Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 847

“……I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

Not only did he barge into the lecture hall and half-destroy the facility, but now Lenok was declaring he would take him away after binding him.

Raphael, his entire body bound by purple chains, tried his best to maintain a calm expression as he spoke.

“This is a research institute established by the Central Council, and one of its core classified facilities. If you cause a disturbance, you won’t be able to avoid severe punishment…!!”

“That’s not something you need to worry about.”

Clank!!

The moment Lenok retorted and raised his hand, Raphael’s body floated into the air.

A bizarre sight, as if an invisible hand had grabbed the chains and lifted him.

“Ugh, ugh…!!”

“I heard that the mana theory you’re researching is related to this research institute’s secrets.”

Lenok said, looking at Raphael struggling.

“I have something I want to confirm about that, so you’ll have to come with me.”

Lenok, having met Raphael during the Pandemonium meeting, knew that his combat abilities were not particularly outstanding.

He might be an excellent scholar, given his title as a professor, but his own martial prowess was likely not very strong.

“There’s a limit to how much you can look down on someone…!!”

Raphael’s face immediately turned red at Lenok’s words.

Hanging in the air, the professor, struggling against the chains, began to gather mana and form a hand seal with one hand.

“Even if I’m not good at fighting, I’m not so incompetent that I’d be kidnapped by such crude telekinesis!!”

Kiiiing!!

A circular magic circle rotated from the center of Raphael’s left hand, which was forming a seal, and enveloped the professor’s body.

It slowly expanded, enveloping the middle-aged man’s body, and quickly took control of the surrounding mana flow.

At the same time, just as Raphael’s mana was about to analyze and break down Lenok’s telekinesis.

Crack!!

“……?!”

A sound like something snapping echoed from Raphael’s head, and sticky blood dripped from his nose.

Raphael stared at the falling drops of blood, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Wh, what… I can’t analyze it…”

“An analysis magic circle? And an external incantation at that. Your skills are quite good.”

Lenok said to him in a gentle tone.

“You were planning to analyze my magic and break it down, but that was quite dangerous. If you had gone a little further, your head would have exploded.”

“……”

The professor’s expression turned blank as he realized that the warning was not for Lenok, but for himself.

Raphael, an authority on theoretical magic, was not only unable to analyze the mana, but also suffered a doubled backlash, showing an overwhelming difference in power.

Even if the opponent was a great mage who manipulated mana at the particle level, such a one-sided situation would not easily occur.

And if there was someone among those monsters who was causing such unrealistic incidents in Vulcan-

“Could it be, Kyeonloe… ?”

“You know me. And you don’t seem to be a local of this city.”

Lenok laughed loudly as he looked at Raphael, who was muttering with a pale face.

“Have you heard my name somewhere?”

“……”

Raphael’s face was pale as he tightly shut his mouth. It wasn’t strange.

No matter how urgent the situation was, he couldn’t possibly reveal the name of Pandemonium here.

Moreover, he could hardly say that they had seriously discussed subjugating Kyeonloe in the criminal organization.

“I, I’m sorry, but I won’t be of much use to you.”

Raphael muttered, glancing behind the podium.

“In the first place, the lecture wasn’t for the purpose of researching common magic. Well, it’s not that I’m not interested in Professor Bylon. It’s true that I accepted the lecture because of that, but-”

“Okay, I understand.”

Lenok said, lifting Raphael behind him and immediately started walking.

Raphael’s body, along with the unconscious Hayward, began to move, being dragged along.

“So, I have nothing to do with this-!!!”

The moment Raphael raised his voice in panic, a huge beast jumped out from behind the podium and slammed into Lenok.

Kwaaaang!!

The impact was so intense that all the shields that had been left without being replenished were shattered.

The wide lecture hall wall cracked and broke, revealing the still-dark sky outside the research institute, such was the violent aftermath.

A thick presence covered in brown fur. Gleaming black eyes and a wide-open mouth dripping with saliva.

Lenok tilted his head, looking at the beast that was crunching the shield with its teeth.

“Why is there a bear here?”

[What ignorant fool dares to kidnap the professor?]

At that moment, a ferocious man’s voice came from inside the bear’s mouth.

[Professor Raphael is Elderwood’s benefactor. No one can harm the professor!]

“Elderwood…”

However, despite the bear’s words, Lenok looked at the 3-meter-tall bear in front of him with a rather intrigued expression.

He could feel the heavy aura, as if the bear was filled with muscles all over its body, despite being covered in fur.

