Shang slowly walked back to the Skythunder Kingdom as one soldier after the other charged past him toward the Grandmountain Kingdom.
'I've got quite some good gains from this excursion,' Shang thought as he continued walking.
'I know how powerful the weakest High Mages are now, and I could test several of my new techniques.'
'I even managed to severely damage the High Mage's shield, although that was luck. She just so happened to arrive in front of me of her own volition, and I just so happened to be above her.'
'In a normal fight, she would just keep her distance with Mana Step and slowly kill me from afar.'
'Right now, my speed isn't fast enough to truly keep up with a High Mage. I guess I need to reach the Peak Commander Stage first before I can try.'
Shang glanced at Sword, who was much smaller than before the attack. 'Luckily, I have a lot of money. With all the beasts and Foci I gathered, I don't need to care about this bit of ore.'
"How's the Entropy looking?" Shang asked Sword with a voice transmission.
"No problem," Sword answered. "I don't need more right now."
Shang nodded. "How was the pain?"
He still remembered that Sword had also been injured quite a bit.
"I don't like it, but I have to get used to it," Sword answered.
"Sorry about that," Shang said.
"There is nothing to be sorry about," Sword answered. "Power requires pain."
Shang smiled a bit.
He could empathize with Sword a lot.
They were very similar.
After a couple of minutes, Shang reached the outpost of the Skythunder Kingdom.
There were definitely far fewer people here than before.
Shang walked through the gates without being stopped, while many eyes looked at him with shock.
This madman actually survived!
They had all seen the distant black clouds. Such black clouds couldn't be created by a Mage Tower, and they represented a vast burning area.
This meant that something really big and flammable was burning, which could only be the enemy frontline.
Additionally, their Duke had already told them to get ready for battle, basically confirming that Shang had severely weakened the enemy.
All of this was basically unbelievable to everyone present.
Only a High Mage could pull something like that off.
Not even a Peak True Mage could do that.
And there had never been a warrior that had managed to do something like that.
It was very hard to believe, but this could only mean that Shang was more powerful than a Peak Mage.
And he wasn't even at the True Path Stage yet!
The present people felt like the world was changing.
Just 30 or so years ago, the first True Path Stage warrior had appeared.
Then came the Bloodline Infusion.
Then came the Star Map and the barbarian Strengthening Technique.
And now, just five years after that, the first warrior that could actually resist a High Mage had made his debut.
"What were those black clouds?"
Shang looked over and saw a Mid Commander Stage warrior ask him that question.
"About 50 Firebombs," Shang answered.
Everyone's eyes widened again.
That was a lot of Firebombs!
No wonder the clouds had been that thick and black!
"How did you manage to detonate the Firebombs with a High Mage there?" the same warrior asked. "Couldn't they just stop all the projectiles with their mind?"
"Well," Shang said. "The High Mage was a bit far away when I used them, and she hadn't been prepared for them."
"Oh? It was a she? How did she look?" the same warrior asked.
Shang furrowed his brows. "Come on, man. She's a High Mage of the Grandmountain Kingdom," Shang answered.
The warrior went a bit red in the face and looked away in embarrassment.
After that short exchange, most of the people lost their trepidation and also asked their questions.
Shang answered most of the questions vaguely since he wanted to keep his powers a secret. The Skythunder Kingdom might be his home, but there were also a lot of enemies here. The less his enemies knew about him, the better.
Funnily enough, Shang was more comfortable with revealing his powers to the Grandmountain Kingdom than the Skythunder Kingdom.
One reason was that Shang didn't need to live there.
Another reason was that, since he didn't live there, the Grandmountain Kingdom couldn't create an ambush for him.
An additional reason was that Shang didn't need to interact with them.
Lastly, the Grandmountain Kingdom couldn't just send an incredibly powerful High Mage after Shang to kill him. Such a High Mage would be personally attacked by the Council and die.
