The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

"AAAHHHHHHHH!"

A shrill cry filled with all of his anger, pain, and frustration burst out of Jason's mouth.

But its effect was nothing like a simple yell of frustration.

Mana instinctively rose up from the deepest parts inside him, forming a small, intricate series of patterns that coated his voice.

Had Jason been able to see it, he would have been surprised and alarmed.

As far as he knew, he'd never seen those patterns before!

It was based on a feeling, an intuition that stemmed from deep within.

The yell was heard for kilometers around him, even in the dense forest.

Nearest his body, it was as if a bomb went off.

The wolves directly on top of him immediately fell down, dead.

A reddish-grey mixture of blood and brain matter splashed out of their ears.

Farther away, wolves fell unconscious and bled from their ears after hearing Jason's cry.

Jason was still completely unaware.

He breathed through the pain in his body, quickly casting a [Lesser Heal] while his suit worked double time to heal him with potions.

Soon, Jason discovered, to his great shock, that nothing was biting him any more.

He glanced around to discover that all the wolves around him were…already dead?

Jason was mystified.

He stood up after a second and surveyed the scene.

Hundreds of wolves lay on the ground, unconscious except for a few far to the back who looked up at him in fear and wariness, unable to move.

They avoided his gaze.

Even the wolf king slightly farther away stood stock still, frozen by Jason's shout.

Jason's eyes widened uncontrollably.

Had he done this?

He checked his status.

[Jason]

New Summoned

Mana: 0/740 (1.98/minute)

He…was out of mana?

But even as his suit continued to inject him with potions, his mana level refused to budge.

Jason's face paled.

How was he supposed to fight the wolf king without mana?!

It wasn't until Jason read below his attributes that he realized what happened.

There, a new line of text was written.

His innate talent had appeared.

[Innate Talent]

[Rare Type: Alternative Magic]

[Magical Beast Connection]

Your voice has a magical connection with all beast-type animals and monsters. Communicate your intention by adding mana to your voice.

Power of the connection rises with the strength of your emotions.

NOTE: Challenger's intention contains power of various types.

NOTE: In dire circumstances, challenger can overdraw his mana to produce a particularly powerful intention.

Mana is impossible to mobilize for a length of time corresponding to the depth of overdraw.

Mana unusable for: 8 days

Jason breathed out lightly, still feeling a hint of shock.

His innate talent had awoken under desperate circumstances.

According to what he'd just read, he communicated his 'intention' to the wolves with mana.

He suddenly understood why the wolves were frozen.

All he wanted was for them to STOP.

Just, for those nearest to him, the power emitted was too great...

Jason shivered slightly in fear as he stood up from the ground.

Next time, he would absolutely not hesitate to use the arrays Otto gave him.

A slightly lower mission rating was emphatically not worth losing a life.

And he had no doubt.

That if his innate talent had not emerged, his carelessness just now would have both cost him a life and compromised his mission.

His eyes firmed.

The wolf king was still frozen under the power of Jason's voice.

He inspected the giant beast.

[Wolf King]

Health: 21%

The wolf king was not particularly far away when Jason shouted.

It remained unable to move.

But that didn't mean all was well.

Jason could no longer use his mana.

Still, this might be the best chance he had to take the wolf king down.

His body had finally fully repaired itself. Other than his mana, his health and stamina were now full.

Jason wasted no time and sprinted at the enormous wolf.

A small dagger appeared in his hand.

It was the sharpest weapon he had.

His eyes were murderous. He hadn't forgotten how the wolves wanted to eat him alive.

He closed in quickly.

The wolf king, for his part, looked at Jason with trepidation.

He didn't know if his prey could pull off a second shout...

Moreover, now, no matter how he tried, he couldn't move his muscles!

Even evading the stupid prey's attacks might be impossible!

A couple seconds later, Jason arrived in front of the silver furred wolf.

His dagger swung down.

Blood spattered.

A gash opened up on the wolf's neck.

It howled in pain.

A few of the king's pack members tried to move towards it, an instinctive move to protect their leader.

But their bodies were still frozen...

Jason slashed as hard as he could, over and over again, at the wolf king's neck, slicing its neck open with extreme prejudice.

Its health declined slightly with each slash.

20%… 20%… 19%… 18%… 18%… 17%

Jason's strength wasn't as powerful as his magic, but since he couldn't use mana, this sharp dagger was the best tool he still had access to.

He wondered if he should have perhaps gone for its leg first, to hamper its mobility, or its stomach wound to afflict additional damage on its innards…

No.

At least his slashes here were doing some sort of extra damage because its neck was both weak and unprotected.

Who knows if he could even get through the wolf's skin if he went for the leg, and how many organs could he possibly reach from the stomach?

