Chapter 169
Chapter 169
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 169
Chapter Title: New Subjectivity (3)
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Serpent couldn't regain his senses amid the sudden turn of events.
The black energy flowing from Jamie Welton transformed into something like a wolf's maw and swallowed Javelin whole in one bite.
It was a gruesome sight.
Javelin, left only with his lower body, collapsed limply. Whether "collapsed" was the right word or not, the jagged bite marks above his waist made such details irrelevant.
He looked at Jamie Welton, who stood there emanating swirling black energy. The ominous purple glow in his eyes made Serpent's spirit shrink back in fear.
What of that black energy?
'A Black Sorcerer... for real?'
Before ascending to elder status, Serpent had participated in several operations to exterminate Black Sorcerers.
He had seen the black mana they wielded firsthand. It was an ugly, filthy, utterly repulsive sludge of power.
Yet what he sensed from Jamie felt different.
It was ominous, yes, but the repulsive feeling was almost entirely absent.
'But that form was definitely black magic!'
Magic had forms dictated by its nature.
Fire was wild, wind orderly, water serene, earth steadfast.
And black magic?
'It was definitely an extremely ominous magic!'
Serpent let out a silent scream.
The ominous black wolf that had torn off Javelin's upper body.
Whether the energy flowing from it was black mana or not was uncertain, but the magic he had used was unmistakably black magic.
"So that's it... So that's how it was! You're no genius—you sold your soul to a devil for that talent!"
Serpent burst into mad laughter, as if he had realized some great truth.
He pointed at Jamie and sneered.
"Brat! You just surrendered to evil to learn magic! That's all you are! Hahaha! You're no genius after all!"
Serpent screamed like a demon.
Jamie couldn't help but laugh at the sight.
It was a pathetic struggle, refusing to acknowledge his talent and desperately trying to drag him down.
Human inferiority complexes could fuel growth at times, but they far more often led to ugliness like this.
The primal emotion inherent to mankind.
Jamie didn't hate such things.
"That's how it was. Heh heh heh! There's no way you'd be better than me! You're just a damn kid! Right, Siegfried? That slave scum must be a Black Sorcerer too. He definitely sold his soul to a devil!"
Serpent spun wild delusions to elevate himself, even with the enemy right in front of him.
This was why Jamie liked primal instincts. Humans who succumbed to them so easily turned into complete idiots like this.
And from time immemorial, whips were the cure for idiots—and Jamie loved wielding the whip.
"Shut your trap."
As Jamie extended his hand, black mana whipped forward like a lash.
Serpent, who had been laughing maniacally, flinched in surprise and deployed a shield in front of him.
Slam-!!
The black mana embedded itself in the center of the shield, cracks spiderwebbing out in all directions.
The fact that a casual swing—barely qualifying as magic—had nearly shattered the shield snapped Serpent back to reality.
"Black Sorcerer bastard...!"
His anger flaring, he dismissed the shield and drew his staff.
"I didn't know you were hiding that kind of power, but kehhehe! Perfect. I've killed over a hundred Black Sorcerers with these hands. You'll fill another spot!"
"Sorry. I've killed so many like you that I can't be bothered to line up for a spot."
"You punk! Spouting nonsense!"
Serpent slammed his staff into the ground, a magic circle unfurling.
Jamie didn't know what spells he favored, but now that black magic was in play, it didn't matter.
Black mana enveloped his guard.
He lightly tapped the blade of Beyond Avalon.
Crackle- Black sparks erupted with a bang.
[Lost Souls]
[Shatters the soul]
This was his first time casting this spell through a sword, but Jamie recalled his duel with the Linmel Marquis.
The clue he had gained then still swirled abstractly in his mind, ungraspable.
But that didn't matter now.
He had found a new method within that clue.
"Behold the Demon Sword."
Whoosh-
Jamie shot forward.
Bohai had already spread from his toes.
Serpent sensed the mana flow following Jamie.
"Such parlor tricks!"
