Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 317

David’s hacking abilities only reached a portion of the thousands of turrets installed on the fortress.

However, even that portion amounted to hundreds of gun ports. Hundreds of cannonballs.

There was no need to explain how devastating the bombardment would be, falling on the defenseless rear of the Defense Force’s main force, which was facing away from the fortress.

Dudududududu!!!

Cannonballs spewing fire from hundreds of gun ports instantly lined up, drawing a massive path of flames.

In an instant, hundreds of Defense Force soldiers were swept away by the barrage, turning into ash and dust, and desperate screams erupted from all directions.

“Hyaaaaaaack!!”

“It’s hot, it’s so hot!!”

“We’re being attacked by the fortress!!! It’s friendly fire!!”

“Order a cease-fire to the control room right now!! Do you want us all to die together!!”

The massive firepower pouring from behind quickly began to crumble the Defense Force’s main force formation.

Through the gaps, the freelancers and Aris’s rear support began to open a path from the front.

Barclay looked down at the scene, gritted his teeth, and raised his communicator.

“The fortress’s artillery system has been seized, cut off that network immediately and renew the authority!! What are you dawdling about!!”

[W-we’re working on it. Even after renewing the authority, the shelling isn’t stopping…!!]

“Stop making excuses and take action quickly!!”

Barclay, gritting his teeth, shouted into the communicator.

“The fortress system itself is no different from the existing fortresses!! Are you going to wait until it shoots all our allies to death!!”

[Without touching the central control system, the control authority of each gun port is being cleverly seized. The Defense Network’s processing power cannot keep up with the attacker’s processing power. Unless we open the entire network and respond…!!]

“Damn it…”

He could clearly feel it even without being told.

Barclay’s mana sense also showed what was happening on the fortress deck right now.

If the authority of the omnidirectional gun ports was seized, the gun ports on the rear side would be taken over to pour down fire.

If the control authority of both sides’ gun ports was regained, this time the fortress’s side defense gun ports would be seized to unleash bombardment.

It was natural that unexpected explosions would occur in the reactor located directly below the fortress.

At this rate, there was a high possibility that even the fortress’s power source would not be properly charged.

Even in this situation, tanks and fighter jets tumbling on the deck exploded one after another, steadily killing the command soldiers.

The shouts of other commanders could be heard through the communicator.

[Barclay!! What are you doing right now!!]

[The rear force has been cut in half by the fortress’s friendly fire. If this continues, we’ll have to retreat completely and barricade ourselves inside the fortress.]

[If the commander finds out about this, do you think he’ll leave you alone!!]

Barclay, who had been looking down, raised his gaze.

“Open the central network. If the processing power is insufficient, borrow it to stop this situation now.”

[But, then it will become relatively vulnerable to external intrusion…]

“We just need to find and kill the bastard before that happens.”

Clank!!

Barclay, readjusting his greatsword, answered with his foot on the edge of the deck.

“I was too distracted earlier to notice, but there’s only one place for him to escape on this fortress.”

If there were no traces of him on the fortress deck, and he didn’t even show himself anywhere in this vast sky, what would that mean?

If the opponent didn’t rise into the sky, it was obvious that he had sunk into the ground.

And on this fortress, the ground would be-

Crack!!

Barclay, embedding his greatsword into the fortress’s outer wall, threw himself downward.

At the same time, he quickly scanned the underside as he fell down the fortress leg.

Barclay’s eyes widened as he found what he was looking for.

“…Found you, you bastard.”

A dense net made of mana threads. He followed the traces with his gaze.

At the center of the net, which was woven with mana threads on the inner underside of the fortress leg like a spiderweb,

A mage with a cigarette in his mouth sat and smiled at Barclay.

* * *

[Third defense line breached! Defense Force’s main force formation collapsed! The path has been opened by the mobile fortress’s friendly fire, attempting to enter the fortress!!]

[Two colonels eliminated. One is missing. Three are engaged in combat, Aris is providing support!!]

[The path has been opened by the bombardment near the reactor. All special forces except Major General Alban have been killed. Other agents besides me are occupying the reactor.]

[This is Felix. Major General Jellych is slightly injured. A significant number of enemy forces have retreated due to the fortress’s friendly fire on the rear gate. I will proceed with the operation.]

Victory reports came one after another through the earpiece.

Lenok turned down the volume of the noisy communication network once more and slowly rose from his seat.

