Sword God in a World of Magic

The fight had been very short, and Shang hadn’t even moved a single step since the start.

If another person were here, they would be shocked by Shang’s way of fighting.

Shang’s “Spells” were very powerful, being able to block a beast a level above him with ease, and they could even severely injure such a powerful beast without needing much time to be prepared.

Additionally, the Spells were even invisible!

Lastly, the Spells didn’t even show any kind of Affinity!

No one would be able to tell what kind of Element or Affinity Shang had used to kill his enemy. The Spells were invisible and didn’t show any signs of any kind of Affinities.

Although, there was one possibility.

Did Shang have a Space or Gravity Affinity?

This was what these kinds of attacks from these kinds of people looked like, right?

Of course, not a single person would even entertain the thought that Shang was using something that wasn’t Magic.

But one thing was clear.

No one would be able to tell what kind of Affinity Shang had and what kind of “Spells” he had just cast.

And while completely keeping his true power hidden, Shang managed to kill a beast a level above himself.

The only thing he had done was to imitate different movements of his different States and made the Mana of the world move in these ways.

The first block had been created by Shang, mimicking his Colossal Sword State blocking an attack.

The following slash had been created by Shang mimicking a slash with his Saber State.

The forward stab had been created by Shang mimicking a stab with his Long Sword State.

And lastly, the heavy attack was created by Shang mimicking a heavy, all-out attack with his Great Sword State.

Shang had used swordsmanship to kill the snake, but he hadn’t used a sword.

He had simply made the world act like he had a sword.

Shang pocketed the corpse and continued flying toward the east.

At some point, he should be able to feel the Eternal Maw’s Spirit Sense.

Eventually, there were no more Ancestral Beasts in front of Shang anymore, but the number of Archbeasts only increased.

Shang fully focused on his instincts as he continued to travel.

By now, there were no more plants visible on the ground, but there was also something quite interesting.

There were a lot of Archmages.

The Archmages were scouring the land for any kind of ore or hidden treasures.

In a way, all of this reminded Shang of the Wasteland in the Storm Eagle Zone in Area 23.

By now, Shang no longer dared to fly in the open.

There were no more huge plants to cover him, and there were way too many Archmages. While Shang was invisible to their Spirit Senses, he was still visible to their eyes.

Like a ghost, Shang hovered slightly above the ground as he continued eastward.

And then, he immediately stopped moving.

Just now, it was like Shang had stepped into a different world.

Since Shang wasn’t viewing the world with his eyes but with his Spirit Sense, he saw the world very differently from normal humans.

Shang saw the world as Mana, essentially. Trees were a complex mix of Earth and Water Mana, and Shang could also see all the individual pieces of Mana leaving the trees due to their metabolisms.

The ground was made of different forms of Earth, Water, Metal, and even Fire Mana. 

All of these complex combinations had their own forms and feelings. In a way, one could say that all these different combinations that made up different forms of matter were of a different color for Shang, and he could also see these colors slowly enter the surroundings.

Nearly every piece of matter was giving a bit of its Mana off to the surroundings. In a way, one could imagine this as a stone in a river that had some paint on it. As the water passed by it, the color was also slowly washed off, following the river.

This was happening to everything in Shang’s surroundings, and that was how he perceived his world.

And just now, all of that had suddenly changed.

All these small streams of color were no longer entering the surroundings but were charging toward the south-southeast. 

In Shang’s vision, nearly no Wind Mana from the sky was reaching him anymore, effectively making the sky seem nearly lifeless and black.

Even Shang’s Spirit Sense felt a pull towards the south-southeast, and he even felt like small chunks of his Spirit Sense were torn off.

It was like there was a humongous black hole towards the south that pulled in all manners of Mana.

However, at the same time, Shang felt the ground give off a strong stream of brown Earth Mana.

While the ground gave off Earth Mana regularly everywhere in the world, it was several times stronger here.

It was like the ground was essentially trying to flood the surroundings in brown before also being pulled towards the south.

Shang was certain that he had reached the Eternal Maw’s Spirit Sense.

For a while, Shang focused on perceiving the world around him.

He was supposed to visit the Sky Lantern and find out what made a Beast Lord a Beast Lord, but maybe he could also find that out here.

Shang focused on his surroundings.

It was like the world was being absorbed and pulled towards the south.

However, that wasn’t anything new.

That was simply the effect of the World Connection.

Shang could also do that but on a far smaller and weaker magnitude.

‘Forget it,’ Shang thought. ‘I need to see it if I want to know more, and that’s too risky right now.’

Shang marked the spot down where he felt the change in the world and traveled in a completely new direction.

This time, Shang was traveling toward the southwest.

He was closely traveling along the edge of the Eternal Maw’s Spirit Sense for a while.

After some minutes, he stopped.

He looked at the map he had created inside his mind and drew the edge of the Eternal Maw’s Spirit Sense on it.

It was round, and with just that, he could easily calculate where the actual Eternal Maw was and where its Spirit Sense could reach.

This wasn’t anything difficult for someone with the mind of an Initial High Mage.

With that, Shang completed his small task and traveled back to the Sweeper.