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.

Mana, and his body also hadn't

somehow, his offensive power had

What had changed?

his attacks for a

very difficult to say what

to learning Concepts, walking further down the Path of Sword consisted of less theoretical knowledge and more instinctual movements and

with his attacks,

Shang tested the power of his attacks without using

Barely anything!

of his normal attacks had barely

most, they were 10%

be compared to the 100% increase in power

was when Shang

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

when it came to attacks with Death Mana, his progress was

This meant one thing.

progressing

on two

continue training like this, and ten years later, a subtle change

Shang's power stopped increasing.

power had reached

he continued training

Shang's power barely increased by maybe

But Shang continued.

years, Shang's power increased by maybe

later, maybe

had entered a rhythm, and

more, Shang unleashed an attack without

had increased by a

Shang felt his

was something different about this attack compared to his normal attacks over a century

Shang hadn't felt this difference since it was

Mana, and the subtle sensation

There was something.

Something else.

Shang had never felt

Neutral Mana, and

Ice, Lightning, Metal, Light,

Transformation, Shang could feel all kinds of Elemental Mana, and

felt

had the properties of

did it

the feeling and watched as the Mana appeared on

where

BANG! BANG! BANG!

of attack, trying to summon

continued for a couple

Shang realized

mind was

that this weird kind of Mana was using the Mana stored

used the Mana in his mind and summoned the sensation of this new

BOOOM!

was like a floodgate had been opened, and a rapidly moving grey mist