Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1131

Thump, thump, thump…!!

A faint, cheerful prelude echoes from the upper part of the stadium.

During the break between concerts, the musicians are putting on a show for the audience.

After about 15 minutes of rest, the performance will start again.

The audience also hummed along to the prelude or chanted Freya’s name.

The vast stadium was heated up with a festive atmosphere.

However, in the backstage room below the stage, only an eerie silence lingered.

“…You.”

The sudden appearance of the police chief right in front of Freya.

His calm introduction as the 5th Apostle of the Order.

Even the fact that he appeared at the same time as Lenok to kidnap her.

Every situation defied expectations, and thoughts failed to connect.

However, the old man did not rush, even though he was aware of the chilling atmosphere.

Instead, he leaned against the door of the lounge, fiddling with the fedora he was wearing.

“I made time to take Freya Kalins, but I didn’t expect another young man to have the same idea as me.”

“……”

“Heh heh, this is getting tricky. If this is the case, I’ll have to cancel all the ‘deals’ outside with my own hands.”

The old man gently stroked his chin and chuckled.

“I thought something was strange about the death of that friend, the mayor, but it turns out there are much more dangerous juniors involved than I thought.”

“This isn’t the time to be talking nonsense like that.”

The old man wore a benevolent smile and laughed heartily.

His suit and precise gestures made him seem like a composed gentleman.

However, Lenok already knew how this old man had managed to get here.

The lounge outside the door became strangely quiet the moment the old man opened it.

At the same time, a damp smell of blood flowed in from outside the door without any attempt to hide it.

There was no need to say what had happened.

About 10 seconds before Lenok followed Freya into the lounge. In that short time, the old man had killed everyone in the lounge.

“T-This monster killed Diana and my staff…!!”

Freya also realized this fact and trembled, her face pale.

Was she shocked by the fact that the concert staff she had been talking to just moments ago were dead?

Freya gritted her teeth and muttered, staring at the old man with a chilling gaze.

“…I’ll kill you.”

Whirr!!

As she took a step forward, magic power surged from Freya’s entire body.

Her internal magic power, which had begun to rise during the performance, was boiling and flowing out in all directions.

“Hmm, are you feeling sorrow for their deaths? If so, that’s regrettable.”

However, the old man smiled benevolently as he looked at Freya and adjusted his sleeves.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been on the battlefield, so it’s hard to control my strength. I hope you’ll understand with a generous heart.”

“What the hell are you-!!”

“Stop.”

Just as Freya was about to shout and unleash her spell, Lenok stopped her.

Freya paused at his coldly modulated voice, and Lenok, looking back at her from behind his mask, said,

“I’ll take care of this one. Stand back.”

“What?”

Ignoring Freya’s sharp retort, Lenok stepped forward.

“Now that an Apostle has stepped in, all existing plans are scrapped. There’s no point in you being here.”

“What are you talking about? Am I a burden or something?”

Freya said sharply.

“I can do my part even without you! Don’t get in my way and step aside!!”

“It seems you can’t understand with words.”

Lenok said, turning towards Freya.

His fierce demeanor made it seem as if he was about to attack Freya before the old man.

At that moment, Freya flinched at the ominous pressure and took a step back.

A sharp flash of light flickered behind Lenok, blowing up the entire lounge.

Kwaaaang!!!

The walls and ceiling exploded, revealing the costume room behind the lounge.

“Eek!!!”

Freya, who had been pushed into the costume room, and Lenok, who was blocking her, turned to face the old man.

Lenok blocked the old man’s preemptive strike, which had come without warning, and at the same time, the lounge exploded.

The two of them were pushed all the way into the costume room behind the lounge by the backlash.

Freya, who had fallen, got up with a dumbfounded expression.

“W-What was that!!”

“Sword energy,” Lenok replied, slowly lowering his left hand.

“A physical ability user. And a very powerful high-level swordsman.”

“Ho, you recognized my swordsmanship.”

