Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 778

The Guido Order’s priestess, Seina Naidri, was found inside the belly of a magical beast.

It was an unexpected situation where she, who had been praying with her eyes closed as if dead, suddenly spoke to Lenok.

[……!!!]

Startled, Davi tumbled backward inside his robe, but Lenok watched her with a cold gaze.

Lenok chuckled, not even trying to hide his face, which was half-covered by his hood.

“I don’t know what meaning there is in a dead person imitating the voice of the living.”

“…….”

“It already looks hopeless, so why are you still clinging to that body?”

It wasn’t just that her life activities had stopped; her insides were so damaged that recovery was impossible.

He didn’t know what kind of monster had done it, but he had confirmed that not even a spark of life remained in that body.

That’s why Lenok knew there was no need to take back the words he had spoken.

The priestess was not in a state where she could see Lenok with her eyes or perceive him by hearing his presence.

A powerful spiritual presence that even Lenok couldn’t easily guess the level of.

It was more like she had recognized Lenok and spoken to him through the unique inspiration given to the Order’s priestesses.

Imitating a voice with a dead body was probably in case Lenok couldn’t hear the priestess’s spiritual presence.

“If you can hear me even with spiritual presence, then say what you have to say.”

Lenok said, simultaneously bringing his hand to his face.

From the moment he faced the priestess, he had decided what identity he should present himself with.

Lenok, who had quickly put on his obsidian mask inside his face-covering robe, sneered at the priestess.

“Considering the memories from before, I might listen to your last words for a moment.”

[…….]

The moment the priestess heard Lenok’s answer, which openly mentioned that he knew her, the atmosphere around her changed.

It was as if she was now fully aware of Lenok’s existence and was changing her attitude.

[I thought you had a rare insight into the essence of things, and wondered if you were some noble person…]

At that moment, a pale spirit rose above the priestess’s corpse and faced Lenok.

The spirit, with the same appearance as in life, respectfully put its hands together and slightly bowed its head to Lenok.

Goooh……!!

From her calm demeanor, which was impossible to read, a sense of intimidation befitting a priest of the Order seemed to emanate.

The priestess, who had already died, spoke, having raised her thoughts so quickly that it was strange that she could produce such a presence even after her life had been cut off.

[I didn’t expect to see you again, someone I met at the end of the Well. I apologize for the late greeting. You were the sorcerer from the Devil’s Den.]

The priestess’s voice changed in an instant, but Lenok ignored it and examined the state of the spirit.

‘Her memory and mind are more intact than I thought. Above all, the preservation of her soul is excessively good.’

The memories and minds of humans are a miracle made possible by the coexistence of the body and soul.

It is difficult for either of the two pillars that support the ego and identity to function properly if only one collapses.

In most cases, memories become blurred, language is forgotten, and communication becomes impossible.

Superhumans who have built up their ranks can last relatively long, but even that does not last long without special measures.

“I heard you’re at war with the Alliance, but looking at your current state, the result seems obvious.”

Lenok sneered.

“A priestess who should be protected in the Order’s main temple is dead in such a remote place… The work of these fanatics is truly pathetic.”

Since he had decided to wear Victor’s mask, there was no reason to limit his words and actions.

The fact that the priestess had died in this swamp and that even her body had not been properly recovered clearly showed how chaotic the inside of the Order was.

Could they achieve meaningful results in a full-scale war with a large sorcerer group like the Alliance in such a state?

Although there are several special forces called apostles, it would be impossible to gauge their chances of victory with the head of the Order absent.

While Lenok was lost in thought, recalling the portal access rights sent by the leader of the Alliance, the priestess calmly replied.

[You. You know a lot about our Order, but you don’t know its essence.]

“I don’t particularly want to know.”

[The position of priestess can be replaced at any time. The abilities I possess are merely a grace given to me by that person… If I am not qualified, they are nothing more than bubbles that will disappear at any time.]

Even after hearing the blatant ridicule, the priestess did not waver at all.

[Even if I am gone, there will be no problem with the Order’s power and status. The holy war with the Alliance that you know is also just a matter of time.]

“…….”

[Within half a year, the holy war will end, and the first gateway will be under the control of our Order.]

At that moment, a cold spiritual energy seemed to whisper around Lenok.

A firm answer that the result of the war with the Alliance was already decided. A fanaticism that was strangely confident of victory.

It was no different from the high-ranking officials of the Order that Lenok had dealt with, but…

Even knowing that, Lenok threw a cold sneer from behind his mask.

