Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 240

Training (1)

First, I need to go to the Magic Tower with Evelyn and then think about it.

As he went down to the bar, Jenny greeted him with a bored expression.

‘I heard from Evelyn Marcia. She said she wanted to borrow you, Ban.’

‘Yeah.’

Very few people noticed the extreme ritual acceleration that occurred at the executive council meeting.

There was no need to tell her about the intervention of the ‘Myung’ [a mysterious entity] and the ‘Bokmajeon’ [a shadowy organization].

When Lenox answered with a faint smile, Jenny sighed.

‘Well, I won’t say anything since it’s your decision… but you know? The rumors there are really bad these days.’

‘……’

‘The old geezers at the Blaver Magic Tower are known for being stubborn, and there must be a reason why they haven’t even mentioned the Bokmajeon incident after fighting them.’

Even though Jenny had only heard about it through newspapers and news, she seemed to have a rough idea of what was going on.

‘It would be nice if things went smoothly, but…’

‘I’m not going to fight the Magic Tower, but to investigate whether they’re colluding with the Bokmajeon.’

Lenox said.

‘If they don’t want to make things worse, they’ll cooperate appropriately. Even if the agents don’t find anything, it won’t be a bad thing for me…’

He had already received enough compensation, but it was even more so because Lenox himself knew why this was happening.

He knew that the Blaver Magic Tower was working with the drug lord and meddling in the autonomous territory, so he didn’t feel any responsibility for turning the Bokmajeon’s attention to them.

Even so, shouldn’t he check how the cause and effect that Lenox created would end?

Once he confirmed that this kind of disguise worked well, he would be able to deal with the Bokmajeon more easily next time.

‘In the end, I’ll have to get involved with Pandemonium in some way…’

In this era where monsters from the outer sea are approaching, he could guess that he couldn’t just get away with it.

No, it would be a lie if he hadn’t had the ominous thought that the very shackles that bound Lenox were related to this series of events.

That’s why Lenox felt the need to approach the Bokmajeon from this side.

The need to select the necessary information against enemies he could handle, rather than monsters like ‘Myung’ or ‘Kraken’ that he couldn’t touch right away.

The information he got from Chung’s Eye or Lapis was not enough.

The meaning of the sky opening that Pandemonium was thinking about, and why they had to destroy the current order even by summoning monsters from the outer sea.

Perhaps this could be an opportunity for Lenox.

* * *

Undeveloped area. Desert area.

It was dawn, and the sun had not yet risen.

Although winter was passing and the average temperature was gradually rising, it was still cold enough to see your breath at this time of day.

Lenox, leaning against the light of the cigarette in his mouth, felt a familiar presence approaching nearby and raised his head.

‘You’re late.’

Baaang!!

Evelyn, followed by three men and women, was driving two jeeps towards him.

The rugged sand color and large off-road tires were impressive. The loosely joined iron bars were also noticeable.

They had to think about the volcanic area where the Magic Tower was located, not just crossing the desert, so it seemed they had prepared to some extent.

Evelyn, leaning out of the passenger seat, smiled at Lenox.

‘Did you wait long? There were so many things to prepare. It’ll take a week to get to the volcanic area, so we need a lot of things.’

‘It doesn’t matter. I haven’t been waiting that long.’

He had just arrived on his bike and had just finished using the shrinking magic and storing it.

Lenox had also visited the cartel’s executive vault and the black magician Raul’s artifact shop for today.

They couldn’t afford to be careless, as they didn’t know what might happen at the Blaver Magic Tower.

As Lenox got into the back seat of the jeep, the driver immediately drove the jeep out of the city.

Thud thud thud!

They left the huge city behind as the sun began to rise, and sped through the desert, inhaling sand dust.

The driver coughed, but Lenox and Evelyn’s expressions were calm.

As the sun began to rise, the temperature quickly soared.

As he was hit by the rushing wind, Lenox took off his coat and stored it with shrinking magic.

He felt much lighter after putting on a thin shirt.

One jeep had three people, and the other jeep was full of two people and luggage.

As if noticing Lenox’s gaze, Evelyn said.

‘It’s a gift for the old geezers at the Blaver Magic Tower. Even if it’s this side, we can’t just go to investigate the Magic Tower, so we have to give them some face.’

‘A gift that the high-ranking wizards of the Magic Tower would like…’

‘It’s similar to what I gave you as an advance payment. Rare medicinal herbs or elixirs. Do you know how many old sorcerers are obsessed with their health?’

‘……’

Lenox, who had once fought against a renegade monk obsessed with life, knew that all too well.

He had seen enough of how obsessed those who had power were with time.

He had only seen one aspect of it in his dealings with the cartel, but he knew that other sorcerers were no different.

