Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 636

‘Stealing the gate… Are you out of your mind?’

Hermes asked, his eyes wide.

His innocent face, still covered in blood even with his head severed, looked truly bizarre.

However, Lenox knew that if he didn’t seize this moment, he wouldn’t get another chance to obtain the gate’s power.

‘It’s difficult to deeply examine its core without opening the gate to this extent.’

His calm gaze behind the iron mask met Hermes’s transparent eyes.

‘By imbuing the spirit of the Old World into the flesh of this world, you proved the gate’s value. There’s room for more diverse applications.’

The Core of the Sea Barrier. The legacy of the Ascension Gate located in the center of the deepest lake.

Even knowing it was connected to a fragment of the Old World, Lenox was carefully reassessing the situation.

The moment Hermes, of his own volition, summoned the spirit of the Old World and manifested it in the present, and faced a cataclysm with the other Meisters [skilled magic users].

Decisively, he pushed the gate’s output to its limit, fully revealing its true value.

With this level of output, information, and structural design, Lenox could somehow acquire and take it.

As soon as Lenox was certain of this, he changed his plans and appeared directly before Hermes.

‘Hmm…’

Hermes groaned, looking troubled. His upside-down head sighed softly.

‘This is awkward. I thought I could coax him into being useful… but he was a gentleman who already knew too many secrets.’

‘Are you talking about the secret that this is a legacy from the failure of the Ascension Gate?’

Lenox asked calmly, tapping the gate’s handle.

‘Or that you are still clinging to the plan to move to the next world, still dwelling on that lingering attachment?’

‘…Heh.’

At that moment, Hermes’s head rolled sideways on the spot and righted itself.

A gruesome sight, drenched in blood from the severed section.

However, Hermes, with his severed neck on the floor, looked directly at Lenox and smiled.

‘At first, of course, that wasn’t the case. Everyone considered this a disgrace and tried to erase the traces and evidence.’

‘…’

‘Artermeyer, who designed the Ascension Gate, Hwadeokjingun, who created the gate’s foundation, and the prophets of the executive branch, including Maya Lenslit. They all met their end, forgotten in the city’s history. But it wasn’t long before we realized.’

Hermes clicked his tongue as if in pity, and sneered.

‘This city is already repeating a failed history, and it can’t move in any direction other than picking up its scraps. The moment we tried to create the Ascension Gate to glimpse the next, our future was decided.’

‘…’

‘There is no next for us. There is no future in this world.’

Hermes whispered strongly, as if confirming to the silent Lenox.

‘From the moment the place we reached by opening the gate was the second, not the fourth… we were trapped in a contradiction from which we could never escape.’

The answer of the Machine City, which tried to go beyond this world with a predetermined end, the Ascension Gate.

It was a project that compressed and computerized the concept of the gate to the extreme, creating a passage for human consciousness to move to the next, skipping the world itself.

The essence of their magical engineering given to them. Their technological prowess and ideas, which had been raised to the level where they could quantify and establish human desires and wishes as data, were, in Lenox’s view, at a transcendent level.

However, the single fact that the fourth world did not exist turned all their plans into a complete waste.

The despairing truth that there is no next beyond this world, where the end is approaching.

They had found hope with their superior technology, but that was why they also knew the identity of the despair that was approaching in the same way.

Hermes said that, then chuckled self-deprecatingly, as if his own state was ridiculous.

‘Well, I don’t know how much you, a mere outsider, will understand the meaning of these words—’

‘You thought you were qualified, so you can’t bear the loss.’

‘…’

Did he feel like the core of his torment had been pierced by that one word?

Lenox said, looking at Hermes’s silent head.

‘It’s natural to be unable to accept the contradiction, to deny it, and to cling to it.’

How must they have felt when they realized that the place they had reached by gathering all the hopes of the city was not the future they longed for, but a failed past?

That they couldn’t bear it and went mad, trying to erase all traces and those involved.

Lenox could understand why they were now desperately clinging to the failure they had discovered.

‘I’m no different.’

Lenox knelt down, meeting Hermes’s gaze, and murmured.

‘If I hadn’t known the truth, I might have been walking the same path as those who had already failed and gone mad. I don’t want to deny that.’

That was precisely why Lenox continued to crave how those who sought the next had failed.

How they had failed at the end of the end and fallen without being able to go to the next.

If he didn’t confirm how that longing had blossomed and withered, Lenox would also walk the same path as them.

Even Kaise, who had explored all the failures of this world without exception and joined hands with Alcaide to find a way, had ultimately failed.

It is said that fools learn from their own failures, and the wise learn from the failures of others, but Lenox did not agree with that statement.

