Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 15

Seemingly unharmed except for some slightly scorched scales, Croken watched the two figures running for their lives in the distance and slowly bent his legs.

Crunch…!!

The moment his thighs swelled taut, tiny cracks began to appear on the ground.

Wham!

Croken’s massive body, launched like a cannonball, closed the hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye.

If we get hit by that body slam, we’re dead.

There was no time to exchange words.

Both Dylan and Lenok slammed magic into their thighs and leaped to either side.

Whoosh!!

Croken’s reaction was lightning-fast, realizing he had narrowly missed them.

And it was astonishing.

Crrrrrrunch!!

He slammed one arm into the ground, stopping his massive body mid-air.

As he drew a huge skid mark, easily over 10 meters long, on the asphalt, acrid smoke billowed up as if the road was burning.

Lenok’s jaw dropped at the unbelievable, transcendent strength he was witnessing.

Even in a world where one could enhance their body with magic, this was far beyond the limits of any living creature.

Croken easily flipped himself upright and spoke as he walked towards Lenok.

“You’re the mage who threw that lightning ball earlier.”

“……..”

“You look young, but who didn’t teach you not to detonate such dangerous things between other people’s legs?”

“Can you even call a creature that survives such an explosion a person?”

Croken chuckled at Lenok’s sharp retort.

“You’re bold. If you hadn’t touched the factory, I might have let you live… But I have to work for what I’m paid, so I have no choice.”

Sharp reptilian pupils flickered.

“For Antares’ sake, I’ll make it painless.”

The moment Croken raised his menacing right hand towards Lenok’s face, Lenok immediately activated his magic.

[Gravity Bind]

Thwack—!

“Hmm?”

A purple whip shot out from behind Lenok, momentarily halting Croken’s arm.

A simple binding spell might not have been very effective, but [Gravity Bind] had the power to suppress movement in proportion to the target’s mass.

The gravity whip, bearing the full weight of Croken’s massive body, briefly but surely pinned down and stopped the defenseless giant.

Not missing the opportunity, Lenok rolled backward and drew up his magic once more.

He poured in all his remaining magic without holding back. In a life-or-death situation, there was no room to save any.

Even as his whole body ached, the magic within him combined precisely according to Lenok’s will, projecting an image.

The moment a frosty chill began to flow between his outstretched fingers, Lenok slammed both hands onto the ground.

[Frost Horn]

Whoosh!!

A blinding flash. A tingling chill running through the skin.

The moment Lenok’s magic, shot towards the ground, flowed along the gravity whip and touched his scale-covered arms.

Crackkkkk!!

Croken’s massive body froze.

White frost formed on his turquoise scales, and white breath flowed from between his spiky teeth.

His reptilian pupils also froze, his gaze fixed on the air.

That’s one thing done.

“….Did, did we get him?”

Ignoring Dylan, who was spouting nonsense from afar, Lenok continued to move his hands.

Cold-blooded animals are vulnerable to rapid temperature changes. It seemed that his attempt to exploit that weakness had worked, but only for a moment.

If he was someone who could be taken down so easily, he wouldn’t have survived that super-high-temperature explosion in the first place.

His remaining magic was now nearly depleted, and he had only two weapons left in his hands.

There was no option to run. Lenok sensed that this brief respite wouldn’t last long.

Just as he thought, not long after, Croken’s frozen body began to shake slightly, and cracks started to appear between his frozen scales.

With his durability and resilience far surpassing that of a human, he was quickly breaking free from the cold’s restraint.

Facing Croken, who was gradually increasing his tremors, Lenok focused his mind.

He had to use all the time he had before the giant regained his senses to decide the outcome.

In that desperate moment, Lenok, frantically racking his brain, pulled out the pistol he had carried with him since escaping the factory.

He scraped together the last of his magic, which was starting to run dry.

An overwhelming sense of exhaustion, something he hadn’t felt much since awakening his magic.

But he had to make his move here. Even as he gritted his teeth at the emptiness that seemed to have consumed his entire body, Lenok chanted a spell.

The image, instantly assembled within him by his desire and hope, grasped the magic and manifested itself outside of reality.

Common magic. Among them, support magic specialized in assisting ranged weapons was quickly shaped into reality by Lenok’s will and thoughts.

[Aim Correction]

[Trajectory Guidance]

[Penetration Enhancement]

The shooting support magic he had used countless times when playing the Gunslinger in WORLD ver2.0. They brushed past the gun barrel and disappeared in an instant.

As if he had returned to the moment when he was enjoying the game without any worries, he sequentially poured the support magic that came to mind.

The old pistol, unable to withstand the engraved magic, turned a bright blue, but Lenok ignored it and pulled the trigger.

[Projectile Acceleration]

Bang!!

With a flash of light from the muzzle, the gun Lenok was holding crumbled. It couldn’t withstand the violent fluctuations of magic contained within.

Lenok had poured no less than four support spells into firing a single bullet.

Speed. Accuracy. He had enhanced the firepower and penetration to the maximum, aiming for a trajectory that would precisely pierce Croken’s eye and brain.

Lenok knew that he had no chance of winning against Croken in this standoff, no matter what he did.

