Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 124

I knew it the moment I saw it.

That magic circle was the source of the barrier that covered the entire sky of the labor camp.

There was no need to hesitate.

Lenok didn’t hesitate and immediately raised his right arm, unleashing his mana to its fullest.

Kwaaaang!!

The spiral of flames that shot out from his two fingers directly struck the command and control room filled with computers.

It seemed to have some resistance due to the security magic, but Lenok didn’t let go of his control over the magic either.

The two streams of flames he wielded pierced through the glass and began to burn the computers inside the control room.

‘Those computers must have been the foundation for building the artificial intelligence algorithm.’

If he couldn’t disrupt the magic circle, the target was clear from the start.

‘It would be great if this was the end of it….’

“It’s useless.”

While looking up at the burning computers, a low voice echoed from afar.

“The calculations are already complete, and what remained was just maintenance. Burning those things now won’t change anything.”

A heavy and thick resonance.

A voice filled with a firm resolve that made anyone who heard it tense up.

A stiff expression and wrinkles all over his face. Intricate tree root tattoos drawn under his eyes.

It was the first time meeting him face-to-face, but it felt familiar, as if he had been waiting for a long time.

The leader of the practical faction of black mages, Craig.

The criminal who played a part in rebelling against Balkan and carrying out acts of terrorism was standing right here.

At the end of the collapsed ruins (1)

“You must be that guy, Ban.”

Before replying, Lenok pressed his earpiece to signal Hina and the other allied forces. A signal that he had confirmed Craig’s presence.

With this, Cheisha should be able to enter the compound and support the allies.

If possible, he hoped Jaun would quickly deal with his opponent and come down here to help capture him, but… Lenok decided not to expect too much.

“You know me?”

“I’ve heard a lot about you. You’re known as the pest who interferes with my work the most.”

Flapping his black robe with intricate magic circles, he slowly began to walk sideways.

Was that attitude a display of confidence, or the scent of arrogance?

Craig, with his hands behind his back, quietly looked up at the ceiling of the compound and muttered.

“Shall we talk a bit?”

Kwaaaaaang!!

Instead of answering, Lenok dropped a fireball on his head.

It was obvious that he was trying to stall for time, and Lenok wasn’t foolish enough to fall for it.

If he couldn’t erase the magic circle, he would have to kill the caster directly.

However, Craig’s voice, coming from beyond the rising smoke, was too calm for a mage who had just been attacked.

“You’re an impatient one. But it’s too late.”

Woo woong!!

With those words, the magic circle drawn all over Lenok’s compound vibrated violently and began to rotate slowly.

“‘Self-Domain,’ which is said to be granted only to a select few mages who have reached the level of 6 or higher, and among them, those with innate talent… This is the result of artificially implementing it. Until the spell is activated, both the caster and the magic circle are protected by powerful security magic.”

Self-Domain. He had obtained an important keyword.

Could this be a clue to the strange pressure he felt when facing the black mages of Cheongyeon or Bokmajeon? [Cheongyeon and Bokmajeon are likely names of organizations or groups of mages]

There was almost no information about the combat methods used by high-level mages, so he didn’t have a chance to ask Aris.

Lenok quickly organized his thoughts, thinking that he should ask her about it later.

“Until the spell is activated…”

In other words, once the spell starts to activate, they won’t receive any protection.

It seemed like a difficult condition, but if they were granted powerful security magic with just that condition, it was a good deal.

The time and cost of building this infrastructure must have been considerable.

Lenok nodded, retracting the mana he had gathered.

‘…Should I shake things up a bit more?’

There was no need to reveal that he was completely ignorant about the domain.

Here, he could naturally move on and divert the guy’s attention—

“Are you feeling secure because you’ve implemented a space-based security magic? I know that you guys are planning something to oppose Balkan. We’ve also prepared a strategy to match it.”

It was such an obvious and clumsy provocation that he couldn’t help but laugh.

But that was exactly why it made him want to retort.

And as expected, Craig reacted.

“Is this what you mean by strategy?”

Booo woong!!

With those words, something appeared behind Craig.

A corpse, grotesquely twisted with its limbs skewered on a large skewer.

The broken glasses and aged face were distorted with terrible pain, and the two eyeballs were strangely bulging out and hardened.

It was a familiar face. The executive agent who had talked to Lenok right before the operation started and then disappeared.

It was Niro Cohen.

“………”

“It seems he thought he could arrogantly avoid my eyes and tried to peek inside the compound after passing through the labor camp.”

Craig said, tapping Niro’s head with his middle finger.

With that light touch, Niro’s head swayed as if it were a pendulum.

Sticky, hardened blood dripped down in time with the pendulum motion.

“He seemed confident in his stealth, but he made the mistake of entering the sensory range of a mage who had established a domain. How pitiful.”

He kept pushing Niro’s head, then clenched his fist and punched it hard.

