Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1237

Kyunroe Subjugation (29)

Fwoooosh!!!!

The moment the Ascension Gate opened, Kyunroe, who had stopped the ritual, resumed his slaughter.

At the same instant Baragan and Esteban began to move, Victor deployed his magnetic field.

Everyone on the battlefield had the same thought.

‘Even with the magnetic field deployed, it won’t last long.’

‘Is this field meant to draw Kyunroe’s attention…!’

Even Baragan’s magnetic field, the Cypress Arrow Formation, could only maintain a size of a few dozen meters within this labyrinth.

No matter how skilled Victor is, his magical power couldn’t possibly exceed Baragan’s main force, so he wouldn’t be able to maintain the field for long.

Therefore, deploying the magnetic field at this point must be an attempt to directly draw Kyunroe’s attention and aid their allies.

Everyone was aware of the immense potential of the manipulation techniques Victor had shown in the subjugation battle.

‘Victor will move immediately after deploying the magnetic field to draw Kyunroe’s attention.’

In a split second, those who made the same judgment simultaneously raised their magical power, trying to time their moves.

Magnetic Field Deployment

Manipulation Hierarchy: Mental Image Manifestation

[Non-Succession Binding]

Click.

“…Huh?”

As the black-tinged ripples spread, the positions of everyone on the battlefield were completely reversed.

The scenery before their eyes shifted abruptly, making their sense of distance strange, and familiar voices grew closer from all directions.

Allied transcendents were ‘moved’ to a distance not far from Kyunroe, who was rotating and emitting lightning.

A distance that was just right to avoid being swept away by the lightning all at once.

Yet, close enough to allow for minimal cooperation, and easy to approach Kyunroe.

A bizarre scene as if the positions of all objects within the labyrinth had been forcibly moved.

Only then did the superhumans realize the power of Victor’s magnetic field and were shocked.

“This can’t be. Forced adjustment of space-time coordinates…!!!”

“Is it the power to change the position of objects within the field!!”

“Even if he’s a special type of mage, how can he have such an ability-!!!”

The existence of Kyunroe, who had begun to rampage again as the ritual was interrupted.

Against the lightning that they couldn’t withstand head-on, the ability to adjust the positions of allies was invaluable.

It was a powerful and versatile ability that could potentially change the entire plan and structure they had discussed so far.

Ivelin, realizing that something had changed, moved.

“You think I’ll let that happen?”

Thwack!!

She deflected Sarin’s sword strike with her shoulder and leaped across the battlefield littered with corpses and machine parts.

Ivelin’s blurred figure began to traverse the battlefield at a terrifying speed.

Squish-

As she stepped on the sticky black magic beneath her feet, Ivelin turned sideways as if bouncing off.

At the same time, she dodged the black magic aimed at her neck and knelt diagonally.

Whoosh!!!

“Ah.”

Ermong, who had been secretly reaching out from behind, looked embarrassed.

“Damn it, it was a critical hit, but if you dodge it so easily, what am I?”

“It wasn’t easy. I’m always wary of black magic.”

Ivelin retorted coldly.

“The magic that manipulates the negative energy most freely among all magic systems… Since it doesn’t follow the rules of formulas, it’s easy to get caught off guard. There’s no way I’d miss it, right?”

In fact, the black magic Ermong had just fired was so fast that even Ivelin had difficulty being careless.

Considering that chanting is necessary to fire a spell at that speed, it was an unusual event…

Regardless of Ermong’s estimated level of 7, he was an opponent they could never let their guard down against.

Ivelin glared at Ermong with a cold expression.

“That sly face… I saw it in the Hanghasa Labyrinth. This time, things won’t go your way.”

“Ugh… There’s a misunderstanding, things never went my way there either.”

Ermong said, gathering black magic and clutching it in both hands.

“In the first place, if that were the case, there’s no way I’d be suffering like this here!!!”

Kwaaaang!!!!

The billowing black smoke instantly covered the surroundings.

Even Ivelin, who always kept her senses sharp, hesitated at the sight of the eerie black smoke.

