BANG!
Shang exploded with Light Mana again, and the maw vanished.
However, Shang had used up more life energy than he had absorbed from the previous fights, and his body had withered a bit.
The Mage narrowed her eyes.
Her opponent was far stronger than she had anticipated.
Shang was already approaching her again, and at this moment, her Focus began to shine.
Three balls of darkness shot out of the Focus, right at Shang.
Shang's right eye also narrowed, and he put his sword in front of him to block.
The Mage prepared another Spell.
The Ghosts of Darkness would push Shang away, even if he managed to block them perfectly.
The Ghosts of Darkness reached Shang's sword.
WHOOOM!
But at that moment, the Ghosts of Darkness suddenly vanished, reduced to nothing but normal Darkness Mana.
Domain of Entropy!
Shang had used nearly 50% of his Mana to cancel the Spell, but it was worth it.
As soon as the concentrated Darkness Mana reached Sword, it got absorbed.
Sword began to darken and left behind shadows in the shadowy surroundings.
BANG!
Shang exploded forward with another Blast and reached his opponent.
The Mage hadn't been ready for Shang to just shrug off her Spell like that.
BOOOM!
Sword hit the Mana Shield, its Darkness Mana destabilizing it, which required the Mana Shield to waste even more Mana.
Even though the Mage had a Darkness Affinity, Mana Shield was an Affinity-neutral Spell.
Darkness Mana was still devastating to it.
The Mage's eyes opened in shock as she felt that over 60% of her Mana had just vanished.
How had she lost that much Mana?!
How could one strike of someone at her level be so powerful?!
She was thrown back by Shang's force, but before she left the area filled with darkness, she suddenly vanished.
Shang's Darkness Vision immediately told him where she was.
She was on the other side of the darkness-filled area, preparing her next Spells.
"Ishah!"
BANG!
A black strike stretched through the darkness-field surroundings.
CRACK!
The Mana Shield broke apart as the Mage was flung out.
BANG!
Shang exploded after her and appeared above her as she flew backward.
Her eyes were opened wide in terror and shock.
BANG!
Shang's sword cut through her, killing her.
Shang quickly absorbed the remaining life force in her corpse. His Mana was refilled completely, but his life force wasn't completely recovered.
After using his Mana to recover his body, Shang was fully healed but only at 80% of his Mana.
However, his Mana would recover before the next battle started.
At that moment, the cheering returned, and the Mage's withered corpse vanished.
Shang only looked with narrowed eyes at the vanishing corpse.
'This was harder than I had anticipated,' he thought.
'I thought fighting a powerful Initial True Mage would be hard, but not that hard.'
'I wasted a lot of Mana, and I used quite a bit of my life force. Sure, I still had a bit of both remaining, but I used far more than I had anticipated.'
'I didn't use Sword's power, and I could have still used my Domain of Entropy two times, but that was about it. There wasn't much that I didn't use.'
'Sure enough, Mages are definitely the hegemons of this world.'
This Initial True Mage had been more difficult for Shang to beat than the lioness, which had been an average Mid Commander Stage beast.
This meant that this Mage could have probably killed the lioness, an average beast two levels above her.
At that moment, Shang realized the true power of the Mages.
'A powerful Early True Mage can probably even fight the Ice King equally,' he realized.
'And a powerful Mid True Mage...'
'The Ice King would be decimated.'
'The Ice King was outstanding because it could fight average Mages on its level, but a powerful Mage on its level is still on another level.'
Shang thought about his earlier expectations.
'I thought I would have to stop before fighting a powerful Mid True Mage, but as it stands right now, I might not even win against a powerful Early True Mage.'
'I've underestimated the Mages.'
'I can walk over warriors and destroy beasts, but the Mages are still dangerous.'
'Sure enough, all my advantages only put me at the same base level as Mages. Everything else depends on me.'
Shang had gone through so many dangerous battles, and that was the only reason why he could win against a powerful Mage on his level without completely going all out.
But jumping levels against these rare geniuses that jumped levels themselves was something entirely different.
Shang took a deep breath as the wheel returned.
The wheel began to spin.
"Level four: Weak Early True Mage."
Shang didn't look at the wheel, and his opponent appeared a couple of seconds later.
It was a tall man with long, brown hair. He wore earthen brown robes, and his Focus was just as brown.
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
DING!
Shang exploded forward, and the Mage opened his eyes.
The Mage noticed Shang's rapid approach and hastily cast Mana Shield.
BANG!
Shang's sword hit the Mana Shield, throwing the Mage into the distance.
The Mage fell into a panic as he felt a huge chunk of his Mana vanishing.
He had never been in such a situation before, and he had no idea how he should recover.
He knew that his opponent would very quickly appear in front of him.
Would he be able to prepare a Spell until then?
What if he failed?
Should he cast Mana Step?
While the Mage was thinking of a plan, Shang already appeared above him and struck him with his sword again.
BOOOOM!
A crater appeared below the Mage as he and his Mana Shield hit the ground.
He was a level above Shang, which meant that two strikes were no longer enough to break the Mana Shield.
BANG! BANG!
Shang rapidly unleashed another two devastating strikes, and the Mana Shield finally broke.
At that moment, the Mage's Focus finally prepared its Spell, but it was already too late.
BANG!
Shang killed the Mage with the next attack and absorbed his life energy.
Now, Shang was at his peak again, and he even had extra life energy stored away.
And then, the cheering returned.
This fight was nothing compared to the last one.
A second later, the wheel came down again.
"Level five: Average Early True Mage."
