Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 357

The two of them almost simultaneously grasped the meaning of the gate’s scenery and nodded.

‘It’s telling us to step and climb,’

‘Can you try using the Monocular?’

Lenok, at Evelyn’s suggestion, tried to rotate his magic eye while holding the Monocular, but slightly frowned.

‘……It won’t work. It seems like my eyes are overloaded.’

‘What?’

Evelyn, turning her head sharply, strode towards Lenok and grabbed his cheeks with both hands.

‘Your eyes? Are you okay?’

‘……’

With her thin hands, she carefully flipped Lenok’s eyelids and stared intently at his pupils with her green eyes.

Lenok, regaining his senses from her unhesitating attitude, quietly grabbed her wrist and stood up.

‘I’m fine. It seems to be a side effect of using the magic eye too often.’

‘But……’

‘I should have figured out these limitations as soon as possible after getting the magic eye, it’s my mistake. I haven’t paid much attention to the magic eye’s abilities, and this is what happened.’

Evelyn said with a stern expression.

‘It’s better to refrain from using it for a while. I’ve heard many rumors that really powerful magic eyes take away the user’s eyesight as a price.’

‘……Okay.’

The magic eye, awakened through the encounter with the high-ranking Cartel executive and the experience at the Blaver Magic Tower’s Western Continent branch, still had much room for growth and considerable potential.

Lenok had been trying to minimize the use of his magic eye, considering the possibility of problems with his optic nerves, but he realized that he should have figured out the magic eye’s limitations earlier and clicked his tongue.

Taking care of his body and health was important, but if he couldn’t use the magic eye’s power to see through the Monocular at the necessary moment, it would be impossible to maintain the same speed of labyrinth breakthrough as before.

‘I should visit the Cartel when I get back.’

Lenok thought, gently touching his throbbing eyes.

Among the superhumans Lenok knew, the number of magic eye holders was extremely rare, but among them, there was an authority who was undoubtedly at the forefront when it came to eyes.

Oliviera Ron Maze, the chairman of the Cartel and an 8th-level sorcerer with the Seven-Colored Treasure’s magic eye.

If they were maintaining a cooperative relationship now, Lenok wouldn’t be outright rejected even if he asked a few questions about the magic eye.

Even without that, the frequency of using the magic eye had recently increased, and there were more and more things he could do with these eyes.

When he felt he had grasped the beginning of growth, it was necessary to set the direction correctly in advance.

While Lenok was thinking, Evelyn, who had been looking at him worriedly, turned her gaze away.

‘I’ll go first. You just watch from there.’

Perhaps she thought it was more reasonable for her, who was relatively agile and light, to take the lead and check for traps.

In fact, since entering this labyrinth, Evelyn had been focusing on assisting Lenok, even taking on the role of a ranger.

Evelyn carefully leaped and stepped onto one of the floating blocks in the air.

Thud!

The block sank slightly from the recoil.

As Lenok nodded at the sight, Evelyn turned her gaze sharply towards Lenok.

‘Just so you know, I’m not that heavy.’

‘……Were you talking about weight?’

Leaving behind the sudden protest that even Lenok took time to understand, Evelyn immediately moved in succession.

Evelyn’s figure, which had disappeared from sight in an instant, lightly stepped on the floating blocks and leaped.

She soared hundreds of meters up in an instant, heading towards the door floating in the sky.

The moment Evelyn tried to reach out to the gate with the same speed she had been accelerating.

Whoosh!

‘Huh?’

Her body disappeared as if it had been extinguished, and then she reappeared right next to Lenok.

Lenok nodded slightly at the sight.

‘It means it’s not a simple trap or trap……’

‘Ugh, I almost reached it…… What was the problem?’

Lenok, watching Evelyn brush her hair back and get up, turned his gaze away.

‘I think there might be a rule about the order or direction of stepping on the blocks.’

‘A rule…… you mean?’

‘Otherwise, it’s hard to explain the force that forcibly moved you right in front of the gate.’

Lenok replied, looking up at the door floating in the sky.

‘It’s unlikely that Jintun is rejecting intruders now. So, we can only assume it’s because we didn’t follow the order. Perhaps a special law is at work within this space.’

‘Hmm…… Now it feels more like the Ascender’s labyrinth.’

A powerful command that could forcibly designate and move the location of a 7th-level Saint-level ability user.

If someone of Evelyn’s caliber couldn’t even perceive it, it wasn’t just a matter of the spell being sophisticated and natural.