In this world, there is no opportunity to learn something from one’s own failures.

Even if he was not wise, even if he was not qualified, even if it meant uncovering a history stained with madness and shame.

Lenox had to somehow come up with an answer and look back at the times he had repeated his failures.

A single answer to the end of this world.

Whether he could find the meaning of going to the next, or a value comparable to it, was something no one could be sure of.

Lenox turned his gaze away from Hermes and slowly approached the gate.

He slowly grabbed the gate’s handles with both hands, invoked his magic, and turned them forcefully.

Charrrr!!

The dozens of overlapping circular rings rotated rapidly in different directions, emitting a huge burst of light.

‘Great observer, challenging transcender, violator of the laws… you are still someone who is looking for a way.’

Hermes watched him silently from behind, then smiled.

‘That mindset of seeking a non-existent answer is admirable, but the power of the gate is not something that can be obtained with just that kind of resolve…’

Click!!

Lenox ignored Hermes’s words and began to manipulate the output devices connected to the huge circular rings.

At this point, there was nothing Hermes could do anyway.

What Lenox had to do was overload the gate’s output beyond its limit, then use Davi’s power to replicate and steal the gate’s design structure and internal formulas.

He had already confirmed how the Meisters manipulated the equipment to adjust the gate and stabilize the output.

If so, all he had to do was manipulate the equipment in reverse to reduce the stability of the output and force an overload.

Woo-oong!!!

As if Lenox’s thoughts were correct, the huge circular rings, stacked in dozens, began to rotate rapidly, increasing their brilliance.

Lenox’s attempt to forcibly amplify the gate’s power itself, collapse its internal structure, and forcibly observe and memorize its interior.

Hermes, realizing that Lenox was not just spouting empty words but was instantly dissecting the gate’s structure, sighed softly.

‘Very well. I underestimated you, sir.’

With those words, he felt something rising from below the lake’s surface at an incredible speed.

Krrrruk…!!

Something that had risen rapidly at a speed surpassing that of a cruise missile shot out and struck Lenox without hesitation.

Wooong…!!

A terrifying vibration that violently shook his eardrums. A huge wave surged over the lake’s surface.

At the same time as a huge shockwave erupted, Lenox’s body was pushed straight back.

Kwaaaang!!!

‘I was planning to keep it hidden until the disturbance inside the Core was completely suppressed…’

Hermes said, rolling his head away from the gate.

‘But it wouldn’t be bad to test how far it will work against a strong person like you.’

The wraith of the Old World, the Blood Knight, whom Lenox had once kicked and buried under the lake.

The grotesque figure, covered in blood-soaked armor over Harvester’s body, staggered and blocked Lenox’s path.

However, Lenox quietly shook his head, looking at the Blood Knight’s figure.

‘No. The trial and error itself is already over, and all that’s needed is verification in actual combat.’

‘Huh?’

‘The process itself goes against reason. Even if you calculate the efficiency of the offering, the price is insufficient.’

Lenox didn’t feel much interest or possibility in human sacrifice itself, but through various incidents, he had come to deeply understand human sacrifice.

Hermes said that the gate’s efficiency was poor, but he had only sacrificed Harvester’s life to summon the spirit of the Old World.

Regardless of the fact that the existence of a Meister was a huge asset in this city, it was a woefully inadequate price to summon a transcender who had killed a god.

It would be impossible unless he had paid an additional price in advance and prepared the soul itself.

‘You acted as if you were crazy and irrational, but in fact, the deal itself was already completed and it was summoned, right?’

Lenox’s eyes, looking down at Hermes’s smiling head, shone coldly.

‘You must have made him act as if he was running wild on purpose to make the situation convenient. The fact that his face is covered with armor must be because there was a change beyond that.’

Hermes’s severed head and the Meisters who were in chaos and ran away.

If the situation so far was a plan that had been completed according to Hermes’s own intentions, then where would its true purpose lie?

‘Disguising the gate’s rampage and his own death, and throwing the interior of the Sea Barrier into chaos. Yet, the fact that he didn’t stop that chaos from spreading means…’

Lenox gave a cold sneer, looking at Hermes’s head rolling on the floor.

‘It’s hard to understand unless you’re planning to offer the Sea Barrier itself as a price for the gate.’

The human emotions that are heightened to the extreme between the fear of death and the desire to survive.

The existence of the Sea Barrier, which has been considered the most secret and valuable area within the Machine City for a long time.

If all of that was offered as a price for the gate’s transaction, what would be the level of the soul that could be summoned?

Hermes did not sacrifice just one Meister to summon a godslayer.

His own life. The existence of a dozen Meisters. The value of all the materials, space, and time of the other soldiers and the Sea Barrier.

