Genius Wizard Takes Medicine Chapter 18

Dylan squeezed out every last bit of his mana and charged.

The crocodile giant stood his ground and received the attack head-on.

The sharp swords in Dylan’s hands, the spear slung over his shoulder, and the two daggers fixed near his ankles cut through the factory dust, flashing coldly.

Five blurred blades struck at the crocodile man’s limbs at once, twisting their paths as they closed the distance in an instant.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

The slashes scraped against the crocodile giant’s raised arm, shaving off blue scales and scattering sparks.

Dylan did not care whether the attack had landed properly.

He immediately moved into the next one.

A fierce killing intent filled the factory floor.

Only then did Lenoch realize that Dylan was far stronger than an ordinary warrior.

Each time Dylan touched the ground, he changed direction. Even the brief moments he used to catch his breath were worked into the flow of his attacks.

Graceful, yet blurred.

Stealthy, yet lightning-fast.

Thud, thud, thud!

Dylan’s desperate barrage of sword strikes forced the crocodile giant to take a step back.

Lenoch seized that opening and shaped the mana he had been gathering into a spell.

Blue currents gathered above his slightly bent right arm, forming a sphere the size of a human head.

Crackle!

It was a spell that compressed dozens of electric currents equal to **[Bolt]** into one point.

Naturally, the mana cost was enormous for Lenoch’s current capacity, but he gritted his teeth and completed it.

**[Lightning Bound]**

The spell shot forward at his will, cutting through the reaction speed of both monsters and striking the ground beneath the giant’s feet.

Crack, crack, crack, crack!

The moment the sphere touched the floor, a twisted sound tore through the air.

Dozens of currents burst from within and wrapped around the giant’s body.

Caught off guard by Lenoch’s silent spellcasting, the crocodile giant’s tail twitched.

Dylan took advantage of that brief instant when the giant’s body froze.

“Hoo…!”

He pushed forward with everything he had left.

Pouring every ounce of strength into his body, Dylan unleashed a massive wave of attacks that swallowed the crocodile giant.

Cold blades struck once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then countless more.

At last, they slipped between the giant’s tough scales and reached the skin beneath.

Then the crocodile moved.

He raised one hand and deflected only the blades aimed at his eyes, while using his tail to block everything else.

The tail moved independently from the rest of his body, darting back and forth dozens of times in the blink of an eye.

Just like that, Dylan’s attacks were erased.

Then, in the middle of Dylan’s charge, the crocodile giant grabbed him by the neck and hurled him toward the factory wall.

Boom!

A circular shockwave exploded from the crocodile giant with an ear-splitting sonic boom.

Dylan’s body flew like a bullet, punched through the wall, and crashed outside.

Unable to withstand the impact, the factory wall collapsed behind him.

Crash, crash, crash!

‘Damn it…!’

The **[Lightning Bound]** Lenoch had just used had enough firepower to melt steel into molten metal.

The fact that the giant had taken it directly and still moved without a scratch meant the outcome was already clear.

The moment Dylan was caught, Lenoch had already turned and started running.

He did not know what had happened to Dylan, but he was certain the man had been thrown outside the factory.

There was no reason to foolishly stand there and wait until the crocodile giant’s gaze turned toward him.

‘Twenty-three seconds left…!’

Lenoch focused mana into his legs and forced his body forward.

His running speed increased dramatically.

Because of the drawback from his **[Mana Addiction]** trait, he usually avoided pouring mana directly into his body.

But now was not the time to be cautious.

Using **[Blink]** would have made things much easier, but its mana consumption was too high for Lenoch to use right now.

He ran so fast that his surroundings blurred, dashed through the door, and escaped outside the warehouse.

Near the back gate, Dylan lay in a grotesque position, covered in blood. His entire body looked as if it had been shattered, with blood and other fluids seeping from his wounds.

Lenoch hesitated for a brief moment.

Then he bit down on another cigarette, gritted his teeth, hoisted Dylan onto his back, and started running.

He poured mana through his entire body and pushed his strengthened muscles to their limit.

Even if he survived today, he would probably be unable to move properly for about a week. But now was not the time to worry about that.

“Huff, huff…!”

His remaining stamina vanished in an instant, and his breath caught in his throat.

A bitter smile tugged at Lenoch’s lips.

He had served in the military back on Earth, yet here, his body was so weak and fragile that it felt as if he might collapse from a light touch.

Every time he pushed himself like this, it would not be strange if his lifespan shortened without him even realizing it.

As Lenoch forced his trembling legs forward while swallowing bloody phlegm, Dylan stirred a few times and finally regained consciousness.

Seeing Lenoch wearing the mask, Dylan let out a hollow laugh.

“Cough! Are you seriously smoking right now…? There’s addiction, and then there’s madness. You’re out of your mind.”

“Huff…! I can’t move without this…!”

‘Two seconds.’

Time was up.

Lenoch answered in a trembling voice, threw Dylan to the ground, and immediately dropped on top of him, raising both hands over his head.

A moment later—

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

Flames erupted from the basement and swallowed the entire manufacturing plant, dyeing the sky crimson.

Lenoch pressed himself tightly against the ground, trying not to be blown away by the raging heatwave.

Near his ears, he heard the barriers he had cast over himself cracking apart one after another.

Half-conscious, Lenoch kept recasting barriers around himself and waited for the explosion to end.

Originally, he had planned to watch from a much safer distance and simply confirm that the factory had collapsed properly.

But the crocodile giant’s appearance had ruined everything.

When the seemingly endless impact finally subsided and the trembling asphalt grew still, Lenoch struggled to lift his head.

