Ch. 201..210
Chapter 201 Explosiveness
'This is an opponent that would have very likely killed my past self, but with the procedure, I should be able to deal with it.'
'The fight might not be very easy, but I shouldn't be in danger as long as I'm careful.'
Slowly, the wheel stopped on an unfamiliar picture. It obviously was a beast Shang had never heard of.
On the image was a tiny monkey with a backward-facing baseball cap and skater clothes. The monkey was also playing on a modern drum set.
'There is one monkey species in the Ice Wyvern Zone, the Rumbling Yeti, but I don't think that this is one.'
A moment later, Shang's opponent appeared in the distance, and Shang lifted an eyebrow.
On the picture was a small monkey, but this definitely wasn't a small monkey.
This was a nearly three-meter tall, muscular ape. It looked more like one would imagine a troll would look like.
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell before vanishing.
The ape noticed Shang and immediately shouted with aggression and rage.
CRK! BANG!
A second later, a huge club made of stone appeared in one of its hands, and without waiting for a second, it began to charge at Shang. It was running on two legs and one hand, the other hand busy holding the club.
In comparison to the previous beasts, this one seemed to be very aggressive.
The Trash Bird had immediately fled.
The Spire Mire had been hidden.
The Climate Weasel had threatened Shang without charging at him.
The Pest Queen had been on the defensive.
But this ape immediately charged at Shang.
Shang narrowed his eyes and readied his sword. In the previous times, he had needed to show his speed early since he had been the one to initiate the confrontation.
This time, he could keep his abilities a secret.
The earth trembled beneath the ape's rumbling charge, its club swinging around aggressively with every step it took.
The ape reached Shang and immediately lifted its club to smash him into a fine paste of meat.
Shang pointed his left arm to the back.
BOOM! BOOM!
Two quick Blasts left Shang's left arm. At the same time, his entire body began to emit steam as a severely cold wind left his body.
Shang's arm nearly exploded, and his body had a dangerously high temperature.
But in exchange for all of this, Shang's speed reached a new peak.
Shang had never been so fast in his life.
BOOOM!
The club struck down on Shang's previous position, but he had already left it.
But Shang didn't retreat.
He was charging in!
Behind Shang, a chaotic storm of Fire and Ice Mana destroyed the parts of the ground.
The black sword shone under the light of Shang's world.
And then, Shang passed the ape.
The body of the ape seized and quickly fell to the ground…
In two pieces.
The intestines and organs of the ape were flowing out of its severed torso, and the ape tried to push the organs back into its body as it screeched in pain.
Shang charged to the side and circled the torso until he arrived at the opposite side of the ape's body.
Then, he quickly severed the ape's arms and put his own hand on the ape's head.
A couple of seconds later, only a couple of parts of a dried-up torso were left.
Shang's body had reached its peak again, and it was filled with life energy.
This was a beast a level above Shang, which meant that it gave a lot of life energy.
Filled with life energy, Shang had left the fight in a better condition than when it had started.
The cheering returned, and Shang only looked at the shriveled corpse of the ape.
'If my opponent doesn't get the chance to unleash their abilities, they might as well not have them,' he thought.
How powerful was the ape?
It had a weapon that could be reproduced endlessly by simply expending more Earth Mana.
Its speed was about average, but its destructive power was rather high.
Its flexibility was probably on the higher side since apes could move their bodies in very weird ways when compared to a quadruped.
However, it had no apparent ranged abilities, which was a weakness.
All in all, it was a very average beast.
So then, how had Shang been able to beat the ape this easily?
Surprise, explosiveness, initiative, speed.
Surprise, because the ape hadn't known how fast or how powerful Shang was.
Explosiveness, because Shang managed to create an extremely powerful attack. The quality of his weapon, the power of his body, and the added momentum of his speed made his attack devastating.
Initiative, because Shang went in instead of out. Instead of looking at how the fight went and watching his opponent, Shang had thrown all caution to the wind and went all-in before the first cards had even hit the table. It was a high-risk, high-reward gamble.
Speed, because Shang had used his absolute everything to make his charge faster. Not only had Shang destroyed his arm, but he had even gone beyond his normal usage of his passive speed-increase.
Shang surprised his opponent, moved the battle to a location where one hit proved fatal for any party, hit the ape before it could properly react with his speed, and unleashed a power that was beyond the ape's ability to resist.
One shot, one kill.
Even if the ape had the ability to kill a Zone Beast with its club, it would have been useless in the fight. After all, it had never hit Shang.
The ape's strongest aspect had been its offense, but its offense had never gotten the chance to come to light.
In the previous couple of fights, Shang hadn't had the chance to pull something like this off.
All of Shang's previous opponents had already noticed Shang's speed before he had even gotten close to them.
'This would have been a risky maneuver if my body had been weaker,' Shang thought. 'However, it would have given me a chance to win. It seems like, with enough luck, I could have maybe won against this opponent, even without the procedure.'
Shang looked at the leaflet that had appeared on the ground beside him.
"Mountain Tribe Ape," Shang read.
Shang read the leaflet, and another beast was added to his imaginary bestiary.
'Seems like they live in a Zone quite far to the north. The Zone is filled with high mountains, and it has a lot of Lightning Mana. Of course, due to the abundance of mountains, beasts with Earth Affinities are also very common there.'
The quote of the God was also quite interesting.
"Imagine a beautiful garden filled with lightning. Now, imagine a stupid, ugly, and immovable rock in the middle of your garden. That's what these things are."
'According to the leaflet, these things are living in tribes. I can imagine the trouble lightning beasts would have with these apes living on their mountains.'
Shang put the leaflet away, and the wheel returned.
"Level six: Powerful Early General Stage beast."
'I have already gone past teacher's score in the beast category.'
The wheel began to spin.
'This opponent was easy, but I doubt that the next one will be as easy.'
Chapter 202 Tiger
The wheel slowed down and eventually stopped on Shang's next opponent.
It was the image of a smug, silver, cyborg-tiger. Its outer casing was shining brightly.
A moment later, Shang's opponent appeared in the distance.
It was a silver tiger, nearly two meters high.
That was about it.
There was nothing fancy or special about its appearance.
However, this didn't mean that it was weak. After all, the trial had obviously judged this tiger to be quite powerful.
'Tigers have devastating offensive powers, and they are quite fast. Usually, their defense would be their weak point. However…'
The jester slowly lifted his hammer and hit the bell.
At that moment, the tiger noticed Shang.
The tiger looked at Shang for three seconds.
Shang wasn't sure what the tiger was thinking, but he could swear he could feel some disdain building inside the tiger.
Then, the tiger's lips parted as it showed its teeth.
BANG!
And it exploded forward.
'This doesn't make much sense,' Shang thought as he saw the approaching tiger. 'If it had perceived me as a threat, it would have immediately shown a reaction.'
'But it also doesn't make any sense that it looks at me like I'm beneath it. After all, if I were beneath it, it would have ignored me or simply intimidated me into leaving.'
'Instead, it waited for several seconds before attacking me.'
BANG!
As the tiger took another step, its body began to shine.
In only a single second, its entire body became coated with metal.
Even more, its speed hadn't decreased, even though this much metal had to weigh several tons.
'Sure enough, a normal tiger wouldn't be powerful enough to count as one of the more powerful beasts,' Shang thought as he readied himself.
BANG!
And Shang also charged forward.
The ape's attack had left quite a noticeable opening, which had given Shang the opportunity to end the fight quickly.
The same thing wouldn't work for the tiger.
If Shang managed to evade its swipe and close in, he would have to deal with the tiger's bite.
