Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 373

The very instant Jintun’s life support was removed.

Even if they couldn’t interfere with the timeline where Jaigis and Lenok stood, were they aware of what was happening?

“He’s not an Ascendant [a being who has transcended human limitations], but he’s more unknowable than one. That’s why I decided to bet on him.”

“What… what do you mean?”

Jintun didn’t answer, turning his head instead.

“I made a deal a long time ago. It’s just time to keep my promise.”

Jaigis looked at Lenok with deep eyes.

“Knowing the ending is set, yet doing this at the last moment… it’s because we’ve been facing each other all this time, what are you asking now?”

“……”

Lenok knew it too.

The illusion of Jintun that he had been facing by combining the Monocular [a device for enhanced vision] and the Magic Eye, it couldn’t have been just a simple illusion.

The way Jintun aged from outside the labyrinth to inside, it was something that could never exist unless it was Jaigis’s own will.

He saw the life of a man, starting as a boy, passing through youth, middle age, and reaching old age.

At the very end of that cradle, Jintun was waiting for Lenok to come meet him.

“Your eyes… they see more than what’s visible. They see what doesn’t exist, and they’re eyes that measure. I can tell.”

“That’s…”

“It’s not just a simple Magic Eye, but a mirror that reflects your very heart, isn’t it?”

There was no need to explain everything to him in detail.

With just a trace of what Lenok had revealed in the labyrinth, Jintun casually pointed out the root of it and told Lenok again.

It was just a process of reconfirming what he already knew. It was something that wasn’t even necessary when he was alone.

“If you trace it back from there, I can guess what your heart looks like. And what the Sky Watcher saw in you and left a message about.”

The game is almost over.

The number of white stones Jintun places keeps decreasing, and the black stones Lenok places continuously expand their territory.

Every time the situation shifts, the amount of information flowing into Lenok’s head intensifies, and its density deepens without end.

It would be difficult to process all of it right away, but there was a possibility that it could be fully realized in Lenok’s hands someday.

Jintun was conveying the scenery at the end of the path he had built, to Lenok, as it was.

“I’ve only repeated failures… but I still don’t want the world to be destroyed. If everything I’ve built can leave some kind of meaning, wouldn’t that be enough?”

Jintun chuckled and said.

“If I had to say, it’s like leaving insurance before I go. It’s unsettling to put all your eggs in one basket. You can think of it that way and forget about it.”

“No. I won’t forget it.”

Lenok answered calmly.

“I won’t let it be forgotten.”

What did it matter that the fourth world didn’t exist?

He had guessed that fact from the moment he heard the words that it was a world closed off to the Sky Watcher.

That the cause and effect were intertwined and closed meant that there was no longer a future in this world.

He had only confirmed that fact directly from Jintun today.

What Lenok had to do hadn’t changed.

Jintun was silent for a long time after hearing Lenok’s words.

“You know, I’ve liked playing games since I was young.”

Jintun said, holding a stone.

“But no one could be my opponent for long, so I quickly stopped. I realized it was much more fun to play a game by myself.”

“……”

He knew it was the last game.

Lenok tried not to miss a word he said.

“Barrier magic is a continuous game of competition with oneself. It’s not about breaking through the contradictions within, but about gently bending and resolving them. I quite liked that complex subtlety.”

Jintun smiled.

“Or, was it that I liked myself like that? I’m not sure which it is.”

“Is that so?”

Clack!!

The end is approaching.

At the same time as Lenok picked up the last remaining stone, Jintun spoke.

“Before I go, let’s make one thing clear.”

“Please, go ahead.”

Jintun stared at Lenok’s face for a moment before opening his mouth.

“It’s not that I lost, but that I let you win. You know that, right?”

At that absurd joke, Lenok couldn’t help but laugh.

It had only been a fleeting moment since they had met.

But Lenok felt an immense sense of familiarity with the shabby old man crouching before him.

That must be because, from the moment Lenok entered this labyrinth, he had been constantly reflecting on the trajectory of Jintun’s life.

