Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 871

Kwawoooooo!!!

Though it’s an isolated space without a single window, I can feel it.

The spaceship, having burst out as if smashing through the hangar doors, was flying just above the ground.

It wasn’t soaring through the sky, but moving like a bullet skimming the surface.

“Has the entire District 19 become a gate connected to the Outer Sea? I think I need a precise explanation.”

However, despite the sudden crushing pressure, Lenok immediately asked.

“If that’s true, then this entire administrative procedure makes no sense. Were you planning a suicide mission?”

District 19 is one of the most dangerous and secretive closed areas in Vulcan.

It’s a forbidden zone within the city, maintaining the strictest and most powerful security and secrecy.

Even District 25, where Lenok had been, seemed somewhat lacking in isolation facilities and security compared to District 19.

If a closed area is more dangerous than District 25, where Kaise’s past lay dormant, I had thought there would be secrets beyond imagination hidden there.

But was it possible that an Outer Sea [Gate], of which there are only a few on the continent, was located there?

Having seen how uncontrollable the Outer Sea [Gate] is and how it is created, Lenok—

[Oh dear. It seems I spoke out of turn.]

However, the Deputy Mayor smiled calmly at Lenok’s sharp criticism.

[Don’t be hasty. Can’t you tell by the fact that I’m here?]

“……”

Is she saying that since she, the Deputy Mayor, is present, they wouldn’t choose a method that disregards safety?

The Deputy Mayor, leaning back in her seat, adjusted her posture and spoke.

[You seem to know a bit about the Outer Sea Gate, but this isn’t one of those. It’s difficult if you keep pressing me to explain what I can’t explain.]

“What do you mean?”

[It’s true that there’s an Outer Sea Gate in District 19, but that fact itself isn’t important.]

“……”

[Well, you’ll find out when we arrive. It won’t be long, so let’s talk after we finish moving.]

The Deputy Mayor nodded leisurely, her gaze turning towards the ship’s hull.

At that moment, strange sounds began to echo from the ceiling, walls, and floor of the ship.

Clack, clack, clack-clack-clack!!

Tap, tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-tap!!

Strange, grating sounds, as if something were being scraped away, or burning, or even mocking.

It was eerie, as if dozens of unknown entities were clinging to the ship, gnawing at it from all sides.

“The voices……”

However, Lapis didn’t seem to have the mental capacity to pay attention to such noise and impact.

The overwhelming sensation that crashed down on all sides of the ship as it moved completely robbed her of her senses.

[Ah, it’s nothing much.]

The Deputy Mayor explained, seeing Lapis’s agitated expression.

[They’re the defense forces that were stationed here to protect District 19 in the past.]

“……Are you saying that the things hitting the ship now are living people?”

The Deputy Mayor nodded leisurely.

[They used to be.]

“……”

It’s unimaginable how deep and complex the hidden story behind that passing remark might be.

If there were defense forces stationed there to protect District 19 in the past.

If they are still here, decades after District 19 was closed.

Can those soldiers who were abandoned there now be called alive?

Lenok, watching the Deputy Mayor fidgeting slightly in the seat across from him, was lost in thought.

‘It might be more dangerous than I thought. Should I prepare for the worst?’

He had expected dangerous variables while heading to District 19, but if the entire district is connected to the Outer Sea, it’s a disaster that even Lenok would find difficult to handle.

Lenok could escape alone, but he couldn’t guarantee that he could safely bring Lapis and Patisha with him.

All he knows about District 19 right now is that research on ‘artificial humans’ was once conducted there.

What on earth happened there that a passage connected to the Outer Sea exists beyond it?

How did the research on artificial humans fail in such a way that a [Gate] remains in its place?

Ultimately, it’s something that can’t be known without going beyond it.

The Deputy Mayor spoke as if her presence guaranteed safety, but to Lenok, it seemed rather…….

[The distance from the hangar to the outskirts of District 19 is less than 2000 meters. Don’t you think it’s an absurdly short distance to travel using a spaceship like this?]

“……”

[But if there’s a reason why we must enter District 19 through this procedure—]

The Deputy Mayor, raising her gaze slightly, folded her fingers.

Thud!!

With a terrible sound of the ship crumpling, the spaceship stopped in its tracks.

Despite all the safety devices installed in the seats, the inertia made it feel as if their bodies were being thrown forward.

