For about half a minute, the Mages were only following Shang as he fully entered the Ancestral Mountain Zone.
In front of Shang was something that looked like the end of the world.
It was just a giant wall of stone that stretched into the sky seemingly forever.
No one knew how high the Ancestral Mountain was, but they were sure it was over 15 kilometers tall.
It was absolutely gigantic.
Shang only needed to traverse another two kilometers until he reached the Ancestral Mountain.
"If he reaches the mountain, we won't be able to catch him anymore!" Esther shouted. "We attack now!"
The other four Mages nodded.
And then, they all released several Mana Steps.
SHING!
The five Mages suddenly appeared between Shang and the mountain, their Spells ready.
They had unleashed four Mana Steps to get here.
Shang had already expected that something like this would happen, which was why he hadn't unleashed many Blasts in the past 30 seconds.
His body was fully healed, and the Mana inside his body was also full. Sadly, the Mana inside his mind needed a couple more minutes to replenish, which meant that Mana Step wasn't available to him right now.
But he only needed to overcome this one assault.
Only ten Spells were between him and safety.
The Mages didn't prepare any wide-area Spells since Shang could somewhat deal with them. However, they also knew that Shang could very likely evade all of the Spells if they launched them at the same time.
Because of that, they entered a rotation.
The first person to use their Spell was the Ice Mage.
A huge ice spear appeared above her, which directly shot at Shang with incredible speed.
BANG!
Shang released an Ice Blast to jump into the sky, evading the first Spell.
That was when the second ice spear appeared.
WHOOOM!
The ice spear was turned into Ice Mana, which quickly entered Sword.
Shang had just spent 50% of his body's Mana by unleashing the Domain of Entropy.
An instant later, a fireball shot at Shang.
BANG!
Shang evaded to the side with a Fire Blast, evading the fireball.
Shang already knew that the next Spell would come very soon, and he wanted to evade further into the sky.
But then, he saw what Spell the Mage actually unleashed.
It was the Fire Pillar Spell.
The Fire Pillar Spell was, as the name suggested, a fire pillar that moved forward.
If Shang evaded upward, he would still be hit.
However, this was a good thing.
At the same time, Esther gnashed her teeth.
'I gave specific orders not to use wide-range Spells!' she complained inside her mind.
Shang put Sword beneath him and stood on it.
The fire pillar reached Shang.
The power coming from the bottom of the fire pillar hit Sword, throwing it and Shang further upward.
The remaining heat from the wall of fire that had just been in front of Shang still hit him, though, burning his skin. The only thing he was wearing currently was his old pair of pants, which also caught on fire.
As Shang's burned body was thrown higher into the sky, he released a Fire Blast to cool his body. After that, he released a bit of Ice Mana to stop his pants from burning.
When Esther saw that, her eyes became bloodshot.
Then, she put her hands beside her to stop the Water Mage from firing.
The Water Mage's task had been to push Shang further away if he managed to get past the first couple of Spells. Water wasn't very destructive, but it was amazing at pushing something away with a concentrated beam.
However, if the Water Mage were to release her Spells now, Shang would be thrown further into the sky. At that point, he would have gained enough height to fly past them.
The Water Mage threw a venomous glance at the Fire Mage, who only watched with horror at what he had done.
With the Water Mage out of the picture, Shang had essentially already overcome six Spells.
Four more to go.
Next, a gigantic rock shot at Shang.
CRRR!
The Ice Mana inside Sword came out and increased Sword's size.
Sword became wider and several meters longer.
And then, Shang swung Sword.
BANG!
Shang cut the boulder apart, the increased length and width of Sword making the two halves shoot past him. If Sword hadn't become bigger, the two halves might have taken Shang's shoulders off his body.
That was when Shang saw the second boulder coming for him.
The Ice Mana inside Sword had already been used up, and it returned to its normal size.
'After that, only the leader should be left. I don't think the Water Mage is very dangerous.'
Shang let go of Sword, which automatically clung to his body.
BANG!
Shang pointed his left hand at the boulder and released an Ice Blast. Shang was thrown further away, but the force of the blast slowed the boulder down.
BANG!
Then, Shang released a Fire Blast, which resulted in the boulder stopping. However, Shang was now flying away at rapid speeds.
BANG!
Another Ice Blast later, Shang managed to stop in the sky.
BANG!
Shang released another Fire Blast, his body releasing a mixture of icy mist and steam as his temperature was all over the place. Some blood was already starting to flow out of his body.
But now, Shang was shooting at the huge boulder, which was currently very slowly beginning to fall.
BANG!
Shang landed on the boulder, his knees buckling.
And then, Shang pushed with all of his power.
BANG!
The boulder immediately shot at the leader of the Circle with frightening power and speed.
Esther's frustration reached levels she had never thought possible as she saw the Spell of her own Mage come at her.
BANG!
She released a Wind Bullet Spell, which fragmented the boulder into many small pieces, but that meant that she had used up one of her prepared Spells.
As the rubble of the stone bounced off their Mana Shields, the Mages looked at the sky.
And that was when they saw Shang, and their eyes widened.
Wasn't he supposed to be fleeing?
Why was he directly in front of Esther?!
Blood flowed out of several parts of Shang's body, and for some reason, he seemed much thinner than before.
That was when dark energy came out of Sword.
It was Darkness Mana!
BANG!
Sword hit Esther's Mana Shield, the Darkness Mana stretching across it like lightning.
CRACK!
Esther's Mana Shield broke.
She had never gotten an opportunity to regain her Mana. Keeping up Blessing of the Wind for five people was very draining, and she had also used a lot of Mana Steps.
This strike completely destroyed her Mana Shield.
And then, Esther watched in horror as the intruder's sword came for her head.
…
It stopped.
Sword stopped right in front of Esther's forehead.
BANG!
Suddenly, her Focus was slapped to the side, falling apart into its components.
And then, a strong hand grabbed her throat and pulled her away.
Her body was flung around, and she suddenly faced her Circle of Mages, her body held by Shang's hand at the back of her neck.
"You do anything, she dies!" Shang shouted.
Silence.