The two of them charged at each other, and Shang's left arm began to release steam as he put it on his sword.
As the two reached each other, the tiger swiped at Shang with its metallic claw.
Shang put his power into his sword and struck the tiger's forearm.
CRK!
Shang's sword hit the tiger's forearm, and the Ice Mana inside it exploded forward. The metal around the tiger's arm became brittle, and Shang's sword reached the bone of the tiger's forearm.
However, in comparison to all of Shang's previous opponents, this was where the sword stopped.
While the metal at the point of impact had become brittle, the metal in the other places hadn't been weakened.
BANG!
At the same time, Shang was thrown into the distance by the tiger's attack.
Shang's body was already weaker than a beast at the Initial General Stage, and this opponent was at the Early General Stage.
If Shang had managed to sever the arm, this wouldn't have been an issue.
Shang's body did a backflip in the air as he tried to recover his balance.
Then, Shang heard a growl.
BANG!
Shang pointed his left arm at the ground and released a Fire Blast, which shot him into the air.
Just a moment later, the tiger passed below Shang.
For a split second, Shang could see the tiger's injured leg.
A huge part of the forearm's muscles was severed, and the bone even had some cracks on it.
However, the metal surrounding its body was keeping it stable.
The tiger was trying to come to a stop below Shang since it had noticed that it had missed its target.
As Shang's body spun in the air, he put his left arm on his sword, and a moment later, his left arm began to wither.
An instant later, Shang's legs pointed at the sky since he was still spinning.
And as they did, an explosion of Fire Mana left them.
BANG!
Shang's body shot down as the tiger turned its head to him.
At that moment, the tiger felt some fear.
It felt that this attack was very dangerous!
An instant later, the metal on its back expanded wildly.
Shang's sword struck the metal.
CRRRRRRRRRR!
Time seemingly froze.
On the tiger's back was a nearly meter-thick sheet of metal, and 80% of the sheet had been bisected by a sword.
Shang's attack hadn't even injured the tiger.
An instant later, all the metal the sword had touched transformed into a liquid, which was quickly absorbed by Shang's sword.
Sadly, the tiger had already stopped Shang's attack, and it jumped back to reset its position.
Shang's legs released steam, and his left arm had shriveled up.
However, the remaining absorbed life energy from the last fight, which had been stored all over Shang's body, quickly healed the arm.
A new coat of metal appeared around the tiger's body, and it jumped toward Shang.
It readied its paws for a strike with its claws.
Shang saw that there was no opening and decided to jump back to evade the attack.
At that moment, the tiger's claws elongated!
Several long and sharp swords were about to strike Shang!
BANG!
Shang unleashed a Fire Blast at the ground and passed over most of the claws.
SHING!
The highest claw was severed by Shang's sword, and it turned into liquid metal, which quickly got absorbed by the sword again.
When the tiger noticed that it had missed again, it readied the other set of its claws.
Ice Mana exploded out of Shang's legs, destroying them in the process, and he shot at the tiger.
The claws passed behind Shang.
Earlier, when the tiger had charged at him, it had focused all its power on a close-range attack.
This time, it had focused its power on striking something over two meters away.
Just as expected, when the tiger noticed that Shang had come close to it, it tried to bite him.
From this close of a distance, Shang couldn't muster enough power to injure the tiger with his sword.
But that hadn't been his goal in the first place.
Shang pushed himself to the side by putting his left arm on one side of the tiger's head and made his sword touch the other side.
The metal surrounding the tiger's head quickly entered the sword, and Shang's other hand was now touching the tiger's fur.
BOOOOM!
Shang and the tiger blasted into opposite directions as an explosion occurred between them.
Shang's left arm was frozen solid.
BANG!
Shang unleashed an Ice Blast, and his left arm was nearly destroyed again.
Yet, it very quickly recovered.
When Shang had touched the tiger's fur, he had activated Darkness Absorb for just a moment.
At that moment, Shang had weakened the tiger's natural defenses while recovering his own life energy.
And then, Shang had unleashed all his power in a Fire Blast.
He knew that the tiger's paw would strike him very soon, which was why he had unleashed his Fire Blast. Otherwise, he would have killed it with Darkness Absorb.
Shang looked over and noticed that half the tiger's face had been blown off.
However, it was still alive.
And it was charging at him!
Chapter 203 Metal King
As the tiger charged at Shang again, more metal appeared around his head.
But this time, the tiger couldn't fully envelop his head in metal.
When Shang saw that, his eyes shone.
The tiger's metal wasn't doing much for Sword at this point. After all, Sword was forged with Late General Stage metals. Even though this tiger was powerful, it was only at the Early General Stage.
But Shang had never aimed to strengthen his sword.
He had absorbed the metal with it to exhaust the tiger's Mana, and now, it was showing its effect.
The tiger tried to hit Shang again, but this time, it couldn't muster the Mana to elongate its claws.
Shang struck the tiger's forearm with his sword.
BANG!
The metal around the tiger's forearm cracked, but without any of Shang's Affinities as help, his sword didn't manage to injure the tiger.
But that was already enough.
The metal on the tiger's forearm transformed into a liquid and entered Shang's sword.
Of course, Shang was still thrown into the distance by the attack. Some of his bones cracked, but that was something he could deal with.
Shang let the attack carry him into the distance and landed around twenty meters away from the tiger.
Of course, the tiger immediately followed up with another attack with its other leg, which was still enveloped by metal.
BANG!
Shang was thrown away again, and the tiger's metal vanished from its other forearm.
At the same time, the metal all over its body began to reduce in size. This kind of metal armor wasn't permanent, and it needed continuous injection of Metal Mana to retain its hard form.
Shang dodged the next two attacks, and soon enough, all the metal on the tiger had vanished.
The reason why the tiger had been classified as a powerful beast was that it was very good in all three categories.
Offense, defense, speed.
Now, it was only great at offense and speed.
Without its metal, its defense was average, at best.
By now, Shang's passive regeneration had fully recovered his entire body.
Shang's Affinity had so many drawbacks.
It continually injured him, and Shang couldn't use his Affinity several times in a row.
However, advantages often came with disadvantages, and disadvantages often came with advantages.
So, while Shang's Affinity had several drawbacks, when it came to endurance, it was unbeatable.
The reason why Shang's Affinity injured him was that he was using the world's Mana instead of his own.
But the advantage also was that Shang's Affinity was using the world's Mana instead of his own.
As long as Shang was still alive, he could use his Affinity.
The health of his body dictated how much Shang could use his Affinity.
Over the course of his fight, Shang had clashed with the tiger many times, and Shang had used basically everything he could use.
After clashing for so long, the tiger was exhausted and had run out of Mana.
And Shang?
Shang was uninjured.
His Mana had recovered.
And Shang could use all his powers again.
Shang was in his peak condition.
The tiger had several injuries and growled at Shang in exhaustion.
Shang calmly looked at the tiger as he readied his sword again.
BANG!
Shang charged forward.
He left behind a cloud of steam, and his arm began to freeze as he put it onto his sword.
The tiger growled and swiped at Shang.
BANG!
As soon as Shang's sword hit the tiger's leg, an explosion occurred, and without the protecting metal cover, the tiger's leg was blasted off.
The tiger tried to bite Shang, but it quickly fell over.
It was unused to only having three legs, and in its panic, it had tried to put weight on its missing leg.
As the tiger fell down, Shang jumped over it and landed near its back. If it still were in its peak condition, Shang wouldn't have been able to do something like this.
Shang put his hand on the tiger's back and used Darkness Absorb.
