking mobility with overwhelming combat utility.

The thought alone seemed to fill his heart with a sense of fulfillment.

With that thought, Lennox lifted the pillar that had floated into the air and began to walk.

He took out his cell phone, sent a simple message to the contact information he had received from the agent in advance, and immediately grabbed the ladder leading out of the waterway.

[Come to think of it, I forgot to ask you something.]

Until he heard Manson’s voice echoing from afar.

“………”

Was Lennox’s handiwork sloppy? That couldn’t be.

Although his dynamic visual acuity wasn’t great, he had confirmed that the left shoulder had been completely blown off the moment he fired the shotgun, and that even the tin can he had on his head was half-destroyed.

It wasn’t for nothing that he had just watched the body being swept away into the waterway.

It wasn’t an ambiguous level of whether he would die or not, but a blow that would be close to instant death for any superhuman.

Yet, the fact that he was sending a message so calmly… It was right to assume that he, as an outstanding freelancer, had some means of survival.

In the meantime, Manson’s words continued.

[What’s your name? With that kind of skill, there’s no way I wouldn’t know you.]

“Ban.”

Manson, who had been silent at Lennox’s indifferent answer, chuckled darkly.

[….I see. I’ve heard of you. Heh heh…]

“………”

[It seems we’re both after the same thing. We might see each other again soon.]

“Is that so?”

[Today’s meeting was quite enjoyable. I’ll dress up nicely next time, so look forward to it.]

*Swaaaaaaah!!*

It was bizarre to be beaten by a shotgun and then promise the next time.

Manson’s voice, which had declared a goal that was difficult for even the listener to understand, was buried in the sound of the rushing water flowing into the waterway.

Lennox sighed and immediately moved his body out of the waterway.

Mad Manson. An outstanding swordsman and a cunning freelancer.

Just looking at his sublime swordsmanship, it was clear that the capabilities he had shown were not all of his skills.

However, it was Lennox who walked out of this place on two feet, and Manson, who had been humming a tune eight minutes ago, was now buried under the water.

It wasn’t difficult to find the basis for victory.

Manson knew very well that this narrow sewer passage was an environment that was relatively disadvantageous for a mage.

Convinced that wide-ranging spells and high-powered magic could be self-defeating in such a place, Manson tried to pressure Lennox by using the environment to the extreme, and that attempt would have felt half successful.

The gas injection that would never work in a vast space. Blocking attacks using three-dimensional maneuvers.

If it were a normal mage, they would have collapsed at the point where their own magic didn’t work properly, and their head would have been cut off in a single blow without even noticing Manson’s movements.

However, Lennox, on the contrary, melted the ice in the place where he would land to set a trap, made the sword strike miss, and then finished the battle by firing a shotgun.

A strong mentality and judgment that could reverse and hook the opponent without even a millimeter of slippage in the real-time psychological warfare.

And the perfect magical talent that supported it.

Time, environment, situation, and opponent were of little significance.

The only important thing was to choose what kind of judgment to make and what kind of victory to achieve at that moment.

In that sense, the battle with Mad Manson was at a suitable level for Lennox to recall his forgotten sense of combat.

‘The next time we meet, it won’t end like this.’

If it was really Reisen who hired Mad Manson, they wouldn’t try to solve the current situation with just him.

Perhaps he would have to endure more diverse interference and checks in the process of carrying out the operation.

It was a troublesome and difficult task just to think about it, but Lennox wasn’t too worried.

This unbelievable artifact, the five fingers of Enakphil, allowed Lennox to always give his all while still leaving room for maneuver.

High-dimensional teleportation magic. The fact that it was contained in this small item called a pencil, even though it was a consumable, showed how amazing it was, and Lennox knew very well the endless possibilities it had.

Lennox knew better than anyone else when to use variables that the opponent could not predict.

Of course, the side effects of the cigarettes he smoked one after another would inevitably wear down his body… but if he couldn’t even endure that, he couldn’t move forward any further.

Sometimes, when his body creaked like this, he had no choice but to rely on the power of elixirs.

“…I need to ask Evelyn if she can get me something similar.”

As an agent, she would have some stake in all the precious items that came and went in the city government.

With that thought, Lennox walked through the cold wind of District 55.

#

[Our staff are very grateful.]

As usual, a flat tone.

However, the voice was coming through a large speaker located beyond the hologram.

Jenny’s bar. The office located on the upper floor.

In that formal place, which was only used for official purposes, Lennox and Jenny were sitting and facing Evelyn’s hologram.

[Thanks to Ban, the amount of work we have to do has increased significantly. They asked me to be sure to thank you.]

“……..”

It was hard to tell how much of that was a joke because it was so hard to read her expression.

Perhaps Lennox wasn’t the only one who thought so, as Jenny, who had been listening to Evelyn’s words, frowned.

