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nAt that moment, three black balls flew towards the ice lake.

nThis had been what Shang was waiting for!

nSHING!

nSeveral stones appeared in Shang’s hands, and he accurately threw them at the three balls.

nBOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

nAll three balls exploded with an insane amount of Fire Mana, which pushed all the Ice Mana to the side.

nThese had been the Firebombs that had been prepared to anger the True Path Stage beast.

nOriginally, the Firebombs were supposed to be put in the ice lake and detonated with a timer. This would assure success and give the enemy enough time to retreat.

nIf the Firebombs landed inside the lake, they would definitely aggravate the True Path Stage beast.

nBut in exchange for that, the attackers would most likely become casualties.

nBecause of that, they hadn’t dared to throw the Firebombs earlier. After all, no one wanted to die.

nBut when they saw that they couldn’t get through the barricade, they decided to throw them regardless.

nThe Fire Mana of the Firebombs traveled towards the ice lake, which meant that there was still a chance that the True Path Stage beast would get aggravated, but it wasn’t a certainty anymore.

nSHING!

nAt that moment, Shang threw his sword over the lake. Alone, he wouldn’t have had the power to throw such a heavy sword for such a distance, but Sword had its own will.

nSword was now at the Peak General Stage, which allowed it to move faster. Only with Sword’s help could Shang throw it over the entire lake.

nThe cloud of Fire Mana shrunk as Sword passed through it. This was Fire Mana without a will, which made it no different from natural Fire Mana. Because of that, Sword had no issues absorbing it.

nShang exploded to the side and ran around the lake towards the north.

nBANG!

nSword landed on the other side, and its blade entered the ground.

nNo Fire Mana had reached the ice lake.

nWhen the soldiers saw the Firebombs explode, they felt like they had just avoided death.

nThere was still a chance that they could survive the enemy’s attack but surviving a True Path Stage beast’s rampage was impossible for them.

nEventually, Shang reached the other side of the lake and grabbed his sword again.

nAnd then, he charged to the north.

nBANG!

nOne of the shields exploded into splinters, and one of the soldiers received an arrow to the chest. Luckily, such an injury wasn’t severe enough to kill a General Stage warrior.

nThe others quickly pulled their comrade behind their shields, which now received an even heavier barrage of arrows.

nWhoosh!

nAt that moment, Shang passed by them and charged to the north.

nThe soldiers looked in fear at the passing Shang.

nHe was supposed to block some of the arrows, not charge at the enemy!

nWas he suicidal?!

nShang, in his black armor and black mask, charged up the mountain, his sword leaving behind a streak of fire due to all the Fire Mana it had absorbed.

nIt was hard to make out where the opponents were due to all the big stones on the mountain, but as Shang progressed, he could finally tell their locations.

nThe attacks on the shields lost intensity as more of the arrows were now targeting Shang.

nShang dodged one arrow after the other without any issues. In comparison to dodging Spells, this was easy.

n“Focus on the shields!”

nShang heard someone shout from the front, and shortly after, the arrows shot toward the shields again.

nAt that moment, a masked man with bloodred robes jumped over one of the big stones and charged at Shang with two red sabers in his hands.

nShang could feel his opponent’s power thanks to all the fights he had gone through.

n‘Mid General Stage,’ he thought. ‘He was probably the one that fired the first arrow at me.’

nIf all the attackers had been at the Mid General Stage, the shields would have long since been destroyed. Because of that, Shang guessed that there were one, maybe two, people at the Mid General Stage among the attackers.

nThe two of them charged at each other.

nShang readied his sword.

nAt that moment, Shang’s opponent accelerated.

nHe would reach Shang before he could strike with his heavy sword.

nBANG!

nBut at that moment, Shang’s left leg hit the ground, hard. Some crevices appeared on the ground in front of him, and the earth quaked, which resulted in Shang’s enemy losing his balance.

nShang had learned how to fight with a heavy sword in the past. In fact, he had been the one that chose his new weapon.

nThere was more than only one kind of sword, and Shang planned on learning how to fight with several of them.

nShang decided to start with a heavy sword since he had fought Astor an uncountable number of times.

nFor example, this technique Shang had just used had been used against him several times in the past.

nAs the man lost his balance, he changed his attack from two slashes into two stabs.

n‘I learned a lot from Astor,’ Shang thought.

nAnd then, he let go of his sword.

n‘But I have my own style!’

nBANG! BANG!

nShang’s two hands slapped the two sabers to the side. Sabers were a kind of sword that only had one cutting edge. Sure, they had a lot more weight and power behind their attacks because of that, but that also gave them a weakness.

nBy slapping the back of the sabers, Shang could change their trajectory without injuring his hands.

nThe sabers barely missed him, and the arms of his opponent became crossed as his body fell onto Shang.

nOf course, Shang’s arms were also crossed.

nBut in comparison to his opponent, Shang knew how to fight barehanded.

nShang angled his right arm and lifted his right elbow.

nBANG!

nShang’s elbow hit the throat of his enemy, severing his neck from his spine. The flesh was still attached, but the bone had been destroyed.

nBehind the mask, the man’s expression had turned to horror and shock.

nPack!

nShang grabbed the man’s throat and grabbed his sword with his other hand.

nAnd then, he charged to the front.

nThe archers became confused and panicked at this moment.

nThey couldn’t shoot their commander, right?

nTheir commander had a warrior’s body! He would surely recover shortly and destroy his opponent, right?

nWell, none of them noticed, but Shang was absorbing all the Mana that went to repair the commander’s neck with Darkness Absorb.

nA warrior’s body was of no help to the commander at this moment.

nAnd then, Shang reached the first archer, who was crouching behind a stone.

nThe archer quickly targeted Shang.

nBANG!

nShang threw the commander at the archer, making the arrow miss.

nThat’s when Shang’s colossal sword arrived.

nBOOOOM!

nShang’s sword destroyed both the commander and the archer with one strike, the Fire Mana setting them on fire.

nThe other archers fell into a panic and fully focused their arrows on Shang.

nShang’s arm pointed to the ground.

nBANG!

nA Fire Blast left his left arm, throwing him far into the air.

nShang threw a glance at the shield barricade and noted that no one was looking. They were still crouching behind it.

nShang’s eyes focused, and he looked at the biggest gathering of archers.

nIn the middle, behind a five-meter-high stone, were five archers. Thanks to his Fire Blast, Shang was high enough to see them.

nAt that moment, Shang readied his sword and slashed.

nFor a moment, the archers became confused.

nWhy was that guy slashing at them from over thirty meters away?

nBut then, their eyes widened in horror.

nA burning crescent shot towards them!

nThe archers couldn’t react.

nBOOOOOM!

nA huge explosion occurred at their location, destroying everything, including the stone they hid behind.

nThis had been the reward for the trial, a ranged attack!

nIn the sky, Shang had been thrown back.

nReleasing so much Mana had pushed him into the distance.

nShang pointed his left arm to his back.

nBANG!

nShang released another Fire Blast, and his body shot toward the last two archers.

nThe archers quickly released their arrows in panic.

nOne of them shot into the distance.

nThe other hit Shang in the gut.

nBut he didn’t care.

nBANG!

nShang’s sword passed through the first archer, his body scattering over the surroundings.

nThe other archer only looked in shock at Shang.

nShang’s dark body was releasing steam, and his sword was coated in black, burned blood.

nAnd the archer could see Shang’s eyes behind the mask focus on him!

nThis was the last thing the archer saw in his life.

nIt was over.

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