Orion was very offended.
He might not have shown it but the fact that a human in a small place like a Level 1 secret realm actually told him to join them was ridiculous. He should abandon guarding the five nobles and make mary with them, this message is very insulting to him as an imperial citizen.
This was akin to a situation where you went to a remote village and the ignorant villagers actually persuaded you to live in their village and to abandon your luxurious home in the city as well as net worth of millions from your job. In his view, those human traitors have now done something similar.
Utterly preposterous!
Orion thus decided to vent his anger.
The power he usually displayed in public was that in a one-on-one situation he can overpower and kill the same rank. This was naturally to provide false information to any speculating party who might have malicious intentions.
Five traitors in front of him actually doesn't pose much threat to him. It will only take seven or eight moves to kill one of them in this siege formation. If it was alone then two or three moves. The main problem he faced is actually the surveillance system that is monitoring this place.
His exposed strength will no doubt cause panic within the council and also the three hostile factions might take desperate actions because of it. This is also another reason why five of his teammates stopped at A-rank instead of reaching S-rank along with him. Six fastest S-rank adventurers in history will cause more noise than just one fastest S-rank in history.
He and his team are naturally afraid that the five nobles will be implicated because of increasing variables. The reality was indeed so as even when only he took the role, the assassination incident on their first quest still happened.
Back to the present, there is a solution where he dismantles the surveillance in this place but after thinking about it for a second he discarded it. He decided to show some more of his strength just so there can be a brief period of time where those three factions put more attention on him instead of the five.
With less obstruction in that bought time, the five nobles can easily reach the Final Stage in this labyrinth and we can then proceed with the original plan of eliminating all unstable factors in the Azure Planet secret realm. The present situation where the main targets are them instead of him is actually more dangerous for Orion as he's afraid of any factor that can cause annoyance to them.
The white smoke enveloped his body and his spear pointed towards Ritchie, the one who offended him with that proposal.
He thrusted his spear and behind him appeared a vague shadow of a huge figure who did the same as him. The two's power seemed to be superimposed and the terrifying strength carried by that shadow rushed towards Ritchie.
Ritchie had goosebumps all over his skin as he felt the power that was approaching him. He was shocked at the appearance of that vague shadow that suddenly manifested.
It had no facial features but it actually had four heads looking in four directions. The arms were protruding spears and its lower body abruptly vanished under the form of a white smoke that connected to Orion's body.
The speed of the shadow was so fast that by the time Ritchie reacted his upper body had detached from his lower body. The shadow phased through his body with that horrifying strength, carrying overwhelming sharpness in those weird arms. He was wide eyed as he looked at his two legs which were still standing in the distance.
Boom!
The two half of the body fell down at the same time and his vision entered an endless darkness. The four remaining traitors were horrified. One moment they were plotting how to kill Orion quickly and the next moment one of their comrades is dead.
"No!! What is this creature!"
"Ah! It suddenly vanished!! Be careful!"
They shouted in panic when that four-headed shadow vanished after cutting Ritchie in half. They anxiously looked around them to guard against it. How such a shadow came about and how it works is beyond their understanding.
Orion looked at their panic-stricken expressions and chuckled. It was amusing to see them panicking when faced with the superficial-form of his psychic avatar. This is something adventurers in Azure Planet still haven't touched upon.
To be more precise, they experienced the destruction it can cause when Demon Lord attacked with the giant palm but they haven't understood the truth behind such large-scale and lethal power.
Humans in this secret realm think that achieving supersonic flight is the only thing that sets apart A-rank from S-rank. This is obviously a misunderstanding formed from their shallow knowledge and overdependence in the leveling system of their World's Will.
Orion looked at the remaining four and pointed at Samantha with his spear. The same thrust and the shadow appeared to carry the spear attack. There was no surprise in the following result.
She was chopped into two pieces.
He didn't stop his attack this time to watch those traitors' expressions. Following the thrust that killed Samantha he swiped the spear diagonally at another traitor and connecting the rhythm he performed a downward vertical slash pointing to the closest one before another thrust attack at the last figure.
Along with his spear shots came the shadows, each carrying the attack and sharpness of the spear itself. As those phased through those traitors' bodies they were chopped into half with their flesh and blood exploding in mist.
Five S-ranks who came to siege died in one hit each!
Orion then looked outside at the direction where the council's S-ranks were about to fail in defending that side. He narrowed his eyes, locked on a S-rank enemy using extrasensory perception, moved his spear backwards and shot a thrust attack.
Ghost Spear came and phased through the airship's wall without causing any damage. It turned into a stretch of white light and pierced the S-rank's body. Before dying, that S-rank didn't understand the reason behind the death. They should have broken through this side's defense soon and attacked the airship directly but now it seems pointless.
What's the point when you're already dead?
Similar white lights flashed through the sky and a large number of S-rank enemies fell one after another. The council's S-ranks who were in a bitter situation were shocked at the sudden turn of events. The besieging enemies who had the upper hand the entire time and were about to break through their defense were suddenly chopped into two.