A clear mana, qualitatively different from that of ordinary superhumans, flowed from within its body. Lenok muttered at the strange sense of incongruity, as if he was facing the air of the forest.

“A druid, I see. One who has mastered high-level nature techniques to the point of being able to shapeshift?”

Upon hearing those words, the bear snorted.

[So, you’re a fool who has heard of the great laws of nature.]

“Your names always pop up whenever there’s a problem with the greenbelts in the megacities.”

Lenok coughed slightly, covering his mouth, and retorted.

“I end up knowing even when I’m not curious.”

The druid’s nature techniques take the form of techniques, but their principles and foundations are completely different from magic.

Most of the existing nature techniques operate without a clear power source, relying on the existence of nature and belief in it, and are characterized by the absence of any signs or traces.

However, in exchange for the lack of signs during activation, changes through nature techniques are designed to be slow and gradual.

To change one’s body into the form of a bear like now, one would have to be a skilled practitioner who can freely manipulate the nature of the techniques.

“The structure is more elaborate than transformation techniques, but the application is less versatile? If it’s a type that transforms into a specific form, then its uses would be quite limited.”

Drrrduk…!!

Even with the shield completely crushed, Lenok calmly muttered, looking at the bear’s form.

“The balance between power and cost is quite well-maintained. It’s my first time seeing it in person, but it’s quite impressive.”

[And that will be the last time!!]

Kwaaaang!!

As the bear swiped its front paw, the shield was completely shattered, and Lenok’s body was mercilessly trampled under it.

The bear, having shattered the remaining shield in one blow, jumped across the half-destroyed lecture hall and rushed towards the professor hanging in the air.

[Professor!!]

“Iphasa, stop it!!”

Raphael shouted with a stiff expression.

“The opponent is a monster. At least you should run away…!!”

[I can’t do that. We have to go together!]

The druid, called Iphasa, roughly bit through the chains binding Raphael with his teeth.

The giant bear’s teeth were about to bite Raphael’s body and pull him away when a calm voice echoed from under the bear’s belly.

“It’s balanced because it’s based on the existence of nature. Honest.”

Lenok, who had created a ball of bright blue electricity at his fingertips, looked up at him and smiled.

“I don’t dislike honest power, so I’ll have to crush it honestly.”

“……!!!”

Iphasa reacted with animal-like reflexes, twisting his body and raising his foot.

“I don’t dislike such straightforward methods either.”

From under the bear’s belly, a chilling blue light burst forth.

[Rending Thunder]

[Bloom]

The lightning that bloomed from the tip of the 3-meter-tall bear’s foot instantly devoured its massive body and bloomed into a blue flower.

Streams of blue electricity spread out in all directions like dozens of petals, engulfing and battering Iphasa.

Pzzzzzzzzzt!!

[Aaaaargh?!!!!]

“Iphasa!!!”

The brown fur burned and curled, and the bear’s massive body trembled and convulsed before collapsing with a roar.

The aftermath alone caused the ceiling and walls of the lecture hall to melt and burn, heating up the air in the hall.

Kooong!!

[N, no way. A mere mortal is going to…!]

Even while convulsing with his eyes rolled back and his tongue hanging out, the druid, still conscious, spat out words filled with hatred.

However, Lenok, leaning on his staff, whispered to Iphasa.

“The fact that you can still utter such words after being hit by my magic is proof that the balance of nature techniques is being maintained very strongly.”

“……!!!”

“I didn’t intend to kill you, but to think that you haven’t even lost consciousness, let alone had your transformation undone…”

Lenok, looking at Iphasa with amusement, approached the fallen Iphasa and said.

“The stability alone is truly abnormal. It’s worth researching.”

Lenok’s lightning, which had undergone countless studies and modifications, was not a power specialized only for destruction and discharge.

It could interfere with the signal transmission of the nervous system, increase muscle rigidity, and even interfere with the body’s mana to neutralize the metabolism itself.

Even if it was a spell cast for light suppression, most superhumans would usually collapse immediately after being hit, unable to even think.

The fact that the transformation of the technique had not been undone even after being hit by Lenok’s magic was proof of how powerful the stability of the nature technique was.

A strange characteristic that forcibly stabilizes the technique regardless of the caster’s will and ability.

Lenok was thinking that the stability of this nature technique might help stabilize his own Avatar technique.

As a powerful martial artist from the old world, he had great power, but his Avatar was too unstable to be used as a clone.

If he could only impart the stability of nature techniques to his Avatar, it would be possible to use the Avatar as a clone as he had originally planned.

The moment Lenok thought that and placed his hand on Iphasa’s head, activating his magic eye.

