Marvel Magic Event Book

Chapter 1756

It is unrealistic to lure out the enemy's main force with just one raid. Constantine does not believe that Hela would be so foolish, so the raid must continue until Hela can no longer bear the losses caused by the raid team and decides to personally appear to fight the Emperor.

To conserve ammunition, the knights and the Imperial Guard preferred to use melee weapons to defeat the enemy.

Asgardians are nearly as large as humans, making them seem minuscule compared to the over three-meter-tall Royal Guards and knights. A single hand could easily grab an Asgardian's skull and crush it. The black magic zombies' claws couldn't penetrate the powered armor; they could only try to scratch open the seams. Some instinctively climbed onto the powered backs. Aparish, annoyed, grabbed a black magic zombie from its shoulder armor and slammed it to the ground. Then, with a sweeping execution axe, she cut a whole group of people in half, splattering a cloud of foul-smelling black blood.

The next moment, even more dark magic zombies surged forward.

The super-heavy armored personnel carriers stood like a fortress, blocking the horde of dark magic zombies. The defensive fortifications formed by the ablative armor prevented the dark magic zombies from advancing. The corpses were pressed together in front of the armor, their limbs intertwined, and then deformed in the compression, as if they had become a whole that couldn't even squeeze in air.

Immediately afterwards, the defensive weapons mounted on the sides of the super-heavy armored personnel carriers were activated. The all-aspect defensive heavy explosive machine guns turned towards the horde of zombies and opened fire without mercy. Each explosive machine gun shell could easily shatter dozens of bodies. After the deafening roar, all that was left in front of the assault team was a wet swamp composed of body parts and foul-smelling entrails.

The tracks rolled over the sticky, foul-smelling wreckage as the Royal Guard and Knights fired as they quickly crossed one intersection, then the next. Thanks to Lorelei's intelligence work, they hadn't gotten lost, and there were no collapsed buildings here that could obstruct the tracks of the super-heavy armored personnel carriers. Their progress toward the next concealed landing site wasn't slowed down.

“My Lord,” Constantine said over the communications channel, “the drone has detected a heat source at the takeoff and landing site marked C-2.”

The emperor nodded and quickened his pace again.

The next second, several shells were launched from the spaceport and crashed into the center of the C-2 landing field.

The bombardment from the spaceport continued relentlessly. The Emperor could see thick smoke rising from the landing field two kilometers away, with flames and the sounds of collapsing buildings echoing endlessly. Several hovercraft belonging to the Royal Guard broke away from the main force and headed towards the landing field as supplementary ground reconnaissance. They then reported to Constantine that they had encountered the enemy.

"A living person, an Asgardian soldier!"

This intelligence was also received by the command center. Thirty seconds later, everyone could see several plumes of smoke streaking across the sky and exploding overhead above the Asgardians. Each rocket warhead released more than 30,000 supersonic steel balls. Asgardian soldiers who had just rushed out of the landing zone fell in droves, but many noble private soldiers escaped by hiding behind cover.

After the rocket bombardment, the Imperial Guards, riding on hovercraft and wielding energy-powered spears, charged into the battlefield. Like ancient cavalry, they weaved through the ranks of Asgardian soldiers littered with corpses and the wounded, their spear tips piercing one or two bodies with each strike. Initially, the Asgardian soldiers tried to pull the Imperial Guards off the hovercrafts by force or attack them directly, but they overestimated their strength and resilience, and underestimated the speed of the Imperial Guards and their machines.

They rushed forward to try and stop the hovercraft, only to be smashed to pieces by the bomb cannon at the front of the hovercraft.

Despite the Asgardians' speed and accuracy in their artillery fire, the Asgardians' reaction was stronger than expected. The rocket bombardment continued, yet Asgardian assault craft still risked exposure, taking off from their concealed landing pads. The Aesir were even more intolerant of provocation than Hela; their noble private armies appeared quite impatient. One Asgardian assault craft wobbled in the air before charging straight towards the Emperor's entourage, raising suspicions that its pilot was drunk.