He was a monster who survived an explosion that destroyed an entire factory without a scratch.

To face such a monster, the only possibility was a surprise attack targeting a vital point.

If he could amplify the power of a large-scale magic that Lenok knew and slam it into him, maybe, but with the little magic he had left after the continuous battles.

The sharpest attack he could muster with the remaining magic during the short time he could obscure Croken’s vision.

Ironically, what came to Lenok’s mind was the shooting combo magic of the support type that he had used so often when playing as a Gunslinger [a character class specializing in ranged combat] in WORLD ver2.0 [a fictional game].

Support magic was relatively weak and inefficient, but the magic consumption itself was extremely low.

The most powerful and efficient move Lenok could muster in this situation.

The deliberation was long, and the preparation felt like an eternity, but the result appeared in an instant.

The moment his vertical pupils twitched and revealed themselves, Lenok’s bullet, aided by magic, struck the center of his frozen eye.

Thwack!

With the sound, Croken’s face was thrown back.

Crack!!

At the same time, the effect of [Frost Horn], which had been binding his entire body, shattered completely.

……

Dylan, who was struggling to run with his sword, and Lenok, who was holding the broken gun handle, couldn’t even breathe as they stared at the scene.

An eternity of silence flowed.

Croken, who had begun to move again, slowly lowered his head.

“That was a very good attempt.”

“……..”

“Except that your opponent was me.”

“….You monster.”

Lenok’s hollow mutter encapsulated the entire outcome.

His hope, which he had poured into a single opportunity with four layers of magic, had stopped right between Croken’s eyelids.

The monster had stopped the bullet Lenok had fired with the muscles of his eyelids alone.

An unrealistic outcome that was impossible to understand with human common sense. But Lenok’s reason told him that it was true.

“Hahaha!! You’re not wrong. I don’t think I’m a normal human either.”

He chuckled deeply and slowly opened his eyes, dropping the bullet he had been holding.

Even though he had managed to block the bullet, he couldn’t avoid injuring his eye in the process, and fluid was streaming from his reptilian vertical pupils.

“Still, that hurt a bit.”

Croken grinned.

Lenok pulled out the laser cutter he had left, his hand trembling.

“Let’s forget about the painless part…”

Wham!!

There was no second chance.

With those words, Croken’s right arm swung out, creating a massive shockwave that engulfed Lenok.

A deafening roar that seemed to burst eardrums. Transcendent strength and immense impact that defied the laws of physics.

Lenok’s weak body, unable to even react, would not be out of place if it had turned into a puddle of blood.

Am I going to die?

That was the thought that came to Lenok’s mind only after he had slammed his face into the ground.

But his sense of pain was still vivid, and his limbs were moving normally. He was unharmed except for the shield he had been wearing, which had been shattered.

“…….?”

Only then did Lenok realize that he had been saved, and he quickly raised his head.

A black metal suit covering his entire body. A black iron mask covering the lower part of his eyes and short, black hair.

A woman with green light flickering from her eyes and suit was single-handedly withstanding Croken’s attack.

The green wave emanating from the long device in her left hand dully deflected Croken’s attack.

Only then did the crocodile, taking in the scene, grin, revealing his teeth.

“Oh dear… I’ve been dragging this out too long. Is it time for the city government’s hounds to arrive?”

“Croken Asilus. You’ve crossed the line.”

A cold voice flowed from behind the mask.

“Did you think you wouldn’t get caught after blowing up the entire factory?”

“……”

“I thought the Demon Realm wouldn’t be moving for a while. What’s the purpose of turning District 42 into a mess?”

“That’s a bit unfair, Evelyn. It wasn’t me who made the factory like this, but those two.”

Croken said, pointing at Dylan and Lenok, but all he got in return was a snort.

“That pervert in the mask who was about to have his head blown off? You need to be reasonable with your lies.”

“……”

In fact, it wasn’t strange to think that way.

Rather than Lenok failing to stop him and letting the factory explode, the scenario of Croken, a high-ranking member of a criminal organization, destroying the factory was much more plausible.

Croken shrugged as if he had completely lost his motivation at that response.

“Hehehe… Think what you want. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Are you running away?”

“Fighting the city government’s agents wasn’t part of the contract. There’s no need to do something that’s a loss for me…”

He slowly pulled his arm, which was still caught in the green wave, and turned his back without any regrets.

The fact that the belligerent monster had decided to avoid the fight instead of engaging in a battle was proof that she was a powerful superhuman that even Croken was wary of.

The woman, Evelyn, didn’t stop Croken but silently watched him disappear beyond the ruined factory.

Although she had come across as strong, she felt burdened by the idea of facing such a monster head-on.

Evelyn sighed softly and slowly turned back, walking towards Lenok, who was lying on the ground.

“…Thank you for saving me.”

Lenok, with his limbs sprawled on the hard asphalt, offered his thanks.

Whatever the circumstances, it was true that Lenok had been saved by her.

Was it a combination of unexpected misfortune and luck? There wasn’t a day that went by without his blood running cold.

She brushed her hair back with a tired look and extended her hand towards Lenok.

“Can you stand?”

Lenok refused her hand and struggled to his feet.