Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 963

Forbidden Arts (19)

Hyeolno and Maiya Renslit were summoned to the Anathema temple by the black magic used by Ermong.

It was definitely a level 8 extreme magic that manipulated space as a result.

What kind of curse did he feed the Curse Toad that allowed Ermong to use black magic at that level?

In the first place, they hadn’t even grasped what the Curse Toad’s abilities were.

Nevertheless, Lenok couldn’t easily take his eyes off the executor who had landed before him.

Maiya Renslit. The best executor of the Machine City, who had transcended the hierarchy and reached level 8.

A skilled individual who maintained her peak performance even now, decades after the failure of the Ascension Gate project [a failed attempt to create a portal to another dimension or plane of existence].

If limited to one-on-one combat, she was one of the top experts Lenok knew.

Even Pandemonium [a powerful organization or faction] respected her insight into combat, so there was no need to mention her status.

An exceptional elite whose position had never wavered in the countless operations conducted in the Demon Realm.

That’s why it was true that he hadn’t expected her to be here.

“I didn’t know a former executor would be interested in robbing a noble’s vault.”

Lenok said, tilting his head while stroking his chin.

“Did you suddenly develop a hobby for thievery now?”

“That’s not why I’m here.”

Maiya quietly stood up.

A silent aura that didn’t emit any sound or sign of movement.

It was as if he was facing a living shadow, not a person.

Maiya, who was looking at Lenok with an expressionless gaze, said,

“I know you haven’t even been done with Anathema’s work for a few days.”

“It seems you’ve heard roughly what happened at the meeting.”

Lenok stroked his chin.

“I’d like to tell you the details, but I made a promise. If you were curious about Anathema’s end, why didn’t you participate?”

“If Slane Onyx arranged the meeting, it must have been groundwork to induce cooperation from the extreme ability users.”

Maiya replied quietly.

“Only after leaving the execution agency did I realize that such things are meaningless.”

“The execution agency…”

Lenok mumbled, taking out a cigarette.

“Resent, hate, and loathe. If they remember me like that, it’s enough, you said.”

“…”

“Are you still moving for the Machine City like that?”

“That’s…”

Maiya’s eyebrows twitched as she realized that Lenok was referring to a conversation they had before.

“You remembered.”

“…I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not that bad yet.”

Lenok shook his head with a bitter smile.

“You’re looking at me like some kind of psychopath. Do you think I’ve already forgotten what I did in Machina [likely referring to the Machine City]?”

“You never know.”

Maiya replied, placing her hand on her waist.

She held a short sword with several small sockets pierced into the blade in reverse, and stared at Lenok.

“At least, among the great mages I know, there weren’t many seekers like you.”

“…”

“I’ve seen how difficult and arduous it is to find the next path for this world. I also remember what kind of price is paid when it fails.”

Maiya, looking at Lenok with a cold gaze, asked.

“If you lose the way back while you’re searching for your path, it wouldn’t be strange, would it?”

“Well… I think you’re overestimating me.”

Lenok laughed.

“Do you think I’ve already reached the same level as the Ascension Gate?”

Maiya was one of the few people who had witnessed how painful the failure of the Ascension Gate was.

She was a person with blind faith and obsession who had devoted herself to Pandemonium to recover from that failure.

If she believed that Lenok was at an irreversible level, it was because she assumed that Lenok was already comparable to the Ascension Gate.

However, Maiya only stared at Lenok, who was smiling languidly, and didn’t answer right away.

She just closed her eyes for a moment as if thinking about something, then slowly opened them and spoke.

“We had a similar conversation at the train station back then.”

Click!

Maiya muttered, inserting a sparkling purple bead into the socket of the blade.

“I told you that the path of the leader was close to the answer, and told you to join Pandemonium… but it was meaningless from the start.”

Maiya’s eyes flashed as she looked at Lenok.

“You are the same type of human as the leader. You can never be satisfied with the methods of others, and you don’t trust anyone but yourself. Such an arrogant, selfish, and dogmatic being.”

“…”

“The moment you heard my proposal back then, you already knew. You must have thought that such a thing could never happen.”

The moment she took a step forward with the short sword, Maiya’s body blurred.

