Ch. 361..370

Chapter 361 – Fruits of Training

For the first time in five years, Shang's real body moved.

As soon as Shang regained control over his body, he felt many tiny things moving over him.

Insects.

They thought that Shang was a corpse, and they were trying to eat him. However, Shang's body was simply too powerful, making it pointless.

Nevertheless, Shang released his Domain of Entropy for a moment to get rid of them.

Over the five years, Shang's black piece of cloth that covered his left eye socket had deteriorated, gaining several more holes.

Shang's hair reached his butt, but he didn't really care about that.

More concerning was the long, humongous beard adorning his face.

Shang moved his body around, but when he cracked his jaw, some of the hairs on his beard entered, and Shang had to cough several times.

'I hate beards for exactly that reason!'

Shang grabbed Sword and quickly got rid of his beard.

He decided to leave his hair. He never really had such long hair before, and he wanted to try it out before cutting off five years of "work".

As for Shang's facial features and body…

They hadn't changed.

Shang was already an adult, and he could live for over 250 years.

Five years counted as barely more than one year for a normal person.

Nevertheless, he was 27 now.

'This means I have been in this world for around 13 years already.'

'Somehow, it doesn't feel that long.'

'Anyway, I should get a beast heart.'

Shang slowly dug out of the sandy ground and entered the Tide Serpent Zone again.

Five years had passed, but nothing had changed down here.

Just like last time, Shang felt like time didn't exist in this lake.

Nothing in the world mattered down here.

Shang descended for a couple of minutes before he stopped.

Shang furrowed his brows as he felt something peculiar.

'I feel like a beast is very close. I didn't feel any kind of current, but my instincts are telling me that a beast is currently looking at me.'

'That's new.'

Shang only needed a second to make an educated guess as to why he suddenly had that feeling.

'High Mages and True Path Stage warriors can feel their surroundings with their minds. It essentially works like my Darkness Vision, but its effectiveness doesn't depend on the Mana.'

'No matter where they are, they can essentially feel everything in their surroundings.'

'I'm obviously not on that level yet, but the five years of training brought me closer to the True Path Stage. I guess this could be called a Pseudo-Spirit Sense.'

Spirit Sense was the name of the ability to see one's surroundings like that.

Shang closed his right eye and felt his surroundings.

The new sensations were still confusing, but he could tell the general direction of whatever was watching him.

BANG!

Shang released an Ice Blast and shot in that direction.

A moment later, Shang felt foreign currents, and his guess was confirmed.

He could slightly feel living beings around him!

As soon as Shang felt the currents, the location of his opponent was unveiled, and he directly charged to that place.

Suddenly, the currents stopped, and Shang's instincts were telling him that whatever he was chasing was preparing an attack.

In this instant, the image of a spear appeared in his mind.

Shang knew that beasts didn't truly have spears, but he felt like the image of a spear was accurate.

However, this was another new sensation Shang had never felt before.

Nevertheless, he trusted his new perception.

His body moved on its own after so many years of training, and Sword angled in such a way that it redirected the spear in Shang's mind.

CLINK!

Shang felt something hit Sword and getting redirected to his left.

CRRRR!

Sword continued forward, grinding on whatever it was on.

For just a moment, light appeared in the dark water as sparks flew.

CRKSH!

Sword went past the thing it was redirecting and hit something hard but definitely organic.

Shang felt the familiar feeling of his sword cutting through scales, flesh, and bones.

BANG!

Sword easily passed through the entire thing, killing it.

Shang quickly pocketed the corpse, retreated into the ground, and entered his inner world.

Then, he looked at it.

It was a fish with a thick and long horn.

'Initial Commander Stage,' Shang realized.

Shang looked at the horn. 'So, this was the spear in my mind. I think a horn can be compared to a spear.'

'Teacher Mervin's lesson didn't show much effect during my fights with the Mages, but as soon as I fought a beast, I immediately realized that my power has increased by quite a bit.'

'As soon as the fish attacked, it was like Teacher Mervin was mimicking a spear. My body moved on its own, and I perfectly countered the attack.'

Shang's brows furrowed. 'And most shocking of all is that I didn't even see my opponent. I have no form of Mana Vision in this lake, and I can't see anything.'

'My Pseudo-Spirit Sense is also very weak and very vague, but as soon as an attack was launched, I somehow knew what kind of attack the opponent was using.'

'Is it possible that Teacher Mervin specifically trained me to rely on my Pseudo-Spirit Sense?'

Shang thought about this for a while.

'It's possible. Teacher Mervin already has a powerful Path, and he probably already has access to his own Spirit Sense. He has many more years of experience than me, and he has probably already spent years changing his habits. I think he relies more on his Spirit Sense than eyes or Mana Sense.'

For a while, Shang remained silent.

'I really underestimated the amount of knowledge and experience warriors accumulate during the Commander Stage. There is so much more to know.'

Then, Shang went to the corpse and dug out its heart.

He performed the usual routine and strengthened his body.

But when he was done, he noticed something else.

'My body didn't absorb more Mana than the last times, but the remnant will of the beast doesn't feel nearly as powerful as the last times.'

'I don't think that the will has become weaker but that my will has become more powerful. Maybe that has also something to do with my training with Teacher Mervin?'

'As things stand now, I can probably get rid of all the Mana in ten days. Previously, the same task took me about 13 days or so.'

'It actually makes sense. If my will is stronger, it will exhaust the beast's will quicker, allowing me to strengthen my body earlier than usual.'

Shang took a deep breath.

'I've never imagined that these five years of training made so much difference.'

'I have some kind of Pseudo-Spirit Sense.'

'My mind subconsciously produces familiar images when an opponent attacks me.'

'My will has become more powerful, allowing me to strengthen my body quicker.'

'And lastly, I have gotten way better at fighting warriors and beasts.'

'Five years, huh?'

'These five years were definitely worth it!'

Shang looked at his inner world.

'For the foreseeable future, I should get more familiar with my Affinity. The last time my Affinity received any kind of strong boost in power was when I managed to move its core around inside my body.'

'I've neglected training it.'

For now, Shang didn't want to leave the Tide Serpent Zone.

Yes, he was very powerful, but if even one Mid True Mage crossed his path, Shang could very likely die.

This was a perfect time to train in peace.

And after five years, Shang no longer cared about returning to the Skythunder Kingdom quickly.

He might as well stay here until he could attempt the journey back.

Shang sat down and concentrated on his Affinity.

Whenever he could strengthen his body again, he would leave and get another heart.

He remained in this routine for quite a long time.

 

Chapter 362 – The Plan

Shang spent a bit more than a year strengthening his body and Affinity.

After that year, Shang reached the Early Commander Stage, but his control over his Affinity hadn't been strengthened by much. The main problem was probably his weak mind.

Sadly, there was no cure for that due to his Warrior's body.

However, Shang wanted to reach a breakthrough in his control over his Affinity before he left this place. On top of that, he wanted to strengthen his body a bit more. After all, the relative power compared to beasts on his level always fell after a breakthrough.

Shortly before Shang had made his breakthrough, he had about 82% of the power of an Initial Commander Stage beast, but after his breakthrough, he only had about 60% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast.

In terms of total power, that was still far more than before, but it could definitely be better.

So, Shang continued training his Affinity and strengthening his body for another year.

After that year, the power of Shang's body returned to about 73% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast, and he finally managed to make a breakthrough in his Affinity.

'My new ability should give me more defensive power against Mages and more offensive power against beasts,' he thought as he looked at his left arm.

'Additionally, I already know what my next milestone for my Affinity will be, but that will probably take another couple of years.'

'For now, I don't want to stay inside this lake any longer.'

With another two years passing, Shang's body was now 29 years old.

Seven years ago, Shang had been a newbie relating to Commander Stage warriors, but now, he was experienced.

'I might actually have a chance of winning against Teacher Mervin now, but that's because of the Procedure and my Affinity. If our physical power were at the same level, I would probably still miserably lose,' Shang thought with a bitter smile.

'There's plenty more to learn.'

'Anyway, I should get ready for the big event.'

Shang left his inner world and returned to his body.

After leaving the sandy ground, Shang swam towards the center of the lake, but after only two kilometers, he stopped.

The only reason why he was here was to not be directly near the Plague Rat Zone.

For a moment, Shang didn't move, but his heartbeat began to speed up.

He was getting nervous.

'It's a gamble, but I need to do this.'

Over the last two years, Shang had realized something.

