A mere mortal is about to ascend the divine ladder!
"Impressive!!" Immortal Slave couldn't help but exclaim in awe.
Orson returned to the real world, his eyes no longer uncertain. His battle-hardened will now focused on eliminating anyone who stood in his way.
"You shouldn't have frightened them, and you definitely shouldn't have used that disgusting voice to pollute my sister's ears," Orson said, his expression cold as he fixed Immortal Slave with a piercing look. His lips curled into a sinister smile. "To me, you're insignificant."
He paused, his staff pointing toward the heavens. Orson switched to his mage form, his voice low but commanding, "Awaken—Grip of the Underworld!"
The elemental hand struck out violently, but the target wasn't Immortal Slave.
Instead, it was the stone slab emitting faint strands of golden mist!
"No!!!"
Immortal Slave cried out in panic, his countless tentacles rushing to coil around the blue stone slab, attempting to block the elemental hand's assault.
"That stone holds vital information, including large sections of text that haven't been deciphered yet! Please, stop!" shouted an elderly scholar.
"Orson! You can't—That's the core of the magic formation! If you destroy it, something might escape!" Blank's face turned pale as she rushed to stop him. She knew that when Orson was enraged, even a dragon would fall before him.
"You foolish woman, you've all been deceived by it," Orson calmly turned back to glance at Sienna, reassured that she was unharmed. "But it's fine now."
K.D: "We've been deceived? Orson, what do you mean?"
"Immortal Slave has already infiltrated your minds, subtly leading you to bring it here, and this magic formation…" Orson let out a cold laugh, the high-ranking Heaven Demon retracting its tentacles immediately.
Then, shockingly, it bowed low, facing the ground in a gesture of submission, crying out, "I was wrong! Please forgive me!"
Ruby: "Wow, it's bowing so neatly, like a pile driver!"
What was it trying to do?
Bradley and the others were confused, not understanding what this eye monster was up to.
"You're the fool! If I hadn't reminded you, you would've been dead by your own sword!" Blank flushed with embarrassment after Orson's harsh words, quickly retorting.
"I have a resurrection item, so why worry? Are you my girlfriend?" Orson suddenly turned his sharp gaze back at her.
Blank's mouth opened slightly, her ears turned bright red, and she awkwardly wished for a hole to hide in.
"Right… Why am I so anxious?" Blank's heart raced as she tried to convince herself that she was only thinking of the bigger picture for Radiant Shuttle, but the excuse didn't fool anyone, least of all herself.
"Orson, what's going on? Why do you say we've all been deceived?" K.D asked, his face darkening as the situation took a turn far beyond his expectations.
"Who told you that bringing this thing here could stop it from going berserk?" Orson's gaze was icy as he scanned the gathered staff.
K.D and the others looked surprised. Blank furrowed her brow as she looked at the experts around her.
"Professor J, this was your suggestion. Care to explain it to him?" A younger expert spoke up, and everyone turned toward the elderly scholar who had tried to stop Orson earlier. He was one of the few experts specializing in ancient civilizations.
Professor J's eyes flashed with fear, and he quickly explained, "After experiments with my research team, we found that the special force field here can put living beings into a deep sleep, effectively inducing a state of pseudo-death..."
Bang!
Orson's finger twitched slightly, and before Professor J could react, a fireball shot through his forehead.
Before blood could even drip, it was instantly vaporized by the searing flames. In less than a second, the entire body was consumed by the flames.
Everyone was frozen in terror. The man before them seemed like a god or demon, and to him, mere mortals were nothing more than ants.
"Orson, this is too much! How could you kill an innocent man like this?" K.D's face turned ashen. He had initially thought highly of Orson, believing him to be humble, calm, and resilient.
But this act shattered all those impressions in an instant.
Without even giving the man a chance to explain, Orson had executed him. How was this any different from the ruthless Heaven Demon?
"Murderer! K.D, you've created a monster!"
"Professor J was one of the few experts in hieroglyphics, and now he's dead at the hands of this demon! This is a huge loss for academia!"