The super-heavy troop carrier behind the Emperor promptly raised its shields, blocking the dense barrage of bullets raining down from the Asgardian assault boats. Simultaneously, its roof-mounted cannons continuously fired at the assault boats high in the sky. Drones from the spaceport pursued the Asgardian assault boats relentlessly, releasing their anti-tank missiles. One of these missiles struck the Asgardian assault boat, its plasma warhead melting the golden hull's armor.

The assault boat, billowing smoke and sparks, slowly descended with the groan of its anti-gravity engines. The nobles' private soldiers on board grabbed their weapons and roared as they leaped from a hundred meters in the air, crashing into the emperor surrounded by the royal guards with the aid of some kind of glider. They were met by the terminal anti-aircraft weapons of super-heavy armored personnel carriers, and were riddled with bullets before they even hit the ground.

“It’s a shame the Asgardians can’t resist such a weapon.” Aparishia joked in a deep, rough voice over the communication channel, “I’d love to see them jump down and get ripped apart by my axe.”

He brandished the executioner's axe, a gift from the emperor, like a lion leaping into a flock of sheep, hacking and slashing at the sluggish dark magic zombies. But killing these mindless, even non-struggling, creatures bore him. He tore a dark magic zombie that had crawled up from his shoulder armor, threw it on the ground, and smashed its bones as easily as crushing an ant.

“If an Asgardian really does fall, the Marbas Sage at the Martian Foundry will certainly be investigated,” said the lieutenant and standard-bearer, his armor revealing a mechanically enhanced prosthetic body—standard enhancements made by the Immortal City for lieutenants who had lost limbs after their battle against Quetzalcoatl in South America.

The lieutenant did not regret it, because that battle was an unprecedented spectacle. In comparison, the current Asgardian war seemed rather petty. Hela, who called herself the Queen of Asgard, still dared not show her face, which only made the warlike genetically modified warriors feel bored.

Despite the timely reconnaissance footage and artillery fire from drones, a considerable number of Asgardian assault boats still took to the skies. The sky was now filled with Asgardian assault boats, resembling golden specks of light, while anti-aircraft missiles from the port continuously launched, chasing after the taking-off Asgardian assault boats.

Such combat genetically modified warriors were unable to intervene, and the noble private soldiers who poured out of the hidden buildings also suffered heavy casualties under the shelling. The noble private soldiers did not even have a chance to get close to the assault team, because the seemingly endless sea of ​​loss blocked their way.

The genetically modified warriors could only crush the seemingly endless sea of ​​zombies, a battle that only fueled their growing frustration. But soon, the Emperor issued a new mission: the super-heavy armored personnel carriers turned on the spot and drove towards the Golden Palace. Meanwhile, knights waiting at the port were speeding towards the palace in armored personnel carriers, while a smaller number of knights took to the air aboard Pegasus-type super-heavy assault transport ships to intercept Asgardian assault boats and simultaneously airdrop reinforcements for the Emperor's assault squads.

Command observed more and denser hordes of dark magic zombies surging toward the Emperor. Even some of the dark magic zombies that were originally attacking the port changed direction and stretched out their claws toward the assault team. The mortal soldiers behind the dark magic zombies saw that the enemy had their backs to them and began a massacre without any mercy.

The original defensive line began to advance, preparing to control more key passages.

The knight at the front held a shield and a pistol, while the second knight supported the shoulder armor of the knight in front of him, their explosive rifles muzzled downwards, ready to fire at any moment. The knights executed the tactics in the tactical manual flawlessly, not wasting a single second due to injury or exhaustion. Aparisha, guarding the crossroads, wiped the pus from his execution axe, a smile spreading across his scarred face beneath his visor. He had already received news that the port garrison was approaching.

