Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 309

Bang!!

There wasn’t even a warning. A few faint flashes flickered in the air, and immediately after, Rundel’s body, which had appeared in front of Lenok, danced in place.

Dudududududu!!!

An attack speed too fast to be captured by the naked eye.

Rundel’s movements rotated as if they were cut off, violently pressing Lenok’s new body, which was embedded between buildings, deeper into the ground.

He immediately used magic to regain his balance and slammed a bolt of lightning above his head, but the counterattack was so futile that the nearby ground began to collapse easily.

“……!!”

It wasn’t a matter of being pushed back by the force of the magic they were wielding, or that the opponent’s level was incredibly high.

Every time Rundel and Lenok unleashed their magic, the ground near Lenok crumbled, causing him to fall endlessly downward.

[Do you know that there’s an abandoned coal mine under this street?]

Rundel whispered from above Lenok.

[It’s a facility that was used before this city was even built. I spent half a day tinkering with it while waiting for you to come.]

Even while moving his whole body violently, the mechanical voice, unaffected by breathing, emerged leisurely.

[It won’t be bad to enjoy together.]

“So that’s what you meant by preparing… !”

Kwaang!!

The ground, which had been collapsing incessantly, broke through a boundary point at some moment, creating a huge pit, and the two fell into the wide underground coal mine created below.

Darkness where one could not see an inch ahead. But what was even more surprising was the vastness of the underground space itself, which was impossible to measure properly even with the power of magic detection.

[Alpha Light]

Lenok, who had conjured a light source so dazzling that it could blind the eyes, immediately threw it above the coal mine.

Paah!!

The small but intensely shining light source fell slowly in the air, scattering light in all directions, and only then did the surroundings begin to come into view properly.

A huge underground cavity in the shape of a cylinder. Spiral stairs finely carved into its walls.

Considering the extremely simple and primitive form of transportation, it seems clear that Rundel’s words were not entirely false.

However, what bothered him was the depth of the coal mine itself, where the bottom was not visible even with such bright light.

He had no intention of falling down without knowing what was below.

Thwack!

A long spear that popped out of Lenok’s sleeve was embedded in the wall of the coal mine.

A spear shaft taken as spoils from the Bardiche Brotherhood. It had lost its effectiveness as an artifact, but its durability was considerable, so Lenok had kept it for a while.

He embedded the spear shaft into the wall, cast levitation magic on his coat to float his body, and then hung onto the spear shaft.

Sweeek!!

Immediately after, Rundel’s body, which had fallen at a rapid speed, similarly clung to the wall like a spider and cast his gaze towards Lenok.

The two people, hanging on opposite walls of the coal mine, simultaneously focused their magic while looking at each other.

Lenok, adjusting the cigarette in his mouth with his other hand, muttered.

“So you weren’t just mindlessly replacing your whole body with machines. Does researching magic engineering mean that?”

He stepped between the narrow stairs on the nearby wall.

“The modification of the body to interpret spells. And the coexistence with the human body to preserve the magic source.”

[They said you were the most talented mage in the shadows of Vulcan, and it wasn’t wrong.]

Rundel, who had embedded his limbs into the wall, asked in a slightly surprised tone.

[Did you figure out the nature of the spell I’m using in the meantime?]

“If something that shouldn’t have happened has happened, there’s no need to look for the cause elsewhere.”

Lenok answered, taking a deep drag of his cigarette.

“Spatial magic… To have succeeded in tampering with that spell. Is that the essence of the magic engineering you guys are pursuing?”

[Hmm…]

It was right after the battle began that Lenok realized that Rundel was not just using a strange spell, but was tampering with space.

The moment Lenok’s shield, instead of shattering, flew backward and landed above the intended location of the coal mine.

Until now, Lenok’s shield had shattered on the spot when it encountered an impact exceeding its limit, but it had never been pushed back.

The shield, which had been continuously improved, had been adjusted to not affect the caster’s body even if it received any impact, going beyond the level of surrounding the body.