“I, I have a research log that records the stability of nature techniques!!”

Raphael, who had been staring at Lenok with a bewildered expression, shouted hastily.

Lenok turned his gaze as soon as he heard those words.

“A research log?”

“Y, yes, I once researched a disease that was spreading among the druids. In the process, I recorded a log about the abnormal stability of the nature techniques you mentioned.”

Raphael said, constantly shifting his gaze.

“If you promise not to shed blood here, I will hand it over to you. So-”

“Hmm…”

Lenok slowly removed his hand from Iphasa’s head and raised his gaze.

Lenok, looking at Raphael’s face hanging in the air, asked.

“Professor, you have a surprisingly normal sensibility. You don’t seem to have a very strong sense of self.”

“……What exactly did you see in me to think that?”

“No, I haven’t really thought about it deeply.”

“……”

Raphael’s face seemed to be at a loss for words at the indifferent answer.

But then why did Professor Raphael join Pandemonium?

Not all members of Pandemonium were irredeemable villains, but no one joined without knowing it was a criminal organization.

However, Professor Raphael, whom Lenok saw now, was not the type of person who would willingly step into such a criminal organization.

In the end, since it was difficult to ask unless it was under Victor’s identity, Lenok quickly lost interest and approached Raphael.

“I know that the mage training plan is being carried out in this research institute. It must be somewhat related to Evan Bylon.”

“……”

“If you can’t talk about the plan or don’t know anything, I’ll need to hear an explanation of how your theory was used in the project. And that-”

Lenok shrugged and turned his gaze.

“At least it wouldn’t be possible in a place like this.”

Kwaang!!

The lecture hall wall shook violently, and a strong presence could be felt from afar.

The Aegis members were surrounding the lecture hall and slowly closing in.

The fact that they were not recklessly entering the lecture hall was proof that they considered Lenok to be that dangerous.

Raphael looked at Lenok and the approaching Aegis presence with a complicated expression, then sighed deeply.

“……Let’s change locations. I’ll do as you say.”

The professor muttered, looking up at Lenok with difficulty.

“I don’t know what value the secrets of the research institute would have to someone like you… but if a great mage wants it, I have no choice but to comply.”

“That’s a strange answer.”

Lenok laughed.

“If you say that, it makes me sound like some kind of villain.”

“……”

“……”

When Raphael looked up at Lenok as if he were looking at a madman, Lenok also closed his mouth.

Dabi coughed in his arms.

[Ahem.]

“Then let’s change locations right away. I’ll receive the research log there.”

Lenok said, bringing his hand into his arms.

Raphael looked at him weakly, then suddenly muttered as if he had remembered something.

“……If the special task force is surrounding this lecture hall, they will surely notice our movement. Can you avoid being detected?”

The superhumans of the city council’s special task force were masters of various combat techniques and spells.

If they were to surround and wait in this lecture hall, their method would not end with forming a physical formation, but would also use various techniques, including the power of barriers.

“Don’t worry.”

Lenok, clutching an old pencil with complex characters engraved on it from his arms, grabbed Raphael’s wrist.

“I have something that I wouldn’t use unless it was for something like this.”

“E, Enac’s pencil-!!”

[Kyeonloe!!]

The moment Raphael’s tone turned sharp as he realized the identity of the artifact, the outer wall of the lecture hall collapsed, and the Aegis members descended.

They must have been watching in real-time what Lenok was doing here.

[Please stop. If you leave the research institute like this-!!]

As dozens of superhumans ran towards Lenok, they began to build complex barrier formations above their heads.

Even Lenok could see that it was a considerable output. Perhaps one of the Aegis members had been injected with a high level of barrier magic.

Realizing that, Lenok ruthlessly stabbed the pencil into Raphael’s wrist.

Fwaaat!!

The figures of the two people standing on the half-destroyed podium disappeared, and they fell into a dark room.

Immediately after, the chains that had been binding Raphael were released, and the professor’s body fell straight to the floor.

Thud!!

“Cough!!”

Raphael, who had coughed roughly, looked at Lenok with a dumbfounded expression, momentarily forgetting the current situation.

“Great mages are truly different. To use a rare item like Enac’s finger like this…”

“I could have cast a separate space transfer on you, but it would be annoying if you tried to analyze the magic unnecessarily.”

Lenok said, naturally starting to walk towards one of the walls.

“Rather than letting your head explode, it’s better to deal with it from the start so there’s no room for you to interfere.”

“Is the head exploding a certainty… That’s an unpleasant assumption.”

