Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 14

So, instead of just stalling, he’s planning to take out all the security personnel?

The confidence he showed before starting the job didn’t seem like just empty bravado.

Ssshhh…

The constant noise that had been ringing in my ears subsided, and only the low moans of the guards, cut down by Dylan, began to drift aimlessly.

Only then did Dylan seem to calm down a bit, catching his breath before walking out of the factory.

Lenok, seeing this, was about to leave the factory as well when…

Thud!

A solid iron door was smashed, falling directly towards Dylan.

Dylan easily dodged the crumpled iron door flying at a barely visible speed, but his body stiffened.

Following his gaze, Lenok turned his head and could understand, at least a little, why he was reacting that way.

“Kekeke… You’ve made quite a mess.”

A giant, easily over two meters tall, with thousands of scales covering his entire body. An unrealistically long snout and sharp teeth hanging inside.

And a long tail swaying leisurely between his legs.

It wasn’t a hallucination.

A crocodile-headed giant covered in bright blue scales slowly walked into the factory.

He rolled his vertically slit eyes around before spotting Dylan and grinning.

“I remember that face. How’s that brat Antares doing?”

“…He’s alive and well.”

Surprisingly, Dylan and the crocodile giant seemed to recognize each other.

“Hmm, when he was making a fuss about starting his own business, I wondered what kind of guts he had… But it seems he had some talent after all.”

“The boss is a bit of a nutjob.”

The giant bared his teeth at Dylan’s almost polite reply.

“You know what’s going on, right? It’s like that.”

“How much did you get paid?”

“1 billion.”

“Shit…”

Dylan dropped his head powerlessly, as if giving up on everything.

The giant said, as if to comfort him,

“I’ll kill you without pain for Antares’ sake.”

“…I won’t die easily.”

Dylan retorted, gripping two swords and channeling his magic power.

His completely different, serious attitude made Lenok, who was watching the situation from afar, frown.

It seemed the crocodile giant had agreed to repel the intruders for 1 billion cell [currency], and considering that astronomical sum and Dylan’s inability to even think about escaping, he must be a terrifying monster.

Should I help here, or should I run?

Even at this moment, gas was filling the basement, and the activation time of the ignition magic circle was approaching.

‘2 minutes and 17 seconds… It’s cutting it close.’

Lenok’s internal clock has no margin of error.

It’s not difficult to accurately gauge the remaining time without even consciously thinking about it.

After a brief calculation, Lenok secretly raised his magic power, enough to not be noticed by the crocodile giant.

‘I’ll do what I can, and then get out of here.’

As he made up his mind, the human and the crocodile clashed.

Fierce Battle

Dylan, squeezing out all the magic power in his body, charged, and the giant took it head-on.

The two sharp swords in Dylan’s hands, the single spear hanging on his shoulder, and the two daggers stuck in his ankles stirred up the dust in the factory, emitting sharp flashes of light.

The five blurry, flashing blades simultaneously aimed for the crocodile man’s limbs, twisting their trajectories and closing the distance in an instant.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The slashes, as if mocking the crocodile giant’s defense, grazed his bright blue scales, and blue sparks flew.

Without even caring whether he had landed a hit, Dylan launched his next attack.

A sinister killing intent filled and overflowed the factory floor.

Only after seeing that did Lenok realize that Dylan was beyond the ordinary, a very powerful warrior.

Every time his feet touched the ground, he changed direction, and even the time to catch his breath was mixed into the range of his weapon swings.

Fluid yet blurry, subtle yet lightning-fast.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Just as Dylan’s relentless barrage of sword strikes, so fierce it was almost desperate, made the crocodile giant take a step back.

Lenok, not missing the gap, assembled the magic power he had been gathering into a spell.

Above his right arm, which was slightly bent back, a large blue current gathered, forming a sphere the size of a head.

Fzzzz!

It was a magic that condensed dozens of [Bolt]-level electric shocks.

Of course, the amount of magic power consumed was enormous for Lenok’s current magic power, but he gritted his teeth and completed the spell.

[Lightning Bound]

The magic, shot according to his will, pierced through the two monsters’ reaction speeds and slammed into the giant’s leg.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

The moment the sphere made contact with the floor, dozens of currents that had been condensed inside burst out with a distorted noise that seemed to tear through the air, engulfing the giant.

Lenok’s spellcasting was so subtle that the crocodile giant seemed completely unprepared, his tail twitching greatly for a moment—

Dylan, not missing the brief moment when the giant’s body stiffened, pushed forward with all his remaining strength.

“Hoo!”

All the attacks, pouring out as if using his entire body, became a huge wave that crashed down on the crocodile giant.

The cold blades extended once, twice, three times, and countless times, finally piercing through the giant’s hard scales and touching his skin.

The crocodile moved.

He raised his hand, which was trembling from the electric shock, and knocked away only the blades aimed at his eyes, using his tail to block the rest.

The tail, moving in a completely different way from the giant’s body, swept back and forth dozens of times in the blink of an eye, erasing all of Dylan’s attacks.

In the meantime, he grabbed Dylan’s neck as he closed the distance and threw him against the factory wall.

Boom!

A circular shockwave erupted from the crocodile giant, accompanied by a sonic boom that seemed to burst eardrums.

Dylan’s body, thrown like a bullet, broke through the wall and fell outside, and the factory wall, unable to withstand the force, collapsed.

Crash! Crash! Crash!

‘Damn it…!’