However, Rundel had just ignored all those adjustments and kicked Lenok away with the shield intact.

It was impossible without interfering with the space where the shield existed, going beyond simply interfering with the spell.

[To be precise, I’m not directly tampering with space. I’m activating pre-modified spell factors to roughly realize the appearance of the imaginary dimension. The reproduction rate is about 5%.]

“…….”

[If you create a temporary space like that, you can ‘push’ space away, even physically. How about it?]

Rundel asked.

[Isn’t it unbelievably amazing for an achievement made without spatial magic?]

“It is amazing.”

Lenok agreed.

The content Rundel explained was difficult, but it wasn’t hard for Lenok, who had begun to tamper with space, to understand.

Directly researching the imaginary dimension, and as a result, realizing a non-existent space called a temporary space.

The temporary space created in this way, even if it doesn’t function as a proper space, is capable of pushing away other spaces.

Rundel, even if he couldn’t directly manipulate space, had been creating temporary spaces that were as close to real as possible and using them to push away other spaces.

It was like putting a balloon into water and pushing away the other water.

It was something so different and simple that it was hard to call it an actual space, but nonetheless, as a consequence of its existence, it was able to push away the existing space.

The strange movements he had shown so far and the preemptive strike that blew away Lenok’s shield were also part of that.

[If I use this method, I can twist the laws of physics in a way you can’t predict and cut your throat.]

Rundel, who had drawn a blade again from between his palms, slowly stood up.

As if unaffected by gravity, he stood with his feet perpendicular to the wall, spread his arms wide, and said.

[So, if you don’t want to die, show me your full power now. How long are you going to keep hiding?]

“You seem to be mistaken about something. What you just showed me isn’t a weapon that can kill me, but rather a strange parlor trick.”

Lenok, throwing the burnt cigarette into the darkness of the floor, smiled sharply.

“If you want to extract my data, you’ll have to try much harder than that.”

[For a level 7 Saint-level mage to be so obtuse…]

Thud!

Rundel’s body, which had been standing on the wall, fell straight into the darkness of the coal mine.

At that moment, dozens of bright red glows rose simultaneously from the darkness of the coal mine’s underground, illuminating Lenok.

[I told you I had prepared.]

Immediately after, the fired lasers transformed into dozens of red beams, stirring up the coal mine.

Zzzzzzzzzzzing!!!

Dozens of dark red laser beams, rising upside down from the coal mine’s underground, rotated erratically, indiscriminately bombarding the inner walls of the coal mine.

The heat that clearly reached the skin even without direct contact.

The stairs carved into the coal mine wall were shattered in an instant by the immense heat and impact, and countless rock debris fell to the floor.

But all traces of destruction were swept away and annihilated by the barrage of lasers fired from all directions before they could even reach the bottom of the coal mine.

Amidst the dazzling laser light, Lenok was finally able to see with his own eyes the identity of something that existed in the coal mine’s underground.

Dozens of thick mechanical tentacles, bent long like snakes.

The thickness was enough to swallow an average car.

They writhed strangely and convulsed on the floor of the coal mine, and then emitted intense lasers from their tips.

On the floor supporting such tentacles, hundreds and thousands of wires were connected, flowing somewhere on the floor of the coal mine.

Thwack!

Having confirmed that much, Lenok immediately dropped the spear shaft he was holding.

At the same time, he released the levitation magic and threw himself upside down into the coal mine’s underground.

As if waiting for it, dozens of lasers bent and rushed in unison from all directions.

But this time, instead of touching the shield, Lenok began to form the hand seals of a summoning spell in an instant, overlapping both hands.

Summoning magic, in which he had gained some insight through research with Aris.

It was impossible to summon a summoner right away as its essence, but it was enough to summon the items Lenok possessed to this place.

Kagagagak!!!

Around Lenok’s body, which had crossed both arms, a heat haze as if space was distorted, along with an unknown mass of carapace, began to surround Lenok.

The laser bombardment fiercely hammered the armor, but the destructive power that had been felt until now was so awkward that it failed to penetrate the carapace and faded away.

