Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 294

The comms network buzzed with activity at the sudden, silent death of their designated marksman.

[Base is down!!]

[Data acquisition impossible. Tracking lost. Coordinates are gone!]

[Damn it…!!]

Despite setting up such a thorough encirclement and luring their target in, they had lost track of him after only two exchanges.

Now, they were the ones being hunted, so it was no surprise that curses were flying across the comms network.

[Operation impossible. Requesting retreat…!!]

*Chik!*

The voice of the operative who had been voicing doubts over the comms suddenly cut out.

As if it were a signal, the other operatives began gathering their gear in unison.

Only after losing the comrade who had foreseen the danger did they truly grasp the risk they were facing.

*Pabababak!!*

Quickly abandoning their assigned positions, the operatives arrived at the pre-determined rendezvous point and exchanged quick glances.

“Breeze, Otter, and Pacer are gone…”

Even during their retreat, they had been picked off by silent snipers, and three of their members were already missing.

All that remained were two vanguards who had been waiting in the third line, and two surviving marksmen.

The four of them maintained their formation as best they could and began to break through the shopping district alleyway.

They realized that their opponent, contrary to his reputation, was a marksman as skilled as he was with magic.

To acquire reliable combat data, they would need far more meticulous preparation than this.

The operatives’ gazes, as they dashed through the messy trash in the alleyway, were becoming increasingly uneasy.

As they burst out of the alleyway, through the broken fluorescent lights, and into the plaza beyond.

“If you’re going to say hello, you should at least show your face.”

On the opposite side of the quiet plaza, a mage in a coat was staring at them.

His hands were tucked into his pockets, and he was smoking a cigarette. He looked so relaxed that it was hard to believe he was the marksman who had been hunting them just moments ago.

Renok spoke, looking at the four opponents who had stopped, their faces frozen.

“It seems you did some research on me, but your data was lacking.”

“…”

“Aside from that, your choice of location and positions were excellent. Moreover, this street is not one I usually take, so the fact that you were able to predict my movements to some extent without any data is no coincidence.”

Renok stroked his chin with the hand holding the cigarette, lost in thought.

Despite the fact that he seemed to be openly showing an opening, the other operatives remained silent instead of making a rash move.

The mage of District 49.

No one here was unaware of how meticulous and cunning this man, known as the ‘Fortress,’ was.

The fact that this mage, who had been hunting their comrades without revealing his position, had now calmly appeared to block their retreat meant that he was certain he held their lives in his hands.

They knew that they could be beheaded the moment they drew their weapons.

“You’re more cautious than I thought. If you’re so good, why did you do that?”

Renok smiled at the sight of the four operatives, who were trembling slightly but still not making any rash moves.

“If you didn’t want to give me any room to respond, you should have attacked with all your might from the start. The coordination between the vanguard and rearguard was precise, but dividing your forces and attacking in waves was a mistake.”

“Hoo…”

A low sigh escaped from the tense operatives.

Where was safe under this vast plaza? How far could they move and still survive?

They couldn’t even guess if they were allowed to speak.

Having undergone countless combat drills, they were all too aware of how monstrous their opponent was.

This was the man who had risen to his current position by repeatedly winning against monsters they couldn’t even hope to face.

Perhaps the very idea of gathering data had been arrogant from the start.

Renok looked at them for a moment, then, as if something had occurred to him, he chewed on the cigarette in his mouth.

“No, no… there’s no way you wouldn’t know that. You wanted to see my reaction. You were waiting to see how I would react and how I would respond.”

“…!!”

“I see.”

Without any words or actions, Renok had figured out their purpose and intentions simply by reflecting on what had happened.

Renok smiled, having instantly grasped their goal and intentions.

“It wasn’t that you lacked data. You targeted me to gather data.”

“I am Lieutenant Lassen of the Special Forces directly under the Balkan Outer Perimeter Defense Command.”

As soon as he heard those words, the operative at the front spoke quickly.

Renok, who was exhaling smoke, stared intently at Lassen’s face.

“I came here to carry out a classified mission under orders from my superiors. I apologize for what happened today.”

“…”

“As you can see, I and my men no longer have the will to fight, and we have no means to resist you. Therefore, we demand that you treat us with respect in accordance with the Continental War Prisoner Convention, rrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

Lassen, who had been speaking quickly in a heavy tone, suddenly began to tremble like a frog struck by lightning.

He screamed with a twisted tongue, contorted his body, and then collapsed headfirst on the spot.

He was still breathing, so he was still alive, but the other operatives were silent, their faces pale.

The reaction Lassen had just shown was impossible without being electrocuted by a powerful voltage.

However, the operatives had not detected any trace of electrical current until just before.

Even though all the operatives gathered here were high-level mana users, was it possible that the man before them was capable of bypassing their detection and hitting them with magic?

He was certainly no ordinary level 7 Saint-level mage.

Rather, his mysteriousness far surpassed that of other mages of the same level.

A strange sense of intimidation stemming from the unknown fear. Renok’s gaze pressed heavily on the operatives’ shoulders.

Renok looked at the operatives for a moment and then spoke.

“It seems you’re mistaken, I don’t want to hear a plausible answer from you.”

“…Th-then…”

“I’m just waiting for my colleague to come.”

He had already contacted Manson, so he would be here soon.

The reason Renok had spared their lives instead of killing them all was to hear the information they would reveal.

This wasn’t just a petty squabble, they had deliberately set up an encirclement and shown their intent to kill Renok, so they had to pay the price.