The remaining enemies fled in panic when they saw the situation wasn't right.
Orion didn't pursue them. He could naturally keep them all here but the strength he has just exposed was enough for the time being. If all enemies died then he was afraid that the three factions would be delayed to know who killed their people. It would be contrary to his purpose of attracting all their attention to him.
In his opinion, the sooner they focus on him the better it is for his safety. At least, they will suspend their present full-scale effort into targeting the five nobles who are still D-rank.
Orion guessed that with the information available to them they will probably estimate that the labyrinth will allow the five nobles to reach B-rank at least or A-rank at most but in truth the trip to this labyrinth will allow them to directly reach Final Stage.
At that time it doesn't matter what the three factions planned or wanted to do, the elimination protocol will begin and they are naturally among the factors that will be eliminated by the nobles.
Killing those traitorous S-ranks is like cutting vegetables for Pangaea humans.
They only achieved their current strength while relying on the leveling system where World's Will force-fed them refined Cosmium. None of them understand the details and subtleties of the power they possessed. It's all about using Skill Cards for them and the past players knowledge about whatever nonsense game developers of "Unending Adventure" typed in the game.
If not for the fact that Demon Lord's attack was similar to an attack of psychic avatar then Orion and his team wouldn't even bother to keep a low profile. The biggest unstable factor in this secret realm is the Demon Lord who seemed to have the same strength as someone who properly reached the Final Stage of Level 1 unlike the half-baked native S-ranks.
For the empire, investigating all the information about this Demon Lord is one of the priority targets in this strange secret realm where a video game managed to merge with reality.
As a large number of enemies fell, council's S-ranks launched a successful counterattack at the fleeing enemies, killing a few more in the process. After stationing some outside most of them hurriedly entered the airship.
They soon found the corpses of seven S-rank and the nonchalant Orion who was back in his position of a gatekeeper. "Orion, what… happened here?" One of the S-rank strongmen asked in an uncertain tone. Actually all of them already had some guesses at what could have happened to cause such a scene but obviously they still needed to ask for confirmation.
"These five were traitors and have been executed by me while those two in the distance are casualties in their schemes."
He replied concisely as he pointed at the corpses sprawled on the ground before adding, "You should just check the surveillance. It will save all of our time in explaining."
After saying that he closed his eyes in meditation, implying the end of conversation. His arbitrary behavior didn't make anyone criticize him. The present S-ranks were naturally smart enough to understand that those flashes of white light that killed the enemies were his handiwork.
Why would anyone still dare to contradict such a strong man?
They all expressed understanding and told him to take some rest before they all left to check the recording of surveillance. After they saw the scenes recorded they had mixed emotions when they discovered him just watching the two S-ranks being killed by the four traitors.
When Ritchie's hidden identity was exposed they felt even more complicated. Turns out his decision was strategically correct but morally it was still… Well, forget it.
The past can't be changed, at least no accident happened to the five disciples. The present S-rank strongmen comforted themselves that they will still have five more future S-ranks so two casualties are acceptable in exchange.
They can only do this or else can they really hold him accountable? Do they even have the strength or at least the courage to do so? They don't, so this is why none present said anything about his inaction in the face of those two's pleadings.
The fight scene and the appearance of the vague shadow shocked them. When they saw the stretch of white light when it rushed at the five traitors, all of them finally understood how the enemies outside died earlier.
"What is that creature!? It appeared behind him suddenly and all his attacks became so strong that when it merged with it and shot forward together one hit could split apart a S-rank."
"Not only that but it can also phase through the airship and attack from such a vast distance at those enemies outside. I am afraid that there is no S-rank in history who can do such an absurd thing."
"It seems that his title Ghost Spear is actually well-deserved. This shadow that manifested really looks like a ghost with spears as its hands."
"Is it perhaps related to the white smoke that bursted from his body?"
"Maybe? Why don't you ask him about it?"
"Hehe…"
None was foolish enough to ask him the secrets behind such power. It was obviously something only the closest people to him could possibly learn about, for example, the five disciples who have shocked the entire human territory.
"I wonder how much they can benefit from this labyrinth. B-rank or maybe… A-rank!"
Nobody mentioned S-rank, in their opinion, reaching this rank requires accumulation of time to finally achieve supersonic flight capability that sets apart the past ranks.
"It's a pity that we can't enter to watch. Anyways, let's activate the emergency speed of Soaring Wings. The faster we arrive there and rendezvous with the guarding teams the better."
"The earlier fight has already attracted all attention from the surrounding. I really don't want to fight with any S-rank beasts or monsters."
Some of them went to the control room while others went outside to inform those guarding in eight directions about the findings. They also were very shocked by the conclusion they reached. Orion can no longer be considered as the contemporary strongest adventurer.
Ghost Spear Orion has now truly become the strongest adventurer in history.