Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 946

“A forbidden weapon from the Central City?”

A forbidden artifact created by sacrificing humans.

The atmosphere in the room instantly turned heavy at Slane’s words that a forbidden weapon of Arsnoba [a powerful, technologically advanced city] was sealed in Anathema’s residence.

The fact that equipment made in the Central City, not by a religious order that mainly uses forbidden weapons, was hidden in Vulcan [a city].

Judging from the reactions around, it seemed that not many of the other transcendents [individuals with extraordinary abilities] were aware of this fact.

“Is such a dangerous weapon near Vulcan of all places?”

“Most of the weapons and artifacts made in Arsnoba should have been lost….”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard that Anathema was hiding such a weapon.”

“That’s to be expected. It’s a fact that only a very few people involved happened to learn about near the end of the civil war.”

Slane replied.

“It’s presumed to be a relic that Anathema brought from the Central City himself. It was only known among those who had interacted with him during his lifetime.”

“…The fact that it’s a weapon made through human sacrifice is concerning.”

Ivelin, who had been glaring at Slane with her arms crossed, asked.

“You’re not going to hand over the ownership of the forbidden weapon to Ban [Lenok’s alias] and use that fact as a weakness, are you?”

“A weakness?”

Slane, upon hearing Ivelin’s words, instead asked back as if he couldn’t understand.

“How can giving a forbidden weapon to a mage as notoriously infamous as Kyunroe [Lenok’s alias] be a weakness?”

“……”

“There aren’t many high-ranking mages who are as free from public opinion as he is. Rather, it must be a proposal that is absolutely not disadvantageous to him.”

Even Ivelin was momentarily speechless at the logical rebuttal.

“Anathema’s residence has been buried and left abandoned for over several decades since the civil war. It would be difficult to even find its location without the lower coordinate records.”

As Slane raised his hand, the sound of wings flapping echoed.

At the same time, black feathers fluttered down from above Lenok’s head.

“I have recorded the information about the security and sealing barrier placed on the mansion there.”

“…A record.”

Not just ordinary bird feathers, but a medium made to convey specific thoughts.

The moment he carefully grasped the feather fluttering above his head, making sure not to fumble.

[Mage. Listen without showing any reaction.]

Slane’s telepathy echoed in Lenok’s mind.

[There are still informants of the religious order among the attendees of the meeting.]

“……”

While Lenok remained silent, Slane naturally turned his gaze towards the others.

“The reason I’m trying to settle this matter right away is because I don’t think there’s any need to inform the Council of Elders about this.”

[The Apostle transformation process was abnormally fast right after Anathema’s manifestation. It’s the result of someone who participated in the manifestation ritual tampering with it.]

Slane explained the reason to the other attendees out loud, while simultaneously continuing to speak to Lenok through telepathy.

If he hadn’t been holding the feather and receiving his thoughts, even Lenok wouldn’t have noticed how natural it was.

“No need to inform the Council of Elders?”

“Even after Kaise’s project failed, the Council of Elders is refraining from taking action. That’s because they are extremely wary of the forbidden weapons created through the project.”

[Even if the religious order’s priestess herself stepped forward, it’s unnatural for all eight level transcendents to show a lukewarm reaction.]

Slane replied.

“Therefore, it’s also true that the possibility of the Council of Elders trying to seize Anathema’s causality has increased at the point of Anathema’s death.”

[I tried to find the informant while dealing with the Apostles outside the city, but the priestess’s interference was thorough. She also knew that I had noticed.]

“I see.”

Ha Baek, realizing Slane’s intention, nodded.

“Are you going to hand over Anathema’s corpse and assets to Kyunroe to suppress the Council of Elders’ intervention?”

“Kyunroe is the one and only Master of the Magic Tower in Vulcan. He is in a special position, having received the authority to establish a Magic Tower directly from the City Council’s Upper House.”

[Except for you, who directly killed an Apostle, everyone is under suspicion to some extent. Even I can’t immediately clear myself from the list of suspects.]

Slane, staring intently at Lenok, said.

“Considering what he has done in this city, neither side will be able to rashly object to Kyunroe’s decision.”

[But I have a clue.]

