Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1393 Interstellar Transportation (Two-in-One)

Driven by the prophecy of Ragnarok, countless people explored possible apocalyptic scenarios, but none of their research topics included a horde of stinking trolls. The Emperor, leading his Royal Guard hundreds of meters into a volcanic cavern, encountered an entire troll tribe. Many of these trolls were driven back by Odin with his axe before even leaving the cave. They ruthlessly used their weapons to eliminate these creatures that shouldn't exist on Earth; any living being was stabbed to death with their halberds. Perhaps 9mm bullets were merely a tickle to these monsters, but large-caliber explosives would show no mercy on their thick hides.

During this cleanup operation, the team encountered an extremely large troll.

Its grayish-black hide was as rough as rock, with several freshly shaved animal skins tied together with metal rings and haphazardly draped over its body. Two dull-witted eyes were embedded in its enormous, deformed head, flickering in the dim light of the campfire in the cave. Terrifying fangs pierced its upper lip, foul-smelling saliva flowed freely, and its nostrils, the size of an ordinary person's fist, flared incessantly. Smelling the nauseating stew boiling in the rough stone pot, which resembled hot swill, its thunderous breathing could be heard from afar, even whipping up a foul-smelling gust of wind within the cave.

When the emperor and the royal guards saw it, the monster, which had briefly ascended the cave throne, was still on its foul-smelling throne made of blood-red bones and swarming with flies, engaging in mating activities with several trolls that were possibly female—the reason they couldn't be sure if they were female trolls was purely due to rigorous scientific considerations, as the sex of such a creature could not be determined from its appearance alone—after killing the trolls outside the cave who were stewing rotten flesh in an ancestral stone pot, the emperor and the royal guards immediately pointed their guns at the monster, which was at least two meters taller than the royal guards, and blasted all the creatures in its vicinity to smithereens with explosives.

The bomb pierced the giant creature's thick hide, and the intense pain instantly brought it back to its senses.

By this time, the bomb had pierced its abdomen, shredding its internal organs to dust. Yet, the monster remained oblivious to the fact that its spine might have been reduced to bone fragments and its internal organs could no longer sustain its movements. It still rose from its throne of carrion, roaring and waving its hands at the emperor and the royal guards, determined to hold its enemies firmly in its grasp. Its excessively crude physiology and nervous system enabled it to accomplish this miracle; it didn't even realize it had suffered a fatal wound. Fleshy fragments of its internal organs and blood gushed forth like a fountain, soaking the ground.

Amon emptied his magazine without hesitation.

When the troll king was only a meter away from the emperor, Amon charged past him, his Guardian Spear, crackling with electric currents, severing the troll king's knee. Amon didn't stop there; he immediately turned and changed position, slicing his halberd under the troll's armpit. The blade burned through skin, muscle, and bone in the blink of an eye, piercing the troll king's chin diagonally, penetrating straight into its brain, completely halting the monstrous creature's primary neural activity.

The mountain-like body fell before the emperor, the troll king's crashing to the ground sounding like a volcanic eruption in the narrow cave. Even for trolls as foolish as they were, the sight of their strongest member dying would terrify the others. Many trolls grabbed sticks and stones and turned to flee, completely disregarding whether their vital organs were facing the enemy. Amon, having just reloaded his magazine, precisely sniped every troll attempting to hide in the side cave system.

Those trolls didn't have bodies that could withstand explosions; each bomb could shred a large chunk of flesh. However, trolls were incredibly resilient. A bomb that could obliterate an ordinary person wouldn't have the same effect on a troll. Often, a troll would survive with half its body intact, barely clinging to life on the ground. It's hard to imagine that such creatures were a product of natural evolution; mammals rarely acquire such robust vitality, developing numerous redundant organs and functions through natural evolution.

"This guy's guts have a terrible impact on air quality." Hammurabi fired a bomb across the Spear of the Guard, killing the troll trying to escape, while also joking with Amon, "Thanks, you've done Earth a big favor."

"Handsome gentlemen, please resolve this issue as soon as possible."

