Shang's eyes narrowed.

'Is that thing following me? Why is it continually circling me? Am I near its nest?'

After a bit of deliberation, Shang continued walking towards the northeast.

Sure enough, the thing kept circling above him.

'Shit! That thing's actually following me! Why is it following me when it doesn't attack me!?' Shang thought with frustration.

Shang moved around in senseless patterns to test if that thing was truly following him, and, sure enough, it kept following Shang, no matter where he went.

Shang's frown intensified. He definitely didn't feel comfortable with something like that circling above him.

'If it decides to attack, I have to be ready. If I don't notice the very moment it charges down, I won't be able to react.'

'The thing is very fast, but it doesn't displace enough Mana to be a General Stage beast. It feels a bit stronger than the beasts I saw before, but it doesn't give me the feeling of overwhelming dread that a General Stage beast does.'

Shang remembered that spider he had hidden from on his way to Warrior's Paradise. That thing had been in the General Stage, and Shang had felt absolutely helpless.

In comparison, the thing circling above him felt more like an extremely powerful Soldier Stage beast.

Shang guessed that the thing was probably just like Astor, someone a level below him that could threaten him.

However, in comparison to Astor, this thing was a beast, not a human.

While Shang knew that he couldn't win against Astor, everything was different when his opponent was a beast.

Shang specialized in killing beasts.

If Astor were a beast, Shang was confident in winning, but he would have to be very careful and not make any mistakes.

So, even though the thing was very fast, Shang knew that he had a chance. If it was a flying creature with a lot of speed, its defense and pure power probably weren't that powerful. That meant that Shang could end the fight with one strike. He only had to hit it when it charged at him.

And what if the beast was on the blacklist?

Fuck that!

Shang could run from all manners of beasts, but that thing was far faster than him. Running would most likely end in his death since one wrong dodge would kill him.

So what if he had to pay a huge fine?

He had to stay alive!

Suddenly, Shang stopped.

Another Vanishing Snake had appeared.

Shang continued standing on the spot and concentrated on his Darkness Vision.

His instincts were shouting at him, and Shang saw the Darkness Mana being displaced.

WHOOOSH!

Shang frowned.

Just like last time, the thing above Shang swooped down and killed the Vanishing Snake.

Since Shang had been prepared this time, he had seen the thing move. He had barely looked in the direction of the Vanishing Snake before he saw a green streak shoot across his vision.

Shang hadn't been able to see much detail, but he had seen green feathers.

'A green bird, huh?'

For a moment, Shang thought of the mission he had seen.

'Capture a Spear Stork.'

Spear Storks could reach the Commander Stage, and Shang had guessed that this might be a Spear Stork. That would explain its terrifying power.

However, Shang hadn't seen a long beak. In fact, he hadn't seen any beak due to the speed of the green bird, but Shang was sure that it wasn't a Spear Stork.

After all, if the green bird had a long beak, Shang would have seen it. He had only been able to see prominent features, and a long beak would have been a prominent feature, but since he saw nothing, it meant this thing didn't have a long beak.

After this event, Shang also had an inkling as to why the green bird was following him.

'It's using me as bait to catch Vanishing Snakes,' Shang thought. 'It only strikes when I can feel the Vanishing Snake too, which probably means that the Vanishing Snake needs to come out of hiding to hunt.'

'The green bird can't see the Vanishing Snakes when they hide, which is why it follows me. The Vanishing Snakes see me as their prey, which gives the green bird an opening to strike.'

Shang took a deep breath.

'However, the green bird really is terrifying. Vanishing Snakes are at the Late Soldier Stage in general, and the green bird should be on the same level. Yet, the Vanishing Snakes couldn't even defend themselves.'

'That's bad,' Shang thought. 'I came here to hunt Vanishing Snakes, but if this thing keeps killing them, I won't be able to kill any of them.'

'I might as well go to the northwestern forest if the most valuable prey in the northeastern forest is unavailable.'

Shang weighed his options.

'Forget it. I'm already too far in the northeastern forest. Turning around now would waste a ton of time. I might as well hope that the green bird gets its fill of Vanishing Snakes and goes-'

'Wait!' Shang suddenly thought with widened eyes. 'Aren't Vanishing Snakes multiplying by being eaten? Does that mean that the bird in the sky is already at death's door?'

