Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 942

A desolate wasteland, reeking of blood and oil.

Priests chanted prayers, and the machine army unleashed its firepower.

‘……!!!’

Thud!! Crash!!!

A silent scream. A deafening roar.

The pain and cries of the fallen were buried beneath the shouts and prayers of the survivors, who trampled over the lives of their comrades without even recognizing them.

An overwhelming force, enough to fill the entire battlefield stretching to the horizon.

In the clash that bisected the sky and the earth, all sorts of deaths bloomed like flowers, then vanished like dust.

A battlefield where the distinction between friend and foe was blurred, a place where slaughter and destruction were repeated mechanically.

A hellscape where they didn’t even know why they were fighting, barely able to muster the strength to kill the enemy in front of them.

Lenok was walking through the heart of such a battlefield with the head of the Order.

“……”

There were no mystical footwork techniques, no spatial teleportation, no shrinking the distance.

The head of the Order, with his hands clasped behind his back as if taking a stroll, slowly took his steps even in this pandemonium.

If the Commander had been aware of the meeting and had tried to arrange it, he would have also been making his own moves to match the timing.

Therefore, Lenok focused on observing the battlefield as he walked alongside the head of the Order.

‘The Holy Spirit-based ancient formulas embedded in the Archangel series. In the second one, they existed in a proper form.’

The power wielded by the priests who summoned the forms of angels.

It seemed similar to what the priests of the Guido Order used, but it looked a bit more concise than Lenok remembered.

Was it intentional that the forbidden techniques used by the Order were not entirely clean?

However, what piqued Lenok’s interest more than the priests of the old world was the existence of the machine army fighting on the opposite side.

Complexly shaped war machines, shrouded in a dark aura like shadows, confronting the priests.

‘They are in the form of machines, but the design structure and operating principles are not that sophisticated. Is it just that they used that as a base?’

As Lenok focused his vision amidst the surging divine power and bombardment, a strange light appeared in his eyes.

‘If I had to pinpoint the power source… it’s similar to necromancy. They are filling the flaws by combining necromancy and mechanical engineering.’

The black spirits wrapped around the war machines were not shadows, but souls that had been adjusted to inhabit non-human bodies.

And supporting those souls was a part of necromancy so transcendent that even Lenok could not understand its depth.

Could it be that all the events unfolding now were a disaster caused by a single person’s technique?

The moment Lenok realized this and slightly hardened his expression.

A gloomy, black-green radiance soared from the far end of the horizon.

KWA-AA-AA-ANG!!!!!

A pillar of gloomy light, a mixture of black and dark green, exploded at tremendous speed, connecting the sky and the earth.

The fact that its appearance was visible from the end of the horizon was proof that the size and diameter of that light were easily tens of thousands of meters.

It was so overwhelming that even Lenok paused at the unrealistic scale that transcended the laws and principles of the world.

[For a long time, having a level equal to the world and moving on to the next has been called ascension.]

The head of the Order broke his long silence and spoke.

[But there were pioneers who realized that it was not such a noble achievement……]

“……”

The head of the Order called the memory of this moment the moment when an Ascended One succeeded in ascension. [Ascended One: A being who has transcended the limitations of their world.]

It was a word not allowed in the third world, where the fourth did not exist.

It was impossible in Lenok’s world, where no transcendent being had succeeded in ascension.

Then, this memory must be a moment showing the miracle that existed in the second world.

If the Commander remembered the moment of successful ascension, it must be because this memory was from the second world in the first place.

Since the Commander moved to meet the head of the Order residing in the memory, it could be said that the head of the Order was also setting the stage for him in consideration.

Then, the owner of this memory is not the head of the Order or the Commander, but-

“It was the memory of another Ascended One challenging ascension, not you.”

[I understand your curiosity about my ascension… but that is not a memory we would choose as a meeting place.]

The head of the Order smiled faintly.

[I’m not even sure if we can still call that moment a memory anymore……]

“……”

[The reason we are showing you this memory today is because this moment is also meaningful to us……]

While Lenok was silent at the head of the Order’s meaningful answer, the head of the Order slowly moved his steps and spoke.

[It is because there is a point to be learned from the methodology chosen by one of the most outstanding pioneers in all three worlds.]

A pioneer’s methodology.

Could it mean that this moment has something to teach not only the head of the Order and the Commander, but also Lenok?

While Lenok was lost in thought at the unexpected explanation, the head of the Order whispered slowly.