Fwip fwip fwip!!!

Something moved quickly beyond the black fog, circling around Ivelin.

However, Ivelin ignored whatever was moving in the fog and raised her left hand sharply.

Thud!!

“…Huh?”

Ermong, who was holding a twisted dagger, was grabbed by the wrist and wore a dumbfounded expression.

“I know you’re trying to stall for time with tricks, but black mages are that tricky.”

Ivelin said with a chilling expression.

“I need to deal with you decisively here.”

Swoosh!!

Before she could finish her sentence, Ivelin’s hand lightly touched and brushed past Ermong’s forehead.

At the same time, a black arrow pierced Ermong’s brow, instantly piercing through the back of his head.

Splat!!

“Ugh.”

The black mage collapsed, his tongue lolling out, with a grotesque scream.

Daemus, who was running while panting, hardened his face as he watched the scene.

“Ermong!!!”

An ancient black mage who survived by taking over the bodies of others.

He was a villain with a naturally sly personality who didn’t even bother to hide it, but he was an old monster with great self-preservation skills.

He had survived this far while constantly complaining, so he had a keen sense of judgment.

Ivelin’s hand was so sharp that Ermong couldn’t even resist, and-

She didn’t stop with just one attack.

Thwack!!

Before he could even notice, Daemus’s figure was grabbed by the collar and slammed into the ground.

“Cough…!!!”

“You’re the commander, right? You’ve been reading the flow of this battlefield alone since earlier.”

Ivelin, who had stepped on Daemus’s neck as he gasped for breath, glared at him with a cold gaze.

“With Atermeyer gone, you must be the head of the legion. I need to kill you here.”

‘His judgment, what…!!’

Even while facing hundreds of high-level transcendents, she was reading each of their roles and specialties.

Not targeting strong opponents like the captains or the ten seats, but going after the annoying ability users first.

She was more of a hunter than a warrior, and that made her even more dangerous in this kind of chaotic battle.

That’s why-

“Daemus!!!”

“Baragan, sir…”

While coughing up blood, Daemus turned his gaze with difficulty.

“I’ll buy, some time…”

At the same time, the highest-grade jewels fell from Daemus’s chest and began to shine.

[Chanting Stone: Formula Resonance Multiple Deployment]

[Ten-Faced Jade: Catalyst Conversion]

[Heavenly River Stone: Space-Linked Detachment and Blooming]

Fwoooosh!!!!

Hundreds of jewels, each with a different color, resonated with each other, instantly enveloping Daemus and Ivelin.

A level 8 binding spell that was not originally allowed for Daemus’s level, chanted by sacrificing his lifespan.

[Declaration: Great Isolation]

“You think you can…!!”

The moment Ivelin reached out with a chilling expression, the completed jewel prison grabbed her along with the space.

Clang!!!!

In the instant Daemus risked his life to restrain Ivelin, Baragan moved, leading Quetzalcoatl.

“Psychic. Start now!!”

“I don’t like using the gift the Lord gave me in this way… but there’s no time.”

Even if they sacrificed Daemus’s lifespan, the possibility of holding Ivelin for a long time was low.

So, what Daemus aimed for was not to hold Ivelin’s feet, but to block her ears.

“Come.”

Esteban whispered with his eyes closed.

“Nohwa…!!”

Something that heard Esteban’s ‘whisper’ crossed over from the collective mental network into reality.

From reality to the mental network and back to reality. A miracle that crossed the boundary between the material world and the conscious world scattered a sharp silver glow.

In the direction Esteban pointed, it took the form of a giant airship and descended into the center of the area.

Clang!!!!

“Run!!!”

“Uwooooo!!!”

“This is the last one!!!”

The tattered Quetzalcoatl and the silver airship advanced, shielding themselves from the falling lightning.

Every time the dark distortion point above their heads rotated, the power of the Non-Succession Binding was activated.

They narrowly avoided the rampaging lightning by switching the space-time coordinates of their allies in real-time.