The tiger shouted in pain, and Shang stopped just two seconds later.
Shang's body was on the brink of explosion, and Shang had to stop.
The tiger had way too much life energy for him to fully absorb.
But that didn't matter much. The tiger had already transformed from a mighty tiger king in its prime to an old, decrepit tiger.
It barely had the strength to move its legs anymore.
Shang quickly ended the fight by beheading the tiger.
The cheering returned, and Shang slowly stepped away from the corpse as it vanished into the earth.
'The only injuries I received were self-inflicted,' Shang thought as he looked at the vanishing corpse.
'This fight wasn't easy, but it also didn't truly push me to the edge.'
'As power increases, beasts become stronger and stronger in relation to humans. Defeating this tiger was probably as hard as defeating a weak Early General Stage beast would have been without the procedure.'
'I can already notice the difference in power, and I'm only at the Initial General Stage.'
'Things will only get worse from now on.'
Then, Shang looked at the leaflet that had appeared.
'At least, for others,' he thought as he walked over. 'My power will continue to increase. As long as I keep growing as I am right now, I will also be able to defeat a powerful Early Commander Stage beast while being at the Initial Commander Stage.'
Shang pulled up the leaflet.
'Something like that is impossible for normal warriors.'
"Metal King," Shang read. "Quite an imposing name, but I guess it fits the tiger."
Shang looked through the leaflet and read it.
'Oh, they actually live in the Zone north of the Empress Cobra Zone, the Adamantite Behemoth Zone,' Shang thought.
Shang had learned a lot about different Zones in the last year, and this Zone was familiar to him.
The Adamantite Behemoth Zone was basically the opposite of a mountain range. It was a crater range, one could say. There were many holes, which all led deep into the earth.
It was also the place where Duke Mithril lived.
Shang remembered the time he had asked about the Volcano Wyrm Zone, which was also under Duke Mithril.
To put the map into perspective, the Storm Eagle Zone was in the middle in the very south.
Northeast of it was the Empress Cobra Zone.
Northwest of it was the Ice Wyvern Zone.
North of the Empress Cobra Zone was the Adamantite Behemoth Zone.
North of the Ice Wyvern Zone and west of the Adamantite Behemoth Zone had once been the battlefield, but ever since the Ice Wyvern had won against the Volcano Wyrm, the battlefield had been annexed by the Ice Wyvern Zone.
Right now, the Ice Wyvern Zone was as big as two Zones.
The battlefield had been a territory that both Duke Whirlwind and Duke Mithril had wanted.
Shang also guessed that Duke Mithril was the one that endangered Warrior's Paradise a year ago. At least, he had a great motive for it.
So, what about Duke Mithril's territories?
The Adamantite Behemoth Zone already belonged to him, and north of the Adamantite Behemoth Zone was the Thunder Horse Zone. It was a flat, black desert with continuous rainfall and lightning strikes.
The Thunder Horse was one of the very few Zone Beasts that didn't hide in some remote location. In comparison to other Zone Beasts, the Thunder Horse roamed the black desert. Luckily, it wasn't aggressive, and it only ate lightning. It even allowed people around its immediate vicinity.
Sometimes, it even walked into a town and looked around.
Not all Zone Beasts were giants like the Storm Eagle. The Thunder Horse, for example, was only a bit bigger than a normal horse.
West of the Thunder Horse Zone and north of the former battlefield was the Volcano Wyrm Zone.
So, when Shang had seen that Fire ore back then, what kind of journey had it undertaken?
It started at the Volcano Wyrm, went to the east to pass over the corner of the Thunder Horse Zone, went through the entire Adamantite Behemoth Zone, and went through the Empress Cobra Zone to enter the Storm Eagle Zone.
It was quite a long journey.
'Interesting, the Metal King journeys along the different craters and holes in the Adamantite Behemoth Zone to hunt its occupants. The Metal King is also a beast that commonly reaches the Commander Stage. Quite powerful.'
Then, Shang saw the quote from the God, and he lifted an eyebrow.
"Hey, we've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty."
Chapter 204 Light Affinity
As Shang threw the leaflet to the side, the wheel appeared again.
"Level seven: Weak Middle General Stage beast."
'This one will be difficult,' Shang thought. 'The body of a Middle General Stage beast is much more powerful than the body of the Metal King. Even if the beast can't fight well, it will be difficult for me to avoid its attacks. Its attacks are probably even a bit faster than the attacks of the Adepts I've fought against.'
The wheel slowed down, and it eventually stopped at the image of a cute, white puppy.
Shang raised an eyebrow when he saw that image.
A moment later, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a two-meter-tall, white golden retriever.
When Shang saw it, his eyes shone. 'I thought so.'
The white color of the image had already made Shang suspicious, and when he saw the dog, his guess was confirmed.
Shang could feel Light Mana come from the dog.
'Light Mana has nearly no offensive capabilities. That would also explain why this dog is counted as a weaker beast.'
The jester slowly lifted his hand and struck the bell.
The dog noticed Shang and looked at him curiously for a bit.
'According to what I've learned, dogs are also wolves that have been domesticated by humans in this world, just like on Earth. This dog is probably a form of supportive animal. I could imagine that its power has a huge impact in a group battle, but on its own? Probably not.'
'I really don't want to kill it,' Shang thought.
A dog that healed and helped people was definitely not something Shang wanted to kill.
However, there was nothing he could do.
Was he supposed to just give up and let his reward go to waste?
So, even though Shang wasn't the biggest fan of killing the dog, he wouldn't forfeit his reward for it.
As time passed, the dog's temper became worse and worse, just like the tiger. In the beginning, it had only looked at Shang innocently, but several seconds later, it had already started to bare its teeth.
Shang was showing no outward aggression, and he only looked at the dog from a distance.
Just like the tiger, the dog acted in an unusual manner.
'Is this an effect of the trial? Is this to force me to fight?'
Some seconds later, saliva ran down the dog's teeth as a deep growl left it.
'I don't think so. I don't think that the God wants to make things easier for me. It would probably be way more entertaining for him to see me struggle to kill some helpless, peaceful dog.'
The fur stood up on the dog's back, and it readied itself for a charge.
'So, why are these beasts so aggressive? This dog definitely doesn't count as an aggressive beast.'
BANG!
The dog exploded forward at ridiculous speeds. The power of its body was not something the Metal King could imagine.
'Doesn't matter right now,' Shang thought as he also readied himself for a charge. 'I don't really have the luxury to think about these things right now.'
BANG!
And Shang also exploded forward.
"Don't use Darkness," Sword's voice appeared in Shang's mind. "Darkness is useless against beasts with a Light Affinity."
"I know," Shang said as he readied Sword.
As the two of them reached each other, the ground below the dog exploded as its speed increased even more.
Shang had already expected the dog to be extremely fast, but the sudden increase in speed had completely surprised him.
Shang had planned on slashing its head when it tried to bite him, but that plan went out of the window.
The slash wasn't ready yet.
Shang had to cancel his slash and jump to the side while unleashing a Fire Blast from his left arm.
CRK!
However, the dog was just too fast, and Shang couldn't fully evade it.
The dog clamped down on Shang's left hand before it could get out of its reach and tore it to pieces.
But just before Shang's hand was completely torn apart, he released a fully loaded Ice Blast.
As Shang's hand was severed from his body, the dog's mouth froze over, and it jumped away in pain.
The dog began to run away as it rubbed its head on the ground, trying to get rid of the stinging, icy pain.
Meanwhile, Shang looked at the stump at the end of his left arm.
Half his forearm was gone together with his hand.