A sense of incongruity as if she had lowered her posture deeply, even though her standing position had hardly changed.

Just by twisting her joints and slightly lowering her center of gravity, she forced a reaction from the opponent she was facing.

Maiya whispered beyond the blurred aura.

“I’m just looking back at what those who seek the path of the world are thinking, after a long time.”

“There is no absolute in this world, Maiya Renslit.”

Lenok smiled bitterly.

“There’s no reason to give so much meaning to finding an answer. In the end, we’re both just doing what we want, aren’t we?”

“…”

“I don’t think it’s worth mentioning, but… that’s right. I owed you one in the Machine City.”

Lenok mumbled, puffing out smoke with his arms crossed.

“Considering what happened back then, I’ll give you one last chance.”

“…”

“Take the black magician and the prince and retreat. Then I promise I won’t lay a hand on you here.”

After defeating Hermes O’Rorknier, the Ascended of the Old World.

The reason Lenok, who had been caught as the culprit who had half-destroyed the Machine City, was able to be released was because Maiya had traded with the Supreme Council to reduce Lenok’s sentence.

Even if it hadn’t been for her help, he wouldn’t have been imprisoned in Machina for long, but it was clear that he had received help from her several times.

Considering the various gains he had obtained in the Machine City, it wasn’t difficult to overlook Maiya’s actions once.

“How kind. For a mage like you to still remember and care about what happened back then.”

Maiya smiled at those words.

“But I’m sorry. From the moment I agreed with the leader’s method, I can’t follow the words of another seeker.”

“…”

“I know what the leader wants. No matter what means he takes, the result is something I can accept. But…”

Maiya glanced at the forbidden artifact stored in the center of the temple and said.

“I don’t think I can hand over that artifact since I don’t know what answer you want.”

“I see.”

Indeed, Maiya wasn’t here to steal the forbidden artifact or try to make a profit from this incident.

From her perspective, having met both Lenok and the leader, she was simply acting after deciding which side to take.

That was probably because the forbidden artifact made in Ars Nova [likely a place or organization] was somewhat related to the goal Maiya desired.

The answer that only someone who had experienced the failure of the ascension ritual once and still hadn’t given up could reach.

It was a shame that he couldn’t persuade her to turn back, but rather, it was understandable.

Lenok nodded and took a step forward, asking.

“Anything else you want to say?”

“No. It’s been too long since I’ve faced a seeker like you, so I wasn’t fully prepared.”

Maiya said, pointing her short sword diagonally at Lenok.

“I wonder if I can reach the leader if I win against you. I’m a little curious about that.”

“Good.”

Lenok smiled and raised his magic power.

“I’ll show you that much myself.”

There were no more words.

The moment Maiya’s figure, with her gaze lowered, accelerated explosively, a magic circle rotated behind Lenok and deployed a halo.

The surrounding time slowed down, and the mage’s cognitive ability began to expand to its limit.

The art of a transcendent who endlessly divides consciousness to stretch the perceived time.

At the end of that, Lenok confirmed the speed at which Maiya twisted and stabbed her short sword between his neck, and chanted magic with all his might.

Ice-type unique magic

[Frost Piercing Hand]

Clang!!

A huge ice hand that sprang up from under Maiya’s feet twisted the direction of the short sword and forcibly deflected it.

However, the moment the short sword was embedded in the ice hand, the purple bead inserted into the socket of the short sword glowed.

A powerful gravitational wave covered the blade, crushing and shattering the ice hand.

Kwaaaang!!!

Maiya penetrated Lenok’s gap at high speed through the rain of scattered ice fragments.

She moved back and forth as if blinking between the end and the end of the line of sight, blurring the boundary and stabbing the blade of the short sword onto Lenok’s shield, making it difficult to follow with the naked eye.

Kagagagak!!!

Maiya’s figure overlapped more than dozens of times in the blink of an eye, and a graceful sword light flashed in the air.

A slash that divided one exchange into more than dozens of movements, and struck a one-sided attack in every breath.

Ujijijijik!!!

The blade was embedded and crumpled on the shield, which was spread out in more than dozens of layers, accepting the decrease in efficiency.

Lenok’s eyes flashed as he confirmed that the gravitational ripples rippling on the surface were ruthlessly tearing open the barrier.