She slammed the long cigarette she was holding on the desk and said,

“Agent, why don’t you get to the point?”

Evelyn nodded blankly at Jenny’s annoyed retort.

Operation Preparation

[Don’t misunderstand.]

Evelyn answered while crunching on something in her hand.

It was celery. It seemed that she had recently started growing new vegetables.

[I’m very impressed by the fact that you, Ban, are contributing so actively to this matter.]

“What?”

[Anyway, if it hadn’t been for this incident, it would have taken us some time to realize the existence of the pillar, and that would have been a loss to this city in some way. In that sense, we will pay the same compensation as was allocated for the operation.]

“………”

The amount of money that corresponded to Lennox’s value alone was over tens of millions of cells [currency unit].

From the agent’s point of view, the attitude of trying to pay the full price, even though it was information obtained by chance, was not bad.

[Let’s put that aside for now, and I’ll share some information that we’ve learned from this incident.]

Evelyn continued, flipping through a report over the hologram.

[The spell cast on the pillar obtained in District 55 is indeed black magic. To be precise, it’s a method of extracting a large amount of the earth’s vitality by planting it in the ley lines or water veins that exist in the area.]

[Surprisingly, it’s a method used in various types of spells, not just black magic. It’s easy to gather the energy needed to prepare large-scale spells, and there’s no big penalty except for the cost of time. Of course, it could be a problem in farmland.]

“Does that mean it’s not a big problem?”

[That’s not it. Anyway, we can’t let the black mages steal the ley line energy of Balkan using this pillar. After receiving your report, our outsourced freelancers are searching the outskirts of the city, and we’ve found three more similar pillars.]

“Three… It’s practically the same as having no results.”

Jenny’s words sounded like pouring cold water on the work that was being done, but they weren’t wrong.

It was impossible to know how many pillars the black mages had installed in the outskirts of this vast metropolis, but due to the nature of the spell that sucked power from the ley lines, the number of pillars was at least five or more.

It was a rather sluggish result, even though they had just started working.

[It can’t be helped. If what you said is true, that even touching it would curse most mercenaries or freelancers, do you think we can use such high-level personnel to find the pillars? All we can do is have them look around suspicious areas and report if there’s anything wrong.]

In the end, it meant that there was little that could be done realistically, but Lennox understood.

The size of the 40s and 50s districts was several times larger than all the districts inside Balkan combined.

The manpower, time, and cost spent on searching for pillars while going around that vast area would be something that even the agent side would not easily accept.

[It’s right to take only the minimum measures possible and focus all our efforts on the mastermind who planned all of this.]

“Is that a realistic choice?”

[Let’s just say it’s a difference in priorities.]

Of course, if the pillars had spread to the 30s district, Evelyn wouldn’t have come out like this.

Nevertheless, the fact that she was maintaining a somewhat lax attitude was right to interpret as the security and defense inside the 30s district being that thorough.

Especially the core forces of the megacity who resided in the city.

It would be difficult to play tricks inside the city while avoiding the eyes of the big shots who were heavy on their feet but looked further than anyone else.

“Okay. Then let’s move on to the next story.”

Judging from Evelyn’s answer, it seemed that there would be nothing more to gain even if he urged her further.

Anyway, he had confirmed that the curse on Drey had been lifted by removing all the spells on the pillar, so he had no great regrets about that.

There were still quite a few things he had to hear from her.

[Mad Manson, you mean? Your guess is correct. We’ve confirmed the circumstances of Reisen hiring him.]

“Of all people, why that crazy bastard…”

Jenny rubbed her head as if she had a headache.

As someone with a wide network, was she acquainted with Manson?

Lennox understood Jenny’s feelings, but it was unexpected that even Evelyn was faintly frowning as if she was in trouble.

“He didn’t seem like that difficult of an opponent.”

His swordsmanship was excellent, but it was only within the realm of a superhuman who wielded magic.

He was not up to the momentum of the monsters who had truly transcended humanity.

Even Evelyn, who was shaking beyond the hologram, was the owner of a tremendous flash that shook the night sky of the city.

“You would think so with that body.”

“Body?”

“That crazy bastard is a multi-body adapter who uses more than eight bodies with one mind. The one you met this time was probably a body used for searching.”

“…Is it possible to do that, not even a robot?”

Jenny tapped her temple and replied.

“You saw that he replaced his head with a tin can, right? He’s intentionally relying on AI for some of his thought processes to prevent excessive mental strain. Moreover, each body has different capabilities and combat power… It’s not for nothing that he’s the most successful freelancer among the active ones.”

“………”

Was that what he meant by saying he would dress up next time?

He had never imagined that there would be someone who used multiple bodies with one mind, not a multiple personality.

There was a reason why he was able to speak so calmly even after his whole body was almost destroyed.