Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 284

Apostle’s Descent (2)

The day after the succession battle ended.

The entire fortress had become a house of mourning due to the chaos that had unfolded in the manor.

The fortress residents were in shock, realizing they had narrowly escaped becoming human sacrifices.

Although the residents knew they were part of the Tri-Heads [a political and social structure], most were ordinary people living their daily lives within the fortress.

It was fortunate that they knew the culprits were members of the Ilwon and Yvon families. Otherwise, without the presence of the Three Youngs [a powerful family within the Tri-Heads], uncontrollable chaos would have erupted.

“Looking back, it’s a real relief that we won the proxy battle,” Sooryun sighed, having just finished explaining the situation to the fortress residents.

“I can’t even imagine what would have happened if the position of fortress lord had gone to the Yvon family head.”

The fortress’s order was maintained because it had been announced that Oren, the head of the Three Youngs family, had assumed the position of fortress lord.

The residents believed that if the head of the Three Youngs family, who had saved them despite the odds, took over, the fortress could continue to exist by punishing the Yvon family head.

The family heads and their families were working tirelessly to convince the residents of this.

However, despite Sooryun’s words, Lenok slowly shook his head.

“The fortress will change, one way or another.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Eight Peaks Fortress has maintained its current status by concealing its weakened power through a closed society. This incident has clearly exposed the incompetence and lack of power of the family heads. It’s only a matter of time before rumors spread outside.”

“…….”

“They won’t just be removed from their positions as Tri-Heads. The City Council, which allowed this to happen, will also interfere. We’ll have to endure a lot of changes.”

The fortress’s reign as a hidden power within the Tri-Heads was due to the military strength of the eight family heads and the City Council’s approval.

However, this incident revealed that some high-ranking officials within the fortress were dissatisfied with the City Council’s policies, making it difficult to maintain the current closed social order.

Unlike the cartel, which had an absolute leader named Oliviera, Oren, the head of the Three Youngs family and the new fortress lord, was not a transcendent powerhouse of that level.

Interference from other underground organizations, as well as the City Council, was inevitable.

“I see… I understand what you mean. Perhaps this was our fate since the death of the previous fortress lord,” Sooryun nodded, a complicated expression on her face.

“We have the grand title of the Eight Families, but in reality, we were just playing the role of nobles in a closed society that blocked communication with the outside world.”

She looked out at the scenery outside the mansion, her gaze complex.

“Even if it wasn’t now, there would have been a moment when we would all be driven out of that street.”

“Is there a need to think that far?” Lenok chuckled and stood up.

“It was created out of necessity, and it’s just changing. If you’ve decided where to stand in that process, there’s no reason to fear change.”

“…….”

“Oren will be a decent leader. Even if he can no longer keep the fortress safe, he will take responsibility for the residents who have lived under their protection.”

After that, it was not an area where Lenok would interfere.

The internal affairs and future of the fortress were not his concern, nor was he interested in them.

Looking at Lenok’s back as he moved, Sooryun asked, “Where are you going?”

“I have to go finish what I haven’t finished,” Lenok replied, taking out a cigarette from his pocket.

“I wanted to wait until Oren regained consciousness, but… I don’t have much time.”

“That’s…”

“There must be a reason why they fled to the Yvon family’s main base. It would be more effective to move first before they make their move.”

“…Why are you helping us so much?” Sooryun asked, her expression complicated.

“You’ve done everything you needed to do. As you promised me and Chen, you won the proxy battle and made Oren the fortress lord. Even if you just took the reward you wanted and left, no one would say anything to you…”

“…….”

That was probably because Lenok was looking at the essence of this matter from a completely different perspective than others.

The identity of the Guido Order mentioned by the head of Pandemonium.

It started as an investigation based on the words that if you were looking for space-time magic, you should look for the Order’s secret place, but now he was seeing more.

The reason why the missionary Walter had spent so much time trying to gain access to the fortress’s internal facilities.

It was probably to get his hands on the space-time distorted ruins inside the fortress that Oren had shown.

And those ruins were highly likely to be related to the old world that no longer existed.

The underworld seeking the relics of the old world and the Order seeking the space-time of the old world.

Lenok had to check and remember where the destinations of the two organizations were, the moment he had the chance.

He had already come too far to dismiss it as something unrelated to himself and turn a blind eye.

Confirming the truth and giving an answer before the end of the world approached.

Ultimately, it was also in line with Lenok’s journey to break free from his own shackles.

“Well,” Lenok laughed it off, instead of telling Sooryun all the details.

“If you’re thinking of joining my company, I might tell you then.”

“What?” Leaving Sooryun, who was asking back with a blank expression, Lenok immediately turned his back.