According to his math, his body would reach its peak at around 78% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast.

Obviously, this was lower than the 82% he had had at the Initial Commander Stage.

What was the difference?

The Abomination he had absorbed.

If Shang continued training without absorbing any Abominations, he estimated that the maximum potential of his body would always remain at the 75% mark.

As soon as he reached the 75% mark, he would need to reach the next level, which would mean his strength would fall by another 20% to 55%.

In comparison, if Shang exclusively only absorbed Abominations, he was sure he would be able to reach 100% of the power of an equivalent beast.

With the 20% drop, this would mean that he would be at 80% of the power of an equivalent beast after a breakthrough.

This meant that the lowest point of only absorbing Abominations was 5% higher than the highest point of absorbing whatever beast.

This difference in power was astronomical.

The Abomination-absorbing Shang would be more powerful than the other Shang after he had strengthened his body for another couple of years.

This difference in power represented probably over three points in a theoretical trial.

Sadly, Shang couldn't only absorb Abominations. Every time he summoned one, he would attract the attention of the resident Zone Beast.

Most Zone Beasts probably didn't exactly care about Shang due to the Thunder Horse's mark, but if they suddenly saw several Abominations appear around him, they would very likely want to kill him.

This left Shang with only a single way to absorb Abominations, and he was about to try out this method right now.

He would need to summon Abominations, absorb one, and immediately flee to another Zone as the other Abominations distracted the Zone Beast.

However, it was still dangerous.

What if the Zone Beast decided to follow Shang into a different Zone? For example, the Empress Cobra also dealt with the Abominations in the Adamantite Behemoth Zone.

If Shang were to summon Abominations in the Empress Cobra Zone and flee to the Adamantite Behemoth Zone, the Empress Cobra would very likely chase after him and kill him.

Additionally, he could probably never allow himself to enter the Spirit Sense's range of that Zone Beast again.

Absorbing an Abomination represented going scorched earth with a Zone Beast. Every Zone Shang performed that act in would become inaccessible to him.

Sadly, that was the only way Shang could think of.

He couldn't control how many Abominations appeared. At most, he could probably somewhat control where they appeared.

Performing that trick was definitely very risky and dangerous, but if Shang wanted to reach his full potential, he needed to absorb Abominations.

Right now, Shang was around five kilometers deep in the ancient lake. The distance to the shore of the Plague Rat Zone was about four kilometers. After all, the ground went inward the deeper one went in the lake.

So, even though Shang was four kilometers away from the shore, he was only a bit more than two kilometers away from the sandy wall.

'Zone Beasts have a terrifying Spirit Sense, but I'm pretty sure that Plague Rat can't feel the Abominations if they appear down here. There is quite a lot of distance to the place where the Plague Rat lives, and there's also a ton of water between us.'

'Additionally, the terrifying pressure down here should kill all the Soldier Stage Abominations and the weaker General Stage Abominations, somewhat containing the commotion.'

'First, I summon the Abominations. Then, I quickly absorb one. After that, I will flee to the Plague Rat Zone, kill any Mage I see, and directly run to the northwest, to the next Zone.'

'The Zone to the northwest is the Ancestral Mountain Zone. As long as I run up the mountain, the Mages should stop chasing. After all, they don't want to die.'

Funnily enough, the Ancestral Mountain Zone didn't get its name from its Zone Beast but from the fact that the entire Zone was essentially one huge mountain.

The reason why it wasn't named after the Zone Beast was that no one had ever seen the Zone Beast.

It obviously lived on top of the Ancestral Mountain, and it definitely had a Light Affinity.

But that was all the humans knew about the Zone Beast.

Shang didn't want to remain in the Plague Rat Zone for obvious reasons. He would only run through it, get to the mountain, find a safe place there, and then enter the Blackshadow Kingdom.

Yes, the Ancestral Mountain Zone belonged to the Grandmountain Kingdom for the simple reason that the Blackshadow Kingdom really wasn't very interested in that Zone.

They were not the biggest fans of a Zone filled with Light Mana.

'The resident Governor should be in the Deepcore Turtle Zone, and I doubt that they will act due to some rogue barbarian.'

Shang closed his right eye to prepare himself mentally.

He only hoped that he wouldn't die.

And a couple of seconds later…

He activated his Domain of Entropy.

 

Chapter 363 – Destruction

Shang activated his Domain of Entropy but didn’t use it to destroy the matter around him. It didn’t have any offensive capabilities in this state, but the Abominations would surely sense it.

For several minutes, Shang simply waited in the middle of the lake. Since his Domain was destroying nothing, the beasts also didn’t notice it.

After about ten minutes, Shang felt something.

He felt a kind of connection with something very distant.

It was like Shang was feeling innumerable sleeping presences far away.

The last time Shang had summoned Abominations had been on accident during his breakthrough. Obviously, he hadn’t had the time to concentrate on these presences since he had been busy with his breakthrough.

But this time, he could fully focus on them.

The presences all had different levels of power. Most of them were incredibly weak, and Shang was pretty certain that these weak presences symbolized Soldier Stage Abominations.

There were also a lot of more powerful presences, which should be the General Stage Abominations.

The strongest presences, which should be the Commander Stage Abominations, were only about 20 in number.

‘I can control what I summon?’ Shang thought with furrowed brows.

Shang slowly reached out to one of the Commander Stage Abominations and slowly pulled.

He felt the presence steer, but along with it steered about 20 General Stage Abominations and around 400 Soldier Stage Abominations.

Shang stopped pulling on that one and focused on another Commander Stage Abomination.

However, 20 General Stage Abominations and 400 Soldier Stage Abominations still steered, but they were different ones.

Now, Shang slowly understood what was going on.

‘This is basically a hierarchy or an org chart,’ Shang thought. ‘If I pull a manager out of an org chart, I will pull all their employees with them.’

That’s when Shang realized something else.

‘One Abomination is always superior to 20 other Abominations. Then, since I can sense 20 Commander Stage Abominations, it means that this is the army of a True Path Stage Abomination.’

‘However, I can’t feel the True Path Stage Abomination.’

‘I also don’t feel any kind of superior connection coming out of the Commander Stage Abominations. It’s almost like there is no True Path Stage Abomination superior to them.’

Shang wasn’t sure what he should think about that, but he also knew that he probably wouldn’t be able to find out the reason.

Because of that, he focused on his plan.

‘Seems like I’m forced to summon a total of 421 Abominations if I want to absorb a Commander Stage Abomination.’

‘That’s a lot of destruction and power. Every single one of them can explode with incredible force. If I were to summon them in a Zone filled with humans, I might end up killing hundreds or thousands of humans.’

Shang felt a pit appear in his stomach when that thought entered his mind.

He could deal with killing his enemies but being responsible for an entire city being wiped out just for being near him was not something he wanted to imagine.

‘Summoning these beasts would count as bringing a calamity upon the place where I am. I know I can somewhat control the Abominations, but I don’t think that they will just wait for their deaths if I order them. They will probably still retaliate if anything attacks them.’

‘I should be careful in which Zones I activate this ability.’

Then, Shang pulled on one of the Commander Stage Abominations.

The presence grew more powerful and present alongside its subservient presences.

And a couple of seconds later…

SHING!

The Commander Stage Abomination appeared right in front of Shang.

It looked exactly like the one Shang had absorbed.

He felt a deep connection with it, but its appearance was still very alien to him.

SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING!

Two seconds later, all the General Stage Abominations appeared around the lake. Apparently, they had somewhat spread out while being summoned.

And lastly, the Soldier Stage Abominations appeared all over the lake.

As soon as they appeared, nearly half of them died to the pressure deep inside the lake, while the other ones appeared in shallower waters.

Shang’s heart was already racing.

There was no way back now!

Shang immediately grabbed the Abomination, and it entered his body without any resistance.

Shang felt his body explode with power as his body instantly reached 78% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast.

At the same time, Shang felt the Abominations becoming angry.

They hated this place!

They hated everything they could see!

It was like their life’s purpose was to destroy the entire world.

At that moment, Shang’s suspicion was confirmed.

He couldn’t just ask them to die.

They would attack and destroy, no matter what Shang said.

The only thing he could do was to direct their hatred in one direction.

And Shang did just that.

“Destroy the bottom of the lake!” he ordered them with his mind.

Like an avalanche, all the remaining Abominations violently charged towards the bottom of the lake.

After giving the order, Shang immediately charged toward the surface.

BZZT!

