The wheel slowly returned.
"Level ten: Weak Late True Path Stage beast."
The wheel spun, and Shang looked over.
This would be the last fight where he could take it easy.
After that, he would need to get serious.
Some seconds later, the wheel stopped, and an image appeared.
It was a green ant with wings soaring through the sky. It also had cartoony eyes and a smile.
SHING!
Shang's opponent appeared, and he looked over.
It was just a green ant, which was about 50-meters-long, not very big for a True Path Stage beast.
'Understandable. Ants are weak on their own but powerful in a group. Funny that I get to fight another one. Didn't I fight an ant for the tenth level last time as well, or was that in the seventh? Not sure.'
The jester slowly lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
DING!
Shang immediately began to unleash his Shooting Stars and Hidden Suns, but sure enough, the opponent's defense was just too powerful.
The spider from before had quite a good defense, but it hadn't been ridiculous.
However, the ant mostly focused on defense and was a level higher. Of course, the trade-off was that it was probably very slow, straightforward, and weak.
As soon as Shang saw that Shooting Star and Hidden Sun didn't work, he changed his approach.
He charged towards it.
BANG!
At that moment, a spear made of wind shot at Shang from the ant's mouth, and Shang's eyes widened.
'Fast!'
Shang barely managed to evade.
This beast was three levels above him, and the difference in speed was quite big. If Shang weren't so good at dodging Spells, he would have been hit just now.
Shang quickly readied himself to evade again, but he realized that the ant was still preparing its next attack.
Sure enough, its offensive capabilities were not that great.
This wind spear was probably the only offensive attack it knew.
However, if one imagined an entire colony of ants using that attack…
That sure would be terrifying.
'The Pest Cats are already a big problem in the Five Kingdoms. What kind of menace would a hive filled with these ants be?'
The ant mindlessly ran towards Shang as it released its next spear. Even True Path Stage ants weren't very smart.
After evading the first attack, Shang had it easier to avoid the second.
The ant released two more attacks, and Shang finally arrived close to it.
BANG!
A fiery pillar came out of the ground below the ant.
Shang would need to use Inferno to kill the ant.
The ant seemingly ignored the fiery pillar and homed in on Shang with its attacks while charging toward him.
It was like it wasn't even alive.
Shang released one Inferno after the other, but it only caused a bit of damage over the next couple of seconds.
However, with the ant attacking like a primitive machine, it wasn't really a problem for Shang to continue attacking.
It was exceptionally easy to hit Inferno on a target that moved in obvious ways.
Sadly, it still took Shang far too long.
In fact, he needed to bombard the ant with Inferno for nearly 30 seconds, which was an insane amount of time for two combatants fighting at the True Path Stage.
Eventually, the ant fell over and stopped moving after unleashing one last spear.
Shang made sure that the ant was dead by using a couple more Infernos.
Just two seconds later, Shang heard the cheering return, and he stopped.
He took a deep breath and closed his right eye. 'This was annoying. Obviously, my Saber State doesn't cut it when it comes to opponents with such a strong defense.'
'Well, time to change weapons.'
As the wheel slowly appeared again, Shang summoned a sizable chunk of ore and stabbed Sword into it.
"Level eleven: Average Late True Path Stage beast."
As the wheel began to spin and Sword absorbed some more, Shang remembered something.
'Oh, right! I didn't fight anything for level ten the last time. The Ice King gave me two points, and I stopped after that. It should have been at the seventh level then.'
'I think I didn't even attempt level eleven back then since it was basically pointless. Sword wasn't powerful enough back then, and I didn't have that much ore to spare.'
'But this time, things are different.'
Shang looked at the wheel, and the image of his next opponent appeared.
It was a blue hedgehog wearing running shoes and giving a thumbs-up.
Just like all the other images, this one didn't seem familiar to Shang.
SHING!
Shang's opponent appeared.
Sure enough, it was an over 200-meter-long blue hedgehog, and Shang could feel a ton of Ice Mana circulating inside its needles and feet.
'An ice hedgehog? I mean, icicles are spiky, and a hedgehog is spiky.'
By now, Sword had finished absorbing the ore, and it returned to its Colossal Sword State.
Shang slowly lifted his gigantic sword and held it in front of him.
Sword was at the Late True Path Stage, and its weight was not negligible for Shang. His speed would suffer quite a bit with such a heavy sword.
The jester slowly lifted his hammer and hit the bell.
DING!
Shang's body expanded a bit as his muscles seemed to be on the verge of bursting.
At the same time, the hedgehog noticed its opponent. In response to seeing its next meal, it stood up on its two hind legs, making Shang lift an eyebrow.
SHING!
Then, ten insanely long claws made of ice shot out of the hedgehog, nearly reaching the ground.
'With those claws, that thing looks more like a sloth now.'
'But I get it. I can't attack it from the back or sides due to the needles, and if I attack it from the front, I have to get through the ice claws. Definitely stronger than a weak beast.'
'However, it still doesn't count as a powerful one.'
BANG!
The next moment, light exploded out of Shang's body, making him resemble the sun during noon.
The light was bright, blinding, and completely hid Shang's body behind it.
The hedgehog squinted its eyes, but it wasn't really relying on its eyes anyway. Just like everyone at the True Path Stage, it relied on its Spirit Sense, and it could feel Shang.
BANG!
Then, Shang shot forward, leaving a bright streak of light behind.
Even though Shang was completely hidden by the light, the hedgehog could still see him with its Spirit Sense.
And then, it roared.
CRK! CRK! CRK!
In an instant, the surrounding kilometer was covered by ice, and Shang had to be careful not to slip accidentally.
Some icy blue Ice Mana appeared on the hedgehog's hindlegs, and it also shot forward.
When Shang saw the hedgehog slide forwards without even really using its legs, he was quite impressed.
It was really fast for such a huge beast.
Shang charged toward the hedgehog, and the hedgehog charged toward him.
Right before the two of them reached each other, the light around Shang seemed to move.
The blinding light slowly pulled together, and it nearly stopped shining completely.
However, when the hedgehog saw what had just happened, it became confused.
The hedgehog now saw several Shangs!
Well, not exactly. It saw many illusory images of Shang.
It was like everything around Shang had become distorted, making him appear in several places at once.
Additionally, the hedgehog couldn't see where the real Shang was, even with its Spirit Sense!
This was the first new technique of Shang's Colossal Sword State.
He called it Distortion.
