Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 461

I had anticipated unforeseen variables in this situation, working with Pandemonium. But I never imagined that problems would arise and variables would explode until the very last moment. If Lenok hadn’t somehow taken over the clown’s work and shoved Gye Baek beyond the well, everyone would have been swept away by the enraged serpent’s magic and wouldn’t have been safe. No, even at this moment, Lenok was wondering why he couldn’t sense the movements of the Guide. ‘The Guide, who regained her memories, was more moderate than I thought. It was practically a gamble from the moment I confirmed that… things went too smoothly.’ Although she was swept away by an inexplicable rage right after waking up, the Guide tried to persuade Lenok from the moment she began to regain her memories. The fact that she could make such a choice in a situation where the well was open and Gye Baek had invaded the forest was proof that she was not fundamentally of a rash nature. I had been hoping for that fact since I started pushing things forward, but I never imagined that even the clown and Leya would still be alive. No matter how rational an Ascended [a being of higher power] the Guide is, it’s something that’s hard to accept with common sense. Then, it’s only natural to think that it’s not Lenok or the Guide, but some other external factor. The existence of an unknown helper who made the clown hesitate to execute the plan until the very end. There was a high possibility that the variable was related to the strangely quiet scenery of this forest now. The clown, who had been wriggling his melting cartilage while listening to Lenok’s words, grinned slyly. “…Khehehet, you remembered that? That’s why you can’t just say anything in front of smart friends.” “…” “Well, it’s nothing much. When preparing for an operation of this scale, it’s natural to prepare for various variables. Before starting the operation, considering uncertain variables in the process of securing personnel…” “Enough with the useless talk.” I can’t do anything, not even grasp the situation, if I keep listening to the clown’s nonsense. Lenok asked, feeling Davi frantically take out a small plastic bag from his pocket, wrap the fingernail, and put it away on the opposite side of his robe. “Where is the Guide? I thought it would be difficult to handle the aftermath when Gye Baek jumped out of the well, but surprisingly, nothing happened.” Lenok had no intention of recklessly throwing away his life when he took over the plan and lifted Gye Baek into the well. As soon as Gye Baek was thrown into the well, he would use Enakphil’s five fingers [a technique or item] to evade the Guide’s full power attack, who had completely remembered the magic, and grab one of the elephants he had captured in advance and escape out of the city. Once he was far enough away from the well, the Guide wouldn’t be able to chase Lenok to interfere with Gye Baek. Contrary to what seemed like a reckless action, Lenok thought that he had a high chance of surviving in the Ascended’s forest because of Gye Baek’s presence. However, all those plans became useless when Lenok’s consciousness was transferred outside the sea at the same time. Considering the Guide’s nature, he had expected considerable injury or loss, even if he didn’t die, but she woke up more unscathed than he thought. At Lenok’s natural question, Leya glanced at the clown and smiled awkwardly. “Hmm, well, that’s… Hey, you bastard, why am I explaining this?” “…I don’t know anything, yei-o-woo.” “What do you mean you don’t know…!!” Leya ruthlessly stomped on the clown’s broken thigh with her high heel, along with an unknown onomatopoeia as he avoided her gaze. Thud!! “You son of a bitch, you knew it all along and didn’t say anything!! We risked our lives here, and you want to die, you bastard!! Why did you start the operation so quickly when you knew support was coming!!” “…Support really came?” It was strange considering the quiet scenery of the forest, but it wasn’t incomprehensible. No one could stop the Guide from the moment Gye Baek was shot out of the sea. Lenok would have lost consciousness when he used Enakphil’s five fingers to escape, the clown was already a mess, and Leya had almost no combat ability. The six apostles who were fighting the Guide in close combat would also have turned to ashes in front of the Ascended who had remembered the magic. At this point, there was no way that the enraged Guide could have been calmed down and sent back to the other side of the well without the intervention of a third party. But