Barclay’s gaze, upside down on the fortress’s underside, was eerily sinister.

He gritted his teeth and slowly walked towards Lenok, muttering.

“I don’t know what tricks you used, but I’m not in a pleasant mood.”

“…”

“To think you’d make us kill our own comrades. You have a very nasty hobby. Was that your plan from the beginning?”

“Of course not.”

Lenok, calmly raising his mana, shook his head with a smile.

“I was just exploring various methods, and I found the most efficient solution.”

In reality, what Lenok had attempted was not that complicated.

At the same time as he recognized that there was a hidden passage while confronting Barclay, he identified a hidden route into the fortress through David.

He had David infiltrate the fortress first through one of them.

The moment he confirmed that David had hacked the closest fortress gun port control system,

Lenok postponed the battle with Barclay and focused on supporting the allies on other entry routes.

The reason he hid himself under the fortress’s underside was because the mana threads he had left behind when he first climbed up the fortress leg were still there.

Rather than engaging in combat immediately, he was focused on actively supplying mana to David, pushing the war situation into chaos.

“All of this tragedy… is just an improvisation?”

Barclay asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Do you expect me to believe that?”

His suspicion was valid.

In a short moment, the series of bombardments caused by Lenok seizing the mobile fortress’s gun ports were so devastating that they changed the war situation in an instant.

The firepower that poured down from the fortress, which they thought was an absolute ally, towards their backs.

It was not difficult to imagine how shocking the attack that pierced the gap where they had been unguarded would be to the Defense Force’s main force, which was engaged in combat on all sides.

The formation that had not given an opening until then collapsed at once, and the situation changed drastically as the tide of the war turned in an instant from the three entry routes that did not miss the gap.

Although Alban and Major General Jellych were still holding out, it was only a matter of time before they would open the way into the fortress.

And the only two people who knew the cause and effect of all of this were here.

The fact that all the security and defense of the mobile fortress had been breached by a single mage was a result that was hard to believe even when seen and heard with one’s own eyes.

And the only person who could fix that mistake was Barclay alone.

“I finally understand what those machine bastards were saying.”

Sssshhh…!!

Sharp winds began to gather between the blades of the greatsword that was stretched towards the ground.

It was the microcosm of a superhuman who had completed his own inner world and constructed it as an inner world [a personal domain of power].

It was the swordsman’s will to freely manipulate the atmosphere and wind as he pleased.

Barclay said, raising the sharp, honed wind on the blade.

“You are too dangerous. I will kill you here before you reach the commander.”

“Barclay. You already know it.”

Lenok smiled on the mana threads that were shaking and breaking little by little.

“That this battle is meaningless.”

“Well, I don’t know.”

Barclay also smiled.

“What I have to do was decided from the beginning!!”

Swaaaaaaack!

At that moment, the sharp edge of the swirling wind instantly cut through the mana threads in all directions and rushed towards Lenok.

However, even in the midst of that, a few strands of mana threads that survived grabbed Lenok’s body and began to traverse the underside of the fortress like a swing.

It was an impossible movement unless he had anticipated that the mana threads would be attacked from the beginning.

“The signal from the control room. I’ve got it for sure.”

Whirr!!

Lenok looked back at Barclay in mid-air and said.

The reason he was hiding behind the fortress’s underside and waiting for the opponent’s reaction.

It was to reverse-track the location of the signal sent from the control room to regain control of the seized gun ports.

Barclay’s face contorted as he realized Lenok’s intention with that one word, and Lenok smiled.

“Now, I just need to kill you and seize control of the fortress.”

“Shut your mouth!!”

Barclay, who was running upside down along the fortress’s underside, became a thick flash of light and chased after Lenok.

An extraordinary speed. But the sharpness mixed in that sprint rotated towards Lenok even more threateningly than the speed.

The severed mana threads clung to his body like a spiderweb, hindering his movement, but they were cut and scattered by the sharp wind.

Lenok ignored Barclay’s appearance and lightly brushed his coat sleeve with his right hand.

Clank!!

The charged shotguns in both hands glowed blue.

He calmly stared at the flash of light that was right in front of him and pulled the trigger.

The charged shotgun, which had been prepared after several warm-ups, fired in an overheated state.

It scattered bluish flames in the air and unleashed a massive shockwave.

Kwaaaaang!!

