Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 452

Unlike his erratic behavior, he was quite knowledgeable about Jintun’s barrier techniques.

The labyrinth that trapped the sorcerers using mana threads. It wasn’t a blatant deployment of a barrier formation, but rather an embodiment of its principles.

However, the clown had only examined the labyrinth’s structure and principles, yet he was able to discern it was Jintun’s barrier technique and was now interrogating Lenok.

‘It seems that special-type sorcerers these days can freely use such high-level barrier techniques. The world has changed so much.’

‘…’

‘I’m not exactly transparent, but there are limits, wouldn’t you agree?’

The clown grinned, twirling the blade in his hand.

‘I couldn’t do it earlier because Leya was in the way, but shouldn’t we confirm what needs to be confirmed?’

His face was filled with excitement, as if he couldn’t contain his joy at the current situation, but Lenok didn’t place much significance on it.

Even as he swayed back and forth in front of Lenok, the clown’s eyes remained fixed on Lenok’s mask.

He wasn’t trying to interrogate Lenok or settle things by fighting directly.

He was merely trying to shake Lenok, cross the line, and constantly check his reactions.

Whether Lenok got angry, calmly explained the reason, or made up a plausible excuse, the clown would only find it more amusing.

Therefore, instead of denying or evading the clown’s words, Lenok chuckled.

‘You don’t know who Jintun is at all.’

‘…What did you say?’

‘It seems you just poked around after seeing traces of barrier magic, but even if you act like you’ve got something, I have nothing to tell you.’

The clown only had a vague idea of what Jintun’s barrier techniques felt like, but he didn’t know anything about their true value or how they were acquired.

If Lenok had truly inherited Jintun’s barrier techniques and was certain of their value, there would be no reason for him to act so ambiguously.

Lenok had seen through this and had instead succeeded in probing how much the clown knew about Jintun.

He seemed to have thought that shaking Lenok with an unexpected keyword would reveal information about the identity behind the mask,

but Lenok was extremely experienced in dealing with such attempts to probe people.

‘…Hmmmm.’

The clown tilted his head to one side as if to say that wasn’t it, and frowned as if he didn’t like it.

‘That’s not the reaction I expected… How about we take off that mask and talk?’

At that moment, the communicator on the clown’s waist began to ring loudly.

Freya’s booming voice echoed through the static.

‘[Damn it, it’s finally connected…!! If you don’t get your ass out here…!! What the hell are you doing… half a day…!!]’

‘…’

Even though the words were broken, it was easy to understand their meaning and the emotions they contained.

The clown sighed deeply, slumped his shoulders, and nodded.

‘…Shall we go?’

‘Let’s.’

The murderous atmosphere that had been present just moments ago was gone, and the clown turned his back and led the way, completely unguarded.

It was bizarre, but Lenok didn’t bother trying to understand him.

‘By the way, I almost died in the middle of the jungle for acting recklessly. It was a close call~’

Instead, the clown, as if he had been itching to talk, began to chatter incessantly to Lenok, twirling five blades in his hand.

‘I’m usually quite lucky, so this doesn’t happen often, but I guess I should think of it as a bad luck charm before the big event. What else can I do?’

‘…’

‘It’s true that my techniques have this problem. But I can’t give up the thrill of entrusting my fate to luck… Hehe.’

‘It’s clear you’re not right in the head.’

Lenok listened to the clown’s nonsense and snorted.

It was clear that the clown’s power was closely related to the numbers he rolled on the dice.

The idea of entrusting a life-or-death battle to one’s luck seemed insane, but that was precisely why it was difficult to predict how strong the clown’s abilities were.

Having one’s abilities depend on luck was a powerful geas [a magical compulsion or restriction] and a constraint.

Just by looking at his achievements, it was clear that he was a superhuman of level 7 or higher, so how much power would be granted when the best luck fell upon such an ability user?

