Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1258

Lenox arrived in the city of Bairuitz, a satellite city on the outermost edge of the undeveloped Balkan area, even further out, and turned his gaze.

Whoosh!

The turbid air was thick with dust-filled wind. The familiar streets reeked of a mixture of blood and decay.

However, the scenery of Bairuitz was very different from when Lenox had visited just before the subjugation battle began.

The towering skyscrapers had collapsed, and the train station and theater buildings were crushed and ruined.

It wasn’t hard to guess the reason.

‘The aftermath of the subjugation battle.’

The war that started in the undeveloped area of the Balkans had ended without crossing the 49th district, passing through the outer areas.

However, it was not unusual that some of the undeveloped areas were also swept up in the aftermath of the war.

In particular, Bairuitz was relatively close to the Balkans among the satellite cities abandoned in the undeveloped area.

It must have been that some parts of the city collapsed after being hit by the shockwave when the Incarnate [a powerful being] was rampaging.

Crumble…!

The crushed concrete and steel bars flowed down, emitting a bizarre, hollow sound.

The entire city was tattered, as if it had been swept away by a typhoon. Just as Lenox was lost in thought, staring at the ruins-

“Victor…?”

“……”

A strangely familiar doll was standing in the debris, staring at Lenox.

The form of a broken doll manipulated by Chebien, the puppeteer of Pandemonium who participated in the subjugation battle.

As Lenox turned his steps, Chebien spoke haltingly through the doll’s mouth.

“You’re alive… I saw your name… on the power rankings, but…”

His unique, gloomy voice faintly revealed Chebien’s surprise.

“In the labyrinth, facing Gyonroe… you even had the strength to spare…”

“I don’t particularly want to hear that from you.”

Lenox adjusted his mask and spoke. His distorted voice echoed through the cold, desolate air.

“What’s so surprising when you were just watching the situation next to the Doctor throughout the subjugation battle?”

“……”

“Except for the puppet show in place of the Doctor, you were barely visible. You were much less useful than during Kabahim.”

“Even if you say that, it can’t be helped… The dolls I used then were not suitable for large-scale battles…”

Chebien retorted in a gloomy voice.

“My role in the subjugation battle was as a decoy… just to be a bait or a sacrifice in place of the Doctor… There’s no reason to be criticized…”

“Your excuses are long-winded.”

Whoosh!

Lenox, who had instantly crossed space with a blink, landed in front of Chebien.

Staring intently at the doll’s twitching, broken eyes, Lenox sneered.

“In the end, you weren’t of much help, yet you came out to settle the results of the subjugation battle… Isn’t that all there is to it?”

“……”

Even at Lenox’s blatant sarcasm, Chebien didn’t say a word.

Considering his sensitive and gloomy personality, it was quite a docile attitude. That must be because Chebien had been watching Victor’s manipulation techniques from the side throughout the subjugation battle.

A manipulator who took on the role of facing Gyonroe in the subjugation battle not long after the Kabahim raid.

He knew that Chebien’s role in this war was extremely insignificant compared to what Lenox had done.

“It’s a waste of time to say more. Everyone else must have arrived, right?”

If he had been subdued to this extent, he wouldn’t shamelessly try to take his share in this settlement.

Lenox, sneering at the silent Chebien, turned his gaze.

“Guide me. That’s why you’re here.”

“…I will.”

Following the creaking doll, he walked through the ruined remains.

As he looked down at the half-destroyed Bairuitz, Chebien creaked and said.

“Really, not a single scratch… Even after doing so much at the end…”

“……”

“Manipulation techniques… what kind of power is it?”

“You’ve been talking too much since earlier.”

Lenox turned his gaze irritably.

“Why, do you think you can imitate it just because I tell you?”

“There’s no reason why I can’t be taught…”

“What?”

“Your manipulation techniques and my puppetry techniques are not without interchangeable parts…”

As Chebien said that, he grabbed both hands and spread them out, and a faint thread stretched out between the doll’s fingers.