Clack, clack-clack-clack…….

Only then did the grating noise of something gnawing at the ship gradually disappear.

Only after it had calmed down and the spaceship had become quiet did the Deputy Mayor, having released her safety restraints, stand up and speak.

[It’s because the entire District 19 has already become a space distorted and twisted from the flow of time.]

Click!!

With that word, the boarding hatch, which had been far from the seats, automatically opened.

The lower part, where the propulsion system was, fell away as if it had been detached, splitting in half.

Thump!!

The cross-section of the split hull fell, and the scenery outside began to come into view.

Lapis, who had been frowning at the light pouring in, slightly opened her mouth at the sight of the scenery in the distance.

Massive high-rise buildings, easily dozens of meters tall, were standing upside down in the sky.

“……”

Click.

Releasing the safety restraints that were naturally disengaging, she got up from her seat and walked out.

A soft breeze brushed her cheek. The air felt surprisingly warm.

A bizarre sky, half blue and half dark night.

Above it, several buildings were hanging upside down as if they were about to fall to the ground.

Whoosh……!!

Faint vibrations and tearing sounds brushed past her ears.

It wasn’t just that they were floating upside down, defying the flow of gravity.

Some buildings stood at right angles in the empty air, while others rotated gently from beyond the clouds and popped out.

A bizarre space where all kinds of structures stood haphazardly, without any distinction between ground and sky.

All those shapes, rising and falling without direction or center, seemed to exist only to confuse human senses.

Even Patisha, who had followed Lenok down, hesitated slightly at the sight of the scene that defied common sense.

[Follow me. The gate is over there.]

The Deputy Mayor, the last to get out of the spaceship, stretched and began to walk ahead.

[Since I’m acting as a guide, I’ll explain what happened here as we go.]

* * *

They walked through the middle of a downtown area where there was no sign of people.

Every time they turned their heads, none of the buildings that came into view were standing properly.

They walked under a huge overpass standing vertically, stepping on a building lying horizontally as if it were a bridge.

The view of a desolate office reflected in the glass windows of the building beneath their feet. A chilling sensation as if something were peeking at them through the transparent glass.

However, the Deputy Mayor moved as if she were very familiar with walking here.

[It hasn’t been long since District 19 was given a number. Before that, this place was just a huge, nameless laboratory.]

“A laboratory?”

[It’s known to the public that this place was designated as a closed area due to the failure of the Black Consumer Project, but that’s wrong.]

The Deputy Mayor, raising her gaze, pointed to a building in the distance.

[This place was abandoned only after trying to fix the failure of the project and experiencing an even bigger failure.]

“……”

How exactly does one try to fix the failure of a project in such a way that a rift leading to the Outer Sea can open up within the district?

Whoosh!!

A towering high-rise building standing in the middle of an empty plaza.

In this district where all kinds of buildings fly without supports, it was the only structure standing on the ground.

It was also the building located directly below the center of the sky, where day and night mixed and split.

Squeak.

The Deputy Mayor, having opened the door and entered, got into the elevator located at the end of the hallway lobby.

The view of the outskirts seen through the glass window. Lenok, looking out the window, opened his mouth.

“Your hand.”

His gaze was now directed at the tip of the Deputy Mayor’s finger.

“It’s injured. It’s bleeding.”

[…….]

“It looks like it got crushed between the seats when we were in the exploration ship earlier.”

The Deputy Mayor’s fingernail on her index finger was crushed, and blood was dripping down.

Lenok stared at the finger and said.

“You seem quite insensitive to pain. To be able to endure even though the tip of your finger, where your nerves are concentrated, is crushed.”

[I just don’t want to interfere with important matters because of a minor injury.]

The Deputy Mayor wiped the blood dripping down with her sleeve, and Lenok laughed.

“Was that why you kept fidgeting in the exploration ship?”

[…….]

Thump-thump!!

In the spacious elevator, Lenok and the Deputy Mayor made eye contact.

The Deputy Mayor’s eyes, hidden by her lower face covering, curved as if amused, and Lenok stared at her silently.

“Evan-nim.”

At that moment, Lapis, who was standing behind Lenok, opened her mouth.

The reaction of the lighthouse keeper, who had forgotten about the trivial things around her and was focusing only on the existence of this space since entering the closed area.