“But there won’t be any new apostles born for a while, will there?”

[…….]

Lenok smiled, leaving the priestess who had closed her mouth for the first time.

“Given that the special forces that your Order boasts about can’t be continuously deployed to the front lines, I wonder if the war will proceed as you say… I’m curious.”

The Order is an incredibly powerful and bizarre group, but the Order of the Mages is also not to be underestimated when it comes to its history and roots.

The large organizations that currently form part of the central front are all gatherings of madmen whose purposes and means are strangely twisted.

If those who are crazy about both magic and faith clash, it is unlikely that one side will gain a unilateral advantage.

The priestess, who had been listening to Lenok’s words silently, slowly tilted her head.

The spirit, staring intently at the obsidian mask with a blank face, whispered.

[Indeed, I should have made you an apostle at the end of the Well back then…]

“…….”

[There have been many cases where the will was there but the power was lacking, but it is rare to find a noble person with an aptitude like yours, so it is regrettable.]

“That’s a useless thing to leave as a last word.”

A lukewarm compliment that Lenok had a good talent for becoming an apostle, which he didn’t want to hear at all.

The priestess put her hands together as if in prayer and spoke to Lenok, who had cleanly given up and turned his gaze away.

[Before my soul loses its will, I would like to ask you for one favor.]

“Not to make me an apostle again?”

Despite Lenok’s cynicism, the priestess stubbornly opened her mouth.

[Could you please recover my body and hand it over to the Order?]

“…You want me to transport your body?”

While Lenok was asking back, the priestess calmly replied.

[The death I faced was so bizarre that my soul cannot leave my body. If this continues, my soul will collapse along with my body.]

“…….”

[The death of the body is regrettable, but there is still work I have to do. If you hand over my body to the Order, I will surely reward you in the name of the Papal Court.]

“You’ve asked the wrong person.”

Lenok replied coldly.

“I’m not a mortician. Why should I be responsible for your death?”

[…….]

“Even after seeing this, you’re still asking me to move your body?”

The priestess could not answer immediately at Lenok’s gesture.

This was because a rapidly ominous thought was exploding from the priestess’s corpse, which had been opened.

Saaah!!

The sticky moss scattered everywhere rotted and decayed, and the ground below the storage box turned black.

Thud!!

The ominous thought subsided only after closing the door of the storage box and sealing it by wrapping magic threads around it.

Lenok, who was looking at the storage box with a dumbfounded expression, asked the priestess.

“Who the hell did you die to, that it changes like that as soon as your soul leaves?”

The evil energy that had just burst out from the priestess was not her own. It was almost certainly a manifestation of the power left behind by the strong person who killed the priestess.

Until now, the priestess herself had been suppressing that evil energy, but it must have been released immediately after the spirit came out to talk.

A sinister and strange thought that not only killed the Order’s priestess but also engraved the aftereffects of its power on her body.

If the owner of this thought, which even Lenok seemed to be seeing for the first time, was real, he must be a monster who left his name in the history of the continent.

[The grudges and conflicts of the world are fleeting. Even the bonds and bad relationships are just temporary shackles.]

But instead of answering that, the priestess looked at Lenok’s hand, which was hidden by his robe, and said.

[Although I am in this state, I still have many abilities. I can be of help to you in some way.]

“The help of a fanatic who couldn’t even take care of her own body…”

Lenok sneered at the priestess’s words, but instead of immediately refusing, he fell into thought.

From the moment he said he would listen to her last words, he knew there was something he could gain from the priestess herself.

The abilities and authority as a priestess. What does it mean that it can still be used?

The overwhelming revelation ability that borrows the power of the monsters swimming in the outer sea.

The authority of a priest to summon the incarnations of the end, whose origins are unknown, and perform rituals.

Didn’t he confirm its true value when he faced Priestess Izel Naidri and the 10th Apostle Amrita in the Far East Branch of the Order?

If either of them could be used even in a soul state, it could be helpful in what Lenok was trying to do.

Regardless of what the priestess had gone through and what kind of death she had faced, her detached attitude was not so annoying.

But the biggest reason why Lenok was considering the priestess’s proposal at this point was.

He thought that this meeting itself might be an arrangement that the head of the Order had spoken of.

“…….”

An old video left on the Baritz Company’s network.

In the procession of the Papal Court, he confronted the head of the Order’s memories, and the last message he left.