“The mana threads you use are similar to the puppet strings I use when manipulating dolls…”

“……”

“The sensation will be similar in that you handle techniques through a medium… Even if the systems are different, there must be compatible areas…”

Chebien said in a voice thick with gloom.

“If I could experience even a fragment of your monstrous talent in handling mana threads… I would give anything…”

It was rare for Chebien to come out to greet him, but it seemed that the main point was this from the beginning.

It seemed that he had received a stronger impression than he had thought about the manipulation techniques Lenox had shown in the subjugation battle.

If this eccentric, who refuses to interact even within Pandemonium, is acting like this, it means that he is that desperate.

“Your tongue is long. Is a pathetic puppeteer like you coveting my techniques?”

However, Lenox scoffed at Chebien’s offer, which was not an offer.

“If you want to say such things, you should first present what you can offer before you talk.”

“If it’s a price a puppeteer can offer, it’s set… I can give you a very special doll…”

The doll, which had stopped creaking, looked up at Lenox with an inorganic gaze.

“A masquerade puppet made with the practical techniques of a destroyed puppet state… It’s a starting tool that can switch the souls of humans and dolls…”

“……”

“I think it would be a very useful item for you, who hides your identity with a mask… What do you think…?”

A masquerade. A tool that can deceive and hide by switching the souls of humans and dolls.

For Lenox, who hides his face with an obsidian mask, there would be a way to use it in some way.

Just by listening to the explanation, it was easy to guess that Chebien had prepared a pretty good price.

“I’m not particularly interested in offers that are just words.”

However, Lenox did not show that fact and walked past Chebien.

Lenox, who stopped in front of a metaphysical art museum located in the center of Bairuitz, said.

“If you want to trade with me, you’ll have to bring the real thing in front of me first.”

Squeak…!

Without waiting for Chebien’s answer, he opened the transparent glass door at the entrance of the art museum.

Inside the neatly organized hall, bizarre paintings and sculptures of intense forms were on display.

Ignoring the artworks and sculptures scattered around, Lenox headed straight to the center of the lobby.

A huge angel statue with its wings spread and its hands outstretched, standing right in front of the art museum’s information desk.

The figure of a nun kneeling and quietly praying alone.

“Hairea.”

“…Victor. You arrived early.”

The nun, who had pulled down her eye patch, replied.

Hairea, who slowly got up, stared at Lenox with a calm expression.

“Are you okay? I was planning on waiting another day or so.”

“You’re showing unnecessary consideration.”

Lenox sneered.

“You wouldn’t have handled things like that in the last settlement. Since when have you been so lenient with time?”

“Because all the other members watched what you did in the subjugation battle.”

Hairea answered calmly.

“If you hadn’t faced Gyonroe outside the 49th district and bought time for the legion to enter the labyrinth, the operation would have failed at that point. Everyone agreed on that fact.”

“……”

“As much as we entrusted you with that task, this settlement was intended to prioritize confirming your survival. I also got the Doctor’s consent.”

“It’s good to see you alive again, Victor.”

A ball of fur wriggled on top of the angel statue, then jumped down to Lenox’s feet.

The pure white ball of fur rolled around Lenox’s feet, then stopped and spoke in a deep voice.

“I knew you weren’t dead, but you seem even more robust than before… Did you gain some kind of enlightenment?”

“Doctor. You’ve become a pathetic mess again.”

Lenox looked down at the ball of fur and scoffed.

“Did you throw away the new human body you got at the Ascension Gate?”

“If you had stayed at the scene until the end, you would have seen it too.”

The Doctor shook his furry body.

“That body was offered as a sacrifice to stop the ascension ritual. It was a rare vessel among the bodies I’ve obtained recently, but it couldn’t be helped given the situation.”

“……”

“In the first place, it was a body that could not have been processed and used so quickly without the help of the grafting technique. I don’t have any particular regrets.”

The Doctor chuckled in a low voice.