“Kuaaaack!!”

The amount of charge was so powerful that it pushed back the impact of the charging Barclay head-on.

Due to the recoil, Lenok’s body was pushed out of the fortress’s underside and soared onto the deck.

Lenok’s body, which had cast a levitation spell, barely landed on the deck and tumbled in his coat.

“Ugh…!!”

He had used all kinds of common magic to maintain his balance and protect his condition, but even so, it was difficult for Lenok’s body to handle such intense movements.

Lenok, who could not overcome the rising nausea and vomited a few times, got up with a pale face.

The sense of deja vu as he grabbed a nearby supply box and staggered to his feet.

Before he could shake off that unfamiliar feeling, a streak of light running along the deck from the underside of the fortress caught his eye.

Kwaaaang!!

The flash of light that soared into the sky slammed straight into the ground, unleashing a heavy wind.

Gray hair rising from the center of the fiercely rotating whirlwind.

“Don’t think about running away!!!”

Barclay growled, streams of white light flowing between his eyes.

Lenok, seeing that murderous appearance, brought his hand to his coat sleeve.

Lenok, who had taken out a rosary from his left wrist, slowly brought it forward and said.

“Now that the outcome is decided, there’s no need to waste any more energy.”

“…What?”

The Dharma tool, Jeonto Shin Hae Jin Eon [a Buddhist artifact], began to rotate slowly in Lenok’s hand as it glowed fiercely.

Barclay, who instantly sensed that the artifact was unusual, also readjusted the greatsword in his hand and lowered his stance.

‘He took off the rosary on his wrist. An artifact of the type that is used directly. From the mana I feel, it’s closer to a restraint.’

With decades of combat experience, he instantly grasped the rosary’s ability.

It was clear that it was a somewhat awkward item to take out in this situation, but it would be fine as long as he didn’t get hit by it.

It would be impossible for a mage’s reflexes and reaction speed to even bring the bead to his body.

The moment Barclay contracted all the muscles in his body and rushed forward like an explosion.

Paahhh!!!

An alien mana light burst out from between his front flaps.

It was an old pencil with all sorts of spell characters engraved on it, shining brightly from his military uniform sleeve.

“…!!”

Before Barclay could react to the identity of the object, his body was forcibly teleported a dozen meters.

He was forced to push his neck into the activated rosary.

“Uaaaaaa-!!!”

Only then did he realize what Lenok’s words meant, and he screamed with a vein popping out of his neck, but it was already too late.

His body, which had frozen in space in an instant, stiffened and fell onto the deck.

Barclay’s face, frozen with bloodshot eyes, was screaming. A desperate expression that made one guess how resentful he was in defeat.

Lenok slowly sat down in his place, looking at Barclay’s face.

He lowered his head and vomited, his stomach churning.

“Uuuk…!!”

The aftereffects of rotating like a swing on the fortress’s underside and then climbing onto the deck had not yet subsided.

It had been a very long time since he had made such intense movements with this body.

If it had been in the past, it would not have been strange if he had fainted the moment he gave that much recoil with a charged shotgun in mid-air.

The fact that he was still conscious was probably due to the fact that he had been steadily taking the medicine through the treatment of the medicine fairy, Yanushika Greenway.

It was not just a diagnosis that improved mana poisoning, but also a diagnosis that generally raised Lenok’s condition and increased the low point, so he would have suffered much more if it had not been for that.

[Master, take a slow breath.]

David’s voice, who was still infiltrating the fortress’s internal circuits.

[If you struggle with your esophagus blocked, the possibility of suffocation increases. Calm your breathing and focus on slowly expelling the remaining foreign matter.]

“Hoo, hoo…!!”

Lenok, who was shaking while half-fallen on the ground, gave a bitter smile.

A feeling of helplessness that he had felt in a long time. It was an emotion that he had not felt even while going through numerous battles recently.

When he was falling in mid-air, he was focused on casting a levitation spell and maintaining his balance.

It was virtually the first time he had attempted such intense aerial maneuvers as he had just done.

Lenok, who was staring blankly at the contents he had vomited, slowly raised his body.

“…When I get back, I need to start researching the creation of a personal airship.”

[Are you talking about those things that were used in the Phileon Dominion?]

“The Dominion also completed the automatic flight algorithm, so the software is sufficient.”

Lenok, who wiped his mouth, put away the shotgun he was holding and turned his head.