The mass of carapace that had fallen from the air fell straight into the coal mine’s underground.

Kuuuuuung!!!

A massive tremor shook the entire coal mine.

Due to the impact of the fall, some of the mechanical tentacles that were shooting at Lenok were destroyed, while others, trying to pierce the carapace, attacked each other and tore themselves apart.

Only then did Lundell realize something was wrong and stop the tentacles’ lasers.

Crackling…!!

The pile of carapace split open, and Lenok slowly walked out from within.

Lenok, stepping onto the floor littered with wires, already had another cigarette in his mouth.

Lundell, who had been facing away from the dozens of tentacles, spoke in a nonchalant voice.

[You have a boring item. Thanks to you, the stage I prepared has become useless.]

It wasn’t wrong.

Although the preparation time was only half a day, the capital Lundell had invested in this was truly enormous.

The official name of the mechanical tentacles Lundell was currently using was ‘Junes’s Serpent’.

Though they had a bizarre and simple appearance, they were actually parasitic magical engineering batteries with autonomous will, automatically firing upon recognizing an enemy.

They used the earth’s power and nearby electricity as their power source to generate fission energy, which they then fired as a laser.

Even while firing lasers, the tentacles could move freely and change the direction of the lasers at will, and their power was so strong that even a military-grade physical ability user would have difficulty withstanding it.

Just installing one was considered enough to establish a base, and there were dozens of these medium-to-large-sized battery engineering products. Moreover, they had deliberately compressed the space into one place and resonated the lasers, so how powerful would it be?

There was no need to mention how absurd the carapace was that had withstood such a laser bombardment unscathed.

[I see how poorly the combat data has been collected. To think that there isn’t even information about the existence of such a shield recorded in the database… I’ll have to completely review the plan when I get back.]

“There’s no need to do that.”

Whoosh!!

Lenok said as he reverse-summoned the carapace mass.

“Because there isn’t much you can learn by investigating this.”

The item Lenok had just taken out was a piece of armor obtained from the body of the Apostle Walter, which had not been burned even by the flames of the magnetic field.

Lenok had been pondering how to use the endlessly hard and heavy object, and after gaining a deeper understanding of summoning magic, he had planned to engrave a summoning circle on it and use it in this way.

It was the first time he had used it in actual combat, but its effect was remarkably great.

The impact of the carapace mass falling had already twisted and crushed the entire underground area of the coal mine.

However, even at Lenok’s words, Lundell shrugged nonchalantly.

[Well, you seem to be having a pretty hard time for someone who says that?]

“……”

Lenok, with a cigarette in his mouth, had sweat dripping down his forehead.

Even though he had been using public magic to adjust the temperature nearby to a comfortable level, it was still like this.

That meant that the air in the area was abnormally heated and burning.

The endless barrage of lasers pouring out from inside the coal mine. The presence of the enormous amount of heat that poured out as a result.

The heat rising in the somewhat enclosed space was circulating inside without being able to escape through the narrow gaps in the ceiling.

If they lingered here for too long, it wouldn’t be strange if they suffocated from the thickening heat and thinning oxygen.

Considering Lundell’s meticulousness, he had probably chosen this coal mine as his stage with this in mind.

It was not surprising.

[Time limit. It’s my victory, magician.]

Lundell chanted mockingly.

[A coal mine 900m underground. The stairs on the walls have all collapsed, and there is no route for you to escape. Even if you have a means of rescue, you won’t be able to touch it until you kill me.]

Lundell began to walk briskly, gripping the blade he had pulled out between his palms.

[All that’s left is to record your dying struggles in my memory.]

“I keep thinking, do all the guys who replaced their heads with machines talk this much?”

Zzzzt!!

Lenok, holding a long strand of current between his fingers, slowly walked forward.

The blue light illuminated Lenok’s face from below.

“If you wanted to talk so much that you replaced your tongue with a speaker, I’d understand.”

[Yes, that’s more like it.]

Lundell also let out a stiff laugh.

