Shang didn't remember the last time he had fought an enemy Mage with an Earth Affinity that wasn't a complete pushover.

‘A powerful Early High Mage with an Earth Affinity, huh? I wonder how they fight.'

pan,da n<0,>v,el SHING!

Shang's opponent appeared.

It was a tall man with brown hair and a rough, long beard. He looked a bit like a barbarian.

Shang didn't enter his Colossal Sword State. For now, the Saber State should be enough, and the Colossal Sword State was not as great when it came to dealing with Earth Mages.

The reason was that Refraction and Reflection didn't work that well against Earth Mages.

Additionally, Shang didn't think that it was necessary to enter his Colossal Sword State yet. The Saber State should still be enough.

The jester slowly lifted his hammer and hit the bell.

DING!

Shang immediately unleashed his Shooting Stars and Hidden Suns at the Mage.

When the Mage noticed the assault, his eyes narrowed.

In an instant, he had already created his Mana Shield.

SHING!

He also used a Mana Step immediately to gain some distance from Shang.

When Shang saw that, he blasted forward with an Ice Blast while continuing his assault.

CRK!

At that moment, two huge claws shot out of the earth around the Mage, and they grabbed the Mana Shield.

Then, they moved the Mana Shield to the side, making Shang's attacks miss.

The claws could move through the earth, and they pulled the Mage with them.

Shang got reminded of the first talented Mage he had ever fought back in the first trial. That Mage had been a Lightning Mage, and he had surrounded his Mana Shield with lightning to achieve a similar effect.

Shang didn't know how much Mana it cost to move the Mana Shield around with the claws, but he assumed that it was probably cheaper than Mana Shield.

Additionally, moving the claws probably didn't count as using a Spell. The Mage could probably just move them as long as they existed.

The Mage wasn't moving particularly fast with the earth claws, but he was very good at moving them, just barely enough to avoid Shang's attacks.

‘Interesting. An Earth Mage with a lot of mobility. That's usually the weakness of Earth Mages.'

Shang continued blasting toward the Earth Mage while he continued unleashing his barrage of attacks.

The Mage had to move from side to side to avoid the attacks, but he also had to move away from Shang.

The Mage wasn't stupid, and he knew that it would be a bad idea to let such a powerful warrior come close to him.

However, that made it more difficult to avoid Shang's attacks. Whenever the Mana Shield was moved to the side, its retreating speed from Shang slowed down, allowing him to catch up.

When there was only a kilometer left between them, the Mage used his first offensive Spell.

WHOOOOM!

A huge wave of earth suddenly appeared between the two, and it was moving right toward Shang.

When Shang saw the wave, a bit of surprise appeared inside his right eye.

‘His wave is cutting off my Spirit Sense. I can't see anything behind the wave.'

Shang continued releasing his attacks, but this time, they hit the wave between him and his opponent.

After three attacks, a hole opened up inside the wave, and Shang's Spirit Sense could finally see what was behind it.

And he immediately blasted to the side.

SHING!

An earthen spear, cloaked in green Mana, shot past Shang at speeds that should be absolutely impossible for an Earth Affinity Mage to achieve at this level.

If Shang hadn't already expected that attack, he would have been hit.

The Mage narrowed his eyes when he saw that Shang had evaded his attack.

If Shang had been in the Mage's place, he would have done the same thing. Make the opponent expect one attack with a certain speed, but then release an even faster one behind the first one.

Shang knew that the Mage had been judged to be powerful, and Shang had immediately assumed that the Mage would choose the best course of action based on what he would do.

That was how Shang had known that this attack would come.

He hadn't known how the Mage would manage to release such a fast attack, but he assumed that the Mage had a way to achieve that.

But after seeing the attack, Shang realized what the Earth Mage had done.

‘Sure enough, this is a genius.'

The green Mana around the earthen spear had been Wind Mana, and the way the Wind Mana behaved was very, very familiar to Shang.

This was the Concept of Wind Movement.

Jerald knew the same Concept.

‘The Earth Mage's main Concept is probably some kind of connection to the ground. The wave is humongous, and moving the claws that quickly through the Earth also can't be easy. But as a powerful Early High Mage, he already comprehended a second Concept from a different Affinity and incorporated it into his Main Concept.'

‘If I remember Jerald's words correctly, most Earth Mages go for the Concept of Base, a Concept that allows them to control the Earth around them with incredible skill as long as they have physical contact with it.'

‘The claws around his Mana Shield keep him mobile, but they also keep the connection with the ground. By using the Earth Claws, he has essentially entered a continuously based state.'

Shang had analyzed everything in the blink of an eye, and he had already continued his assault.

The secondary plan of the Mage had also failed since Shang had already seen it coming.

If the opponent somehow managed to avoid the attack, they would have moved to a place where there was no hole inside the Earth Wall. At that point, the Earth Wall would hit them.

But Shang only evaded to the side and then evaded back again, the wave harmlessly passing by him.

Shang's speed increased as he released more Blasts, and the Mage had to use another Mana Step to gain distance.

Every usage of Mana Step was expensive and would exhaust the Mage's Mana by a lot.

When Shang saw that his opponent had used Mana Step, a fire appeared in his right eye.

BANG!

Instead of releasing another Shooting Star, Shang threw his Saber forward.

The speed of the Saber was far higher than the speed of Shooting Star, and Shang was betting on the fact that the Mage wouldn't be ready to use another Mana Step immediately after using the first one.

He would feel safe with the additional distance, and he would be planning his next offense.

The Mage's eyes widened as he saw the ridiculously fast black beam shooting at him.

BOOOOOM!

The black fire around Sword exploded as it hit the Mana Shield, and the Mage realized in terror that he had just lost 50% of his Mana!

How powerful was this attack?!

WHOOOOM!

In the next instant, the area around the Mage turned pitch black, and not even his Spirit Sense could properly make sense of his surroundings.

Then, he saw an eye in the darkness, and his hair stood up.

How?!

How had his opponent already arrived in front of him?!

There had been nearly two kilometers between them?!

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

In just an instant, four black bolts of lightning hit the Mage's Mana Shield in different places.

The attacks had been so fast that the Mage hadn't even been able to react with Mana Step!

The Mage finally used Mana Step, but…

He had no more Mana!

He didn't have enough Mana to use Mana Step!

A black edge grew bigger in the Mage's vision.

Shang's body passed the Mage.

And the Mage fell into multiple pieces.