Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 358

The cold gaze made Evelyn move before Lenok did.

‘……!!’

Clang!!

She didn’t draw the short bow on her arm, but the large longbow she carried on her back. The bow limbs rose up as if black wings were spreading out to both sides.

She then took out three arrows, nocked them, and channeled her magic.

Whoooosh!!

Green magic spiraled along the arrows, extending its energy in all directions. The moment Lenok turned his gaze at the unusual reaction,

Evelyn released the bowstring.

Fwoooosh!!

The three arrows that left her hand curved in different directions immediately after firing, targeting Maiya on the ground in an instant.

The three arrows, which flew through the wide inner space of the chamber, converged at one point.

The rotating three-way magic caused a reaction, creating a violent explosion.

KWA-AAAAAANG!!

The explosion that occurred beneath Lenok and Evelyn occupied nearly half of the chamber and burst out.

The storm of dark green magic not only swept across the ground but also extended into the passages in the chamber walls, unable to withstand its power.

It was a power that was unusual at a glance. Lenok was rather surprised by the extreme response and turned his gaze to Evelyn.

‘Evelyn, who is that woman?’

If Evelyn, who had worked as an agent in the shadows of the megacity, was launching such an extreme preemptive strike, there had to be a good reason.

This indirectly proved that Evelyn recognized the woman who had appeared on the ground and even vaguely knew the extent of her power.

‘……Maiya Lenslet. The most outstanding executor from the Machine City, Machina.’

Evelyn said with a stiff face.

‘I heard she went missing after the Ascension Gate Project 20 years ago. I never thought I’d run into her in a place like this…….’

‘Current Bow. Evelyn Marcia.’

Maiya’s voice cut off Evelyn’s words without hesitation, coming from right next to them. The two turned their gazes almost simultaneously.

Maiya was standing on the wide block where Lenok and Evelyn were, looking at them as if nothing had happened.

Incredible speed. In terms of agility, she was definitely comparable to or even better than Evelyn.

She stared at Evelyn’s face for a moment and then said,

‘I didn’t expect you to be in the Blue’s favor. Have you decided to follow the Lighthouse Keeper and watch the end of the world?’

‘……That’s what I should be saying.’

Evelyn replied with a cool, calm gaze.

‘I never thought you, the most ascetic of the Machine City’s executors, would covet the Ascender’s relic.’

‘Heh heh. You seem to have studied history quite diligently.’

Maiya said with a low laugh.

‘Everyone has their own circumstances.’

‘…….’

‘I’d like to play with a talented junior if I could…….’

Maiya’s eyes, which alternated between Evelyn and Lenok, sank deeply.

‘But I’m not exactly overflowing with time either. I’ll take my leave first.’

‘Ten seconds.’

Lenok muttered as he pulled out his rifle.

‘Time’s up.’

Maiya, who had approached the two of them in an instant without following the order of the blocks.

Her agile movements and speed were comparable to Evelyn’s, but even she wouldn’t be able to escape the forced transfer of this chamber.

Lenok thought so and was about to aim his gun at the place where she would be transferred when.

Maiya raised the fur ball she was holding above her head.

An unknown, intangible barrier spread out from the fur ball floating in the air, covering her and rotating.

Keee-ee-ing!!

Her body flickered with a strange sound of space distorting, but surprisingly, Maiya remained in place.

‘……!!’

The two’s expressions changed drastically at the sight of Maiya, who had withstood the forced transfer of the gate.

The fur ball hanging on her shoulder. They thought it was just an accessory, but it had such a function.

‘I had something to ask about Gearsides if I met someone from Vulcan…… If you were moving around here, you probably don’t know much about the city.’

Maiya said.

‘I’m not really interested in the Legacy of Jintun. You guys can divide it up as much as you want.’

‘You think we’ll just let you go?’

Clang!!

Evelyn, who usually replaced most of her close-quarters combat with a single arrow, reached for the longbow hanging on her back.

Lenok had seen her reaction once a long time ago.

At the factory where Kraken Acilius was rampaging, Evelyn had saved Lenok’s life. She had been holding the longbow, ready for battle with the crocodile giant.

It meant that when Evelyn, who was as skilled in close combat as she was in archery, was going to exert her full power, she would use equipment other than arrows.

It meant that she had decided to face Maiya here.

Maiya, who was about to turn away, sighed and reached for her waist.

‘Hey…… Are you, an archer, really going to try to fight me?’

‘I’ve always been curious.’

Evelyn replied with a smile, pulling the bowstring of the longbow she was holding.

At the same time, instead of the bow limbs spreading out into the shape of a longbow, they contracted and shrunk, transforming into a size that could be wielded with one hand.

‘I wonder if the skills of a renowned executor from the Machine City can really compare to those of an agent team leader.’

‘That’s a pretty lame provocation, junior. You need to learn how to get your opponent riled up a bit more.’

Maiya, having confirmed the bow limbs emitting a smooth green magic light, smirked and lowered her stance.

At the same time, she held a sword with an angular blade in reverse grip and channeled her magic.

‘But…… well, fine. I’ll play along for a bit.’

‘Let’s see how long you can stay so relaxed…… I’ll see!!’

Evelyn and Maiya twisted their feet at the same time, and then disappeared from their spots.

Ta-ta-ta-ta-tang!!!

At the same time, incredibly intense impact sounds began to echo dozens of times above the gate.

The noise, which sounded like a machine gun firing, continued without a single break.

Two streaks of light, freely running along the walls and ceiling of the blocks, curved and collided, compressing at an unbelievably fast speed.