'That's the first time I lost a part of my body.'
Stinging and pulsating pain came from the stump, but Shang could deal with that pain.
After half a second, a new hand grew out of the stump, and a full second later, Shang's arm had fully recovered.
Of course, regrowing an entire hand took a lot of life energy, and a huge part of the absorbed life energy from the Metal King had vanished along with it.
Shang looked over at the dog that was still trying to get rid of the pain.
Why hadn't Shang chased it while it was in pain?
Because it was too fast.
Even with Shang's full speed, he couldn't get close to the dog right now.
The speed difference was so great that Shang didn't even try.
In this fight, Shang would be on the defensive due to the monumental speed disadvantage.
Shang also saw the dog's head light up from time to time as it tried to heal its injury with Light Mana.
However, this wasn't exactly an injury.
If the Ice Blast had dealt any damage, it would have long been healed by the bursts of light.
The pain the dog was feeling came from the sheer cold that was freezing its head.
There wasn't much the dog could do against the pain. The cold wouldn't injure it, but it would be painful.
"Any plans?" Shang asked Sword as he saw the dog running around.
"Difficult," Sword answered. "It's too fast, and it has quick reflexes. If it sees me coming, it will evade."
Shang furrowed his brows. "Dogs are also very smart, and it will very quickly learn how I move."
Shang only looked at the dog as he tried to think of a plan.
Chapter 205 Inexperienced
After some seconds, the dog calmed down, and it bared its teeth at Shang again.
BANG!
And it charged him once more.
In the past few seconds, Shang hadn't been able to come up with a great plan. The speed difference was just too massive, and on top of that, the dog could heal itself with its own Affinity.
Shang also charged at the dog as his body began to release an icy mist.
The dog accelerated with its jump again, and Shang pointed back with his left arm.
BOOOM!
Shang's left arm released a Fire Blast, and Shang shot forward with his full force, but this time, Shang wasn't releasing a slash.
The dog hadn't expected that Shang could also accelerate, which made it miss its bite.
BANG!
Shang's sword stabbed forward, and with all the added power, it managed to bury itself halfway into the dog's chest.
Shang's brows furrowed, and he quickly jumped away again.
BANG!
The dog's teeth clamped down on the location where Shang had just been. After that, it released a blinding light, and its injury had vanished.
'I used my full power in that charge, but I only managed to bury my sword halfway into its torso. For a normal beast, such an injury was severe, but to this dog, it only counts as using a bit of its Mana.'
The dog immediately jumped after Shang, and Shang destroyed his arm by using an Ice Blast.
The dog barely missed.
Shang slashed at the dog.
But the dog jumped to the side!
When Shang saw that, his eyes narrowed.
'It's already adapting. I have to end this fight soon!'
Just when the dog landed, it immediately jumped at Shang again. The speed difference was so massive that Shang hadn't even fully finished his slash before the dog arrived.
BANG!
An explosion came out of Shang's left foot, burning it severely.
However, the dog was too fast, and it managed to clamp down on Shang's other foot.
BANG! BANG!
An explosion of ice quickly followed by an explosion of fire burst out of the dog's mouth.
Shang knew that he couldn't save his right leg, which was why he had released all its power without even thinking about saving it.
The dog lost several teeth, and blood shot out of its mouth.
BOOOM!
Shang loaded his sword with fire and hit the dog's back while it was distracted. As soon as the sword hit the dog's back, it exploded, coating the surroundings in burned skin and blood.
However, the dog's spine was only a bit cracked, and it didn't break.
The difference in physical power was just too much.
The dog yelped and jumped away as light appeared around its body.
A moment later, it was fully healed again.
Meanwhile, Shang landed on his left foot.
This right leg was severed at the calf, and everything up to the thigh was coated in blood and muscle due to the Ice and Fire Blasts.
Shang's remaining life energy went into his left arm and his right leg. It barely managed to heal everything before becoming empty.
Even Shang's Mana was completely used up.
From now on, Shang could only rely on his passive regeneration.
After a second of healing, the two of them charged at each other again.
'It can only attack with its mouth. In comparison to cats, dogs aren't that great at using their claws.'
'That is the only reason why I am still alive right now.'
Both of them accelerated again.
Shang loaded Sword with fire and tried to hit the dog's head.
The dog was trying to bite Shang's torso, but when it saw the approaching sword, its attack changed.
The dog's head angled to the side.
CLING!
And bit down on the sword!
BOOOOOM!
The fire exploded out of the sword, breaking several teeth.
Shang pulled his sword back.
SHING!
Yet, after a brief burst of light, the dog's teeth had reappeared, and it was clamping down on Shang's sword!
Shang's mind went into overdrive.
He couldn't possibly contend with the dog's power!
As long as it had his sword in its mouth, Shang wouldn't be able to use it anymore!
At that moment, Shang's eyes narrowed.
And he let go of his sword.
BANG!
The bottom of Shang's right foot exploded with ice, shooting Shang upward.
BANG!
Shang's right knee hit the dog's jaw, and it exploded with fire.
The dog's head flew upwards, but in exchange, Shang's entire right leg had been decimated.
It had essentially become unusable.
At the same time, Shang's left arm gripped the fur on the dog's face, pulling him along with the head.
BANG!
Shang's right fist hit the dog's skull, and an explosion of ice froze parts of it.
Shang's right fist was full of blisters and burns could be seen all over it.
A fire appeared in Shang's eyes, and he punched with his right arm again.
BOOOOM!
An explosion of fire occurred.
Shang's right arm was turned into ice splinters that shot into the distance.
But the dog's head was also severely injured, and parts of its skull were broken.
Shang's eyes narrowed, and he threw himself onto the dog's neck. The dog was gigantic, and Shang's entire body could fit around its neck.
By now, the dog had dropped Shang's sword, and it was trying to heal its head.
One shouldn't forget that this counted as a weak beast. It had limited offensive capabilities, and it wasn't used to fighting on the frontlines itself.
Because of that, it didn't think about Shang right now but about healing its own injury.
Light Mana appeared around its head, but the Light Mana was quickly absorbed by Shang's left arm.
The dog noticed that it had failed to heal itself, which made it fall into even more of a panic.
Because of that, it tried to heal itself again.
And it failed.
Again.
This time, it succeeded!
Yet, before the dog could think of what to do next, an icy fist hit the back of its neck.
And then, a fist exploding with fire.
The dog's neck had cracked, but it was still usable.
BANG!
And then, another icy fist appeared.
Its entire neck was encased in ice.
And then, another fiery fist.
BOOOOOM!
The dog's neck broke, and it desperately tried to heal itself.
Yet, its Light Mana got absorbed again!
And again!
And then…
It was out of Light Mana!
The dog felt a weight leave its neck, and it tried to move its head with its broken neck, but it just hurt too much.
And then…
It was over.
Shang's sword exploded onto the dog's broken neck, blasting the dog's head from its torso.
When Shang had reached the dog's neck, he had absorbed the Light Mana to heal his right arm and right leg again. Then, after the dog had healed itself, he had destroyed both his arms again with more punches.
After that, Shang absorbed the Light Mana with his legs, healing himself again.
In the end, he jumped down, got his sword, and killed the dog.
The fight was over.
Shang took a deep breath.
And the cheering appeared.
Chapter 206 Price
"This one was close," Shang said to Sword.
"But we won," Sword answered.
"We did, but only because it panicked. If it had any sort of combat experience, it would have focused on getting rid of me instead of continuously healing. We only won because I managed to take advantage of its inexperience," Shang said.
"But we won," Sword said.
Silence.
"Yes, we won," Shang said with a sigh.