"Someone, use the radio to notify The Bruce Family's guard team! A monster like this needs to be eradicated immediately, or we're all doomed!"
The staff members looked horrified, pulling out radios to summon reinforcements to deal with Orson, a creature even more terrifying than a monster.
"No, my brother isn't like this, he must have his reasons!"
Sienna's face was pale, and though she was frightened, she still defended Orson with tears in her eyes. "Bradley, say something!"
Bradley's face hardened as he shouted at K.D: "If that monster can manipulate people's hearts, can we assume Orson was under its control? It's not his fault, is it?"
Bradley clenched his teeth, knowing his argument was weak.
But just like Sienna, he stood firmly by Orson, no matter the circumstances.
Even if it might be wrong!
But so what?
Damn it, if we're wrong, we'll stick with it!
"Orson... I know you're strong, but I won't allow you to do this!"
Blank shouted, just as the sound of a descending elevator echoed from nearby.
Moments later, more than a dozen black-clad, masked members of The Bruce Family's elite assassin squad emerged from the cave's crevices.
Then, the walls around them clicked as special mechanisms activated, and eight custom flamethrowers emerged from their slots. Another device capable of releasing high-concentration toxic gas appeared, sealing the entire underwater area.
Clearly, The Bruce Family had made thorough preparations to excavate the Radiant Shuttle tomb.
In the event of an uncontrollable situation, they were ready to use explosives to destroy everything.
"Oh, hell... I just want to go home." Madman wailed, shrinking back, looking for a chance to escape.
Nightshade: "We stand together!"
Stewart: "Vice President, even though I'm scared too, I'm not just the War God of the women's dorm—I'm also the War God of the Godslayer Guild!"
The two of them grabbed one of Madman's arms, forcing him back into the fray.
Dancing Giant Boobs: "If we were in the same situation, I believe the guild leader wouldn't abandon us, so Emma, you can't hurt him!"
Sienna froze, her big eyes sparkling with tears. It seemed her worries had been unnecessary.
She thought her brother would be left alone to face everything, but his friends were standing by him unconditionally.
"A man should be tough…"
"Damn it, my legs aren't listening to me. Sienna, don't worry, I'm here!"
Madman gritted his teeth, cursing Bradley and the others for being crazy—going against The Bruce Family was like opposing an entire nation.
But damn it...
In front of the goddess, he had no choice but to stand strong, forcing his legs, which felt as weak as noodles, to straighten.
"If you keep being this foolish, The Bruce Family will still meet its inevitable doom," Orson said flatly.
Blank was thrown off balance by Orson's scolding, glaring at him. "I didn't!"
"Still not?" Orson sighed, lifting his finger again. A water orb the size of a human head floated toward Professor J's corpse.
Under Orson's masterful control of the elements, the professor's nearly incinerated body cracked open. A strange screech suddenly echoed from the skull.
A creature resembling a tentacle, but covered in eyes, was pulled out by the water orb.
The creature squirmed within the orb before it expired shortly after.
"A parasite? How is something like this in his body...?" The group of experts exchanged bewildered glances, feeling the bizarre atmosphere in the air.
"A parasitic demon bug, one of the lowest but deadliest kinds of Heaven Demon. It can control the host's mind and... hatch within the host," Blank said, her face ashen, her forehead drenched in cold sweat.
"This Era of Immortals' magic formation is actually a healing array," Orson pointed at the blue stone slab and sneered. "It's been manipulating that old man's thoughts, leading you all to bring it here to heal itself. The so-called 'magic formation area' is just a facade—it's deliberately controlling the range of its mental influence."
As Orson finished speaking, the wounds he inflicted on Immortal Slave earlier began slowly healing under the golden mist.
"In other words, if it weren't for my caution, with its power, it could have easily killed you all. I'm right, aren't I, Demonic Immortal?" Orson taunted, locking eyes with Immortal Slave, whose golden eyes darkened as his monstrous, Buddha-like face twitched in frustration.
"Damn! This monster is really sneaky!" Bradley cursed in frustration.