Perhaps the reason this man was in charge of this operation, rather than Myung or the Commander-

‘Well, it’s about time, so let’s go to the well. I’ve kicked the ladder away so thoroughly that there probably won’t be any unnecessary interference for a while… Hmm?’

The clown, who had kicked away the body of Kayern he had beheaded, muttered as if he had just realized something.

‘These guys were sorcerers who came from Maengrok’s curse.’

‘They were the most persistent of those who passed by this way.’

Lenok replied, retracting the mana threads that had spread in all directions and recovering his mana.

‘It took some time to kill them all because they were more thorough than I expected.’

In fact, there were quite a few people who tried to pass through the forest that Lenok was occupying, besides Maengrok’s curse.

Mercenaries and exploration teams who had reached near the well after traversing the jungle all night, armies and private military groups who had secretly followed the paths cleared by the sorcerers.

All of them had their limbs sliced off by Lenok’s mana threads, which were barely visible, and became food for the flora and fauna, or simply fled.

Among them, the only ones who had survived most persistently and thoroughly and had seen Lenok’s face were the sorcerers.

‘Ah… That’s unfortunate.’

The clown sighed upon hearing Lenok’s words.

‘The leader of Maengrok’s curse already had a good talk with me and backed out a long time ago.’

‘What?’

‘To think I killed a friend with my own hands who was crying out, not knowing that their leader had abandoned them…’

The clown’s face was smiling brightly, as if he were crying.

‘That’s why I can’t easily quit this job.’

‘…’

‘Hehe, shall we go now?’

The clown, who had given a strange smile to the silent Lenok, passed him and began to lead the way.

‘There’s no need to maintain the defense line from now on. I was just interfering to prevent those who didn’t know their place from touching the well before the time comes.’

With one hand, he skillfully twirled several slender blades, and with the other, he rattled the dice.

‘Rather, from now on, I’d like them to gather near the altar. You’ll see something interesting.’

‘It’s been quite a while since dawn broke.’

Lenok ignored the clown’s words and turned his gaze.

‘If Gyebaek has arrived, there should be signs soon. Is it not time yet?’

‘No. The appointed time will be exact. That’s the plan.’

The clown said, pointing to the sky outside the jungle.

‘It’s already starting to show, isn’t it?’

Krrrrr…!!

The sky, slowly turning black from the far reaches of the jungle.

It was completely different from the sun setting and the day turning into night.

A conceptual monster that spread the aura of death in all directions just by existing, and bound living creatures to its geas.

Gyebaek, a fallen one who had failed to ascend and gone mad, had finally arrived at the jungle, following the southern coast of the continent.

The clown looked at the darkening sky with a blissful expression and nodded.

‘Leya and Glenn must have already confirmed it. Let’s move too.’

* * *

Lenok and the clown quickly returned to the outskirts of the city and reunited with Leya.

Glenn, too, had just come from a fierce battle at the defense line, and all of his dozens of troops were in tatters.

‘Damn it, I haven’t finished watching the drama yet… Can’t I just take this with me?’

‘Those simple electronic devices will become useless when the time comes.’

‘Hey, what do you know? This is a laptop that directly receives and sends satellite signals, okay?’

‘…You were wasting the satellite’s power on that?’

The clown muttered in disbelief, and Freya bickered.

Leya, who had already changed back into her flamboyant attire, held a microphone attached to a stand in one hand.

Lenok watched them quietly from behind, his gaze lowered.

Their carefree appearance was hard to believe, considering they were about to face a clash of ascenders [beings who have transcended normal human limitations].

Even as Lenok sensed the countless superhumans desperately rushing in from all over the jungle at this very moment, it felt unfamiliar.

Glenn, Leya, and the clown had not seen each other’s abilities with their own eyes, but even if they possessed powerful and unique abilities, could they be so nonchalant?

Either they had something to believe in, or they were so out of their minds that they didn’t lose their composure even in this situation.

And based on Lenok’s experience working with them so far, it seemed closer to the latter.