Shang looked at the vanishing corpse. "Dogs aren't famed for their defensive capabilities, but it was still incredibly hard to break its defenses. The physical bodies of beasts truly can't be underestimated."
Shang noticed that a leaflet had appeared, and he looked through it.
"Companion," Shang read.
That was the name of the dog's species.
Shang sighed once again.
He didn't regret killing it. After all, it was necessary.
But it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Apparently, they are being bred in the Skythunder Kingdom's capital," Shang said to Sword. "They mainly work for the King's army."
The kingdom's capital was north of Duke Mithril's territories. Duke Whirlwind was the ruler over the southernmost Zones, and Duke Mithril was responsible for the central-southern territories. There were several more Dukes that dealt with the other directions for a total of twelve Dukes.
One at the outer parts of each cardinal direction.
One at the inner parts of each cardinal direction.
And one for each of the corners.
Since the corners weren't that wide, the Dukes responsible for the corners ruled over the outer and inner parts, making their territories resemble a line or a triangle more than a square or a circle.
Then, Shang saw the God's quote.
"Who would want to punch a puppy? A monster!"
Shang took a deep breath and threw the leaflet to the side.
At that point, the wheel returned.
"Level eight: Average Middle General Stage beast."
The wheel began to spin, and Shang looked at it with an intense expression.
'I only won because my opponent was inexperienced. This won't happen with the next one.'
Shang watched the wheel spin.
'The only way I can win against the next one is if I perfectly counter it.'
The wheel slowed down.
'Preferably, I need something with a weak defense.'
The wheel was close to stopping.
'It's all up to luck now!'
And then, the wheel stopped.
Shang saw his next opponent.
The image depicted a pig-like man with a lot of needles coming down his back. He was wearing sunglasses and looked like an intimidating bodyguard.
A moment later, Shang's opponent appeared.
Shang took a deep breath.
It was a brown porcupine with an obvious Affinity for Earth.
It was over five meters high, and its needles looked like they were made of granite.
Its head was meaty and muscular.
'I guess that's it,' Shang thought.
'No way I'm winning against that one.'
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
The porcupine noticed the distant Shang and sniffed.
Shang didn't move.
He didn't even take out his sword.
After some curiosity, the porcupine snorted and ran towards Shang.
It definitely didn't like him.
The gigantic body of the porcupine destroyed parts of the earth with every step, and it was like a wall of doom was trampling towards Shang.
When it came within ten meters of Shang, it opened its mouth.
Saliva dropped from its gigantic teeth, and it opened its mouth, which was as big as Shang's entire body.
Its speed was around equal to the dog's speed.
On top of that, it had a terrifying defense, and it definitely wasn't inexperienced.
Shang wouldn't be surprised if it could even use its needles as a ranged attack if it felt threatened.
Shang already had trouble evading the dog's attack. What would he be able to do against a wave of needles that shot at him with even more speed?
Shang sighed.
'If it had been something like a cheetah or a bird, I could have won,' he thought.
'Well, I guess that's it for the beast category of the trial.'
'Seems like I will only get eight points.'
Shang pointed his left arm at the porcupine's head.
Its mouth was close to swallowing Shang.
And then, Shang woke the hidden power inside his body.
In an instant, Shang's body began to deteriorate.
His skin shriveled up.
His muscles shrank.
His bones became weak.
His organs became weak.
His blood lost a lot of its power.
And on top of that, Shang's left arm turned into black dust, which scattered into the wind.
And then, without a sound, a gigantic hole appeared in the porcupine's body.
The hole was a meter wide, and it stretched from its head all the way to its back.
Shang could easily see the horizon of his own world through the hole in the porcupine's body.
There was no explosion.
There was no sound.
It just happened.
A moment later, a storm of pure, Neutral Mana came from the porcupine's body, and Shang felt like his body was bathed in pure Mana.
The porcupine stopped.
And then, it fell over.
Dead.
Shang slowly walked over and used Darkness Absorb on the porcupine's corpse.
A lot of life energy left the corpse and entered Shang's body.
Shang's body had been empty of life energy, and after absorbing so much of it, it had fully regenerated again.
Except for his left arm.
His left arm was still gone.
Shang looked at his empty left shoulder.
'I don't feel any growth.'
'I don't even feel like I'm supposed to have a left arm.'
'It's almost like I am already all that I am.'
Shang touched his left shoulder with his right arm, and he felt the skin that had appeared over the spot where his left arm had once been.
'I am already fully healed,' Shang thought with a complex expression.
'I simply don't have a left arm anymore.'
Shang looked at the vanishing corpse with a complex expression.
'A body part in exchange for an attack far above my ability. So that's the price for this power.'
At the same time, Shang also felt that his Affinity had been locked.
He couldn't feel Light, Darkness, Fire, or Ice Mana anymore.
He had also completely lost access to this special power.
But in comparison to his left arm, Shang could feel that he would regain control over his Affinity with time.
It would just take more time.
But his left arm would never reappear again.
'This is why I was afraid of using it.'
'Using this power means permanently losing a part of myself.'
'Luckily, I'm inside the trial. It's a risk, but I don't think that the God will resurrect me with only one arm when I die later.'
Shang took a deep breath.
'But that's exactly it. I have to die. Otherwise, I will have to fight the warriors and Mages with only one arm.'
Shang saw the leaflet the porcupine left behind but didn't look at it.
He just wasn't interested in it right now.
This time, there had been no cheering.
The wheel returned and began to spin again.
"Level nine: Powerful Middle General Stage beast."
Shang sat down and waited.
He didn't even look at his opponent.
Shang put Sword to the side since he didn't want it to get injured.
After a brief flicker of light, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a big hawk with a rigged and spiky beak. Its feathers also appeared incredibly sharp, and its entire body was silver in color.
The jester lifted his hammer and hit the bell.
The hawk looked at Shang.
Shang looked back.
After a while, Shang could feel aggression come from the hawk.
The one-armed Shang only sat on the ground, looking at the hawk.
'I wonder how it feels to die. I wasn't exactly conscious the last time it happened.'
Chapter 207 Death
The hawk moved its right wing to the side.
SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING!
Shang's body was pierced by seven long needles, his body now being pinned to the ground.
Blood flew out of Shang's mouth as several of his organs had been destroyed.
'That was so fast! I would have maybe been able to evade two of them.'
'But it shot seven!'
This was an insurmountable difference in power.
Even if Shang had tried his best, five of the huge needles would have still nailed him to the ground.
Shang's body tried to heal with Mana, but some kind of destructive force in the needles was preventing every form of healing.
Clink!
The hawk had landed on one of the needles and was looking into Shang's eyes.
There were no emotions in the hawk's eyes.
Shang was prey.
Predators didn't feel a connection to their prey.
Prey was only food.
Shang looked into the hawk's eyes.
The last thing Shang saw was the hawk's beak rapidly becoming bigger and bigger in his vision.
And then, it was over.
The hawk had pecked a hole through Shang's head.
This wasn't anything special.
This was simply a beast killing something.
Silence.
Suddenly, Shang's eyes shot open, and he took a deep breath.
Shang didn't think or say anything while simply looking at the sky.
The last moment before his death continuously replayed in his head.
This feeling…
It was indescribable.
It was a mixture of terror, shock, denial, and finality.
If put into words, this feeling would only be a loud shout of "No, please-".
It was a deeply seated fear in every living being.
This feeling wasn't like when someone decided to end their life. When someone decided to end their life, they were still in control, and they were the ones trying to end it.
This was a feeling of someone else having the ultimate power over you.
