Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 50

“…..It seems you don’t realize who’s cornered here. Paul Ackerman is already dead, so all that’s left is to kill you and your team, and it’s over.”

The masked woman spat out those words, trying to regain her composure, but Jude simply pointed towards the lower part of the container without replying.

Paul Ackerman, who had been blasted away by her earlier laser, was looking up at them with a mocking smile, his complexion perfectly fine.

A faint, circular shield surrounded his body.

It was tattered and half-broken, but it had managed to block the woman’s attack, at least once.

And for Paul Ackerman, that alone seemed to be enough.

“…..!!”

“Hey, you over there. You didn’t think I wouldn’t have heard about the uninvited guests coming tonight, did you?”

“This is absurd…”

“I have my own plans, and I came prepared. I even invited another guest for this occasion. Shall we take a look at their face?”

*Snap!*

As Paul snapped his fingers, someone emerged from the shadows behind the container, as if they had been waiting.

*Thud, thud.*

Along with that, the sound of something being dragged.

“Ah, ah…..”

This time, the woman staggered, as if she had received a devastating shock.

In the hands of the new guest was the head of a man wearing the same mask as her.

Inside the broken mask, the face of a young man twisted in pain could be seen, and from the mangled neck, blood vessels and wires dangled.

The one holding that grotesque corpse was the man with a bandit-like physique, who had been their teammate just an hour ago.

The man grinned and waved.

“Long time no see?”

“Hahahaha!!”

Paul Ackerman burst into bizarre laughter and patted the bandit man’s shoulder.

“You stupid bastards. You never thought I could have hired others working against you, did you?”

He confidently walked towards the container where the masked woman stood, continuing to chatter loudly.

“Your work is so sloppy it’s laughable. You should know there’s nothing you can’t do in this business if you have enough money.”

*Click.*

“Don’t worry. I won’t let you die peacefully. First, I’ll open up your head full of machines and extract all the information, and then I’ll personally give the finger to your client who dared to point a knife at me…”

At that moment, while Paul was ranting.

Lenok, who had been hiding right next to him thanks to the amulet’s effect, pulled the trigger with all his might.

*Bang!*

A powerful gunshot rang out right next to him.

The tattered shield shattered instantly, and the shotgun blast at point-blank range tore through the defenseless flesh beyond it.

Paul was no longer able to speak. No, the person named Paul was gone.

The lower half of his body, which had been flailing in the air after his upper body had completely disappeared, trembled and then collapsed to the ground.

Lenok stared down at the scene for a moment, then slowly lowered the weapon in his hand.

It was a long, thick shotgun, completely different from the revolver he had used earlier.

Lenok had brought the shotgun directly from Gun and Barrel for this occasion, carrying it in a leather bag.

It was unsuitable for direct combat while moving, but combined with a druid’s amulet, there would definitely be an opportunity to use it at least once.

And that thought was spot on.

Paul Ackerman had crossed the river Styx [a reference to the river in Greek mythology that souls cross to reach the underworld] without even finishing his pathetic boasting.

“!!!!!”

The expressions of the bandit man and Jude Russell changed instantly.

“Uwoooaaah!!”

The bandit man, having thrown away the corpse of the masked man, raised both arms and charged towards Lenok.

At the same time, Jude Russell also abandoned his composure and rushed towards the masked woman.

He must be trying to kill her quickly and then join forces to attack Lenok.

From the moment he revealed himself, evasion was impossible.

Lenok raised the shield to its maximum to prepare for the bandit man’s attack.

A strength that was incomparable to the shield that Paul had used temporarily by borrowing the power of an artifact.

*Whoooosh!!*

But at that moment, something pale blue began to settle on the bandit man’s forearms.

At the same time, his forearms swelled to at least twice their size, and their speed accelerated like crazy, turning into a streak of light and slamming into the shield.

It was a downward strike.

*Kwaaaang!!*

The ground caved in around the point where he struck with both hands, and the containers piled high all around shook.

Lenok’s body sank deep into the ground as it gave way.

In that chaos, Lenok felt the shield gradually breaking and broke out in a cold sweat.

*Crash!!*

One layer, two layers, three layers, and four layers…!!

A power that could not be explained by a simple body slam.

Compared to the aftermath of the ground collapsing, the impact on the shield was beyond imagination.

The concentration of the point where the bandit man struck was proof that it was comparable to the firepower of a heavy weapon.

This is dangerous.

Lenok’s mind turned cold as he looked at the shield digging downwards, and he immediately pulled up his magic power.

The most appropriate solution in this situation is not magic.

He quickly reloaded the shotgun while building up auxiliary magic.

[Reload Acceleration]

[Aim Correction]

[Impact Enhancement]

He cast three layers of auxiliary magic and placed his finger on the trigger.

*Bang!*

He fired two quickly reloaded shotgun rounds directly into the man’s abdomen, temporarily stopping his movement.

The bullets that had blown away Paul Ackerman’s upper body in one shot, absurdly, only pushed the man’s body back and tore away the flesh of his abdomen.

The man didn’t care about such injuries and immediately jumped forward to continue his attack.

He knew that breaking the shield was more important than the immediate damage.