“If there’s any regret, it’s that I couldn’t watch the subjugation battle to the end. The defeat of Baragan and the death of the enemy would have been worth watching, but it’s a pity.”

“Judging by the way you’re talking, you don’t seem to be particularly interested in the results of the subjugation battle.”

Lenox narrowed his eyes behind his mask.

“No matter what happened, we’re on the side of the legion. Does it not matter if the war ends with the defeat of Dead Rise?”

“That’s right. From the beginning, I didn’t think there was a high chance that the subjugation battle would end with an overwhelming victory for the legion.”

The Doctor agreed.

“The only way for us to directly intervene in the subjugation battle was to side with the legion. It wasn’t a matter of choice.”

“……”

“If the legion had won, we would have taken the ‘spoils of war’ as they were, and if they had lost, we would have taken them as they were. This settlement is also closer to a meeting held in that sense.”

The Doctor, shaking his ball of fur slowly, glanced around.

“But before that, shall we start after all the surviving members have arrived?”

“…Are there any members who haven’t arrived yet?”

With Ermong and Daimus dead, all the existing members of Pandemonium should have returned alive.

The vampire waving his hand happily from the other side of the art museum and the Dragon King with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

However, Lenox’s gaze dimmed as he noticed that Ezekiel was not present.

‘The royal family isn’t here. If they didn’t come with them, did they not intend to participate in the first place…?’

Ezekiel Ron Maze. A transcendent from the Ars Nova Empire’s imperial city, who, upon appearing in the East Continent, immediately claimed the 2nd position in the power rankings.

Victor’s participation in the settlement was not only to settle the subjugation battle but also because he judged this place to be the most reliable channel to make contact with him.

However, Ezekiel seemed to have no intention of showing up at Pandemonium’s interim settlement.

Sarin and the Ironclad Dragon King weren’t close to him, so asking them about his whereabouts wouldn’t be helpful.

‘I have an idea where he might be if he’s not here, though…’

Just as Lenox was lost in thought, the door of the art museum opened, and someone walked in.

Clunk!

A heavy-sounding footstep. The sound of old, dusty clothes rustling.

However, Lenox, having sensed the presence through his senses, frowned behind his mask.

“…This is.”

Creak…!

A disheveled black-haired man walked through the transparent corridor.

Scanning his surroundings with a cold, composed expression, the familiar sound of his boots hitting the floor.

Adjusting his uniform cuffs, tidying his collar, and straightening his posture with a neat demeanor.

Every member gathered here knew that face.

The supreme commander of the Adamantine Subjugation Battle. The 7th Legion Commander, Daimus Rayon.

The soldier who had died on the final battlefield of the subjugation battle was now the last to arrive at Pandemonium’s settlement, looking at them.

“…”

In the heavy silence. The other members, with different gazes, raised their senses as they looked at Daimus.

“You’re late.”

The Doctor said nonchalantly.

“I clearly told you not to get distracted by useless things and to hurry here.”

“Ah…”

Daimus slowly opened his mouth.

The soldier’s lips moved as he adjusted his voice, and for a moment, the corners of his mouth twisted grotesquely long.

Then, his face transformed into a wide smile, something unimaginable from the commander they knew.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was a little later than I thought, wasn’t I?”

“…”

“I thought I was on time, but I didn’t expect even Victor to be here. I apologize for being late.”

Daimus, with his limbs creaking, shrugged his shoulders and asked with a smirk.

“Well, it’s hard for me to move in this body, so can we just say I was late and move on?”

“…Could it be.”

Chebien, standing next to him, tilted her head, her doll creaking.

The frivolous expression and tone were completely unlike the Daimus that the members of Pandemonium knew.

The way he was stiffening his facial muscles to smile, looking awkward, and the way he was standing crookedly, waving his arms and legs.

Chebien, recalling someone else who was strangely familiar in his tone and posture, asked.

“You… are you Ermong…?”

“Correct!!!”

Daimus smiled brightly and nodded at Chebien.