‘Alright. Talking to a guy like you will only make me feel worse.’

Leya, who had been arguing about the laptop, waved her hand as if she was fed up.

‘You know I can’t stray far from the airship, right? You guys take care of pulling the well out of the altar. I’ll just do my part when the time comes.’

‘That’s why we gathered here. You should take care of yourself. When it starts, a lot of attention will be on you, Leya.’

‘Ha, who are you worrying about… Go on.’

Leya’s confidence was strangely overwhelming.

She was definitely a superhuman who used mana, but judging by her aura and physical condition, she was definitely not a physical ability user.

What kind of ability did she possess to be so confident? Why were the clown and Glenn so hesitant to treat her carelessly?

He would be able to confirm everything now.

Leaving Leya, who had begun to move busily near the airship, the three of them immediately headed into the ruined ancient city.

The remains of a city built with old stones.

Amidst the fragments of the streets that had collapsed due to long years and various impacts, countless moss and weeds had taken root, turning them into a greenish-brown color.

Statues of unknown meaning that had fallen in various places, and the appearance of strange ancient characters.

And at this very moment, the roar that was constantly heard from the outskirts of the city, and the sky that was darkening despite the morning sunlight.

In the middle of the city square, which had not yet lost its tranquility despite the chaos outside, the clown spoke.

‘Actually, it’s not the time for the Well of the Handbook to appear. Did you know that?’

‘No.’

At Lenok’s indifferent reply, the clown chuckled and continued.

‘Well, since there’s no way of knowing if Myung explained it, I’ll do it again. The Ascender Handbook is one of the transcendents who have inherited their mission through generations, similar to the Heavenly Eye that guarded the lighthouse and observed the outer sea to postpone destruction.’

‘…’

‘The well she guards is one of the largest space-time rifts in this closed world… In other words, it’s nothing less than a passage that can directly connect to the outer sea.’

‘So?’

‘That’s why it’s sealed with such a powerful seal, and a huge price must be paid to summon it.’

The clown turned his gaze away from Lenok and pointed to the edge of the square.

The appearance of a huge altar that had not lost its presence even in the city square that had collapsed.

At the top of the altar, which formed a huge regular tetrahedron like a pyramid, a large circular ring ornament was installed.

And thousands of steps that were made to reach that ring.

Without noticing that Lenok was shuddering with an unknown chill, the clown spoke.

‘In the past, the ancient people who built a civilization in this jungle opened the well and summoned the ascender by offering the hearts of ten thousand living humans as a sacrifice.’

‘…What?’

‘What I’m about to do is not that different, if you think about it.’

At the same time as the clown said that and flicked his finger at Glenn, the dozens of Glenns who had been following without saying a word all took out daggers from their chests.

Thwack!!

At the same time, without any hesitation, the Glenns cut open their chests with the daggers, tore out their hearts, placed them at their feet, and collapsed.

‘Kihihit, you’re skilled as always.’

A satisfied smile formed on the clown’s lips as he picked up the hearts that were slowly pulsating while spewing blood.

‘I always feel this whenever I work with Glenn, but there are few partners who are as good at the forbidden art of human sacrifice as this guy. A life that gives up everything and submits is, in fact, the most depraved thing.’

Only then did Lenok realize how the clown intended to use Glenn, and his expression hardened behind his mask.

‘…From the beginning, they were manpower for the forbidden art of human sacrifice. And this isn’t the first time this has happened.’

‘Oh my, was it too cruel a sight for a space-type magician who grew up so preciously?’

Thud!!

The clown, who had thrown the heart he was holding onto the ground, grinned and took out the dice.

‘But there’s nothing I can do. I prefer this method much more than Myung or the Commander. It’s much easier, you see?’

The dice that fell from the clown’s hand slowly rolled on the ground.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

The clown grinned as he rolled eight dice on the ground at the same time.

