Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 32

He hadn’t felt it directly, but he already knew it in his mind.

The overwhelming versatility of common magic and its diversity that didn’t discriminate against attributes. And the strong mentality to draw out the most efficient move in every moment.

The ability to always have the upper hand, ignoring the compatibility issues that arise in battle, was an incredibly powerful weapon for a mage. Battles should have been a game of understanding each other’s cards and strategies.

“Kuh, hehe…. Please….”

Lenok calmly looked down at the mage, who was muttering with eyes that had given up on everything.

At the end of this long, arduous struggle for survival,

would Lenok also face such an end someday?

Losing all the will to live that he had so fiercely and desperately yearned for. Would he end up begging for mercy from his enemy without any hope?

At that moment, would Lenok be able to cling to survival until the very end?

It was something he couldn’t know now.

And because he didn’t want to know in the future… he had to become stronger.

As he engraved the resolution he had repeated hundreds of times once more in his heart, he covered the mage’s eyes with his left hand.

“Calm down.”

“H-Hic….!”

Grime trembled at the cold sensation of the gun muzzle on his forehead while his vision was blocked.

Lenok whispered.

“If you answer my questions well, I might spare you.”

“W-What….”

“The councilman. Is this all the manpower you can mobilize? It seems like you’ve brought the entire gang. I want to know if you have other connections.”

If they realized that the gang had been pushed back head-on, they would have two options.

To come back even stronger than before, or to give up and retreat.

Lenok wanted to resolve everything here and finish the job cleanly if possible.

Dealing with those who would annoyingly stick to him on the way to the patent office was too tiring.

Fortunately, the mage himself confirmed that there was a high possibility that there would be no more use of force.

Perhaps the fear he felt in his limited senses was too great; he began to babble even about things Lenok hadn’t asked.

“I-If you spare me, I can be of great help in many ways. As a level 3 quasi-mage user, I can assist you as a mage…!! I-I’ll be very useful!”

“Level 3? So you were a level 3 mage.”

“Y-Yes, that’s right. It’s a rank where you start to be recognized as a proper mage….”

Lenok shook his head as he watched Grime, who was still rambling about what the qualifications of a proper mage were.

He didn’t know exactly what kind of realm that rank referred to, but battles between mages weren’t decided in that way.

If what he said was true, then Lenok, who didn’t even know his own rank, shouldn’t be rolling around in the dirt.

That was enough.

Lenok once again recalled the resolution he had made when he killed his first person.

Leave no loose ends.

He had gone through many things since escaping the factory, but that thought hadn’t changed.

As he put pressure on the trigger, the muzzle dug into his forehead.

At that moment, Grime seemed to sense his end and began to scream like crazy.

“N-No! No!! Please, spare me!!”

“Sorry.”

Bang!

Would that hollow apology have been a small comfort at his end?

Lenok didn’t bother to answer that question and got up from his spot.

“……”

Surprisingly, Gail, whom he thought he had completely finished off, was twitching again.

Was his follow-up insufficient? That couldn’t be.

Thunder Calling had a slight prelude before use, and even considering the disadvantage that once a casting point was designated, it couldn’t be changed mid-way, it was still one of the highest-tier common magic spells in the lightning category.

To find a spell with more firepower than that, one would really have to delve into the unique magic system of the lightning category.

If he was skilled enough to take that head-on, he wouldn’t have been trying to get connections while struggling in a gang like this in the first place.

After thinking for a moment, he quickly found the answer.

Lenok silently raised his head and looked at the sky.

The moonlight shining through the hole in the warehouse roof, which had been blown open by the lightning, was gradually concentrating on his body.

Werewolf. A beast of the moon that takes the power of madness hanging in the night sky.

The desire to seek its origin was turning into power, forcing his already dying body to rise again.

“Tsk.”

Lenok clicked his tongue and grabbed Gail’s head, who was trying to stand up while staggering, and slammed it back into the ground.

Although his strength was weak, Gail, who hadn’t even regained his balance properly, couldn’t resist the force and buried his head back into the ground.

Looking at the half-crazed wolf head, Lenok shook his head.

If a mixed-blood werewolf showed this much regeneration just by receiving moonlight, how much of a monster would a pure-blood werewolf be?

‘I can’t expect this kind of result against a proper werewolf.’

They were a race that was more strongly bound by the factor of bloodline than anything else.

The more their blood became tainted, the weaker they became, but conversely, the beasts of the moon called true pure-bloods often had truly terrifying power.

‘I don’t know if pure-blood werewolves will still exist in WORLD 3.0, but…’

Should he look for them later? He pushed the rising thoughts into a corner of his mind and drew up his magic power.

He felt no emotion against this kind of thug wolf.

[Bolt]

Zzzzzap!!

Lenok, who had cleanly sent electricity into Gail’s head, making even regeneration impossible, straightened his back and stood up.

The time it took him to deal with the two who had come to him was about 5 minutes.

It seemed that the outside was still noisy, so the fight hadn’t been decided yet.

There was no great danger for Lenok now, so there was no reason to step out, but it was also true that he felt uncomfortable ignoring those who had fought as his allies.

As he lightly circulated his magic power and was about to go outside the warehouse site, he saw the staff lying next to Grime’s corpse.

“……”

It was a bit difficult to look at because his wrist had been completely cut off by shadow magic, but Lenok, who had become curious, roughly cleaned it up and picked up the staff.

Grime wasn’t a very strong mage, but if he was carrying it around despite the inconvenience, there might be some unique advantage.