'Is it?' Shang thought with furrowed brows. 'Why do I feel like it isn't?'

'Maybe it isn't eating the Vanishing Snakes?'

Shang concentrated on his Darkness Vision again.

Then, he searched through the surroundings for places with dense Mana.

A couple of seconds later, Shang found something.

It was the headless corpse of a translucent snake!

'Is it only eating the heads? I mean, the eggs should be in the belly at the back, not in the head.'

'Seems like the bird knows that it can't eat the entire corpse.'

Then, Shang sighed.

'Sadly, I can't turn in that corpse. It has obviously been killed by a beast, and the academy won't accept such a corpse.'

'Anyway, I should continue. I hate having this death bird flying above my head the entire time, but it probably doesn't care about me. Might as well continue.'

Was this a smart decision?

Probably not.

Most humans would have turned around. After all, the green bird was a huge unknown factor that could potentially end their lives. It was too risky to continue.

However, for some reason, Shang enjoyed this feeling of danger.

Dancing on the edge of a cliff made Shang feel awake.

He felt alive.

The mix of terror, uncertainty, and excitement brought Shang a unique feeling that he had missed inside the academy.

What was this feeling?

Shang wasn't sure, but it was the feeling of control.

Why control? This didn't seem to be related to control at all.

It meant that Shang's destiny was in his own hands.

If Shang died out here, it would be due to his own lack of skill.

There were no external factors like on Earth. On Earth, other, higher-ranked people often decided one's fate. If Shang were the most competent person for a job, he still wouldn't get it as long as the manager didn't like him.

In that situation, Shang's skills and abilities would have been easily enough to succeed, but other people had decided to take this chance away from him.

Back when Shang had still been a fighter, he had known that he had had the abilities to enter the MNFA. However, it had still taken him another year to prove himself to them.

Why had it taken so long?!

Couldn't they see how he had won every fight?!

But in this wilderness, everything was up to Shang.

His abilities were the only things that would decide his success.

And Shang was confident in his abilities.

He knew that he would survive!

And he wanted to prove that to himself.

He wanted to prove that he was in control of his life.

The more dangerous his surroundings, the more powerful he would feel after coming out victorious!

Shang didn't know all this. He only knew that he wanted to be in danger.

In his mind, he believed that the more danger he survived, the more powerful he would become.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ And that was true. Combat experience was incredibly important, and surviving difficult situations increased combat experience like nothing else.

Shang continued going towards the northeast, but he couldn't get far before something happened.

The green bird in the sky suddenly swooped down again, but it wasn't attacking Shang.

Before Shang could find the target the green bird was attacking, he heard an aggressive screech coming from it.

It was the kind of screech that a bird would use when a predator came close to its nest.

Shang looked over.

BANG!

Then, he heard the loud, explosive sound of two heavy objects hitting each other.

Shang's eyes widened.

He saw a translucent snake, but this one was different!

It was over ten meters long while the other one had only been one meter long!

The explosive sound Shang had heard had been its fangs clamping down on each other.

Luckily, the bird managed to barely evade the violent teeth.

At that moment, Shang's heart stopped.

He hadn't noticed that Vanishing Snake at all!

Not even his instincts had warned him!

But now that he saw it, he noticed the sheer amount of Mana it displaced.

'General Stage!' Shang realized.

That also explained why the green bird hadn't been able to kill it.

'What is a General Stage Vanishing Snake doing here?! I'm not that close to the Empress Cobra Zone, am I? Did it come to have its young?!'

'What shitty luck is that?!'

The bird screeched again as it hovered near the Vanishing Snake.

Then, it scratched the air with its talons.

CRK!

Shang's eyes widened when three gigantic gashes opened up on the Vanishing Snake's side!

The three gashes were deep, and blood exploded out of them.

The snake hissed and tried to bite the bird again, but the green bird flew away.

Apparently, it had decided to retreat back into the sky.

That had probably been its strongest attack, and it had fled after seeing that its target was still alive.

When Shang saw the three huge gashes on the snake, a glint appeared in his eyes.

Shang's heart pounded heavily as he made his decision.

He would kill it!