Just two seconds later, the Thunder Horse’s mark activated, which meant that something very powerful had taken note of Shang.

‘Pretty sure that’s the Tide Serpent.’

BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOM!

As Shang retreated, the water around him suddenly started to vibrate. At the same time, Shang could hear the sounds of distant explosions.

When the Abominations decided to blow themselves up, they could unleash terrifying power.

A Soldier Stage Abomination had a shot at killing a Commander Stage beast if it exploded.

A General Stage Abomination could do the same with a True Path Stage beast.

This was the epitome of Shang’s Entropy, the ability to sacrifice parts of himself to unleash an insane amount of power.

And, right now, hundreds of smaller Shangs were using that ability to wreak havoc.

It was terrifying.

More and more explosions shot throughout the lake as Shang reached the surface of the lake.

Shang didn’t know how much the Abominations destroyed, but it had to be a monumental amount.

Eventually, Shang broke through the lake’s surface and came into contact with air for the first time in over seven years.

Just as before, the sky was dark and filled with Darkness Mana. However, that was good. With so much Darkness Mana, Shang could make full use of his Darkness Vision.

After blasting into the air, Shang threw a glance at the lake below him.

Silence.

The lake was calm.

It was like nothing was currently happening inside the lake.

It was truly like the lake was an entirely different world from the surface.

Shang quickly focused on the shore of the Plague Rat Zone and saw two towers with a shield around them.

He knew that he had either already been spotted or would soon be.

The two towers were built on top of a cliff, which was about five meters high. The cliff went around the entire lake.

At that moment, Shang’s right eye opened wide in shock.

‘Cliff? I don’t remember there being a cliff!’

Shang remembered the time he had fled to the Tide Serpent Zone. Back then, he had entered it via a small beach.

There had been no cliffs!

And then, Shang had a terrifying thought.

He quickly focused on the Mana in his surroundings.

He couldn’t feel any Water Mana due to his low Affinity towards it.

‘But with so many Abominations blowing up at the same time, the amount of Water Mana should reach densities where even I can feel it!’

‘Unless!’

Shang looked around.

No steam.

No additional Water Mana.

A cliff where there had been no cliff before.

And then, Shang realized.

‘The Abominations are destroying the water! They are not transforming it into steam or Water Mana, but completely destroying it!’

‘Energy can’t be created or destroyed? Bullshit!’

‘They are literally doing just that!’

Shang’s nervousness rose.

‘Every time an Abomination appears, it permanently destroys its surroundings. It is not converting things from one thing into the other, but completely destroying them!’

‘Then, doesn’t that mean that this world will eventually completely stop existing?!’

‘Over years and years, the Abominations will slowly chew away on the world.’

‘Is there a way to create more Mana?’

Shang had no idea.

Creating Mana was something that was so far beyond his level that he couldn’t even make a guess.

‘The Abominations are not just destroying life, but the world itself!’

 

Chapter 364 – Icicle

Shang quickly shook his head to regain his focus.

‘I don’t have time to think about that right now! I can think about that stuff when I’m safe!’

Shang focused on the distant towers again as he summoned a hood made of fish scales. He didn’t want the Grandmountain Kingdom to recognize him.

If they recognized him, they would know that he only had one eye, which was basically unique in this world. Then, if Shang appeared back in the Skythunder Kingdom eventually and they connected the sudden appearances of the Abominations with his identity, the Kingdoms might decide to ignore the war to deal with Shang.

After all, someone like him was a threat to all of them.

Shang had to keep his identity a secret if he wanted to live openly inside the Skythunder Kingdom again, and he couldn’t allow his identity to be connected to the Abominations.

By now, he could see two Mages standing on each tower, and they were talking with each other as they glanced at the lake.

They noticed that the water level was dropping.

‘They will see me soon, but I can’t kill them. These towers are fortified with a gigantic Mana Shield that uses Mana stored in Mana Crystals. Exhausting the supply of one tower would be like trying to break through a Peak True Mage’s Mana Shield. By the point I broke it, the Mages would have already contacted their superiors.’

‘Additionally, they will notice the power of my attacks, giving them an inkling of my power. Right now, my advantage is that they don’t know how powerful I am.’

‘If I get chased by a Late True Mage, I might not be able to escape in time, and if a Peak True Mage comes after me, only death awaits me.’

‘I have to keep my power a secret, and I will only have a single opportunity to unleash my power!’

BANG!

Shang released an Ice Blast and shot towards the northwest, past the northern tower.

At that moment, the Mages noticed Shang. After all, he was literally exploding through the sky.

“Stop or we will kill you!” one of the Mages in the northern tower shouted loudly.

Of course, Shang didn’t stop, and he unleashed a Fire Blast to keep his speed at its peak.

“Attack!” the Mage ordered.

A moment later, the tower began to light up as the two Mages focused their Mana on it.

A second later, a huge fireball appeared above the tower, which directly shot at Shang.

Shang immediately released a ranged attack at the fireball with his sword, the recoil throwing him further towards the north.

BOOOOOM!

The fireball exploded in the distance as Shang kept going.

“Change to crowd control!” the Mage shouted.

The light of the tower started pulsating quickly, and about ten small fireballs appeared above it.

And then, the ten fireballs shot toward Shang one after the other.

Blocking one powerful attack was easy for Shang, but he couldn’t possibly unleash his ranged attacks fast enough to block all of these small fireballs.

Even more, as the tower kept firing, more fireballs appeared around it.

It essentially acted as a gigantic machine gun!

However, when Shang saw that, he didn’t become nervous.

‘I knew it was the correct decision to strengthen my Affinity before leaving the Tide Serpent Zone!’

Shang let go of Sword, which automatically clung to Shang’s body.

Then, Shang extended two fingers each on his hands.

SSSSS!

Shang’s body began to release steam as it heated up.

Shang pointed two of his fingers at one of the fireballs.

BANG!

An icicle shot out of Shang’s fingers and hit the fireball.

BOOOM!

The fireball exploded in the distance, and Shang did the same thing to the next one.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Shang shot down each and every fireball as the recoil of his ability threw him further and further north.

This was one of Shang’s new abilities he had gained after strengthening his Affinity for two years.

He had gained the ability to somewhat spread the temperature fluctuations over a wider area of his body while gaining the ability to focus his Blasts more.

There wasn’t a lot of destructive power in these icicles, but they could be used in quick succession.

If the fireballs were as powerful as the first one, the power of the icicles wouldn’t be enough to detonate them. However, these fireballs were smaller, and Shang could detonate with no problem.

Shang called this new ability Icicle, a simple but very descriptive name.

By now, Shang had already passed the northern tower and was over two kilometers to its northwest.

From such a distance, it became much harder for the Mages to focus on him. If they were using their own Spells, they would still have very high accuracy from such a distance, but they were using the tower’s Spells.

Sadly, they couldn’t use their own Spells. If Shang could react fast enough to deal with these fast-moving fireballs, he would very likely be able to completely evade their Spells.

Shang had been forced to directly destroy the fireballs since they were so fast that he couldn’t avoid them.

The Mages watched with shocked eyes and gnashed teeth as Shang kept gaining more and more distance.

He was near the northern border of the Plague Rat Zone, which was close to the Core Tiger Zone, which belonged to the Blackshadow Kingdom.

There were not many of their forces stationed there, but there were several towers to keep watch over the border.

However, there were still around three kilometers more until Shang reached the border to the north, which was just enough not to get into the range of the towers without some loss in accuracy.

Yet, this place was also not close to their headquarters, which was where their main force in the Plague Rat Zone resided.

It was almost like this invader knew exactly how their forces were distributed in this Zone!

One of the Mages quickly summoned a Communication Crystal.

“An unknown male with a big sword just came out of the Tide Serpent Zone, shot across the sky by using several explosions, destroyed the tower’s fireballs, and entered the Plague Rat Zone north of our tower! He keeps charging towards the west!” the Mage quickly reported.

Then, the Mage very quickly recounted Shang’s abilities.

The person on the other side of the Communication Crystal raised an eyebrow.

It was the young man with icy blue hair, the leader of the Plague Rat Zone.

He was a Peak True Mage.

He had expected an assault from the Blackshadow Kingdom when the emergency Communication Crystal rang, but he hadn’t expected that.

Someone exploding through the air?

He was carrying a big sword?

The big sword made the image of a barbarian appear in the leader’s mind, but barbarians couldn’t explode through the sky with fire and ice, and they certainly didn’t have the necessary control over Mana to summon icicles.