“……”

Considering the infamy and special position that Lenok had built up as Kyunroe, the Council of Elders wouldn’t be able to act rashly either.

From the beginning, Slane had been assuming that fact and intended to transfer all of Anathema’s assets to Lenok.

Is it that this matter is so urgent that he chose Lenok as a second-best option rather than letting it fall into the hands of the Council of Elders?

Looking at Lenok, who was lost in thought, Slane said.

“You are free to refuse at any time if you don’t like it. I have no intention of forcing you on that matter.”

“……”

“The maintenance force will arrive soon.”

Ivelin, glancing down at her wrist, said.

“Slane Onyx and Rage Mist will be escorted to the Central District as they are. Any last words?”

“It’s difficult to conclude all the issues that arose from this meeting here. But I will make it clear here.”

Slane calmly faced the attendees who were looking at him.

“Just as we couldn’t have predicted Anathema’s betrayal and corruption, the next course of events must also be left to our own judgment.”

“……”

“Whether you ignored, participated in, or even stood by and watched the religious order’s intervention in this meeting… I will take responsibility for all of it and settle it through a deal with the city government.”

Slane, raising his red eyes, said quietly.

“However, for the sake of distributing abilities and merits later, everyone gathered here will have to attend the meeting again.”

Although things went awry due to the problems that arose from the start of the meeting, there are still several matters that have not been resolved.

The religious order’s attack and the semi-destruction of the satellite city, Anathema’s death.

The innate abilities of the Eight Trigrams [a system of divination and cosmology] that were supposed to be given to the attendees through Anathema’s manifestation.

Negotiations will also be needed again regarding the recreation of the barrier, which was originally supposed to be discussed at the meeting.

The other attendees also seemed to be thinking about that, as they did not show any resistance to Slane’s words.

“I will inform you of the time and place again once the situation is resolved.”

Slane turned towards Ivelin without hesitation.

“Let’s go.”

“……”

Ivelin, who was standing behind Rage and Slane with her arms crossed, shrugged her shoulders towards Lenok.

The maintenance force’s formation, which was beginning to appear beyond the horizon of the white sand desert in the distance.

Lenok, watching Slane’s back as he silently walked through the ruins, said.

“Even though you proposed the recreation of the barrier, you’re the least obsessed with it.”

“……”

“You’re delaying things that could be concluded right now with various reasons.”

Lenok’s sunken eyes stared at Slane’s expressionless face as if piercing through it.

“You don’t want a means to protect Vulcan. You just want an excuse.”

Lenok asked.

“Do you want to establish a line of defense against the religious order now?”

“It’s been a long time since the distinction between the spirit realm and the material realm disappeared, with the religious order’s rampant human sacrifices.”

[The Three Heroes of the Eight Great Fortresses.]

Flap!!

Slane’s gaze briefly swept over the feather that Lenok was holding.

“A bird that has left the nest does not look back. I have decided which side to stand on.”

[I’ll be waiting.]

“……”

Perhaps he thought that was enough to say.

Slane didn’t wait for Lenok’s reply and immediately moved on.

While Lenok was watching Slane’s back as he was being escorted by the maintenance force under Ivelin’s guidance.

Chucknoe, Ollinik, who had approached Lenok’s side, opened his mouth.

[If the Council of Elders intervened, they would surely hold a merit-based reward ceremony for this incident to gain justification.]

“……”

[The future meeting that Slane mentioned seems to refer to that very occasion.]

Kugugugung…!!

A huge metallic sphere that had been blocking one side of the city rotated and approached Ollinik.

[You, who directly subjugated the religious order’s Apostle, will probably receive the biggest award and honor among them.]

Ollinik, who had casually climbed onto the sphere, looked down at Lenok and gave a subtle smile.

[I hope to see you again at that place.]

“Kyunroe.”

Kiriya, who had sheathed her frozen blade, approached Lenok and said.

“I don’t care if you take Anathema’s corpse. That wasn’t my purpose for attending the meeting anyway.”

“……”

“However, considering the value that Anathema’s name holds, the City Council and others might not be convinced.”

Her icy eyes stared intently at Lenok’s face.

