BANG!
Like it had hit a wall, the snake's head was stopped by the sword. The snake was long, but it wasn't incredibly massive. Its head was barely half a meter across.
Because of that, Shang was able to block the snake's head with his sword.
To paint a clearer picture, one only needed to imagine an attacking dog. The dog bit forward, but the human in front of it took a long stick and held it vertically, pushing it back. Since the dog's head was in its normal position, its mouth couldn't open wide enough to get the entire length of the stick into its mouth. Sure, if the stick were horizontal, it wouldn't be a problem.
Shang's arms shook under the weight, but the snake hadn't put its full power behind its bite. After all, it still had to keep an eye out for the green bird.
Because of that, Shang managed to keep his sword relatively straight.
When the snake's snout hit the blade, it began to bleed. The wound wasn't deep, but it had drawn blood.
BANG!
Shang stepped forward and angled his sword on the snake's head. Then, he struck upward with the handle, making the snake's head fly up. Usually, Shang wouldn't have the power to push the snake away due to the difference in power in their bodies. However, the lever principle applied here.
The snake's head was far extended, essentially putting it out of balance and putting the head far away from its center of mass. Because of that, Shang could shove the head upward.
At the same time, Shang's sword was above him, and with the step he had just taken, his stance was perfect for a devastating strike downward.
Then, Shang struck forward, cutting along the underside of the snake's jaw.
CRRRRRRRR!
Sparks flew, and a couple of scales fell off, but the snake barely bled. Its scales were simply too hard.
Shang gritted his teeth, and the snake's head quickly went back into an attacking position.
The snake bit forward again.
Shang blocked with his sword.
Whoosh!
However, the snake's head stopped and angled to the side before striking forward again.
Before it had attacked, it couldn't have been sure at which angle Shang would hold his sword this time, which was why it had stopped to fake out Shang's block.
When Shang saw the snake's head rotate, he quickly let himself fall to the ground to evade its strike.
If his sword ended up in the snake's teeth, it would be destroyed. Sure, if Shang's sword were sharp enough to cut through the snake easily, he could have used that opportunity to split its jaw from its head. Sadly, the sword wasn't sharp enough.
BANG!
As the snakehead arrived above Shang, he punched it away with the handle of his sword again. The distance was too small, which made it impossible to slash it with his sword effectively. From such a position, Shang's sword wouldn't be able to get through the snake's defenses.
Shang quickly angled his knees so that he could shoot forward.
BANG!
Shang used all his power and charged forward. The snake's head had barely regained its control when it noticed Shang arriving near its body.
For a second, the snake thought about using its tail to strike Shang, but it was still scared of that green bird.
So, the snake moved its head towards Shang from his back. Sadly, since it didn't have the spring effect from its main body due to its head's position, it couldn't move at its normal speed.
As Shang reached its body, he noticed that the head was coming close to him again.
'This is it!'
One scratch and he would die. Vanishing Snakes had terrifying metal poison, which would immediately destroy Shang's insides if that got into his bloodstream. Because of that, he couldn't allow himself to be hit at all.
Earlier, Shang had been in a safe location. If he saw that his block wouldn't work as intended, he could have always jumped back.
Now, his retreat was cut off.
The snake's head was behind him while its tail and body were in front of him.
If Shang decided to block the snake's head again with his sword, it would most likely strike with its tail. Yes, the snake was paying attention to the bird, but if it saw a surefire way of killing its prey, it would probably take the shot.
'Let's hope this works!'
As the head closed in, Shang pointed his left arm towards it.
BANG!
Shang jumped and unleashed a Fire Blast!
The Fire Blast wasn't powerful enough to hurt the snake in any way, but the wind slowed down the head, ruining its bite, while Shang was catapulted forward.
The snake's mouth barely missed Shang's feet as his body left the ground.
Then, Shang grabbed the tail with his legs.
The snake quickly tried to bite Shang again, but Shang's nearly frozen arm unleashed an Ice Blast. Thanks to Shang's arm nearly being frozen, the Ice Blast had a lot of power behind it, ruining the snake's attack yet again.
At the same time, Shang put his sword to the metal blade in front of him.
'Show your Magic!' Shang urged in his mind.
As soon as the sword touched the blade, Shang saw his sword shine in a bright light.
In nearly an instant, all the metal around the snake's tail was gone!
'It worked! Luckily, that's not a human weapon!' Shang thought with exhilaration.
Any half-decent blacksmith added special Magic Runes to their weapons. After all, it would be ridiculous if an opponent with a Metal Affinity could just ruin their weapons.
Of course, these Magic Runes only became common at the General Stage. Because of that, Sarah's ability was still useful.
Sarah had been able to threaten Shang's sword with her ability since Shang's sword was weak. However, she wouldn't have been able to do that with Astor's weapon, for example.
Additionally, the Magic Runes didn't make the weapon completely immune to this ability but weakened it tremendously.
Luckily, the snake's blade didn't have these Magic Runes.
Because of that, Shang could use the ability of his sword to absorb the metal around its tail.
At that moment, Shang's sword gave off a terrifying amount of Metal Mana.
The snake's tail hadn't been made with natural metal but with metal created with Metal Mana.
That was a big difference!
Keeping Metal Mana in the state of solid metal ate up a lot of energy, meaning Mana. Because of that, metal constructs made out of Metal Mana didn't hold forever, and they needed a constant supply of Metal Mana to be maintained.
Because of that, Shang's sword wasn't strengthened permanently, but only until the absorbed Metal Mana inside it was used up.
After absorbing the Metal Mana, Shang put his left hand on the snake's tail and used his Darkness Absorb.
Shang's nearly destroyed arm healed at unimaginable speeds as he quickly pointed his sword towards the snake's head again.
SHING!
The snake had attacked again, but this time, Shang's sword was way sharper than before. It cut through the snake's snout for two centimeters but couldn't get through the entire bone.
Yet, it had worked, and Shang had finally managed to injure it.
But then, Shang felt himself being lifted by the tail.
At that moment, Shang was put before a crossroads.
Remain on the tail and get smashed into the ground, very likely breaking several bones, or jump off?
If he remained, he would be severely injured.
If he jumped off, he gave the snake a chance to kill him in the air.
Shang gritted his teeth and made his decision.