‘How profitable is it to be able to manipulate luck with the lives of mere humans?’

Saaah!!

The dice rolled, absorbing the blood that had pooled on the ground.

The green surfaces turned crimson, and the dice markings, stained with blood, began to glow white, and the rotation of the dice became even more bizarre.

Click, click!!

The dice, which seemed like they were about to stop, rolled a few more times, changing the numbers that would appear.

As if the numbers they would show were predetermined from the start.

[6] [6] [6] [6] [6] [6] [6] [6]

The moment all eight dice pointed to the highest number, the dice, soaked in blood, shattered and turned to dust.

At the same time, a sound like something breaking was heard from inside the clown’s body.

Explosive mana erupted from his body, spreading a huge shockwave throughout the square.

Kwaaaaaaaang!!!

‘This is…!!’

Even Lenok was momentarily startled by the heavy and dull presence. A terrifying and bizarre aura that was hard to believe came from the same person.

Scattering a transcendent and majestic presence, the clown’s body began to change little by little.

Crack, crack!!

The bone structure and muscles were reassembled on the spot, completely transforming his very existence into something else.

He was in the form of a human, yet he was transforming into something that was not human.

The clown’s eyes lost focus and spun around, alternately showing the whites and pupils, before his lenses turned pitch black.

Conversely, the skin of his entire body turned as white as the makeup on his face, and the corners of his mouth stretched out, fixing into a bizarre smile.

His body shape, including his arms and legs, became elongated and crooked, making him look like a demon from hell wearing a clown’s mask.

Thud!!

The moment he took a step forward with his long, curved foot, the floor of the square blackened and scorched along his trail.

The clown stared down at his body for a moment, patted his shoulder, and muttered.

His voice had already changed from his mouth to a chilling shriek that echoed throughout his body.

‘[I think I’ve somehow broken through the extreme level, but I don’t know if this is enough. It’s been a while since I’ve rolled the dice of fate this much… Hmm.]’

‘…You’re not right in the head.’

Lenok observed the scene carefully from the side and shook his head.

‘If you mess with the hierarchy like that, your psyche will burn away completely. What you’re doing isn’t interfering with causality [the relationship between cause and effect].’

‘[Oh ho.]’

The clown tilted his head to a bizarre degree and grinned.

‘[It seems you have a rough understanding of what kind of being I am, since you mentioned causality.]’

What the clown had just done was not simply amplifying his power by rolling high numbers on the dice.

It was forcibly creating luck that should not exist through human sacrifice and hammering a hierarchy beyond his limits into his body.

A trick created by using the clown’s own psyche, a meticulously twisted geas, and his unique ability to deceive reality to the extreme.

It was an act of completely mocking the basic law that there must be a cause for every effect.

The fact that the clown’s ability could interfere with causality itself was interesting, but there was no need to mention the side effects of deceiving the hierarchy in this way.

After the duration of the ability called the dice of fate ended, the aftereffects would be so severe that death would be preferable.

The mind that had been swept away by the power created by the forbidden art of human sacrifice, rather than one’s own talent or ability, would be as tattered as a rag.

However, the clown nodded even after hearing Lenok’s murderous declaration.

‘[It can’t be helped. I need to inflate my physique to interfere with the timeline with my illusion.]’

‘Timeline?’

‘[Kihihit, interfering with space-time as a result is the privilege of level 8, but among the extreme-level ability users, only a very few are monsters who can actually manipulate time.]’

The clown said, bending his body and plunging his head forward.

At that moment, his elongated body distorted as if it were a haze, and he appeared at the top of the altar, hundreds of meters above.

‘[The Handbook isn’t so unintelligent that she’ll show her face just because a few humans are sacrificed. So… I’m going to slightly deceive the timeline of the altar from now on.]’

Thud!!

The clown, who grabbed the huge circular ring that was hundreds of meters in radius with both hands, whispered.

‘[To the moment when this city, which she loved, was still alive and breathing.]’