“I don’t feel the presence of an artifact. It’s a unique item. Is it an essence made by processing a gravity stone?”

“It’s an artifact that hides its power by synchronizing its attributes with the environment.”

Crack!

Maiya, who had twisted the short sword and torn the shield apart, realized that her ability had been immediately identified and answered.

“It seems like it’s an equipment that could be a threat to you.”

“I don’t know. Shall we check it out?”

As Lenok said that and raised his hand, the same ice hand as before sprang up again.

[Frost Piercing Hand]

Kwaaa!!

The act of using a spell that had been broken once again without any adjustment.

It was a judgment that should be avoided in battles between high-level mages, but Maiya immediately pulled her body back without hesitation.

Even though she had almost broken through Lenok’s shield just a moment ago, she showed no attachment to it.

Immediately after, another ice hand that sprang up from the opposite side slammed down from above her head.

Kuuung!!

A silent chant that was so subtle that even a level 8 executor couldn’t notice the signs.

She accelerated and evaded the ice palm that was slamming down from behind, just by changing the direction of her feet.

Even while accelerating faster than the speed of sound, she perfectly controlled her speed by adjusting the direction of her steps.

“Your vigilance is good.”

However, Lenok smiled even as he watched Maiya, who had easily evaded the ice hand.

“But just avoiding it won’t be enough.”

Crack!!

At that moment, the two ice hands that had fallen helplessly were instantly transformed into electricity in the air.

The art of transforming a huge ice mass into formless lightning in an instant.

“A change in properties…!!”

The moment Maiya’s face hardened at Lenok’s unrealistic divine skill of adding a change in properties to a spell that had already been chanted.

The lightning hands, flashing with tingling electricity, collided with each other in the air as if clapping.

[Thunderous Divine Arrival]

Kwaaaaaang!!!!

A high-level magic that maximizes the power of electric magic by summoning and colliding huge lightning hands.

The light of the lightning that burst out in all directions without distinguishing the direction exploded in the middle of the temple and diagonally penetrated the underground cavity.

Kugwagwagwagwa!!!!

The temple’s pillars and walls trembled, cracks slowly forming, and the ground shook as if an earthquake had struck. In the very center of the exploding lightning, a pale flash flickered along with the illusion of space distorting.

“Summoning Art.”

Lenok, who had been forming hand seals, finished his incantation and immediately summoned the Apostle’s Armor.

Fwaaang!!!

At the same time, Maiya’s figure, launched vertically, crashed down like a flash of light onto the carapace shield.

Crackkkk…!!!

It’s breaking through.

The Apostle’s carapace shield, which had once resisted most physical attacks, was pierced, revealing Maiya’s blade.

The blade, which had grazed Lenok’s cheek, pierced through dozens of temple pillars behind him in an instant.

Swish!!

Even Paysha and Hyulno, who were fighting outside the temple walls, and Soryu, who was assisting in the battle, turned their gazes to the chilling sword light.

“Remarkably sharp.”

Lenok, wiping the blood flowing down his cheek with one hand, smiled.

“You’re the third to break through this shield.”

“…You.”

Even though she had pierced the carapace shield head-on and injured Lenok, Maiya’s expression remained unchanged.

“You know what kind of mental image I use.”

The power of the microcosm possessed by Maiya Lenslet, the best executor of the Machine City, is [Penetration]. [Microcosm refers to a unique power or ability derived from a person’s inner world or mental image.]

It is an extreme technique that maximizes power by cutting three streams of mana in different directions, creating repulsion and resonance.

Her microcosm, which was finally completed upon reaching level 8, is a deadly assassination technique that pierces and interferes even with space.

However, Lenok started his incantation before Maiya used her microcosm, and he brought out a means of defense at the moment of impact.

Proof that Lenok was prepared for Maiya’s microcosm from the start.

“I think it’s only natural to be wary of your abilities, which are specialized for one-on-one combat, don’t you?”

Lenok said, staring at the pierced shield.

“It’s even more amazing that you moved at that speed, saw the tiny crack in the shield, and hit it.”

“…”

The spot where Maiya’s blade pierced was the very crack that Kroken Asilus had made with a light punch.

