Sword swung forward very slowly.
Shang had to swing very early. Otherwise, his swing wouldn't be able to hit the centipede before it reached him.
Of course, that also meant that the centipede had already been prepared for the slow attack.
The gigantic sword swung towards the centipede, and it quickly tried to swat it away with one of its scythes.
CRACK!
However, the scythe immediately broke into two pieces under the swing.
"Sword, absorb!" Shang immediately shouted.
Sword thought that was a bad idea since Shang could barely swing it now, but it trusted Shang.
The cut-off scythe was absorbed, and Sword grew even heavier and bigger.
The centipede was shocked that its scythe had been broken by the attack, and when it saw the sword continuing to swing, it jumped back by using all its scythes.
The swing was just too slow to hit it, and it completely missed.
BOOOOOOOM!
The floor of the cave exploded as Sword hit it. Sword easily cut through it until it was halfway stuck in a diagonal angle.
Shang looked forward with a narrowed eye.
He saw the centipede's frontal body high in the air while its tail was still on the ground.
Right now, the centipede's head reached the ceiling, which was nearly a hundred meters above the ground.
It looked incredibly imposing.
It was like it was ready to strike.
Shang pulled at Sword with all of his power, and together with Sword's help, he barely managed to pull it out of the ground.
However, lifting it would be impossible.
Shang used all his power to lift the handle over himself while the tip of Sword still remained on the ground.
The centipede angled its body backward when it saw the dangerous weapon move.
Its scythes dug into the ceiling and moved its body back.
With one swing, it threw itself around 300 meters away from Shang, right to the other end of the cave.
It slowly curled its body on the closed entrance and showed its back to Shang.
It was intimidated by the powerful weapon and decided to use ranged attacks.
When Shang saw that, hope appeared in his right eye.
This was what he had hoped for!
If the centipede attacked with its scythes again, Shang would most likely die.
This was why he had tried to intimidate his opponent into retreating, which worked.
This would never work on a Mage, but beasts weren't as smart as Mages.
And then, the centipede began to fire.
BANG!
Shang let go of Sword and exploded to the right with a Fire Blast.
But instead of taking to the air, Shang just kept running.
When he reached the round wall, he kept running as the spikes shot past him.
When Shang reached the ceiling, he only continued running.
He knew he had enough speed to run along the walls like a car going through a loop.
Several of the spikes reached him, but Shang batted them away with his free arms.
This was a very risky maneuver. If he messed up the timing even once, he would be impaled and nailed to the back of the cave.
Shang reached the wall again and ran down.
His speed became even faster.
Then, Shang extended his arms and grabbed Sword's handle as he passed by it.
CRACK!
Shang's arms broke, and his muscles tore as his momentum kept pushing him forward.
Shang used the little bit of Mana he had recovered during the last couple of seconds to keep his arms in working shape.
BANG! BANG!
Then, he unleashed two more Blasts to strengthen his momentum.
Luckily, the centipede had anticipated for Shang to continue, which was why the spikes hit the place in front of Shang, giving him a free moment.
As Shang kept pulling and repairing his arms, Sword began to move under the force of Shang's momentum.
BANG! BANG!
Shang released another two Blasts, his legs exploding with blood.
Shang managed to barely pull Sword to the wall when he felt his grip on the wall slip.
He wasn't fast enough to run up the wall with Sword.
So, Shang let Sword go.
It was still moving upward at this moment, but it would begin falling soon.
After Shang let go, he used another Blast to accelerate again.
He ran up the wall, ran over the ceiling, ran down the wall, jumped over the blood, and reached Sword again, which still had some of its upward momentum remaining.
Shang was running with so much speed that he had completed a loop before Sword had even lost all its momentum.
As Shang grabbed it again, he kept pulling more and eventually managed to get it halfway to the ceiling before he had to drop it again.
Shang exploded forward again, blocking more spikes.
And when Shang reached the ceiling next, he grabbed Sword again and pulled.
He managed to awkwardly pull it to the other side of the cave, and this time, he didn't let go.
He pulled more, and thanks to Sword's weight, Shang's speed increased even more.
Shang jumped over the pool while holding the gigantic Sword, the sword being pulled through the corrosive pool of blood.
"Entropy!" Shang shouted.
Sword immediately produced black fire, and the blood around it was turned into nothingness.
Shang kept pulling and ran up the wall again, leaving behind a black streak.
In one loop, a black ring of fire was created, but Shang didn't run in a perfect circle but slightly angled towards the centipede.
So, the black ring wasn't actually a ring but the beginning of a spiral.
As soon as the momentum had been established, it became incredibly easy to keep Sword's momentum.
"Absorb just as much metal from the walls as you are using up!" Shang shouted.
Sword did just that, balancing its Entropy with the metal it absorbed.
By now, it had become very difficult for the centipede to actually target Shang. The black fire all around the end of the cave was messing with its Spirit Sense, which it relied on to target Shang.
Shang kept running across the cave in what felt like a straight line.
More of the blood vanished as the black fire stretched across the end of the cave.
The spikes stuck in the walls and ground were completely decimated by the gigantic sword.
More and more of the black fire accumulated, and Shang reached the halfway point to the centipede.
CRACK!
At that point, Sword cut through something that felt different, and Shang's right eye shone.
The next moment, all the corrosive blood turned into normal blood.
'I knew it!'
The diagram Shang had seen earlier was probably the reason for the corrosiveness of the blood, and this had been one of Shang's targets.
As soon as the blood lost its corrosive properties, Shang stopped jumping over it and just ran through it.
This made the building and keeping of the momentum much easier.
Shang sped up even more, and the black flames kept getting closer and closer to the centipede.
And then, Shang's angle changed.
He turned more towards the centipede, making the loop bigger.
"Sword, release 80% of your mass in one burst!"
BOOOOOM!
The black fire behind Shang exploded in intensity and size, completely throwing the centipede's perception off.
Its aim decreased even more, and it kept missing Shang.
When Shang was only a hundred meters away from the centipede, he ran down the wall, gaining one last burst of momentum.
Then, he directly charged at the centipede.
The centipede noticed that Shang was now charging at it, and it immediately targeted him again.
Shang jumped.
The spikes passed under him.
BANG!
Shang used a Blast to completely stop his momentum in the air, but he let Sword continue swinging.
At this moment, a blood-covered and heavily injured figure was holding a gigantic sword covered in black flames in the middle of the air.
Then, he pulled it upward with all of his power.
Sword began to shine, and the black fire on it focused on its tip.
Finally, Shang completed his swing...
And it was a ranged attack!
A humongous wave of black fire left Sword as it turned back into its Great Sword State.
The wave of black fire was absolutely gigantic, and the centipede immediately attacked it with its scythes.
However, its scythes only turned into dust.
It tried to move to the side, but the wave was just too big.
Its body also began to turn into nothingness.
An Early True Path Stage beast couldn't resist the force of Entropy.
Eventually, the wave hit the back of the cave.
And it exploded!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
