Genius Wizard Takes Medicine Chapter 17

Watching Dylan charge ahead, Lenoch quickly turned and moved in the opposite direction.

‘The plan we made at the bar is basically a diversion.’

Dylan would break in through the factory’s lightly guarded back gate and draw attention.

While he caused a commotion, Lenoch would enter through a warehouse located a short distance away.

The warehouse received products from all three floors of the manufacturing plant and loaded them onto trucks. Because of that, it was connected to every floor of the factory.

Thanks to Dylan’s rampage, even the employees waiting in the warehouse seemed to have rushed toward the disturbance.

Inside, only three large trucks remained.

Lenoch took the laser cutter from his pocket and firmly pressed both buttons.

Buzz!

Blue sparks flew wildly from the cutter as he drove it into the locked doorknob of the warehouse management office.

The doorknob melted away in an instant.

Lenoch kicked the door open and stepped inside.

A fierce-looking guard stared at him in shock.

Lenoch extended one hand toward him.

**[Nature Sleep]**

“Who…!! Ugh…”

The employee, who had been about to scream and draw the gun at his waist, suddenly slumped over in his chair.

Magic that interfered with the mind or biological functions did not work well on people with mana.

Against ordinary people without mana, however, it was extremely effective for subduing them without killing them.

Lenoch attached five strands of mana from his fingers to the employee’s limbs and moved them.

**[Marionette]**

The unconscious employee’s body wobbled like a puppet with cut strings, then began walking out of the factory.

If he used a unique magic system from the manual-control series, he could probably do far more complicated things.

But with the common spell **[Marionette]**, making an unconscious person walk was the limit.

Still, that was enough.

It was better than leaving someone unconscious inside a factory that might soon explode.

Lenoch entered the passage inside the management office.

At the end of the slightly dirty corridor, he saw a staircase.

The familiar sight made his expression darken slightly.

The shabby factory where he had first awakened was still vividly etched in his memory.

If he had not decided to escape and acted immediately after waking up, he might have died from exhaustion.

In extreme situations, life and death were often separated by a single thin line.

Lenoch’s current situation was much better than it had been back then, but he still could not afford to grow complacent.

To survive in this unknown world, he had to give his best every moment he remained alive.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Lenoch moved on.

The operations management office, which controlled all of the factory’s systems, was on the third floor.

However, Lenoch did not hesitate.

He ran down the stairs leading to the lower levels.

Thud, thud, thud!

Gunfire echoed from somewhere in the distance.

The security forces had started moving to repel the intruders.

“Ahhh!”

The terrified screams of the factory’s production workers rang clearly in his ears as they fled.

That was not a bad thing.

Unlike the security company Triple Eight, the workers here had no reason to be caught up in the coming explosion.

Lenoch had to finish the job while Dylan was still buying time.

When he reached the factory basement, the hot air disappeared.

A cold breeze brushed over his entire body.

The server room was located in the basement.

The power supply room used for system management had to be kept from overheating, so the air conditioning there was carefully controlled.

The air-conditioning facilities that controlled the cooling system were also located in the basement.

Dozens of gas pipes climbed the walls like snakes, covering the basement densely.

Lenoch opened every valve attached to them.

Sssssss!

One valve.

Two valves.

Three valves.

At first, the sound was faint. But once dozens of valves were fully opened, the hiss of leaking gas became impossible to miss.

Normally, simply opening the valves would not cause gas to leak.

A proper facility should have double or even triple gas shut-off systems to prevent accidents like this.

However, this manufacturing plant had only recently been built.

Because of pressure from the city government, it had begun operating without proper safety inspections. On top of that, Charlotte Corporation was not the kind of company that spent much money on on-site safety.

That was what made this possible.

And all of this information had come not from Jenny or Dylan, but from Baritz Corporation.

‘They even provided the exact method. Thorough, aren’t they?’

The reason Jenny had brought the factory blueprints and laid out the plan was also because Baritz had requested it.

Whether that meant Jenny was capable enough to accept work from such a company was another matter.

Now that the gas had been released, all that remained was to create the spark.

Lenoch placed his palm on the cold basement floor and immediately used magic.

**[Ignite]**

It was a very basic ignition spell.

The same spell Lenoch often used to light his cigarettes.

But this time, he could not simply create a flame between his fingers.

He needed to use it in a slightly different way.

There had been a time when Lenoch, arrogant from being able to use almost every common spell he knew, had neglected his research for a while.

However, after finding a new breakthrough through his encounter with the woman at the vegetable stall, he had repeatedly tried to modify and apply the spells he already knew.

Recently, those efforts had begun to bear fruit.

Ssssss…!

Lenoch unfolded the magic engraved in his mind like a formula.

Through dozens of experiments, he had become certain of just how absurd his talent truly was.

He was no longer merely using and applying magic.

He was reaching toward unknown knowledge on his own and stepping into uncharted territory.

The **Creativity** stat he had invested thirty points into when creating this body—

That intelligence, now reaching the level of true talent, was finally bearing fruit.

Paaah!

Lenoch’s right hand shone brightly.

Around the mana he drew out, a small circle formed and filled with unfamiliar shapes.

He was no longer just using magic without a circle or incantation.

With nothing but an incantation, he began constructing an entirely new magic circle.