Lapis, with her eyes closed and her head raised, quietly murmured.

“I think we’ve arrived.”

Ding!!

At that moment, the elevator doors opened, revealing a wide hallway with a red carpet.

A glass door located at the end of the hallway. A vast terrace, simply installed to open and close.

At the end of the rooftop, which may have originally been used as a helicopter landing pad, a huge, black-dotted rift was floating.

Crackle, crackle……!!

Black currents were rising in the empty air, as if black, scorched lightning were sparking.

The sky on the outskirts of District 19, where day and night were mixed and distorted.

At the center of creating that abnormal weather, a huge spatial rift was darkly flickering.

[This is the Outer Sea [Gate] that exists in District 19.]

The Deputy Mayor said, twisting and rubbing her finger softly.

[And it’s also the final proof that the project has been ruined beyond recovery.]

“……”

Passing by Lapis, who was looking at the Outer Sea Gate with a complex expression, the Deputy Mayor slowly began to walk towards the rift.

[Magician. You asked me earlier if the entire District 19 had been transformed into an Outer Sea Gate. That is not true.]

“……”

[The true secret of District 19 is not the fact that an Outer Sea Gate is hidden there, but…….]

The Deputy Mayor, slowly reaching out her hand towards the rift, began to slowly pass her arm through the rift.

“……!!”

A passage to the Outer Sea. A miracle that an ordinary human could push a part of their body into the rift and still maintain their form.

While Lenok noticed this and frowned, the Deputy Mayor, having pushed one of her arms into the rift, calmly turned her gaze.

[The space connected through the gate is not another Outer Sea, but the deepest part of District 19.]

“The deepest part?”

The moment Lenok understood the meaning of those words and murmured.

[It seems you understand well enough.]

The Deputy Mayor nodded.

[A part of District 19’s spacetime exists beyond the Outer Sea. This gate is both an exit to the Outer Sea and an entrance to the most dangerous hidden place in District 19.]

* * *

The deepest part of District 19 exists outside the Outer Sea.

The fact that a part of spacetime that should actually exist as part of this world exists beyond the Outer Sea Gate.

However, even after hearing such an absurd explanation, Lenok intuitively knew that the Deputy Mayor’s words were not wrong.

If that rift were the same as the Outer Sea [Gate] that Lenok knew, his entire body should have been torn apart or corrupted and driven mad the moment he touched it.

The fact that the Deputy Mayor was continuing the conversation with one arm pushed into the rift proved that the rift in front of them was a different phenomenon from a [Gate].

Perhaps she thought she had to show it directly to make him understand this statement itself.

“Are you saying that a part of this world was taken over by the Outer Sea due to the failure of the project?”

[I don’t have much to say about that. Due to the restrictions placed on the project, there are more than a few people whose mouths are tied.]

The Deputy Mayor smiled and slowly pulled her hand out of the rift.

She tapped the iron mask covering her lower face and laughed.

[Would you believe me if I said that this appearance is the result of trying to circumvent the restrictions once and being punished?]

“……”

It was strange that she was covering her lower face and not somewhere else, but it was the result of her mouth being damaged for trying to reveal the project’s restrictions.

Lenok, who was aware of the severity of the restrictions through other project officials, could understand it.

[What does it matter what the pitiful circumstances of the failures are? What’s important is that the lighthouse keeper has found this place.]

The Deputy Mayor’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Lapis, who was hesitating in front of the gate.

[If someone burdened with the mission of observing the Outer Sea finds a gate, wouldn’t their purpose be predetermined?]

“……”

[Contacting the dark sea that is detached from reality, or maintaining a similar state. Unless it’s something like that, there’s no way you would have accepted the city council’s conditions and visited Vulcan alone.]

The Deputy Mayor’s voice was filled with clear conviction.

[I don’t know what it is, but I know that what you want is beyond this gate.]

“……There is one mistake in your words, Councilwoman Weinstein.”

Only then did Lapis turn to look at the Deputy Mayor.

Her sky-blue eyes were so deeply sunken that it was no longer possible to read her emotions.

“I am not here to take something.”

[…….]

“I am here to see if I can make it to the end. To face my own destiny.”

Having said that, Lapis silently began to walk towards the gate.

Whoosh!!