You will forever sleep because they want you to.
There was nothing you could do.
There was no control.
All the money in the world, all the power in the world, all the begging in the world wouldn't help you.
There was nothing you could do.
You are helpless.
This was how Shang had felt in his last moment.
It was terrifying.
The end of his journey.
The end of all his goals.
Everything he looked forward to would never reappear again.
Light and joy, taken.
A life, ended.
Clink!
Shang felt something metallic touch his right hand.
"Are you alright?" Sword's voice appeared in Shang's mind.
Shang took a deep breath and slowly sat up.
Then, Shang looked at his left shoulder.
His arm was back.
Most of Shang's anxiety left him, and he left out a long sigh.
"I'm fine," he said as he stood up.
"Are you sure?" Sword asked.
For a while, Shang didn't answer.
"I never want to feel this feeling again," he said.
"Is it so bad?" Sword asked.
"Yes," Shang answered.
"Could you describe it to me?" Sword asked.
Shang looked at Sword for a bit and looked away again.
"It's the epitome of helplessness."
"It is the opposite of power."
"It is the opposite of control."
Shang's eyes narrowed.
"I never want to feel this helpless again!" he said with conviction.
At that moment, two wheels appeared in Shang's vision.
"Well done, participant!" the mechanical female voice said. "You have earned eight points in the beast category!"
"Are you ready for the warrior category?"
Shang looked at the two wheels.
This time, there were no funny pictures on the wheels.
One wheel showed different weapons, while the other showed colors.
Shang was pretty sure that the colors represented different Affinities.
However, Shang was surprised that there were so many different colors!
There were probably over 25!
Together with all the Mixed Affinities, Shang barely knew thirteen!
'Sure enough, this world is far bigger than anyone in this place realizes,' Shang thought.
The Affinities on the wheel had different sizes.
The biggest ones were red, brown, green, and blue, which obviously represented fire, earth, wind, and water.
The second biggest ones were light-blue, silver, and grey, which represented ice, lightning, and metal.
After that came several different pictures with mixed colors.
Shang only recognized some of them.
One of them was blue on one side and black on the other. There was a slight purple sheen in the middle. Shang guessed that this represented the Poison Affinity.
One was red on one side and icy blue on the other. In the middle was a green sheen. This probably represented the Temperature Affinity.
However, there were several more of these mixed colors.
After that came two pure colors again.
White and black.
These obviously represented the Darkness and Light Affinities.
However, that still wasn't the end.
It was very difficult for Shang to see it, but he could swear there were even smaller colors, which meant that there were even rarer Affinities.
Apparently, Light and Darkness were not the rarest Affinities in the world.
However, these colors were so tiny that Shang could not even truly see them.
In essence, Shang only saw a thin, black line since they were so small.
These Affinities were probably extremely rare, even when looking at the entire world.
However, Shang only thought about these Affinities for a little bit.
His mind was still occupied with the feeling of death.
It was just so strange, intense, and indescribable.
"I'm ready," Shang said absentmindedly.
Then, the wheels began to spin.
"Level one: Weak Initial General Stage warrior."
Shang barely heard the voice as his mind tried to process the feeling of death.
The weapon wheel stopped at the image of a sword and shield.
Shang only looked at the ground, absentmindedly. He was thinking about something, but he wasn't sure what he was thinking about.
The Affinity wheel stopped at the Earth Affinity.
Shang didn't look at it.
After a short burst of light, a man appeared in the distance. He had long, brown hair, and he carried a sword and shield. He looked healthy and clean-shaven.
His posture looked relaxed.
The jester lifted his hand and hit the bell.
The man opened his eyes and looked at Shang.
Then, he readied his weapons in a scared manner.
He obviously wasn't confident in his own power.
When the jester had hit the bell, Shang looked at his opponent.
For a while, the two only looked at each other.
'This strange feeling that I never want to feel again is something I force on other people.'
Shang began to walk toward his enemy.
'When I kill them, they are feeling the same thing. They realize that they will never see their loved ones again.'
Shang took more steps as the man only hid behind his shield.
'The epitome of helplessness and losing control. This is something I inflict on others.'
Shang stepped closer.
'I am so scared of this feeling, and I feel terror just by thinking about it.'
Shang lifted his sword as the man struck forward with his sword.
Shang sidestepped the stab, and he now stood directly in front of his opponent.
And then, Shang vertically bisected the man's head.
The corpse collapsed to the ground, and Shang only looked at it as the cheering erupted again.
'But I have to do it.'
The corpse vanished, and the two wheels returned.
Shang narrowed his eyes.
'My goal is more important than their feelings!'
And the wheel began to violently spin again.
Chapter 208 Advancing
"Level two: Average Initial General Stage warrior."
Shang didn't look at the two wheels.
He only looked forward with narrowed eyes.
The first wheel stopped at a spear.
Shang waited.
The second wheel stopped at the Lightning Affinity.
After a brief burst of light, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a woman with silver hair who carried a long spear. She wore an imposing set of armor, and one could see the experience in her eyes.
Shang looked at her closed eyes from a distance.
The jester lifted his hammer and hit the bell.
The woman opened her eyes, and their gazes met.
Then, she assumed a battle-ready stance.
Shang walked over.
The woman narrowed her eyes and charged forward, her spear ready.
The woman was running far faster than Shang walked, and the two of them met very soon.
She unleashed her entire power, her spear shooting towards Shang's chest.
BANG!
Shang's left arm intercepted the spear's strike, the spear piercing through Shang's hand.
Shang took a step forward and pulled his left arm to the side.
Due to the difference in power, the woman was pulled forward, her equilibrium destroyed.
Shang cut through her head vertically, just like with the first opponent.
'My power is more important than your feelings,' Shang repeated in his mind.
His face was neutral and emotionless.
The cheering appeared again.
The corpse vanished, and the two wheels reappeared.
"Level three: Powerful Initial General Stage warrior."
Shang didn't look at the wheels.
The first wheel stopped at the image of a hammer.
The second wheel stopped at the Wind Affinity.
After a brief burst of light, Shang saw his opponent.
It was a man with short green hair. He wore casual clothes, and he leaned on his huge hammer with a peaceful smile.
The jester lifted his hammer and hit the bell.
The warrior opened his eyes and looked into Shang's eyes.
Then, he lifted his hammer and put it over his shoulder.
His free hand pointed forward, and he gestured for Shang to approach with a smile.
Shang walked forward.
After several seconds, Shang was ten meters away from his opponent.
Suddenly, an explosion of wind appeared behind the warrior, and he jumped forward, his hammer seemingly weighing nothing.
Then, he struck down.
But then, the man's eyes widened in shock when he saw Shang's eyes just centimeters in front of his own, a cloud of icy mist on the spot where the hammer had just hit the ground.
Shang's sword struck the warrior's chest.
A Magic Circle appeared in the air, and the warrior was thrown into the distance.
The warrior did a spin in the air and used the momentum to ready his hammer again.
But Shang appeared in front of him just a moment later.
BANG!
Shang separated the man's chest from his abdomen.
The hammer fell to the ground, and the man looked with shock at the horizon, his eyes showing fear, disbelief, and panic.
Shang looked at the man's head.
'My goal is more important than your life.'
A couple of seconds later, the man's eyes lost their light, but his eyes remained open.
The cheering returned, and the man's corpse vanished.
The wheels returned.
"Level four: Weak Early General Stage warrior."
The wheels spun again, but Shang didn't look at them.
The first wheel stopped at the image of a long sword.
The second wheel stopped at the Fire Affinity.
