As Shang threw the leaflet to the side, the wheel appeared again.
"Level seven: Weak Middle General Stage beast."
'This one will be difficult,' Shang thought. 'The body of a Middle General Stage beast is much more powerful than the body of the Metal King. Even if the beast can't fight well, it will be difficult for me to avoid its attacks. Its attacks are probably even a bit faster than the attacks of the Adepts I've fought against.'
The wheel slowed down, and it eventually stopped at the image of a cute, white puppy.
Shang raised an eyebrow when he saw that image.
A moment later, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a two-meter-tall, white golden retriever.
When Shang saw it, his eyes shone. 'I thought so.'
The white color of the image had already made Shang suspicious, and when he saw the dog, his guess was confirmed.
Shang could feel Light Mana come from the dog.
'Light Mana has nearly no offensive capabilities. That would also explain why this dog is counted as a weaker beast.'
The jester slowly lifted his hand and struck the bell.
The dog noticed Shang and looked at him curiously for a bit.
'According to what I've learned, dogs are also wolves that have been domesticated by humans in this world, just like on Earth. This dog is probably a form of supportive animal. I could imagine that its power has a huge impact in a group battle, but on its own? Probably not.'
'I really don't want to kill it,' Shang thought.
A dog that healed and helped people was definitely not something Shang wanted to kill.
However, there was nothing he could do.
Was he supposed to just give up and let his reward go to waste?
So, even though Shang wasn't the biggest fan of killing the dog, he wouldn't forfeit his reward for it.
As time passed, the dog's temper became worse and worse, just like the tiger. In the beginning, it had only looked at Shang innocently, but several seconds later, it had already started to bare its teeth.
Shang was showing no outward aggression, and he only looked at the dog from a distance.
Just like the tiger, the dog acted in an unusual manner.
'Is this an effect of the trial? Is this to force me to fight?'
Some seconds later, saliva ran down the dog's teeth as a deep growl left it.
'I don't think so. I don't think that the God wants to make things easier for me. It would probably be way more entertaining for him to see me struggle to kill some helpless, peaceful dog.'
The fur stood up on the dog's back, and it readied itself for a charge.
'So, why are these beasts so aggressive? This dog definitely doesn't count as an aggressive beast.'
BANG!
The dog exploded forward at ridiculous speeds. The power of its body was not something the Metal King could imagine.
'Doesn't matter right now,' Shang thought as he also readied himself for a charge. 'I don't really have the luxury to think about these things right now.'
BANG!
And Shang also exploded forward.
"Don't use Darkness," Sword's voice appeared in Shang's mind. "Darkness is useless against beasts with a Light Affinity."
"I know," Shang said as he readied Sword.
As the two of them reached each other, the ground below the dog exploded as its speed increased even more.
Shang had already expected the dog to be extremely fast, but the sudden increase in speed had completely surprised him.
Shang had planned on slashing its head when it tried to bite him, but that plan went out of the window.
The slash wasn't ready yet.
Shang had to cancel his slash and jump to the side while unleashing a Fire Blast from his left arm.
CRK!
However, the dog was just too fast, and Shang couldn't fully evade it.
The dog clamped down on Shang's left hand before it could get out of its reach and tore it to pieces.
But just before Shang's hand was completely torn apart, he released a fully loaded Ice Blast.
As Shang's hand was severed from his body, the dog's mouth froze over, and it jumped away in pain.
The dog began to run away as it rubbed its head on the ground, trying to get rid of the stinging, icy pain.
Meanwhile, Shang looked at the stump at the end of his left arm.
Half his forearm was gone together with his hand.
'That's the first time I lost a part of my body.'
Stinging and pulsating pain came from the stump, but Shang could deal with that pain.
After half a second, a new hand grew out of the stump, and a full second later, Shang's arm had fully recovered.
Of course, regrowing an entire hand took a lot of life energy, and a huge part of the absorbed life energy from the Metal King had vanished along with it.
Shang looked over at the dog that was still trying to get rid of the pain.
Why hadn't Shang chased it while it was in pain?
Because it was too fast.
Even with Shang's full speed, he couldn't get close to the dog right now.
The speed difference was so great that Shang didn't even try.
In this fight, Shang would be on the defensive due to the monumental speed disadvantage.
Shang also saw the dog's head light up from time to time as it tried to heal its injury with Light Mana.
However, this wasn't exactly an injury.
If the Ice Blast had dealt any damage, it would have long been healed by the bursts of light.
The pain the dog was feeling came from the sheer cold that was freezing its head.
There wasn't much the dog could do against the pain. The cold wouldn't injure it, but it would be painful.
"Any plans?" Shang asked Sword as he saw the dog running around.
"Difficult," Sword answered. "It's too fast, and it has quick reflexes. If it sees me coming, it will evade."
Shang furrowed his brows. "Dogs are also very smart, and it will very quickly learn how I move."
Shang only looked at the dog as he tried to think of a plan.
