Chapter 248
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 248
Chapter Title: Part 2, Chapter 19: The Hunter's Resolve (3)
The moment the two lights collided, the two men moved at the same time.
Jamie wiped the blood from his face and drew on a portion of the power from the Transcendent Magic Formation.
All sounds were drowned out by the deafening crash of the collision, but Jamie sensed a single strand of aura slicing through the massive energy unleashed by the impact.
He swung the power of the Transcendent Magic Formation, concentrated in his staff, toward it.
Light expanded once more.
Hawks burst through that light.
He had already redirected his Hunter's Resolve back into his spear and crossbow. He thrust the spear, longer than his own body, straight at Jamie.
Jamie summoned mana again and spread it out like a shield in front of him.
ZZZIIING!!
The space vibrated from the fierce clash.
Hawks extended his talons.
A raptor’s claws could easily tear flesh to shreds.
Especially since Hawks was the strongest hunter of the Join tribe.
With aura wrapped around them to boot—if Jamie tried to block, his bones would shatter along with his flesh.
Beyond Avalon
[Phase shift to the shadow realm]
Just before the sharp talons reached his face, Jamie’s body melted into the shadow realm.
Hawks’ hawk-like eyes gleamed as he amplified the aura at the spear’s tip.
Then he began spinning it fiercely with both hands.
Part of the light was drawn into the rotating spear, forming a vortex.
As the rotation sped up, the space itself began to tremble.
‘This monster...!’
Even though the space had been weakened by the clash of their powers, to affect the shadow realm with raw strength alone...
Before the aftermath could reach him here, Jamie closed in on Hawks.
Using the same trick he’d once pulled on Jin, he planted mana bombs in the shadow realm where Hawks stood.
He then formed a lightning sword and reappeared behind Hawks.
He infused it with wind.
Then layered on compression, expansion, and fission attributes.
Multi-Fusion Magic
[Enhanced fusion via magical convergence]
Multi Eraser Blast
[Plasma beam splits into dozens of rays]
The lightning sword transformed into pure plasma, glowing pure white, and split into dozens of rays aimed at Hawks’ back.
At that moment, Hawks’ massive frame spun around along with his rotating spear.
Jamie’s eyes widened slightly at the perfectly anticipated countermove.
The spear tip, charged with centrifugal force, swept away every plasma ray.
Hardened feathers from his fully spread wings shot forth, infused with aura.
Jamie tried to slip back into the shadow realm, but Hawks moved first.
‘Fast.’
It wasn’t a great distance, but even so, it was faster than a blink.
In an instant, the spear was headed right for his throat.
Hawks’ spear loomed before him, and behind, his aura-clad feathers closed in.
Tele porting out of this situation would be extremely difficult.
It was in that instant.
A sensation as if the fleeting moment stretched out endlessly.
The spear seemed about to pierce his throat any second, yet it hovered motionless just below his Adam’s apple.
More precisely, excruciatingly slowly.
Like a second splintered into fractions of a hundredth—approaching at a crawl.
Hawks was the same.
His eyes fierce, locked in a full-force thrust.
‘What’s going on?’
Rather than panic at the sudden phenomenon, Jamie scanned his surroundings.
The only change was the time itself.
But that didn’t mean he could move freely—no.
‘Why is time crawling like this...?’
To put it coldly, he was on the verge of defeat.
Hawks’ attack was too hard to dodge or block.
Was it really time slowing, or just his perception in the worst moment?
There were definitely times like that.
When hyper-focused, time seemed to stretch.
But this was different.
Not a brain trick—time had actually slowed.
‘As if it refuses to accept my defeat.’
Was space-time taking his side?
Jamie dismissed that as nonsense.
Magic or divine power could interfere with space-time, but it couldn’t act on its own.
Which meant something else had observed and intervened.
And who could that be?
He had a hunch.
‘Black. It was you.’
A single drop fell onto the lake of his unconscious.
Jamie stood atop the water’s surface.
Below, in the pitch-black lake of unconsciousness, his reflection appeared.
And in that reflection was a face he hadn’t seen in ages—familiar and welcome.
“Black.”
Flap—!
Black membranous wings unfurled from Jamie’s back.
His eyes turned violet.
The black wings bathed in holy light, turning pure white and covered in pristine feathers.
A golden halo formed behind his head.
The hands of time began to tick again.
‘My victory, Jamie Welton!’
To seal the win, Hawks thrust his spear mercilessly at Jamie’s throat.
Someone of his caliber wouldn’t die instantly from a pierced throat.
Frontier had excellent healers; with their help, he’d recover quickly.
So he showed no mercy at the tip of his spear.
‘Human, don’t worry—begone. I’ll save the world!’
Hawks’ wish went unfulfilled.
“You’re strong, Hawks.”
White feathers scattered amid the light.
He felt strength in the hand gripping the spear blade.
No matter how hard he pushed, it wouldn’t budge.
Hawks looked at the man before him.
Violet eyes, pristine wings unfurled—it was unmistakably Jamie Welton’s face.