who on earth came to support them that they could calm down the Ascended and send her back so nicely that Leya and the clown were reacting like this. Before he could even ask that, the clown grinned gloomily. “Ehehehehe… Leya, then someone like you wouldn’t do your best, would you?” But those words were completely different from the cheerful tone he had before. “The reason why you and that friend could run around like crazy was because you thought we were the only ones assigned to the plan. Isn’t that right?” “…What did you say?” Even at Freya’s cold words, the clown didn’t care. Rather, he just flickered his eyes through his ruined face with its collapsed skeleton. “A donkey who only thinks about loafing around instead of doing his job needs a whip more than a carrot.” “…” “We were very lucky in many ways. I had heard a hint, but I never dreamed that he would really come. Put your hand on your chest and think about it. If I had told you honestly, would you have believed it?” The clown continued to sneer at the silent Leya. “Or, after constantly using my illusion to deceive people, do you have anything to say-” Kuuung!! At that moment, an impact erupted that shook the entire ground of the forest where the three people were sprawled out. The clown and Leya’s bodies floated slightly in place and then fell back down. “Kyaaak!!” “Kkuegek!!” Leya rubbed her waist with tears in her eyes, and the clown’s body melted and became a bloody mess. The clown was in a state where he could die at any moment. No, it was rather amazing that he was still alive and talking. But Lenok was focusing all his attention on the huge impact that had just shaken the earth, rather than the dying clown. It was a resonance that contained a clear will, rather than the aftermath of simple physical destruction. He understood the identity of this deja vu. Why hadn’t he noticed it until now? Even though he thought he had never forgotten this presence, the reason why he hadn’t noticed it until now. That monster, clearly engraved in Lenok’s memory, was spreading its presence throughout the entire forest. It was natural that Lenok, who had regained his senses in the tree, couldn’t see the forest for a while. But the fact that he had only noticed it now was a bigger shock to Lenok than anything else, and at the same time, it was the key to understanding the whole situation. If it wasn’t for such a being, if it wasn’t for that kind of support, he wouldn’t have been able to believe that this matter had been resolved and settled so quietly. Thud!! At that moment, the scenery of the forest surrounding the three people shook greatly. The ground all around began to collapse and turn upside down. Kugwagwagwagwagwa!!! The impact was like splitting half of this huge forest and turning the ground upside down. The scenery outside Lenok’s mask was not much different. Beyond the empty wasteland, hundreds of trees and bushes moved as if they were running on the ground to fill the empty space, and the severed soil roots and piles of stones disappeared into the ground like waves in a huge tremor. The deafening roar echoed endlessly, then stopped as if it were a lie. Crack!! With a creepy sound like ligaments snapping, the tree the clown was leaning on broke like a reed. Along with the weight that seemed to press down on all sides, something slowly walked out from beyond. Beyond the fog of the early morning forest, where the sun had not yet fully risen. But the long snout and the dark scales were clearly visible even through the fog. At the same time as the bright yellow eyes flashed, a massive figure naturally appeared through the fog. A muscular figure that seemed to have gathered all the concepts of power that exist in the world and molded them into one. An overwhelming physique and sense of pressure that he could never get used to, no matter how many times he saw it. And finally, a hard tail like a steel bar that stirred the fog and came out. Lenok, who had been staring blankly at his profile, murmured, forgetting that he was wearing a mask. “Kraken Acilius…” Lenok now understood why the clown and Leya had mentioned support and acted like that. The last support force of Pandemonium, and the one who single-handedly turned half of this forest upside down. The one who faced the Ascended Guide for the last time and finished the job was a man who, among the big shots Lenok knew, would never participate in such a thing. Kuuung!! Kraken didn’t even turn to look at Lenok’s murmur. He simply walked past the clown without a care, grabbed the clown’s mangled collar with his tail, and swung him around. Whoosh!! The