To finish this matter, some preparations were needed.

* * *

The street leading to the Yvon’s main house.

The usually bustling street, where all sorts of people should have been crowded, was filled with a cold silence.

“……” It was natural for the residents, who had realized who the culprits of this incident were, to move as far away from the center of the fortress as possible.

Lenok, walking slowly while letting out smoke, suddenly turned his head.

Chen and Manson were slowly walking out of a corner of the alley.

“How’s Oren?”

“He got through the night and is asleep now. The damage to his abdominal organs is severe, so he needs to rest thoroughly for several months.”

[The doctor said he fought for a long time after having his stomach half-eaten before passing out? What a stubborn old man,] Manson said, then tilted his robot head and asked Lenok.

[…But are you really going alone?]

“Bringing injured guys will only be a hindrance,” Lenok smiled.

“Don’t hold me back and just watch quietly.”

Less than 24 hours had passed since the aftermath of the proxy battle, in which Chen, Manson, Sooryun, and all the Three Youngs’ attendants had participated and fought.

There were not many who could be deployed to the front lines without having the same magic recovery power as Lenok.

Not only was their magic power depleted, but the injuries they sustained in the process were also not negligible.

In the current situation, they were more likely to be a hindrance.

[Hmm, I’m not the kind of person who goes around hearing these kinds of words… But it’s hard to deny,] Manson crossed his arms and nodded, and Chen made a gloomy face.

He knew that with his skills, he would not be able to help in the battles of level 7 superhumans, whether he was injured or not.

“…If Oren regains consciousness and releases the fortress’s external barrier, it will be possible to bring my friends. If we wait a little longer until then…”

“Then the City Council’s interference will start as well.”

“…….”

“If we don’t deal with things before they interfere, we’ll be implicated as accomplices and things will get troublesome.”

[Considering those old geezers’ temperaments, that’s for sure,] Lenok, who had glared at Manson, who kept adding interjections, and made him shut his mouth, said.

“If the existence of the Order is confirmed, the possibility of being cleared of charges is low. If we want to avoid the City Council’s intervention, it’s best to finish things quickly and just throw them the results.”

“Is that conclusion that you’re going to invade the Yvon’s main house alone?” Chen said, shaking his head.

“I can’t understand the thoughts of high-level magicians…”

[It’s the opposite, you idiot. It’s because they think and act like that that they can complete the hierarchy,] Manson said, stroking his hard metal chin.

[I should try to do more crazy things in the future.]

“……” Lenok sighed at Manson’s nonsense.

“If the situation is difficult, I’ll end it by just gauging their strength, so don’t do anything unnecessary and wait at the place I told you to.”

“That’s…”

“There may be a need for cleanup even after the fortress’s affairs are settled,” Lenok smiled.

“You know what I mean, right?”

“…Okay,” Chen nodded with difficulty.

“I’ll ask you about secretly trying to scout my sister later.”

“……” He thought he had secretly made moves without Chen noticing, but had he been caught already?

If it was a skilled person like Sooryun, Chen might have been thinking of bringing her into his business as well.

Chen looked at Lenok’s face, chuckled, and turned his back.

Manson grabbed Chen’s shoulder, waved his hand, and disappeared.

Lenok stared blankly at the two of them before moving his feet.

Lenok, who was walking through the deserted streets, suddenly opened his mouth.

“You should go back around here too.”

“…….”

“I told you, you’ll only be a hindrance. And, you don’t have combat abilities.”

“…I know,” From the shadows between the alleys, a young man with a more slender build than Lenok walked out.

“I guess it was also you, Mr. Ban, who saved me in the last proxy battle. I had a hunch.”

A pale complexion and trembling hands and feet.

A weak disposition that was obviously frightened at a glance.

But his skill in handling shadows was real.

Asui, Oren’s nephew, who was also the next best shadow user after the family head within the Three Youngs, and who had also participated in the proxy battle, was standing there.

Lenok scanned his body with a nonchalant gaze.

“Then why are you being stubborn?”

“…I’m not good at combat, but I’m confident in handling shadows.”

With those words, a large shadow curtain rose from behind Asui and covered the surroundings.

“I don’t have the talent of my uncle…” Asui swallowed hard and continued.

“But I can hide what the magician is trying to do from the outside world.”

“…….”

The meaning of Asui’s words was clear.

Asui had a rough understanding of what Lenok was trying to do from now on.

“You’re planning to use the self-resonance field, right… And it’s probably a kind of disaster that can’t be revealed to the outside world,” Asui said, trembling as he felt the sharp aura that Lenok was emitting.

