Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 820

Dead Rise, a private military company. The 2nd Command of the Legion, managing the Far East region of the Central Front.

Among the organizations that have grown by absorbing all sorts of warlords, this branch is particularly large.

This is because the Far East Front has recently undergone repeated upheavals, and Dead Rise has also experienced several unavoidable clashes and mergers.

Not only the eyes of the Qing, who are trying to advance from the East Continent to the Central Front, but also the head warlords who have become corrupted and insane.

Even the mad apostles who run wild without distinguishing between friend and foe, and the drunken masters of the Order of Mages who appear arbitrarily on the battlefield and engage in bizarre behavior.

The 2nd Command is also unable to escape this trend, and even now, hundreds of corpses are scattered in front of the command, forming a mountain.

Goooh!

A desolate scene where people die and die again, completely desensitized to the value of life.

Every moment spent working here, it feels like emotions are being chipped away.

On top of that mountain of corpses, a man in a pure white coat was sitting, listening to the reports of his staff.

“The memorial tower has collapsed?”

“The specific circumstances have not yet been determined, but it is almost certain information at this point.”

The staff looked at the man’s back and spoke again with tense expressions.

“The huge tower that pierced the sky above the military city has disappeared, and as a result, the surrounding atmospheric pressure is fluctuating wildly.”

“……”

“We have cross-verified with the shamans stationed at the command, so it is probably accurate information.”

“Ah… I see. Yorta is located near the East Continent, after all.”

The man scratched his head as if he had finally realized why the staff were giving him this report.

Blood scabs fell from his snow-white long hair as he did so.

The man, with a dazed expression, turned his head towards the staff and asked.

“Are you reporting to me because I’m close to the generals? Should I go there?”

“…How could we possibly organize an operation for Commander Songha?”

The staff frantically waved their hands, looking terrified.

“However, other forces have also obtained related information and have begun to move. They will try to directly confirm what happened in Yorta.”

“……”

“We are planning to select a search party directly from the 2nd Command and send them to Yorta. The reason we are telling you this is to get approval for the formation of the search party-”

“Why bother picking people one by one?”

The man called Songha tied up his long hair with one hand and stood up abruptly.

“I’ll go myself. Just wait a bit.”

“C, Commander!!”

“N, no, that’s not it…!! Please calm down and listen to us!!”

The staff were flustered and hurriedly grabbed the hem of the man called Songha’s pants.

Even within Dead Rise, which has grown by absorbing warlords, there are only a handful of superhumans who have received the title of general.

This is because it is not permitted to increase or decrease the number of generals without the approval of the Dead Rise Marshal.

Furthermore, the ranking of the ranks is given not only based on individual martial prowess but also by distinguishing between contributions within the organization and various aptitudes.

And this man, who is waving his arms in front of the staff, is a superhuman who has risen to the rank of commander, one of only three such positions among the generals of Dead Rise.

He is a monster who became a general, setting aside all other criteria, with only one talent and ability.

“I’ve finished all the work Ethan asked me to do. I waited for the remnants of the Head Warlords for three days, but now no one is coming.”

Songha pointed to the corpses piled up like a mountain beneath his feet.

The staff, knowing that it was a massacre he had created all by himself, all fell silent.

Seeing this, Songha began to loosen up his body, fluttering his pure white coat.

“If I run from here to Yorta, it’ll take two days. It’s not a long trip, so I’ll be back soon.”

“C, Commander…!!”

“I just need to go to Yorta and ask what happened, right?”

At Songha’s words, which seemed to have already made a decision, the staff gave up and began to persuade him in a different way.

“…We will try to gather more information, so could you please wait a little longer?”

“If an incident of this magnitude has occurred, information will soon begin to leak to the outside.”

“We need to grasp the situation accurately and formally organize a unit-”

“No, I need to go now.”

Saying that, Songha jumped up and lightly leaped over the heads of the staff.

His limbs were abnormally long and slender. Wearing a pure white coat and clothes, he limped, making his figure seem even more elongated.