He was planning to push the most valuable parts of the Machine City of Machina entirely beyond the gate and obtain something he had been longing for.

The moment Lenox pointed that out, a dry voice leaked out from between the Blood Knight’s tightly closed helmet.

‘…Interesting. Do the materials of this world also dream of going to the next?’

He muttered that, then slowly took off his helmet and swept back his hair.

He covered his face with one hand, then quietly raised his gaze to look at Lenox.

‘A life of being mortgaged at the end of destruction, suffering and cursing without being able to die or live… I’ve thought about it every time, but really…’

The man sighed and removed the hand covering his face.

‘It’s a tedious thing.’

The face that lowered his hand was completely different from the face that Harvester’s corpse had.

A fair-skinned, ash-haired, pale-faced, and well-built young man.

His gestures exuded an undeniable nobility and elegance.

‘His face…’

Lenox belatedly realized what the change in his appearance meant, and his face hardened.

It wasn’t simply using magic or formulas to change his appearance.

The memory of the Old World that existed beyond the gate. Within it, the soul that had taken hold of Harvester’s corpse was changing the body from its very roots just by existing.

A miracle where the balance between the body and soul was broken and the body was reconstructed according to the soul’s memory because the soul’s level and presence were unbelievably powerful.

It was not enough to have completed the seven stages of self-modification.

It was something that was impossible unless one had twisted their own stage and set out on their own path.

Lenox’s gaze deepened as he instantly realized that his opponent was a monster beyond the ordinary level.

‘You’re not someone who would be forcibly summoned by someone’s will. Why did you crawl out?’

The ash-haired young man standing before him was not a soul that could be moved by others.

If a soul with this level of power existed, it was clear that he had voluntarily taken possession of Harvester’s body and had the intention to escape beyond the gate and had carried it out himself.

For some reason, that being had heard Lenox and Hermes’s conversation and had taken over Harvester’s body and crawled out.

‘Crawled out, what a rude remark.’

The young man chuckled and placed his hand on the Ascension Gate behind him.

The young man, without hesitation, tore off one of the circular rings that made up the Ascension Gate and twisted it strongly with both hands.

Udududuk!!

He twisted the ring, which was nearly several tens of centimeters thick, with his bare hands on the spot, changing its direction as he pleased.

The young man, who had instantly created a guandao [a pole weapon with a blade] that had been twisted into a spiral shape, lightly grasped it.

Hwaaak!!

The air surrounding the young man rose sharply, and a heavy shockwave erupted over the surface of the water.

The young man, with a heavy spear shaft over his shoulder, answered indifferently.

‘He spoke to me, and I simply responded to it.’

‘…’

‘It’s not pleasant to relive our end in this way, but if it’s just about licking each other’s wounds as fellow failures, it’s not so bad. Don’t you think so?’

Fellow failures. An existence from the Old World. Lenox roughly understood what the other was saying.

Perhaps that being was not the godslayer itself, but an existence that had failed in ascension and reached annihilation in the second world.

Having become a part of the destroyed world, he had responded to Hermes’s call and manifested in this place by borrowing a body, even though he had reached the end of causality.

This was the essence of the plan that Hermes was trying to carry out in this Machine City, using the failure of the Ascension Gate.

To have the souls of the Old World dwell in the bodies of humans in this world and make them the new vanguards of this city.

‘I have no lingering attachments, but it’s always a pleasure to test the qualifications of a seeker like you.’

The young man, with the spear shaft over his shoulder, slightly lowered his head and began to emit a terrifying gleam.

The ominous dark red magic flowing between the spear shaft and his shoulder, which was slanted diagonally.

The dark red magic light flowed along the spear shaft, adding a burning blade that seemed to be burning on the guandao’s blade.

‘My name is Kashuin. A sinner who abandoned the failed god and fell from the seat of the archangel.’

‘…Archangel?’

The moment Lenox heard that name and hardened his face, huge wings covered in blood spread wide behind the Blood Knight.

At the same time, a huge crimson flame, like a sun, rose along the spear shaft and filled his vision.

Hwaruruk…!!

Kashuin’s spear strike, lightly swung from a distance of several tens of meters.

The magic of the blade that rose like a wildfire along with it, rose high as if to split Lenox’s head.

Kwaaaang!!!

A faint chill flashed amidst the scattering flames, and Kashuin relentlessly pursued and blocked him.

The man, who had instantly shattered the shield and brought his face right in front of Lenox, smiled, bringing his burning gaze closer.

Kagagak!!

‘I smell a soul that I miss so much from you… What is your name?’

At that moment, the staff sleeping in Lenox’s arms, the Archangel’s Compassion, began to resonate intensely.