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.

thing move. He had barely looked in the direction

much detail, but he had seen green

'A green bird, huh?'

Shang thought of the mission he

'Capture a Spear Stork.'

Stage, and Shang had guessed that this might be a Spear Stork. That

he hadn't seen any beak due to the speed of the

would have seen it. He had only been able to see prominent features, and a long beak

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

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

bird can't see the Vanishing Snakes when they hide, which is why it follows me. The Vanishing Snakes see me as their prey,

took a

at the Late Soldier Stage in general, and the green bird should be on the same level. Yet, the Vanishing Snakes

this thing keeps killing

the northwestern forest if the most valuable prey in the northeastern

Shang weighed his options.

already too far in the northeastern forest. Turning around now would waste a ton of time. I might as well hope that the green bird gets its

Shang suddenly thought with widened eyes. 'Aren't Vanishing Snakes multiplying by being eaten? Does that mean that the bird in the sky

furrowed brows. 'Why

eating

his Darkness

he searched through the surroundings for places with dense

seconds later,

headless corpse of

mean, the eggs should be in the belly

bird knows that it can't eat

Then, Shang sighed.

It has obviously been killed by a beast, and the academy won't accept

hate having this death bird flying above my head the entire time, but it probably doesn't care

this a smart

Probably not.

huge

for some reason, Shang enjoyed this

edge of a cliff made Shang feel

He felt alive.

Shang a unique

What was this feeling?

sure, but it

This didn't seem to

meant that Shang's destiny was in his own

Shang died out here, it would be due to

fate. If Shang were the most competent

have been easily enough to succeed, but other people had decided

he had had the abilities to enter the MNFA. However, it had still taken him another year to prove himself to

it

he

everything was up to

abilities were the only things that

was confident

that

he wanted to prove

that he was in control of his

surroundings, the more powerful he would feel

He only knew that he wanted to