‘Is that a warrior?’ the leader thought with furrowed brows.

‘I don’t know what the Skythunder Kingdom is planning this time, but this doesn’t sound like any of their two warriors in the Fourth Realm, which means this is a warrior at the Commander Stage.’

‘But why only one? Also, shouldn’t they have tried a more subtle approach?’

‘Is this a rogue warrior?’

‘This far in the north?’

This entire thing didn’t make much sense to the general, but he guessed that this was probably a solo warrior. He didn’t think that this was some elaborate ploy from the Skythunder Kingdom.

“Understood. Keep guarding the lake,” the leader answered.

After cutting the connection, the leader was looking at the hall.

There were five Late True Mages in the hall.

The emergency Communication Crystal had gone off during a meeting.

“Esther,” the leader said.

“Yes!” Esther, a Mage with green hair, shouted as she stood up and saluted.

“We have a warrior invading from the Tide Serpent Zone and charging towards our western border. He is powerful enough to block the attacks of the towers.”

“Get your unit and deal with him.”

“Yes, sir!” Esther answered as she ran out of the hall.

At the same time, Shang had already landed and was running towards the west at his full power, his face hidden by the cloak made of fish scales.

He saw some Adepts and barbarians scattered around the place but ignored them.

They were only looking at him with confusion.

Why was this barbarian in such a hurry, and how was he so fast?

After about five minutes, Shang had already crossed half of the Plague Rat Zone.

“Leader?”

Shang stopped.

Shang’s heartbeat quickened as he heard a familiar voice.

He looked over at the person that had just called him leader.

It was Lash, Shang’s first follower from back then, the one he had taught about fighting.

Lash was still at the Peak Fighter Stage, but his body had become very powerful. He was probably only waiting for the Ascension.

Right now, Lash was looking at Shang with shock.

Lash had thought that Shang had died seven years ago, but now, he was here!

“Is that you, leader?” Lash asked.

At that moment, Shang gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists so tightly that blood came out of his hands.

Shang’s entire body began to shake in stress.

“I’m sorry,” Shang said quietly. “I can’t get recognized.”

Then, Shang pointed two of his fingers at Lash’s head.

BANG!

An icicle punched through Lash’s head, and Shang continued running.

Lash’s corpse fell to the ground, a shocked expression on his face.

Chapter 365 – Bombardment

Shang kept charging towards the west on autopilot. He felt like a hole had opened up inside of his chest, but he couldn’t deal with that now. He had to get to safety first!

He kept running towards the west, past several barbarians and Mages looking at him with confusion and surprise.

They had no idea what was happening.

Suddenly, Shang’s instincts were screaming at him, and he quickly took to the sky with an Ice Blast.

BOOOM!

A huge fireball exploded at the place where Shang would have just reached, but he managed to avoid it.

Shang quickly looked towards the southwest and saw five Mages preparing Spells.

The amount of Mana they were giving off told Shang that they were Mid True Mages. He couldn’t feel all of their Affinities, but he could feel two of them.

‘With at least two Mid True Mages, this is probably a Circle led by a Mage at the Late True Mage Realm, which means one of the people with an Affinity I can’t feel is at the Late True Mage Realm.’

‘I just hope the Late True Mage is not of the powerful kind, or I will die.’

BANG!

Shang kept charging towards the west. He couldn’t waste his time with these Mages right now. The longer he remained here, the more backup they would receive. Additionally, if Shang showed his power right now, they might decide to send a Peak Mage after him.

Esther, the leader of this Circle, narrowed her eyes when she noticed that the intruder just kept running to the west. She didn’t know what he was planning, but his actions were strange.

“Shoot him down!” she commanded.

The Mages performed Mana Step twice in a row, depleting their Mana by quite a bit. However, they managed to close the distance to Shang by quite a bit.

And then, all five Mages prepared their Spells, and they shot at Shang.

Two of the Spells were targeted directly at Shang, while the other three Spells targeted a wider area.

BANG!

Shang flew higher into the sky, a bit of blood coming out of his body. He couldn’t remain airborne indefinitely, but it was a necessity right now. Dodging while being in the air was easier for Shang than being on the ground.

The smaller Spells missed him, but one of the bigger Spells would hit.

A wave of icy mist engulfed Shang’s surroundings.

This Spell was called Ice Wave.

BANG! BANG!

Shang quickly released two Ice Blasts to keep his body warm. Normally, the Ice Wave Spell froze the target, but with Shang’s control over his temperature, he managed to shrug off the Spell while gaining more speed.

The Mages were quite surprised when they saw that Shang seemingly ignored the Ice Wave Spell. Shouldn’t he have been frozen? What was going on?

“Ice Spells only concentrated from now on,” Esther ordered. She didn’t know how the intruder managed to brush off that Spell, but wide-range Ice Spells obviously didn’t work.

The Mages used another two Mana Steps and prepared their next Spells.

This time, Shang had to deal with a Lightning Net Spell after avoiding the other ones.

Shang put his left hand onto Sword and released a ranged attack shortly after.

BANG!

A black wave hit the Lightning Net, nullifying it. However, in exchange, Shang’s left arm lost quite a bit of life energy.

“Only wide-area Spells from now on!” Esther ordered. She had seen that Shang managed to evade all the concentrated Spells, but he had to actually expend effort to deal with the wide-area Spells.

The Mages used another two Mana Steps to get even closer.

‘They are using more Mana than they are regenerating by using Mana Step in such quick succession. In the short term, they are faster than me, but that won’t hold for long.’

By now, Shang felt the Darkness Mana lighten, and the Light Mana become denser.

He was reaching the border.

But then, five wide-range Spells shot at Shang, and the most dangerous Spell was the Wind Wave. By now, Shang knew that the Wind Mage was the Late True Mage.

‘If I get hit by that, I will be severely injured.’

BANG!

Shang released another blast and hit the ground. He quickly flattened his body.

WHOOOM!

The powerful Spells shot past him. Shang hadn’t been flying high in the sky, which allowed him to quickly evade to the ground.

“Do it again!” Esther shouted.

The intruder had managed to evade the Spells, but all his momentum was gone. Without his momentum, it would become much harder to evade.

The next Spells quickly shot at Shang, and he looked at them.

If he got hit by that, he would die. This was a pure wave of destruction.

“Ishah!”

BANG!

The Spells missed Shang as he appeared around 500 meters further to the west.

Shang didn’t pause and immediately continued running.

“Quick! Follow him! He used up all his Mana by using Mana Step! He has nothing left to counter our Spells!” Esther shouted.

There was a reason why no warrior used Mana Step. It was simply too unpractical.

The warriors needed their Mana to control their Affinities, but they didn’t even nearly have as much Mana as a Mage.

A quick step over a big distance was definitely useful, but the warrior would no longer have access to any of their abilities that needed Mana after that.

The Mages performed another two Mana Steps. By now, they were only about 500 meters away from Shang.

Then, the next storm of wide-range Spells shot at Shang.

BANG!

Shang blasted into the air again and placed his feet on Sword as he angled his body.

WHOOOOM!

A storm of destructive Mana reached Shang, but Sword parted it like a stone between the waves.

The wide-area Spells didn’t have enough destructive power to damage Sword, allowing Shang to block it.

But wait, why hadn’t he done that earlier?

Because his position had been suboptimal.

He had been on the ground previously and had been to the north of the Mages. The force of the attack would have pushed him closer to the Core Tiger Zone, which was not where he wanted to go.

But now, Shang was already northwest of the Mages, which meant that his back was now to his goal.

Shang felt a powerful force push his body away, and he accelerated even more as he was thrown towards the Ancestral Mountain Zone.

When Esther saw that, she gritted her teeth.

Their attack had not only not hindered the intruder but even aided him!

Even more, her Circle was running low on Mana.

They had been using Mana Steps several times while unleashing one Spell after the other.

“We can’t unleash any more wide-range Spells,” she said with annoyance. “We will follow while recovering our Mana. When we are full again, we will kill him!”

After giving her orders, Esther cast a complicated Spell, which took about three seconds to complete.

When she finished her chant, a green wind appeared around the Circle.

Blessing of the Wind!

The five Mages quickly began charging after Shang, their speed a bit slower than Shang’s. However, only Esther was using up Mana while everyone else was recovering Mana.

For now, they had lost their momentum, but they would very soon explode forward with another assault.

With the high density of Light Mana, Shang could watch the Circle without turning his head.