[Our magician’s last dance before death. I’ll gladly join you!!!]

Kwa kwa kwa kwang!!

A spectacle of bizarrely twisted machinery. Between the bundles of wires overlooked by dozens of tentacles, two flashes of light divided the cavity and flickered.

The figures of Lundell, who was dashing through the air, changing his attacks dozens of times as if freely moving through space, and Lenok, who was receiving them by striking dozens of streaks of electricity in all directions.

Around the magician with a cigarette in his mouth, sharp blades and shells flashed and exploded incessantly, forming a hot storm inside the cavity.

Tatatatatatang!!

The sight of Lundell, who was changing his position without a single moment of rest, and Lenok, who was receiving all the attacks pouring out from his position.

Behind the two of them, unrefined magic burst out relentlessly, constantly burning the dark coal mine.

Kagagang!!

The debris of soil and hot wind pouring down like rain from the sky.

Without caring about the dust that was spreading so thickly that they couldn’t see an inch ahead, they waved their hands incessantly.

[Hahahaha! This is ridiculous!]

Lundell’s body, which was divided into several afterimages, shouted in unison.

[Even after doing this much, I’m barely collecting any data! How far have you improved your formula structure that it’s not even visible!!]

The reason Lundell had come to this place today was to directly extract Lenok’s data, which could not be analyzed even with formula bias analysis.

However, even while pushing him this far and exchanging fierce attacks, he could not read anything about the formulas he was using.

The magic pattern was endlessly twisted and complex. The more he tried to recognize and interpret the pattern, the more it twisted and created a complex mass of chaos within.

It was as if it had created a disorder that contained no order at all, and it was only bizarre.

Only simple facts that even a child would know, such as his habit or preference for using electric and ice-type formulas without any pattern or breathing, flowed into Lundell’s database.

Even while fighting against such a complex opponent, all he could read was a tiny fragment.

Kwaang!!

Lundell, who had formed an interspace and kicked Lenok once more, sending him flying into a corner of the coal mine, said.

[If you keep being boring, I have no choice.]

Charrrrrk!!

At the same time, dozens of mechanical tentacles that rose from under his feet shone with a dark red glow and swayed behind Lundell’s back.

[After piercing your limbs with a decomposition ray, I’ll have to dissect you alive and analyze you at the cellular level.]

“……”

[This is your own fault. We didn’t want to add unnecessary variables by coming this far either.]

“I see.”

Lenok’s voice echoed from the corner of the coal mine, shrouded in darkness.

“I feel the same way.”

At that moment, the mechanical tentacles that had been swaying behind Lundell’s back until just now staggered all at once and began to smash their heads into one place.

The direction of the tentacles was the very spot where Lundell was standing.

Charrrrrrk!!

[……!!!!!]

Lundell, in shock, pushed away the space and dodged the mechanical tentacles, but it was already too late.

The tentacles, as if their owner had changed in an instant, quickly changed their position and created a distance from Lundell. Lenok slowly walked out over the countless bundles of wires.

Only then did Lundell realize what was going on, and his suppressed voice leaked out.

[Damn it, could it be……!!]

“Was it called Junes’s Serpent?”

Lenok said, dusting off his coat and wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“It was a good idea to recognize the existence of the coal mine in advance and try to dry me out.”

[How the hell!!]

“But then you should have paid attention to their security. It was much more lax than I thought.”

[Even if you tried to hack the control, it was less than 5 minutes… Even considering the calculation ability of a magician, it would have been impossible in such a short time!!]

“It’s not like only you guys can handle machines well.”

The magical engineering research group, Gearside. Their technological prowess, powerful firepower, thorough preparation, and high intelligence were all undoubtedly threatening.

However, the existence of the electronic spirit that was with Lenok made all those barriers meaningless, and they had enough capability to strike at Gearside’s blind spots.

Weeeeeeeng!!

The laser clusters shining at the ends of the tentacles all turned their heads towards Lundell and began to warm up.

Lenok smiled as he watched Lundell slowly step back.

“Then it’s my turn now.”