Shang charged with all of his speed toward the northwest.
The High Mage had already spotted him, and Shang readied himself for an assault.
"Identify yourself!"
Shang received a voice transmission from the High Mage of the Grandmountain Kingdom.
Traitors from the Skythunder Kingdom were very rare, but they existed. Seeing Shang charge at them could also be interpreted as fleeing from the Skythunder Kingdom. Because of that, the High Mage asked before shooting.
"My name's Shang, and I'm here to destroy your frontline!" Shang answered.
No more answer came.
At least, not a vocal one.
Instead, Shang got a different kind of answer.
WHOOOM!
All the different Mage Towers came online and focused on the rapidly approaching warrior.
There were eight Mage Towers in total that could get a clear shot on Shang.
Obviously, the High Mage didn't think that they needed to take care of Shang personally. After all, he was only a warrior.
What could a mere warrior possibly do against several Mage Towers?
Additionally, the High Mage was preoccupied with watching out for any other forces.
A singular warrior charging at them?
That smelled of a scheme.
The Skythunder Kingdom was probably planning something, and this warrior was obviously a distraction.
The High Mage had to remain ready to act when the Skythunder Kingdom's other forces inevitably got involved.
Just a second later, one of the Mage Towers fired at Shang. They didn't need to use all their Mana to deal with a single warrior.
A huge fireball appeared above the Mage Tower, and it quickly shot at Shang's current location.
Shang took out his colossal sword and struck the ground with its blunt side.
BOOOM!
Shang used his sword similar to a vaulting pole but for a horizontal adjustment of his trajectory. Instead of jumping up, he threw himself to his left, evading the Fireball.
Shang had trained a lot with his colossal sword in the past five years, and this was one of the unique uses that a colossal sword brought with it.
The Mages were quite surprised that Shang managed to evade, but they weren't perturbed.
Another two towers came online, and they all launched a barrage of Fireballs at Shang.
BANG!
Shang hit the ground again, but this time, he threw himself into the air.
The three fireballs exploded beneath him.
"Tch, idiot," one of the Mages in the towers commented.
Didn't that fool know that it was basically impossible to evade while being in the air?
He had essentially transformed himself into a stationary target.
The three towers readied another three fireballs and shot at him.
When Shang saw the fireballs, a gleam appeared in his eyes.
'Let's see if it works.'
Instead of blasting to the side, Shang remained in the air. The Fireballs had been shot at him in a spray pattern, just in case. After all, what if he managed to evade?
One of the Fireballs was coming right at him.
Shang readied his sword and angled it so that its flat side pointed at the Fireball at an angle.
The Fireball arrived.
Just before the Fireball hit Sword, Sword released a small coating of fire.
The Fireball hit Sword.
CLINK!
A tiny explosion occurred at the place where Sword and the Fireball met.
Yet, surprisingly, the Fireball didn't explode!
Instead, it was redirected to Shang's left and passed him!
It was like a ricocheting bullet!
The other two Fireballs passed Shang harmlessly, and a grin appeared on Shang's face.
'It worked!'
In the last five years, Shang had also gotten more familiar with his Affinity, granting him even finer control over it. With the knowledge Shang had accrued in the last five years, he had come up with that idea.
Why not try to deflect a Spell?
Sadly, just with a sword, this was basically impossible. After all, if the enemy Spell hit anything foreign, it would detonate.
But what if it got deflected by something similar?
Shang had worked long and hard on that trick, but it had paid off.
As long as Shang could create a small coating on his sword that fit the Element of the Spell that shot at him, and as long as he managed to very finely control his movements, he could deflect the Spell.
This was one of the reasons why Shang wanted to fight some Mages. He had to see if his ideas actually worked.
The Fireball passed by him and hit one of the walls of the crevice.
BOOOOM!
Three explosions appeared around Shang, but none of them hit him directly. With his physical power, this bit of destruction didn't bother him. His skin only got singed a little bit.
When the Mages saw that, their eyes widened.
Did that warrior just redirect an attack from a Mage Tower?
One had to remember that the Fireballs the Mage Towers shot had the power of a general Spell a Late True Mage would unleash.
Even a Peak Commander Stage warrior couldn't take such a Spell directly and survive. There was simply too much power in such a Fireball.
Yet, this warrior just blocked it.
It took a while for them to process what they had just seen.
"Stop wasting time and attack him with all towers," a Late True Mage ordered the Mages in the towers.
"Yes, sir!" the Mages answered.
After that, all eight Mage Towers readied Spells.
By now, Shang was only about a kilometer away from the first Mage Towers. He had closed the distance by quite a bit.
"Use Area Denial Spells," the Late True Mage ordered.
The Spells the Mage Towers had readied changed Element. At this moment, waves of Icicles and concentrated areas of Wind Blades replaced them.
Area Denial Spells didn't have as much power as the Fireballs, but if there were eight of them, that wouldn't make a difference. A concentrated wave of pure destruction would travel across the entire crevice.
Evading such a powerful wave was impossible.
"Fire!"
WHOOOOM!
All eight towers fired at once, creating a destructive wave of Wind Blades and Icicles. Everything the wave touched, including the hard stone at the walls of the crevice, was cut into dust.
It was like a gigantic meat grinder.
Shang landed just before the wave arrived.
He lifted his colossal sword and hid his body behind it while he kept running forward.
Then, the wave arrived.
KRRIIIIIII!
A high-pitched and ear-grating sound echoed throughout the crevice. It was like a circular saw that wasn't meant to cut metal was trying to cut metal.
Inside the wave, powerful forces of destruction traveled past Shang.
The sound came from Sword blocking the wave.
Sword heated up a lot, and several small cuts even appeared on it. Sword had been made with Peak Commander Stage materials, but it couldn't resist such a wave without any damage.
Shang had to do his best not to get pushed back by the wave, but the power of his body allowed him to do just that.
A second later, the wave fully passed by Shang, and he was revealed.
The eyes of the Mages opened widely in pure shock.
Sword had turned orange due to the heat, and some remnants of the destructive forces slowly went past it.
Shang pulled Sword to the side, the sword leaving behind black steam.
This was another usage of such a colossal sword.
It could hide Shang's entire body like a tower shield.
The Mages still couldn't believe what they were seeing.
How did a random warrior survive such a barrage of Spells?!
Shang held his sword low to the ground while it pointed backward.
BANG!
Then, Shang unleashed a Fire Blast, and his speed became even faster than before!
At that moment, the first signs of nervousness appeared among the Mages.
WHOOOM!
But just at that moment, the area around Shang seemed to transform.
Everything seemed to warp, and it looked like reality was being cut apart.
The High Mage got involved.