The old man gently stroked his chin with a benevolent smile.

“Interesting. But you don’t seem to be a physical ability user yourself.”

“……”

The 5th Apostle’s gaze swept over Lenok’s left hand, which was empty.

“You blocked my sword light without using any spells. Is it an artifact? But it’s difficult to use such a powerful artifact without activating it.”

Lenok had just blocked the old man’s preemptive strike without using magic or spells.

However, the old man did not see Lenok as a physical ability user at all.

It was clear that he had used an external force like an artifact, but even the old man’s senses could not detect its presence.

Whether Lenok had taken out and put away his armor at a speed too fast to see.

Or whether the equipment Lenok possessed was a weapon of such high caliber that even the old man could not detect it.

Because he had both long combat experience and skill, it was difficult to make a judgment.

In the moment the old man was momentarily lost in thought, Lenok immediately turned his gaze to Freya.

“You haven’t failed to understand the situation even after coming this far, have you?”

“……”

“He’s a single-digit Apostle. He’s not an opponent you can fight by cooperating carelessly.”

Lenok said coldly.

“As a rear guard, stay back. Don’t be a hindrance.”

The 5th Apostle of the Order. The appearance of a high-ranking incarnation within the single digits.

He didn’t know which god they served or what kind of Apostle spells they used, but Lenok still remembered the conversation he had with the 2nd Apostle at the Duris Workshop.

‘The fifth is the number of humans, the sixth is the number of beasts, was it?’

The 6th Apostle was the role of a beast. In case of emergency, they were the vessel prepared for the leader himself.

If that was the case, the 5th Apostle’s abilities and role were highly likely to be specialized for humans.

Moreover, the old man in front of him was a murderer who had slaughtered dozens of people in the lounge in about 10 seconds.

It wouldn’t be strange if he could kill Freya before her sound magic could even be activated properly.

Considering the royal city capture operation, she had to be kept alive at all costs.

“…Ah, seriously!!”

Freya, as if she had not failed to grasp the situation, gritted her teeth and stood up.

She slowly stepped back and looked around the blood-soaked lounge.

The place where the staff she had been talking to just moments ago were dead.

Freya, looking in that direction with trembling eyes, turned around, biting her lip hard.

“Victor, I’m leaving it to you because you said so. Got it?”

“……”

“Just don’t fail to handle it properly. If you do, I’ll do it myself no matter what!”

Freya was proud and had a strong ego, but her nature was not that of an evil person.

At least, she was not someone who could casually dismiss the deaths of her manager or staff.

Freya’s reason for trying to fight the old man, and her reason for making these requests to Lenok, were understandable, but-

“I’ll take care of it. Step aside.”

“Hey!!”

“I think I’ve given you enough time to accept the situation.”

The moment Freya shouted something and turned around.

The old man, with a benevolent smile, was already standing in front of her.

“May I move now?”

“…!!!”

Before she could react, the 5th Apostle’s figure closed the distance, passing by Lenok.

The moment Freya flinched in surprise, the old man’s hand disappeared from view.

Crack!!

With a chilling sound as if her neck bone was breaking, Freya’s figure staggered greatly.

The old man caught Freya, who was collapsing without even being able to scream, with one hand.

“Kamrodal said it was okay as long as we secured the ‘tofu’ [a term used to refer to someone easily manipulated], but it’s better to take her alive if possible.”

The 5th Apostle said, turning around with the collapsed Freya in his arms.

“I’ll take the sound mage. I heard that her status and magic are needed by the Order.”

“…If an Apostle has intervened at this point, there can only be one reason.”

Lenok’s eyes turned cold behind his mask.

“Is the Order also targeting the [Gate] in Kabahim?”

“Oh dear, don’t you guys teach your members to keep their mouths shut?”

The old man shook his head with a wry smile.

“To be precise, it’s not about the [Gate] itself, but about what exists inside it…”

“……”

“That’s regrettable. I haven’t been awake for long, so there’s a lot I don’t know. But this is all I can tell you.”