Even so, every time the dark blue lightning grazed them, the snake and the airship exploded, crushed beyond recovery.

Kwaaang!!

Thud thud thud!!!

[Kkioooooo…!!!]

[……]

The desperate cries of Quetzalcoatl and the trembling mental network of Nohwa.

But Baragan and Esteban did not stop, even knowing that fact.

They had desperately avoided a head-on confrontation and saved their strength until this moment.

They had to make their move now, while Victor could maintain the magnetic field and use his fraudulent position-changing ability.

“Psychic. One isn’t enough…!!!!”

Baragan gritted his teeth and grabbed a dark scale from his chest.

“Do it at the same time!!”

“I know…!!”

Using the snake and the airship as shields, they received and dodged the lightning with the help of the Non-Succession Binding.

In the chaotic, shifting view, the transcendents approached Kyunroe and unleashed their abilities.

Kwaaaang!!!

The jewel prison shattered, and Ivelin kicked the slumped Daemus and burst out.

The light in her black hair flashed with a vivid green glow.

“Not so fast. It’s not too late…!!”

Clank!!

Ivelin grabbed the great bow that had fallen with the collapsing arch and strung it with a strand of her hair.

Black-green magic rotated and turned into an arrow, aiming at the transcendents running behind the snake and the airship.

At that moment, a silver-white sword light that soared in front of Ivelin deflected the arrow and bounced it back.

Clang!!!

“That won’t do, sniper.”

“…!!!”

A bloodied white-haired swordsman stood at the far end of the labyrinth.

Ivelin, immediately recognizing the opponent’s identity, hardened her expression.

“Songha…!!”

“Ah… I somehow made it here on time…”

Songha, carrying his pure white greatsword on his shoulder, staggered forward.

Sticky blood dripped from his feet, staining the ground.

“It’s been a while since I’ve pushed myself this hard… It might have been difficult without the doctor’s help.”

“……”

“I’m a little late for the appointment, but this is the role I’m supposed to play, right?”

Songha’s eyes, as he slowly raised his greatsword, shone coldly.

“That manipulator. He uses a very unique ability. If I just hold you back, it seems like we can manage somehow.”

“Certainly, I can’t win against you in close combat…”

However, Ivelin smiled weakly, even knowing that fact.

“But, I’m not the only one left in this labyrinth, you know?”

“…What?”

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!!

No sooner had she finished speaking than hot flames poured down through the corridors in all directions.

The surging flames fell and surged, becoming a tidal wave of fire.

Behind that tidal wave was the figure of Tiana, equipped with a formula weapon in the shape of an exhaust vent.

Swoosh!!!

A curtain of red blood surged, and a black-haired girl appeared.

The curtain, hanging like a drape, rotated violently, scattering a rain of blood in all directions.