A long, curved katana swayed wildly at his waist, as long as his bent legs.

“Come to think of it, I heard that Ethan traveled to Yorta a long time ago.”

“…W, was that the Marshal’s words?”

“I should leave before I forget. I’ll be back.”

While the staff looked at each other with pale faces, Songha began to step on the mountain of corpses and jump down.

Thud, thud, whoosh!!

Songha’s figure, which seemed to be lightly bouncing, accelerated explosively from that spot and disappeared into the distance of the command in an instant.

The staff watched his figure for a while, unable to say anything properly.

“…That’s why I told you not to report to the Commander.”

“Considering the importance of this matter, a superhuman of at least a military rank is necessary for the formation of the search party. Are you going to handle this without getting approval from the higher-ups?”

The memorial tower of Yorta is a key facility of the city and an important foundation that served as a wedge in the staircase section [referring to the city’s unique tiered structure].

It is impossible to completely hide the aftermath of the tower’s collapse.

The atmospheric pressure around Yorta itself has changed, so by now, related information must have spread throughout the Central Front.

Therefore, it is also a dereliction of duty for the staff not to report this fact to the command.

The problem is that the one who was in the 2nd Command now was Commander Songha, who was waiting for the Marshal’s orders.

Even to the staff who were loyal to Dead Rise, Songha was by no means a possessor of normal emotions.

A free-spirited and disorderly personality that did not fit the rules of the legion.

Nevertheless, the fact that he held the position of commander and received orders from the Marshal made the staff feel even more burdened.

“It would have been better if someone like Lieutenant General Daymus was here…”

“Don’t you know that the activities of the generals have decreased since the disappearance of Major General Grisburn? There’s nothing we can do now.”

“Discard the search party formation plan. First, clean up the traces of the battle that took place in front of the command.”

“First, post the matter on the command’s public communication network. Once other generals who are available have confirmed it, there will be follow-up measures.”

One of the staff sighed and began to organize the documents.

“If the Marshal left something in Yorta, maybe this incident could be a dramatic achievement for us.”

* * *

Several days have passed since Kroken Asilus single-handedly destroyed the memorial tower and disappeared.

The scene of the rubble of the bedrock piled up like a mountain in the place where the tower collapsed, and the canal that had collapsed between them.

The river was blocked by fragments of the tower and overflowed, and nearby facilities and buildings were tilted and shaking.

Living beings and military spirits who had gathered from each staircase to witness the situation in the city were packed together without a place to step.

The mausoleum, located far from the ruins of the collapsed memorial tower.

A sanctuary for the dead, with huge tombs and statues filling the walls.

In the center of that sanctuary, a mage who was isolated was being observed and his condition was being checked by hundreds of people and military spirits coming and going.

[Spiritual stimulation failed. Cannot be designated.]

[Cannot be possessed or incarnated. Cannot observe spirit and flesh.]

Woo woo woo!!!

All sorts of strange thoughts and wills floating above his head wrapped around Lenok’s body, and then fell away without getting any response.

[Regardless of the presence or absence of consciousness, there is no reaction at all.]

[It is impossible to even interfere with techniques that deal with souls.]

[It’s like dealing with an inanimate object. How can a living human be like this…]

Shamans, military spirit masters, and spirit mediums who perform techniques on the living in various parts of Yorta come one after another, shake their heads, and retreat.

“There is a very powerful barrier of will. I cannot overcome it.”

“He is a sorcerer who is incomparably more powerful than me. If I try to do more here, my mind might be destroyed.”

“I give up. I don’t want to die a dog’s death by messing with such a madman.”

There are situations where people who touch the mage, who is bound inside a transparent hemispherical barrier, are terrified and fall out, and conversely, there are even those who give up without even touching him.

Rather, the more experienced and well-known spirit mediums or shamans in their fields, the faster they give up.

The Heavenly Oni [powerful, elite military spirits], who had been keeping Lenok imprisoned under the orders of the spirits, shook their heads in disbelief.

“It’s absurd…”

“Those guys who were affiliated with the tower were dealing with something like that?”