clown’s broken body, shot like an arrow, was slammed into the base of the opposite tree. “Kehek…!!” Kraken stopped walking and looked down, seeing the clown faintly trembling as he groaned. The bright yellow pupils looking down at the clown’s mangled body shone coldly. “I made a wasted trip.” “Keuhak…Ahahak…!!” The clown trembled, as if it was hard to endure just being crushed by the force emanating from his body. It wouldn’t make sense to endure Kraken’s momentum in a condition where he was driven to the brink of death. But Kraken didn’t seem to care about such circumstances. “The serpent has returned to its nest, so take care of the rest.” “Haaak…!! Ah, I understand, so please…!!” “Tell the leader it was a failure.” “A, a failure, you say…?” Even as he was dying of suffocation, the clown raised his head in a flash, but Kraken didn’t answer anymore. Thud!! He turned his body and walked out of the forest without hesitation. “Th, there…!!” Leya opened her mouth with a pale face, but no answer came back. Rather, Kraken stopped walking when he was about to pass by Lenok, who was slumped down on the outskirts of the open space. At that unusual reaction, the clown and Leya held their breath at the same time. “…” Kraken, who turned his gaze for the first time, quietly looked down at Lenok, who was wearing a mask. Lenok also looked at him without avoiding his gaze. After a moment, the corners of Kraken’s mouth slightly rose as he took his eyes off Lenok. Unlike his expression that seemed to be smirking, Kraken muttered dryly as he passed by Lenok. “It’s not very interesting to see you crawling on all fours.” “…” “See you next time.” The moment he thought he had stepped into the fog, Kraken’s massive body had disappeared without a trace. The heavy momentum that had been pressing down on this area until just now felt like an illusion. “Gegek.” Only then did the clown let out a long breath he had been holding back, along with a strange groan. “Hoo… I really thought I was going to die. That guy doesn’t really care how the plan goes.” “Oh my, so that’s why you didn’t say anything until the end?” Leya, who had belatedly regained her senses, also sharpened her voice as if she was going to continue the argument she had been having earlier. “No, there’s no need to say that someone who might come and might not be on our side is support!! Do I have to explain this to you to understand?” “Oooo~ So that’s why it seems like I can control my anger better in front of that person, huh? What, a delusional illusionist suffering from madness?” A triumphant sneer appeared on Leya’s face. “In my opinion, it’s not a madness control disorder, but a madness control master? Huh? Huh?” “No, that’s…” “If you can’t control it, you’ll have to keep calling Acilius~ Don’t make any bullshit excuses and go see your doctor regularly from now on, don’t make a fuss about cutting your heart out or whatever!!” “You son of a bitch… That’s not…” The clown also seemed to want to protest, as if he was wronged, but it didn’t seem like he wasn’t suppressed by Kraken, so he had nothing to say. Leya was excited and mocking the clown, who was trembling with his body in a rare state of exhaustion. She was constantly ridiculing the clown with a cheerful shout, as if she had forgotten that she had been overwhelmed by Kraken until just a moment ago. Lenok was watching her scolding the clown from afar, slumped over, with a curious look. ‘I’ve been thinking this since last time, but she has a unique personality.’ The clown wasn’t pretending to be crazy, he was just a completely insane human being, no matter how you looked at it. There was no way that someone in their right mind would tie their abilities and hierarchy to the luck of a dice roll and not use them. He was controlling the madness that came to illusionists in his own way, but that was only to maintain rational thinking. There was no way that it was normal for him to nonchalantly sacrifice people’s hearts and play with them like toys. Leya probably knew that as well, but she was provoking him without hesitation, without even thinking about the danger that she might die. No, maybe it’s because Leya doesn’t find the clown difficult that they can get along so well. “You guys seem to get along well.” “What?” “Victor, that’s what I should be saying.” At Lenok’s murmur, Leya snapped back with an annoyed expression, and the clown slightly turned his gaze. The clown’s eyes, which had been chuckling, had become sharp again. “I’ve never seen Kraken show so much interest in someone he’s meeting for the first time. You really… are a person with many secrets.”