“Haaak!! It’s hot, so hot…!!!”\n\n”Aaaargh!! Blood, blood…!!!”\n\n”My head, my head hurts!! Ughh…”\n\nBOOOM!!!\n\nThe blood of the superhumans, having inhaled the rain of blood, backfired and exploded. A wave of scorching flames crashed down, burning both body and soul.\n\nEven within the sturdy magic tower, two mages specialized in wide-area combat remained until the end, reshaping the battlefield. Superhumans began to die in the waves of fire and rain of blood.\n\nIn the instant Songha’s attention was diverted by the rapidly increasing damage from all directions, Ivelin accelerated.\n\nHer figure sped across the waves of fire at an incredible pace.\n\nCRASH!!!\n\nThe rain of blood falling from the sky. The sea of fire surging on the ground.\n\nAs Ivelin ran through this hell on earth and aimed her greatbow at Baragan, a muscular woman with gauntlets on both hands cut in beside her at tremendous speed.\n\n”…!!!”\n\nWHAM!!!!\n\nA blow falling with terrifying speed, accelerated using mana release.\n\nIvelin immediately folded her greatbow and raised it like a shield, taking the attack and sliding across the flames.\n\nAtiya, the 6th Legion Commander, smiled at Ivelin.\n\n”Oh? You caught that?”\n\n”…You.”\n\n”Look at your reaction speed. You’re from the Executioners, aren’t you?”\n\nAtiya picked her nose and pointed at Ivelin.\n\n”Those who completed that curriculum have a similar vibe. That unique mechanical feel, too.”\n\n”Fist Star Atiya Elrickson. As the intel suggested, you are a very well-trained martial artist.”\n\nIvelin turned a cold gaze towards Atiya.\n\n”It hasn’t been long since Dylan retreated, so how did you arrive at the center of the labyrinth already?”\n\n”What, you knew that guy ran away from fighting me?”\n\nAtiya chuckled.\n\n”Then that means you guys orchestrated that situation from the start. But whatever, it doesn’t matter.”\n\n”…”\n\n”By now, the others should be arriving too.”\n\nTHUD!!!\n\nThe labyrinth wall collapsed, and Roberide, clad in thick armor, appeared leading the 3rd Legion.\n\nThe 4th Weapon of the mechanized corps, a centipede-like creature with a fully modified body, writhed grotesquely along the wall.\n\nEsteban Eisen’s direct high-ranking psychic unit, their inorganic eyes gleaming as they amplified their psychic powers.\n\nThe Ten Crosses of the Vanguard. The 9th Seat, Escardo Silvan, and the 1st Command’s Ghost Squadron under Gilleon Miles, with their armored wings.\n\nThe Iron Chain Dragon King, looking down at the battlefield with an expressionless face, and Ezekiel, walking from the far end of the corridor.\n\nEven the cardinals and military chaplains, who had been praying incessantly while watching the Fortress, began to move.\n\nAt this moment, all the scattered forces participating in the subjugation operation converged on one battlefield.\n\n”Oooooooooh!!!!”\n\n”In the name of the Great Seat…!!!”\n\n”We will subjugate the Fortress in this place!!!”\n\nThe center of the labyrinth, where the Fortress’s lightning raged and fell.\n\nA hellscape where Tatiana and the Blood Cannon added fire and blood, burning and melting life.\n\nThe forces of both sides of the subjugation operation, gathered at the center, moved simultaneously as if burning their last.\n\nThe remaining distance was 200 meters.\n\nCRASH!!!!\n\nBaragan’s Quetzalcoatl [a mythical feathered serpent] and the Vanguard’s airships were completely annihilated, swept away by the falling lightning.\n\nEach time the distortion point of the No-Aiming Spell rotated, the surviving superhumans changed positions and died.\n\nOn the battlefield where life and death intersected, they shouted at the top of their lungs, drawing on their mana and advancing.\n\nAt this moment when everyone sensed the end, they could even forget the pain and fear for a moment.\n\nThey wanted to live. They wanted to be at peace.\n\nTwo conflicting yet similar desires moved their creaking bodies, and they were consumed and vanished in the lightning, flames, and blood.\n\nThe remaining distance was 100 meters.\n\n”Fortress!!!”\n\nBANG!!!!\n\nBaragan’s body, having lost Quetzalcoatl, was exposed to black-blue lightning, and his limbs exploded and burst apart.\n\nHis left hand was crushed and disappeared, and the area below his right knee was burned and fell off.\n\nHis hair was on fire, his face was burned, and his right eye melted and flowed down.