When the nobles' private armies realized they couldn't get through the horde of black magic-infused corpses, and were also unable to avoid the pursuit of anti-aircraft missiles, they opted for a more Asgardian fighting style. They directly hurled Asgardian assault boats at the Emperor's raiding party, attempting to break through the shields of the super-heavy armored personnel carriers.

The noble's private soldiers thought this was a boarding maneuver, believing they could complete their mission by simply killing the enemy leader. They charged forward, howling, their breath reeking of alcohol even through their helmets. Aparisha was both amused and exasperated. He couldn't fathom how these Asgardians could be so confident, daring to fight while intoxicated, without any discipline or tactics.

“We have three hundred men here, and they have about two thousand,” Aparisha said nonchalantly. “That’s enough for us to warm up.”

However, the knights were quite surprised by the performance of the noble private soldiers in close combat. They had never seen so many well-trained and skilled soldiers in close combat before. Although these noble private soldiers were far weaker than the Aesir, the addition of some Asgardians in magnificent armor to the battlefield and their coordinated attacks caused the knights considerable trouble.

These Asgardians, clad in magnificent armor, possessed strength and speed comparable to the genetically modified warriors. Using the horde of zombies as cover, they charged directly into the front lines of the genetically modified warriors. When Aparisha discovered his battle axe was blocked, he was truly astonished; the immense power inherited from the Aesir was once again displayed before humanity.

The Asgardians wielded their swords with astonishing speed and extraordinary agility.

For the first time, Aparisha felt the pressure. He didn't even have a chance to draw his plasma pistol. Adrenaline surged through the genetically modified warrior's brain, and Aparisha's swings grew faster and faster, molten metal fragments constantly splattering from the Asgardian's armor. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck Aparisha's armor, the sudden, excruciating pain causing the genetically modified warrior to lose control of his body—the power armor had locked his joints, preventing him from falling. Aparisha saw his adjutant rush up from his right, standing between him and the Asgardian, the explosive pistol blaring continuously, forcing the Asgardian to retreat and buying him two seconds.

"Wizard!" the adjutant shouted into the comms, "3 o'clock, 120 meters!"

"Move, move, plasma ready!"

Aparishar stood up, drew his plasma pistol, and fired at the Asgardian's hiding place. Without glancing at the molten stone and corpse, he turned and charged at the Asgardian wizard—Asgard had a long history of using extradimensional energy, which they called runes. This system was a set of extradimensional energy manipulation methods promulgated and implemented by the Aesir. The Emperor considered this rune system relatively safe, but only relatively; no method of using extradimensional energy was absolutely safe.

Therefore, the rune wizards of Asgard must be controlled.

The knights possessed extensive experience in anti-psychic warfare on Earth; in fact, it could be said that their initial modifications were specifically designed to counter enemies with supernatural powers. The first knight to charge at the rune wizard raised his shield. They spontaneously formed a five-man squad, all wielding heavy shields, advancing towards the rune wizard. Airborne explosive projectiles froze in mid-air, and even plasma was blocked by an invisible barrier. The five-man squad closed in on the rune wizard until they were only 10 meters away, relentlessly firing to suppress him and prevent him from casting other spells. Simultaneously, another combat squad equipped with subatomic thermal fusion approached, attempting to shatter the runic barrier with even greater firepower and intense heat.

The rune wizard's expression shifted from arrogance to terror. He didn't know why his spells hadn't killed the knight, nor why these genetically modified warriors dared to retaliate, and why he was powerless to do anything about it. His fingers began to tremble, the sturdy barrier flickered, and the subatomic heat, unable to be blocked in time, crashed in with scalding air, burning his skin, trachea, and lungs.

The rune wizard could hold on no longer. Aparisha jumped in from the position the combat squad had deliberately cleared, and chopped the rune wizard's metal staff in half with an axe. Then he grabbed the wizard's head and used the executioner's axe to slowly slice open the wizard's throat and cervical vertebrae.

"It's very hard."

