At that moment, three black balls flew towards the ice lake.
This had been what Shang was waiting for!
SHING!
Several stones appeared in Shang's hands, and he accurately threw them at the three balls.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
All three balls exploded with an insane amount of Fire Mana, which pushed all the Ice Mana to the side.
These had been the Firebombs that had been prepared to anger the True Path Stage beast.
Originally, 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.
If the Firebombs landed inside the lake, they would definitely aggravate the True Path Stage beast.
But in exchange for that, the attackers would most likely become casualties.
Because of that, they hadn't dared to throw the Firebombs earlier. After all, no one wanted to die.
But when they saw that they couldn't get through the barricade, they decided to throw them regardless.
The 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.
SHING!
At 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.
Sword 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.
The 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.
Shang exploded to the side and ran around the lake towards the north.
BANG!
Sword landed on the other side, and its blade entered the ground.
No Fire Mana had reached the ice lake.
When the soldiers saw the Firebombs explode, they felt like they had just avoided death.
There 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.
Eventually, Shang reached the other side of the lake and grabbed his sword again.
And then, he charged to the north.
BANG!
One 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.
The others quickly pulled their comrade behind their shields, which now received an even heavier barrage of arrows.
Whoosh!
At that moment, Shang passed by them and charged to the north.
The soldiers looked in fear at the passing Shang.
He was supposed to block some of the arrows, not charge at the enemy!
Was he suicidal?!
Shang, 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.
It 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.
The attacks on the shields lost intensity as more of the arrows were now targeting Shang.
Shang dodged one arrow after the other without any issues. In comparison to dodging Spells, this was easy.
"Focus on the shields!"
Shang heard someone shout from the front, and shortly after, the arrows shot toward the shields again.
At 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.
Shang could feel his opponent's power thanks to all the fights he had gone through.
'Mid General Stage,' he thought. 'He was probably the one that fired the first arrow at me.'
If 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.
The two of them charged at each other.
Shang readied his sword.
At that moment, Shang's opponent accelerated.
He would reach Shang before he could strike with his heavy sword.
BANG!
But 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.
Shang had learned how to fight with a heavy sword in the past. In fact, he had been the one that chose his new weapon.
There was more than only one kind of sword, and Shang planned on learning how to fight with several of them.
Shang decided to start with a heavy sword since he had fought Astor an uncountable number of times.
For example, this technique Shang had just used had been used against him several times in the past.
As the man lost his balance, he changed his attack from two slashes into two stabs.
'I learned a lot from Astor,' Shang thought.
And then, he let go of his sword.
'But I have my own style!'
BANG! BANG!
Shang'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.
By slapping the back of the sabers, Shang could change their trajectory without injuring his hands.
The sabers barely missed him, and the arms of his opponent became crossed as his body fell onto Shang.
Of course, Shang's arms were also crossed.
But in comparison to his opponent, Shang knew how to fight barehanded.
Shang angled his right arm and lifted his right elbow.
BANG!
Shang'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.
Behind the mask, the man's expression had turned to horror and shock.
Pack!
Shang grabbed the man's throat and grabbed his sword with his other hand.
And then, he charged to the front.
The archers became confused and panicked at this moment.
They couldn't shoot their commander, right?
Their commander had a warrior's body! He would surely recover shortly and destroy his opponent, right?
Well, none of them noticed, but Shang was absorbing all the Mana that went to repair the commander's neck with Darkness Absorb.
A warrior's body was of no help to the commander at this moment.
And then, Shang reached the first archer, who was crouching behind a stone.
The archer quickly targeted Shang.
BANG!
Shang threw the commander at the archer, making the arrow miss.
That's when Shang's colossal sword arrived.
BOOOOM!
Shang's sword destroyed both the commander and the archer with one strike, the Fire Mana setting them on fire.
The other archers fell into a panic and fully focused their arrows on Shang.
Shang's arm pointed to the ground.
BANG!
A Fire Blast left his left arm, throwing him far into the air.
Shang threw a glance at the shield barricade and noted that no one was looking. They were still crouching behind it.
Shang's eyes focused, and he looked at the biggest gathering of archers.
In the middle, behind a five-meter-high stone, were five archers. Thanks to his Fire Blast, Shang was high enough to see them.
At that moment, Shang readied his sword and slashed.
For a moment, the archers became confused.
Why was that guy slashing at them from over thirty meters away?
But then, their eyes widened in horror.
A burning crescent shot towards them!
The archers couldn't react.
BOOOOOM!
A huge explosion occurred at their location, destroying everything, including the stone they hid behind.
This had been the reward for the trial, a ranged attack!
In the sky, Shang had been thrown back.
Releasing so much Mana had pushed him into the distance.
Shang pointed his left arm to his back.
BANG!
Shang released another Fire Blast, and his body shot toward the last two archers.
The archers quickly released their arrows in panic.
One of them shot into the distance.
The other hit Shang in the gut.
But he didn't care.
BANG!
Shang's sword passed through the first archer, his body scattering over the surroundings.
The other archer only looked in shock at Shang.
Shang's dark body was releasing steam, and his sword was coated in black, burned blood.
And the archer could see Shang's eyes behind the mask focus on him!
This was the last thing the archer saw in his life.
It was over.