Lenox himself was running non-stop like this to break free from his own shackles.

While he was lost in thought, the jeep quickly left Vulcan and began to move.

Undeveloped area. An area where pollutants, well known as a side effect of the Black Consumer Project, were still present.

[Kieeeek!!]

As if it were natural, monsters rushed towards the living beings, and Lenox and Evelyn swept them away in an instant as they moved forward.

He could feel the gazes of the vagrants who lived in the undeveloped area without even being properly registered as residents, but as they deliberately ran only to get out of the desert area, the clinging gazes quickly disappeared.

After passing through the magnetic storm located beyond the desert area, a grassland where bushes were alive and breathing came into view again.

Only then did other landscapes begin to appear beyond the empty horizon.

‘Hmm.’

Lenox leaned back in the jeep and began to comfortably look at the surrounding scenery.

He had gone outside of Vulcan when he left for the autonomous territory, but this was the first time he had moved in this direction.

And the direction the group was heading was a route that slightly deviated from the center of the continent.

In other words, it was a distance that brushed past the front line where the Vulcan Defense Forces were located.

To the right of the jeep as it sped along. Lenox’s eyes widened at the huge object that faintly appeared between the mountain ranges as he felt the wind of the prairie.

A size so huge that it was clearly visible even from a great distance.

Its appearance, slowly moving between the mountain ranges while supporting its body with eight long legs, was so intense that once you saw it, you could not easily forget it.

‘Is that a mobile fortress of the Defense Forces…’

At Lenox’s murmur, Evelyn also turned her head.

‘They’re usually on standby in camouflage, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen one in person.’

‘……’

Lenox had only heard rumors about it, but this was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes.

The core of the military power that supported the defense lines in the giant city.

The siege warfare and artillery battles centered on several mobile fortresses that closely connected the front lines were synonymous with the giant city, and in the latter half of the war, the fortresses themselves sometimes acted as the front lines.

The steel fortress had made an unparalleled contribution to the establishment of Vulcan as a city-state, breaking away from the affiliation of a nation.

But now, it was slowly rusting in a precarious peace.

‘There’s a rumor that they’ve been focusing on maintenance recently as the standby orders have been getting longer. It’s clear that it’s better for the lifespan of the machines to keep moving than to just stand by… but it can’t be helped.’

At Evelyn’s words, the agent who had been driving without saying a word opened his mouth.

‘Many of my colleagues want to return to the city. A large-scale reduction in the ground forces is inevitable.’

‘Were you in the military?’

At Lenox’s words, the agent nodded slightly.

‘I was injured in the war and discharged.’

‘There are quite a few retired soldiers among the agents. They can be immediately deployed to operations without any special training, and they feel much more comfortable than on the battlefield…’

Evelyn said that and smiled at Lenox.

‘It’s similar to Drey, who went to your company.’

‘……Did you know?’

‘Of course. It’s just that Drey Creamgal is taking care of them, so there hasn’t been much talk about it. If that many special forces soldiers are released into the city at once, there will be problems in some way.’

Judging from Evelyn’s words, it seemed that the agents also had a very high opinion of Drey Creamgal.

Considering his insight and character, he was more than qualified to take on the position of head of an organization, so it was not something that could not be understood.

‘Originally, we were planning to take in more members who had nowhere to go… but recently, our situation has been so bad that we couldn’t help it.’

‘……’

‘All the military departments except the Air Force, which has a fleet, are currently undergoing massive budget cuts. Eventually, the military power that protects Vulcan will be reorganized around the fleet.’

Lenox was also lost in thought at Evelyn’s words as she looked at the fortress with a complicated expression.

Come to think of it, Lenox had met quite a few retired soldiers.

Considering that the branch manager of the Scavengers he met in the operation he had previously carried out with the Creamgal office, and the people Beck Clinton of the Cigar Bang Gang was trading weapons with were also retired soldiers living in satellite cities, it was not something that had happened yesterday or today.

And even Drey, who was in his company right now, and the current employees he had taken in.

Considering that a considerable number of them were returning to the city after being discharged, it was not a problem to just let it pass.

The mobile fortress, which had been standing still between the mountain ranges, seemed to have finished its maintenance and slowly began to lose its original color and blend into the surrounding scenery.

The jeep, which had been speeding across the prairie, passed the fortress, which was quickly fading, and disappeared.

* * *

Fzzzt!!

A flash of light that rose through the darkness grazed Evelyn’s shoulder and disappeared in an instant.

Night in the prairie. At the time when the moon was waning, even the starlight could not properly illuminate the ground.

Only the light of magic that they were burning was faintly illuminating the surroundings.