Aparishia tried it and found that she needed to exert some force to crush the Asgardian's helmet with the help of the power armor. The Emperor's modification surgery crudely piled up the knights' strength; their muscles could even stop small-caliber bullets. The knights were far stronger than the Asgardians, but common Asgardian equipment could still resist their strength.

At this point, they were less than 2 kilometers from the wide avenue in front of the Golden Palace. Once they reached that avenue, there would be a completely flat plain ahead. On both sides of the avenue stood golden statues of human figures, dozens of meters high. There were few places to hide, allowing the humans to maximize their firepower advantage.

Armored forces from the port established a landing zone there, with assault transport ships continuously landing knights, and more troops controlling all roads leading to the Golden Palace. The psychological warfare experts in the command headquarters believed that a ruler imprisoned for a thousand years would be extremely sensitive and irritable at this moment, and that the emperor was highly likely to encounter an attack from Hela when he reached that road; everyone had to be prepared.

The raiding squad was like a canoe stuck in a swamp, with endless black magic zombies clinging to the armor plating of the super-heavy armored personnel carrier like mud. The raiding squad encountered more and more noble private soldiers, some who had jumped over building ruins, and others who had simply jumped off Asgardian assault boats.

They used explosives and plasma weapons to repel the charging Asgardians.

"I think this metal has good toughness,"

The lieutenant stepped over the breastplate of the noble's private soldier, then fired a shot, ending the life of the Aesir god. This Aesir god's bloodline was too diluted; his strength and speed were inferior to the knight's, so the lieutenant still had time for idle chatter. If this expedition could conclude successfully, the science and technology of the Immortal City and the Martian Foundry would experience unprecedented advancements, and the Emperor would gain control of tens of thousands of years of Asgard's scientific and technological development.

"Landing point...under attack..."

Communication from the front was intermittent, and an image was projected onto the right side of the holographic screen.

A slender, jet-black figure floated in the air, wielding a black longsword. Several identical black longswords floated around her, effortlessly and deftly slicing through the bombs and plasma attacks fired at her by the knights. Hela commanded the floating black swords to pierce the knights on the ground—the black swords moved with incredible speed, unleashing a sonic boom—the seemingly fragile obsidian blades easily pierced through the alloy developed by the Martian foundry, an alloy capable of resisting atmospheric ablation.

The assault tank raised its cannon and fired at the tiny humanoid figure several kilometers away.

After the smoke cleared, Hela remained floating in the air, completely unaffected.

"Enemy suspected... Requesting artillery fire..."

The next moment, a rocket exploded near Hela, its plasma warhead instantly burning away half of her body. Immediately afterwards, the staff saw through the battlefield recording equipment of the genetically modified soldiers at the front that Hela, whose half-body had vaporized, was rapidly regenerating from the charred remains, as if she had not been attacked at all.

"Damn it, speed things up." Commander Constantine shut down the battlefield surveillance and issued orders to the other guards, "Don't waste too much time on any one corpse."

The raiding squad, stepping over countless corpses, joined up with the troops at the landing point. They saw a mountain of bones piled up before the halted lines of tanks and knights. Here lay not only mindless zombies, but also Aesir gods with eyes burning with green flames—these intelligent undead, clad in ancient, ornate armor, rode emaciated death horses, standing behind the undead army and directing the surge of dark magic zombies toward the landing point.

Suddenly, the tide of dark magic zombies before the landing point's defensive line halted. Every wound on their bodies spewed flames, and as far as the knights could see, the dazzling flames instantly wiped out all the enemies they could perceive. Before them lay an empty ground piled with ashes, the air so hot it could scald one's lungs.

Constantine saw the emperor draw his holy sword, and flames slowly rose from its blade.

These flames did not harm any living people, including Asgardian wizards and noble private soldiers who used dark magic to hide themselves as zombies. An invisible aura spread outward from the center of the raiding party, sweeping across every house and every piece of rubble. Even the arterial blood splattered on the ceiling disappeared as if erased by an eraser. The owner of the bloodstains may have already been destroyed by the bomb and burned to ashes.