“You better be careful. There are plenty of people who would make the same choice as the religious order if they were facing a mage as powerful as you.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

Lenok gave a faint smile.

“I hope that’s not your own experience.”

“……”

Kiriya didn’t react to Lenok’s words and immediately turned away.

As Slane left, the other transcendents also began to disappear one by one.

From those who gave Lenok a light greeting before leaving, to those who disappeared without even introducing themselves.

Even as the transcendents around him left first, Lenok remained in the city until the end, pondering.

Anathema’s betrayal and death. The priestess’s intervention and retreat. The Central City’s forbidden weapon and the religious order’s informant.

Slane, who noticed the incongruity but condoned it, and the other level 8 transcendents, who ultimately chose to watch the situation.

Because he didn’t have much strength left, because there wasn’t much time left.

Rather, he was carefully choosing and waiting for the moment to confront everything.

Will the deaths and grudges that were divided from each other in this place today also be faced in a different form someday?

The gathering of extreme ability users that began at midnight.

The long night that had been unexpectedly twisted due to Anathema’s betrayal had finally come to an end.

Lenok, raising his hand towards the sunlight, turned towards those who were waiting and nodded.

“The work to be done here is finished. Let’s return to Vulcan.”

* * *

The dry desert where the sun rises.

At the same time as morning arrives, a huge monster resembling a dinosaur is walking through the sandstorm.

Thump! Thump!!

The giant monster, moving forward while trampling the sand with its thick, cylindrical legs. A magnificent temporary shrine built on its back.

Someone who had been leaning back on a pure white chair opened their eyes as if waking from a doze.

“……”

Their hand, which had been resting on the armrest, twitched, and they slowly clenched and unclenched their fingers.

Their face was expressionless, but cold sweat was running down their forehead, where veins were bulging.

The priests who had been praying next to her immediately stood up.

“Priestess Nydri.”

“Are you alright?”

“Alright?”

In response to the priests’ words, the priestess, Ureka Nydri, gave a twisted smile.

“What do you plan to do if I’m not alright?”

“……That is.”

“I think I’d feel a bit better if you helped me, would you do that?”

“If you wish, I will.”

As the priest took out a dagger from his chest, Ureka kicked the priest in the stomach.

Crack!!

Even at the sound of his ribs breaking, the priest didn’t even groan.

Only then did Ureka nod with a satisfied look.

“Yes, just stay like that. I think I’ll feel a bit better that way.”

With that said, the priestess slowly unfolded the hand that had been resting on the other armrest.

As the hand that had been tightly clenched into a fist opened, bloodshot eyes were revealed.

Crackle, crackle…!!

The tingling lightning that was rotating around her eyes, piercing through Ureka’s fingers at that moment.

The back of the priestess’s elbow burst open, scattering blood and flesh.

“……!!”

The excruciating pain of the lightning flowing through her arm, scraping and burning her nerves.

Even Ureka, who had maintained her composure until now, had to grit her teeth and endure it with bloodshot eyes.

“Kuh, cough…!!!”

The priest, who had been in contact with Ureka and had received the burst of lightning together, was already beyond saving.

He was spitting blood from all seven orifices, his tongue was burnt to a crisp, and he was convulsing with a trembling jaw.

His outer skin looked fine, but his internal organs were all burnt and shriveled, causing him to suffer hellish pain.

One of the priests who was watching the scene from the side murmured, trembling with fear.

“Even after layering the life prayer several times, it’s still this powerful…!!”

“You have to pay the price for touching something you were told not to take.”

Ureka smiled and brought her hand to her blood-soaked arm.

“But it’s a really terrible power. It’s been this long, and instead of fading, it’s only getting more violent.”

“……”

“Is it a lightning of thought that exists independently from the caster at the point of the incantation’s end?”

Ureka’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the lightning flowing through her arm.

“As expected, I don’t like anything about it…”

The lightning that Lenok had embedded in Anathema’s corpse was a measure to prevent people like the priestess from seizing the corpse.

However, Ureka also knew that she wouldn’t be able to touch Anathema’s corpse unless it was at that moment.

If it wasn’t for the moment when the reckless mage was unable to temporarily interfere with reality by meeting with that being.