Kooong!!

The corpse skewered on the skewer fell limply to the floor.

Even though someone he had been talking to just a few hours ago had turned into a lump of meat, Lenok didn’t even blink and asked.

He couldn’t show that he was shaken here.

“How far do you intend to go to be satisfied? Are you going to race until the city collapses while holding onto Reisen’s slush fund?”

“Race? You’re talking nonsense.”

Craig glared at him with a heavy gaze.

“It wasn’t our intention to receive that old man’s slush fund!!”

“………”

“Despite having the title of a mouthpiece for the city council, he didn’t even know the date of the inspection decided by the senators. Who was it that passed the slush fund to us to hide it and then abandoned us? This isn’t what I wanted!!”

A voice that echoed loudly throughout the compound.

His tone was so rough that you could clearly feel the extent of the anger hidden beneath that heavy expression.

At the same time, the black mana that sprang from the magic circle pulsed and instantly covered the surroundings in black.

“Hoo, hoo…!!”

Craig, who was panting in the center of the blackened compound, said in a quiet voice.

“I can accept being ruined while chasing an unattainable goal. But I can’t disappear because of the greed of just one old man.”

Woo woong!!

Mana rotates. At the same time, the magic circle glows darkly and begins to vibrate slowly.

“I was just trying to do a little better.”

To his desperate plea, Lenok replied.

“Even by sacrificing innocent people?”

The two mages simultaneously turned their heads and faced each other.

Kwaaaang!!

An explosion erupted.

In the deafening roar, Lenok said.

“I think I can.”

Even without grandly convincing himself that he was right, Lenok understood Craig.

Struggling to survive, to avoid being sacrificed to someone else’s greed, was a natural thing.

Regardless of what sacrifices occurred in the process, or how many innocent people were killed.

Lenok thought Craig’s actions were natural.

This place was not a solemn court of justice.

It was just two people who had been swept away to the outskirts of the city in pursuit of their own gains and losses, finally facing each other.

That’s why Lenok understood all the words Craig was shouting, but at the same time, he felt they were futile.

Even if Lenok deeply sympathized with Craig’s ideology, the positions they were standing in now would not change.

There was no good or evil here.

There was only honest desire and a plausible justification to hide it.

Only the last person standing on this magic circle would be able to seize the ending beyond it.

No further questions were needed.

[Lightning Vortex]

Weeeeeeeng!!

A torrent of blue lightning swirling from Lenok’s left arm was shot towards the wave of black mana.

Puh uh uh ung!!

The extreme penetrating power concentrated at one point pierced through the wave and expanded, nullifying Craig’s preemptive attack.

Paat!!

And from beyond the scattered and disappearing wave of mana, Craig’s figure was sprinting.

A face stained with anger, and graying hair.

However, his movements themselves were trained enough to make Lenok turn his gaze.

It was clear that he was a trained martial artist, regardless of being a black mage himself.

A fist, imbued with surging mana, shot straight out, instantly shattering Lenok’s shield and approaching his vital point.

Kwajijijik!!

Lenok also didn’t even blink and pulled out his revolver from his waist.

[Reload Acceleration]

[Aim Correction]

[Rapid Fire]

Tatatatang!!

Four bullets fired without a moment’s breath after pulling the hammer.

The flames that erupted at the same time as he pulled it from his waist accurately hit the point Lenok wanted.

He had used auxiliary magic, but all of them were in categories that had little to do with the power of the shots.

Puh uh ung!!

However, Craig’s body, which was hit, was helplessly pushed back as if he had been hit head-on by a huge shockwave.

The impact magic that had been imbued in the bullets beforehand had pushed Craig back faster than magic.

Lenok slowly retreated while quickly reloading the next bullet.

“I didn’t expect you to rush in directly.”

He muttered while quickly turning his head.

Craig, a master of black magic, couldn’t have not known, so why did he attack so quickly?

‘It must be because he doesn’t want to allow even the slightest interference.’

From the moment he realized the reason, the surrounding scenery began to look slightly different.

Craig was planning to keep Lenok in check by directly engaging him, preventing him from interfering with this process.

“I already know the size of the vessel you possess. You’re probably looking at a place so far away that a mage like me can’t even imagine.”

Craig said, burning the black mana in both hands.

Whirr ruruk!!

The flames of mana that rose from both hands slowly covered Craig’s entire body, turning into living flames of life.

“A unique combat style that offsets close-quarters combat with shield magic, and accurately fires shots in between casting spells. What makes that contradictory strength possible is not magical talent, but an unusually calm and composed judgment.”

“………”

“But if I can nullify the shield at close range, the balance of that combat style will also collapse.”

Instead of replying, Lenok silently raised his revolver.

He must not waver. His opponent was a seasoned mage who had been through thick and thin.

If he really had a way to break through his shield, it would be much more efficient to swing his hand directly instead of talking here.