The Order was targeting Freya Kalins in order to seize the [Gate] in Kabahim.

In the process, two monsters, the 5th Apostle Eldrich and the 8th Apostle Kamrodal, had joined the fray.

An unprecedented situation where two of the Order’s highest-ranking single-digit Apostles had simultaneously invaded the Tokerphos Stadium.

“No, there’s no need to apologize.”

However, Lenok spoke calmly despite the old man’s words.

“From now on, I was planning to kill you and ask the Apostle named Kamrodal.”

“That’s a fine spirit.”

The old man smiled.

“But now that Freya Kalins is in my hands, you won’t be able to lay a finger on me.”

“It seems like you’re the one who doesn’t know anything.”

Lenok scoffed.

“Have you not realized what you’ve caught yet?”

“…What?”

Thud!!

At that moment, Freya, who had been slumped over, grabbed the old man’s neck with both hands like lightning.

Squeeze…!!!

An unimaginable grip strength instantly squeezed and crushed the Apostle’s neck.

Freya’s agile and bizarre movements, moving her limbs in an instant to entangle the old man’s entire body.

“…No way!!!”

The moment the old man realized the identity of what he had captured and his face hardened.

Freya’s ‘doll’ exploded on the spot, emitting tremendous heat.

Kwaaaang!!!!

The explosion penetrated and destroyed the lounge, preparation room, and costume room under the stage.

Massive smoke billowed from the center of the blast, obscuring the view in all directions.

Lenok, who walked out through the smoke, stared at the 5th Apostle with a blank expression.

He had switched places with a Chebien doll [a type of magical construct] that looked exactly like Freya just before the old man moved.

He used Lenok’s magic to make the doll look like it was unconscious, then ambushed and detonated it.

Immediately after that, Agneta, who had been hiding after noticing the situation, took Freya and evacuated.

Agneta was not talented in combat, but she knew exactly what she had to do.

Perhaps that was why the leader had entrusted Agneta with the role of Pandemonium’s power.

Lenok let those thoughts drift through his mind as he slowly turned around.

“I see.”

Whoosh…!!!

The old man, who was standing at the center of the explosion, spoke as if he had just remembered something.

“I definitely heard about it from Priestess Ureka, but I just remembered now.”

“……”

“A songstress and a doll. A mask… was it called Pandemonium?”

The old man carefully adjusted his fedora and smiled as he walked out of the smoke.

“I’m getting old, so my memory is a bit hazy. I hope you understand.”

“Hearing you utter that priestess’s name, it’s clear you’ve recently joined the cult.”

Swish!

Lenok, gripping a black mana thread, spoke as he draped it across the broken walls and ceiling.

In an instant, Lenok had spread mana threads like spiderwebs in all directions, staring intently at the old man.

“But there should only be two apostles who are still sane. Why is the Fifth Apostle walking around on the ground unscathed?”

“……Hmm.”

The cult’s apostles are avatars who have received the power of the Outer Gods. They are monsters who wield apostle techniques that defy the laws of this world.

However, as time passes, their minds are consumed by the dreams of the Outer Gods, driving them insane.

Currently, the only apostles within the cult who maintain their sanity are the Second and Eighth Apostles.

But Lenok never expected that the Fifth Apostle, who should have already gone mad and become a beast, would appear.

“You know an astonishing amount about our cult’s secrets.”

The old man looked at Lenok with a surprised expression, then smiled.

“It’s embarrassing, but as you said, I once served that being and received the power of an apostle, but I couldn’t endure it for long and became less than a beast.”

“……”

“But the priestess took pity on me and personally saved this body.”

“Ha, saved….”

Lenok’s expression twisted behind his mask as he immediately understood the old man’s words.

Ureka Naidri, the 11th priestess of the cult.

An unorthodox figure who, instead of being granted the authority of a legitimate priest, gained the power to control the insane apostles.

He had suspected it ever since he heard the stories of her committing human sacrifices and conducting all sorts of experiments.

