Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang's eyes narrowed.

'Is that thing following me? Why is it continually circling me? Am I near its nest?'

After a bit of deliberation, Shang continued walking towards the northeast.

Sure enough, the thing kept circling above him.

'Shit! That thing's actually following me! Why is it following me when it doesn't attack me!?' Shang thought with frustration.

Shang moved around in senseless patterns to test if that thing was truly following him, and, sure enough, it kept following Shang, no matter where he went.

Shang's frown intensified. He definitely didn't feel comfortable with something like that circling above him.

'If it decides to attack, I have to be ready. If I don't notice the very moment it charges down, I won't be able to react.'

'The thing is very fast, but it doesn't displace enough Mana to be a General Stage beast. It feels a bit stronger than the beasts I saw before, but it doesn't give me the feeling of overwhelming dread that a General Stage beast does.'

Shang remembered that spider he had hidden from on his way to Warrior's Paradise. That thing had been in the General Stage, and Shang had felt absolutely helpless.

In comparison, the thing circling above him felt more like an extremely powerful Soldier Stage beast.

Shang guessed that the thing was probably just like Astor, someone a level below him that could threaten him.

However, in comparison to Astor, this thing was a beast, not a human.

While Shang knew that he couldn't win against Astor, everything was different when his opponent was a beast.

Shang specialized in killing beasts.

If Astor were a beast, Shang was confident in winning, but he would have to be very careful and not make any mistakes.

So, even though the thing was very fast, Shang knew that he had a chance. If it was a flying creature with a lot of speed, its defense and pure power probably weren't that powerful. That meant that Shang could end the fight with one strike. He only had to hit it when it charged at him.

And what if the beast was on the blacklist?

Fuck that!

Shang could run from all manners of beasts, but that thing was far faster than him. Running would most likely end in his death since one wrong dodge would kill him.

So what if he had to pay a huge fine?

He had to stay alive!

Suddenly, Shang stopped.

Another Vanishing Snake had appeared.

Shang continued standing on the spot and concentrated on his Darkness Vision.

His instincts were shouting at him, and Shang saw the Darkness Mana being displaced.

WHOOOSH!

Shang frowned.

Just like last time, the thing above Shang swooped down and killed the Vanishing Snake.

had seen the thing move. He had barely looked in the direction of the Vanishing

see much detail, but he had seen

'A green bird, huh?'

a moment, Shang thought of the mission

'Capture a Spear Stork.'

Stage, and Shang had guessed that this might be

a long beak. In fact, he hadn't seen any beak due to the speed of the green bird, but Shang was sure

all, if the green bird had a long beak, Shang would have seen it. He had only been able to see prominent features, and a long beak would have been a prominent feature,

inkling as to why the green bird was following

thought. 'It only strikes when I can feel the Vanishing Snake too, which probably means that the Vanishing

which is why it follows me. The Vanishing Snakes

a deep

in general, and the green bird should be on the same level. Yet,

if this thing keeps killing them, I won't be able to kill any of

might as well go to the northwestern forest if the most valuable prey

Shang weighed his options.

the northeastern forest. Turning around now would waste a ton of

being eaten? Does that mean that the bird in the sky is

Shang thought with furrowed brows. 'Why

isn't eating the Vanishing

on his Darkness Vision

through the surroundings for

of seconds later, Shang found

headless corpse of

I mean, the eggs should be in the belly at the back, not

like the bird knows that it

Then, Shang sighed.

that corpse. It has obviously been killed by a beast, and the

having this death bird flying above my head the entire

a

Probably not.

around. After all, the green bird was a huge unknown factor that could potentially end

for some reason, Shang enjoyed this

on the edge of a cliff made Shang

He felt alive.

mix of terror, uncertainty, and excitement brought Shang a unique feeling that he had missed inside the

What was this feeling?

sure, but it was the feeling of

This didn't seem to be

Shang's destiny was in his own

would be due

fate. If Shang were the most competent person

skills and abilities would have been easily enough to succeed,

a fighter, he had known that he had had the abilities to enter the

it

they see how he

everything was up to

were the only things that would

was confident in

knew that he

wanted to prove that

he was in control

more powerful he would

all this. He only knew that he