Shang saw the Crack Spider and readied his sword.
BANG!
Shang shot forward after unleashing an Ice Blast.
The spider quickly noticed that Shang was attacking it. It didn't matter that Shang moved quietly in the air. The spider only looked in one direction, and when something came from there, it would notice.
BANG!
Several spires came out of the ceiling around the Crack Spider, blocking Shang's approach.
But Shang didn't stop.
BOOOOM!
Shang kicked the stone, blasting it apart. Of course, his leg also broke into pieces.
The spider behind the wall lost its balance. Shang's body wasn't nearly as powerful as its body, but Shang had gone over 300 kph just now, and there was a lot of force behind his attack.
Several of the spider's legs reared back, and it barely kept itself on the ceiling with its remaining legs.
CRK! CRK!
However, having such a huge amount of weight hanging from only so few points was very strenuous for the ceiling, making it crack in many places.
BOOOM!
Shang's other leg kicked the ceiling. If he continued forward, he would jump right into the spider's teeth.
CRACK!
The ceiling above Shang cracked, and Shang was flung towards the ground thanks to his kick. However, the Crack Spider fell along with him.
The Crack Spider quickly realigned its body so that it wouldn't land on its back but on its leg.
BANG!
An Ice Blast left Shang's left hand, and he shot at the ceiling again.
BANG!
Shang violently landed on the ceiling of the slide, the stone cracking beneath his feet. His body even got buried up to his waist.
At this moment, time seemingly stood still.
The Crack Spider was falling to the ground with its legs first, and Shang's body was stuck in the ceiling.
From Shang's perspective, he was looking up, right at the spider's back with shining eyes.
BOOOM!
The stone around Shang exploded as Shang released a powerful Fire Blast from his healed legs.
Shang's speed overtook the spider's falling speed by many times.
CRK! BANG!
Shang's sword pierced through the middle of the spider's back, and it came out of the front.
A screeching noise came from the spider.
BOOOOM!
The spider violently hit the ground.
Its legs were flailing around in panic, but its body was nailed to the ground by the humongous sword coming out of the bottom of its thorax.
Shang stood on top of the spider, and his hands touched its body.
Darkness Absorb.
The spider tried to flee in panic, but it could only watch helplessly as all its life energy left its body.
But then, the absorption suddenly stopped.
On top of the spider, Shang's body had swollen a lot, and he looked like he was ready to explode. 'Too much life energy,' he thought.
The spider was still alive, but it had been weakened severely.
Shang grabbed his sword and moved it through the weakened and frail body, cutting its head in two.
The spider very quickly died after that.
Shang put his sword away again.
SSSSHH!
Shang heard and felt the earth moving, and he looked down.
The corpse below him was starting to slide down the steep slope.
For a second, Shang wasn't sure if he should put the corpse away or not.
'Kind of reminds me of that time I rode the sled wagon,' Shang thought as he saw the corpse below him accelerate more and more.
In the end, Shang decided to leave the corpse outside.
Why not ride on the spider?
Shang decided to remain standing on the spider since he didn't want to suddenly be flung off if the spider hit something.
But he wouldn't continue sliding for long.
Just a minute later, Shang saw a hill of sand and stone at the end of the slide.
Shang went to the back of the corpse and jumped off with all his power.
BANG!
The corpse accelerated even more as Shang's speed slowed down by a lot.
BOOOOM!
The corpse hit the hill of sand and stone, scattering debris over the entire cave.
Two seconds later, Shang loudly landed on top of the spider's corpse again.
This time, his joints cracked, but that wasn't really an issue.
After landing, he looked around the cave.
It was rather big. It was probably around 200 meters high and a hundred meters wide. The hill made of stone and sand was nearly as high as the entire cave.
'I guess this is all the sand and stone that slides down the slope,' Shang thought as he looked below him.
Then, Shang looked at the hole he had come out of.
The hole was at the ceiling of the cave, and Shang could see the slide clearer from here.
'It looks far steeper than when I looked down,' Shang thought. 'I think that slide was on an angle of around 60° to 70°. Not sure if I can call that a slide.'
Shang looked back to the cave. 'But that doesn't matter. I have arrived at my destination, and that's all that counts.'
Shang put the corpse of the spider into his inner world and slid down the small mountain of sand and stone.
'I should be more careful from now on. I can deal with Initial Commander Stage beasts without a problem, but if an Early Commander Stage beast ambushes me, I might get into trouble.'
Shang checked the map he had remembered. 'I should be at the border between the Storm Eagle Zone and the Empress Cobra Zone. According to the map, this place is about six kilometers beneath the surface.'
As Shang thought about this, he also realized something else.
He looked at his left arm and moved it up and down a bit.
Then, he slightly crouched and stood up again.
'It's very subtle, but I think I feel heavier,' Shang thought. 'Is this the effect of a large amount of Earth Mana?'
Shang couldn't feel Earth Mana, but he knew that he was practically bathing in it. Earth Mana was very heavy and traveled down, just like water. Additionally, the more earth there was around someone, the denser the Earth Mana in the surroundings.
'I have read that Earth Mana is related to gravity. Mages that use Earth Mana can't control this gravity aspect, but it doesn't change the fact that Earth Mana has a slight effect on gravity.'
'I mean, it makes sense. On Earth, the more mass, the stronger the gravity. Earth Mana is known for being very heavy and having the ability to make stuff heavier. In a sense, it should have some connection to the force of gravity.'
'Not sure if a depth of six kilometers would make a noticeable difference in terms of gravity on Earth, but I can definitely feel it here, even if it is very subtle. I guess the Earth Mana has an amplifying effect on gravity.'
Then, Shang looked forward, and he saw a rather big tunnel, but when he saw it, he raised an eyebrow.
'The tunnel isn't smooth and circular,' he thought. 'It looks more like a natural cave. One I would find on Earth.'
Shang walked up to one of the walls and touched them with furrowed brows.
'Yet, the walls are very hard. I would probably need to strike it with my sword with all of my power if I wanted to damage it.'
'Is that one of the reasons why beasts keep going further down? I mean, sure, the main reason is that they are Earth Affinity beasts and that the Earth Mana becomes more and more abundant, but what if the beasts also don't want to accidentally bury themselves while fighting?'
'Could be. Don't know.'
Shang looked at the dark tunnel for a bit more.
And then, he walked forward, his sword ready.
He had finally arrived at a place that was dangerous to the current him.