In the end, Ureka Naidri had managed to bring even the completely insane apostles back to their senses and return them to the field.

“This Eldrich, though a turncoat who betrayed his lord twice, has never forgotten the grace he received.”

As the old man said this, he slowly reached his hand to the side.

With a gruesome tearing sound, something that had broken through the wall flew into his hand.

“Even for the priestess who saved me from waiting to become fertilizer in the basement of the headquarters-”

Swish!

A sharp iron sword, stained with blood and flesh, vibrated intensely as it spun.

The old man’s aura, gripping the unadorned iron sword, changed to a chilling sharpness.

The old man, with a gentle smile, swung the sword down.

“For the time being, I intend to devote myself to saving the world.”

Whoosh!

In that instant, everything in front of Lenok’s eyes was split vertically.

A sword strike filled with overwhelming intent, as if splitting his five senses in two.

The spot where Lenok had been standing exploded, and a powerful pillar of light shot up above the stadium.

Kwaaaang!!!

The preparation room under the stage was burned and crushed, and the heat reached up to the stage.

A powerful flash of light shot up into the sky above the stadium, scattering a chilling roar.

The musicians who were still on stage playing their instruments screamed and began to flee.

“W-what is it?! What’s going on?!”

“Waaaaah!!”

“S-save me!!”

Thud!

Two shadows landed simultaneously on the stage, which was a mess of fire and rubble.

A robe with a black obsidian mask, holding a mana thread in one hand.

An old gentleman in a fedora, holding a blood-soaked sword.

The tens of thousands of spectators who saw the two people appear on the shattered stage instead of Freya began to murmur.

“W-what is it? Who are they?”

“I’ve never seen them before. Are they guests that Freya invited?”

“Mister, my sister is a sensitive person, so she doesn’t invite guests.”

“No, even if the production is over the top, destroying the stage is a bit much-”

“Oh, dear.”

The clown sitting in the VIP seats tilted his head, looking at Lenok and the Fifth Apostle who had appeared after destroying the stage.

“There was a reason why you suddenly appeared and talked so confidently. Did you bring a new friend with you?”

“It’s not quite right to say I brought him. If I had to say, it would be more like I recovered him.”

Kamrodel replied.

“Eldrich was the most apostle-like among us. His absence due to being consumed by madness was a great tragedy for the cult.”

“……”

“Now that a human apostle has finally found his place and returned to his mission, this too must be the grace of that being.”

Kamrodel, whose disgusting tentacles were wriggling under his chin, slowly turned his gaze.

Kamrodel, looking at Antares sitting in the back of the audience with burning eyes, said.

“Is it time to settle our long-standing feud here?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Crack!

In that instant, the clown’s hand grabbed Kamrodel’s tentacle at an invisible speed.

The clown, tilting his head as if he had just remembered, grinned.

“I wondered why you were talking so much, but I decided to pull this out first, right?”

Crunch!

The tentacle gripped in the clown’s hand was crushed, convulsing as it oozed fluid.

Swish!

The nerves connected inside the tentacle were pulled out of the man’s lower jaw like roots.

Looking at the grotesque shape, the clown stuck out his tongue with an exaggerated gesture.

“Ugh, disgusting. What is this?”

“It’s not the main body. It was a decoy prepared as a messenger.”

Antares, who had been watching the scene with a calm gaze, raised his eyes.

“The real one is up there.”

Crackling…!!!

A spatial rift opened near the ceiling of the Tokerphz Stadium.

From beyond the zipper-like spatial rift, the cult’s priests began to appear one by one.

Mixed among the priests were cult members who had been disguised as police officers in the city.

At the very back of these priests was a grotesque man whose entire face was covered in tentacles.

Is that the ‘apostle’ that Kamrodel chose as his puppet for this battle?

Waaaaaeeeeng-!!!!!

At that moment, a deafening siren began to blare from the top of the stadium ceiling.