‘The leader is using up Mana while the others recover.’

‘Bad idea.’

 

Chapter 366 – Last Push

For about half a minute, the Mages were only following Shang as he fully entered the Ancestral Mountain Zone.

In front of Shang was something that looked like the end of the world.

It was just a giant wall of stone that stretched into the sky seemingly forever.

No one knew how high the Ancestral Mountain was, but they were sure it was over 15 kilometers tall.

It was absolutely gigantic.

Shang only needed to traverse another two kilometers until he reached the Ancestral Mountain.

“If he reaches the mountain, we won’t be able to catch him anymore!” Esther shouted. “We attack now!”

The other four Mages nodded.

And then, they all released several Mana Steps.

SHING!

The five Mages suddenly appeared between Shang and the mountain, their Spells ready.

They had unleashed four Mana Steps to get here.

Shang had already expected that something like this would happen, which was why he hadn’t unleashed many Blasts in the past 30 seconds.

His body was fully healed, and the Mana inside his body was also full. Sadly, the Mana inside his mind needed a couple more minutes to replenish, which meant that Mana Step wasn’t available to him right now.

But he only needed to overcome this one assault.

Only ten Spells were between him and safety.

The Mages didn’t prepare any wide-area Spells since Shang could somewhat deal with them. However, they also knew that Shang could very likely evade all of the Spells if they launched them at the same time.

Because of that, they entered a rotation.

The first person to use their Spell was the Ice Mage.

A huge ice spear appeared above her, which directly shot at Shang with incredible speed.

BANG!

Shang released an Ice Blast to jump into the sky, evading the first Spell.

That was when the second ice spear appeared.

WHOOOM!

The ice spear was turned into Ice Mana, which quickly entered Sword.

Shang had just spent 50% of his body’s Mana by unleashing the Domain of Entropy.

An instant later, a fireball shot at Shang.

BANG!

Shang evaded to the side with a Fire Blast, evading the fireball.

Shang already knew that the next Spell would come very soon, and he wanted to evade further into the sky.

But then, he saw what Spell the Mage actually unleashed.

It was the Fire Pillar Spell.

The Fire Pillar Spell was, as the name suggested, a fire pillar that moved forward.

If Shang evaded upward, he would still be hit.

However, this was a good thing.

At the same time, Esther gnashed her teeth.

‘I gave specific orders not to use wide-range Spells!’ she complained inside her mind.

Shang put Sword beneath him and stood on it.

The fire pillar reached Shang.

The power coming from the bottom of the fire pillar hit Sword, throwing it and Shang further upward.

The remaining heat from the wall of fire that had just been in front of Shang still hit him, though, burning his skin. The only thing he was wearing currently was his old pair of pants, which also caught on fire.

As Shang’s burned body was thrown higher into the sky, he released a Fire Blast to cool his body. After that, he released a bit of Ice Mana to stop his pants from burning.

When Esther saw that, her eyes became bloodshot.

Then, she put her hands beside her to stop the Water Mage from firing.

The Water Mage’s task had been to push Shang further away if he managed to get past the first couple of Spells. Water wasn’t very destructive, but it was amazing at pushing something away with a concentrated beam.

However, if the Water Mage were to release her Spells now, Shang would be thrown further into the sky. At that point, he would have gained enough height to fly past them.

The Water Mage threw a venomous glance at the Fire Mage, who only watched with horror at what he had done.

With the Water Mage out of the picture, Shang had essentially already overcome six Spells.

Four more to go.

Next, a gigantic rock shot at Shang.

CRRR!

The Ice Mana inside Sword came out and increased Sword’s size.

Sword became wider and several meters longer.

And then, Shang swung Sword.

BANG!

Shang cut the boulder apart, the increased length and width of Sword making the two halves shoot past him. If Sword hadn’t become bigger, the two halves might have taken Shang’s shoulders off his body.

That was when Shang saw the second boulder coming for him.

The Ice Mana inside Sword had already been used up, and it returned to its normal size.

‘After that, only the leader should be left. I don’t think the Water Mage is very dangerous.’

Shang let go of Sword, which automatically clung to his body.

BANG!

Shang pointed his left hand at the boulder and released an Ice Blast. Shang was thrown further away, but the force of the blast slowed the boulder down.

BANG!

Then, Shang released a Fire Blast, which resulted in the boulder stopping. However, Shang was now flying away at rapid speeds.

BANG!

Another Ice Blast later, Shang managed to stop in the sky.

BANG!

Shang released another Fire Blast, his body releasing a mixture of icy mist and steam as his temperature was all over the place. Some blood was already starting to flow out of his body.

But now, Shang was shooting at the huge boulder, which was currently very slowly beginning to fall.

BANG!

Shang landed on the boulder, his knees buckling.

And then, Shang pushed with all of his power.

BANG!

The boulder immediately shot at the leader of the Circle with frightening power and speed.

Esther’s frustration reached levels she had never thought possible as she saw the Spell of her own Mage come at her.

BANG!

She released a Wind Bullet Spell, which fragmented the boulder into many small pieces, but that meant that she had used up one of her prepared Spells.

As the rubble of the stone bounced off their Mana Shields, the Mages looked at the sky.

And that was when they saw Shang, and their eyes widened.

Wasn’t he supposed to be fleeing?

Why was he directly in front of Esther?!

Blood flowed out of several parts of Shang’s body, and for some reason, he seemed much thinner than before.

That was when dark energy came out of Sword.

It was Darkness Mana!

BANG!

Sword hit Esther’s Mana Shield, the Darkness Mana stretching across it like lightning.

CRACK!

Esther’s Mana Shield broke.

She had never gotten an opportunity to regain her Mana. Keeping up Blessing of the Wind for five people was very draining, and she had also used a lot of Mana Steps.

This strike completely destroyed her Mana Shield.

And then, Esther watched in horror as the intruder’s sword came for her head.

…

It stopped.

Sword stopped right in front of Esther’s forehead.

BANG!

Suddenly, her Focus was slapped to the side, falling apart into its components.

And then, a strong hand grabbed her throat and pulled her away.

Her body was flung around, and she suddenly faced her Circle of Mages, her body held by Shang’s hand at the back of her neck.

“You do anything, she dies!” Shang shouted.

Silence.

 

Chapter 367 – Negotiation

After several minutes of noise while chasing the intruder, the battlefield became silent for the first time.

The Mages still couldn’t comprehend what they had just witnessed.

A physi had managed to take a Late True Mage hostage while surrounded by four Mid True Mages?!

Weren’t Late True Mages supposed to be unbeatable for every physi except for that one physi in the Skythunder Kingdom?!

“Let go of our Head!” one of the Mages shouted angrily.

Shang tightened his grip, making Esther open her mouth in a silent scream.

“I don’t want to fight with your Kingdom,” Shang answered with a deeper voice than normal. He didn’t want any of them to recognize him by voice, even if the chances were minuscule. Additionally, he also hid his face behind Esther’s lifted body.

“I only want to enter the Blackshadow Kingdom,” Shang added.

The Mages gnashed their teeth and looked at each other.

If they launched a Spell, their Head would definitely die. Additionally, they probably couldn’t keep Shang here. He already stood closer to the mountain than them, and chasing him up the mountain was impossible.

“Why would we let you do that?” one of the Mages asked with narrowed eyes.

“Because I am not here on a mission, but on accident,” Shang said. “You are allowed to cast a truth verification Spell if you want, but I warn you, I know the chant. If I hear anything else, she dies.”

The Mages looked at each other, but eventually, they nodded.

One of them stepped forward and chanted a Spell.

After around five seconds, the chant was finished, and the Mana in the surroundings had changed.

The Truth Verification Spell was now active.

“I am not here by free will,” Shang said, knowing that the Mages were now able to see whether he was telling the truth or not. “I never wanted to come here. I am not being paid to be here. I am not on a mission. No Kingdom, Duke, Mage, or whatever gave me the mission to do anything to the Grandmountain Kingdom or interact with it.”

“I am here due to a cruel twist of fate outside of my control, and I only want to get home. I am not interested in the war or any sort of conflict between the Kingdoms. I only want to return to the Skythunder Kingdom and traveling across the Blackshadow Kingdom is my best chance at getting back.”

“That is everything I want,” Shang finished.

The Mages looked with surprise at one another.

The intruder had spoken the truth.

They talked to each other for a bit until one of them looked at Shang, who was still behind Esther.

“Will you release our Head?” she asked.