But if Shang unveiled some of his more sensitive powers to the Dukes and Council, it was possible that a member of the Council might assassinate him in the wild.
The Grandmountain Kingdom was no immediate threat to Shang, but the Council and Dukes were.
That was why he didn't go into detail regarding how he had fought.
The present people only knew that Shang managed to evade the Spells of the Mage Towers, somehow destroyed four of them, somehow managed to launch the Firebombs, and somehow managed to retreat.
They didn't know how Shang had achieved any of these feats.
Several of them even doubted Shang's words due to the lack of descriptions.
They could accept the Firebombs, but how did he manage to break through the Mana Shield of four Mage Towers while a High Mage was attacking him?
Breaking such a strong Mana Shield definitely wasn't easy.
A couple of minutes later, several warriors and Mages returned from the Grandmountain Kingdom to man their positions again.
Apparently, the fight had ended.
The other soldiers immediately asked the people what had happened, and they told them.
The enemy had lost half their Mage Towers, and the entire encampment had been reduced to basically something that amounted to a burned crater.
Destroying the last four Mage Towers hadn't been very difficult. Especially since two of them hadn't even been manned. The Mages that were supposed to be there had probably fled.
The army of the Skythunder Kingdom didn't even need to really fight. They only launched a couple of Spells and created some defensive Spells to take down the Mage Towers.
Now, if there were eight Mage Towers firing at them, many Mages and warriors would have died under the avalanche, but with only two of them firing, all the Earth Mages could focus on defending from only those two towers, making the fight very easy and straightforward.
After that, they cleaned up the place without much trouble.
This could barely be counted as a battle.
As all the soldiers heard the retellings of how the battle had gone, they looked at Shang with shock once again.
The soldiers had confirmed everything Shang had said.
He really had taken down a frontline all on his own!
A short moment later, a Peak True Mage, wearing some shiny armor that looked more like it should belong to a warrior, walked up to Shang.
"Shang, correct?" he asked.
Shang nodded.
"You've performed a valuable service today. Duke Quake wishes to meet you at the conquered frontline later to thank you personally. The enemy High Mage fell to Duke Quake thanks to her already weakened state," the Peak Mage said with a lot of respect.
The Peak True Mage waited for an answer, but none came.
In fact, Shang wasn't even looking at him.
Right now, Shang was looking with shock behind the Peak True Mage.
The Peak True Mage furrowed his brows and turned around.
Then, his heart stopped.
Standing alone in the crevice was one man.
White lightning crackled around his body as his long, white hair stood up straight due to the electricity all around him.
He wore the robes of a Grandmountain Kingdom's Governor.
And in his right hand was the head of Duke Quake.
When Shang saw that High Mage, he knew he had no power to flee.
This was not an Initial High Mage.
Shang estimated that he was a Mid High Mage.
He couldn't be compared to the earlier High Mage Shang had fought.
At that moment, the conversation Shang had had with Jerald went through his mind.
"Shang, do you want me to accompany you?"
"Why?"
"What if the Governor or another more powerful High Mage is near the frontline? Assuming you manage to destroy the frontline, the Skythunder Kingdom will attack, but it will also be open for a counterattack."
"That would be stupid," Shang answered. "Sure, we would be open to a counterattack, but if such a powerful High Mage were to enter the Skythunder Kingdom, the Council and surrounding Dukes would immediately be alarmed. Entering the Skythunder Kingdom would be akin to throwing their life away."
"Shang, I know what you are trying to say, and what you say makes a lot of logical sense. However, sometimes, even very powerful people do very stupid things in the heat of a moment."
"You think so?" Shang asked with skepticism. "I'm not sure. I would believe that such a powerful Mage would know better."
"Shang, even powerful Mages are just humans, and humans lose control over their emotions sometimes."
"I can accompany you if you want, Shang, just to be safe."
Shang only looked at Jerald with furrowed brows.
"No, that's not necessary."