\n\nA gruesome sight, with his intestines melting and flowing out like filth through his torn belly skin.\n\nBut Baragan did not hesitate and drew on his main power.\n\nThe remaining distance was 50 meters.\n\n”Look at me!!!!!”\n\nA shaman who inherited the secret spell of the Compendium [a book of knowledge or magic], burning his ink scales and unleashing his magic at full power.\n\nThe Fortress, sensing the familiar fragment of an Ascended [a being that has transcended normal limitations], focused its attention on Baragan. At that moment, Baragan’s figure disappeared.\n\nAs the distortion point of the No-Aiming Spell activated and reconfigured his position, the Fortress paused, and Esteban moved.\n\nHe too was in a terrible state, with his shoulder blown apart and the skin on his back torn, revealing his spine.\n\nEsteban, his arm skin completely torn off, revealing the bone, raised his hand and spoke.\n\nThe remaining distance was 20 meters.\n\n”Manipulator.”\n\nWHOOSH!!!\n\nThere was no reply.\n\nAs the dark distortion point rotated, and the [Reconfiguration] of the No-Aiming Spell adjusted his position, the Fortress, wrapped in black-blue lightning, aimed at the dark distortion point above its head and fired its magic at full power.\n\nThe rampaging lightning and the spatial distortion point collided, scattering an enormous shockwave.\n\nCRACKLE!!!\n\nEven the superhumans who had somehow managed to endure were momentarily blinded by the intense light.\n\nIn that light, Victor’s figure blurred, and then began to disappear and vanish completely.\n\n”Victor!!!!”\n\nIn the fleeting moment of deploying his domain to draw the Fortress’s attention and buy time for his allies.\n\nEsteban, who was last granted the ability of the No-Aiming Spell, was sucked into the center of the labyrinth, avoiding the falling lightning.\n\nThe moment he regained his senses, Esteban stood before nine wings, gleaming with brilliant golden light.\n\nBaragan, who was battered and bruised. Songha, who was covered in blood. The cardinal, who had lost an arm.\n\nThe surviving transcendents stood beside Esteban, staring blankly at the figure.\n\n”…”\n\n”Arrived, we…”\n\nAs if captivated by its beauty just by looking at it, a beautiful form close to perfection.\n\nThe curves of the form and the carvings of the feathers. Even the shape of the wings seemed dignified and noble, like those of an angel.\n\nEsteban, who had momentarily forgotten the situation and was staring at it, suddenly came to his senses.\n\nThe remaining distance was 1 meter.\n\nThe task at hand was clear.\n\n”Fortress… as a seeker of truth, I respect your challenge.”\n\nSWISH!!\n\nThe shattered fragments of the rhombic pattern melted and turned into mercury.\n\nEsteban reached out and grasped a vast amount of mercury, and spoke.\n\n”But your challenge is not a result that the Vanguard can accept… nor is it the direction the Great Seat desires.”\n\nThe 5th Seat of the Ability Awakening Vanguard. The reason he, with his mercury manipulation ability, participated in the subjugation operation.\n\nThe one reason he survived until the end and stood before the Fortress.\n\n”In the name of the Almighty Great Seat… you must fall.”\n\nMercury is a metal that exists in a liquid state at room temperature. At the same time, it is the most reactive catalyst in a spiritual sense.\n\nThe mercury that Esteban manipulates has been revered since ancient times as a means of immortality and was considered a vessel for containing spirituality.\n\nTherefore, the spirituality of ‘others,’ not Esteban himself, could be temporarily contained in his mercury.\n\nCRACK!!!!\n\nWithout the slightest hesitation, he plunged the mercury he held in his hand into the wings.\n\nThe spirituality of ‘Aphelia,’ which had been stored inside, traveled through the mercury and penetrated the Fortress’s interior.\n\nBaragan, who had burned the ink scales of the Compendium, and Songha, who held his greatsword, pushed their will from the opposite direction.\n\nCRACK…!!!!\n\nThe final stage of the Ascension Ritual, which was forcibly interrupted by colliding with the Ascension Gate opened by the Doctor.\n\nWhile unleashing rampaging lightning, the will of the Great Seat and the Compendium simultaneously intervened in the ritual, twisting the process.\n\nCRACK, CRACK…!!!!\n\nBy sacrificing the lives of tens of thousands of superhumans, throwing war machines as shields.