“Look at him. He’s openly looking at us.”

Beyond the transparent hemispherical dome, the mage’s body was bound by thick chains of mist.

However, Lenok, instead of shrinking back at the military spirits surrounding him, was rather staring back at them and gesturing.

The Heavenly Oni, who had inadvertently turned their gaze following his gesture, opened their mouths when they realized what Lenok was doing.

“That human… is practicing military spirit techniques while looking at us.”

“…What?”

From beside Lenok, who was gesturing while looking at the shocked Heavenly Oni, came a nagging voice.

“No. That’s not it. You have to move your senses like that.”

“……”

“You’re wrong again. What are you listening to me for?”

Lenok, roughly ignoring the endless nagging in his ear, focused on manipulating the military spirit in front of him.

[Heehee.]

A pale spirit. A military spirit of the lowest rank that has no form.

Lenok, lying on the bed, carefully flicked his finger at the military spirit.

Following his gesture, it began to flip, twist, and roll around in the air.

[Ugh!!]

But that was only for a moment, as the military spirit could not withstand it and burst and disappeared.

The spirit of a boy sitting next to the bed. The Great Inquisitor Oris scolded Lenok with a delighted expression.

“That’s why you humans are like this. You don’t understand even an iota of our spirits’ delicate way of existence.”

“……”

“What are you looking at? It was you who first suggested that I teach you the knack of manipulating spirits, wasn’t it?”

“…It’s not that.”

Lenok struggled to untie the bandages that covered his chin and replied.

“You’re quite spirited for someone who was revived just before annihilation.”

“……”

Oris, who was avoiding his gaze and pretending not to notice, seemed to have been hit in the bullseye.

The shabby appearance of being tortured by the Soul Suppression [a group that controls spirits] and driven to the brink of annihilation was nowhere to be seen.

“Well, thanks to that, you were also able to have a temporary reprieve in this mausoleum, weren’t you?”

Oris cleared his throat and said with his arms crossed.

“If I hadn’t called the exiled spirits to fix the situation, you would have been a bloated corpse at the bottom of the Headrain River.”

“Even when you speak… you’re so low-class.”

It was only natural that the city was shaking since the memorial tower had collapsed and the spirits of the Soul Suppression had disappeared.

The military spirits residing in each staircase of Yorta were running wild, and at that moment, when the entire city was about to fall into uncontrollable chaos.

The ancient spirits that had awakened at the same time as the tower collapsed appeared and began to restore the city.

Powerful military spirits who had been exiled from the Night Parade [a ritual involving spirits], like Oris. Ancient spirits who had been sleeping in the underground staircase, rebelling against the decision of the Soul Suppression.

A strange coincidence that the powerful figures who had been completely forgotten in the history of Yorta were awakened in large numbers and were regaining the city.

Looking back at what Kroken had said when he left, this must have been one of the intended results.

Looking back, he had experienced a similar thing in the Machine City.

Even Makina, who had failed in the Ascension Gate plan, had several monsters lurking in the shadows of the city, watching the situation.

The level 8 psychometry user, ‘Mastermind,’ whom he had encountered in the shadows of Makina, was a dangerous monster whose power even Lenok could not gauge.

Considering him, it was not strange that there were similar monsters with similar backgrounds in Yorta, lurking in the shadows of the city.

However, even while understanding Oris’s words, Lenok raised his hand with a nonchalant expression.

“If you want to show off so much, then first release these shackles. What kind of treatment is this for the benefactor who saved my life?”

Clang!!

The thick chains of mist that tightly bound Lenok’s wrists shook wildly at his gesture.

“…Hmm hmm, that’s not my jurisdiction.”

At Lenok’s words, Oris looked even further away and began to clear his throat violently.

“To be precise, it’s not me who’s fixing the chaos in the city right now, but the spirits who were trapped in the depths of Yorta.”

“So?”

“Well… wouldn’t it be obvious what they think of you?”

“……”

The ancient spirits who are now fixing the chaos of Yorta in place of the Soul Suppression know nothing about Lenok.

