Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1152

“Aron Byger, the secret Cabahim hid in this prison?”

“Yeah, that damn mask… Cough! You were right after all.”

Jillian, collapsed on one side of the old castle’s underground prison, coughed and spat out blood.

After spitting out phlegm mixed with blood, he spoke in a clearer voice than before.

“You were running around my castle like a madman, stealing artifacts, and now you’ve reached even the royal capital?”

“…I, for one, never expected the Grand Duke of Cabahim to be locked up in a place like this.”

Lennok retorted.

“Why is a direct descendant of the royal family dying in a prison like this? Did you commit treason or something?”

“Treason, my ass… Ptoo! Why would I do something so bothersome?”

Jillian spat and scoffed.

“If I wanted to steal my esteemed brother’s throne, I wouldn’t have been wasting my time in some remote castle.”

“……”

He knew what he was talking about.

When Lennok infiltrated the Giant’s Castle with the Clown, Jillian had been holed up in the castle’s report room, fast asleep.

Because they didn’t know Jillian’s whereabouts until right before stealing the ring, they had to make a commotion and escape after being discovered by him.

If it hadn’t been for the Clown’s pirate roulette escape show, they would have spent a considerable amount of time trying to escape the Giant’s Castle.

Although he held the title of Grand Duke of Cabahim, Jillian seemed to Lennok to be someone who had no interest in power or honor.

Since he had accepted the position of Watcher [a member of a secret organization], as a result of his negligence, it was unlikely that he had attempted treason.

“Forget about that crap, just hurry up and undo these damn chains.”

Jillian thrust his right arm in front of Lennok.

“Besides, my left side has been itching like crazy. I can’t scratch it with my arm tied up like this.”

“There’s something I want to ask you first.”

Lennok, openly ignoring Jillian’s words, asked.

“Is the secret Aron hid related to his talent for duality?”

“…What?”

Jillian looked up at Lennok, momentarily speechless.

“You thief. How do you know about the talent for duality….”

“I don’t have time, so I’ll explain briefly. I’m interested in opening the [Door] that Aron is trying to open.”

Lennok’s red eyes flashed behind his mask.

“But I’m suspicious of the process of opening the [Door] and peeking into the sanctuary, so I’ve been looking for evidence. Do you know something?”

“You, this time you didn’t come to the royal capital to steal- Cough!!”

Jillian, who had been glaring at Lennok with a fierce gaze, coughed and spat out blood.

Jillian, staring at the dripping blood with a sense of futility, spat.

“Ha… yeah. I won’t last much longer like this.”

“……”

“Thief. Open the prison door. Untie these chains binding my body.”

Jillian said, gesturing with his eyes towards his hand.

“Then I’ll show you what Aron is hiding, just as you want.”

“You’re quite proactive. Are you planning to oppose Aron Byger, even though you’re his brother?”

“I’m done with Aron. Can’t you tell by looking at me?”

In the darkness, Jillian’s eyes seemed to burn fiercely.

“If they had beheaded me for failing to protect the Giant’s Castle, I would have accepted it. If they had told me to go to the battlefield as cannon fodder, I would have followed.”

“……”

“But I can’t participate in the crazy things Aron is trying to do in this old castle’s underground. That’s all.”

It was strange that Jillian, a direct descendant of the king, was locked up in this prison. It seemed he had been imprisoned here for refusing to participate in Aron’s plan.

Lennok, lost in thought, released his arms and began to gather his magic power.

“I don’t care if you run wild and die, but don’t get in my way.”

He was only making a deal because he felt Jillian was worth using. Lennok had no interest in whether Jillian lived or died.

Even though he was a Watcher, that meant nothing to Lennok since he had left the Blue Eye [the organization of Watchers].

From the start, Lennok didn’t feel any sense of camaraderie or intimacy with most of the Watchers, except for a few.

Whether Jillian opposed Aron and died or not, Lennok didn’t care much.

Rather, if he could use his animosity towards Aron to find out his secrets, it would be a profitable deal.

“I’ll let you out. Step away from the door.”

“Wait, there’s a detection spell installed in the prison to detect intruders, so as I explain-”

Click!!

The prison door lock was released easily, and Lennok stepped into the prison.

Jillian made an awkward expression as he watched the black robe swaying in the shadows.

“…I’m pretty sure someone tried to escape a few days ago and was dragged away to be butchered.”

“It’s impossible for ordinary detection spells to detect my presence.”

Lennok said, extending his hand and drawing out magic threads.

“Hold out your hand. I’ll cut the chains.”

“You’re quite skilled at sneaking around like a thief.”

“Do you want your arm to be cut off too?”

“Ah, that would be a problem.”

At Lennok’s cold retort, Jillian chuckled and turned his shoulder.

“I’m already missing an arm anyway.”

“……”

Lennok fell silent as he saw Jillian’s blood-soaked left sleeve fluttering.

He had not only been tortured and imprisoned, but had also lost his left arm in the process.