Considering what Lenok was trying to do, he had said that there was a possibility that he would soon meet one of the failures he had left behind.

‘I don’t know exactly what he means by failure…’

If the failure that the head of the Order had mentioned meant the failure of Priestess Seina Naidri.

If this meeting was even foreseen and hinted at by the head of the Order, then even the process could be a means to understand him.

And there was only one way to get what Lenok wanted here while also postponing the priestess’s proposal.

Lenok, having finished his thoughts, slowly shook his head.

“…No, I refuse to guide your body to the Order. No matter how I think about it, it’s just a waste of time.”

[Is that so.]

Lenok touched his mask, watching the priestess who calmly accepted the decision.

“But there is a way to help your soul from rotting away while trapped in your body.”

[…Yes?]

Ignoring the priestess’s question, Lenok rolled up his robe sleeve and held out his hand.

The moment he took off his glove and operated the Guide’s Ring, a pale spirit rose up and confronted the priestess’s spirit head-on.

[This is…]

The priestess, facing the Guide’s spirit, immediately recognized its true value and her expression changed.

[It’s a spirit that affects the same soul. Moreover, it’s a power with a long history and origin…]

“I’ll use this item to store your soul in this ring. It can temporarily prevent your soul from collapsing as one with your body.”

[…….]

The priestess, who belatedly realized the meaning of Lenok’s proposal, closed her mouth.

He was not going to recover and transport both the priestess’s body and soul, but rather recover only her soul and carry it around for a while.

[…I understand.]

But even after understanding Lenok’s intentions, the priestess immediately nodded her head.

This was because, as Lenok had said, if more time passed like this, her soul would be in such a bad state that it would be damaged.

Even the temporary grace he was offering was a necessary measure for the priestess.

“Good.”

Lenok nodded and gestured to the Guide’s ghost, but the Guide did not move at his words.

Instead, it simply stared at the priestess’s spirit for a moment, then slowly moved it aside.

[……?]

Leaving the bewildered priestess behind, the Guide’s soul pointed to Lenok’s ring.

It was a strange movement, as if it was trying to make room instead of directly swallowing the spirit.

Kiiing……!!

At that moment, the priestess’s soul felt a sensation of being slowly pulled into the ring.

It was a sensation as if he was grabbing the soul directly with his hand and forcibly subordinating it under his own existence.

If there was anything unusual, it was that this unfamiliar sense of incongruity felt conversely more comfortable than ever.

The priestess must have felt it too, as she stared intently at Lenok’s masked face with a strange expression.

[You are much more suitable for the doctrine than I thought. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this level of devotion…]

“…Don’t talk nonsense.”

Lenok replied irritably, but his thoughts were on the strange behavior that the Guide’s ghost had just shown.

Why did the Guide just try to make room in the ring instead of eating and guiding the priestess’s spirit?

Could it be that the reason lies in the essence of the priestess’s soul rather than the Guide?

While Lenok was keeping that fact in mind, the priestess put her hands together and prayed.

[It’s a pity. Your fate too. The fate of the dead believers too. Even if we stood in different places, we could have become the same.]

“You killed the believers who risked their lives to protect you, and you don’t feel anything?”

[They have been doing similar things to the apostates.]

Even at Lenok’s cynicism, the priestess calmly replied.

[It’s just the end that was bound to come. Both I and the believers were destined to accept it someday.]

“…….”

The death of the believers and her own death.

Was it because they thought it was something they, who served the doctrine of the myriad gods, had to endure?

While Lenok was silent at the strange rationality that was far removed from ordinary humans but also seemed understandable, the priestess’s soul had already fully settled in the ring and began to shine.

Kiiing……!!

Two lights hovered over the transparent pure white gem engraved on the ring.

One was the Guide’s ghost that Lenok had used as Evan’s clone, and the other was the soul of Priestess Seina Naidri.

What was unusual was that Seina’s soul seemed to be following the Guide’s ghost in a circle inside the ring.

Lenok, who was secretly marveling at the fact that the existence of the soul could be confirmed so visibly, belatedly gathered the ring and said.

“I have things to do, so I can’t immediately hand over your soul to the Order.”

[…….]

“Once you’re in the ring, you won’t be able to see or hear the outside world unless I call you. Wait until I finish my work.”

Even though she was the soul of a dead priestess, there was no need to show Lenok what he was trying to do in Yorta.

Just as Lenok was about to put the priestess’s soul to sleep inside the ring, Seina asked.

