Sword God in a World of Magic

The group reached the entrance to the city, and Duke Whirlwind quickly struck up a conversation with the guards. It was like nothing was wrong.

Not even the people in the group had noticed that Duke Whirlwind was very worried right now.

The only ones that noticed were Shang and the Dean.

The Dean stepped forward from the back and stopped close to Shang.

After talking with the guards for a bit, Duke Whirlwind brought everyone into the city.

When Shang entered the city, he could see a lot of Adepts and True Mages walking around.

But there were nearly no warriors present.

The only warriors were the guards.

It was almost like this was a city exclusively for Mages.

"Academy for Lightning Mages," the Dean said.

Shang looked at the Dean for a second, and the Dean lightly gestured to the west.

Shang looked over, and he could see a couple of taller towers. At first glance, they didn't seem any different than normal towers, but if one looked closely, one could see the occasional spark of lightning travel over their surfaces.

"Don't get too caught up in the city," Duke Whirlwind said with a smile to the group. "We'll directly continue."

The group only nodded, and everyone continued walking._{pᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴOᴠᴇʟ.ᴄᴏᴍ}

Keeping the Blessing of Wind active would be too noticeable, which was why Duke Whirlwind deactivated it.

However, the group was still traveling with quite some speed.

They traveled for a couple of seconds before Duke Whirlwind interrupted their journey.

"Oh, I must apologize," Duke Whirlwind said. "I just remembered that I wanted to buy something in the bazaar. I hope you won't mind a short detour."

The group didn't object, and Duke Whirlwind led everyone to the east.

By now, Shang had noticed something.

Shang wasn't susceptible to Lightning Mana, but it was nearly impossible not to notice when vast quantities were moving in one direction.

And, right now, all the Lightning Mana in the surroundings was violently pulled to the north, the place where they had just wanted to go to.

The group followed Duke Whirlwind to the east, and they arrived at the bazaar very quickly.

Duke Whirlwind looked through a couple of stands and eventually purchased about 500 units of Commander Stage Lightning Ore for a ridiculous sum of money.

"Alright, let's continue," Duke Whirlwind said with a smile as he led the group to the northeastern part of the town.

By now, Shang could feel that the Lightning Mana was being pulled to the south of him, which was the eastern part of the city, the place where they had just been.

The group made a detour and eventually saw the northern gate._{pᴀɴᴅᴀ ɴ0ᴠᴇʟ}

At that moment, the Dean inconspicuously stepped in front of Shang, acting like he was striking up a conversation with Duke Whirlwind.

And Shang?

His heart nearly stopped.

The source of Lightning Mana had suddenly vanished from the south and had reappeared at the northern gate.

Shang was mostly hidden by the Dean, but he could still see the Thunder Horse.

Its back was only about two meters high, which was quite tall for a horse on Earth, but tiny for such a powerful beast in this world.

It was shining with a bright, white light, which almost seemed peaceful.

But that couldn't be further from the truth.

The light it was emanating was an unreal amount of volatile and destructive Lightning Mana.

There was a long, white horn on its head, making it appear as majestic as an emperor.

However, one thing surprised Shang above anything else.

As soon as the Thunder Horse had appeared, a couple of kids ran over in excitement and began to climb it.

Others were petting its legs with excitement._{ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​}

Laughter quickly filled the surroundings.

Duke Whirlwind realized that they couldn't avoid the Thunder Horse.

So, he slowly approached with the group.

The warriors inside the group became extremely nervous.

This was a Zone Beast!

If that thing decided to attack them, they would be helpless.

From the very beginning, the Thunder Horse wasn't looking at the children. It was almost like the children didn't exist to it.

Instead, it was fully focused on Duke Whirlwind.

The group approached the Thunder Horse, and the warriors didn't dare to breathe.

Duke Whirlwind walked up to the Thunder Horse.

And then, he put his hand gently onto its snout as he petted it.

"Long time no see," Duke Whirlwind said with a kind smile.

pᴀɴᴅᴀ ɴOᴠᴇʟ The Thunder Horse moved its snout to Duke Whirlwind's face and sniffed a couple of times.

Then, it looked over to the Dean with interest.

The Dean performed a small, polite bow without saying anything.

Shang was barely visible behind the Dean's body.

"You guys can continue," Duke Whirlwind said with a laugh. "I will catch up with you shortly."

"Of course," the Dean said with his neutral voice before he ushered everyone else forward.

Duke Whirlwind kept talking to the Thunder Horse while petting its snout. He was telling it about some of the things he had seen since they last met several years ago.

The group slowly passed by the Thunder Horse, the Dean between the Thunder Horse and Shang.

And then, the Thunder Horse ignored the Duke and turned to the Dean.

The group stopped.

They didn't want to anger the Thunder Horse.

The Thunder Horse went closer to the Dean with its snout while sniffing. Occasionally, it even let out some snorts.

Shang felt like the snorts were aggressive.

The Dean only stopped and looked the Thunder Horse in the eyes.

The snout came closer and closer to the Dean.

And then, it angled to the left and passed the Dean.

At that moment, the Thunder Horse lightly moved its head to the right, shoving the Dean several meters to the right.

Silence.

The Thunder Horse was fully focusing on Shang.

Shang looked at the Thunder Horse.

The Thunder Horse's head came closer, and it sniffed Shang's face.

As time passed, the snorts became more numerous and violent.

Shang felt like he was looking death in the eyes.

And then, the Thunder Horse let out one especially loud and powerful snort.

The road made of stone below the Thunder Horse's head broke into pieces due to the snort's power.

And then…

Shang felt an unreal amount of Lightning Mana gather on the Thunder Horse's body.