But the aura was entirely different.
“......Who are you.”
Jamie’s lips curved up.
Holy light surged.
It no longer felt like it drained his energy just to wield, as before.
Still not easy, but now he was confident he could handle it well.
“Thanks to you, my old friend has awakened.”
“What?”
“So as a gift to you—wake from the curse of power, strongest hunter.”
The light from the clash of Transcendent Magic Finale and Hunter’s Resolve surged toward Jamie.
He caught it barehanded.
“Tch.”
Hawks clicked his tongue, predicting the outcome.
The light flared brilliantly once more, and as if by magic, night returned.
Jamie landed, carrying the unconscious Hawks over his shoulder.
He probably wouldn’t wake until tomorrow.
Taking that attack head-on—he’d be shocked enough if he did come to.
‘Even then, he tried to counter.’
He had hurled the holy light energy at Hawks.
A massive energy mass even without spells—no way Hawks could block or dodge it.
Yet he didn’t give up.
In that split second, he confronted the light with everything he had.
“I admit it. You’re a monster.”
He glanced at the beak.
Victory was victory—should he snap it off as declared?
“Nah, I don’t feel like it anymore.”
He’d started with fury toward Hawks, vowing to break that beak.
But fighting him brought understanding.
Leaving him here, someone would come fetch him.
Jamie turned to leave.
“......”
A girl stood there, hood pulled low—but her immense mana couldn’t be hidden.
It was Nel-Sharan.
Why had she suddenly appeared here?
“Here to pick him up?”
Jamie asked. She silently shook her head.
They didn’t look close, but he’d asked just in case.
Nel-Sharan lifted her head slightly.
Turquoise hair spilled from under the hood.
She pointed to the sky and spoke.
“Yours?”
Her speech was a bit clumsy.
Was that her normal way of talking?
Jamie looked up.
The night sky was cloudless.
The aftermath of Transcendent Magic Finale had vaporized all clouds, and the clash with Hawks had blown away even the lingering dust.
So now, it was clearer than ever.
“The magic formation?”
Nel-Sharan nodded.
He’d heard she was an elf who’d reached 9th class, but she seemed a bit dim—hallucination?
‘Her hair color’s kinda like mine.’
If anything, hers was deeper.
Jamie replied.
“I made it. Came to see it yourself?”
“Amazing.”
Nel-Sharan murmured, her voice slightly flushed.
She stepped toward Jamie.
Her face peeked from the tilted hood.
Snow-white skin, large turquoise eyes, flawlessly sculpted features, long pointed ears—undeniably elven.
Yet she looked very young.
In human years, maybe mid-teens at most.
Her big eyes sparkled as she said.
“Amazing, Jamie Welton.”
Then she vanished.
“......What the hell?”
Jamie muttered in disbelief.
She’d popped up out of nowhere, chattered to herself, and poof—gone.
Weird girl.
Most mages were oddballs, but elf mages didn’t fit that stereotype.
They had innate talent, and their race was generally gentle.
‘Not saying Nel-Sharan’s bad or anything.’
Then, he sensed presences rapidly approaching from afar.
He knew who without looking.
The arrivals instantly spotted the fallen Hawks and muttered.
“You really took down Hawks?”
It was Isis.
She poked his unconscious beak playfully.
“Honestly thought you’d lose.”
No matter that Jamie had been the 12 Gods’ nemesis in his past life—he was still a half-baked mage short of full 9th class.
Hawks, meanwhile, was someone even she wasn’t confident beating.
“Awakened a new power?”
Isis could sense the new power Jamie had tapped into.
A bright energy unfit for a black sorcerer.
“Got lucky.”
“Hmm. Even so, beating Hawks... and barely a scratch on you.”
Isis approached, inspecting Jamie’s body this way and that.
She’d expected a brutal fight against Hawks, but it’d ended cleaner than thought.
“As chief, should I be happy or annoyed?”
The sudden night brawl had given her a headache.
It’d wrapped up without collateral damage, so she was a bit pleased—but also miffed.
“This guy. Trained him so hard, and he loses to an outsider?”
She lightly kicked Hawks’ head in jest.
Jamie wondered if kicking heads counted as playful, but it didn’t seem serious.
Jamie said.
“He was strong.”
“Yeah. He was.”
Isis recalled the day Hawks first arrived.
—Make... make me strong.
His body caked in blood, wings badly torn, he’d begged her in a voice near a scream.
A total stranger, yet she’d felt fated to train him.
Hawks grew stronger by the day, soon becoming a pillar of Frontier.
But not all growth was positive.
Whether from the start or after arriving—eventually, he began preaching the logic of power.
The weak have their role, the strong theirs.
‘Hoped someone would break his curse...’
Hawks had been utterly defeated by a human he’d always scorned.
His power logic wouldn’t flip overnight, but change would come.
Still, Isis wasn’t thrilled.
Hawks was her nurtured warrior—and comrade.
“Good work. Go rest at the lodge.”
The night breeze tousled her sky-blue hair.
Jamie nodded and headed back to his lodging.