In fact, it was impossible without a space manipulation ability that was almost on par with the laws of physics.

Considering that the existence of this labyrinth was a kind of construct created by barrier magic, it was at a level that was hard to believe even with Lenok’s knowledge.

If one mastered barrier magic to the extreme, would it be possible to create new laws that even Saint-level ability users couldn’t avoid under certain conditions?

Evelyn, who had quickly loosened up, slightly lowered her stance and pulled up her magic power.

Whoosh!!

At the same time as a light gust of wind rose beneath her feet, she instantly turned into a black flash and disappeared.

She passed through the blocks in succession and sprinted towards the gate.

Poof!

She reappeared next to Lenok without fail, but as if she had been waiting, she changed direction, grabbed another block, and soared upwards.

‘It seems that if you don’t match the order of crossing the blocks, you have to start over from the moment you stop.’

Whoosh!!

Evelyn, who had climbed onto the nearest block, said that and stepped onto the block right next to her.

After waiting for about 3 seconds in that state, her body moved through space and appeared next to Lenok.

‘This is proof that this order is not the answer. If I cross to the block behind me instead of the one next to me and wait here……’

Even after 3 seconds, she didn’t move from the block.

Evelyn spread her hands and smiled awkwardly.

‘That’s about all I’ve figured out for now. There are so many blocks that it will probably take a long time to find the number of cases.’

‘Hmm……’

Lenok’s gaze, which had been lost in thought, sparkled as it turned towards Evelyn’s feet.

‘Stone fragments are falling. It means the blocks themselves are not indestructible.’

‘Ah, I know that too. I’ve already experimented with it. But……’

At the same time as she coated her finger with magic power and poked the block, the block shattered and scattered as if it had exploded.

Bang!!

Evelyn looked at Lenok and pouted her lips.

‘See? It’s being restored. It won’t mean much.’

As she said, the shattered block was quickly gathering and being restored to its original shape.

It was slightly different from what he had expected, but it was common sense.

Rather than making all the blocks in the gate indestructible even with the power of a superhuman, it would be much easier to restore them to their original shape after they were destroyed.

However, even after hearing Evelyn’s words, Lenok shook his head and reached for his sleeve.

‘The important thing is that the blocks are restored after being destroyed.’

Click!!

Lenok, who had taken out his sniper rifle, quickly loaded a bullet and bent one knee to the floor.

Evelyn, who saw him put his eye to the scope, belatedly realized Lenok’s intention and muttered.

‘……Could it be?’

Instead of answering, Lenok pulled the trigger.

Bang!!

The bullet fired from the rifle hit the block next to Evelyn, crushing and penetrating the inside of the block before stopping.

Due to the impact, the block debris scattered in the air and then restored, burying even the bullet inside.

Lenok reloaded the rifle and muttered.

‘That’s number 1.’

‘Are you planning to embed bullets in the blocks and use them as markers? That’s a very creative idea……’

Evelyn, who was amazed, stepped down from the block and muttered as she stood behind Lenok.

‘But even if you distinguish the floating blocks and number them, it won’t change much.’

‘It’s important. Because these blocks don’t seem to be reacting to life signs, but to power like magic.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’m going to embed bullets and use them as a medium to transfer magic power and check the order of the blocks in advance.’

Lenok replied while pulling the trigger without a break.

‘You don’t need to embed bullets in all the blocks. It’s enough if you can transfer magic power to nearby blocks using the bullets as a medium.’

‘So, it’s a frontal breakthrough……? But you still have to calculate a lot of cases. It will take quite a while just to do the calculations.’

It was obvious that both Lenok and Evelyn had far superior judgment and memory compared to other superhumans.

Transferring magic power, remembering the direction and trial and error, and excluding them from the candidates was not difficult, but the problem was time.

In the end, if they couldn’t find a shortcut or a shortcut, wouldn’t they only get the merit of starting to solve the gate’s puzzle a little earlier than others?

However, Lenok smiled despite Evelyn’s words.

‘No…… This method is fine.’

[Master really can’t do anything without me.]

Dabi, who had woken up while rubbing his eyes inside the coat, grumbled.

[To treat a brain spirit like me as just a calculator…… From now on, all of Master’s phone batteries are removed.]

‘If you finish the calculations in time, I’ll give you everything.’

Lenok smiled and stroked Dabi’s head.

‘So, please do your best, partner.’

[……Hmph.]

Dabi snorted at Lenok’s words, but didn’t say anything more.

