Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1155

Clang!!

The cold, frozen iron door opened with a heavy boom.

The surgical adept who entered pushed aside the surrounding objects, clearing a path.

“The operating room is this way. Come inside.”

“……”

Following the adept, Lennok entered the dark room, silently observing his surroundings.

A vast basement where cold, frozen air swirled.

Even the walls of the doors and corridors were as cold as ice, making them difficult to touch.

It was proof that the climate of Kabahim Royal City had changed quite some time ago.

“Follow the path I’ve cleared. Don’t touch my works around you.”

“…Works?”

Upon hearing that, Lennok stopped, noticing the people frozen in place throughout the basement.

Humans with wide-open eyes, frozen in various poses.

Lennok frowned at the strangely familiar sight of them being preserved like decorations.

“Did you capture the people of the Royal City to use as subjects for your surgical techniques?”

“I needed to touch living humans to adjust the output of my techniques.”

The adept replied nonchalantly.

“I was just doing the work I couldn’t do in Tokerphos because you were interfering. Is there a problem?”

“……”

After arriving in the Royal City, he had been unusually quiet, only to be engrossed in playing with humans here.

Even with his left and right brains severed and separated, his tendencies and actions, except for emotional changes, were still disgusting.

It was hard to tell if he was just unpredictably fickle or consistently insane, as expected of a special-type adept.

“I only used criminals with unclear identities to hide the traces, but most of them were inferior subjects.”

While Lennok quietly observed the dozens of humans preserved in the operating room, the adept casually moved on.

“I wanted to dissect the knights of Kabahim for precise technique adjustments, but it seems there isn’t enough time.”

“I didn’t know you had the sense to choose the time and place to do such things.”

“The illusionist said he plans to finish his work and leave the Royal City today.”

The adept turned to Lennok with a nonchalant gaze.

“I guess he thought there was no reason to delay since you’ve returned. If anything, you’re the reason I missed the chance to dissect the knights.”

“…So, it’s not the start of the operation, but almost the end.”

Lennok neatly ignored Chapman’s nonsense and asked.

“If the operation is scheduled to end today, how far has it progressed?”

“I told you, I don’t know anything about the operation. But the illusionist moved right after the ruler of Kabahim left his post.”

The adept, Avesta Chapman, pointed to the frozen basement wall and spoke indifferently.

“He said he would completely turn the Royal City upside down, so this weather must be the result.”

“……”

Because of Lennok’s presence, Aron moved differently than expected, and the clown also changed his actions.

If the climate of the Royal City had changed so drastically in an instant as a result, then it was probably-

“He tampered with the [Gate] located in the Royal City’s underground, drawing the power of the sanctuary outward.”

Lennok muttered.

“Did he use Antares’s foresight to mess with the [Gate] while Aron was away?”

The clown was the one who knew the location of the [Gate] hidden beneath the Royal City.

If the clown had moved while Aron was away with Lennok, it must have been to tamper with the [Gate].

If Aron, who failed to open the [Back Door], turned to the [Gate], and the clown’s meddling caused the Royal City to change like this, then this situation made sense.

“Hoo.”

The adept, who was rustling and removing the surrounding cloths and screens, muttered.

Chapman, turning to Lennok, spoke as if he had just remembered something.

“Come to think of it, I think I heard a similar explanation. I don’t remember it well since I only half-listened.”

“……”

“Well, who cares? It’s not my job anyway.”

Flap!!

As the cloth was removed, a huge operating table was revealed behind it.

The adept, standing in front of the operating table, raised the backrest and gestured to Lennok.

“Sit down.”

“This… this wasn’t originally in this basement.”

The appearance of the operating table felt strangely familiar.

Lennok, realizing that its design was similar to the operating table in the adept’s life domain, looked at him with an absurd gaze.

“After arriving in the Royal City, I wondered where you were hiding and what you were doing, but you were creating your own domain in this basement.”

“Manipulator. I don’t like repeating the same explanation twice.”

Clank!!

The adept, pulling the lever of the operating table to release the restraints, replied.

“I only accompanied you on this mission to adjust the output of the surgical technique. I don’t care about anything else.”

“……”

“I’m willing to move as you wish for a while, as much as I’ve adjusted this body, but don’t expect anything more from me.”

The adept, washing his hands in ice-cold water and putting on gloves, spoke to Lennok with a cold gaze.

“Sit on the operating table and extend your left arm. I’ll need to fix your body while I perform the procedure.”