But that brief moment of respite was enough.

He placed the shotgun with an empty magazine against his stomach and used impact magic once more.

Small firepower. Maximum recoil.

Accurately directed, towards Lenok himself.

*Paaang!!*

“Kuh…!!”

He used the shotgun as a shield, but the impact of his own magic was indescribably painful.

The stock of the shotgun, unable to withstand the impact, snapped in half, and Lenok’s stomach was pressed in a strange direction.

An irrational decision to use attack magic on himself.

But due to that recoil, Lenok’s body was pushed back, quickly escaping the man’s attack range.

Immediately after, the man’s two fists, which had been slammed into the ground, smashed the cement floor to pieces.

*Kwaaaang!!*

Shrapnel flew everywhere, and the shaking containers collapsed, and black dust swirled like fog in the night harbor.

Lenok threw away the broken shotgun and moved clumsily, clutching his stomach.

“Ugh…!!”

He had prepared himself, but the pain was beyond imagination, and cold sweat streamed down his forehead.

He took out a cigarette with trembling hands and smoked it, inhaling the smoke like crazy, and only then did the pain begin to subside.

“……Hoo, hoo…!!”

There was no time to rest for long.

Even though he had done the crazy thing of hitting his own stomach with magic, Lenok’s mind was still working coldly.

High-speed movement or evasion-type magic consumed a lot of magic power, and the calculation process was complex, making it difficult for Lenok to use them in combat right now.

Especially the [Blink] magic, which is the pinnacle of combat movement magic, was a magic that could not be easily used without reaching the growth limit even in WORLD 2.0 [a reference to a game or virtual world].

Since Lenok could not secure mobility right now, he had no choice but to use a somewhat extreme measure to escape the immediate crisis.

*Kwaaang!!*

The man, who had risen from his seat, rummaged through the ruins and walked towards Lenok with a sinister smile.

“Hehe, I thought you were just a cripple, but you’re surprisingly brave. Good. My ancestors loved that kind of courage.”

Along with those words, a pale, hazy shape rose behind the man’s broad back.

Lenok could now guess that it was dramatically increasing the man’s already powerful physical abilities.

Of course, it wasn’t to the point of being transcendent like when he faced Kraken Acillus… but that strength alone was enough to threaten Lenok.

Instead of responding to his threat, he spread his magic widely and slowly scanned his surroundings.

He needed to know how the battle between Jude Russell and the masked woman had ended to decide on his combat strategy.

The man smiled even more deeply at Lenok, who didn’t even bat an eye at his threat.

“Honestly, I’d like to spare you here. Thanks to you blowing Paul Ackerman’s head off, things have become too easy for me.”

“……..”

“Hehe… Just the advance payment I received from both sides is enough to make me full, and if you clean up the mess like this, there’s no need to go against Dyke’s side.”

Lenok wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and replied.

“If there are no witnesses?”

“Hahaha! …..Yes. If there are no witnesses.”

The man’s smile became even clearer.

Originally, once he had betrayed them, he would have planned to join Paul Ackerman’s cartel.

But with Paul Ackerman’s sudden death, another opportunity had opened up for the man.

If he could eliminate all the witnesses, he could shake hands with Dyke again as if nothing had happened, as if he had succeeded in his mission.

And with the hefty advance payment that Paul had given him.

At that moment, Lenok’s senses detected the conclusion of the battle between the masked woman and Jude Russell.

Lenok, who immediately sensed the situation, let out a hollow laugh.

‘Did she escape…? That’s impressive in its own way.’

Absurdly, the masked woman had succeeded in escaping from Jude Russell.

And Jude Russell, who had missed his target, was turning around and heading this way, changing direction exactly to the opposite side.

If he had to face two people, he would have to completely revise his plans.

“Hoo…..”

There was no time to delay.

Lenok took a deep breath of smoke and then turned around and started running.

*Tada, tada…!!*

“….!!”

While he was smoking and inhaling the drug, he could move like an ordinary person.

Considering that, if he could lure the opponent as he intended, even a little, he could solve the lack of mobility.

But the man was not just watching that scene.

*Kwaaaang!!*

“Where do you think you’re going, you bastard!!”

He picked up a container with both hands and threw it at Lenok.

Even if he had enhanced his strength, it didn’t seem like he could shoot a container like a bullet, but the imposing presence of the container box flying in a parabola, completely blocking the moonlight in the night sky, was not insignificant.

*Kuuuung!!*

Fortunately, the container that had been thrown haphazardly did not crush Lenok, but the sight of him tearing through the thick iron plate with both hands and chasing after Lenok was terrifying.

‘I can’t run far. If I can just move my position to right in front of me…’

The recoil of the shotgun that had been stuck in his lower abdomen started to ache.

It was only because he was managing it with the drug that he was still standing, otherwise, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was rolling on the floor in agony.

The time he could escape from that strong warrior with his weak physique and injured body was limited.

A short respite of less than 30 seconds.

He used Gravity Bind to tie up the containers that the man was throwing and pulled them down, and fired a few shots from his revolver behind him, somehow extending that short amount of time.

“Huff, huff…!!”