Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 875

“But it’s not like it happens just occasionally.”

“……”

“Lapis Palshier. Why did you come to Vulcan alone? Did you think there wouldn’t be a single person in this city who would try to take the life of the leader of the Azure Eye?”

The man asked, his voice carrying a slight, unsettling resonance.

“I have completed official consultations with the Vulcan City Council…”

“Naive. That wasn’t a rational decision.”

The man stared at Lapis through his glasses, his gaze unwavering as she struggled to find a response.

“No matter how urgent it was, you shouldn’t have accepted the City Council’s conditions. The organization you created has become so powerful that no one can ignore it, but its core is very vulnerable.”

“……”

“Anyone who wants to interfere with the Azure Eye would want to get their hands on you. Are you going to say you came to Vulcan without knowing that?”

“No.”

Lapis quietly shook her head.

“Even so, I have things I need to do. That’s all.”

“I see. You couldn’t overcome your personal desires, even knowing it was a misjudgment?”

The man nodded, then reached inside his lab coat and pulled out a green test tube.

He opened the lid and gulped down the contents. Saliva dripped from his lips, immediately melting the asphalt and creating a terrible toxic fog.

A type of drug that completely turns bodily fluids into a deadly poison.

“Then, I won’t hesitate to take you and hand you over to the council.”

The man, who approached Lapis, was very tall.

His eye level was higher than Patricia, who was nervously embracing Lapis, so she had to look up at him for a long time.

“I think you misunderstood my answer.”

However, Lapis replied with a calm expression.

“The reason I was able to visit Vulcan wasn’t because I trusted the City Council.”

“What?”

*Whoosh!*

At that moment, the flames surrounding Lapis and the man slowly distorted and moved aside.

The flames parted as if making a path through the melting asphalt.

The moment the man felt an indescribable eerie sensation and turned his gaze.

A voice was heard from behind the man.

“You’re not a mercenary.”

“……!!!”

Immediately after, the acrid smell of cigarette smoke wafted through the air.

A young man with a blank expression, a thick cigar in his mouth, was standing behind the man.

He held a few cards, a wallet, and a few terminals in his hand, looking at them with a frown.

“No ID or registration, all the numbers stored on the terminal are caller ID restricted, and there’s no broker to contact. Why even carry a phone?”

The man, realizing that most of the belongings he was roughly examining and throwing away were originally his, immediately reached out.

“Give it back…!!”

*Tatatatang!!!*

The man’s hand, wielding a toxic fog, was blocked and bounced back by dozens of explosions that erupted in front of the young man’s eyes.

Extremely precise manipulation that threw small flames in advance and detonated them with a time difference to fend off the man’s attacks one by one.

The moment the man, looking at his half-burned and mangled right hand, turned his gaze in bewilderment.

[Flame Ball]

[Ascending Piercing]

*Kwaang!!*

A fireball that fell from above immediately pressed the man’s body into place.

“Kuh…!!”

Looking at the man who had fallen with his neck and back blackened, Lenok asked.

“If you’re not a mercenary or a freelancer, you must belong to an organization. Which one is it?”

“Kuh…!!”

The man’s gaze, with his face buried in the melted asphalt, finally turned to the path of fire that Lenok had passed through.

Corpses scattered all over the road, all charred and dead in the same gruesome way as himself.

Only then did the man realize that this mage had eliminated all the pursuers and mercenaries in the vicinity, and he let out a hollow laugh.

“Hah, haha… You killed all the pursuers in that short time… That’s an absurd killing ability. Where did a mage like you come from?”

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“……I guess not. Well, the lighthouse keeper wouldn’t have come to Vulcan alone without something to rely on…”

*Swish!!*

The man’s head, who was muttering to himself with a bitter smile, was cut off with a sharp flash.

The man’s breath was cut off as his neck was severed with a smile still on his face.