Shapes and symbols Lenoch did not fully understand arranged themselves inside the circular formation.

And just before the outer ring surrounding the spell connected completely, Lenoch withdrew his mana.

“……”

There was no point in completing the **Ignite** circle and creating a flame right now.

If he wanted to blow up the factory, he had to ignite it only after the basement was filled with enough gas.

And Lenoch already knew how to complete a spell with a delay.

No one had taught him.

Even so, countless possible variations and applications swirled through his mind.

He was no longer simply following an established system or maintaining its order.

He was opening new ground and drawing new rules upon it.

By bending the framework of common magic to its limit, he created a new tool.

‘Of course, even with this, it’s difficult to fully match the specialization of unique magic…’

But at the very least, he could imitate it closely.

The timer was set for five minutes.

Once the completed ignition circle activated in the middle of the basement, the factory would explode from below.

Now he only needed to get Dylan out of the building before then.

After that, they would split the fifty million Cel success fee.

Lenoch had another cigarette between his lips as he came up from the basement.

He was just about to enter the first-floor manufacturing room to look for Dylan when—

Boom!

A deafening explosion erupted, and a shockwave swept through the area.

Caught completely off guard, Lenoch was thrown backward.

Even as the back of his head throbbed from striking the ground, his thoughts moved quickly.

‘An explosion? Did the basement already go off?’

For a moment, Lenoch suspected the magic circle he had carved into the basement floor, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

The spell he had created was flawless.

And if the server room had exploded, the entire factory should have collapsed. It would not have ended with only this much damage.

That left only one possibility.

Something had happened inside the factory, where Dylan was.

The shock did not end with a single blast. Weaker impacts continued to ripple through the building.

Listening to the ominous noises coming from inside, Lenoch slowly opened the door leading to the first floor.

Bang! Boom!

When he peered into the manufacturing room, the first thing he saw was gunfire filling the air.

Flashes of light burst between flying bullets, and acrid smoke spread across the entire first floor of the factory.

In the middle of that storm of ammunition, Dylan was dancing wildly.

He switched freely between the swords, spears, and daggers hanging from his body, leaping through the air and cutting down guards one after another.

The superhuman movements of a warrior who reinforced his body with mana were not something ordinary employees with guns could handle.

Even Lenoch, who knew little about real combat techniques, could tell that Dylan’s movements were graceful.

He vanished in the middle of the hail of bullets, then reappeared behind his enemies.

The mana swirling around his body would occasionally gather around the weapon in his hand, glowing blue.

Each time, a violent shockwave like the one Lenoch had felt earlier erupted, sending guards flying in every direction.

Rather than merely buying time, Dylan seemed intent on wiping out every guard in the factory.

The confidence he had shown before the job had not been baseless.

Ssssss…

The noise that had been pounding in Lenoch’s ears gradually faded.

Only the low groans of the guards Dylan had cut down remained, drifting weakly through the air.

Only then did Dylan seem to calm down. He caught his breath and began walking toward the factory exit.

Seeing that, Lenoch also prepared to leave immediately.

Thud!

A solid iron door shattered and flew straight toward Dylan.

Dylan easily dodged the crumpled door, even though it was flying too fast for ordinary eyes to follow.

But after avoiding it, his body froze.

Lenoch followed Dylan’s gaze and turned his head.

Then he understood why Dylan had reacted that way.

“Heh heh… You’ve made quite a mess.”

A giant over two meters tall stood there, his entire body covered in thousands of scales.

His snout was unnaturally long, with sharp teeth lining the inside.

A long tail swayed lazily between his legs.

There was no mistake.

A massive figure with the head of a crocodile, covered in blue scales, was slowly walking into the factory.

He rolled his vertically slit eyes around, then grinned when he spotted Dylan.

“That’s a face I remember. Is that brat from Antares doing well?”

“…He’s doing fine.”

Surprisingly, Dylan and the crocodile-headed giant seemed to know each other.

“Hmm. I wondered what kind of nerve he had when he said he was starting his own business… but it looks like he did gather some capable people.”

“The boss has always had a bit of a temper.”

At Dylan’s polite reply, the giant bared his teeth in a smirk.

“You understand the situation, don’t you? That’s how things are.”

“How much did they pay you?”

“One billion.”

“Shit…”

Dylan lowered his head helplessly, as if he had already given up on everything.

The giant spoke as though offering him a favor.

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

“…I’m not going down easily.”

Dylan answered while gripping two swords and drawing his mana tight around him.

His demeanor was completely different from before.

Watching the scene from a distance, Lenoch’s expression hardened.

It seemed the crocodile giant had been hired to repel the intruders for the staggering sum of one billion Cel.

And judging from the fact that Dylan did not even consider running, instead preparing himself to fight, the giant had to be an unbelievably dangerous monster.

Should Lenoch help him?

Or should he run?

Even now, gas was continuing to fill the basement, and the ignition magic circle he had set on a timer was nearing activation.

‘Two minutes and seventeen seconds… That’s cutting it close.’

Lenoch’s internal clock allowed no room for error.

Even without consciously thinking about it, he could accurately sense how much time remained.

After a brief calculation, Lenoch quietly gathered his mana, taking care not to let the crocodile giant notice.

‘I’ll do what I can, then get out.’

As Lenoch steeled himself, the man and the crocodile collided.

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