Warning lights for the emergency exits turned on, and a calm announcement echoed from the speakers.

[Level 1 Alert. Level 1 Alert. Level 1 Alert.]

[We are informing you. A large-scale terrorist attack has broken out targeting the Tokerphz Stadium.]

[The National Police Agency has discovered evidence of Pandemonium’s involvement. They are immediately dispatching to the scene.]

[Please evacuate the stadium quickly, following the guidance of the security personnel and police.]

[We repeat. This announcement is not a drill, but an actual situation-]

“I-is this real?!”

“Terrorism? Is there really going to be a terrorist attack here?!”

“Don’t joke around. How can this suddenly happen?”

“Where’s Freya? Is the concert ending like this?!”

The audience, bewildered by the sudden change in atmosphere, began to panic.

Some people quickly ran away, but many others were unable to accept the situation and only stood up awkwardly.

They were looking at each other, waiting for the security personnel or police to give them instructions.

“I know what you’re thinking, but it won’t work.”

The old man, holding his sword, smiled gently as he looked at the audience.

“Most of the citizens of this city are used to following the police’s orders. They won’t move on their own with this kind of announcement.”

“……”

“Most of the police force currently trying to suppress the situation are made up of members of our cult. Do you think you can escape this city in this situation?”

The Fifth Apostle, Eldrich, slowly approached Lenok, raising his sword as he spoke.

“Hand over the Sound Weaver willingly. We need that woman’s persona to open the [Gate] in the royal capital’s underground.”

“So, you don’t want Freya’s identity to move to the royal capital of Kabahim.”

Lenok adjusted his mask and raised his gaze.

“You need Freya’s spell to open the [Gate] in the royal capital’s underground.”

“There’s no need to look for a way to get to the royal capital of Kabahim elsewhere.”

The old man smiled.

“The reason the priestess awakened me was for that purpose, so I’m just helping her by recalling my old memories.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s not a big deal.”

Whoosh!

The old man, who had suddenly appeared behind Lenok, pressed his sword tightly against his neck.

“I was once a knight who was loyal to the Kabahim royal family.”

“……”

“Do you need any more explanation?”

“No.”

Lenok said, glancing to the side.

The moment he made eye contact with the clown looking at him from the VIP seats.

The clown grinned and nodded.

Lenok looked at him and opened his mouth.

“I understand that the cult carefully selected its personnel for this operation.”

“Then-”

“But this is something I’m much better at than any of the cult’s apostles.”

Whoooom-

At that moment, a huge shadow momentarily fell over the old man’s head.

A dark shadow large enough to cover the entire stage, which was tens of meters in size, where Lenok was standing.

The old man, immediately turning his gaze to the sky, momentarily opened his mouth slightly.

“This is….”

The giant advertising airship that had been floating above the stadium since the start of the concert.

The giant aircraft with the electronic display board that had been broadcasting the concert was falling from the sky.

Kugugugugu!!!

All the propulsion devices installed on the airship were operating at full power, increasing its speed towards the ground.

The falling speed of the aircraft, which had been floating tens of meters above the ground, was so fast that there was no time to dodge.

“I’ve already decided how to turn the tables.”

Lenok smiled and turned around.

“As the clown said, let’s just do it and think about it later.”

“What-”

Before the old man could finish his reply, the giant airship crashed into the middle of the stage.

A mass of metal, accelerating and spewing flames from all directions, fell like a meteor into the empty center of the stadium.

Kwaaaaaaaaaang!!!!

A tremendous roar shook the entire stadium as if an earthquake had struck.

News flashes announcing Pandemonium’s terrorist attack appeared simultaneously on all the electronic displays and screens throughout the stadium.

“Kyaaaaaaak!!”

“Uwaaaaaaa!!”

“T-Terrorism!! It’s a real terrorist attack!!!”

“P-Pandemonium!! Pandemonium has committed a terrorist attack on Tokerphz…!!!”

Only then did the bewildered audience start screaming and running out of the stadium like mad.