Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1252

Lenox didn’t know much about the Balkan Mayor.

A figure of power who had been the mayor of this city since Kaise was alive.

A mysterious being who had held the mayoral position for decades, yet rarely appeared in public.

A riddle of a person who sat at the top of this corrupt and decaying megacity.

‘The only time I spoke with him was during the hearing.’

Back when Lapis had come to Balkan to inherit the Lighthouse Keeper’s authority [a position of significant power and responsibility].

Lenox, under the guise of the Adamantine, had kidnapped Lapis and intentionally clashed with Chun-beon.

The City Council had held a hearing and summoned the Adamantine due to the incident escalating with the involvement of the Azure Eye [a powerful organization or individual].

On his way out after the hearing, Lenox had met the Balkan Mayor for the first time.

The very person who had contacted Lenox through the boy who carried the Stone Tablet of the Judgment Covenant [an artifact of great importance].

‘During the hearing, it was a boy, and in Kaise’s regression, it was a woman. I don’t know which one is the true form…’

A figure of power who had been aware of Kaise’s regression even during the project and had been trading with him on equal terms.

He knew that the mayor was an extraordinary ability user. Wasn’t Meyer’s entry into politics also related to the mayor?

It was clear that there were others who had used Kaise and the project, just like the Ars Nova Imperial Palace [a powerful and influential organization].

Surely, the Balkan Mayor must have been one of those people.

The disappearance of Kaise Bajur. The death of Ethan Bajur. The end of the project.

If the mayor was starting to move now, it was proof that some constraint that had been binding him among the three causalities had been lifted.

Once he had made that judgment, there was no reason to hesitate.

However-

[Wow, the gazes of the organic beings are a bit piercing.]

“…This won’t do.”

Screech!!

Before Lenox had even gone two blocks on his bike, he stopped, feeling the gazes pouring in.

The moment he stopped on the road riding his heavy black monster bike.

Immediately after, he noticed that mercenaries all around were looking at him and whispering.

Lenox turned his gaze, seeing freelancers and mercenaries glancing at him with strange expressions.

“There’s nothing wrong with the perception-blocking magic. But the fact that there’s a reaction enough to notice the discomfort means…”

The perception-blocking magic that Lenox used was at a level where it could confuse not only faces and appearances but even the presence itself.

If he used it deliberately, even if someone was right next to him, they would only have the impression that someone had passed by, and they might not even remember their existence.

Even though he had been more careful with his magic than usual, considering the aftermath of the subjugation battle, the fact that he was getting this much feedback meant that this appearance was causing a great sense of discomfort to people.

He still had no idea how much the Adamantine’s already infamous reputation had inflated after the subjugation battle.

Maybe it would be better to contact Jenny or Aris now to check the trends…

“A monster bike… It’s a similar weight to what that person is known to ride.”

“A large bike of that size isn’t that common near the outer districts, is it?”

“It’s been increasing a lot lately. It’s famous for being what that mage rides.”

The discomfort the mercenaries were feeling was directed more towards the bike than Lenox.

Lenox naturally raised his magic power and eavesdropped on the mercenaries’ conversation.

“Anyway, there are so many guys who try to imitate the appearance without even being able to follow their skills. I wouldn’t say anything if they were even close to that talent.”

“It’s better when mercenaries or warriors do that. I don’t even want to talk to mages or sorcerers who ride bikes.”

“Leave them be. They’ll come to their senses once their heads are crushed. It’s good because we can quickly filter out the guys who don’t even know what they’re good at.”

“Looking at the mages in this industry, it makes you realize how capable that guy was… I should have worked with that mage when he was still a freelancer.”

“The welfare given to mercenaries and freelancers affiliated with that magic tower is said to be enormous. It easily surpasses most mega-tech companies.”

“You should have said that before the Adamantine became the Demon King of Balkan. What’s the point now that he’s ascended to the heavens after the subjugation battle?”

“…”

Certainly, the evaluation and reaction to Lenox felt strangely different than before.

Perhaps it was because he had hardly paid attention to the public’s evaluation or reaction since the end of the subjugation battle.

What was unexpected was that the perception of the Adamantine among the mercenaries who operated in the shadows didn’t seem that bad.

However, it seemed that not everyone felt that way, as there were grumbling voices among other freelancers.

“Everyone’s out of their minds. How can they like such a crazy mass murderer when so many districts and facilities were destroyed in this war?”