The only circumstances they have heard are about the lawless person who invaded the Sanctuary of the Void, awakened the coming of the Ascended [a powerful being], and destroyed the Void.

It was only natural that they could not stand idly by from their position of trying to fix the chaos of the city.

However, it certainly did not mean that Lenok had any reason to take that into account and be lenient.

“These chains of mist.”

Lenok said, looking at the chains clanking on his wrists.

“The exact same ones were also on the body of the Ascended hidden in the Sanctuary of the Void.”

“Ha, ha, ha…”

“If you don’t release this by today, I’ll break it myself and get out.”

Of course, Lenok’s body was not yet recovered enough to break free from the restraints surrounding him right now.

However, from Oris’s point of view, Lenok’s threat did not sound entirely false.

Naturally, the boy’s face changed to an indescribable troubled expression.

“…Okay. I’ll pass it on to the higher-ups and try to get it taken care of quickly.”

“Why are you giving up your place to other spirits and just hanging around here in the first place?”

Lenok said, taking out a cigarette from his pocket and putting it in his mouth.

“When you first asked for my cooperation, you were spouting nonsense about taking control of Yorta’s power.”

“Even when I speak…”

At Lenok’s frank remarks, Oris, who seemed to be flustered, raised his gaze and was about to say something when.

A cold female voice echoed from behind the two of them.

“Oris Aisen has become so weak that he can no longer exist as a spirit.”

Bang!!

At the same time as those words, the barrier that had been keeping Lenok imprisoned opened wide, and someone walked in.

At the same time as she entered, the barrier turned pitch black and completely blocked the gaze around the shrine.

The figure of a young woman wearing flowing clothes that completely covered her entire body shape.

Her face, which felt not only expressionless but even stern, did not show any emotion.

She walked in without any hesitation, glanced at Oris, and said.

“He was the one who consumed the most power among us when he was exiled from the Night Parade. He is still in the form of an immature boy, so the impact must be severe.”

“Who are you?”

“My apologies for the late introduction.”

The woman said, gracefully extending one hand and bowing politely.

“Naimel. I have no surname. Like Oris, I am a humble soul who was exiled from the Night Parade and trapped in the 17th underground staircase of the memorial tower.”

“……”

Even after hearing the answer from the woman who called herself Naimel, Lenok frowned, feeling a sense of unease.

This was because he was feeling an unknown, intense sense of déjà vu from the etiquette and tone she was showing, and the aura of her spirit.

Naimel neatly ignored Lenok’s reaction and stroked Oris’s head.

“Once we have finished fixing this situation, we plan to have Oris focus on restoring his spirit. Considering his contributions, it is only right.”

“Damn it, don’t touch my head!”

When Oris grumbled and pushed away Naimel’s hand, she withdrew her hand as if nothing had happened and turned her gaze.

“More important than that is the matter of what to do with you regarding this situation.”

“……”

“Not only did you damage the body of the Ascended enshrined in the Void, and collapse the sanctuary, but you are also a criminal organization that destroyed the memorial tower…”

Naimel’s gaze changed in a complex way for a moment.

“The affairs of the surface are troublesome and complicated. While we forgot about the world, the outside has changed so much.”

The Night Parade of Ten Thousand Demons is one of the oldest ascension rituals in this continent,

and the spirits who participated in the Night Parade are also beings that have been worn down by the passage of time over countless years.

It was not strange that Naimel, one of the old spirits, was perplexed by the changes outside.

However, Lenok intuitively knew that the reason she was reluctant to do this was not just because of that.

The strangely familiar etiquette and gestures, the polite but self-aware tone, the flowing clothes, and the strangely clear presence.

Surely, he had traveled with a spirit with a similar atmosphere in Yorta, hadn’t he?

Decisively, Lenok, who had confirmed the sensation of the stigma slightly fluctuating towards Naimel, immediately opened his mouth.

“You’re not from this city.”

“……”

“A long time ago, weren’t you affiliated with a certain religious group?”