After that, Lenok focused on embedding bullets between the blocks.

There was no need to embed bullets in all the thousands of blocks.

It was enough to satisfy the range that could distinguish even the nearby blocks using the bullets as a medium.

According to Lenok’s rough estimate, the work would end with a little less than 200 bullets.

There was a minor commotion when Evelyn, who was watching from the side, took out the magazine and threw the bullets with her bare hands to help, but it didn’t take long.

‘Let’s start.’

[I’m ready.]

At the same time as the magician and the spirit solidified their will, the blocks floating in the vast space began to flicker with blue light.

Beep beep beep!!

‘This is……’

Like electrical signals going back and forth inside precise mechanical parts, magic light that flickered hundreds of times per second brightly illuminated the space.

Even with Evelyn’s dynamic vision, it was difficult to confirm the rules or order, but soon the appearance began to change little by little.

Flash, flash, flash, flash!!

Among the magic lights of the blocks that continued to light up and go out, blocks that no longer went out and continued to maintain the light of magic began to appear one by one.

Like lighting the way in order, the blocks that revealed their existence one by one while maintaining the light among the flashing lights.

Evelyn, who had confirmed the path of magic that stretched from the closest block on the ground, widened her eyes.

‘Wait a minute, are you starting the calculations now? What kind of computing device do you have that the speed is this……’

[Please correct that archer’s misunderstanding quickly.]

Dabi, who had poked his head out from inside Lenok’s coat while flapping his three tails, protested.

[You have to let them know that the computing power of the great brain spirit is not comparable to just a calculator.]

Instead of answering, Lenok handed his cell phone to Dabi from his pocket.

As soon as Dabi saw it, he stopped talking and immediately began to suck on the bottom of the cell phone with both front paws.

[Om nom nom.]

Lenok glanced down at Dabi and immediately turned his gaze towards the blocks floating above his head.

By now, more than half of the blocks in this space had stopped flickering and were shining brightly while maintaining the magic light.

Evelyn also confirmed the path created by the light and frowned.

‘……It’s completely random. It would have taken a really long time to find it by calculating each one individually.’

The order of the path that started from one block appeared on the completely opposite block of the space, appeared on a block that had sunk down, and then soared up again.

Just when it seemed that the order was only matched on blocks that were deliberately far apart, it also led to blocks right next to each other.

There were even cases where the order would not continue unless you returned to a block you had already crossed.

The reason why they were able to solve all these trials and errors at an abnormally fast speed was because of the existence of Dabi, who possessed the powerful computing power of a strong artificial intelligence.

He had been delegated the control of the magic light emitted by Lenok and was applying all the possible cases in the thousands of blocks one by one with his powerful computing power.

A culmination of computation that performed simple repetitive tasks that were possible for humans at an overwhelmingly fast speed.

For Dabi, a brain spirit specialized in algorithm learning and creation, it was a relatively much easier task.

Lenok, seeing that, immediately stepped towards the block that was shining the closest.

‘Let’s move.’

‘Already? Wouldn’t it be better to cross after all the calculations are done? What if you get confused in the middle?’

Evelyn said that, but she quickly followed Lenok and started moving between the blocks.

Even though she had her own thoughts, she was following Lenok’s instructions for now.

Lenok also used levitation magic to step on the blocks in order and replied.

‘We don’t know when other entrants will follow us into this space. Since the level of those gathered here is considerable, they will quickly realize what this light means.’

‘I guess so, if we show it even for a moment, they will quickly remember and follow……’

‘Instead, if we erase the traces of the blocks we’ve passed, we won’t be easily caught up by the latecomers.’

Lenok and Evelyn began to diligently cross between the blocks, erasing the traces and magic power they had left behind.

[Progress 62%. 3 minutes until calculation is complete.]

‘Ugh?!’

‘It’s 10 seconds in perceived time. It seems like it resets if you stay in the air longer than that. We have to be careful.’

There was a small commotion when Evelyn lost her footing and Lenok saved her, but it wasn’t a big problem.

Until Dabi, who had been repeatedly matching the order of the magic light, suddenly stopped all calculations.

[Progress 96%. Calculation stopped.]

‘What?’

[There is an unidentifiable variable. It is no longer possible for magic power to remain no matter which block you transfer to from this block.]

‘Have you checked all the blocks you’ve already crossed?’

At Lenok’s words, Dabi nodded.

Evelyn, who had been waiting for Lenok’s decision from behind, asked.

‘Is there a problem?’