“Didn’t you see the propaganda videos of the bombardment the legion poured into the outer districts? The Adamantine just did what he had to do.”

“You’re crazy. You don’t mean to say that the mage who massacred tens of thousands of people like insects actually protected Balkan, do you?”

“No, that’s not it, but… in the end, we had to choose one side in this war, right?”

A mercenary retorted to the freelancer’s rebuttal.

“At least this incident made us realize that the Adamantine could have done such things all along but didn’t. Isn’t that right?”

“No, that’s not what I-”

Other mercenaries who had been listening to the conversation started exchanging opinions among themselves.

“I see what you mean. The Adamantine is definitely a very unusual case among those transcendents [individuals with extraordinary abilities].”

“He could have massacred tens of thousands of people, but he was satisfied with just striking lightning in the sky of Sector 49. Maybe he’s just the right amount of crazy…”

“All sorts of research institutions are rushing to apply for relocation to Sector 49. They wouldn’t do that if they wanted to commit suicide.”

“Actually, I also applied for relocation after hearing that news…”

Bwaaaang!!!

At the same time as the traffic light changed, Lenox snapped his fingers and overlaid a new camouflage magic.

He camouflaged the entire bike with a new appearance and added perception-blocking magic to eliminate the sense of discomfort.

Lenox, who had instantly removed people’s gazes, pulled the throttle and increased his speed, tilting his head.

“I don’t know what’s going on in this city. Should I contact Dylan or Mila now?”

[Once the city government’s central network is normalized, deep web access will be smoother than before, so shall we check then?]

“Davy. I don’t think you wouldn’t have tried to access the deep web because of such communication failures.”

Lenox narrowed his eyes and glanced down at the cyber spirit.

“Just give me a brief summary. What’s the reaction related to the subjugation battle?”

[Master, what do you think of me?]

Davy puffed up her cheeks.

[I didn’t even try to access it because I wanted to check it together with Master when you woke up. I was trying so hard to hold back!]

“It’s not because the stock market is so booming that you couldn’t take your eyes off it?”

[Ahem.]

Leaving the spirit who was avoiding his gaze after clearing her throat, Lenox immediately turned the handle.

In the time they had been talking, they had passed through the central district and arrived near their destination.

From here, Lenox also needed to concentrate a little.

“We’ve arrived.”

Bwaaaang!!!

He turned off the highway and headed towards the gate leading to the closed area.

A military base-like, heavily guarded area. Hundreds of defense soldiers guarding the gate.

A fortress-like, heavily guarded scene surrounded by several layers of massive metal barricades that were tens of meters high.

Chik, chik-

Every time the soldiers wearing visor-like gas masks turned their heads, a bizarre breathing sound echoed.

A huge sign made of bright red letters hung above the gate, swaying slowly.

[Sector 19]

“…”

Among the dozens of areas in Balkan, it was a closed area where entry was prohibited, and among them, it was the most shrouded in secrecy.

Madam had called Sector 19 the [Tomb] of Kaise Bajur, and Vice Mayor Winston had said that the entire Sector 19 was distorted, outside the flow of time.

Even Lenox, who had obtained access to Sector 19 with Lapis a long time ago, had only managed to skim the outskirts.

From a distance far enough not to be caught by surveillance cameras, Lenox, who had cast a stealth spell and concealed his presence, stared at the gate.

“City government defense forces and special forces directly under the peacekeeping forces. There are also aces from the special task force. The security is as tight as expected.”

[The Balkan Mayor invited Master, so is it okay for them to be so guarded?]

“Conrad’s message was delivered through an unofficial channel. It’s possible that the defense forces don’t even know that the mayor has moved.”

[Then let’s start by paralyzing all the gate management facilities.]

“No, it hasn’t even been three days since the subjugation battle ended. I have no intention of fighting.”

Lenox said that and looked down at his hand.

Lenox, who had checked his senses by lightly clenching and unclenching his hand, stood up.

“In the first place… there’s no need to do that.”

Whoosh!!

He released the stealth magic and stood up, walking towards the gate with his bare body.

Before the soldiers guarding the gate could even recognize him, a bright blue lightning enveloped Lenox’s body.

Lenox’s figure, transformed into a bolt of lightning, crossed the gate at the speed of a concept.

Crackle!!

What he had obtained by using the subjugation battle was a fragment of transcendence that he had not been able to grasp before.

Even without wielding it, there were several things that had become possible just by the fact that he had grasped it.