The figures of the two, which could not be seen properly, only faintly entered the field of vision, overlapping between the shadows at the moment of collision.

Lenok activated his magic detection, which didn’t work well in this maze, to its limit, and only then could he roughly guess how the two were fighting.

A high-speed battle colliding in mid-air, relying on the occasionally floating blocks, without any other footholds.

It was a clash of reflexes pushed to the limit, where it was impossible to properly control not only the opponent’s movements but even one’s own.

Ka-ga-ga-ga-gak!!!

Zero to max speed from a standstill.

Not only the speed of moving the body, but also dozens of mind games and psychological warfare were deployed in the fleeting moments of changing direction.

They ran at full speed to seize the initiative in the battle and overwhelm the opponent.

Kwaang!!

Even in the fleeting moments of leaping and changing direction while stepping on different blocks, they relentlessly swung the weapons in their hands.

In a battle between superhumans of this level, speed is the right to attack first.

However, the existence of blocks floating haphazardly in this space creates an opportunity to reverse a once-tilted battle situation.

High-angle maneuvers that change direction and center dozens of times, regardless of front and back, top and bottom, with one huge block in between.

Two superhumans, who may have already abandoned their hierarchy, were fully exerting their small universes, swinging them and aiming for each other’s throats.

A high-speed battle that did not allow even a moment of breath. However, while sharing the commonality of incredible agility, their styles were clearly different.

At the moment when Evelyn manipulates the direction of power with the inertial bias she exerts to the limit, Maiya, on the other hand, overlaps her magic several times to break through all those variables at once.

The pale flash created by overlapping magic multiple times, she was slamming it into the blade to create an unbelievable amount of penetration power.

That strange penetration power must be the result deeply related to Maiya’s own small universe.

Lenok quietly frowned as he watched the two of them dash between hundreds of blocks.

‘Too fast…… It’s hard to time it.’

High-speed maneuvers that exceeded cognitive ability. Magic detection that didn’t work as well as usual. The Eye of Possibility that didn’t activate.

There were many reasons, but basically, the two’s attacks were too evenly matched.

In a melee battle at that level and speed, Lenok couldn’t easily be sure if his intervention would help Evelyn.

If he could use the Eye and magic detection, he would have tried to intervene even at the risk, but now that the two abilities he used in battle were simultaneously out of order, he had to be patient.

Du-du-du-du!!!

The more intense the battle became, the more the scattered magic light intensified its color.

The black-green slashes that flipped and curved dozens of times with each swing, and the pale flashes that rushed in straight lines, collided relentlessly, indiscriminately smashing the surrounding blocks.

Before long, a conclusion was reached.

As if the evenly matched battle that had been going on until just now was a lie, the flash caused by Maiya accurately struck Evelyn, slamming her down onto a block.

Kwaaaang!!!

‘Ugh……!!’

Evelyn immediately got up, but she couldn’t hide the painful look on her face.

Maiya looked down at Evelyn and shook her head.

‘Right. If you don’t want to be transferred, you have to go back to the last block you stepped on every 10 seconds. You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?’

‘…….’

Evelyn couldn’t refute Maiya’s indifferent words.

Unlike Maiya, who had avoided the spatial transfer of the gate with the unknown ability of the fur ball, Evelyn was still affected by the environment of the gate.

Therefore, even while facing Maiya, she was fighting with the penalty of having to return to the block she had stepped on with Lenok every 10 seconds.

However, Maiya’s expression as she looked down at Evelyn was not very comfortable either.

She had not been able to completely overwhelm an archer who was not a melee-specialized warrior, and who had a set destination to move to every 10 seconds.

Maiya had also been injured in the battle with Jaun, but she could not deny that Evelyn’s skills were considerable.

‘I’ve changed my mind a bit. I thought you were just a talented archer, but how many nobodies did you beat up in Vulcan to be so good at fighting?’

‘Can you do as well as Maiya?’

Evelyn retorted with a sharp smile.

‘I still remember the number of targets you eliminated in the Machine City.’

‘…….’

Maiya’s gaze turned cold at Evelyn’s mention of the Machine City.

It was practically the same as touching her reverse scale [a metaphor for something that angers someone]. However, instead of focusing on confronting Evelyn here, Maiya quickly regained her composure.

She knew that although she had temporarily escaped the transfer of the gate with the help of the Doctor, this time would not last long.

‘……Say whatever you want. You won’t be able to stop me now anyway.’

At the same time as she distanced herself from Evelyn, Maiya’s body was as close to the gate as possible.

It was now impossible to stop Maiya from passing through the gate first.

She glanced at Evelyn and Lenok and then immediately reached out towards the door in the chamber’s ceiling.

A forced transfer was deployed once again right in front of the gate to prevent her from approaching, but even so, the fur ball shone once again, blocking the unknown intangible force.

At the same time as Maiya’s body disappeared beyond the gate, Evelyn slightly lowered her head.

‘…….’

‘It’s right to let her go first at that level. Don’t worry.’

Lenok gently patted Evelyn’s shoulder, whose expression had changed to a tired one.

‘Since our path is blocked for now, we couldn’t hold her forever. We should be satisfied for now with finding out Maiya Lenslet’s skills and secrets.’

‘……Right. For now, we need to focus on the lower area.’

Evelyn, who had barely regained her senses, turned her gaze towards the lower area.

‘We’ll have to hold out against those guys until your Eye returns.’

By now, there were at least dozens of superhumans on the ground of the chamber, facing each other from all directions.