The [Lightning Bound] that Lenok had just used was a magic that boasted a firepower strong enough to melt even steel into molten metal.

The fact that he was still moving without being injured after taking that magic head-on meant that the outcome was already decided.

The moment Dylan was grabbed by the giant, Lenok was already running away without looking back.

His life or death was unknown, but it was certain that he had been thrown out of the factory.

He had to avoid stupidly watching the scene until the end and making eye contact with the crocodile.

‘The remaining time is 23 seconds…!’

Concentrating his magic power on his legs, his running speed increased dramatically.

Due to the side effects of the [Mana Addiction] trait, he had been avoiding pouring magic power into his body as much as possible, but this was not the time to be picky.

Using [Blink] would have been much easier, but the magic consumption was too high for Lenok to use now.

He ran out of the door he had passed by at a speed that made his surroundings blurry and escaped outside the warehouse.

Near the back gate, Dylan was lying in a grotesque position, covered in blood. It looked like all the bones in his body were broken, and pus was oozing from his entire body.

Lenok hesitated for a moment, but eventually put another cigarette in his mouth, gritted his teeth, and started running with Dylan on his back.

He poured magic power into his entire body and ran at full speed with his enhanced strength.

Even if he survived here today, it was certain that he wouldn’t be able to move properly for about a week, but this was not the time to worry about that.

“Haa, haa…!”

The last bit of stamina he had was instantly depleted, and he was completely out of breath. A bitter smile formed on Lenok’s lips.

He had served in the military on Earth, but here, he was just weak and sick, as if he would fall over if touched.

It wouldn’t be strange if his lifespan was being unknowingly shortened every time he overdid it like this.

As Lenok moved his trembling legs, gasping for breath, Dylan, who had twitched a few times, regained consciousness.

Dylan checked the mask Lenok was wearing and let out a hollow laugh.

“Cough! Are you smoking now…? There’s a limit to being a chain smoker… You’re out of your mind.”

“Haa…!! I, I can’t live without this…!!”

‘2 seconds.’

It was time.

Lenok replied in a trembling voice, threw Dylan, who he had been carrying, onto the ground, and immediately lay down on top of him, raising both hands above his head.

Right after that.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The flames that erupted from the basement engulfed the entire factory, turning the sky crimson.

He held tightly to the ground to avoid being blown away by the raging heat.

He could hear the barrier he had placed on his body breaking little by little.

Lenok frantically kept putting up barriers on himself, waiting for the explosion to end.

Originally, he only needed to check if the factory was properly collapsing from a much farther distance, but the appearance of the giant had completely messed up all his plans.

The shock that seemed like it would never end subsided, and as the shaking of the asphalt calmed down, Lenok struggled to lift his head.

The explosion that had collapsed the entire basement had swallowed Charlotte’s factory and half-destroyed the building.

Looking at the factory, which was swaying as if it would collapse at any moment, Lenok slowly got up.

“A cigarette…?”

He unconsciously brought his hand to his mouth, but there was no cigarette.

Did it fly away while he was enduring the explosion?

“It’s here.”

“…Are you crazy?”

Lenok looked down at Dylan with the eyes of someone looking at a madman.

The cigarette, stuck vertically on the back of Dylan’s hand, was emitting faint smoke and burning his leather glove.

“Don’t need it?”

“Throw it away right now.”

Dylan flicked the cigarette away with a gesture and then slowly got up from his spot.

“Ugh… It feels like ten bones are broken.”

His tone was nonchalant, without any sense of tension, but Lenok knew that what he said was not a lie.

The moment he was grabbed by that monster and thrown, Dylan’s body had clearly broken the sound barrier.

It wouldn’t have been strange if his spine had been ripped out the moment the crocodile giant swung his arm.

It was clear that Dylan, who was getting up fine even though all the bones in his body were shattered, was not an ordinary human either.

“I thought it was a battle between a human and a monster, but you’re not bad either. Are all superhumans who use their bodies like this?”

“Well, you know… There are various circumstances.”

Dylan, who had vaguely glossed over the topic, grabbed the back of Lenok’s neck, who couldn’t get up, and pulled him up.

“Get up quickly if you don’t want to die. We have to run.”

“…?”

Lenok looked bewildered for a moment, but soon realized the meaning of his words.

“You think that monster is still alive.”

“It’s not a thought, he’s definitely alive. Don’t you know who that old man is?”

“I don’t have the talent to guess someone’s age by looking at their crocodile face.”

There were other races in WORLD versions 1 and 2, but there were no demi-humans that were so extremely animalistic.

Dylan shook his head at Lenok’s answer and started walking quickly while holding him.

“Croken Acilius. A former war mercenary, who, after retiring, accepted a scout from Pandemonium and is now working as an executive.”

“Pandemonium?”

“It’s an international criminal organization famous for only sending invitations to the most dangerous criminals and outlaws. Magician, did you really just stay in the mountains and train?”

“…Let’s just say that.”

Pandemonium… If Dylan, who seemed to be an excellent mercenary, said that, then Jenny and Jordan would likely know the name as well.

If an organization had such a monster as an executive, not even a leader, it seemed necessary to keep an eye on them. Especially if he was going to continue working in this field.

…Of course, that would be after he survived this situation.

Whoom!

A long shadow was cast over the two men’s backs, cutting through the storm of fire.

The crocodile giant, Croken, who was covered in the wreckage of the collapsed factory and the dazzling flames, slowly walked out.