The Emperor crouched down, twisted the troll king's fangs, and poked at its massive, bloodshot eyeballs. This battle, even for a regular army, would be somewhat troublesome, but for him and his royal guard, it was merely an after-dinner stroll. His golden spear had slain many bloods in the fight, and the spells, emotions, and thoughts he had infused into the weapon were slowly awakening and materializing. The holy spear possessed immense power, and the Emperor didn't intend to unleash its full potential here; using it to hunt trolls would be overkill. "This kind of troll shouldn't exist on Earth; it should live in the steel forests of Nilfheim or the mountains of Asgard," he said. "But at least we now know the origin of these monsters; it is indeed possible that they came from Nilfheim, as Odin spoke of."

"What exactly does he want to do, my lord?" Amon said with some worry. "Odin's cunning is truly terrifying."

"It might be related to Hela. I and that woman will eventually settle our score." The Emperor stood up, wiping the bloodstains from his armored fingers with a handkerchief. "Everything now is confirming the prophecy of Ragnarok. A long, harsh winter is coming, and the world is filled with the shadows of suspicion and conflict. War and malice dominate the world, and people kill each other with spears or swords. Hungry beasts roam the wilderness in search of food. People no longer tolerate, understand, or help each other. Siblings turn against each other, fathers and sons become enemies, and they kill each other in ugly competition. Evil spreads like a plague. Even without this prophecy, our world is already falling into such a predicament. Hela is about to break free and bring even greater disaster to this world. But regardless of the prophecy, Hela, and Odin's schemes, I have brought you here today for another matter."

Although Hammurabi wanted to remind the Emperor that the information about Hela in the Obsidian Tower Library was incomplete, and as someone who had direct contact with Hela, Hammurabi was eager to understand why this woman, whom Asgard kept so secret, posed such a great threat, and whether the source of her power would affect future plans, he chose to remain silent and secretly sent a message to the Emperor through the power armor's communication channel.

The emperor nodded to Hammurabi, but did not change the subject.

"If these trolls come from other planets, then they can only come to Earth via the Bifrost."

The Emperor praised Amon's keen perception, noting that such keenness shouldn't have his cloak soiled by troll saliva. The Royal Guards are emotionless, for emotions have been eradicated by genetic alchemy, but Amon was still annoyed by the Emperor's joke.

"As an interstellar transportation system created shortly after the birth of the universe, even foolish trolls can safely pass through and travel faster than the speed of light to Earth, so there is no reason why we humans cannot use it. Although the Rainbow Bridge system is currently dominated by the Asgardians, they do not fully understand all the details of this system, otherwise the current situation would not be possible."

"You want to explore a new Rainbow Bridge transportation system?" Hammurabi asked, frowning. "Do we have the time? With the Dark Order, Ragnarok, and the destined death of the Sorcerer Supreme, we simply don't have the manpower and resources to explore anything else."

"I believe Asgard possesses a wealth of information about the Rainbow Bridge that we can study."

The emperor looked at his royal guard. The two golden-armored giants looked perfect; apart from the stench of troll blood stained their armor, they were indistinguishable from a ceremonial guard. As superhumans he had personally created, he knew their personalities and talents, their thought processes under pressure, and so on. These were all things he had created, including their enigmatic brains.

"I want to show you the convenience of this interstellar transportation system firsthand, informally, and then you'll understand why I'm undertaking this plan. We need to find the route those trolls took to Earth, but we won't go to Nilfhheim; instead, we'll be visiting the Golden Palace in Asgard. Whatever Odin's plans, he'll never expect us to go there." The Emperor glanced around, making sure those two annoying crows weren't nearby. Odin's two crows, Wuni and Fokin, were essentially no different from Pegasus and the Cheshire Cat; every time he thought of those two crows, he seriously suspected that the Cheshire Cat had only answered the summons for cat food. He lowered his voice and communicated with the two Royal Guards using the power armor's communication channels, "I want more than just information about the Bifrost; I want all of Asgard."