In the midst of the Thunderous Divine Arrival, the moment she accelerated while preparing her microcosm, Maiya instinctively found the weakest part of the shield and pierced it.

That was proof that Maiya was perfectly controlling her body even while deploying her microcosm at full power.

“My turn.”

Fwaaang!!

The moment Lenok grabbed the shield with one hand, Maiya pulled out her blade and pushed the shield away as if flicking it.

The heavy shield fell with a loud crash, but neither of them paid any attention to the carapace shield.

[Azure Flight]

Zzzzzzzzz!!!

Lenok, gathering a cluster of electric light as if grabbing the thunder god’s hair, and Maiya, taking three steps to slash with her blade, crossed paths.

The figure of the mage, who had raised a magic circle, and the shadow of the executor, who held a short sword in reverse as if praying, distorted in the air.

Lightning and sword light intersected dozens of times, unleashing thunder and lightning in all directions.

[Lightning Well]

[Spiral Quake Kill]

Crackkkkkkkkkk!!!

Lenok’s figure accelerated, flashing in units of seconds, and Maiya relentlessly followed close behind.

The blade and lightning twisted and intertwined, scattering their power in all directions without limit.

Clatter!!

She threw herself into the rotating lightning, where there was no room to step, and swung her short sword.

She sewed together the streaks of lightning blooming like flowers in the air with her blade.

She trusted her reflexes to receive and cut down all the lightning that exploded at supersonic speed from her fingertips.

From the far side of her consciousness, which was accelerating away, she saw Lenok, with his blue eyes flashing, smiling.

“Interesting. You’re going to react?”

Fwaaaaaat!!

A transcendent sense of speed, as if her vision was burning.

The moment he realized that Maiya had no intention of ‘calculating’ the fight, he increased the speed of the exchange tenfold.

Without even taking the form of attack and defense, he accelerated endlessly on his own, unleashing incantations at a speed that was on a different level from others.

Death in the form of lightning poured down infinitely and limitlessly from the fingertips of a single mage.

[Thunder Hammer]

He closed his fingertips, creating and detonating a round orb of lightning.

[Piercing Thunder Spikes]

The shattered fragments of electricity rose sharply, rotating and tearing through space.

[Changing Color Flying Lightning]

The fragments of lightning, scattering in various colors, changed their properties dozens of times in the air, emitting and accelerating.

The light of lightning, which had scattered into thousands of strands, repeatedly disassembled and gathered, overlapping at one point, drawing a graceful spiral.

[Fang Lightning]

The fangs of lightning pierced Maiya’s side like a shot.

Bboooommm!!!!

Dozens of spells and hundreds of property changes were poured out in a single gesture.

It was impossible for human senses to grasp and recognize the compression rate and speed.

Even though she had reacted until the very end, she was pushed all the way to the outer wall of the temple without even feeling the pain.

“…!!!!”

As her vision cleared, she felt an intense pain running through her entire body. Her vision blurred as she staggered.

Heat that felt like her whole body was burning and crumbling, and a chill that felt like her five senses were being gnawed away, assaulted her at the same time.

However, she could still move.

“…Hoo.”

Maiya, letting out a soft sigh, wiped her face with a stiff hand and stood up.

Lenok, who was watching her, couldn’t hide his surprise and muttered.

“Amazing. Did you really react to all of them except for the last one?”

“…”

Perhaps because she judged that there was no chance of winning in a battle of wits, Maiya abandoned all calculations from the moment she entered combat with Lenok.

Instead of calculating the opponent’s moves and cards before acting, she threw herself in and relied on her intuition and reactions to cope.

Even so, Maiya was still alive and facing Lenok as if nothing had happened.

“To be able to fight like that even after completely excluding psychological warfare, that’s truly a blessed talent.”

The mage, with his bright blue eyes flashing, slowly walked out, tilting his neck.

Every time he moved his body, he emitted a tingling breath of lightning, as if his body was breathing.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve faced an opponent who is so technically accomplished.”

What was truly amazing about the divine power that Maiya Lenslet had just shown was that she had endured Lenok’s onslaught with only one microcosm.

It was as if she had barely used any of the various assassination techniques she had honed as an executor, or the mental imagery she wielded based on her microcosm.