\n\nBy enveloping Victor’s magnetic domain, and using the power and will of higher beings comparable to ascension as impurities.\n\nBy dragging the war that began on the outskirts of Vulcan to the deepest part of the 49th District, and finally here, after countless sacrifices.\n\nAt that moment, they completely ruined and rampaged the Ascension Ritual of the Incarnate.\n\nThe nine wings exploded, and dark blue lightning covered the center of the labyrinth and crashed down.\n\nCRASH!!!!\n\n”Ugh…!!!”\n\n”Aaaargh…!!!!”\n\nThe golden parts and debris, imbued with mass formulas, scattered like a storm in all directions.\n\nTatiana’s chanted waves of fire and the blood curtain that the Blood Cannon wielded were nowhere to be seen.\n\nEven Ivelin’s figure, who had firmly guarded the center of the labyrinth, was swept away by the lightning and disappeared.\n\n”…”\n\nWHOOSH!!!!\n\nSomeone, covered in dark blue lightning, sat alone inside the shattered golden wings.\n\nThe golden wings were broken and fell, and complex parts were scattered and melted in the ruins.\n\nAt the center, a figure with a black-blue lightning aura, sat quietly with its head bowed.\n\nFor the first time since the subjugation operation began, they witnessed a ‘human’ form.\n\nEven so, everyone on this battlefield sensed who that being was.\n\n”We, succeeded…”\n\nA word escaped from the mouth of someone who was battered and bruised.\n\nSomeone else muttered, taking the place of a comrade who had just died.\n\n”We stopped the Ascension Ritual…”\n\n”We drew out the Fortress…”\n\n”That being, is…”\n\nCRACKLE, CRACKLE!!!\n\nThe black-blue lightning, which had massacred tens of thousands and taken the lives of countless superhumans, surged.\n\nIf one were to fill a human vessel with lightning and burn away all other matter, would it look like that?\n\nA form of a thunder god, maintaining only its shape, with its interior completely filled with lightning.\n\nSeeing that figure sitting as if asleep under the broken throne, Baragan gasped for breath.\n\n”Fortress… that guy…”\n\n”His whole body is made of lightning…”\n\nEsteban struggled to lift his gaze.\n\nThe Fortress was in the process of dismantling and reconstructing its body through the Ascension Ritual.\n\nNow that the ritual had completely failed, the fact that the Fortress was in such a state meant-\n\n”Even after failing to construct its body… it’s still, alive…”\n\n”Haha, it’s not even human anymore…”\n\nEven though Victor had deployed his domain, faced the Fortress, and sacrificed himself, they had only managed to fail the ritual.\n\nThe surviving superhumans, realizing this fact, gagged and drew on their mana.\n\n”Even so… the fact that it’s in that state means it’s at its limit.”\n\n”This is the end… that’s the end…”\n\n”This is the end of this war… everyone, move.”\n\nThe opponent had failed the ritual and was unable to properly construct its own body.\n\nIt was merely gathering its power and barely maintaining a physical form.\n\nThe final battle of the subjugation operation, which had inevitably arrived after failing the Ascension Ritual.\n\nThey would face the Fortress directly and completely annihilate it this time.\n\nCLICK!!\n\nSongha moved, holding his greatsword, and Baragan drew on his main power.\n\nThe surviving legion commanders moved, leading their respective units and taking their positions.\n\nThe cardinal offered a prayer, and Esteban manipulated the mental network to amplify their abilities.\n\nA heavy tension. An infinitely sharp air.\n\nAt the moment when the transcendents were about to scrape the bottom of their remaining strength before the final battle.\n\nThe thunder god sitting on the throne opened its eyes.\n\nWHINE!\n\nA faint breeze brushed their cheeks, and everything around them slowed down.\n\nA miracle where the perceived time accelerated within a consciousness expanded to its limit.\n\nBut the Fortress sitting on the throne did not look back at them properly.\n\nInstead, it simply rose from the throne, opened its eyes, and lifted its gaze.\n\n’-!!!!’\n\nIn the consciousness slowed to its limit, there was no time to even convey a telepathic message, let alone a spoken word.\n\nThe thunder god, having turned its head and gazed at the ground, disappeared from its spot at the same time as it withdrew its gaze.\n\nThe next moment, it descended into reality, piercing Songha’s heart with one arm.\n\nCRACK!!!\n\n”…Ah.”\n\nEveryone present realized that something was wrong.