A few Asgardian survivors stood abruptly amidst the scorching ashes, and the landing point's defensive fire immediately focused on them, instantly reducing them to fragments by thousands of explosive shells. Without any orders, the well-trained knights and armored vehicles adjusted to offensive formations before more undead could surge forward.

But the flames failed to harm the ancient undead, or the slender black shadow that ruled over them.

Hela stroked the gray giant wolf beside her, whose eyes also burned with the fire of the dead. Unfazed by the raging flames, the pure fire extinguished before it even touched the tips of Hela's shoes. This was Asgard protecting Hela; she had gained Asgard's recognition. The Emperor's judgment stemmed from a group of soldiers among the Asgardians who radiated light. Some wore primitive, rough animal hides, wielding battle axes, spears, and one-handed swords, their bodies and faces covered in indigo tattoos; others were neatly dressed, like professional soldiers.

These people came from different eras, but without exception, they were all warriors.

They are nothing like the living, yet possess all the abilities of the living, and even breathe. These are the heroic spirits summoned by Asgard, and only rulers recognized by Asgard can receive their aid. This is Valhalla, the paradise for heroes established by Odin. When Ragnarok descends, the warriors who ascend to Valhalla will take up arms once more and step onto the battlefield.

He summoned Pegasus, then mounted a pure white steed made of pure white light, raised his burning holy sword, and launched the first attack. Heavy firepower from Earth opened fire; super-heavy tanks advanced, spewing plasma swarms, while knights huddled behind the armored vehicles, waiting for the tracks to crush the Asgardian lines. Meanwhile, continuous fire support from the port rained down shells and rockets on the Asgardian lines.

Groups of Asgardian wizards cast spells together, blocking countless bombs, lasers, plasma swarms, and cannonballs in front of the battle lines. Some bombs that broke through the shields were lucky enough to break through the ancient undead's formation, but drones observed that the ancient undead whose bodies had been destroyed were restored within seconds.

The Aesir are also pushing forward, and sending defenders to their side is not an option for them.

There were no shouts on the battlefield, only the sounds of explosions and the muffled roar of engines.

The Emperor and his royal guards, acting as the vanguard, charged first into the Asgardian shield wall, and both sides immediately found their match. Heavy tanks hurled stones from the cannonballs, crashing into the Asgardian nobles' private army, and in the next instant, black swords appeared out of nowhere, piercing the thick tank armor. Pegasus, like a ferocious heavy truck, rammed headlong into Fenrir, the giant wolf much taller than itself.

The knight on the turret leaped down, attempting to kill Hela with his chainsaw sword after she overturned the tank. However, the rapidly spinning blade only sliced ​​through Hela's collarbone. Immediately afterward, the dark goddess of death pierced the knight with a black spear, tossing the corpse aside. At that moment, Emperor Pegasus raised his horse's hoof and kicked Fenrir's forelimb joint. The dead giant wolf Fenrir staggered and fell towards the burning wreckage of the tank.

The Emperor sliced ​​through the dead wolf's joints with his blazing holy sword, vaporizing the dark magic-enhanced muscles and bones. His royal guards divided the battlefield, preventing any Asgardian nobles' private soldiers from attacking the Emperor. "Now it's our turn, Hela," the Emperor said, watching Hela leap from Fenrir's back. She remained as proud as when he first met her in Nelfheim.

“I’m not that fool Thor. I know you want Asgard.” The huge gash on Hela’s shoulder didn’t bleed; instead, it healed in the blink of an eye. “Unless I die, you won’t get anything.”

The emperor fired a shot that missed Pegasus's black sword, then jumped down and walked toward Hela.

“Ragnarok is the end of the Aesir,” he said. “Bauer took away the power that mankind once possessed, and now Asgard must repay that debt.”