Even after such an intense battle, he was still smiling sharply, as if his excitement hadn’t faded.

“Let’s try again. You haven’t gone all out yet, have you?”

“…No. If we keep fighting like this, I’ll definitely lose.”

Maiya slowly massaged her wrist and smiled wryly.

“I knew from the beginning that I had no chance of winning unless I was prepared to break my oath as an executor.”

She knew who Lenok had fought and won against at the top of the Machine City.

A transcendent from the old world. A mage who had returned alive from fighting a war proxy, even though his power was not complete. [War proxy refers to a powerful entity or being used as a representative in a conflict.]

A monster who was even rumored to have gained infinite growth potential by being obsessed with fighting.

She had only been on par with him in Maiya’s area of expertise, and if he decided to engage in a full-scale power battle, this battlefield would not even be able to exist.

“I’m not here to stay and try to win against you.”

Maiya said, staggering to her feet.

“The important thing is that there’s something I need to take from this temple.”

The opponent was a madman who unleashed lightning more dangerous than the flames of hell for a mere moment of battle and then discarded it.

Maiya also shouldn’t give meaning to every attack and defense that occurs in this fight.

If she really wanted to take Lenok’s life, she would have to carefully choose the battlefield and timing, control the environment and conditions, and force a dogfight to barely calculate her chances of winning.

Maiya, having said that, slowly ran her hand over the short sword she was holding.

“The goal has been achieved. All that’s left is to confirm it.”

“Goal? From the beginning, your goal was-”

Lenok, who was saying that, trailed off slightly.

The purple bead that should have been embedded in Maiya’s short sword, which had fallen to the ground, was not visible.

Instead, a five-colored orb emitting a radiant glow was held in the short sword’s socket.

“…No way.”

Lenok’s expression disappeared as he realized that it was the inner core he had obtained by killing the spider above his residence.

“If it wasn’t a replacement with a similar essence, a mage like you would have noticed it right away.”

Maiya, clutching the spider’s inner core, said.

“And if it wasn’t for such an intense battle that you were engrossed in, I wouldn’t have been able to pull it off.”

“You went to such lengths from the beginning just to get that inner core?”

The inner core that Maiya had replaced with the essence of gravity was an object with a strong energy that made even a spider, not a spirit, produce mana.

And that energy was none other than the power of the forbidden weapon that was rising above Anathema’s residence.

The fact that Maiya risked her life to steal it during her battle with Lenok meant-

Whoosh!!

Maiya and Lenok’s figures disappeared almost simultaneously in the air.

Maiya was rushing towards the center of the temple at an incredible speed, and Lenok was following her, spamming flashes.

However, Lenok’s expression as he chased after Maiya was faintly frowning, as if he was in trouble.

‘Space…’

The random transfer and collapse of space-time due to the forbidden weapon’s rampage.

Because of that phenomenon that Soryu had explained before, the calculation of spatial coordinates had been going wrong since earlier.

Maiya, glancing back, smiled wryly.

“You’re like a monster. Even in this temple where space is distorted, you’re still teleporting…!!!”

“You were planning to use the power of the inner core to avoid the forbidden weapon’s spatial transfer and collapse and approach it.”

The short sword that Maiya was using was an object that resonated with the surrounding environment by inserting a specific essence.

The reason she had been using the essence of the gravity stone until just now was to hide the presence of the short sword in the temple made of gravity stones.

But if that was the case, then by inserting the inner core into the socket, she could have resonated with the power emitted by the forbidden weapon and avoided spatial transfer.

Lenok’s eyes turned cold.

“I won’t let that happen.”

“…No. It’s too late.”

Crack!!

Maiya, dodging the lightning that was striking down from behind by a hair’s breadth, pulled the inner core out of the socket.

“Now that I’ve come this far, according to the doctor’s theory-!!”

“Doctor?”

Whirrrrr!!

At that moment, something pale rose up from the center of the temple with a sharp cutting sound.

A blurry strand of thread grabbed Maiya’s hand, which was clutching the inner core, and pulled her in at an incredible speed.

The moment Maiya’s arm, which had accelerated as if being sucked into the center of the temple, shattered the crystal where the Sutra was stored.

Crash!!