He knew it.

“No.”

Lenok answered, placing the last stone and completely overturning the game with black stones.

“I will win.”

“This game? Or reality?”

Lenok smiled.

“Either way.”

* * *

Lenok opened his eyes amidst the fragments of a long ritual.

The coldness of the cradle’s floor seeped up his cheek.

Something hot poured down on him, soaking his body.

Swoosh!!!

Crimson blood flowed down before his eyes.

An uncontrollable amount of blood flowed from Jintun’s body, which had lost its life support, and his remains heated the floor.

The faint breath that had been continuing was cut off in an instant.

Jintun Jaigis Edernoer had died in front of everyone who had entered this cradle.

One of the level 9 transcendents who had challenged ascension and transcended humanity had left the world forever at this very moment.

The one who had directly stopped Jintun’s breath, the head of Pandemonium, carefully held Jintun’s body.

“You accepted the fact that you weren’t in the ending you desired. I pay my respects to you for keeping a promise you couldn’t keep.”

A voice that was both male and female, old and young, an indescribably strange voice. But Lenok understood that there was a hint of mourning mixed in with that calm declaration.

“But I will make sure you are not the last. Even if it’s riddled with dirty sacrifices and costs… this world must continue to exist.”

Amidst the noise where his face couldn’t be seen, an endlessly cold glint of light flowed out.

A resolve that had hardened so coldly that even Ermong could glimpse his heart.

The head of Pandemonium muttered, looking down at Jintun’s corpse, who had closed his eyes peacefully as if he were asleep.

“If there are no more miracles in this world, I will create a miracle and prepare for the next.”

“That’s absurd. Are you planning to become the god of a new world?”

The head of Pandemonium didn’t answer Ermong’s dazed muttering.

He only looked down at the two fallen people, then turned his head.

Towards Maiya, who was staggering to her feet and looking up at the head of Pandemonium.

“Maiya. Take care of the two and take them outside the labyrinth. Both of them are skilled enough to join the organization.”

“I have no intention of joining Pandemonium.”

Ermong weakly retorted while lying down.

“It would be much easier for you to just kill me cleanly here.”

“I don’t kill people that easily.”

For the first time, the head of Pandemonium answered.

An answer from the head of Pandemonium, who had been ignoring other beings and only talking to Jintun.

Ermong immediately asked again.

“Even if it doesn’t follow your will?”

“When the sky opens and the end of the outer sea descends, human will will become insignificant.”

“……”

Ermong closed his mouth at that calm declaration.

“At that time, humans will move for only one purpose, regardless of their thoughts and values… I don’t want much.”

The head of Pandemonium slowly turned his gaze towards Ermong.

“To find another breakthrough before all the values of the world are devoured under the single goal of survival.”

“That’s…”

“Life can only truly build and sustain the world when it is dedicated to a goal greater and more sublime than itself. It must be done through a natural and unavoidable flow, in a way that is independent of one’s own will.”

The head of Pandemonium said.

“Miracles never happen through chance or dramatic reversals. I am ready to turn the tables for a single miracle and sustain everything.”

“You’re crazy. You are.”

Ermong stated.

“It might seem that way.”

The head of Pandemonium agreed.

“But I just don’t want others to suffer the pain I’ve experienced.”

The head of Pandemonium muttered, passing by the fallen Ermong and Lenok.

“Once someone has seen the end, no one can escape the will to head towards the conclusion.”

At the same time as the head of Pandemonium slowly walked down the stairs, Maiya slowly stepped up the stairs.

The moment the head of Pandemonium, who was trying to leave the cradle, and Maiya, who was trying to subdue and take the two, crossed paths.

Thump!!

Lenok’s body, which had been lying as if dead, twitched and rose from its spot.

A majestic roar echoed from within Lenok’s body, which was staggering as if it were a puppet with broken strings.

Whoooooooom!!!

A majestic and eerie rotating sound, like the engine of an airplane rotating.

