Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang was still visible, but the tortoise couldn't sense him.

That was because Shang had used the Light and Darkness Concepts to hide from Spirit Senses.

Yet, if one had eyes, they would still be able to see him.

But since the true tortoise was buried inside the thick layer of armor, it couldn't look at Shang with its actual eyes.

This essentially made Shang invisible to the tortoise.

At least until it somehow managed to look at the real world with its eyes.

And if it did that, Shang would very quickly realize where the real tortoise was.

The pressure on Shang's back reduced by a lot, but he still had to avoid the projectiles.

In a certain way, avoiding the projectiles now became even more draining on his concentration since he couldn't anticipate a projectile's trajectory anymore. After all, it was random.

But Shang still preferred it this way.

Shang recovered his Death Mana and used Injection to get as deeply into the tortoise as possible, but he could barely penetrate just a couple of kilometers of its ridiculously thick armor.

Once more, Shang couldn't win the battle because his Affinity couldn't be revealed.

If he could use his Domain of Entropy, he could dig through the tortoise's body while weakening the projectiles so much that his body could resist them.

Additionally, if Shang could use Fate, he could easily bisect the tortoise, which would allow him to pinpoint the location of the real beast.

But as things stood now, he didn't have enough power to break through the armor.

The stone and metal that the tortoise left in the arena quickly turned into Earth and Metal Mana again, which rapidly got reabsorbed by the tortoise.

Shang could try destroying the will on the Mana, but that wouldn't do a lot. The tortoise would just absorb more Mana from the ground and air.

After he considered all of this, Shang was actually glad that he had such an opponent.

This tortoise allowed Shang to work on his offense without being just a target dummy.

'The fish bird was a perfect opponent, and now this tortoise is also a perfect opponent. Is this just a coincidence?'

Shang wasn't sure.

It was possible that the Thunder King was sending in just the right opponents.

Shang continued fighting against the tortoise for several years, launching one attack after the other.

He was using the tortoise's armor as a way to gauge how strong his attacks were, and it proved to be quite helpful.

As the years passed, Shang managed to get deeper and deeper into the tortoise's body.

After 20 years, Shang managed to get two kilometers deeper than before. Assuming the real tortoise was in the middle of the bigger tortoise's body, Shang only needed to get through another six kilometers of armor.

Every time, Shang used a perfectly prepared Sword Heart with all his Death Mana using the Concept of Weakness.

Another 20 years later, Shang managed to get another two kilometers deeper.

In comparison to the beginning, Shang's attacks had become nearly twice as strong, which was a far bigger improvement than he had expected.

using more Mana, and his body

his offensive power had

What had changed?

power of his attacks for

very difficult to say what

Path of Sword consisted of less theoretical knowledge and more instinctual movements and

his attacks, and they

attacks without using any Death Mana, and what he saw

Barely anything!

power of his normal attacks had barely increased

they

the 100% increase in power

when Shang changed

the Path of Sword, but his progress wasn't as fast as he had thought. Or maybe, the progress

came to attacks with Death Mana, his progress

This meant one thing.

only progressing on one

on two Paths,

to continue training like this, and

Shang's power stopped increasing.

reached some kind of

he continued training

later, Shang's power barely increased

But Shang continued.

years, Shang's power

years later, maybe

entered a rhythm, and he

Shang unleashed an

a bit, but not by

after Shang felt his attack connect,

compared

had used Death Mana, Shang hadn't felt this difference since it was very subtle and since the Death Mana was

Mana, and the

There was something.

Something else.

Shang had never

it wasn't Neutral Mana, and it wasn't any kind of

Wind, Water, Ice, Lightning, Metal, Light, Darkness, Space,

kinds of Elemental Mana, and he was sure that this kind

felt

the properties

it

feeling and watched as the Mana appeared on

sure where it came

BANG! BANG! BANG!

in an avalanche of attack, trying to

attacks continued for a couple of

then, Shang realized

mind was growing

Mana

mind and summoned the sensation of this

BOOOM!

rapidly moving grey mist appeared around Shang's sword as he felt the Mana in his