“I promise that I will let her go uninjured as soon as I pass your military forces at the north of this Zone,” Shang said.

Surprisingly, the Mage didn’t react the way Shang had expected.

They had just heard that they could get their Late True Mage back without any injury. They didn’t even need to give the intruder anything. He only wanted to leave.

Yet, instead of relief, Shang saw a bit of anger and frustration in their faces.

“You are talking nonsense,” the female Mage said. “Go through the Blackshadow Kingdom to return to the Skythunder Kingdom? Do you know what they do to powerful physis?”

“Feed them to their beasts,” Shang said. “I know that.”

“Then why would you want to go there?” the Mage asked.

Shang was a bit confused why the Mage was asking such an irrelevant question. For all intents and purposes, they should happily send him on his merry way to get slaughtered by the Blackshadow Kingdom. Why would they warn him instead?

“Let that be my problem,” Shang said. “The Blackshadow Kingdom might be allied with the Skythunder Kingdom, but if they stand in my way, I won’t show any mercy. As I ran through the Plague Rat Zone, I didn’t kill a single Mage of your Kingdom, even though I had the opportunity. I don’t want to kill people that don’t go against me.”

At that moment, a feeling of guilt rose up in Shang’s chest as he remembered Lash’s shocked eyes before he died, but Shang quickly buried the guilt again.

Now was not the time.

“If the Blackshadow Kingdom tries to stop me, I won’t have a problem with killing a couple of Mages or Summoners.”

The Mages looked at each other again, and they became increasingly frustrated.

At the same time, Esther began to struggle in Shang’s grip.

She hadn’t done that before.

Of course, Esther was as helpless in Shang’s hand as a tiny lizard.

One squeeze and her head would separate from her neck.

“We went against you. Why didn’t you attack us?” the female Mage asked.

Shang was surprised by this question too.

‘What’s up with their weird questions? Why would they care?’

‘I’m offering a great deal here. I’m sure you would much rather keep a Late True Mage alive than kill some random warrior. Why aren’t they accepting?!’ Shang thought with frustration.

“Because this is easier. My goal was to get to the Ancestral Mountain to wait for an opportunity to escape initially, but that has way too many risks. I’d much rather prefer leaving straight away,” Shang answered.

The Mages looked at each other with frustration as Esther’s struggle intensified.

It was like she was trying to escape her death. Sure, she was currently in Shang’s hands, but Shang was negotiating instead of torturing or killing her.

Additionally, she hadn’t struggled at the beginning. That had only started as Shang talked more with the Mages.

The Mages talked to each other for several seconds.

And then, they turned to the hanging Esther, their eyes unwilling. They were filled with frustration, guilt, and helplessness.

When Shang saw their expressions, he knew what was going on.

He had had the same expression just a couple of minutes ago!

This was exactly what he had looked like before he had killed Lash!

“The law must be upheld,” the female Mage said with a deep voice as she looked into Esther’s panicked eyes.

Esther felt like her world was ending.

“I’m sorry,” the female Mage said. “We can’t negotiate with the enemy.”

And then, their Foci lit up with prepared Spells.

Shang gnashed his teeth.

CRK!

Shang’s hand tightened, and Esther’s head was squeezed off her body.

And then, he exploded towards the mountain.

‘So, this was why they asked these questions.’

‘They tried to find a way to ease the pain of what they were going to do! If I was some sort of monster or enemy to the Kingdom, they could say that they did the right thing. They could say that they were only protecting their home.’

‘However, my intentions were only to escape without going against the Grandmountain Kingdom. I’m pretty sure all four of them wanted to accept the deal.’

‘Yet, their law states that they are not allowed to negotiate with the enemy.’

‘They were forced to do something they didn’t want to do.’

‘Just like me earlier.’

Esther’s corpse was destroyed by the Spells, which quickly followed Shang.

However, these Spells weren’t nearly as deadly or accurate as the previous ones.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to kill Shang. It was just that they had already given up.

They knew that they wouldn’t be able to stop Shang. So, they simply stopped trying and performed the motions without any enthusiasm or goal behind them.

After Shang evaded the Spells, the Mages stopped chasing.

They knew that it was already over.

Shang reached the Ancestral Mountain.

BANG!

Shang exploded upward, landed on one of the cliffs, and continued jumping.

Shang was moving at insane rates up the mountain.

This was why it was impossible for them to follow Shang up the mountain.

Shang was amazing at moving through the air, and he had an insanely powerful body that allowed him to move up the mountain like he was running on the ground.

With every jump, Shang ascended another twenty meters. He didn’t even need to use his Blasts to traverse the mountain.

And the Mages?

Of course, there were Spells for them to traverse such a tall mountain. There was a Spell that allowed their Mana Shield to cling to the wall and ascend.

However, there were several problems with the Spell.

It cost a lot of Mana, and it was slow.

But the biggest problem was that they couldn’t use Mana Step in such an environment.

For Mana Step to work, the ground had to be somewhat even.

If they followed Shang up the mountain, they would completely lose any mobility.

Mana Step was one of the most powerful weapons for fighting beasts and physis.

Sure, they might be able to kill a normal warrior, but by now, they knew that they wouldn’t be able to get Shang.

If they couldn’t get him on the ground, they wouldn’t be able to get him on the mountain.

Even more, they might actually die while trying to kill him.

There was no point in chasing him.

He had already escaped.

Chapter 368 – Blue-Haired Man

The four Mages stood in a large hall in front of the gathered leaders of the northern offensive.

“So, to summarize,” the blue-haired man, the Peak Mage, said, “the warrior managed to evade all your Spells, caught Esther due to an error in her judgment, and wanted to negotiate with us. But instead of accepting his offer, you followed the law and attacked him. Is that correct?”

There was currently a Truth Verification Spell active, and the Mages were forced to speak the truth.

They nodded.

The blue-haired man furrowed his brows and looked at the table with furrowed brows as he leaned back.

No one spoke anything for ten seconds.

“You followed the law. You may leave,” he said.

The four Mages performed a respectful salute and left the hall.

After they left, no one in the hall spoke for a while.

Most of them were looking at the chair Esther had recently occupied.

“I’ll take responsibility,” the blue-haired man said. “I misjudged the intruder’s power and sent a force with inadequate power to handle the situation.”

The others didn’t disagree.

Yes, every single one of them would have made the same mistake. Half of them would have probably sent an even weaker force after the intruder.

However, they were not the ones that had issued the command.

When something went wrong, it was always the fault of the one that gave the orders.

The blue-haired man looked calm and cold on the surface, but one of his fists was clenched so tightly under the table that blood started to flow out.

Was he an emotionless husk?

Of course not.

He was a human, and just like any other human, he had feelings of comradery and kinship.

He had known Esther for years, and they had worked together for a long time.

The blue-haired man was absolutely furious at Shang, and he hated him with his entire being.

“Strengthen the northern border,” the blue-haired man ordered with a calm tone. “If he shows up again, immediately contact me. I will deal with him personally. He can’t hide on that mountain forever. At some point, he has to come down from there.”

One of the other people nodded, took out a Communication Crystal, and gave the order.

The blue-haired man looked calm, but his rage, hatred, and frustration only grew.

He wanted to do nothing more than charge after the intruder and kill him personally.

He wanted to take revenge for one of his friends.

However, the benefits weren’t worth the cost.

First of all, he would need to spend a long time searching on a mountain filled with beasts. The mountain was gigantic, and there were innumerable caves and rocks to hide behind.

It might take days, if not weeks, to find the intruder.

And then?

Even though Esther had been low on Mana, Shang had managed to kidnap her while surrounded by Mages.

The blue-haired man was certain that he could tear Shang apart on flat ground, but fighting in the mountains was insanely disadvantageous for him.

Even more, Shang was very likely faster than the blue-haired man. If the fight went badly for him, he could just retreat.

What was he supposed to do then?

Was he supposed to gather five Circles of True Mages to surround him after days of searching without any assurance of success?

Even more, many of his Mages would definitely die if he did that. As soon as Shang managed to reach one Mage, he could kick them off the mountain. Yes, Mages were powerful, but they couldn’t survive a fall of hundreds of meters.

They couldn’t fly yet.

So, even though the blue-haired man wanted to kill Shang more than anything else, he couldn’t go through with it.

Such a displacement of forces would put the frontline in danger. If the Blackshadow Kingdom decided to attack, they might lose one or two Zones.