“The adjustment of the surgical technique you were doing should have made some progress.”

Lennok said, placing his left arm on the operating table.

Crackling…!!!

With an ominous cracking sound, the form of the forbidden gauntlet, cracking and splitting in real-time.

Lennok, pointing to the pale, trembling gauntlet, spoke coldly.

“If this goes berserk here, it won’t be me who dies.”

“Don’t worry.”

The adept said, grabbing a scalpel and standing next to Lennok’s arm.

“I’m a compassionate surgeon who doesn’t discriminate against patients with bad habits.”

“Nonsense…”

Lennok said, trailing off.

Seeing the black ripples resonating through the cracks in the gauntlet, the memories of the Archive resurfaced.

In the end, the meaning of the memory Lennok saw in the Ars Nova Archive was simple.

Even if he wasn’t Lennok, Lennok might have been him someday.

Because Lennok’s existence belonged to a larger category, Lennok could freely manipulate the power without being bound by the manipulation technique, using it as a branching point.

That fact itself was proof that Lennok’s penalties and talents were not entirely based on ‘his’ existence.

Why did Lennok, with such a ’cause,’ wake up in an old abandoned factory and cross countless death lines?

Even if his physical aptitude originated from him, Lennok’s intuition, answers, and the talents of his mind, including his primordial image, could not be explained.

Such talents were qualities engraved in the soul, not the body. They were the very identity that made up his existence.

“……”

Since opening his eyes in this world, Lennok had always been himself.

He had never wanted to become another being at any moment.

But if even the existence of the Half-Sky was only a part of what made up Lennok’s existence.

If even that much ’cause’ could not fully explain the ‘result’ that was Lennok.

Something, something Lennok did not yet know, remained.

A bewilderment that could never be resolved, at least not through a conversation with the cult leader-

“…Wait.”

Thump!!

Just as Lennok snapped back to his senses, a roar echoed from the basement ceiling.

A very heavy mass seemed to be moving heavily from above the basement.

Similar footsteps echoed simultaneously from various parts of the ceiling.

“It’s the Ten Knights. It’s a magic pattern I remember.”

Lennok said, having sensed their presence as soon as he activated his magic detection.

“The 9th Knight Order. The ones who protect the Royal City, with Albion wielding a greatsword as their leader.”

“……”

It was needless to say who the murderous intent hovering above was targeting.

Lennok glanced at the adept at the sound of hurried footsteps, as if they were looking for the basement entrance.

“They’re looking for this place. Did they follow you on the way here?”

“No. I have an idea about the 9th Knight Order.”

The adept scratched his cheek with a blank expression.

“Come to think of it, I think I captured one of their knights and used him as a test subject. It seems they’ve picked up the trail.”

“…Why are you talking like it wasn’t your doing?”

He had been talking about wanting to use the knights of Kabahim as test subjects, but behind the scenes, he had already dissected them.

Whether he did it knowing he would be caught soon and lied, or whether he didn’t remember it in the first place.

For an adept as deranged as the surgical adept, either possibility was highly likely, making it even harder to guess.

“Manipulator. You’re the one who doesn’t know what you’re talking about.”

The adept, fiddling with the cracks in the gauntlet, said shamelessly.

“I didn’t say I didn’t dissect the knights. I just expressed my disappointment that there weren’t enough samples to organize the data.”

“……”

Meanwhile, the basement ceiling shook as if it would collapse, violently fluctuating.

Lennok faced the adept.

“Judging by their reaction, it seems they’ve discovered our approximate location. We’ll have to move if we want to continue the surgery.”

“No. I can’t move the surgical equipment and tools here to another place.”

The adept, holding the scalpel, nodded to Lennok.

“Let’s proceed. If we finish the surgery before they find this place, wouldn’t that be fine?”

“What kind of-”

Before Lennok could object to that absurd statement, the adept raised his magic power.

He grabbed the scalpel and plunged it into the cracks of the broken gauntlet.

A gesture of thrusting the blade, which should have been cutting human flesh, into the metal.

[!!!!!!!!!]

The moment the scalpel pierced the crack, the gauntlet began to vibrate violently, as if in a fit.

It tightened strongly, as if trying to crush Lennok’s arm, reacting fiercely as if trying to become one with his flesh.

“…!!”

Lennok gasped inside his mask at the intense pressure that was trying to crush his arm.

It was fortunate that his left arm had been turned into a forbidden weapon through the experiments of the Brain God Temple, otherwise, it would have been crushed, bones and flesh.