[While other challengers tried to overcome it, he chose a completely different method……]

His voice gradually fading, as if he still remembered that moment, unable to bear it.

Even in that transmission that felt difficult to speak, there was an unmistakable hint of laughter.

[He tried to pull it down……]

“……Pull it down?”

The moment Lenok paused at the head of the Order’s clear likes and dislikes, which he occasionally showed to the Commander or Lenok.

The sky of the battlefield turned dark.

Fwaaaaat!!!

A huge shadow loomed over the sky, creating an illusion as if the light had disappeared for a moment.

Everything that was fighting in the battlefield where life and death were reversed and bloomed, all at once, raised their heads towards the sky.

Kuo-ooo!!!

The sun floating in the sky was being covered as if swallowed by a huge shadow of unknown end.

A total solar eclipse, as if an unknown giant creature was swimming across the stars and creating it artificially.

It was not a cloud covering the sky, nor a huge beast or structure of unknown identity.

It was not even the moon and satellites orbiting the star, or even the end that swam beyond the outer sea. [Outer Sea: A metaphorical term for the space beyond the known world.]

It was something much larger and more incomprehensible, a concept that could not exist in this memory in the first place.

A contradiction that ignored the process where cause and effect must exist and pulled the result.

“No way……”

What was covering the ground, overlapping with the sun floating in the sky, was the existence of someone who had obtained a level comparable to the world.

Because he had momentarily obtained a level equal to the world, it had power and meaning in itself and stood upright in the outer sea.

A miracle of transcendence where worlds overlapped. A lunar eclipse where the levels of humans and the world became equal and obscured each other.

The moment Lenok realized the meaning of the words the head of the Order had explained and unconsciously raised his will.

Jjeo-eo-eong!!

The scenery that had unfolded before Lenok and the head of the Order shattered as if breaking, and a new scenery appeared before their eyes.

A huge dark shadow temple floating in the void and darkness.

Below their feet, an army of giants was marching, and above their heads, angels were clasping their hands as if praying.

An archangel with dazzling wings and a halo, extending his fingers with a gentle expression.

A pillar of gloomy black-green light connecting the sky and the ground. In the center of the focal point maintaining this phenomenon.

A lich wearing a black robe stood alone, looking down at the ground.

Go-ooo-ooo!

A skeleton with no flesh visible at all. The gaunt bones that made up his arms and legs.

However, all sorts of complex artifacts were attached to his body, densely covering his robe.

From the lich’s emaciated body, a deep and vast magical power and will surged like the sea.

“……Lich?”

Even though he was just a being remaining as a recollection in a memory, the fact that he was a sorcerer who had reached a transcendent realm was felt directly.

An Ascended One who had reached level 9. Among them, he must be a necromancer who even summoned spirits and elementals and made them his power.

Even Lenok would have had to engage in a life-or-death struggle if he had encountered such a being in reality.

The moment Lenok unconsciously hardened his expression as if on guard, even though he knew he was a transcendent being who did not exist here.

The head of the Order, who had nonchalantly turned around behind the lich, spoke.

[Naoise Penn was a lich with transcendent mediumistic qualities in all three worlds.]

The lich, who was commanding the disaster unfolding simultaneously in the sky and on the ground, tilted his head slightly as if pleased, looking at his profile.

[Born without human senses, he was, conversely, born with a natural sense for perceiving concepts other than that……]

“……Are you trying to say he had excellent sensitivity?”

[He had the talent to excel in any system that dealt with souls, and he chose necromancy.]

A low transmission echoed from the head of the Order’s mouth, his gaze aligned with the lich’s through a noisy vision.

[Because he knew that the next thing he yearned for existed outside the world……]

“……”

A transcendent being who had honed his bizarrely twisted talent from the moment he was born.

A transcendent talent that the head of the Order himself mentioned, remembered, and specified.

He must have been a necromancer who was incomparable in this world as well.

However, Lenok was thinking about the way the head of the Order was explaining necromancy. [Necromancy: A magic that deals with the dead and spirits.]

Unlike necromancy, which uses the spirits of the dead, necromancy is a technique that also deals with spirits that have not experienced death. [Necromancy: A magic that deals with spirits, not necessarily the dead.]

Compared to necromancy, it is relatively weak in controlling spirits, but it has a unique advantage in summoning spirits.

“Necromancy is similar to but different from necromancy. Are you saying that difference is related to the success of ascension?”

