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.

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

see much detail, but

'A green bird, huh?'

thought of the mission he

'Capture a Spear Stork.'

guessed that this might be

hadn't seen any beak due to the speed of

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, but since he

event, Shang also had an inkling as to why the green

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

they hide, which is why it follows me. The Vanishing Snakes see me as their prey, which gives the green bird an opening

a deep

Soldier Stage in general, and the green bird should

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

the northwestern forest if the most valuable prey in the

Shang weighed his options.

now would waste a ton of time. I might as well hope that the green bird gets its fill of

widened eyes. 'Aren't Vanishing Snakes multiplying by being eaten? Does that mean that the bird

brows. 'Why

eating the

his

he searched through the surroundings for places with dense

of seconds later, Shang found

was the headless corpse of a translucent

should be in the

knows that it can't eat the entire

Then, Shang sighed.

been killed by

bird flying above my head the entire time, but it probably doesn't care about

a

Probably not.

turned around. After all, the green bird was a huge unknown factor

some reason, Shang enjoyed this feeling

of a cliff made

He felt alive.

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

What was this feeling?

wasn't sure, but it was the feeling of

control? This didn't seem to be

Shang's destiny was in

it would be due to his own lack of

Earth, other, higher-ranked people often decided one's fate. If Shang were the most competent person for a job, he still wouldn't get it as long as the manager

to succeed, but other

had had the abilities

it taken

how he had won

wilderness, everything was up

were the only things that

Shang was confident in his

that he would

wanted to prove

prove that he was in control of

powerful he would feel after coming out

all this. He only knew that he