The explosion from the basement had engulfed Charlotte’s factory, leaving the building half-destroyed.

Watching the structure sway as if it might collapse at any moment, Lenoch slowly stood up.

“The cigarette…?”

He brought a hand to his mouth without thinking, but the cigarette was gone.

Had it been blown away while he was enduring the explosion?

“Here it is.”

“…Are you insane?”

Lenoch looked at Dylan as if he were staring at a madman.

A cigarette was stuck upright in the back of Dylan’s hand, giving off faint smoke as it burned through his leather glove.

“Don’t you need it?”

“Throw it away. Now.”

At Lenoch’s words, Dylan flicked the cigarette away with a casual motion, then slowly pushed himself up.

“Ugh… Feels like I broke about ten bones.”

His tone was so casual that Lenoch knew he was not exaggerating.

When the giant had grabbed Dylan by the neck and hurled him away, Dylan’s body had clearly broken the sound barrier.

It would not have been strange if his spine had been torn out entirely from the force of that throw.

The fact that Dylan could still stand despite having so many bones broken made it clear that he was no ordinary human either.

“I thought that was a fight between a human and a monster, but you’re not exactly normal yourself. Are all body-enhancing superhumans like this?”

“Well, there are circumstances.”

Dylan vaguely dodged the question, then grabbed Lenoch by the back of his collar and pulled him to his feet.

“If you don’t want to die, get up. We need to run.”

“……?”

Lenoch was confused for a moment, but he soon understood what Dylan meant.

“You think that monster is still alive.”

“I don’t think it. I know it. Do you have any idea who that old man is?”

“I don’t have the skill to guess someone’s age from a crocodile face.”

In **WORLD** versions 1 and 2, non-human races did exist, but Lenoch had never seen one so heavily animal-like.

At Lenoch’s answer, Dylan shook his head and began walking quickly, dragging him along.

“Crocken Achilles. A former war mercenary. After retiring, he accepted an invitation from Pandemonium and now works as one of their executives.”

“Pandemonium?”

“An international criminal organization famous for sending invitations only to the most dangerous criminals and outlaws. Mage sir, have you really been hiding in the mountains training this whole time?”

“…Let’s say that’s roughly the case.”

Pandemonium.

If Dylan, an evidently skilled mercenary, spoke of it that way, then Jenny and Jordan probably knew the name as well.

If an organization treated a monster like Crocken not as its leader, but merely as an executive, then Lenoch needed to learn more about it if he planned to keep working in this field.

Of course, that would only matter if he survived this place first.

Boom!

As the two fled, a long shadow stretched over them through the storm of fire.

Covered in debris from the collapsed factory and wrapped in brilliant flames, the crocodile giant, Crocken, slowly walked out.

Aside from a few scorched scales, he looked completely unharmed.

The moment he spotted the two running for their lives, he slowly bent his legs.

Creak…!

His thighs swelled, and thin cracks spread across the ground beneath him.

Then—

Boom!

Crocken’s massive body launched forward like a cannonball.

In the blink of an eye, he closed a distance of several hundred meters.

If that body slam hit them, they would die.

There was no time to speak.

Both Dylan and Lenoch poured mana into their legs and leapt to the sides.

Whoosh!

The instant Crocken realized he had narrowly missed them, his reaction came with terrifying speed.

And what followed was even more absurd.

Crack, crack, crack!

He slammed one arm into the ground and forced his massive body to stop in midair.

A skid mark more than ten meters long carved itself into the asphalt, and acrid smoke rose as though the road itself were burning.

Even after seeing it with his own eyes, Lenoch could hardly believe the sheer strength before him.

Even in a world where people could reinforce their bodies with mana, this was far beyond the limits of a living creature.

Crocken easily flipped his body upright and began walking toward Lenoch.

“So you’re the mage who fired that lightning ball earlier.”

“……”

“Did no one ever teach you not to set off dangerous things between another man’s legs?”

“Can something that survives an explosion like that really be called a man?”

At Lenoch’s sharp reply, Crocken burst into hearty laughter.

“Bold. If you hadn’t interfered with the factory, I might have let you live… But I’m being paid, so I have to do my job.”

His reptilian pupils gleamed coldly.

“For Antares’s sake, I’ll send you off without pain.”

As Crocken reached his ominous right hand toward Lenoch’s face, Lenoch immediately activated his magic.

**[Gravity Bind]**

Crack!

“Hmm?”

A purple whip shot out from behind Lenoch and stopped Crocken’s arm for a brief moment.

If it had been an ordinary binding spell, it might not have worked very well. But **[Gravity Bind]** suppressed movement in proportion to the target’s mass.

The gravitational whip took advantage of Crocken’s enormous weight, pressing down on his unguarded body and briefly holding the giant in place.

Lenoch seized that opening, rolled backward, and gathered his mana again.

He poured in every bit of mana he had left.

In a life-or-death situation, he had no intention of conserving his strength.

Even as pain spread through his entire body, the mana inside him combined precisely according to his will and projected the image in his mind.

Icy energy flowed between the fingers of his outstretched hands.

Lenoch placed both palms against the ground.

**[Frost Horn]**

Whoosh!

A blinding flash burst out.

A tingling chill ran over his skin.

The spell Lenoch fired into the ground traveled along the gravitational whip and reached Crocken’s blue-scaled arms.

Crack!

Crocken’s massive body suddenly stopped moving.

Frost spread across his turquoise scales, and white breath slipped out from between his sharp teeth.

Even his reptilian eyes froze, his gaze fixed in midair.

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