Ignoring the grumbling Raphael, Lenok turned his gaze.

Even if it wasn’t for using it in a place like this, Lenok still had spare Enac’s pencils.

Because the fact that it was almost the only reward Lenok liked when he worked as a freelancer had spread, he occasionally received them as bribes through Jenny.

“Where is this? Considering the mana delay rate according to space, it doesn’t seem to be a place far from the research institute.”

Raphael asked, glancing at Hayward, who had fallen unconscious in a corner after being transferred with him.

“The special task force of the Central Council are very skilled superhumans. If we don’t quickly create distance, they will track us immediately. I don’t care, but-”

“It’s not far from the research institute, it’s still inside the research institute.”

“……What?”

Lenok answered, pulling a lever located on one side of the wall.

“To be precise, it’s the power generation facility that supplies power to the entire national park where the research institute is located.”

Fwaaat!!

At that moment, the lights in the room turned on brightly, and the surrounding scenery began to come into view.

Wooooooong!!!

A vast common area where thick wires, thicker than a human torso, were densely packed.

Except for the control devices located on the walls, all the surrounding scenery was made up of wires for transporting electricity.

The moment Raphael was speechless at the sight, Lenok, who had taken out a hard disk from his arms, explained.

“I restored the data deleted from the research institute’s independent network, but it’s not a capacity that can be opened with an ordinary computer. It’s impossible to even access it without an autonomous data viewing device with Saint-level processing power.”

“……”

“It’s not that there’s no way to open it forcibly, but to avoid unnecessary damage, it’s better to find a way as close as possible.”

While paralyzing the power of the entire research institute, Lenok had naturally recognized the existence of this place.

The moment he loaded the deleted data onto the hard disk while fighting Crescent, Lenok had immediately realized how to view the disk through Dabi.

“I’m going to match the required output by converting mana and electricity and open the disk. If I double-convert the power of the power generation facility, I can match the output.”

Clank!!

Lenok said, opening the control panel of the control room and tapping the circuit with his gloved hand.

“What you need to do is explain the mana theory you mentioned in the lecture and provide consultation on the data stored in the disk. To be precise, it’s about how your theory was applied to the mage training plan. Any questions?”

“Ah, no…”

Raphael, who had been staring blankly at Lenok, soon muttered with a curious expression.

“Your understanding of modern magical engineering computing equipment is… very high. To be honest, I didn’t understand a single word of that explanation just now.”

“……”

Lenok, pressing his temples as if he had a headache, asked.

“It should be familiar to mages working on the central front. Weren’t you from that side?”

“That’s right. I lacked talent, so in practice, I was barely able to follow the tricks created by geniuses.”

A bitter smile formed on Raphael’s lips for a moment.

“The only field I excelled in was theoretical analysis. Compared to you, a great mage with knowledge of engineering, my talent is truly insignificant.”

“That’s not a very convincing thing for a professor to say.”

It was too self-deprecating for the introduction of an excellent researcher who had joined Pandemonium.

Lenok, cutting off Raphael’s words, connected the power circuit of the control device on the spot and sneered.

“You should know that mana theory research is not free from such problems. Do you want to call it a complaint?”

“……No, it’s just that I heard you were very close to Professor Bylon. I just wanted to say it in advance.”

Raphael answered calmly.

“Perhaps Evan Bylon is also someone who became a theoretical researcher with the same thoughts as me.”

“……”

“I am very interested in Professor Bylon. I am curious about not only common magic, but also the research he has done so far and the motivation behind his genius ideas.”

“Because you think he’s in the same situation as you?”

“Of course, that’s part of it, but…”

Raphael swallowed his words with a bitter smile.

Instead, he fumbled at his chest and took out a thick notebook from his arms.

The size was ridiculously mismatched with the suit he was wearing. Perhaps it was an item he had stored using some kind of magic.

Raphael held it out to Lenok and said.

“I will cooperate with what you are trying to do. I will also hand over the log regarding the stability of nature techniques. Instead, will you allow me to meet Professor Bylon?”

“……”

“I have read all of the papers written by Professor Bylon. The papers he wrote contained far more meaning than the announcements that caused a stir in the world.”

Raphael’s eyes had already calmed down.

“I feel like I know what Professor Bylon wants. That’s why I came to this research institute. But if I can talk to Professor Bylon directly, there will be no reason to be bound any longer.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Bylon Research Institute is not a research facility built to study the research achievements left by Evan Bylon, but-”

Raphael, who had been hesitating, slowly nodded and answered.

“It was created to study Evan Bylon himself.”