“Let’s finish what we were doing now and talk about it.”

It was not for nothing that he had captured Barclay while overexerting himself.

There was a strange sense of incongruity that he had felt as the mobile fortress attack operation progressed. He had to ask him about the identity of that.

* * *

Clank!!

“Cough…!!”

Barclay, freed from the rosary’s restraints, opened his eyes wide and twisted his body.

Charrrr…!!

“Damn it!!”

Dozens of strands of purple chains that bound his arms and legs.

Common magic, Gravity Chain. It was also a binding force created by pulling together nearby broken tanks and fighter jets.

Every time he struggled, one side of the deck shook violently, but it was difficult to break the chain bundle right away.

Lenok, in front of such a Barclay, loaded the revolver’s bullets while holding a cigarette in his mouth.

Click, click!!

Barclay’s brow furrowed as he realized how he had been defeated a beat late.

“Damn it, could it be that on the fortress’s underside…!!”

“It was over the moment you came into contact with the pile of mana threads that you had cut off.”

The pile of mana threads that he had cut off when he was chasing Lenok on the fortress’s underside.

The moment a part of it brushed against his military uniform. Lenok had inserted Enacfil’s five fingers [a magical artifact] directly into his military uniform.

Such precise manipulation skills that it was hard to believe that he had done it in the short time he was flying in mid-air.

Barclay looked up at Lenok with disbelief.

“…That pencil. I’ve seen it too. But it shouldn’t be an item that can be used in this way.”

Enacfil’s five fingers are not convenient enough to just insert them anywhere and teleport the opponent.

It was an artifact that was so safe that it would not work without a warm-up time, preparation movements, and the user’s firm will.

It was not for nothing that it was used as an artifact for emergency evacuation of high-ranking politicians.

However, just now, Lenok had used that artifact perfectly as he pleased, as if those safety devices were meaningless, and teleported Barclay.

“If you understand spatial interference, it’s not difficult.”

Lenok, who had finished loading, answered.

“Rather, it’s easier to handle an artifact with such thorough safety measures. It’s easy to adjust it as you like with just a few measures.”

Lenok, who had stroked the white muzzle, pulled the hammer and put his finger on the trigger.

Without the slightest hesitation, he fired one shot at Barclay’s abdomen.

Taang!!

“…!!!”

If it were an ordinary bullet, it would be impossible to even pierce the skin of a Saint-level physical ability user.

However, the bullet fired from Lenok’s revolver easily tore through Barclay’s muscles and lodged itself inside his abdominal organs.

Without stopping there, a cold chill slowly froze his body from deep within.

Barclay, who gritted his teeth and suppressed a scream, smiled weakly.

“This part is, again, very mage-like…!! It’s so thorough…!!”

“You’re going to die.”

Barclay’s words stopped abruptly at Lenok’s calm declaration.

“Unless you cooperate with us, we’re not in a position to keep someone with your skills alive.”

He had tried to persuade him right before the battle started, but that was only before the outcome was decided.

After he succeeded in buying time and having David infiltrate the fortress first, it was a story that had no great meaning.

And Lenok had no intention of showing unnecessary mercy to an enemy he had met for the first time today.

“…I see.”

“So, you don’t have to answer the questions I’m about to ask.”

Lenok said, slightly lowering his waist and meeting Barclay’s gaze.

Eye movements and expressions, changes in heart rate and temperature, and fluctuations in mana flow sometimes reveal more than words.

Especially if it was the moment when he realized that he was facing death.

He asked, taking in all of Barclay’s reactions.

“Where is Lieutenant General Trepen right now?”

“…”

“If he was watching the whole situation from the fortress’s control room, it doesn’t make sense that he hasn’t shown himself yet. At least he should have moved the moment you were defeated.”

It was not enough for the fortress commander to just sit in the control room and direct the situation.

In this world where superhumans were running wild, those with power needed to accurately recognize the places and moments where their power was needed, regardless of rank.

And the moment Lenok seized some of the gun ports and captured Barclay was a decisive moment when the tense war situation tilted to one side.

Even so, if he did not move up to this point, it would be impossible unless something had happened to his safety.

And if there was one thing that could change Trepen’s status now-

“I’ll ask again.”

Lenok’s eyes shone sharply, and his left eye rotated and turned purple.

“Is Lieutenant General Trepen still human?”