“Actually, I’m not Daimus, but Ermong, who took over his body~!!”

“Oh my… how disgusting.”

Sarin, perched on the art museum’s lighting fixture, looked down with a scornful gaze, but Ermong ignored her reaction and rattled off words as if he had been waiting for this moment.

“Man, I really came back from the dead, you know? Hyun-gung was stronger than I thought, and I was completely helpless. I should have just abandoned everything and run, but trying to hold him back with a smokescreen was a mistake.”

“…”

“It was all over when the head of the Zaun Odis [a type of magical construct] I’d been using for years was shattered. I thought I’d be wandering the continent again like a stray ghost, looking for a new body, but what do you know? Ta-da!”

Daimus hugged his own shoulders with both arms and rubbed his body in a disgusting manner.

“Well, wouldn’t you know it, this lovely Daimus’s body reacted to my consciousness transfer technique? I didn’t think there was any need to miss this opportunity, so I quickly moved into his body.”

“Hmm…”

To make such a frivolous expression with Daimus’s always composed face, one might call it a talent.

The members’ expressions changed strangely as they watched the cold commander’s face turn comical.

Highrea, who was rubbing her temples in bewilderment, asked.

“The reason you didn’t show up after the subjugation battle was to take over Daimus’s body and adjust to it?”

“That’s right. Actually, the reason I could transfer to Daimus was because the body I was using right before was a Zaun Odis.”

Ermong moved Daimus’s body and shrugged.

“Daimus was also a gem mage, so it was compatible, but he didn’t have any dark magic aptitude, so it took some time to adjust the technique.”

Ermong was an ancient dark mage who had lived for hundreds of years by using the consciousness transfer technique to take over other people’s bodies.

The consciousness transfer technique is fundamentally close to dark magic, so there is a condition that the body to be taken over must have some degree of dark magic aptitude.

Since the body he had been using right before was that of a gem mage, it was compatible enough to transfer to Daimus’s body, who was also a gem mage.

However, it took time to adjust the technique to stably anchor his consciousness in a body without dark magic aptitude.

While the other members were finally understanding how Ermong had survived, Ermong joked.

“There are still some unresolved issues, but I couldn’t miss the chance to eat the body of the Dead Rise Legion Commander, could I? I can develop dark magic aptitude in some way later.”

“…”

“Hehe, but aren’t you all too slow to notice? There’s an individuality that can’t be hidden in a person, after all. If I show it this much, you should have noticed right away. I thought you’d all realize it as soon as you saw me, but I’m a little disappointed.”

“Judging by the fact that you’re spouting unpleasant things all the time, it must be you…”

The fact that Ermong was openly showing off the act of taking over someone else’s body and cackling was indeed bizarre.

It was probably a reaction based on a vague discomfort that the dark mage in front of them might target their own bodies someday.

However, the Doctor seemed to be intrigued by Ermong, his fur ball body twitching.

“He took over Daimus Rayon’s body after his death… That’s an interesting answer.”

“What?”

“According to Ermong’s explanation, he transferred his consciousness to Daimus’s corpse and revived his body. That’s different from simply changing bodies.”

The Doctor stared up at Ermong’s smiling face.

“I think the real name of that technique isn’t the consciousness transfer technique, but rather… a byproduct of the study of immortality using dark magic.”

“…”

“I see. It’s the way the oldest families accept death. That’s probably the same as what was used in Gabihaeng-”

“Doctor.”

Ermong called out to the Doctor with a smile.

“You shouldn’t ‘say’ that now. You know what happened in the Lost Paradise.”

“…”

Instantly, the Doctor fell silent, and Ermong made a gesture of zipping his mouth.

“Always be careful what you say. You’ll find out if you say it, right?”

“…I see. That wasn’t why we gathered here.”

Did the Doctor immediately understand what Ermong was trying to say?

The Doctor, who had readily agreed, turned his gaze towards the vast hall of the art museum.

“It seems like everyone who was coming is here, so let’s begin. As I said, the purpose of this meeting is to settle the subjugation battle.”