At this moment, when he was declaring the achievement he had obtained at the end of the great war in the form of lightning.

He transformed his very existence into lightning and crossed the space at a speed comparable to teleportation.

The soldiers guarding the gate also failed to notice Lenox’s presence.

From the beginning, he had no intention of complying with the city government’s inspection or procedures to enter Sector 19.

The mayor also wouldn’t have expected Lenox to follow such procedures to get here.

The moment he crossed the gate and entered inside, the scenery of the outskirts of Sector 19, which he had visited before, unfolded.

Squeak, squeak-

A bizarre sky where the blue sky and the dark night were mixed in half.

Hundreds of buildings were hanging upside down as if they were about to fall to the ground.

A bizarre space where all kinds of buildings stood haphazardly, without any distinction between the ground and the sky.

Some buildings stood upright in the air, while others rotated gently beyond the clouds.

All those shapes, rising and falling without direction or center, seemed to exist only to confuse the five senses.

Whoooosh!!!

Beyond the scenery of the closed area where everything was upside down, there was a single building standing upright on the ground.

Lenox, who had landed on the roof of that building in an instant, stopped walking, looking up at the black [Door] that was spread out above the sky.

The outskirts of Sector 19, where he had entered with Lapis under the guidance of Vice Mayor Winston.

Now, standing again in front of the [Door] leading to the inside of the area, a chilling sense of discomfort was settling over his entire body.

Crackling…!

“…”

A distant sensation as if his body was collapsing due to exposure to radiation. He had experienced a similar feeling before.

The collapse of magic particle incident that had occurred in Closed Area 25. The same memory as when he had met the past Kaise.

Crack, crackling…!!!

The magic particles split and divided, forcibly linking even the matter that came into contact with them.

The matter exposed to the collapse line slowly ruptured and gradually died.

An extreme environment that made it difficult for living things as well as inanimate objects to maintain their original form.

However, Lenox ignored the light of the collapse line that was shining from all directions and moved his steps.

Crack, crack!!

Eerie cracking sounds, as if space was splitting, echoed one after another, but they disappeared without even touching Lenox’s collar.

There was a gap like an ocean between Lenox when he had met the past Kaise in the closed area and the current Lenox.

Not only his own magic power, but he also forcibly prevented the magic power existing around him from collapsing just by his will.

A level that went beyond freely manipulating magic and formulas, and began to indirectly touch the physical laws and phenomena of the world.

It was one of the still somewhat ambiguous ‘sensations’ that Lenox had obtained after the end of the subjugation battle.

Whoosh!!!

Each time he slowly moved his steps towards the [Door], a hellish darkness enveloped his surroundings.

A dark void where not a single point of light existed. An abyss that blocked the five senses and numbed the sense of time and distance.

However, Lenox was able to use his unique sensitivity to see what kind of scenery was unfolding around the slope.

Remains that were scattered haphazardly around the slope, with their entire bodies crushed or collapsed.

Bizarre scenes where organic matter such as flesh and muscle had been crushed and gnawed away without leaving a trace.

They were probably the corpses of soldiers or administrators who had been guarding the closed area.

[Ugh…]

He stopped walking slowly, hearing Davy’s whisper as if she was feeling unwell.

He couldn’t see anything, but he could feel a huge wall blocking his path ahead.

A conceptual boundary line constructed as a substance by gathering the darkness that covered the closed area.

“…”

Only then did Lenox feel a strange impression as he looked at the wall in front of him.

This was a type of barrier that even Lenox, who had studied countless mysteries and formulas, had never seen before.

The essence of contamination that isolated something within it as a concept, preventing it from escaping, and that could disrupt the hierarchy or mental image just by touching it.

If it had been the old Lenox, it would have been impossible to reach this point with a clear mind.

Like when he had met the past Kaise, he would have had to devise various ways to endure in the closed area and go through all sorts of trial and error.

Even after doing that, he would have had to make a plan to break through the defenses of the defense forces and the special task force to infiltrate the closed area.

But now, Lenox had reached the depths of Sector 19 without any preparation or precautions, breaking through all the security and boundaries.

It felt a little meaningless how much time Lenox had spent trying so hard until now.

[Master?]

“…Yeah.”

He knew. That it was because of those times and efforts that the current Lenox was here.

It was just that the scenery he saw now that he had gained even a little bit of the branching point of transcendence felt more empty than he had thought.

He felt a strange feeling as he realized how huge and depressing the emptiness that the 9th-level ascendants felt was.

