Chapter 259: Chapter 258: Spar (4)

The Phantom Attack was a tactic which confuses the reality of the opponent. Hidden among many illusions is a single strike.

However, Han was a Master at making everything, including even the drops of water in the illusion, real.

It was impossible to know with the naked eye. What he needed to read was the flow of power. And Jamie had the skill to subdue that flow.

[Sea of Hundred]

Thud!

With the sound of heavy footsteps, the flow of mana began to focus around Jamie.

And the flow came together.

At the same time, the illusion of flying drops gradually diminished.

Some of the flow was lost.

Han frowned.

‘What is this?’

The space was being taken over.

Losing space in the battle of swordsmen meant defeat. The amount of space you had determined your freedom of movement. The more space one has, the more techniques they can use.

Therefore, taking over the space meant their range of motion was reduced.

‘This is fun.’

Jamie was rushing in with strange steps. It was clear that the power to take over the space had started.

The illusions of drops were broken one by one. Jamie was pushing ahead with it.

However,

‘It is too early.’

Han swung the stick.

The strings fluttered, and the bells rang. Then, the disappearing bubble illusions began to multiply.

[Welcome technique: Thunder]

Kwakwang!

In an instant, a thundering sound roared.

Not only did the number of illusions increase, but they also moved destructively with the shape of lightning.

Jamie hesitated at the sudden change and had to step back. Even though he hadn’t found the gap yet, he moved ahead.

‘Tch.’

With his ‘Black Futility Divide’ and black mana, he cut the illusion of drops in a long diagonal line and jumped up. After that, as soon as he landed, he began to use the Sea of Hundred.

Sting!!

Black mana spread, and a purple thunderbolt began to stir.

The drops reached a short distance.

Jamie opened his eyes and wielded the weapon. He found a crack in space.

And Han jumped up at it.

Smiling, he retrieved the bell.

Then, like a whip, he swung it, the thread from the stick stretched out and fell towards Jamie’s head, but Jamie didn’t panic.

“Phew.”

Those who had reached the stage of Master could read their opponent’s intent.

And Jamie succeeded in predicting Han’s plan of action 10 seconds ago.

[Jamie’s technique]

[Sea of Hundred]

He stretched out his arms towards the cracked space.

He used the Futility Divide in his hand and grabbed the space.

[Free Space]

And he pulled it hard towards the inside of his body. The space was occupied by the Sea of Hundred and cut down.

Space was not something that you could regularly hold, but if it was the Futility Divide that cuts through space, that rule no longer applied to Jamie.

And he grabbed it.

The space occupied by the Sea of Hundred, in his hand.

And it could be shaken.

“Take it away!!”

The space cannot be fixed. Jamie twisted as if to crumble it. Space expanded, and Jamie jumped through it as the drops began to fall.

Everything twisted at once. Han was shocked at this anomaly.

“The space…!”

The thread that rushed to Jamie had taken a smooth curve. Han was the same.

He realized that the standing position had changed slightly.

“You had such a monstrous skill with you!?”

The way his body was now leaning ahead.

‘Did you make this situation?’

Han felt his body fall down and retrieved the bell.

And when he swung to the other side, the space felt cleared up!

There was a sound and a shock wave.

The flow created by the shock wave slowed the fall.

At the same time, when he stepped on the air a few times with mana, the speed decreased drastically, and he managed to land smoothly. But Han couldn’t be at ease.

Jamie approached, aiming for the head with the sword.

Geng!

Han swung the bell without embarrassment. The sword and bell collided in mid-air, but there was no sound.

This was because of the high-density mana, which was condensed into drops. Jamie was unable to counter.

It was a weak-looking thread and bell, but Han was the one wielding it; it could be said that he wasn’t going to be pushed.

The two clashed several times without stopping. The battle where anyone would side with Han.

‘This is good.’

Watching, Isis felt a bit surprised with Jamie’s adaptation.

He was responding to everything Han threw at him, constantly preparing for the next attack.

Ordinary warriors tend to predict the opponent’s attack close to their instincts based on the experience they accumulate in their bodies.

It takes a long time to calculate the behaviour and come up with a response, and in a fight between powerful people, throats could be slit with a small mistake.

And the current method was possible for Jamie because he was a magician.

‘He must have always understood and developed magic techniques by himself, so his processing speed will be different from ours. Besides, if he is a 9th class great magician…’

No.

Diablo Volfir, the strongest dark magician, the one called the natural enemy of 12 Gods.

It would take less than a second to see the opponent’s tricks, understand its intent, and know what response would come.

So this was fun.

“What kind of power will you get?”

Jamie will definitely rise to the level of a Sword Master.

And he will get the ‘power’.