However, despite losing an arm, Jillian didn’t seem to be sad or angry about it.

Thud!!

He inserted magic threads between the chains and manipulated them to release the lock.

Jillian, who stood up after the heavy chains fell with a loud noise, swung his right arm around.

“Well, this is good enough.”

He nodded, checking his range of motion as he turned his shoulder, then turned around.

“I can’t move a few fingers, but I have no problem throwing a punch. Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

“Is that even a question? To the lowest level of this damn underground prison, of course.”

Wooong…!!!

Jillian said, raising his magic power.

It was a majestic magic power that was hard to believe came from a body that had lost an arm and was in such a battered state.

The moment Lennok reflexively raised his magic power as well, Jillian unfolded his fist at an invisible speed.

Whoosh-

The arm, which passed by Lennok’s side without a sound, grabbed and tore off the back wall of the underground prison.

Thud…!!

Jillian, who shook off the stone dust in his hand with one hand, pointed to the hole he had made in the wall.

“That’s it. We shouldn’t be detected outside with this.”

“……”

“If I, a member of the royal family, walk through the corridor, I’ll be detected for sure. We have to make a path from here.”

“It seems you know how not to be a burden, despite being one.”

“Did you just call me a burden, you thief?”

Jillian grumbled, but still walked ahead towards the hole in the wall.

However, Lennok was thinking about the ‘technique’ Jillian had used to tear down the wall just now.

‘It seems he didn’t lose his microcosm [a unique power], just because he lost his left arm. If anything, his ability seems to have become stronger….’

Jillian’s microcosm, [Giant Soldier’s Armor], was a mental ability that used a part of his body, enlarged to a giant size, as a weapon.

Lennok, who had fought Jillian with the Clown, knew how powerful his microcosm was.

The ability to increase the size and mass of his body was powerful enough, but what was amazing was the speed at which he activated his microcosm.

The speed at which he instantaneously enlarged a part of his body and shot it like a cannonball was something that even Lennok could barely react to head-on.

It was much more difficult to deal with when he repeated enlargement and reduction to adjust the weight, rather than simply becoming a giant and rampaging.

Just now, Jillian had enlarged his hand to tear down the prison wall, then immediately returned it to its original size and compressed the fragments he was holding.

The series of actions of enlarging and shrinking his hand was so fast that there wasn’t even a sound of the wall breaking.

It felt like it was even faster than when he had fought Jillian in the Giant’s Castle.

‘It’s much faster than before. Is it related to the accident where he lost his arm?’

“This way.”

Crack!!

Jillian, with his left sleeve fluttering, swung his right arm and dug into the wall at an incredible speed.

There was almost no vibration or sound in the process, so there was no need to use soundproofing magic or presence-blocking spells.

“If you’ve met my brother, you probably already know what kind of person Aron is.”

Jillian opened his mouth amidst the small noise of crushed stone fragments falling.

“Then there’s not much to explain. If you see what’s happening down there, you’ll understand at once.”

“So the reason he chose this old castle as the execution site wasn’t because of the prison?”

“This prison is just the dregs of the secret Aron is hiding.”

Thud…!!

Jillian, who had roughly torn down the reinforced wall, slowly stepped inside and said.

“Most of the prisoners locked up here are just places to store Aron’s ‘parts’.”

“…Ah.”

Inside the cramped, blood-soaked prison, someone sitting cross-legged raised their gaze.

His eyes were a mess, gouged out and torn, and his appearance was emaciated and gaunt.

The man, feeling the vibrations of the ground as he groped around, slowly turned his face.

He couldn’t even speak properly, just mumbling and scratching the floor with his fingernails.

“Ah, ah…”

“It’s not just his eyes and tongue that were removed.”

Lennok said, scanning the man’s entire body behind his mask.

“One liver and kidney. Right wrist and leg. Even the tendons and cartilage. All forcibly extracted.”

“In this country, prisoners who are not talented enough to catch Aron’s eye usually end up like this.”

Jillian said in a subdued voice.

“They can’t even be used properly, and they just wait to die in prison after having their useful organs removed.”

“Ah….”

Even at Jillian’s quiet words, the man couldn’t answer.

Instead, he just slowly moved aside with a painful groan that sounded like his throat was boiling.

“This side of the prison wall is a shortcut to the deepest part of the underground prison.”

Jillian said, silently looking at the man, then slowly approaching the stone wall.

“And it’s also the only way to escape this old castle without being detected.”

“Why is the path to the deepest part an escape route?”

“If my brother is here, this area will be completely surrounded by the knights.”

Jillian said with a serious expression.

“There’s a space transfer magic circle on the lowest level of the prison. We’ll beat up the guys guarding it and escape.”

“If you hit them with your fist, they could die from a ruptured head, right? The surroundings will be quite a sight.”

“I don’t care.”

Crack…!!

At the same time as Jillian clenched his fist, the blood vessels that had risen on the back of his hand throbbed.