It was just one warrior but going after him with any chance of success meant putting the entire Kingdom at risk.

There was nothing he could do.

‘You will have to come down the mountain at some point,’ the blue-haired man thought. ‘And when that happens, I will be there to kill you!’

‘In my entire life, I have never known defeat while fighting anyone on my level!’

‘And you definitely won’t be the first person to do so!’

The other people at the table acted like they hadn’t noticed anything, but it was impossible not to notice the blue-haired man’s current state.

Even though he kept his composure, his mood was influencing the room.

The room had become freezingly cold.

Such a phenomenon to control the surroundings to such a degree was only something that True Path Stage beasts and High Mages had.

Yet, the blue-haired man had the same ability.

He had already grasped his own “Path”.

If he wanted, he could reach the High Mage Realm by tomorrow.

He could resist Initial High Mages with his current power.

And this incredible power was why he was responsible for the northern front as long as the Governor didn’t directly take control.

…

As all of this was happening, Shang ascended the mountain. He had already seen a couple of Soldier and General Stage beasts clinging to the walls and flying through the sky, but they avoided him.

By now, Shang had reached a height of at least five kilometers, and he had seen a couple of caves. However, he didn’t want to enter any of these caves for now.

He wanted to enter one that was higher up. The stronger the beasts in the surroundings were and the further away he was from the Mages, the lower the chance of being spotted.

As Shang ascended, the light became brighter and brighter until it was blinding.

Even though Shang’s eye had been strengthened by his training, if he looked up, he might still become blind.

Shang was sure that the light from above came from the Zone Beast.

Its power was so terrifying that just looking at its general direction could take away one’s sight from kilometers away.

Eventually, when Shang spotted the first Commander Stage beasts, he decided to enter a cave.

In comparison to the blinding outside, the cave was incredibly dark.

The cave also wasn’t small, and it seemed to stretch into infinity.

Shang guessed that there was a gigantic maze of caves inside this humongous mountain.

Surprisingly, the darkness inside the cave was thick and filled with Darkness Mana.

It was almost a certainty that some Earth and Darkness Affinity beasts lived here.

‘Isolated from the outside by the blinding light, forever hiding inside the mountain,’ Shang thought. ‘It almost seems cruel. Who would have thought that such a bright place hides such cruelty?’

Shang checked the outside of the cave for a while and then focused on the inside.

Right now, Shang was at the border of light and dark.

It was too dark for Light Affinity beasts, too bright for the Darkness Affinity beasts, and too close to the surface for the Earth Affinity beasts.

It was a safe haven between light and dark.

One could also call it twilight.

‘This is a good spot,’ Shang thought. ‘I don’t think many beasts come here.’

After five seconds of just standing in the middle of the cave, Shang took a deep breath.

Then, he walked over to one of the walls and sat down.

For several minutes, he did nothing.

He knew what was about to come, but he didn’t want to confront it.

Yet, he had to.

He knew that he couldn’t run from it.

But he didn’t want to.

But he had to…

After several minutes of not moving, Shang’s head slowly sank.

He grabbed his head as he looked down.

He could see Lash’s shocked eyes like they were right there.

Had he done the right thing?

 

Chapter 369 – Was It Right?

At this moment, Shang was sitting near the wall with his left to the bright outside of the Ancestral Mountain and with his right to the darkness-filled depths of the Ancestral Mountain.

‘Was it the right choice?’ he asked himself in his mind.

Right now, Shang was feeling deep regret and guilt.

Lash had been with him for months, and he had been Shang’s second in command.

Lash had done whatever Shang had wanted, and he had supported Shang every time.

‘I had to protect my identity!’ Shang thought.

‘But…’

‘But what were the chances of the Grandmountain Kingdom connecting me to the Abominations?’

‘I’m already planning on being very careful with the Abominations. What are actually the chances that someone would even think about a warrior being connected to the appearance of Abominations?’

‘And even if they connected it, would Lash have even told them?’

‘I told Lash a lot about how the actual world works, and he knows that the Mages are essentially only enslaving the barbarians. He definitely wasn’t happy with the Mages.’

‘The Mages probably wouldn’t even have looked at him or asked him. After all, why would some random barbarian have information on a masked warrior that suddenly appeared in their Kingdom?’

‘Lash would have needed to proactively go to the Mages and tell them of my identity, and even if they knew my identity, they probably wouldn’t connect me to the Abominations.’

‘Lastly, even if everything came to pass, maybe they wouldn’t actually contact the Skythunder Kingdom. After all, they apparently have a Law that forbids it from negotiating with the enemy.’

‘Was it the right choice?’

‘Couldn’t I have just let him live?’

‘He was about to reach the Champion Stage soon. After that, the Mages would have treated him very differently. The Ascension to the Champion Stage is obviously insanely expensive, and they wouldn’t want to just throw such a barbarian away.’

‘They would have probably offered him to live in peace and father plenty of children so that they would get more powerful barbarians. Additionally, he would have probably gotten access to plenty of beasts until he reached the Peak Champion Stage. At that point, they might try to find a way to get him to the True Path Stage.’

‘Sure, he would have maybe died during that Ascension, but that would have been decades from now, and he would have lived a happy life until then.’

‘He had been under the Mages for so long, and he was so close to actually living a decent life.’

Silence.

‘But now, he’s dead, and I killed him.’

‘He didn’t look at me with enmity, anger, betrayal, or similar emotions.’

Shang remembered the eyes with which Lash had looked at him.

They were shocked and surprised in a positive way.

In his mind, he was obviously happy that an old friend was still alive.

His thoughts were filled with Lash’s shocked expression.

Shock and betrayal.

That was what Shang saw in these eyes.

Lash had never believed that Shang would kill him. After all, Shang was his old friend, right?

Shang had taught him everything about power.

Shang had trained him in many different fighting techniques.

Shang had even given him the complete version of the barbarian’s body strengthening technique.

Lash had followed him!

Lash had always wished to be as powerful as Shang!

Shang had been Lash’s idol!

Shang had been Lash’s leader!

Lash would have followed Shang into death!

‘Would he have actually told them?’ Shang thought as his breathing quickened.

‘Was it necessary?’

‘Was it the right choice?!’

‘It would have only been a small possibility that he would leak my secret!’

‘Only a little bit!’

‘Couldn’t I have just let him live?’

‘A happy and long life for one of my old friends in exchange for just the slightest bit of risk to myself.’

Shang heard his heart beating rapidly in his ears.

‘I didn’t want to kill him.’

‘I never wanted to kill him!’

‘I didn’t want to do it!’

‘But I had to!’

‘It was to protect my identity!’

‘I had to!’

Shang looked with a widely-opened eye at the ground.

‘Did I?’

‘Was it really necessary?’

‘Or did I simply think it was necessary?’

‘I mean, Lash was part of a Kingdom that waged war with the Skythunder Kingdom, right?’

‘Lash’s existence would have endangered the people of the Skythunder Kingdom, right?’

‘Shut up, Shang!’ Shang thought as he gritted his teeth. ‘You’re trying to find excuses for your choice!’

‘You don’t fucking care about the war or the Skythunder Kingdom as a whole. Who the fuck cares if he was a danger to the Kingdom?! Even more, he was on the northern frontlines, not the southern ones! He’s probably never even seen a warrior until today!’

‘Stop finding excuses for your actions!’

‘This was your choice!’

‘This was what you have decided in a stressful situation!’

‘This is all on you!’

‘If you could travel through time and get the opportunity to choose differently, would you?’

Silence.

After that thought, Shang’s coherent train of thought ended, replaced by confusing thoughts.

Shang knew that he was thinking about something, but he wasn’t sure what he was thinking about.

He was just looking at the ground, uncertain what he was thinking about.

‘Would I?’ Shang thought after a while.

‘Would I choose differently?’

‘If I got another chance, would I choose differently?’

Shang didn’t get an answer for a long time.

After several hours of just doing nothing, Shang’s nervousness and guilt only began to increase.

He hadn’t found his answer yet, but he knew what the answer would be.

Shang clenched his fists with all his power.

Rage, helplessness, and guilt overwhelmed him.

Then, Shang put his hands to his head.

‘I would make the same choice.’

‘My life and my goal are too important.’

‘I can’t risk them under any circumstance.’

After having that thought, Shang felt a deep hole open up inside his chest.

He didn’t want to do it, but for his goal, he had to.

‘My goal is more important!’ Shang repeated in his mind.

‘My goal is more important than anything else!’