Usually, powers have to do with a person’s traits, but Jamie had a surplus of talents that could not be predicted.

“But it won’t be easy to get your hands on it. Even if you are of the Welton bloodline.”

Isis smiled.

As Jamie and Han’s battle grew longer, many onlookers flocked in.

However, the two didn’t pay attention to the surroundings and bumped into each other until one of them collapsed.

As Jamie tried to handle the bell, a thread wrapped around his wrist and tossed him to the floor.

Conversely, as Han wanted to break it, Jamie fired a fierce attack using Sea of Hundred and Futility Divide.

One side had the upper hand.

“If you are tired, you can give up.”

“You will have to stun me.”

“Man, that is awful.”

Han clicked his tongue as he saw Jamie rushing in. He had planned on subduing Jamie as quickly as possible, but Jamie’s skills kept on improving.

Jamie was getting stronger by fighting.

He was reading things faster than before, and his response was almost instantaneous.

‘What the hell is this one?’

As a Great Magician, who reached 9th class, he didn’t know why Jamie was obsessed with swords.

He knew Jamie had a talent for swords, but no matter how hard he thought about it, swords couldn’t be compared to magic.

Han thought Jamie should just stick to magic, but he never said it out loud as it wasn’t his duty.

So he attacked when he found a gap and defended when the attack came in.

“Huk, huk, huk, huk.”

“The sun is already in the middle of the sky.”

“A bit more. Just a bit more.”

Jamie looked tired. He didn’t get tired from hours of running, but fighting without using anything other than weapons was brutal on his body.

Not just that, unlike when using magic, mana wasting was severe here.

‘Let’s just end this.’

No matter how good his skills were, things would turn sour for Jamie if this continued. Rather than that, Han thought it was better to aim to end it quickly and give Jamie a chance to achieve enlightenment.

After making the decision, Han changed his stance.

The atmosphere changed.

He leaned ahead heavily, almost like going parallel with the ground and upper body.

And kicked the ground.

“…?!”

A silver longsword appeared right in front of him. In Han’s head, three things came to his mind.

Jamie was keeping some distance. But why was the sword there?

The thread was twisted and wrapped around this long sword.

When the bell made a rattling sound. Han pushed the ground and moved in another direction.

The two passed by and looked at each other’s eyes.

Han was shocked.

‘This one…’

His eyes were empty.

It was either because his stamina had reached its limit or because he could no longer focus.

Jamie Welton had reached a state of unconsciousness. The sword flew from a deformed direction.

Han regretted getting into this spar with a light heart. As he blocked the sword with the stick and, at the same time, pulled the thread with the index finger of the other hand and turned the bell to Jamie’s head.

Jamie dodged the bell without difficulty and reached out to him.

“Kuak!”

Even if the aura and power weren’t used, the difference in skill between a Master and non-Master was clear.

But Jamie had fallen into a state of unconsciousness, pushing Han into a corner.

[Thread Knitting]

Han stepped back, throwing the stick, holding just the thread, and manipulated the bell to and fro. But Jamie narrowed the distance, dodging everything.

And then, out of the blue, Jamie attacked.

Han couldn’t read anything.

The behaviour pattern he noticed before disappeared as soon as Jamie lost consciousness.

‘Is there no other way?’

He didn’t want to do it because he didn’t want to hurt Jamie, but if this continued, one of them was bound to get injured.

And if he got hurt, the others would ridicule him.

And he didn’t want to die.

“I am sorry, Jamie Welton.”

Han dangled the bell.

It wasn’t known what he was thinking inside.

“It is impossible to block or dodge at your level.”

[Festival of Lee Gate Han family]

The best of the family.

Usually, he had to use aura to unfold it, but this should be enough to take down Jamie.

Or at least, that’s what he thought.

The blade of the knife touched the thread. The very thin tread began to spring as if it would break.

‘What is…’

This wasn’t a distance which could be narrowed at once. But Jamie was standing in front of him.

Did he use magic?

No, if he did, Isis would have called a foul.

Then it meant he didn’t use magic.

‘No…’

A thought flashed through Han’s mind. At that moment, the sword aimed for the head was rushing in. Han instinctively manifested his power.

It was an instant when the bell stick turned into a dual-wielded dagger.

It was small and fast and easily struck the sword. And changed to a long blade.

And swung it for Jamie’s head.

“Enough.”

Han frowned as he looked at his weapon that was stopped mid-air. To be precise, a long slender woman was holding it.

“Isis.”

Han landed on the ground, and the long blade turned back into a bell stick.

He looked at Jamie, who had fallen.

It wasn’t that he fell because of Han’s attack.

The trance state was over, and he passed out.

“Isis. He definitely used a…”

“Right.”

Isis nodded her head.

“It was definitely an innate power.”