章 7: The Witch’s not so little trick

"Hmm…you're quite skilled."

"…"

Hearing the person who was just beating him a few seconds ago suddenly praise him, Nelo felt a mixture of emotions, with the most prominent being humiliation and anger.

Most of his Anger was at the fact that a part of him felt happy that he was praised by Jamie, the same person he was looking down on for being weak about a quarter-hour ago.

Without a word he gestured with his hand, launching all the projectiles towards the Hybrid who only rose his right hand in silence.

As he looked at the incoming projectiles that appeared to be moving in slow motion due to his kinetic vision, his lips curled up into a light grin.

His blue eyes glowed with a faint light as he snapped his right thumb and index fingers, the sound echoing throughout the silent hall.

"Void."

That one word escaped his lips, and the space laws in the area trembled in response.

An array of exactly one hundred dark portals rimmed with blue energy manifested in front of him, perfectly positioned for the hundred projectiles of blood-red ice launched by Nelo to fly straight into and disappear into the darkness behind them.

Immediately after, the portals disappeared and a ball of blue energy with red tendrils snaking across it appeared in Jamie's palm.

Grasping the ball, he held it up towards Nelo and asked.

"You want them back?"

"…I…surrender."

The moment the vampire spoke, the red string of light reappeared in front of them once more, before shattering into pieces and fading away.

The barrier that surrounded them also disappeared, allowing the Vampires to rush to their defeated companion whose spirit seemed to be broken.

"Hold on a bit, your four."

Jamie's voice rang out, startling them as they had not even realised when the man had gotten right behind them.

He held up his now empty right hand, flicking his thumb slicing his index finger with his fingernail, holding it up in front of Nelo and saying.

"Injuries inflicted by me would not heal so easily for you, this would help."

The four of them were surprised that Nelo, someone who was normally very stubborn, obediently opened his mouth and let a few drops of Jamie's blood drop onto his tongue.

"That's enough, anymore and it'd be bad for you.

Now then. About that last attack of yours, it was quite good for a wide range AOE type attack, but you should know when to use those kinds of attacks, and have single target variants too.

Even if your energy quality is high, spreading it out over a vast number of projectiles would reduce the individual power, and make it easier for the opponent to deal with.

Of course, this is only in the case of a single opponent."

Jamie looked at his now healed finger, before conjuring up a mini-ice projectile in his palm and then tossing in some wind magic at the back as he continued.

"You should also use your wind affinity to create a little whirlwind at the back like this, to give the projectiles a speed boost and give the opponent less time to react.

Also, you can alternatively hide this whirlwind till the last moment to catch them off guard too."

David, Davina, Jorin, Wanette and most importantly, Nelo were all dumbfounded as Jamie suddenly started giving Nelo advice on how to make his attacks better like some sort of combat instructor.

"What? You don't want my suggestions?"

"…huh? No! It's not…tha…"

The teenage Vampire didn't even know what to reply to Jamie's sudden question as his thoughts were all jumbled up, but the Hybrid continued speaking, commenting on the young man's elemental manipulation abilities, and his martial arts techniques and giving him suggestions.

For the sake of the confused Nelo, Jorin opted to pull out a recorder and record Jamie's words so Nelo could listen to them later when he was far calmer than now.

After saying his piece and leaving the boy to digest what just transpired, Jamie moved towards the centre of the hall, taking a moment to glance at the werewolves who felt like he was looking right through them.

He shook his head silently after not noticing anyone who caught his attention, moving towards the centre of the hall while trying to pull up his status board.

However, what appeared was a notification with a single-line message.

[Computing Existential Information…]

As he looked at the notification that showed the universe encompassing 'Devour Class' system was having quite a hard time computing his data, Jamie leaned onto the statue in the middle of the hall, only for a small cloud of dust to waft towards his face from it.

"So much dust! Just how long has it been?"

Right after commenting about the dust, his handsome face contorted into a frown as he continued.

"And More importantly…why am I hooked up to this place as the power source?! What happened to using the leylines?!"

The instant she heard his words, Wanette's eyes widened in surprise and she dropped the device in her hand to the floor.

Even when Jorin called out to her, and David commented about the broken screen, she did not respond, only gazing at Jamie in shock and disbelief.

'Each of the runes in these ruins is complexly intertwined with each other. From the runes that act as the light sources down to the runes that control the hundreds of traps, seal all the doors and block the water of the ocean around us from flooding this place.

And he's been the power source of all that?! For thousands of years?!'

Merely thinking about the stupendous amount of energy required for this made Wanette feel dizzy.

"Wanette?! What's wrong?!"

"…are y-you r-really this place's power source?"

She stuttered a bit as she voiced out the question, with Jamie turning towards her while placing a hand on his chin as he replied.

"Yeah. That damn witch hooked me up to this place's rune network and it was continuously draining my power over time.

Knowing her insufferable personality, there's no way it was a mistake.

She probably did it so I'd be weak ASF when I wake up, adding a few extra runes to siphon my power…and she clearly succeeded."

The man checked his current realm as he spoke, his brow twitching in annoyance upon noticing how low it was compared to what it should have been if a certain witch didn't decide to mess with him.

"Come to think of it, what year is it?"

"…It's Year 2017."

"No, we've been here past the 31st, it's 2018 now."

Jorin spoke up to correct David who did the math and realised that the year had indeed changed. Just as he was about to ask the male twin why he didn't look at his phone, Jamie's slightly confused voice rang out.

"2018? That doesn't make any sense, I passed Year 2018…unless…

What General Calendar is it?"

"The 51st."

"…"

Jamie turned silent after hearing David's reply, looking at the young vampire with a dumbfounded gaze for a few seconds, before holding up his and counting with them.

"…is there a problem?"

"No. It's just that when I went to 'sleep', It was around the end of the 49th General Calendar. If a general calendar still runs for 10,000 years, then I've been 'asleep' for at least 12,000 years.

Damn, am I old."

The Hybrid grabbed a fistful of his beard and ruffled it lightly, before creating a blade of ice in his hand and slicing off most of it in a way that it didn't look too unkempt.

He then did the same to his moustache and was about to do the same to his hair, but decided against it and instead packed it up with his hand.

"Any of you ladies got a hair tie on you?"

"…here."

"Thanks."

He took the hair tie from Davina and used it to tie up his hair in a ponytail, after which he generated a mirror with glass magic and looked himself over.

"Yeah, need to cut this. Long hair does not fit me."

After saying that, he turned his haze back to the Vampire's, his entire demeanour changing as he clapped his hands and spoke.

"Now then…"

**RUMBLE!!

The entirety of the ancient ruins began trembling, and as if guided by an unseen hand, the appearance of the hall around them began to change before their very eyes,

Dense amounts of energy poured out through the caryatids and pillars of the hall, and the giant stone statue in the centre of the room seemed to awaken from its slumber, its eyes glowing with an otherworldly radiance.

The lid of the white coffin Jamie had emerged from closed shut and the coffin descended into the ground as if swallowed by the floor.

In its place, a simple yet imposing throne emerged, adorned with intricate carvings and exuding an aura of authority.

Curtains, bearing a resplendent crest, cascaded gracefully from the caryatids, framing the throne with an air of magnificence.

Jamie calmly walked up to the throne and plopped down on it, propping his elbow up on the armrest and resting his chin in his palm before speaking with a voice that they all heard both with their ears and in their heads simultaneously.

[…Would you lot mind explaining to me why you decided to wake me up?]