“Those guys there are all in cahoots with my brother. I don’t care if they live or die.”

“People who really don’t care about such things aren’t usually so talkative.”

“You’ve been doing this since earlier… Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”

Lennok, ignoring Jillian’s glare, fell into thought.

He had tried to secretly uncover what Aron Byger was hiding, but had encountered a much bigger secret than expected.

However, finding out that Aron’s ‘purpose’ was hidden beneath the old castle’s underground prison was a more important gain than he had thought.

He didn’t plan to escape the old castle right away, but it wouldn’t be bad to help Jillian stir up chaos and search the deepest part of the prison.

‘Now that I’ve confirmed the existence of the Mandala, I need to find a way to retrieve it. I can’t just let it go.’

The part of the Mandala that Lennok felt potential in was that the Mandala was a domain, not a thought-space.

A domain is generally closer to the concept of a sorcerer’s ideal world being realized in reality.

If the Mandala was in the form of a domain, then simply acquiring it would be a huge advancement in Lennok’s manipulation techniques.

And with such a singularity, it would be possible to advance the branching point of the manipulation techniques within the Kaleidoscope to a different level.

He was interested in the Mandala’s abilities and essence, but he couldn’t overlook the improvement in the performance of his visible manipulation techniques.

To that end, he had to first find out what Aron was hiding at this point.

“It seems that checking the scene directly is the fastest way.”

Lennok, having reached a conclusion, raised his gaze.

“Let’s go to the deepest part of the prison where the transfer magic circle is. Lead the way.”

“This guy, since earlier, thinks I’m some kind of house-sitting dog…”

Jillian grumbled, but still started tearing down the prison wall to make a path.

Thud…!!

The deeper they went into the prison, the more prisoners they saw who were in even worse shape than Abel.

They were so damaged that they couldn’t even notice Lennok or Jillian, even as they were breaking down the walls and making a path.

They had lost all their functions and abilities as humans, and were just lumps of meat that were barely breathing.

“We’re here. It’s inside there.”

Jillian said, his expression hardening at the cold chill emanating from inside.

Jillian, who had broken through the prison ceiling instead of the wall, jumped back and gestured.

“Once you see it… you won’t be able to back out anymore. You’d better prepare yourself.”

“That’s unnecessary worry.”

Lennok slowly moved through the gap in the ceiling that Jillian had made.

The moment Lennok moved his body, following Jillian silently.

Crack!!

Jillian broke through the hole leading down from the ceiling and immediately descended below.

Lennok, who followed him down, was finally able to see the scenery of the deepest part of the prison.

“…Where is this?”

Whoosh!!

The vision that had been adapted to the darkness was suddenly bleached white.

Unlike the gloomy and dark prison, the lighting was bright, warm, and clear.

Somehow, Lennok was standing in the middle of a clean, white corridor.

A clean corridor without a single piece of trash. Pleasant air with good ventilation.

Even the strange silence, as if he had suddenly entered a huge laboratory or research facility.

All of it was so sudden and unexpected that even Lennok momentarily paused.

“This way.”

However, Jillian was not surprised by the sudden change in the environment and staggered forward.

His disheveled appearance, covered in blood and missing an arm, created a terrible sense of incongruity in this space.

Nevertheless, Jillian seemed to already know where he had to go.

“You said you wanted to see the secret my brother hid here.”

Jillian turned to look at Lennok and gave a ferocious smile.

“Once you see what Aron has created down there, there’s no need to explain it.”

“……”

In the suffocating silence, he slowly followed Jillian.

He walked slowly through the deserted corridor, turned the corner, and headed towards the window.

The moment Lennok walked in front of the glass window, following Jillian’s gesture.

Lennok stopped in his tracks as he saw the scene unfolding before his eyes.

“……”

Whooo…!!!

On the transparent, white wall of the research facility, thousands of ice blocks were hanging.

Inside the cold, frozen ice, people were lying with their eyes closed, looking peaceful.

They were frozen solid in countless ice coffins, as if time had stopped.

A chilling and eerie sight, as if the cold ice blocks were being used as coffins.

The ice coffins hanging on the wall were being transported along rails, moving through the research facility at a constant speed.

Researchers were walking around, measuring and recording the values of the ice coffins.

“Everything that exists in this country is the property of the royal family.”

Jillian, who was standing next to Lennok, said.

“But for Aron, that’s not just artifacts or weapons, but ‘humans’ as well.”

“……”

“What exists here are the talents and bodies that have been directly ‘preserved’ by Aron and incorporated into the royal family’s property.”

Jillian slowly moved to the side of the corridor and twisted his head.

“All of those attempts were the result of ugly trial and error towards the single goal that exists there.”

The moment he turned his gaze to follow that gaze, Lennok froze as if he had been petrified, discovering a mural engraved at the end of the hall.

The image of a huge gauntlet, surrounded by three circles, with a clenched fist.

The picture engraved on the mural was exactly the same as the Forbidden Armament that Lennok possessed.