Shang charged toward the officer with quite a lot of speed as everyone looked at him in shock.
Was Zero suicidal?!
Why was he attacking a Late General Stage warrior?!
Sure, he was being accused of being a traitor, but at least he still had a chance of survival if he complied.
But by directly attacking the officer, he was throwing his last chance of survival out of the window!
The officer readied his spear, and he looked into Shang's eyes.
He knew that Shang wasn't weak, and he knew that he shouldn't be too relaxed in the fight.
That guy's sword had bisected a Mid General Stage beast. Sure, he had had some help, but that destructive power was no joke.
Of course, the officer also knew that Zero had traded off his agility, speed, and flexibility in exchange for this overwhelming offense.
In the officer's mind, Zero was simply too slow.
In comparison to Zero, the officer specialized in these three things.
Without saying anything, the officer charged at Zero.
On top of the hill, One looked at Zero, his expression unreadable behind his mask.
The other soldiers only looked at the fight.
Why should they get involved?
Their officer was stronger than all of them combined. He didn't need any help.
On top of that, some of the soldiers harbored suspicions.
Why would Zero suddenly attack One and Two?
This didn't make any sense.
But they kept themselves out of the conflict. Right now, many soldiers weren't sure which side they should believe, especially after Shang had said that the officer had already dealt with Shang's four colleagues.
Where were these four?
Why weren't they here?
BANG!
Suddenly, green wind appeared behind the officer, and he accelerated a lot.
In just an instant, he reached Shang, thrusting his spear forward.
When Shang saw the attack, his eyes lit up.
'He's underestimating me,' he thought at that moment. 'Seems like this fight won't be a problem.'
The officer had thrown all his power and speed into this one thrust without holding anything back.
This made the attack harder to evade or defend against, but it also didn't give him any opportunity to do a follow-up.
Shang was right. The officer really underestimated him.
Yes, Shang had an insane offense, but that wasn't enough for the officer to really take him seriously.
Why?
Because Shang was two levels below the officer.
This meant that Shang needed to jump two levels.
No warrior could jump two levels.
It was simply impossible.
The difference in speed and power was just too overwhelming.
Unleashing a fully powered attack was already overkill for dealing with an Early General Stage warrior in the officer's mind.
Zero wasn't fast enough to evade, and if he blocked the attack, he would be thrown into the distance.
Of course, all of this was only how the officer imagined the fight to go.
Sadly, it wouldn't go his way.
Shang lifted his colossal sword, touching the side of its blade with his left hand.
BANG!
The spear hit the side of the sword.
CLINK!
But then, the sword suddenly angled, and the spear passed the sword, now piercing towards the ground.
The officer's eyes widened at this moment.
A parry?!
How could an Early General Stage warrior parry his fully powered attack?!
An Early General Stage warrior didn't have enough power to change the trajectory of his spear!
This would be difficult even for Mid General Stage warriors!
This was impossible!
Sadly, the officer didn't know about the procedure.
Back when Shang had still been at the Initial General Stage, his body had already been one level higher than his level.
However, the advantage that beasts had in terms of physical power only became greater as they became more powerful.
And since the power of Shang's procedure was determined by the power of beasts, his power also increased, just not as much.
At the Initial General Stage, Shang had a physical body equivalent to an Early General Stage warrior.
And now, at the Early General Stage, Shang had a physical body slightly more powerful than a Mid General Stage warrior.
In the past, one could say that Shang's power had received a +1.
Now, it was more like a +1.2.
Fighting the officer didn't even count as jumping an entire level.
CRRRRR!
As the spear was diverted downward, Shang's sword ground against the side of the spear.
And then, it stopped.
BANG!
Ice Mana shot out of the sword's blade, freezing the flexible but tough spear shaft beneath it.
At that moment, Shang's left foot touched the back of his sword's blade.
An instant later, Shang's leg released an icy mist.
BOOOOM!
As Shang's left leg pushed down, fire exploded out of the sword's blade, and the shaft beneath it broke.
At that moment, time seemingly froze.
Everyone was looking with shock at the broken weapon.
How?!
But just an instant later, an icy explosion appeared behind Shang, and he was catapulted forward.
Due to his shock, the officer couldn't react.
This simply defied all logic!
When the officer recovered, he only saw a knee.
BANG!
Shang's knee exploded with fire, burning the officer's face and blinding him.
The officer fell back, letting his spear go as Shang's body continued forward. Shang had too much momentum to be stopped by just hitting the head of someone.
When Shang was above the officer's head, he pointed his left arm to the sky.
He had never pulled his sword up for another strike, which meant that it was currently below him.
In short, it was between Shang and the officer's neck.
Shang's left foot stepped on the back of his sword's blade again.
BANG!
After a fiery explosion, Shang was thrown down.
BOOOOM!
A cloud of dust appeared around the place Shang and the officer had just been, making them invisible from everyone else.
They still couldn't come to terms with what they had just seen.
One's expression wasn't visible behind his mask, but his tensed body gave it away.
He certainly wasn't calm right now.
Some seconds later, the cloud of dust vanished, and the soldiers saw what had happened.
The officer lay on the ground, face upward. Buried in his neck was Shang's sword with Shang's left foot on top of it.
A big part of the sword's blade was inside the ground, and surprisingly, even the hilt was in the ground.
But the most shocking thing of all was the officer.
He was still alive!
But not by his own choice.
At this moment, the officer was essentially nailed to the ground at his neck. The hilt entered the earth on his left, and the blade entered the earth on his right.
A stream of blood flowed out of the part of the officer's neck where it touched the blade, but this wasn't enough to kill a General Stage warrior.
However, if Shang decided to put some weight on his left foot, the officer's neck would be severed.
Silence.
Nobody said anything.
Suddenly, Shang bowed to the side.
CRACK!
Shang broke one of the officer's fingers and retrieved the Space Ring on it. The officer tried to scream, but the blood and pressure in his head made it nearly impossible.
Shang looked through the Space Ring, and some seconds later, he summoned something.
Shang dropped something besides the officer.
Everyone looked over, and their eyes widened.
The Communication Crystal!
"Call your superior," Shang said coldly.
Everyone became confused, including the officer.
"I was framed, and I want a higher-ranked, neutral party here to investigate everything that happened."
"If I kill you now, I don't have enough evidence to convict you."
"Of course, if you refuse to contact your superior, I might accidentally slip and fall on my sword."
"You don't want that, right?"