The adept, also surprised by Lennok’s reaction, glanced at him with the scalpel still inserted.

“The recoil must be quite painful, but you’re enduring it without even using magic to strengthen your body. That’s quite a mental fortitude.”

“……”

“If you don’t use magic, the surgery will be much easier. That’s an excellent posture. Keep maintaining that state.”

“Shut up and finish it quickly…!!”

The shattered fragments of the gauntlet were sticking to his left arm, trying to become completely one.

Blackened magic power poured out like steam from the cracks, staining the surroundings with darkness.

“Don’t rush me. I adjusted the technique here to handle such complex tasks.”

However, the adept, unfazed by the recoil, replied, channeling magic power into the scalpel.

“And I don’t start surgeries that are bound to fail in the first place.”

Crackling…!!!

Twisting the scalpel inserted into the cracks, he forcibly widened the cracks in the gauntlet.

Pressing his bare hand through the widened cracks, he activated the surgical technique.

He began to forcibly connect the cracks in the gauntlet by ‘joining’ them.

Chiiiiiiik!!!

[!!!!!!!]

The gauntlet emitted an intense ripple and a resonance that could not be described in words.

Each time, the footsteps of the knights above the ceiling became more intense.

-Magic reaction from below. Sounds are coming from there too!

-We can’t break the floor. We have to find the entrance.

“A forbidden weapon is a weapon that uses humans as materials. The damage inflicted on the weapon is a crack in the soul.”

The adept said, pressing his hand into the cracks of the gauntlet.

“So, the surgery I’m performing is to join the cracks in the soul with the weapon, making them completely one.”

“Compressing the form…?”

“Compressing and killing the soul that became the material, leaving only the original ability and completely killing the will.”

As Lennok struggled to reply to the indescribable sensation on his left arm, the adept nodded.

“That way, we create room for another ‘material’ to enter. That was the task the illusionist asked me to do.”

“…Wait, that’s.”

Leaving only the ability of the forbidden weapon, compressing and killing the soul of the human who became the material.

Leaving space in that empty spot, allowing a new soul to dwell.

And, at this point, the new power that should dwell in the gauntlet is-

“Could it be the remnants of a dead god-”

Wham!!!

The locked iron door of the basement was completely shattered, and a powerful shockwave erupted.

The knights entered the basement, their murderous glares flashing beneath their helmets.

At the center, a massive knight wielding a greatsword walked out, emitting tremendous magic power.

“Pandemonium.”

The leader of the Royal City’s 9th Knight Order, Albion, swung his greatsword, stopping it in front of the adept’s neck.

Whoosh!!!

With just the momentary sword pressure, he blew away the tools and equipment around the operating room with such intense power.

Albion’s expression subtly hardened as he saw the preserved humans around the adept, who had turned his back.

“Do you know how absurdly terrible the atrocities you’ve committed in this Royal City are?”

“……”

“There was an order to capture the traitors who caused chaos in the Royal City, dead or alive. You must be the ones who are the main culprits.”

“That’s a shame.”

The adept replied, focusing on joining the seams of the gauntlet.

“I heard that you also have a knack for extracting abilities by using humans as materials. Can’t you share that know-how?”

“How can you say that-”

“Ah, wait a moment.”

The adept, interrupting Albion, put down the scalpel and grabbed the gauntlet, raising his magic power.

“It’s almost done. In fact, from now on, the output will be much stronger than its original performance.”

“…You!!”

Albion, enraged, instantly amplified his momentum and deployed his small universe [a personal domain of power].

The moment the flash of the heavy greatsword crossed the adept’s neck, the entire basement exploded, splitting in half.

The underground and the surface collided, creating a terrifying roar, and the ground caved in, causing an earthquake.

Kugwagwagwa!!!!

The operating room was crushed and destroyed, compressed from above and below.

The moment he realized that the adept was nowhere to be seen, the adept was standing in front of the hidden side door behind the operating room, supporting Lennok.

“I put a lot of effort into making it, but the environment itself was too harsh to stay long.”

The sight of Lennok, with the gauntlet that seemed to be alive and pulsating, hanging limply, and the adept pulling him by his robe.

“As expected of the knights of the border, their attitude towards works is terrible.”

The adept frowned as he saw the human specimens that had fallen all around due to the earthquake caused by Albion.

“If you promise to take care of my works with care, I’ll allow you to exhibit them in the royal palace. They’ll be a good tourist attraction in this backwater.”

“What nonsense is this madman spouting!!”

“Capture him!!”

