Shang activated his Domain of Entropy but didn't use it to destroy the matter around him. It didn't have any offensive capabilities in this state, but the Abominations would surely sense it.
For several minutes, Shang simply waited in the middle of the lake. Since his Domain was destroying nothing, the beasts also didn't notice it.
After about ten minutes, Shang felt something.
He felt a kind of connection with something very distant.
It was like Shang was feeling innumerable sleeping presences far away.
The last time Shang had summoned Abominations had been on accident during his breakthrough. Obviously, he hadn't had the time to concentrate on these presences since he had been busy with his breakthrough.
But this time, he could fully focus on them.
The presences all had different levels of power. Most of them were incredibly weak, and Shang was pretty certain that these weak presences symbolized Soldier Stage Abominations.
There were also a lot of more powerful presences, which should be the General Stage Abominations.
The strongest presences, which should be the Commander Stage Abominations, were only about 20 in number.
'I can control what I summon?' Shang thought with furrowed brows.
Shang slowly reached out to one of the Commander Stage Abominations and slowly pulled.
He felt the presence steer, but along with it steered about 20 General Stage Abominations and around 400 Soldier Stage Abominations.
Shang stopped pulling on that one and focused on another Commander Stage Abomination.
However, 20 General Stage Abominations and 400 Soldier Stage Abominations still steered, but they were different ones.
Now, Shang slowly understood what was going on.
'This is basically a hierarchy or an org chart,' Shang thought. 'If I pull a manager out of an org chart, I will pull all their employees with them.'
That's when Shang realized something else.
'One Abomination is always superior to 20 other Abominations. Then, since I can sense 20 Commander Stage Abominations, it means that this is the army of a True Path Stage Abomination.'
'However, I can't feel the True Path Stage Abomination.'
'I also don't feel any kind of superior connection coming out of the Commander Stage Abominations. It's almost like there is no True Path Stage Abomination superior to them.'
Shang wasn't sure what he should think about that, but he also knew that he probably wouldn't be able to find out the reason.
Because of that, he focused on his plan.
'Seems like I'm forced to summon a total of 421 Abominations if I want to absorb a Commander Stage Abomination.'
'That's a lot of destruction and power. Every single one of them can explode with incredible force. If I were to summon them in a Zone filled with humans, I might end up killing hundreds or thousands of humans.'
Shang felt a pit appear in his stomach when that thought entered his mind.
He could deal with killing his enemies but being responsible for an entire city being wiped out just for being near him was not something he wanted to imagine.
'Summoning these beasts would count as bringing a calamity upon the place where I am. I know I can somewhat control the Abominations, but I don't think that they will just wait for their deaths if I order them. They will probably still retaliate if anything attacks them.'
'I should be careful in which Zones I activate this ability.'
Then, Shang pulled on one of the Commander Stage Abominations.
The presence grew more powerful and present alongside its subservient presences.
And a couple of seconds later…
SHING!
The Commander Stage Abomination appeared right in front of Shang.
It looked exactly like the one Shang had absorbed.
He felt a deep connection with it, but its appearance was still very alien to him.
SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING!
Two seconds later, all the General Stage Abominations appeared around the lake. Apparently, they had somewhat spread out while being summoned.
And lastly, the Soldier Stage Abominations appeared all over the lake.
As soon as they appeared, nearly half of them died to the pressure deep inside the lake, while the other ones appeared in shallower waters.
Shang's heart was already racing.
There was no way back now!
Shang immediately grabbed the Abomination, and it entered his body without any resistance.
Shang felt his body explode with power as his body instantly reached 78% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast.
At the same time, Shang felt the Abominations becoming angry.
They hated this place!
They hated everything they could see!
It was like their life's purpose was to destroy the entire world.
At that moment, Shang's suspicion was confirmed.
He couldn't just ask them to die.
They would attack and destroy, no matter what Shang said.
The only thing he could do was to direct their hatred in one direction.
And Shang did just that.
"Destroy the bottom of the lake!" he ordered them with his mind.
Like an avalanche, all the remaining Abominations violently charged towards the bottom of the lake.
After giving the order, Shang immediately charged toward the surface.
BZZT!
Just two seconds later, the Thunder Horse's mark activated, which meant that something very powerful had taken note of Shang.
'Pretty sure that's the Tide Serpent.'
BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOM!
As Shang retreated, the water around him suddenly started to vibrate. At the same time, Shang could hear the sounds of distant explosions.
When the Abominations decided to blow themselves up, they could unleash terrifying power.
A Soldier Stage Abomination had a shot at killing a Commander Stage beast if it exploded.
A General Stage Abomination could do the same with a True Path Stage beast.
This was the epitome of Shang's Entropy, the ability to sacrifice parts of himself to unleash an insane amount of power.
And, right now, hundreds of smaller Shangs were using that ability to wreak havoc.
It was terrifying.
More and more explosions shot throughout the lake as Shang reached the surface of the lake.
Shang didn't know how much the Abominations destroyed, but it had to be a monumental amount.
Eventually, Shang broke through the lake's surface and came into contact with air for the first time in over seven years.
Just as before, the sky was dark and filled with Darkness Mana. However, that was good. With so much Darkness Mana, Shang could make full use of his Darkness Vision.
After blasting into the air, Shang threw a glance at the lake below him.
Silence.
The lake was calm.
It was like nothing was currently happening inside the lake.
It was truly like the lake was an entirely different world from the surface.
Shang quickly focused on the shore of the Plague Rat Zone and saw two towers with a shield around them.
He knew that he had either already been spotted or would soon be.
The two towers were built on top of a cliff, which was about five meters high. The cliff went around the entire lake.
At that moment, Shang's right eye opened wide in shock.
'Cliff? I don't remember there being a cliff!'
Shang remembered the time he had fled to the Tide Serpent Zone. Back then, he had entered it via a small beach.
There had been no cliffs!
And then, Shang had a terrifying thought.
He quickly focused on the Mana in his surroundings.
He couldn't feel any Water Mana due to his low Affinity towards it.
'But with so many Abominations blowing up at the same time, the amount of Water Mana should reach densities where even I can feel it!'
'Unless!'
Shang looked around.
No steam.
No additional Water Mana.
A cliff where there had been no cliff before.
And then, Shang realized.
'The Abominations are destroying the water! They are not transforming it into steam or Water Mana, but completely destroying it!'
'Energy can't be created or destroyed? Bullshit!'
'They are literally doing just that!'
Shang's nervousness rose.
'Every time an Abomination appears, it permanently destroys its surroundings. It is not converting things from one thing into the other, but completely destroying them!'
'Then, doesn't that mean that this world will eventually completely stop existing?!'
'Over years and years, the Abominations will slowly chew away on the world.'
'Is there a way to create more Mana?'
Shang had no idea.
Creating Mana was something that was so far beyond his level that he couldn't even make a guess.
'The Abominations are not just destroying life, but the world itself!'