“……”

Lenok, staring at the head that had rolled down at his feet with a blank face, turned his gaze towards the direction where the flash had occurred.

“It is said that the flames of a high-ranking pyromancer are the most excruciating and dizzying of all burns.”

A swordsman holding a long sword was smiling as he looked this way.

“Wouldn’t it be better to send him off peacefully rather than having him suffer while still alive?”

“Who are you?”

“Polaris.”

The swordsman, who was holding a long sword in one hand and waving his arms gracefully as if greeting, replied.

“I’m a public official who is commonly found in this city.”

“……”

“The reward for capturing one person is excessively generous. I was wondering what kind of VIP you were trying to serve, but there was a reason. Even if it’s the descendant of an Ascendant [a person with extraordinary abilities], there’s another mage who is so accustomed to killing…”

The swordsman’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Lenok.

“It’s a nuisance. One monster like that is enough for this city.”

“……”

“One…?”

While Lapis tilted her head with a puzzled look from behind, Lenok quietly gestured to Lapis, changing the subject.

“What exactly was the reward? Mercenaries and underground organizations move for money, but the incentives for city officials wouldn’t be like that.”

“Even if I told you, outsiders wouldn’t understand. It’s not a reward based on profit and loss in the first place.”

*Dududududu!!*

At that moment, the dazzling lights of a helicopter shone down on Lenok from the darkened sky.

Military helicopters flew over the burning street, encircling the sky, and heavy tanks pushed through the collapsed concrete, crushing abandoned vehicles.

Hundreds of soldiers formed ranks in buildings and streets, and executive-level physical ability users commanded them.

Even a small elite unit of the Special Operations Agency was on standby in the rear, preparing for any unforeseen circumstances.

Special Operations Agency Polaris.

The swordsman must have answered Lenok’s question to completely block any escape route.

“From now on, you will have to come with us.”

*Clank!!*

At the same time, the tanks and helicopters that had finished preparing aimed their cannons at Lenok and Lapis.

“The encirclement has been completed, focusing on District 21 and the three nearby districts. There is nowhere for you to escape.”

The swordsman nodded as he looked at Lapis, who was nervously looking around.

“After the investigation is over, you will be able to meet the Central Council as you wish. We won’t interfere from then on, so please come with us for now.”

“……”

Instead of answering, Lenok took a breath as he looked at the army that had densely surrounded the downtown area.

After all, was it impossible to escape far away from the moment they were discovered?

The City Council’s response was too fast from the moment the wanted order was issued, and the mercenaries of Vulcan were always talented at killing and interfering with people, as always.

Now that they were surrounded without being able to get far away from the point where their location was discovered, there was nowhere to escape.

It might be possible to try to break through by force, but by now, traffic restrictions would have been imposed throughout District 21 and checkpoints would have started.

Even if they escaped to another adjacent district, they would be caught soon.

The problem was that Lenok’s condition was also difficult to judge as normal.

As a result of escaping District 19 by absorbing the magic of the outer sea, it had become difficult to finely control his magic.

Right now, even if he lost focus for a moment, his blood vessels would tear and blood and bruises would appear on his skin.

He could kill them if he wanted to. He could win if he wanted to. Facing the Special Operations Agency and the army was still not a difficult task.

But could he fight while safely protecting Lapis against the superhuman forces that occupied all the nearby districts?

It was something he couldn’t be sure of, unless he was alone.

“……Evan.”

Lapis, as if she had realized that, smiled weakly with a nervous look.

“Leave me behind.”

“……”

“If the Central Council is properly aware of the situation, they will try to secure me rather than you, Evan.”

“……”

“I’ll buy time by facing the City Council directly, so contact the Watchers [a group of powerful mages] and somehow…”

No, that was impossible.

Even if Lenok escaped alone and led the Watchers to Vulcan, the chances of Lapis being alive would be low.

At least the old monsters of the Central Council that Lenok knew were not the kind of people who would treat a lighthouse keeper like that.