Lenox, who had finished his thoughts, slowly raised his hand and carefully groped the wall that was rippling with darkness.

As if drawing the boundary line of a door that had no entrance, he raised his will and lowered his hand.

Chik.

A bizarre noise of something melting.

Immediately after, a crack appeared in front of Lenox’s eyes, taking the shape of a [Door].

Lenox had already passed through Sector 19 and was inside that boundary line.

“…”

A huge, pure white corridor where light as bright as it could hurt his eyes was shining down.

The smell of antiseptic that stung his nose. Not a single speck of dust could be seen on the cleanly cleaned floor.

He felt a suffocating stuffiness, as if the entire space had been disinfected and preserved.

The inside of the closed area, which he had arrived at after passing through a darkness where nothing existed.

The appearance of a white and clean corridor that was completely opposite to the passages he had passed through so far.

[Huh.]

Davy, who had peeked her head out from Lenox’s arms, said.

[This is quite… a creepy place.]

“It would be.”

Lenox said that and moved his steps.

“We’ve been here once before.”

[Master and I have been here before?]

Davy said, looking puzzled.

[That can’t be… I always leave coordinates in places where Master and I have been together. If we had been to a place like this, there’s no way I wouldn’t remember it?]

“That would be the case if it was something that happened in this timeline.”

[Huh?]

“We didn’t visit this place in the real timeline.”

Lenox said that and glanced sideways.

“The time we came here was during Kaise Bajur’s last regression.”

[…No way.]

The scenery of a huge laboratory that was spread out beyond the glass window of the corridor.

The laboratory that had been burning just a few days ago was neatly organized as if it were a lie.

“The place where the Black Consumer Project failed for the last time.”

Lenox narrowed his eyes as he looked at the scenery of the laboratory that was spread out beyond the window.

“The ‘inside’ that exists in Sector 19 was referring to the place where Kaise Bajur died.”

The image of Ethan holding a blood-stained sword and Kaise standing defenseless in front of him was still vivid in his mind.

Kaise Bajur’s last regression, which had continued more than tens of thousands of times.

Lenox had arrived at the place where Ethan and Kaise’s fates had been reversed.

The reason why Madam had called Sector 19 the ‘tomb’ of Kaise Bajur.

The moment Lenox realized that and stepped into the laboratory without hesitation.

“I thought you might know.”

Lenox stopped walking abruptly at the youthful voice that came from the side.

The voice quietly stated, not caring about Lenox’s reaction.

“After seeing you at the hearing, I thought that I would be waiting here for you someday.”

“…You are.”

“Congratulations, Ban.”

A blond boy with a youthful face was standing on the opposite side of the corridor, smiling at Lenox.

“In all the timelines of this world… you are the only one who truly brought an end to Kaise Bajur.”

“…”

The face of the boy he had encountered once at the hearing.

The attitude of talking to him without any hesitation, mentioning Kaise and the project.

That was why Lenox was able to understand the moment he met him.

The most powerful figure in Balkan, who had promised a private meeting in Sector 19.

The Balkan Mayor was waiting for Lenox here.

“Were you waiting here since before the project ended?”

“I want to apologize for calling you to this place first.”

The boy said as he slowly turned his steps.

“Originally, meeting you should have been a place to give you convenience regarding the post-subjugation battle issues.”

“…”

“The advantages you should have enjoyed in the Sector 49 reconstruction process. The transfer of authority equivalent to an autonomous territory, as well as the rights of the victor who won the subjugation battle.”

The boy said as he walked past Lenox without hesitation.

“But even for that, there are things that need to be resolved here first, so I called you. The project is over, but there are parts that need to be properly handled.”

“Handling…”

“A kind of insurance that Kaise left in Sector 19. The rules of failure that he forcibly bound with the power of the Imperial Palace.”

The boy smiled.

“Only after adjusting the [Prohibition] will I be able to exercise my mayoral authority in its complete form.”

“…”

“So, for now, I’ve brought an ‘guide’ who is needed for that task, so shall we go together?”

“…A guide?”

Wasn’t this meeting supposed to be a private meeting with the Balkan Mayor?

In the first place, the mayor’s purpose in calling Lenox was different from what Lenox had been thinking.

However, even so, Lenox couldn’t fully focus his attention on the mayor standing in front of him.

The figure that was slowly walking out from the other side of the transparent corridor behind the boy.

The face that had appeared in the light was of someone Lenox knew all too well.