As the Allfather, the dictator of the empire, the administrative system of Asgard operated on his authority. Apart from Thor, the military representative and heir, no one dared to make decisions on matters of state without the Allfather's approval. However, Thor was not a wise heir. He couldn't sit behind a table facing endless meetings and paperwork; he couldn't patiently converse with representatives of the various Asgardian colonies and show them mercy; he couldn't understand why tithes differed between colonies. He was better suited to take his hammer, walk out of Asgard, and smash everything and everyone that resisted Asgardian rule to pieces.

Therefore, the Allfather remains the ruler of Asgard, and all civil officials who maintain Asgard's operation must obey him. However, recently the Allfather seems to have loosened his control over the civil officials, even staying in the Golden Palace with many responsible nobles, watching dwarves and grotesque figures perform various farcical dramas. In the past, tons of mead were transported to the Golden Palace every day, but in the past few years, the daily demand for mead has doubled. Tons of meat and fresh fruit are sent to the Golden Palace to be made into delicacies, and the kitchens have expanded several times over to barely meet the demand. Many nobles wander around the palace drunk all day, vomiting after eating and then continuing to eat and drink. Many absurd orders are issued in the name of the Allfather and eventually sent to various Asgardian colonies.

Thor's return to Asgard wasn't solely due to the exhaustion from the colonial rebellion; it was also because Heimdall, wielding the Horn of Galar—equivalent to temporary supreme military command—had recalled him from the war, bringing with him a group of wounded and weary soldiers and civilian conscripts wielding berserker staffs. Heimdall recounted the recent events in Asgard to Thor, who, unable to find a solution, was extremely frustrated. This led him to grant the civilians' request to go hunting to relax.

He then made his first trip to the Well of Urd in Asgard, attempting to determine if the boar he had hunted was indeed Gullinbursti. He had previously bathed in the Well of Urd in Midgard when Tony Stark created Ultron, but this was the first time he had ever bathed in the Well of Urd in Asgard, and with the guidance of the Three Norn Goddesses, he was able to see even more things he had never discovered before.

He saw the past, the present, and the contradictory future clearly in the spring water.

He discovered details he had never noticed before.

Even on the streets of Asgard, the height of the Emperor and his two guards was quite striking.

After bursting through a nailed-up side door of a stonemason's house, they found themselves on the streets outside the city walls, subjected to the stares of the Asgardian civilians—who showed no signs of panic. They had seen far too many creatures of different appearances in the universe, and they had even seen Odin from afar. The emperor and the royal guard, who looked just like them but were only taller, possessed the same imposing presence as Odin and wore golden armor more magnificent than the heroic warriors, but that wasn't enough to make them drop their work and flee—especially since the stonemason whose door had been broken was now shouting and jumping around behind the royal guards, trying to get compensation. This comical scene completely ruined the atmosphere that should have been solemn and dignified, even filled with the singing of hymns.

The Emperor tossed a large Asgardian coin with jagged edges, which the stonemason leaped up to catch, instantly forgetting his loss. The Emperor led the way through the streets, gazing into the distance at the towering complex of buildings behind the golden walls. The last rays of the stars painted a dazzling glow on the gold and bronze-clad palaces, bathing the entire residential area where the Emperor and his guards stood in the golden light. Even after the rest of the area had fallen into darkness, this area still received some light and warmth, making the land here extremely valuable. "We've come at the wrong time," he said to the guards, pointing to the sky. "See that plume of steam? That's Thor's hammer. He's back in Asgard."

"Yes, but what are you here for?"

A hooded figure blocked the emperor's path. Amun and Hammurabi wasted no time; they rushed forward and thrust their halberds. The hooded figure moved with incredible speed, using a greatsword to deflect the attacks of the two guards. However, Amun and Hammurabi's extreme strength was formidable, and their relentless attacks left the hooded figure unable to retaliate. This scene finally caused panic among the residents of Asgard, especially when Hammurabi fired at close range, blasting the greatsword apart. The deafening explosion that echoed through the residential area finally alerted the civilians to the situation.

"Stop!" Heimdall pulled back his hood, his forehead beaded with sweat. "I need your help!"

(End of this chapter)