*Piiing!!*

A faint current that he created between his fingers pierced through the mana threads and into the temples of the operatives.

The other three also lost consciousness in an instant, unable to resist at all.

Renok wrapped the limbs of the four of them tightly with mana threads and hung them upside down in the air, then took a moment to catch his breath.

“Hoo…”

He looked completely relaxed, as if he had let go of all tension. Renok slowly stepped back, naturally placing his hand on his waist.

*Taang!!*

A flash of light flickered behind his coat, and a bullet tore through the air.

Immediately after, a faint haze appeared next to the trajectory of the bullet, and a slender figure emerged from within and landed.

“If you’re done watching, why don’t you come out and talk?”

Renok turned around, readjusting his revolver, and asked.

“Isn’t it you who has business with me?”

“…This is truly amazing.”

The person who had appeared was a short-haired woman with a bright smile.

Despite the sudden gunfire, her face, which remained calm, was of a type that Renok remembered well.

“I never thought you would see through my stealth so easily.”

“…”

“I remember you weren’t this sensitive before?”

He understood what she meant.

The stealth technique that had been concealing her presence behind Renok was not just about hiding her presence, but a technique that completely concealed her body by overlapping space.

If Renok hadn’t had his spatial awareness heightened to the extreme by his enlightenment in the ruins, it would have been difficult for him to notice her presence.

“Well…”

However, instead of telling her that, Renok simply stared at her face.

Nicole, an executive of the Platon Mercenary Office.

He had become familiar with her face during the commission with Daike Corporation, and he had also faced her on the opposite side during the agent’s commission.

However, they had never directly crossed swords.

This was because Nicole herself had a high opinion of Renok and did not want to make him an enemy rashly.

Even back then, he had gotten the impression that she was quite calm and rational in her assessment of the situation.

If she, who had not appeared in this area for a while, had suddenly come to find Renok, what could be the reason?

Renok, who was flicking the cigarette in his mouth, asked.

“It’s been about a year since the Platon Mercenary Office’s activities have slowed down.”

“…”

“I thought there would be a reaction when you joined hands with Antares and started working with the Cartel, but it was surprising that you were so quiet.”

“Hmm…”

“I heard that your office director is a very ambitious person, but if such a person has been lying low until now, there must be a reason.”

After facing the mercenary Adam Brobeck in the proxy war of the citadel, Renok had gleaned some information about the Platon Mercenary Office from Jenny.

It was a place that had an unusually strong financial backing and scouted talented freelancers.

In addition, the leader, Platon, was known to be a very confident and ambitious person among the mercenaries in this area.

If a person who was in charge of one of the top mercenary offices in the shadows of the Balkans was being called that, it was obvious that he was not satisfied with simply being a mercenary leader.

Naturally, he couldn’t help but think of the rumors that occasionally circulated about that office.

Renok was now indirectly asking if the Platon Mercenary Office was really a company that was connected to the city government.

Nicole, who had been hesitant, answered with a wry smile.

“I thought you were an outstanding person before, but you’re really amazing. It’s like you’re not the same person.”

“…”

“If you were able to take a position as an outside director even after facing the Cartel head-on, I thought there must be a reason… Ah, I should have kept you at the office back then.”

“Enough with the useless talk.”

Renok nodded his head towards the operatives hanging upside down behind him and said.

“Unless you, Nicole, are closely related to these guys.”

“…”

“You’ve been watching from the beginning, so you must have heard everything? The Outer Perimeter Defense Command. The heads of the maintenance forces, which include mobile fortresses located on the city’s outer perimeter, under the direct control of the city government.”

Renok’s gaze, as he looked at Nicole, shone eerily.

“Do you have anything to say about this?”

Although she was an acquaintance whose face he knew, Renok had no intention of letting his guard down.

The people who had attacked Renok were, strictly speaking, special forces operatives belonging to the defense forces that operated directly under the city government.

And Nicole was an executive of a mercenary group that was rumored to have been created through connections with the city government.

If these two organizations, which at first glance seemed to be completely different, shared the same keyword of the city government, there was a possibility that they were in cahoots.

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that Nicole had been hiding her presence to rescue them.

Nicole, noticing the quiet murderous intent in Renok’s gaze, raised both hands with a troubled smile.

“Well, I admit that I did something that could cause misunderstandings. But I have nothing to do with them. Rather, I came to give you a warning.”

“…A warning?”

“These are not soldiers who are carrying out an operation under the orders of the city government. If anything, it’s closer to the opposite.”

She continued, carefully observing the faces of the operatives who had fainted while hanging.

“There’s a rumor circulating within the city government’s security network that the direct line to the Defense Command has been down for about three days.”

“…”

“At the same time, there have been frequent guerrilla-style attacks like this on high-ranking ability users who are not on the city council’s direct line.”

The defense forces, who were supposed to be guarding the outer perimeter of the Balkans, had begun to move without receiving orders from the city council.

It wasn’t difficult to realize what that meant.

“Is it a rebellion?”

“The city government’s high-ranking officials are even considering the possibility of a coup in the worst-case scenario.”

“…”

“The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Before the discussions on the Gold Restriction Act begin in earnest. At this point, when the head of the Agents, Hyungung, is on a long vacation and away from his post. There are no above-ground powerhouses in the central area of the Balkans who are allowed to act beyond self-defense.”

Nicole said, carefully observing Renok’s expression.

“That’s why they were looking for the most threatening underground powerhouses and collecting data like this.”