An unknown force was violently rotating within his body, causing his magic power to surge out in all directions without restraint.

The golden circle that had appeared behind Lenok’s back shone brightly like a halo.

A golden wave that had rotated once behind the slumped mage’s back burst out, sweeping away the debris of the cradle.

KWA-AA-AAANG!!!

Amidst that immense repulsive force, Ermong’s body flew up like a toy, and Maiya quickly snatched it and broke it again so that it could not move.

Snap!!

“Ugh…!!”

“I’ve completely severed all the ligaments in your arms and legs, so it’ll be hard for you to walk on your own.”

Maiya, who glared at Ermong with cold eyes, tossed his body at her feet and looked up the stairs.

Lenok’s figure, who was raising his body with his head bowed. An immense amount of magic power was constantly bursting out from his staggering body.

It was hard to believe that he was the same mage who had been panting after using up all his magic power just a moment ago.

For Maiya, who remembered the power of the wide-area magic, the Flame Spiral, that Lenok had unleashed just before entering the gate, her complexion couldn’t help but worsen.

“The problem is that one… Head, what are you planning to do?”

“……”

Still noise where his face couldn’t be seen. But it was clear that the head of Pandemonium was nodding while stroking his chin.

An attitude that clearly showed he was interested. That attitude was evident in his next words.

“I see. I thought differently.”

“What?”

“I thought he had acknowledged and accepted everything, but that’s not quite the case.”

The magic power flowing gently from the head of Pandemonium’s body calmed down even more.

“He was exchanging answers at the last moment… The promise was kept, but the will is that of the mage.”

“What are you talking about?”

The head of Pandemonium, who had been muttering incomprehensible words, finally turned his gaze towards Maiya.

“That mage has taken over the control of the Hanghasa Labyrinth that Jintun possessed.”

“…What?”

“Now that the Ascendant has died, the labyrinth created by his heart will soon collapse, but all the magic power gathered in this cradle will temporarily belong to that mage.”

The head of Pandemonium muttered leisurely, as if it were not his business.

“He must have regained consciousness a while ago, and once he has refined his magic power, he will start moving. Considering the speed of his magic power array, it seems he has set a direction, I wonder how far he can go…!!

KWA-AA-AAANG!!!

There was no answer.

Lenok’s body, which had been standing on the stairs tens of meters away, disappeared from that spot.

Immediately after, Lenok, who had appeared in front of the head of Pandemonium, swung his arm.

With a light gesture of fanning his fingers, a crimson blaze burst out like a wave, turning the ceiling of the cradle red.

WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH!!!!

Amidst the crimson blaze that had burst out, a faint blue flash of lightning flickered and rotated.

From the edge of the blaze that had overflowed in all directions, it froze backward, instantly reversing the temperature of over several hundred degrees and chilling the space.

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!!

“Kuh…!!”

Maiya twisted her body, desperately resisting the fierce onslaught of magic power that was changing several attributes in an instant before her eyes.

She had also consumed a considerable amount of magic power while reaching the cradle.

No matter how much of a difference there was in basic levels with Lenok, it would be difficult to hold out for long against a mage who had gained that much magic power.

The chilling coldness that was rising through her fingertips instantly turned into hellish heat, and began to gnaw at Maiya’s flesh like crazy.

A dazzling attribute reversal that was unbelievable even while seeing it with her own eyes.

Maiya, horrified, turned around and shouted.

“Damn it, Head!!!”

Her intention was clear, but the head of Pandemonium only stared at Maiya for a moment before turning his body as if nothing had happened.

“If we stay in a place like this for too long, Jintun’s remains will be damaged.”

“Hey!!”

“As I said, send both of them out of the labyrinth alive and unharmed.”

He didn’t seem to have any interest in either Lenok or Ermong.

The moment Maiya opened her mouth blankly at that reaction that defied common sense.

Lenok, who had flashed and appeared in the air, whispered, grabbing Maiya’s shoulder.

“Get out of the way.”