[Then, could you at least tell me how long it will take?]

“I’ll answer you after crossing the Headrain River. I don’t know when I’ll arrive because a lot of time has passed-”

[You.]

At that moment, the priestess interrupted Lenok’s words with a surprised expression.

[Could it be that your destination through this swamp was Yorta?]

“Is there a problem?”

[It’s not that…]

The priestess replied with a sullen expression.

[The destination I was heading to with the priests was-]

“……!!!”

At that moment, a huge shadow loomed over Lenok’s head from the other side of the swamp.

A faint sound of tearing through the air brushed past his ears. A powerful mass of magic that rushed into his sensory range in an instant.

Immediately after Lenok recognized it and quickly raised his gaze.

Something huge, like a beast, fell on Lenok’s head at an incredible speed.

Kwaaaang!!!

The shock of an overwhelming mass falling and hitting the ground.

The ground rippled like a wave due to the aftermath, and all the moss that had been laid all over the swamp was overturned.

Thud thud thud!!!

The damp ground could not withstand the force and was softly crushed, and the storage box that had been hidden under the crack soared into the sky.

Lenok, who had slipped away as if bouncing while holding the magic thread, looked up at the scene with one knee on the ground.

“Found you.”

Thump!!

The thing that had just fallen grabbed the storage box floating in the air with one hand.

[Hoo, hoo!!]

It was a huge monster in the shape of a minotaur, breathing roughly through its nose.

With a house-sized hammer on one shoulder, it was a terrifying figure, emitting red light from its eyes and snorting fiercely.

Lenok, confirming its ferocious appearance, which was uncontrollably exuding killing intent, muttered.

“…An apostle?”

A special force of the Guido Order, an incarnation of the end that swims in the outer sea.

Unlike the half-finished monster that Lenok had killed by the lake, it was the presence of an apostle properly completed by receiving the power of the outer god.

[Hooouuuk……!!]

Another voice echoed from the monster’s shoulder, which was breathing roughly, unable to control its excitement.

“I warned you to be careful when passing through the central front.”

“…….”

“Jinwa is completely insane, and no intelligent being can escape his wrath. I think the priestess overestimated her abilities.”

A gloomy tone. A strange voice that creaked like it was coming from a damp swamp.

Something that looked like a sticky octopus tentacle was attached to the apostle’s shoulder and was making a sound.

“I wish you would also consider our position, as we had to wander around the eastern swamp to find you. What a ridiculous thing this is?”

Jinwa. Central front. Looking for the priestess.

Lenok tilted his head toward the tentacle, which was spouting incomprehensible words except that it was talking to Seina Naidri.

“What nonsense are you muttering to yourself since a while ago?”

“Ah, it’s not something to say to a non-believer, so just ignore it.”

The tentacle said, wriggling.

“It’s just a mistake that came out because we’re in such a hurry that we don’t have the luxury of choosing who to listen to.”

Thud!!

At the same time as the tentacle said that, the bull-headed monster took a strong step forward.

A terrible thought that was burning so fiercely that it seemed to melt the head of anyone who faced it.

This level of emotion was not something that could be emitted with normal intelligence.

A blind obsession close to madness that could not be emitted without something in the brain being broken and going crazy.

A mad apostle. And a monster of considerable level.

‘Did it recognize the evil energy we released and come looking for us?’

The fact that the apostle appeared late, right after Lenok had just recovered the soul, was no coincidence.

It was reasonable to assume that they had opened the storage box, recognized the evil energy contained in the priestess’s body, and belatedly started the pursuit.

Lenok himself, who had recovered and taken in the priestess’s soul, and the Order’s apostle who had come to find her.

And the bizarre tentacle that was speaking instead of the apostle.

The moment Lenok glanced down at the ring, the priestess’s voice echoed from beyond it.

[You. I will talk to Camrodal directly.]

“Camrodal?”

When Lenok inadvertently asked back, the tentacle hanging on the apostle’s shoulder reacted.

“Hmm? It’s not a grand name to tell an apostate. Who are you to know me?”

“…….”

Immediately after Lenok realized that the tentacle’s name was Camrodal, he closed his mouth. The priestess explained.

[He is the eighth apostle of the Order and the person who is controlling that mad apostle right now.]

A special force of the Guido Order. Among them, a single-digit apostle belonging to the elite.

The priestess was saying that the 8th Apostle Camrodal had arrived at this place.