He swung his staff, unleashing a gale.
This was no ordinary wind.
An invisible force pulsed within the gusts.
Jamie raised Beyond Avalon high. The black mana resonated.
The gale grazed Jamie.
Invisible forces swept through it, but they couldn't even touch his clothes.
Unless it had the power to shatter even the reverse side, no attack mattered.
Confirming the attack's failure, Serpent retreated while firing off minor spells in rapid succession.
"Die! Die!!"
Boomboomboom-!!
Even low-class spells from a 6th-class mage packed vicious power each.
Jamie smiled, feeling the explosions and searing heat rising behind him.
Beyond Avalon struck the ground.
The distance between him and Serpent closed in an instant.
"Lost Souls shatter the spirit."
The sword moved diagonally from the lower right.
[Welton Style - Form 7]
[Afterstorm]
Serpent barely raised his chin to dodge the blade.
But Jamie laughed.
Serpent didn't know why, but it didn't take long to find out.
Wind howled from below.
A razor-sharp, chilling wind that sent shivers down his neck.
"Don't know what Afterstorm is?"
"Damn it!"
Welton Style Form 7: Afterstorm was a two-hit technique.
Mana condensed at the attack's origin was guided along the sword's path for a delayed follow-up strike.
Blood sprayed diagonally from Serpent's chest.
Jamie wasn't one to wait for his foe to recover.
"Leviathan."
[Leviathan]
[Predatory Force]
The predatory power that had devoured Javelin—Leviathan—emerged from his back once more, digestion complete.
"Urk!"
Serpent saw darkness creeping from his slashed chest, his vision darkening.
In that moment, the black wolf that had swallowed Javelin whole lunged at him.
As a horrific situation loomed, Serpent had no time for hesitation.
Stab-
A thick syringe he had somehow drawn pierced his own heart.
Simultaneously, Leviathan engulfed Serpent whole.
Darkness spread in all directions, thick with the scent of blood.
And then—
"Kraaaaaaargh!!"
The black mana composing Leviathan began fragmenting into tiny grains.
The grains split into smaller grains, then even tinier ones, progressively shattering into particles too small to see.
The mana flow twisted.
Despite Bohai grasping all flows, the entire space began collapsing at the particle level.
It was then.
Chill!
Jamie sensed massive mana amid the mist-like dispersion of fragmented Leviathan particles.
It wasn't the pure mana typical mages used. Not as black as black mana, but a violent surge rampaging, ignoring surrounding flows.
Serpent stood at its center.
He should have been unable to stand after being slashed by a Lost Souls-infused blade, yet there he was, upright.
'His build... it's bigger.'
Serpent hadn't been small to begin with, but now he appeared half a palm taller.
He drew a deep breath.
"Suuuup— Haaa!"
Exhaling leisurely, he covered his face with his hand and began to laugh, as if delighted by something.
"Kuhuhuhuhu!"
Serpent slowly stopped laughing and lowered his hand from his face.
His skin was red—blood red.
The whites of his eyes matched, and bulging veins crawled across his flesh.
A lump protruded over his heart, swelling his left chest.
That was the source of the ominous mana enveloping him.
"Feels... feels so good."
Drool dribbled down his chin.
Jamie pointed at him with his index finger.
"Sensory Inversion."
"Such petty curses!"
Serpent pounded his chest with his fist.
The black mana, approaching transparently, vanished without a trace.
'His tier has risen.'
Jamie's eyes narrowed.
The Serpent of moments ago would have fallen to that curse. But now, he had detected it swiftly and prevented even approach.
Whatever he had done, Serpent had surpassed the 6th-class 'wall.'
'But he hasn't broken the wall.'
Without awakening his own magical subjectivity, shattering the 7th-class barrier was impossible.
The current Serpent existed somewhere between 6th and 7th class.
The problem was that this alone elevated his tier.
Tier was a form of evolution. A molting, one might say.
Serpent had just molted.
His stronger body was proof.
"None of your tricks will work on me now."