“O, otherwise… there’s no reason for you to push yourself this hard…”

“Knowing that, you still came to me and made an offer,” Lenok smiled.

“Didn’t you think I would kill you to silence you?”

“I, if you were going to do that… I wouldn’t have been able to open my eyes in the proxy battle…” Asui said, sweating profusely.

“I’m just putting up a curtain, I can’t peek inside. The only thing I can do in my domain is…”

“…Domain?” Lenok asked back.

“You know how to use a domain?”

“…Yes,” Asui slowly nodded.

His face was stiff with tension.

“I haven’t properly imprinted the image yet, but if it’s just a little…”

* * *

“Quickly, start it.”

“It’s easy to say, but it’s not something that can be solved so easily. Without delicate adjustments, it will only fail a hundred times out of a hundred…”

“I can’t hold on for long. Quickly…!!” Walter sighed deeply at the sight of Yvon, who had interrupted his words and started scratching his shoulder violently.

“It’s a failure…”

The grace of the Order that had made the Yvon family head young. The side effects were coming faster than expected.

Originally, she should have been slowly transforming her body into something inhuman while taking a long period of rest.

However, due to the injuries she had sustained while fleeing from the proxy battle, the balance of magic power in her body had collapsed, causing the collapse of her body.

It was proof that the Order’s technology was still insufficient to completely modify a level 7 superhuman.

However, instead of uttering such a comment, Walter raised his head and smiled.

At the end of his gaze, the body of Ilwon family head Taeoh, tied to dozens of blood vessels, was hanging.

“So, let’s do well among ourselves. Ilwon family head.”

“You broke your promise…!!” Taeoh, who was struggling while hanging in the air, screamed.

“You clearly said that if I cooperated, you would save my father!!”

“……”

“So, so I waited even while sacrificing my family’s bloodline… How can you deceive me, Yvon family head!!”

Taeoh was not simply deceived by empty lies.

It was because of the persuasion of the Yvon family head that she could revive the murdered former fortress lord that he had cooperated with her, sacrificing everything.

He believed that she, who had regained her youth with the help of the Order, would surely have a way to save his father.

He never imagined that she would try to use his body, let alone save his father.

Walter smiled, stroking his chin leisurely.

“Actually, I didn’t break my promise. As you can see, the body of the father that the Ilwon family head is desperately longing for is moving perfectly fine here, isn’t it?”

“Shut up!! Just let my father rest in peace!!” Despite Taeoh’s wailing, Walter shook his head with a troubled expression.

“Nothing is easy… According to the plan, things should have ended when we got our hands on the body of the former fortress lord…”

Wasn’t the reason they had come this long way to open the barrier that surrounded the space-time distorted ruins?

They thought that the barrier would open if they used the security code left on the body of the former fortress lord, but the barrier system that the Ascendant [a powerful being or entity] had left behind was not so easy.

That was probably because the barrier itself was a work created under the mediation of the City Council, not for the safety of the fortress.

That was proof that the City Council was keeping an eye on the existence of these ruins.

In the end, they tried to legitimately obtain the qualification by holding a proxy battle, but everything went wrong because of the existence of just one magician.

“But it’s not like there’s no way,” Walter said, slowly reaching out to Taeoh’s body.

“If the Three Youngs family head, who has been designated as the next fortress lord, is unconscious, we can temporarily revive the qualification of the fortress lord by supplying a large amount of blood to this fortress lord’s body.”

Taeoh, whose face had turned pale, twisted his body like crazy, but it was useless.

“I wanted to refrain from using this method because it would completely destroy the body… but now is not the time to be picky.”

In an instant, a small hole was pierced in Taeoh’s abdomen, and a tremendous suction force began to suck in all the blood from his body.

“Ugh, ahhhhh!!” The terrified Ilwon family head let out an indescribable cry, but Walter soothed him with a soft voice.

“Don’t be so scared. Didn’t all the other members of the Ilwon family leave like that?”

Taeoh’s screams quickly subsided. Walter’s low voice continued over his eyes, which had lost their vitality and were wide open in an instant.

“It was you who sacrificed all the members of your family to save your father.”

At that moment.

Woo-woo-woo-woong!!

A powerful shockwave of magic power that shook the entire mansion fell down.

Rather than directly attacking, it was a show of force that openly pressed down on the surrounding area itself.

It was clear who the opponent was.

“…!!”

“That… guy,” Yvon jumped up from her seat and glared at the sky.

In an instant, her eyes pierced through the wall and began to look down at the bottom of the mansion’s gate.

A man with white magic vapor flowing from his entire body.

A magician wearing a coat was looking up at her, with a blue light flashing between his eyes.