Evelyn glanced at the flash of light that had disappeared behind her and moved forward without hesitation.

In step with her walk, sand that suddenly sprang up from under the ground grabbed her legs, and the shockwave falling from above restricted her space to avoid.

Kagagak!!

However, the sand that rose from the ground aimlessly stirred in the air, and her figure, which had leaped with a hair’s breadth, quickly closed the distance to her opponent.

At the same time as she raised her magic power, a green light appeared in her eyes, and the light that had been flickering like a will-o’-the-wisp in the air rushed in without hesitation.

Fababababak!!

No one in this place knew exactly how many times the arm that stretched out in the darkness had stirred the space.

The only noise left after her shoulder rotated violently made it possible to guess the speed.

However, her opponent did not back down either, and instead received the fierce barrage head-on.

Jjeojeok…!!

A gaping maw that had been greedily opening its mouth in the shadows under her feet appeared, and at the same time, the flash of light that had rushed in this time surrounded her from all sides and tightened around her in a circle.

The magic users, who were attached to the ends of dozens of flashes of lightning that flickered in the darkness, precisely adjusted their positions while shaking and meticulously pressured the space.

Swaeeeek!!

Thud thud thud thud!!!

The lightning, the size of an arm, mercilessly dug into the spot where Evelyn was standing and rotated.

Each time it hit the ground, it flashed and exploded.

It caused a series of dust clouds on the ground, but in the meantime, an intangible flash of light relentlessly stirred through the gaps and went straight forward.

Footwork as elegant as walking on clouds.

But even more impressive than that was the agility that seemed to defy the laws of physics.

The speed itself was slow, as if there was no need to exert all her power, but the movements she showed when avoiding the attacks that came from all directions contained at least seven changes of direction in one breath.

It was proof that she was fully aware of the position and speed of the fierce attacks coming from all directions, and that she was calculating all the movements in her head.

Apart from her graceful movements, the number of attacks that were being launched was also rapidly increasing over time.

Not only did she completely recover the magic power she had once fired without wasting any of it, but she also grabbed the attacks that had missed and used them as a stepping stone for the next attack.

She was filling the surface and occupying the entire space, going beyond points and lines, blocking Evelyn’s approach, and at the same time, gradually increasing the power of her magic.

The number of magic users controlling the magic power being fired continued to increase, and eventually, the middle of the prairie was brightly lit with a fierce flash of light that made it impossible to see ahead.

Faaaaaaaah!!!

‘That’s enough for now.’

As soon as those words were finished, the dark green flash of light in Evelyn’s hand ran through the air and tore apart the magic power scattered in all directions.

Eujijijik!!

With a strange sound as if the magic power was being crushed, a gap was created in the encirclement that had been attacking her from all directions in an instant.

And as if it had been promised, the remaining magic power that had passed her by so exquisitely exploded in all directions.

Kwaaaang!!

Only then did Lenox put down the hand he had been holding.

His expression was calm, but the cigarette he had been holding in his mouth had long since burned down to the filter.

It was enough to guess how much concentration Lenox had been maintaining until just now.

Evelyn walked towards Lenox and smiled lightly.

‘I had guessed when you asked me for this favor, but it’s beyond my expectations.’

‘……’

‘If you can manipulate magic so precisely, can you fight head-on with a vanguard? Seeing it in person, it’s even more incomprehensible.’

‘You’re not one to talk, considering you’ve been blocking everything with just that one thing.’

Lenox replied with a nonchalant expression.

It was true that the battle seemed quite fierce, but Lenox knew that he had not been able to draw out her full power.

All that Evelyn had been holding in her hand was just one arrow.

She had not even taken out her equipment, but had been receiving Lenox’s attacks with just one arrow that was built into her equipment.

Considering that ordinary magicians, as well as most vanguards, could not even fathom Lenox’s attacks, it was possible to guess how far Evelyn’s skills reached.

Moreover, she was not originally good at close combat.

But Evelyn shook her head and smiled.

‘You didn’t use any high-level magic either… well, fine. Let’s stop here for today. While we’re on our way to the volcanic area, we can figure out how much power we need to use while sparring.’

She said that and leaned against a nearby rock, brushing her hair back.

Even though she had been running around like a ghost, not a single drop of sweat was running down her face.

‘If you have any questions, I’ll answer them. Ask me.’

‘……Wait a moment.’

Lenox looked at her and slowly began to recall the sparring that had just taken place.

Evelyn’s unusually proactive attitude was quite different from before, but none of the people in this group pointed it out.

The last condition that Lenox had put forward in exchange for accepting Evelyn’s request.

That was the condition that Evelyn would be Lenox’s combat training partner while traveling to and from the volcanic area.