A moment later, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a man with long, red hair. He wore luxurious clothes, and a happy and confident smile was visible on his face.
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
The man opened his eyes, and he looked at Shang.
Then, the man's peaceful smile transformed into a smirk, and he lifted his sword.
Then, he slowly began to approach Shang.
Shang also started walking towards him.
After some seconds, the two of them met.
The man lifted his sword in preparation to strike.
But then, he suddenly stepped back to perform a spin. Like this, he would be able to put more power into his attack.
And then, a headless corpse fell to the ground.
When Shang had seen the spin, he had exploded forward with an Ice Blast and had beheaded his opponent.
Shang couldn't see the expression on the man's face since his head was pointing away from him.
The cheering returned, and the corpse began to vanish.
'My power is more important than your life.'
The wheels returned.
Shang didn't look over.
"Level five: Average Early General Stage warrior."
The wheels rapidly spun.
The first one stopped at the image of a spear and shield.
The second one stopped at the Metal Affinity.
Shang didn't look over.
A moment later, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a woman with grey hair. She had a muscular and serious face.
For some reason, Shang was reminded of Sarah.
His opponent was very similar to her.
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
The woman opened her eyes, and she looked at Shang with a serious expression.
She put her shield up and readied her spear as she slowly advanced toward Shang.
Shang took out his sword and ran towards her.
This time, he wasn't approaching slowly.
An ice mist was left behind as Shang's body sped up more and more.
Then, Shang jumped.
Shang kicked the shield with his full force.
The woman was pushed back, and her shield was thrown to the side.
But at the same time, she unleashed her spear in a devastating counterattack.
BANG!
Shang's sword hit the spear on the side, pushing it away from him.
And then, Shang let go of his sword.
The woman was falling over, and due to the momentum, Shang was now above her.
She fell to the ground on her back.
BANG!
Shang landed with his knees on her chest.
A Magic Circle appeared, which saved the woman from having her chest caved in.
Shang pulled his right fist back as it began to freeze over.
A look of terror appeared on the woman's face as she looked into Shang's eyes.
BOOOM!
Shang's fist hit her face, and the explosion of fire scattered her head over the surroundings.
For just an instant, the bloody face returned.
Shang hadn't seen it in a long while.
But this time, Shang was not perturbed.
'My power is more important than you.'
The bloody face vanished.
It had had no effect on Shang.
It might as well not have appeared at all.
Shang stood up, and his destroyed fist regenerated.
The cheering returned.
A moment later, the two wheels returned.
"Level six: Powerful Early General Stage warrior."
The wheels began to spin.
And this time, Shang looked over.
The previous opponents had been no issue for Shang, which was why he hadn't even looked at the wheel. Just his experience and power were enough to completely decimate them.
But this time, it was different.
His next opponent would have a body just as powerful as Shang's, and they would also have plenty of combat experience.
The next fight wouldn't be so easy.
The first wheel stopped at the image of a bow.
Shang furrowed his brows.
The second wheel stopped at something on the rarer side of Affinities.
It was the Poison Affinity.
Chapter 209 Power of Practice
After a short beam of light, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a young woman in her twenties. She had long purple hair, and she wore a set of thin, black armor. On her back was an elaborately designed longbow.
'The bow and her armor don't feel simple,' Shang thought. 'Her armor can probably protect her from a lethal strike, and her bow is probably augmented with Magic Circles. It's very possible that the speed of her attacks rivals the speed of an Early Adept's Spells.'
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
At that moment, the woman opened her eyes, and she looked at Shang with a cold expression.
A moment later, she took out her bow.
BANG!
Shang charged forward, destroying the ground beneath him as he ran with all his speed. Just like when he fought the Adepts, distance was all that mattered in this fight.
The woman pulled out a long piece of iron. It wasn't an arrow, surprisingly. It was just a long piece of iron.
She pulled the piece of iron back on her bow and pointed at Shang.
A moment later, something purple materialized on the end of the piece of metal, and it quickly assumed the shape of an arrowhead.
At the same time, some ridges appeared at the other end of the stick of metal.
'I see,' Shang thought as he realized why there were no prebuilt ridges on the metal rods.
If Shang hadn't had so much combat experience, he would have never even thought about this aspect.
Just when Shang took a step, she released her arrow.
Since Shang had just taken a step, it meant that he wasn't ready to immediately step to the side.
Her timing had been perfect.
Shang's foot awkwardly hit the ground and slightly changed his balance.
SHING!
The arrow barely missed Shang's torso.
The woman's eyes narrowed as she took out the next piece of metal.
She had not expected Shang to dodge her arrow like that. Her timing had been perfect.
Shang's equilibrium became a bit awkward due to the sudden step he had needed to take, but he quickly managed to fix it before his opponent could shoot another arrow.
The ability to dodge that arrow only existed thanks to the thousands of Adepts Shang had fought against.
Yes, thousands.
On one hand, one could say that Shang had only fought Mages for a month, and that wasn't nearly enough time to become proficient in fighting against them.
However, one also had to remember that Shang had been fighting them without end.
Shang had literally fought several thousand Adepts in the last month.
How many Mages had the red uniforms fought against?
Definitely fewer than that.
The red uniforms only fought Mages once per week, and they would, at most, get to fight twice each.
In order to fight the same number of Mages as Shang, they would need to spend years like this.
Dodging this arrow was the culmination of fighting so many Adepts, and it definitely wasn't easy to pull off. After all, the arrow had been about as fast as the Spell of an Early Adept.
One had to remember that incredibly talented warriors could fight average Mages on their level. An incredibly talented Early General Stage warrior could fight an average Early Adept.
Shang's opponent was one of these incredibly talented warriors, which also meant that she had the power to fight an average Early Adept, an opponent Shang hadn't managed to win against yet.
'However,' Shang thought, 'being able to fight someone and winning against someone are two different things!'
A second later, the next arrow was ready, and Shang's eyes shone.
She released her arrow.
The arrow shot towards the left side of Shang's chest with incredible speed.
How did Shang react?
He jumped to the left!
An instant later, the arrow was pointing to the right of Shang's chest since he had already jumped into the arrow's path.
And then…
It missed!
The arrow curved towards Shang's right, missing him in the process.
The woman's eyes narrowed even further as she quickly retrieved several more metal rods.
Shang had noticed that the ridges on the arrow's back had been slightly curved, which meant that the arrow would curve to Shang's right.
That was also why she had shot at the left side of Shang's chest. If someone attacked a normal person's left chest, the target would quickly evade to the other side. After all, evading into the attack would be suicide.
However, if Shang had jumped to the right, the arrow would have hit him in the middle of the chest.
By now, there were only twenty meters between the two of them.
Shang's opponent now had three metal rods in her hand, and all three of them were transformed into arrows.
Since she had to create three arrows instead of one, it took her more time.
By now, Shang was only five meters away from her.
The next arrow pointed at Shang.
She let go of the arrow.
Shang jumped upward.
But the arrow didn't arrive!
She had caught the arrow before it could leave the bow, and she had put a second arrow on top of the first one!
Then, she jumped back and pointed her two arrows at Shang, who was currently in the air, unable to evade.
Shang noticed the ridges in the arrows and pointed his left hand at the ground.
The woman let go of her arrows.
BANG!
Shang used an Ice Blast to shoot himself over the approaching arrows. One of the arrows had been straight, while another one had ridges that would make it curve to the ground in case Shang somehow managed to land.
The first arrow missed Shang.
CRK!
But the second arrow buried itself into Shang's abdomen!
Shang gritted his teeth. 'She spun the arrow by 180° before firing!'