“He’s a member of Pandemonium. If we let him go, a disaster will unfold in the Royal City!!”

Albion twisted his greatsword, causing another earthquake, and the adept turned his body.

Following the adept who was escaping through the side door, blades pierced through the walls from all directions.

The narrow corridor exploded as if it had been hit by a cannon, emitting a roar.

Wham!!!

The moment they barely avoided the sword strikes and ascended to the surface, the entire area collapsed and exploded.

Albion’s small universe, shaking and collapsing the entire ground as if he had detonated an anti-tank mine.

The moment the adept’s body swayed and fell forward, a magic user grabbed his body in mid-air.

Swoosh!!

Lennok, who had pulled the adept’s body onto the roof of a nearby building, slumped down.

The area where the operating room had been was completely collapsing and exploding.

Thud thud thud thud!!!!

The knights, stepping on the collapsing ground, leaped up at tremendous speed.

Albion, wielding his greatsword from below the ground and operating his small universe, was expanding the scale of the earthquake.

The adept, lying on the roof, glanced at the vast destruction.

“You’ve come to your senses quickly. How’s your condition?”

“…Terrible.”

Lennok said, extending the gauntlet attached to his left arm inside his robe.

A bizarre shape was engraved on the glass-colored gauntlet, with black cracks extending like tree roots.

It no longer broke or went berserk, but it had a much more ’empty’ and precarious aura.

Each time he moved the gauntlet, black ripples spread through the air, striking at space-time.

“It’s not a problem with the output, but it feels like the ability and sensation themselves have changed.”

Lennok, staring at it blankly, turned his gaze away in annoyance.

“I shouldn’t have entrusted the work to a special-type adept. How can this be called surgery?”

“If you have complaints, take it up with the illusionist who made a deal with me.”

Wham!!!

The roof exploded, and Lennok and the adept moved simultaneously.

They quickly distanced themselves from the knights, jumping between the frozen rooftops of the buildings.

Kwagwagwagwa!!!!

The residential area on the outskirts of the Royal City collapsed and exploded, as if chasing after Lennok and the adept.

Lennok, turning his gaze to avoid the approaching earthquake, frowned at the sight of the Royal City in the distance.

“That’s…”

Even outside the outer streets of the Royal City, knights in heavy armor were packed in without any space to step.

The other knight orders, who had not yet returned to the Royal City, had also begun to move, turning back and surrounding them.

“Well, that’s all I have to do.”

Amidst the encirclement that was closing in from all sides, the adept stopped first.

“It’s not efficient to fight high-ranking knights with this trash body.”

The adept, turning his back without any regrets, ignored Lennok and spoke in an indifferent tone.

“I don’t particularly want to help at this point, since the adjustment of the surgical technique isn’t even finished. I’ll go back first.”

“I don’t know where you’re going back to.”

Lennok asked, looking at the knights approaching from all directions.

“Do you think there’s a choice to safely get out of this situation alone?”

“I don’t understand that statement. Why is there no way?”

The adept asked, as if he didn’t understand.

“If there’s no space, just clear them out and make one.”

“So, that method-”

“‘Sorrow’ start.”

Kiyuuuuuuuuung-!!!!!

The moment the adept snapped his fingers, a chillingly intense ripple of light echoed from behind Lennok.

Near the river on the outskirts of the Royal City where Lennok and the adept were escaping. A pale cannon, located on top of a parked cruise ship.

That cannon was enveloped in tremendous light, aiming directly at them.

“That’s…”

“I found out while researching the forbidden weapon you guys took from the cult, that it’s a weapon that operates using human emotions as its power source.”

The adept, leaving Lennok speechless, crossed his arms.

“So, I collected the emotions of the humans I touched in the operating room and charged it up a bit.”

“Could it be that the reason you were able to repair this gauntlet was…”

“Of course, it was possible because I researched the principles and form of the forbidden weapon with that.”

Kugugugu!!!

The moment the adept extended his hand, pointing to the knight order surrounding the distance.

The cannon mounted on the cruise ship slowly turned, following his gesture.

The adept casually lowered his hand.

“Aim at the center of the Royal City and fire ‘Pain’.”

Whoosh!!

A pale flash of light that passed by Lennok and the adept, flashed over the heads of the knight order rushing from afar.

The light of the forbidden weapon, sweeping away the knight order, pierced through the buildings of the Royal City in a straight line and descended.

The light, drawing a circular ripple, struck vertically towards the center of the downtown area, evaporating everything.