Serpent exhaled with a 'fuuuh.'
Despite the mild weather, white breath billowed out.
That wasn't mere breath.
Whatever was happening inside him, one thing was clear: his vital energy was combusting to produce that massive, ominous mana.
Given time, he would self-destruct.
Yet Jamie grinned once more.
"Why bother waiting?"
There was no reason to waste time when he could just kill him.
"Come forth."
Jamie's eyes fully turned violet.
"My soldiers."
Rattleclatter-
With the clamor of heavy chains, the Gate of Defying Heaven swung wide open.
"Kill him and drag his soul before me."
Over a hundred undead soldiers marched out from the pitch-black darkness.
Azad, at the forefront, issued the command.
"Kill!"
Grrraaaaaah!!
The horde of undead charged at Serpent.
Serpent flinched at the sudden appearance of the undead, then burst into laughter to shake off his fear.
"Kyahahaha! You wretched phantoms!! I'll slaughter you all!"
Two ominous forces clashed.
Javelin's lower body lay far away, sprawled quietly.
Clearly dead without anything above the waist.
Jamie and Serpent had already moved far off.
Ordinarily, the aftermath wouldn't reach here.
This place was safe now.
So it decided.
Twitch-
The lower body moved slightly.
It laboriously swung its right leg outward, bending the knee.
Planting the foot on the ground, it braced the left leg and forcefully lifted the right.
But without arms to support it, the leg flopped back down.
With no choice, it wriggled both legs to inch toward the wall. Siegfried had blasted most of the corridor away, so it had to move quite a distance.
Thanks to that, it got a brief taste of an earthworm's life.
Once against the wall, it rubbed vigorously with both legs. Gaining some momentum, it barely stood upright.
After standing, the legs rested, fatigued.
Bang! Boom!!
Deafening roars echoed from afar.
Jamie and Serpent seemed locked in fierce combat.
The lower body moved again. This area was isolated from the outside. No one else could come here.
But now was the time to meet others.
The lower body hustled its legs toward the edge of the isolation zone.
Glancing around cautiously, it slipped out beyond the isolation barrier. Since it was his own barrier, it was no trouble.
The lower body navigated the corridors here and there. Then, nearby footsteps sounded.
"Hoo— Time to head home."
Hiban, homeroom teacher of Beta Class in the intermediate division, stretched languidly with a tired face.
He had been making quizzes for tomorrow's test until now.
A beer at home would ease this fatigue.
With light steps, he headed to the staff room for his bag. He tilted his head at footsteps from around the corner.
"Who's around at this hour... Ughhh!"
He screamed as if fainting at the sight of the lower body.
But the scream didn't last.
A black tentacle shot from the severed waist cross-section, piercing Hiban's heart.
He couldn't even cry out in agony.
Hiban couldn't comprehend what had happened.
As his vision darkened, a familiar voice rang out.
"Sorry, Teacher Hiban."
That voice was unmistakably...
"Hoo— That was close to dying for real."
Having seized Hiban's body, Javelin swept back his short gray hair and smiled.
"A Black Sorcerer, huh..."
His fingers morphed into blades.
"Good material."
His eyes were pitch black.
Javelin turned back toward the isolated area.
What face would Jamie make seeing him again, off guard?
As that thought quickened his steps—
"Halt."
Javelin stopped and turned to the voice's owner.
It was a very welcome face.
"Ah! Teacher Kenniac! Where have you—"
"Shut up and die."
A mana spear from Kenniac's hand pierced his heart.
Seeing it, Javelin widened his eyes and yelled.
"You bastards all want to die!!"
"You're the one dying."
"Is that so, Teacher?!"
"Shut up and follow."
Kenniac, now close, grabbed Javelin's neck and teleported away.
"Did someone just yell?"
"Wasn't that Teacher Javelin?"
"Nah, no way."
"What was that noise?"
Moments later, a few teachers appeared where they had been, chattered briefly, and left.
A lonely wind blew through.