Shang wasn't bothered by the pain, but he could feel his life energy rapidly moving towards the arrow.
However, this wasn't the Darkness Element.
No, this was the Poison Element!
A big part of Shang's life energy was absorbed by the arrow and transformed into something else. Then, it released the poisonous life energy back into Shang's body!
Shang quickly pulled the arrow out of his abdomen, taking a big chunk of flesh with it, but it had already done a lot of damage.
His opponent pointed the last arrow at Shang, who was nearly above her by now.
Then, she let go.
Shang's eyes focused on the arrow, and his mind went into overdrive.
For an instant, he felt like time was passing very slowly.
BANG!
The woman's eyes widened.
Shang had kicked her arrow away!
What unreal timing!
Parrying an arrow was even harder than avoiding it!
Where did he learn to do something like that?!
This was the culmination of Shang's training against the Mana Push Spell.
Shang pointed his left arm to his back.
BANG!
Two explosions occurred at the same time.
One was an explosion of fire coming from Shang's left hand, and one was an explosion of purple mist appearing around the woman's body.
Shang landed in the purple cloud and slashed with his sword.
Shang saw some red in the purple cloud, but he didn't feel much resistance from his sword. He knew that he had hit something, but he wasn't sure what he had hit.
And then, the Magic Circle of Shang's uniform appeared above his head.
Chapter 210 Poison
The fact that the Magic Circle had been triggered meant that Shang had just taken a hit that would have killed him.
Shang quickly realized what his opponent had done, jumped back, and left the poisonous cloud.
And when Shang looked up, he saw his opponent coming toward him.
The Magic Circle had appeared above Shang's head, which meant that an attack had come from above him. His opponent hadn't had much time to evade, and the normal decision would have been to back away or jump to the side inside the poisonous cloud.
However, Shang's opponent had jumped up, immediately leaving the poisonous cloud just when Shang had entered it. Then, she had shot one of the unprepared metal rods into Shang's head. Firing a rod wasn't nearly as accurate as firing an arrow, but from such a short distance, she wouldn't miss.
Without the uniform, the rod would have pierced Shang's brain.
And the thing Shang had hit with his sword?
That was the front half of her left foot.
He had just barely managed to sever that part while she had passed over him.
And, right now, she was about to land on him.
That sounded great for Shang, but there was one issue.
A new arrow was already pointing at his head.
For a second, time seemingly stopped.
Shang couldn't evade this arrow. There was only a meter between them.
The arrow would hit his head.
At that moment, a fire appeared in Shang's eyes.
And he jumped towards her.
Her arrow left the bow.
BANG!
The arrow punched through Shang's gritted teeth, destroying them in the process.
Then, it hit Shang's neck through the back of his mouth.
CRK!
Shang's neck cracked…
But it held!
In this moment of crisis, Shang had decided to jump into the arrow so that it wouldn't hit his brain.
First, he would use his teeth to weaken the arrow a bit.
And then, he would trust in the power of the beast bones inside his body!
The bodies of beasts were way more powerful than the bodies of humans, and Shang was banking on the effect of the procedure!
His entire body was only a bit more than half as powerful as the body of a beast, but the bones of his spine had been replaced with beast bones!
This meant that his spine was as hard as the spine of a beast!
An arrow stuck out of Shang's bloody mouth, purple mist coming out of the opening of his broken teeth.
The arrow was already poisoning him!
The woman's eyes widened.
How was he still alive?!
This should have severed his neck!
A moment later, Shang reached his opponent.
Clink!
Shang let go of his sword, and it fell to the ground.
Shang grabbed the bow with his left arm and pulled back.
The stupidest thing in a fight was to throw one's weapon away, and Shang's opponent knew that. Because of that, she kept holding her bow with her hands.
And this decision would doom her.
Her elbow punched Shang in the chest, but Shang knew how to take a hit.
His right hand touched her back.
BANG!
An explosion of fire came out of his right arm, shooting his opponent to the ground and shooting him into the sky.
Then, Shang pointed his right arm to the sky and released an Ice Blast.
BANG!
Shang's right arm was decimated.
BANG!
The Magic Circle on the woman's uniform activated as Shang's knee hit her spine.
Due to the explosion, she had hit the ground, torso first.
The Magic Circle broke Shang's right knee, but he didn't even really notice it.
Shang's two hands quickly wrapped themselves around her head, and he pulled.
Another Magic Circle appeared over the woman's head, but there was nothing to block. The Magic Circle had noticed that its host was under a life-threatening attack, but it couldn't deal with grapples.
The woman screeched in pain.
And then, the sound of ripping muscles and flesh echoed throughout Shang's world.
A moment later, the body below Shang went limp, and Shang threw the head in his hands to the side.
And then, Shang fell over as his hands gripped the arrow in his mouth.
CRK!
Some flesh was ripped out along with the arrow.
The flesh was black as death.
Shang's mind was swimming, and he tried his best to remain conscious.
While doing this, Shang focused all his Mana on his neck, and it was just barely enough to heal the injury.
However, Shang's head still hurt like hell, even with his unreal tolerance for pain.
The poison had attacked his weak mind, and Shang's Mana had issues healing the damage.
There was a very real possibility that Shang could die since the poison was still attacking his mind.
Yet, due to his warrior's body, he couldn't send his Mana into his mind!
He couldn't do anything against it!
Right now, the only thing he could do was to remain conscious and survive.
'I can't die!'
'I can't die!'
'I can't die!'
Shang repeated that phrase several times in his head as his mind went back to the time the silver hawk had looked into his eyes after he had been nailed to the ground.
The pain was horrible, and it only intensified.
Shang's vision swam, and he barely remained conscious.
And then…
The pain lightened.
Shang managed to take hold of his vanishing consciousness and tightened his grip.
And the pain became lighter.
'I will survive!' Shang screamed in his mind.
And the pain became lighter again.
Some seconds later, the pain completely vanished.
Shang was lying on the ground, silent, only looking at the sky of his own world.
Silence.
'I survived.'
At that moment, the cheering returned.
The corpse of his opponent was vanishing as Shang only remained on the ground.
'It's all thanks to the procedure,' Shang thought.
Shang's regenerative abilities had been increased by the procedure, which had been shown when the Dean had kicked him.
While Shang's warrior's body couldn't heal his mind, the passive regeneration of the Abomination could.
If it hadn't been for the regenerative abilities of the procedure, Shang would have succumbed to the poison.
After some seconds, Shang took hold of Sword and stood up.
"Are you ok?" Sword asked.
"I'm fine," Shang answered. "The regeneration of the procedure has saved my life."
"Good, because I don't think we have any time left," Sword answered.
"Level seven: Weak Middle General Stage warrior."
Sure enough, the announcer returned, and the two wheels reappeared again.
"Can you fight?" Sword asked.
The wheels began to spin.
"I am still a bit woozy, and my life energy hasn't fully regenerated yet."
The first wheel landed on the image of a gigantic club.
"I don't think my body is in a condition to push my speed to its limits. The poison ate up too much of my Mana and life energy."
The second wheel stopped on the Earth Affinity.
"I still need some rest before I can fight with my full power."
A moment later, some light appeared, and Shang's opponent arrived.
It was a huge, middle-aged man with a nearly two-meter-long iron club. He wore no armor and only wore scraps of fur.
Shang looked over at his opponent and readied his sword.
"But I don't need my full power," Shang said.
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
The man opened his eyes, and when he saw Shang, an arrogant smirk appeared on his face.
The man charged toward Shang.
Shang began to walk toward him.
Shang hadn't even looked at the two wheels.