Even Ureka herself might not have been able to even look at Anathema’s corpse in the future.

That’s why the priestess moved before the sanctuary closed, taking the loss and touching Anathema’s corpse.

The only parts that could be taken were not the major organs, but rather the eyes, which were relatively easy to handle and carry.

Considering the spiritual efficacy, it was the only part of the body that the priestess could consider a minimum achievement.

However, in the process of recovering Anathema’s eyes, it was inevitable that she would be exposed to the electric shock left by Lenok.

Even though she had protected her body with divine power, the priestess had been suffering from the lightning left by Lenok for over half a day.

“Godin, bring the artifact.”

Ureka, who had been staring at the lightning flowing through her arm for a long time, said.

“I can’t abandon Anathema’s remains after coming all this way. I’ll have to seal my arm and the remains together.”

“Priestess Nydri. But…!!”

The other priests couldn’t hide their agitation at the priestess’s declaration and questioned her.

“If you use the sealing artifact in your current state, you might not be able to use your arm forever.”

“Even now, it would be better to entrust the preservation of the remains to us and focus on treatment…”

“You should consider yourself lucky, Godin.”

Ureka said with an expressionless face.

“If I hadn’t used a priest unnecessarily just now, I would have killed you for talking back like that.”

“……”

“Can’t you understand after I explain it once? I’m the only one who can preserve this.”

The priestess smiled.

“Or are you telling me to leave this precious thing in your smelly corpses?”

What was penetrating Ureka’s body was lightning that was necrotizing cells and killing nerves.

A destructive property that went beyond the concept of electric-type spells, tearing apart the opponent to the extreme.

It was the result of a change in properties to increase power in battle and kill the opponent.

Even Ureka herself was only barely suppressing it on one arm using divine power, and if other priests touched the eyes, their entire internal organs would burn to death.

“This kind of opportunity won’t come again soon, but this whole thing was below expectations.”

While the priests were bringing the artifact, Ureka murmured in a languid voice.

“If I had only regained the authority of the previous generation, I wouldn’t have had to move around so clumsily…”

Where there is something to gain, there is something to lose.

But sometimes, there is also the power to fill that place anew because of what was lost.

The power that Ureka Nydri had obtained, the ability to command a maddened Apostle as a servant, was certainly a power that none of the previous priestesses had possessed,

But ironically, it was a miracle that was allowed because the authority of the highest priest of the religious order was lost with the death of Seina Nydri.

However, Ureka was realizing how fatal the loss of the priest’s authority that Seina had lost was.

Ureka Nydri has the aptitude for rituals, but she does not have the authority for rituals.

Even though she has the talent to preside over all the rituals that exist within the religious order, the reason why she is directly traveling around the battlefield like this.

That was because she needed blood and sacrifices to replace the authority to conduct rituals.

That’s why the eyes of Anathema that she had obtained now could not be abandoned no matter what.

A noble of Arsnoba, and a causality of contradiction that was not bound by the fate of destruction and prohibition on the continent.

The remains of Anathema, who had fallen as an Apostle and completed his martyrdom, were one of the substitutes for the authority that Ureka had been so desperately seeking.

“I’ll have to re-examine the function of the revelation when I return to the main temple. What is Kamrodal doing?”

“The last time the puppet moved, it was recovering a broken Apostle near the second gate. Shall I send a return order?”

“……No. It’s fine. There’s a manifestation I need to meet before that.”

The reason why Ureka herself, with her reckless and aggressive nature, had directly stepped into this dangerous place was not because of that.

The satellite city where that being’s will directly descended was an extremely special and sacred stage where the priestess’s power was at its strongest.

Moreover, she had even received a hint through revelation that she would regain the lost authority.

But in the end, until the moment the sanctuary ended and the will of the gods left, she was leaving the city without achieving even half of her expected goal.

It was an absurdly unsatisfactory result considering that she had sacrificed thousands of humans and turned them into flesh monsters.

“To turn the mechanical city upside down and only now return to the Pantheon, how leisurely.”

Ureka Nydri’s eyes, which were lowered, shone darkly.

“Prepare the offerings. I need to meet the 2nd Apostle.”