“…”

“The scale of damage and repercussions of the Adamantine Subjugation Battle were unimaginably huge, so I predicted that the Magic Tower wouldn’t be able to recover all the remains and weapons left on the battlefield at once.”

The Doctor said calmly.

“As a result, regardless of the legion’s failed operation, Highrea, among others, succeeded in recovering some ‘necessary’ spoils of war from the battlefield that the Adamantine had swept through.”

“That is…”

“Since the legion’s leadership collapsed and the main force was annihilated, the legacy of the forces that participated in the subjugation battle remained. We will distribute the recovered spoils of war according to the contribution of the operation, in order of priority. Victor, please come forward.”

At the natural call, the members’ gazes instantly turned to Lenox.

Looking at Lenox, who was standing in his place with his arms crossed, the Doctor said.

“You bought time against the Adamantine during the 49th District entry, were the first to arrive at the center of the labyrinth and drew out Hyun-gung, and finally, you played a decisive role in stopping the ascension ritual by deploying your domain.”

“…”

“We have cross-verified the eyewitness accounts of the observers who watched the subjugation battle, as well as the testimonies of the members who remained on the battlefield until the end. It is only right that you, who made the greatest contribution in this war, take the most valuable spoils of war that we have recovered.”

The Doctor wiggled his fur ball and turned to Highrea, who closed her eyes and slowly clasped her hands.

As Highrea raised her magic power in a prayer-like posture, the angel statue standing in front of her moved.

The wings, which had grown so large that they seemed to fill the entire hall, pulsed and scattered dazzling light in front of Lenox.

Fwoosh!!!

“…This is.”

“Kaiser Bajur had collected rare talents and artifacts from all over the continent during his lifetime and made them his assets.”

The Doctor’s voice echoed softly amidst the overflowing light.

“Naturally, the transcendents under his command also received and possessed the artifacts and relics that Kaiser had collected.”

“…”

“This is the key with the rarest and most unique power among the treasures that Kaiser obtained.”

The angel’s wings, reaching towards the sky, fluttered softly and grew in size.

As if opening a clenched fist, it plunged something it had been holding within its wings diagonally in front of Lenox.

Clunk!

The beautiful silver-white radiance that spread out at the same time as it appeared in the air.

The soft and graceful curves, like drawing a crescent moon from the night sky to the ground.

The moment he realized that it was in the shape of a familiar tachi [a type of Japanese sword].

“The great tachi, Yubak (流魄), used by Songha, the leader of the Dead Rise.”

The Doctor said.

“It is a spirit-forged weapon, one of less than ten in the world, and a type of pseudo-weapon. You, Victor, are the most qualified to take this first.”

“…Spirit-forged weapon? Pseudo-weapon?”

While Lenox was silent, Ermong tilted his head.

“I think I’ve heard the name before… Could it be the same as that ego sword I know?”

“It refers to a weapon made by forging a soul into a weapon.”

Highrea said calmly.

“Unlike forbidden weapons that use humans as materials, it is a type of relic made through a soul-forging ritual. As a pseudo-weapon, some of them maintain an independent ego.”

“Oh, using souls as materials doesn’t sound good.”

Sarin, sitting on the lighting fixture, laughed while swinging her legs.

“No matter how precious a relic is, it’s useless if strange ghosts are mixed in, right? For example, like the soul of a disgusting and frivolous dark mage who takes over other people’s bodies.”

“Damn it, if you keep talking like that, I’ll take over your body next time.”

“Maybe you will.”

Ignoring Ermong’s grumbling, Lenox turned his gaze, and the Doctor said calmly.

“However, the soul contained within this is of a unique and great being, on a different level than Ermong.”

Woo woo woo…!!!

The tachi, which was diagonally embedded in front of Lenox’s feet, emitted a strange resonance.

The Doctor quietly said, looking at the shape of the tachi.

“Because what is contained within it is none other than the soul of the Ascended, Biseok (秘色).”