Things were becoming dangerous right now. Shang was pretty sure that the Plague Rat wouldn't care about the Thunder Horse's mark.
Shang immediately ran for the coastline to the Tide Serpent Zone, hoping that he would reach it before the Plague Rat got to him.
The black shadow of the Plague Rat tore through the Abominations at insane speeds. It was probably killing over ten Abominations per second, which was absolutely ridiculous!
BANG!
Shang released an Ice Blast, jumping over the lake in front of him.
At that moment, Shang felt like danger was approaching.
BANG!
Shang released a Fire Blast above him, shooting him into the lake below him.
A moment later, a black shadow passed over him. This had only been a casual attack from the Plague Rat, which hadn't even been targeted at Shang.
However, that would have been more than enough to kill him.
As soon as Shang's body entered the water, a bit of lightning shot over his body.
Shang knew what that meant.
Something very powerful had just inspected him.
Shang's Darkness Vision extended towards the coastline, and he saw the black shadow of the Plague Rat throw a short glance at Shang.
But without hesitation, the Plague Rat turned away again and focused on the other Abominations inside its Zone, leaving Shang in the lake.
When Shang saw that, he released a sigh of relief. 'Guess I'm no longer your problem, huh?'
'But honestly, this was way too close!'
Shang heard more explosions coming from the Plague Rat Zone, and he really hoped that no one connected the appearance of the Abominations to him.
'This time, it can be attributed to coincidence. Nobody will probably connect it to me. However…'
Shang narrowed his right eye. 'If I keep just randomly showing up at places where Abominations appear, it won't take some genius to figure out that I am connected to their appearance.'
'Sure, getting an Abomination to strengthen my body is a great boost to my power, but every time I summon them is playing with my life.'
'Obviously, the Plague Rat is not the kind of Zone Beasts that is responsible for dealing with Abominations in other Zones like the Storm Eagle. Because of that, it didn't follow me, and the Tide Serpent might not even have noticed me.'
'If I had summoned the Abominations in the Storm Eagle Zone and fled to the Ice Wyvern Zone, the Storm Eagle might have chased me. Additionally, the Storm Eagle has gigantic attacks that cover a huge area, while the Plague Rat obviously didn't have such attacks.'
'I think I was in luck by being inside the Plague Rat Zone when I made my breakthrough. Not only do I not care about what the Grandmountain Kingdom thinks of me, but the Plague Rat also didn't bother to chase me.'
'In the future, I need to be more careful.'
Shang was a little bit under the water, which wasn't anything problematic for him. After all, he was a Commander Stage warrior. He didn't need food, water, or air to survive. His entire being completely relied on Mana to sustain him.
However, there was one surprising thing about being above this very deep lake.
An unknown number of powerful beasts could be swimming right beneath Shang's feet at this moment, and he wouldn't know it. After all, the entire lake was filled with nothing but Water Mana, and Shang couldn't use Water Mana to see his surroundings. This meant that he needed to rely on his vision, hearing, and sense of touch.
Yet, surprisingly, Shang wasn't afraid. He wasn't even really nervous.
'Power,' Shang thought. 'This is because of power.'
Shang looked into the seemingly infinite abyss below him.
'On Earth, I felt quite nervous whenever I thought about being in the middle of the pacific. Thousands of meters of water in all directions but up. That's quite a terrifying thought.'
'But, right now, I don't feel so nervous.'
'That's because of power.'
'I might be at a disadvantage when it comes to fighting terrain, but I'm confident that I can kill a Mid Commander Stage beast, even in this environment. A Late Commander Stage beast will probably kill me, but if we were to fight on land, I might have a chance.'
'How many Late Commander Stage beasts and more powerful are in this lake?'
Shang thought about this for a moment.
'Not that many, probably. Maybe 300? Additionally, most of them are probably in the absolute deepest parts of the lake. After all, the deeper inside the lake, the denser the Water Mana.'
'When I was new to this world, I was prey. I was forced to remain on pathways made by humans since nearly every beast posed a danger to me.'
'Now, I am on a level where it doesn't matter anymore where I go.'
'I am not powerless.'
'I am not the prey. I am the hunter.'
Shang glanced at the Plague Rat Zone, which was still in battle.
Since the Tide Serpent didn't care about the sky above its lake, the Plague Rat's domain even stretched over the Tide Serpent Zone, darkening the sky.
Right now, Shang swam inside an endlessly deep lake below the black sky as distant explosions brightened the horizon from time to time.
And then, Shang dove into the lake.
The Grandmountain Kingdom and the Blackshadow Kingdom were extremely dangerous to him right now.
But there were no humans here.
Even though Shang was only about 50 meters away from the shoreline, the lake still seemed bottomless below him. Obviously, the thick Water Mana had aggressively dug out every bit of earth it could get its hands on as long as it didn't belong to another Zone Beast.
As Shang descended, the darkness of the lake engulfed him. It was so very dark, but there was still no Darkness Mana around Shang.
There was only Water Mana.
As Shang descended, he felt like beasts were watching him from all sides. He couldn't be sure if this was actually the case or not since he had no way to sense it. However, logic told him that he should have come across some beasts by now.
Yet, no beast showed itself.
The lake was calm.
It was peaceful.
It was deep.
It was dark.
Shang continued to descend.
There was no change to his surroundings.
No ground, no wall, no beasts, no current, nothing.
Shang descended for about five minutes, and he guessed that he had descended over a kilometer by now.
Yet, there was nothing.
Shang didn't even feel any vibrations coming from the Plague Rat Zone anymore. He didn't know if the fighting had stopped or if he was simply too deep in the lake.
Shang guessed that even if two Zone Beasts were to fight right above this lake, he wouldn't notice.
The water isolated him from the world.
Nothing happening above the lake concerned him.
This was a different world.
For some reason, the isolation calmed Shang's heart and mind.
There was no stress or time.
While Shang had been in the Grandmountain Kingdom, he had felt a bit pressed for time. After all, he wanted to return to his home, Warrior's Paradise.
But now, Shang didn't feel that pressed anymore.
At that moment, Shang's mind turned to the first time he had trained in this world.
He had thought something very similar back then.
No responsibilities. No money issues. No job.
Only power.
That feeling returned to Shang at this moment.
And then, Shang just paused inside the dark lake and closed his eye.
He wanted to enjoy this feeling.
For a long while, Shang didn't move.
Shang might not be alone here.
There could be beasts around him at this moment.
But, right now, that didn't matter.
Right now, in his mind…
Shang was alone.