In front of the rift where black lightning was flashing, Lapis stood alone, facing it, leaving the others behind.

Lenok was lost in thought as he looked at Lapis’s back.

‘Madrea Falsier…….’

Lapis Falsier is not here to gain meaning from outside the Outer Sea.

What she desires is only to meet the consciousness of the Heavenly Eye, which is still lingering on the boundary of this world.

Contacting the Heavenly Eye’s memories through consciousness near the Outer Sea. A plan to recover all the remaining abilities of the lighthouse keeper.

Whether Lapis, having recovered all the lighthouse keeper’s abilities, can truly come closer to ascension.

Where exactly is the standard for the qualification of ascension?

Wasn’t Lenok also accepting Lapis’s escort to watch that?

But something is strange.

It’s clear that this place, which they arrived at with the Deputy Mayor’s guidance, is District 19, and it’s also true that the secret of the closed area she explained is not a lie.

It’s certain that they are witnessing secrets and hidden places that could not have been known without such a powerful figure directly guiding them.

An unknown sense of incongruity that he couldn’t guess the identity of from the moment Amy Weinstein appeared.

Lapis slowly raises her hand and brings it to the gate.

A cautious gesture, as if she were opening a rift at the end of the sky with her bare hands.

The moment a faint sense of elation began to flicker in the Deputy Mayor’s eyes as she watched it from behind, Lenok finished all his calculations and began to draw up his magic power.

“Lapis, step back!!”

“……Yes?”

The moment Lapis turned around in confusion.

Crack!!

A huge dark gate twisted greatly, and with a powerful shockwave, it began to pull Lapis in.

The black rift stretched out to both sides, moving as if it were about to swallow Lapis’s body in an instant.

“……!!!”

“Lapis-nim!”

Patisha cried out in surprise, and Lapis also reacted immediately.

Lapis, her eyes flashing and drawing up her abilities, forcibly twisted the surrounding vision, increasing the distance the rift had to close.

Squeak-squeak……!!

A subtle skill that buys time by increasing the space being swallowed instead of directly interfering with the rift.

The Outer Sea [Gate], which was trying to swallow Lapis, was delayed for a moment due to the distance that had suddenly increased.

Lenok, who had appeared in front of Lapis, drove a wedge of magic power between the rifts, forcibly stopping them from closing.

“……Evan-nim?”

Squeak-squeak!!

Lenok, having immediately pulled Lapis’s figure out of the way, asked.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes. Thanks to you shouting, I barely made it in time.”

Lapis calmly stepped back and slowly got up from her spot.

Thanks to immediately using the lighthouse keeper’s abilities to buy time, she was able to draw out enough magic power for Lenok to intervene and stop the rift.

While Patisha carefully supported Lapis and helped her up, a cold voice echoed from behind the three of them.

[As expected, you were not the one with the access rights.]

Bang!!

A powerful gunshot rang out from behind Lapis.

Patisha spread her wings and embraced Lapis, but no pain was felt.

The Deputy Mayor, who had pulled out a pistol from her bosom and pulled the trigger, and Lenok’s shadow, which had blocked the muzzle right in front of her, crossed paths.

“I thought this might happen, but it’s much faster than I expected.”

Thud-thud!!

Lenok, having dropped the bullet that had melted and burned in his hand, laughed.

“To reveal your true colors just because things went slightly wrong, aren’t you too impatient?”

[I should be the one asking, magician.]

Even after Lenok blocked the muzzle of the pistol with his hand, the Deputy Mayor’s voice was calm.

Her eyes, glaring at the magician in front of her, were burning intensely.

[Why do you have access rights to District 19 instead of Lapis Falsier?]

“Evan-nim. This is definitely……!!”

“While directly explaining the secrets of the closed area, you mixed a lie at the end of the truth.”

While Lapis looked up at the sky with a stiff face, Lenok said.

“The gate you just touched is a trap itself. From the beginning, this person had no intention of showing you the inside of District 19.”

[Hahaha!! There’s a fallacy in that statement. I have never lied to you.]

The Deputy Mayor burst into laughter, spreading her arms wide.

[It’s just that since the deepest part of District 19 became detached from the outside of the Outer Sea, no one has ever reached that place.]

Crack!!

At that moment, the huge downtown area where Lenok and the Deputy Mayor were standing began to shatter like glass.