[Necromancy is a technique that summons souls that are not of this world. If the basis of the technique is maintained, the sacrifices to be offered and the concept of the souls to be summoned can be changed as much as possible.]

The head of the Order smiled.

[From the beginning, he knew how to adjust his authority without anyone telling him……]

Woo-woo-woo-woong!!!

In the form of a skeleton with no emotions, he slowly made hand seals with both hands together.

As if he was detached from the speed of the battlefield that was urgently turning around in all directions, the lich’s incantation moved as if directing that moment in slowed time.

But with just that, the speed of the total solar eclipse in the sky became even faster, and the shaking of the ground below became stronger.

Koo-gwa-gwa-gwa!!

The black-green pillar of light that had lifted the dark shadow temple into the air.

That pillar of light was exploding as if bursting out from the cracks in the ground.

“……No way.”

It was not just that the ground was cracking and light was bursting out from the cracks.

Lenok, realizing that the appearance and material of the two lands on either side of the crack were different, could not manage his expression and hardened his face.

“Unbelievable. Did he induce a tectonic shift and force a collision……!”

[War and massacre, struggle and conflict…… He collided two continents both materially and conceptually, making them the subject of necromancy……]

The head of the Order murmured.

[He succeeded in summoning a part of the third world that did not yet exist into this world……]

Kwa-aa-aa-aa!!!

The gloomy black-green pillar of light that was spreading out was aligned with the sky where the total solar eclipse had begun.

The light, slowly tilting as if sweeping the ground, drew a dark trajectory on the pure white sky as if it were a canvas.

The black-green radiance pierced the other side of the sky where the total solar eclipse was unfolding.

By making the planet’s crust the subject of necromancy and colliding it, he pushed the power of the necromantic technique to its limit.

The miracle of a transcendent being who matched his level to the level of the world by using the amplified necromancy.

The only moment when an Ascended One can challenge ascension. A great challenge attempted by risking the life they had lived since birth.

But Naoise Penn did not pass his body to the next world, nor did he transcend the second world.

He was trying to forcibly pull down a part of the ‘next’ that had not yet come to this world into reality using his necromancy.

Not ascension (昇天), but treading the sky (踏天). [Ascension (昇天): A term for transcending to a higher plane of existence. Treading the sky (踏天): A term for forcibly pulling down a higher plane of existence.]

In a way completely different from what countless challengers had imagined, he understood, mocked, trampled, and insulted ascension, making it his own.

And, at the end of that treading the sky, what he faced next was-

Chijik!!

At that moment, time stopped with a stuttering sound from the noise.

Even Lenok, who had forgotten to breathe and had widened his eyes, did not recognize the strangeness for a moment, as it had happened so unconsciously.

[A few moments that you and I have both kept in our hearts……]

The head of the Order whispered and slowly turned around.

[The end of a world……]

“……”

[If it is a memory that you might be waiting for, it must be a moment with this much meaning……]

At that moment, Lenok realized that someone was standing opposite the huge dark shadow temple.

The figure of someone standing with their arms crossed in front of the light where the space-time was completely split.

A face mixed with noise, and a strange shadow that made it impossible to guess their physique.

But even so, Lenok could recognize who he was at a glance.

The old world’s magic marksman. The failed god-slayer.

After lending his power to Lenok, the Commander had not left and disappeared.

He had simply recognized where to meet the head of the Order and had placed himself in the memory he would come to.

From the beginning, the head of the Order had known that the Commander was waiting for them in this memory.

[A long time ago…… I used to imagine this moment……]

The head of the Order whispered softly.

[Until the day I believed would surely come, though I didn’t know when…… I thought I could endure it……]

“……”

The figures of the Commander and the head of the Order facing each other, with a transcendent being challenging ascension between them.

Somewhere in a world that existed long ago, the two had actually encountered each other at this moment.

Only then did Lenok realize that everything had finally come together in this place.

The first was a coincidence. The second was inevitable. The third was fate.

That whisper he had heard just before opening his eyes in this world.

The origin of that cursed murmur was finally before Lenok’s eyes.

How many secrets did he have to uncover to witness this moment?

How many taboos and sacrifices did he have to pass through, searching through the blood-stained past and history, and finding the origin?

The heads of Pandemonium and the Guido Order.

Those he had always been chasing were before his eyes.

They were not the same even when standing in the same place, and they were not different even when standing in different places.

Having transcended three worlds, the three people who could never have met had gathered in one place.