The wolf was still huge, after all!

Jason ended up jumping atop its back to continue slashing.

15%…14%….11%….10%….8%

Seconds passed while Jason continued cutting.

The wolf king's health continued to decline.

Fortunately for Jason, it remained stock still even as its blood died the grass underneath in crimson red.

The only thing it could do was howl.

And howl it did.

Incessant howls reverberated through the forest as the wolf king cried out in pain every time Jason brought down his dagger.

But as the wolf's health reached 6%, Jason felt its muscles twitch below his feet.

He grimaced.

The wolf king was regaining its mobility!

He needed to hurry!

He quickly directed his suit to inject a strength potion, and took a pill at the same time.

[Basic Strength Buff Potion]

Grade 1 | Highest Quality

Temporarily adds +20 Strength

Duration: 15 seconds

[Strength Enhancement Pill]

Grade 2 | Mid Grade

Strength +50%

Duration: 60 seconds

Jason's strength soared to over 50 for 15 seconds.

He instantly encountered less resistance as he continued to run his dagger through the wolf's neck.

6%... 4%... 3%…

Suddenly, a larger tremor racked the wolf king.

It turned to bear its teeth at Jason.

Its jaw lunged for him before snapping shut with a crisp SNAP.

But it hit only air.

Jason nimbly evaded the lunge as if he was dancing on the wolf's back.

He hung from its fur.

But he didn't stop slashing.

The dagger plunged deeper into its neck.

At this point, the wolf king's head was almost a quarter cut off.

Its eyes were entirely red, but it had lost too much blood to go fully berserk.

It could only glare at Jason, lifting its paw to swat him away.

And finally, the wolf king received some support.

More members of its pack, located far away in the depths of the forest, had sprinted as fast as they could to reach their leader while the incessant howls spurred them on faster and faster.

They hadn't heard Jason's cry.

No fear was present in their expressions.

Jason's nerves only increased as he saw the wolves dash towards them.

One hand still hung on to the wolf king's fur as his body dangled off the side of the wolf.

He brought his dagger down again, then again.

Finally, Jason lacked leverage to evade, and the wolf king managed to bring its front claw up and kick Jason off of its body.

Jason's body flew ten full meters away from the silver wolf.

He lay on the ground, his exertions extracting their toll.

Another stamina potion was injected into him, but because of the repeated use over such a short duration, its effect had greatly declined.

Jason was…exhausted.

But the wolf king was not faring better.

Blood seeped out from its stomach and its neck.

Its red eyes remained fixed on Jason, wary of any tricks as it laid down onto the forest floor to recover.

It was clear that it was on the verge of death.

But it was also strong enough that if Jason couldn't land the final hit, it could hibernate for a month and would eventually recover.

Meanwhile, the other wolves were almost upon him.

Jason's eyes flashed with panic as he struggled to wrench his exhausted body off of the ground.

This couldn't be a repeat performance.

He would NOT let these wolves bite and claw him to death.

He made a last ditch effort to stand.

Perhaps it was because of his enhanced strength or agility, perhaps it was due to his desperation, but Jason succeeded.

He made a last ditch run at the wolf king, who eyed him coldly.

Would he arrive first or would the wolves get the chance to protect the leader…

Jason dashed as fast as he could towards the wolf king.

But the wolves were faster.

In a flash, straight in front of his eyes lay a hurried line of wolves guarding their king.

Prepared to die to protect him.

Jason's eyes reddened, his expression darkening.

Even after all this…

NO.

Jason ran as fast as he could straight at the impromptu line of wolves.

One grey wolf rushed him in return.

Jason pushed off the ground with all his might.

His feet rose millimeters above the wolf who'd snapped its jaw shut around where Jason's ankle had just been…

His body soared through the air.

He stabbed his dagger as hard as he could mid-jump.

SQWELSH

The dagger embedded itself deep into the wolf king's neck.

Its eyes slowly shut as the red light bled out of them.

With a thud, its head fell to the ground.

Jason quickly inspected it.

[Wolf King]

Health: 0%

[Dead]

Jason closed his eyes.

His breath came out in pants and spurts.

His body slumped atop the wolf king's corpse.

He warily eyed the remaining wolves in the pack.

Would they defend their leader to the end?

The wolves stared back at him.

A few let out low growls, but none approached.

The majority pinned their ears back, and tucked their tails between their legs.

Then, they howled, all together.

It was a long, low howl, evoking a feeling of mourning.

A deep melody that echoed through the forest.

The wolves looked at Jason before they left, one by one.

Jason collapsed.

A minute passed, then a notification appeared.

[Would you like to turn in your mission?]

His body slowly disappeared from the forest.