Even if they arrived on time, what meaning would there be in the war between the megacity and the Azure Eye?

Lapis was also aware of that.

It was just that even in this urgent moment of sensing the end, she was trying to prevent her misjudgment from hurting Lenok.

Knowing that, Lenok could choose without hesitation.

“No. It’s my fault.”

The most extreme measure he had hesitated on until the end, even while explaining the future plan to Lapis.

A choice that would turn all these tangled situations upside down at once, but conversely, would ruin everything.

“I’m sorry.”

“……Evan?”

Lenok smiled bitterly and tilted his head, and the moment Lapis turned her gaze with a puzzled look.

*Crack…!!!*

A tingling lightning flashed across the dark, cloudy sky.

It was wrapped in a blue flash from one end of the sky to the other and struck the soaked ground at once.

*Kwaaaang!!!*

A huge lightning strike with a diameter of tens of meters fell in the middle of District 21.

With the tremendous impact that seemed to have no intention of controlling its power, all the tanks and artillery that had been surrounding the group were blown away.

“Aaaah!!”

“Retreat the entire army!!”

“He, he appeared…!!”

“That mage is here!!”

*Crack, crack…!!*

A young man in a coat was standing in the middle of the rain-soaked intersection with his head bowed.

He was holding a silver staff in one hand, leaning against it, and weakly raising his gaze.

The blue light that flashed between his hair, stretched out in a long tail, pressed down on the surrounding air.

*Gooooo…!!*

Everyone forgot the current situation and held their breath at the manifestation of that overwhelming murderous intent that could not be described in words.

“Th, that person is…”

The moment Lapis blankly opened her eyes and looked at the face of the young man who was slowly turning around.

*Whoosh!!*

The black-haired young man was already right in front of Lenok.

“……”

The expressionless young man, who was flashing blue light, and Lenok, who was shaking his shoulders as if in pain.

The two mages, surrounded by countless military units and a barrage of fire, faced each other, and the moment Lenok was about to move his lips.

Intense electricity erupted from the young man’s fingertips, explosively striking Lenok’s body.

[Constant Lightning]

*Kwaaaang!!!*

The lightning that shot up in a straight line instantly slammed Lenok’s body to the end of the intersection and bounced him back.

Before Lapis could react to the unexpected situation, the young man raised his hand.

“Descendant of the Ascendant. Are you the lighthouse keeper’s envoy?”

“Lapis!”

*Crack…!!*

Patricia felt a strong sense of unease and threw herself forward, but it was already too late.

The moment a sharp electric shock grazed Lapis’s neck and disappeared, Lapis’s body, which had instantly lost consciousness, fell to the ground.

“You’ll be useful.”

*Thud!!*

The young man, who caught Lapis’s body as she fell with one hand, slowly looked around and smiled.

“I’ll take this one.”

“Th, that’s Constant Lightning…”

“He finally did it.”

“He’s out of his mind, how…!”

Dozens, hundreds of superhumans, could not take their eyes off a single mage and cowered.

The atrocity of barging in at a crucial moment, messing up the situation, and taking away the most important target.

But no one dared to object to the madman’s actions, or even refute them, and instead held their breath and avoided his gaze.

A great mage who had recently started to be active in Vulcan, known for his bloodthirsty nature.

Everyone standing here knew that his reputation was still marked by his vicious and cruel actions.

It was impossible with the forces gathered here. They wouldn’t even be allowed to raise their voices.

That was why no one realized that Lenok, who had been slammed by the lightning and bounced back, had opened his eyes while lying on the ground.

‘……That’s right.’

It was from now on.

The only way to carry out Lapis’s ascension ceremony, shake off the pursuit throughout the city, and settle the matter with the deputy mayor and the City Council.

And the one choice that would turn the bizarrely twisted situation upside down, which was now difficult to handle.

It was to hand over Lapis to the great mage who was treated as the most insane in this city.