Lenok hadn’t ignored the existence of tools, accessories, or artifacts that assisted in the casting of magic, but he didn’t have enough money to spend on them right now.

There was also a somewhat realistic calculation that his talent wouldn’t be very noticeable with minor assistance.

However, there was no reason to refuse the spoils of war he had obtained after the battle.

With a slightly throbbing anticipation, he slowly raised the staff.

Encounter

“……..”

Something, had it changed?

Lenok waited for quite a while, but surprisingly, he didn’t feel anything at all.

So much so that he began to question his own magical talent, which he had never doubted for a single moment.

Lenok, who was tilting his head, strode out of the site and slammed the magic power he had drawn up into the air.

[Lightning Bound]

Kwajijijijik!!!

“Kkyaaaak!!”

“L-Lightning…..!!”

A powerful blow that instantly focused the attention of the remaining gang members who were still fighting fiercely.

And those who were quick-witted immediately realized one very important fact as soon as they saw Lenok.

The boss and the mage had been defeated.

Not just the circumstances, but the fact that the staff that the mage had cherished was in his hand was undeniable proof.

“……”

There were no more screams or gunshots.

The members who realized that the fight was over turned around and began to run away like crazy.

They abandoned the dozen or so cheap jeeps they had brought here, as well as countless guns and ammunition, and ran for their lives.

People who had been watching the scene, which they couldn’t quite believe even after seeing it with their own eyes, finally collapsed as if their legs had given out.

“Hoo…..”

“I-Is it over?”

Lenok had faced the two strongest heads alone, but it was clear that the others outside had also struggled with the relative numerical disadvantage.

Looking back at the flow of the battle, it seemed that they had been repeating a tenacious resistance, using the wreckage of the exploded car as cover.

Even that wouldn’t have been possible without the pyrokinetic who had been throwing himself into the fray at the front.

“Haa, haa….!!”

Because he was a psychic who wasn’t very high level in the first place, he was on the verge of passing out from overexertion.

However, even while lying on the ground, crying and sniffling, he kept looking at Lenok.

He desperately wanted him to know how hard he had fought and endured.

‘Interesting.’

Lenok quietly looked down at the panting pyrokinetic.

With just the ability to emit flames from both arms, he would never have been able to endure the battle just now.

Moreover, the psychic had even fought by drawing attention and burning flames at the front, faithfully carrying out Lenok’s words.

The fact that he had survived and was enjoying the joy of victory after fighting as if throwing his life away was proof that he had begun to acquire the qualifications for it.

Judging from this scenery, which was scorched all around, it was clear that the psychic had developed his pyrokinetic ability beyond its limits.

Was it that he had begun to realize how to fully draw out his talent only after being driven to the extreme?

Whether it was Lenok’s threat or the tension of the urgent battle, it wouldn’t be a bad thing for him as a result.

“You did well.”

He passed by the pyrokinetic, whose face was quickly filled with relief at those words. He had done his job well enough. There was no need to push him any further.

And more than that, he was more curious about what kind of ability this loot he had obtained from the battle had.

If it was something that the mage, who was arrogant in words even though his skills were mediocre, was carrying around, it must have a meaning beyond just decoration.

However, he was still bothered by the fact that he hadn’t yet figured out the nature of that ability.

‘It doesn’t make the casting speed faster, nor does it increase the magic power rotation rate. I thought it might be something that increases the power of magic itself, but it doesn’t seem to be that either…’

“…..Ah.”

And about 30 seconds later. Lenok realized the answer.

It was because the amount of magic power he had consumed had increased very slightly.

It was a very subtle increase rate that was not even a handful of sand in terms of sensation, but Lenok’s extremely sensitive mana sensitivity was instantly feeling it.

“……”

There was no need to even think about it.

Lenok threw away the staff he was holding carelessly and straightened his clothes.

He had no intention of carrying around that long staff just to increase his magic power recovery rate by a measly amount.

There was a limit to how unhelpful it was, and at that level, it would just be like advertising that he was a mage in the middle of a fight.

‘Looking back, it would be good to consider not revealing that I’m a mage when choosing equipment.’

Lenok didn’t want to go around shouting that he was a mage in every battle.

The most effective attack was the preemptive strike. And the most powerful attack was the counterattack that followed immediately after.

That short moment when the opponent didn’t realize Lenok’s identity had been a gap of sure victory for Lenok so far.

‘If I polish this part a little more, I might be able to establish a battle pattern and use it.’

Lenok thought so and looked around at the people who were gradually gathering around him.

During one battle and three magic spells that split the sky, Lenok was being treated as a leader that no one in this group could deny.

He had finished the battle without causing major casualties while facing more than a hundred people with only a dozen or so.

There was no need to explain how great and precious the value of an awakened psychic and an excellent mage was in a large-scale battle.

Although they didn’t even know each other’s names, the eyes of the people who had fought fiercely together all night were filled with a strong trust as if they would give their lives.

Of course, Lenok had no intention of enjoying this one-night stand as a leader for long.

Even if they were acting like blood brothers now, it wouldn’t be strange if they were pointing guns at each other again tomorrow.

Good feelings should be short, and bad memories should be kept long to survive in this world.

However, Lenok smiled without showing any of that on the outside.

“Everyone did well.”

“Euhahaha!!”

“You did well too, mage!”

The people were excited like warriors who had won a war and were promised a huge bounty.

“Those who are okay will take the seriously injured to the hospital. Those who are lightly injured will stay here with me for the rest of the time. According to the interrogation of the mage, there won’t be any additional battles, but let’s make sure we can fulfill the contract until the promised time.”