Chapter 176 - Four Dead Beasts
Shang charged at the Crag Lizard. Right now, the Crag Lizard was overwhelmed by all the powerful beasts and humans around it, and it barely even took note of Shang.
The Crag Lizard was around two meters high and five meters long, making it rather heavy with a powerful body.
As Shang charged toward the Crag Lizard, he put an arm into one of the bags on his back and retrieved something.
It was a crystal filled with Water Mana.
Shang threw the crystal towards the Crag Lizard’s left side.
BANG!
Water Mana exploded out of the crystal as it shattered.
The Crag Lizard’s body flinched as it fled from the Water Mana. Earth beasts hated Water Mana since that was their counter. Water itself wasn’t a problem for them, but Water Mana would invade their Earth Mana and turn it into Mud Mana.
Mud Mana was a Mixed Affinity. Not many humans had it, but quite a lot of beasts had it. The Empress Cobra Zone had several beasts that had a Mud Affinity, for example.
If the Crag Lizard were to fight such a beast, it would be at a disadvantage, which was why it fled from the big source of Water Mana.
The crystal Shang had just thrown was called a Positioning Bomb.
Positioning Bombs were used to make beasts move to a different location, which was very useful.
For example, if that Crag Lizard hung to a big mountain, it would be nearly impossible to attack it. After all, its stony back would be between it and its attacker, and its rocky back didn’t stop it from attacking.
Shang had obviously come prepared for the Day of Chaos.
The Crag Lizard slowly ran into the Wild Forest, away from everyone else.
Shang followed it from behind for around a minute until he was sure that nobody was watching him.
In comparison to the Trash Bird, the Crag Lizard wasn’t flexible at all, which meant that it left behind a path of destruction in the forest.
On top of that, since Shang didn’t need to move that fast, he had the time to move stealthily.
The Crag Lizard didn’t know that Shang was on a tree very close to it.
Shang put his left hand on his sword, and a moment later, Shang’s left arm began to steam with heat.
After that, Shang jumped off the tree and pointed his left arm back.
BANG!
Shang unleashed a Fire Blast, and his arm nearly froze over.
However, Shang’s speed had reached speeds the Crag Lizard could only dream of.
In an instant, Shang reached the Crag Lizard’s head.
And his sword struck its neck.
CRK!
Shang’s sword hit the Crag Lizard’s armored neck. Usually, Shang’s attack would only be powerful enough to draw some blood and penetrate its armor a bit.
However, Shang’s speed and momentum were much higher.
His weapon was far more powerful.
And lastly, his sword had been filled with Ice Mana, the perfect counter against anything hard and brittle.
When the sword touched the Crag Lizard’s neck, all the Ice Mana came out of the sword’s edge.
CRRRRR!
The Ice Mana made the stone even more brittle, and the sword easily passed through the armor.
CRACK!
And it came out of the other side!
Shang’s sword had cut through the Crag Lizard’s entire neck!
BANG!
An earth spear hit Shang at the side of his chest, and the ability of his uniform activated. The uniform wasn’t enough to block the entire attack, but it was good enough to slightly divert the attack.
But, in the end, the left side of Shang’s upper abdomen was still penetrated by a wide spear made of earth.
Shang gritted his teeth and quickly cut the earth spear off as he jumped back, the spear still stuck inside his chest.
BOOM!
The Crag Lizard fell over, 80% of its head severed.
Shang’s sword wasn’t long enough to cut off the entire thing, but that was more than enough.
The Crag Lizard couldn’t even shout anymore.
As it fell to the ground, its body began to spasm as it barely clung to its remaining life energy.
Of course, its struggle was pointless.
As the Crag Lizard’s body spasmed in panic, Shang looked with a frown at the spear jutting out of the left side of his abdomen.
Shang quickly pulled it out and threw it to the side.
At the same time, Shang ordered his Mana to concentrate on healing his chest and to ignore his arm for now.
‘It was a manageable risk, but it was still dangerous,’ Shang thought. ‘Luckily, I was right in my estimates.’
Shang had expected that he might get hit by one attack, which was why his body had been slightly angled to the side. He had accepted that he would most likely take a hit, and he had gambled on his armor.
Astor regularly did the same thing.
Their armor was part of their arsenal. Being good at fighting didn’t only mean being able to perfectly wield one’s weapon but also to perfectly wield one’s defenses.
Then, Shang looked at the Crag Lizard.
‘As long as I don’t give my opponent the opportunity to use their power, it’s like they don’t even have that power.’
‘Even if someone has the ability to annihilate a Zone Beast, as long as I kill them before they can unleash it, it’s like they don’t have that ability at all.’
‘In a direct confrontation with the Crag Lizard, I might have even been forced to flee. Its spears are fast and numerous enough to completely stop any advances from my side.’
‘The Crag Lizard’s goal was to not die, while mine was to kill it. It didn’t have to win. It only had to not lose.’
‘That makes the fight much more difficult for me.’
‘However, by taking a risk early and not allowing it to fully show its defensive power, I managed to take it down.’
Shang looked at the healing hole on his left abdomen.
‘However, I have to get better at it. I’m sure there was a way to completely avoid injury.’
‘Practice and experience,’ Shang thought.
By now, the Crag Lizard’s body had lost nearly all its life energy, and its body was barely moving.
‘I don’t think I can put that thing into a beast sack and carry it behind me. It’s simply too big and heavy.’
‘Well, I pushed enough cars in my last life. This shouldn’t be any different.’
Shang went to the Crag Lizard’s body, cut off the last part of its neck, and put the head in a beast sack. Then, Shang put both his hands on the Crag Lizard’s body and began to roll it.
It was quite difficult, but it was manageable. Sure enough, it was only a bit worse than pushing a car.
The only bad part was that it would take a while to get back to the defensive line.
‘I mean, I pulled a heavy sled wagon for far longer. It’s only a matter of time.’
Luckily, the Crag Lizard hadn’t been very fast to begin with, which meant that Shang only had to push it for a bit less than a kilometer.
It took him about ten minutes to get back.
“Nice job,” Chuck said when he saw Shang.
Chuck grabbed the corpse of the Crag Lizard and threw it to Shang’s other three beast sacks.
“It should be over soon,” he said.
Shang only nodded as he sat down beside his corpses.
He had killed four Initial General Stage beasts today, and he probably wouldn’t get another one for a while.
On top of that, Shang needed some time to heal his left arm since all his Mana had gone to his abdomen.
So, for the remainder of the day, Shang only sat beside his four corpses.
The horde of beasts slowly thinned out. An hour later, the hunters abandoned the defensive line and scattered to look for stragglers.
Shang only waited as the other hunters left the defensive line.
The Day of Chaos hadn’t officially ended yet, but it was basically already over.
While Shang was healing his left arm beside his corpses, he saw two people approach.
When Shang saw them, he frowned.
‘What now?’ he thought with annoyance.
Teacher Loran and teacher Mervin were slowly walking to Shang.
And their expressions were uncomfortable.
They obviously weren’t there to congratulate Shang.
‘Another sermon about morality and righteousness?’ Shang thought.