‘……It seems like there’s something hidden in this space that we haven’t figured out.’

When Lenok roughly explained the existence of the variable, Evelyn’s slightly excited expression also subsided.

‘It seems like they’re not going to let us go easily.’

‘……’

Dabi said that the progress of the calculation, which had put all the blocks floating in this space as variables, was 96%.

If so, the number of blocks remaining to reach the gate would not be much.

Where on earth did the problem arise that caused such a significant variable that the brain spirit’s calculation was cut off?

Even if he spread his magic detection around the space, he couldn’t detect any major problems other than the strange sense of incongruity that was coming from all directions.

There was only one way.

‘We’ll have to wait until I can use the magic eye again.’

‘……Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?’

Evelyn lowered her head with a worried expression.

‘At least we need to check what the problem is before we move on. It would be great if we could find the variable before that, but-‘

Kwaaaang!!

Before he could finish speaking, a powerful explosion erupted beyond Lenok’s shield.

A blaze of fire that engulfed the two of them. It was definitely not magic power filled with goodwill.

Evelyn, who had blown away the firestorm that had swept over the blocks with a single gesture, jumped up from her seat.

‘It’s from below.’

‘Yeah. I see it.’

At Evelyn’s sharp voice, Lenok’s eyes also sank deeply.

More than a dozen superhumans, who had appeared through the dozens of doors in the ground of the space they had passed, were glaring at them.

‘We finally found you, you bastards.’

A sharp-faced sorcerer who had fired the explosion spat out a string of curses at Lenok.

‘It was good when you were hiding in the snowy mountains and blowing off other people’s heads, wasn’t it? Now you’re all dead, you……!!’

Taang!!

Before the sorcerer could finish his words, he scattered blood and collapsed from a bullet that had flown in.

Lenok, with a nonchalant face, reloaded his rifle and retorted.

‘If you wanted to say that, you should have dodged that just now.’

‘Yurin!!’

‘You bastards!!’

‘Bring them alive. They won’t die peacefully!!’

The futile death of their comrade, whose traces had disappeared above their heads.

There, other enraged superhumans shouted and jumped onto the blocks to catch Lenok.

Lenok looked down at them calmly, but instead of aiming his reloaded rifle again, he turned to Evelyn.

‘Should I count the numbers?’

‘It’s okay.’

Click!!

Evelyn, who had nocked an arrow on the short bow attached to her left forearm, replied.

Her expression, which had been full of worry for Lenok, had already calmed down.

‘It’s the marksman’s job to time it.’

Peeing!!

The arrow that was shot by pulling the bowstring crossed hundreds of meters and was shot towards the bottom of the space.

The direction the arrow was heading was not the superhumans running on the blocks towards them, but the lowest part of the ground where they had been standing just before.

The superhumans who had not matched the order of the blocks were forcibly transferred to the ground after 10 seconds.

‘Huh?’

The foreheads of the latecomers were pierced one by one by the arrows that Evelyn had shot in advance.

Thud thud thud!!

The sight of the latecomers collapsing without even being able to scream.

There was no time to search their belongings for additional information.

‘For someone who arrived at the second gate first, their response was terrible. It seems their combat power was not good compared to their exploration ability.’

‘Or maybe they were just lucky.’

‘Anyway, it’s clear that other entrants are slowly arriving inside the space.’

‘That’s right. I can hear sounds.’

‘……Sounds?’

At those words, there was no need for Evelyn to answer.

Thud thud thud!!

Along with the loud footsteps coming from outside the space, a roar began to erupt from the doors that were open in all directions.

Kwaaaang!!

‘Uwaaaah!!’

‘It’s the Cavin Knights!!’

‘The Enolas Magic Tower is here too!!’

‘These soldiers don’t even know how to talk properly, where did they come from!!’

‘There’s only one woman here. She’s crazy strong…… We might all die!!’

The quiet space became noisy in an instant, and shouts echoed from all directions.

Even though the methods of finding the way were all different, they were each breaking through the real-time moving maze in their own way and approaching the second gate.

Shhh!

The first to arrive were not large military organizations like the Knights or the Liberation Front.

One woman with a stiff and cold impression walked out of the door in the middle of the space with quiet steps.

In one hand, she was holding an unidentified ball of fur, and in the other hand, she was holding the collar of an already dead corpse.

The moment Lenok’s face hardened at the strange magic power emanating from her whole body.

Maiya, who had quickly looked around, instantly met their eyes.

‘Found you.’