‘I want to become powerful, and I want to rule over my own life!’

‘I want to get rid of this horrible God that only sees me and the entire world as a plaything!’

‘I want to become so powerful that I never need to fear anything!’

‘I want to become so powerful that I don’t need to fear about anyone close to me!’

‘All of my problems will be resolved when I am the most powerful!’

‘And to achieve that goal, I have to make the cruelest and most optimal choices!’

‘There are so many talented people in this world, but no one is the actual strongest.’

‘Why? Is it because they are just not trying hard enough? Is it because they are not talented enough?’

‘No, it’s because they don’t dare to sacrifice everything in their life to achieve true power!’

‘Only by dedicating my entire existence to power will I ever have a shot at reaching it!’

‘I can’t risk my life!’

‘Even if I have to sacrifice teacher, Duke Whirlwind, Mattheo, Astor, Lash, or whoever else, if they are a risk to my goal, I have to do it!’

‘If I don’t, all my previous sacrifices will be for nothing!’

‘I have to continue sacrificing so that my previous sacrifices don’t become meaningless!’

‘It’s all or nothing!’

‘I have to do it!’

‘Now, get over your pathetic crying, Shang! You made your choice! You decided on your Path!’

‘Regret and guilt don’t contribute anything to achieving your goal!’

‘You’ve already sat here, doing nothing, for long enough!’

‘Do what you came here to do and strengthen your body!’

Shang took a deep and aggressive breath.

His feelings were still screaming at him.

They were telling him that he was making a mistake.

They were telling him that what he was doing was wrong.

They were telling him that he didn’t have to be that extreme to himself and the people around him to achieve his goal.

It was fine to feel for others.

However, Shang’s logic and mind were fighting against these feelings.

This was the most logical decision!

He had to put his everything into his choice!

Shang quickly shot to his feet, his heart beating rapidly and his vision vibrating slightly at its edges.

‘I have to strengthen my body,’ he thought.

And then, he walked into the darkness-filled cave.

 

Chapter 370 – Focus on Power!

Shang went into the dark cave. He thought that his mind was focusing on his surroundings and how to find a powerful beast, but he noticed several times that his attention was slipping.

‘I’m not focused!’ he thought with frustration.

‘I made my choice!’

‘I don’t have time to think about these feelings!’

‘Fucking focus!’

Shang’s mind kept passively inspecting his surroundings as he went deeper into the cave.

First, Shang walked upwards, but he noticed that the beasts he found only became weaker.

So, he decided to walk down.

‘The higher I go outside the mountain, the stronger the beasts, but it’s the opposite in this cave.’

As Shang found the first Commander Stage beasts, his focus increased.

The danger of his surroundings was pulling his mind away from its painful thoughts to focus on staying alive.

After a while, Shang reached a place where he could see Early Commander Stage beasts, but he went further.

‘Everything for my goal! Even if absorbing a more powerful beast is way more dangerous, the increased efficiency is worth it!’

‘It’s all for my goal!’

But was that the true reason?

Was the increased efficiency really the reason why he was seeking out a Mid Commander Stage beast to absorb?

Shang kept descending until his Darkness Vision picked up a beast.

It was lying in wait on the top of the cave. Its gigantic pincers were ready to strike at anything that came close to it.

It was a beast with a Darkness Affinity.

BANG!

Shang charged upward with an Ice Blast.

He arrived so quickly that the beast barely had time to react.

If an ambush hunter got the opportunity to strike first, it would be able to unleash a terrifying amount of power.

However, if that same ambush hunter got ambushed, it would find itself in a lot of trouble.

The majority of the beast was buried inside the ceiling, with only its gigantic pincers peeking out.

This was not a good position to evade an incoming attack.

BANG!

Sword punched through the pincers, cutting them off the beast’s head.

The beast screeched and exploded out of the ceiling.

BANG!

Shang released another blast with his left leg and kicked the approaching beast with his right.

BOOOOM!

Shang’s leg broke in several places, but the beast was violently thrown into the hole it had created to wait for its prey.

BANG!

Shang released another Fire Blast and cut through the entire beast with his sword.

The beast was dead.

The corpse fell to the ground, and Shang looked for its heart with more aggression than usual.

And then, he found the heart…

Both halves.

Shang took both halves into his hand and looked at them with gritted teeth.

BANG!

The heart was destroyed as his grip tightened.

“Useless!” he shouted.

“What am I supposed to do with a destroyed heart?!”

“I need a complete one!”

BANG!

Shang’s healed leg broke again as he violently kicked the corpse to the side, into the wall.

Then, he followed the corpse and continued punching and kicking it.

He was accumulating one injury after the other, but he didn’t care.

He was frustrated!

He was angry!

He hated that corpse!

He hated the destroyed heart!

He hated this mountain!

He hated this cave!

He hated the Mages waiting outside for him!

He hated…

Then, Shang suddenly stopped.

His Mana was mostly depleted, but it was still enough to heal his injuries.

For a while, Shang didn’t move.

‘I should get an actually useful heart,’ Shang thought with surprisingly calm thoughts.

Shang walked through the cave with loud steps. It was almost like he wanted to get noticed.

His right eye was narrowed, and his brows were scrunched into an expression of cold and deep hatred.

Shang was doing his best to bury all his negative feelings, but they still made their presence known.

‘Focus on power!’

‘Focus on power!’

‘Focus on power!’

Shang kept repeating this thought to himself.

After some minutes, Shang found another Mid Commander Stage beast.

‘Focus on power!’

BANG!

Shang shot at the beast, which was currently sitting on top of some eggs.

BANG! CRACK!

Sword punched through the beast’s powerful armor, but the attack wasn’t enough to kill it.

The beast roared in anger.

It had to protect its eggs!

BANG!

Shang reached it again and killed it with his next attack.

‘Focus on power!’

Then, Shang saw the eggs.

‘Focus on power!’

BANG!

The eggs were burned to ash with a powerful Fire Blast.

‘Focus on power!’

Shang dug through the corpse until he found its heart.

‘Focus on power!’

Shang shoved all the Mana inside his body outside.

‘Focus on power!’

Then, he rammed the heart into his throat, essentially forcing it into his stomach.

The heart was too big to be eaten in one bite, but Shang didn’t care.

He just shoved it right in.

The pain was unimportant!

‘Focus on power!’

Then, Shang walked back up the cave as his entire mind focused on tearing out the Mana of the heart.

This was his Mana!

This Mana would help him become more powerful, and he was going to take it!

Shang’s body exploded in several places as he continued walking upward.

He had to injure his body to properly absorb the Mana.

However, no matter how injured Shang became, he only continued walking upward.

‘Focus on power!’

While his body became more injured, Shang kept tearing the Mana out of the heart.

The previous times he had strengthened his body could be compared to a tactical assault. It was like a precise machine that perfectly took something apart and distributed its gains.

But this time, it was like Shang was a raging beast.

His mind violently tore chunks of Mana out of the heart and just rammed them into suitable parts of his body.

‘Focus on power!’

Part of Shang’s body began to cramp up, and the veins on his head began to throb aggressively.

His vision began to swim, but he barely noticed.

Shang only continued walking, his right eye filled with hatred.

After an hour of slow walking, Shang arrived back at the spot where he had sat earlier, between the light outside and the dark inside.

The will of the dead beast had awakened, and it was fighting Shang at this moment.

The will itself was far weaker than all the previous times Shang had strengthened his body.

However, this wasn’t a good thing.

As the will awakened, the undigested Mana inside his body began to revolt.

Usually, the foreign Mana was detained inside Shang’s stomach, but this time, he had absorbed too much to digest.

Shang fell to his knees as insane pain assaulted him.

Then, he puked out a fountain of blood, guts, and muscles.

He kept puking for nearly ten minutes.

It was like he was puking more than his entire weight.

It was ridiculously painful.

Eventually, the puking stopped, and Shang focused on his body.

When he saw the result, his entire body tensed with frustration.

“Useless!” he shouted with hatred.

His body had been strengthened by barely 1.5 times the normal amount of absorbing a beast on an equal level, but he needed to wait about 1.8 times as long to absorb another beast!

This was supposed to increase his efficiency, not decrease it!

‘I’m a fucking idiot!’

‘Why can’t I do anything right?!’ he thought aggressively.

Shang sat down at the wall to deal with the foreign Mana inside his body.

It would take over 20 days.

And in those 20 days, he would have plenty of time to think about why this strengthening process had been so much less effective than the other ones.