Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 146 Which Floor Are You On? (Second Update! Please Vote!)

Salomon took Coulson with him on the trip.

He wasn't comfortable leaving Coulson, an ordinary man, alone. Coulson's bullets would probably only be enough to deal with a few ghouls; if Nyarlathotep sent Shattraks to attack him, Coulson wouldn't last long. They followed Jones, heading south into the Dark Forest. The arcane mage had specifically cast a "Darkvision" spell on Coulson to prevent the agent from becoming a hindrance—it was better than night vision goggles—Coulson remarked.

The stray dog ​​Jones led Salomon and Coulson toward the Dark Forest, its head bowed the entire way, intently sniffing the scent. As soon as Salomon entered the forest, he sensed an even stronger aura of alien magic than before. He took out the Agamotto crystal ball and studied the images on it as they walked, making sure his group wouldn't be attacked by any sudden monsters—this time he wasn't alone; he had to protect Coulson.

"How many times have you been here?" Coulson, pistol in hand, surveyed the black, twisted branches of the trees shrouded in night. He took a deep breath, suppressing his fear as instructed by the SHIELD professor, and steadied his hands, but he was still worried about Salomon's condition. "Aren't you scared?"

"Scared? Of course I am." Although Salomon couldn't see Coulson's face clearly, he felt that Coulson must have been recalling his nightmare.

"Anyone would feel fear in the face of those things," the sorcerer said. "Humans are not some superior being. In this world, in another world, and in many other worlds, the level of human evolution is not that high, and the human brain is not particularly advanced in this universe. It is natural for us to feel fear in the face of things that humans cannot understand, and that is not shameful, because what we are about to face are gods."

"God?" Coulson asked curiously. "God really exists? Isn't God just an alien like Thor? I've doubted God's existence since witnessing magic, but..."

"The Aesir pantheon did indeed originate from gods. I've studied the genealogy and lineage of Earth's pantheons, so I know how the Aesir came to be. Their self-proclaimed godhood is a bit of an exaggeration. Besides, I've witnessed the death of immortal gods—killed by demons." Salomon kicked aside a branch, fed Jones a piece of candy to reward its courage, and didn't mind using small talk to dispel Coulson's rambling thoughts. "The kind of omniscient and omnipotent gods you're talking about do exist, but they're not what you think. But if gods were truly omniscient and omnipotent, what meaning would humans hold for them? Would you care about the ants' worship of you? Would you be happy because they offered you insect limbs and ant larvae? Certainly not. And the difference between humans and gods is far greater than the difference between humans and ants."

"You used the plural!" Salomon's words seemed to startle Coulson, causing him to involuntarily raise his voice. "Is there more than one such omniscient and omnipotent god?"

"I don't know exactly how many there are. But the only thing I'm certain of is that those gods are beyond human comprehension," the sorcerer said. "The wisdom of the gods is beyond human comprehension. We may be facing a particularly wicked god soon. If other gods consider humans meaningless beings, then this god is quite the opposite. He is fascinated by humans. Like a curious child, he will scald ant nests with boiling water, dismember ants, and crush them, and he takes pleasure in it. Only his methods are much more sophisticated. He is the one who started the local witch coven, and he is the one who spread chaos and fear in this town."

"This is dangerous."

"Yes, but it is my duty." The arcane mage nodded, waving the longsword in his right hand in front of Coulson. "Whether as the heir of Kamar-Taj or the wielder of this sword, I act from the perspective of humanity and Earth—it is Kamar-Taj's duty to keep beings from the higher and lower planes away from Earth and humanity, and ensuring Earth's safety is the work of the agents of Mother Earth, Gaia."

The conversation temporarily ended. Coulson needed time to process the information, and Salomon became increasingly cautious as he ventured deeper into the Dark Forest. The Dark Forest was eerily quiet today. Salomon saw no ghouls, Kug giants, moving corpses (the Dark Ones), or Shatak birds; it was as if Nyarlathotep's servants had all gone home for the day. But that was impossible. Gods were far more terrifying than capitalists. Servants had no concept of rest, not even the opportunity to resign. The only way to resign was through death.

Okay, so it seems that capitalists are more terrifying.

The slightly absurd jokes did not distract Salomon. Jones walked in front, Salomon in the middle, and a somewhat nervous Coulson brought up the rear. Coulson wanted to say something to break the almost frozen atmosphere in the forest, but he didn't know if his voice would tremble when he spoke—this forest was just too eerie; anyone who entered it would be involuntarily frightened.

Jones led them around in circles until they arrived at the site of the witches' gathering. The place seemed abandoned; the massive pile of bonfire remains lay there. The King's army had already been there, but they found nothing, and no one bothered to search the charred wood. "What are we looking for?" Coulson couldn't help but ask. "There's nothing here."

"Yes, that's the strangest place." Salomon looked around warily, putting the crystal ball into his dimensional bag and gripping the sword hilt with his other hand. He said, "The last time I was here, this forest was incredibly welcoming. In fact, the monster corpse I left here last time is gone too."

Suddenly, Jones barked loudly in a certain direction and ran off without looking back, ignoring Salomon's calls. Coulson released the safety on his pistol and followed Salomon. They were extremely alert; anything amiss could trigger an attack. Following the sound, they rounded several low, dark bushes and found the stray dog ​​Jones standing in the pale moonlight, wagging its tail frantically.

Upon seeing Salomon appear, Jones barked excitedly. In the quiet forest, Jones's barking was far too conspicuous, and Salomon quickly silenced him. Only after they approached did they realize that Jones wasn't alone. Before Salomon and Coulson arrived, it had already cleared away the fallen leaves, dragging a piece of fabric to pull the person buried in the ditch, covered by the leaves, to the surface.

"Agent Romanov?" Coulson's eyes widened. He was about to step forward to rescue the unconscious Natasha, but Salomon stopped him. The sorcerer was certain this was Nyarlathotep's old trick, designed to sow distrust between them. He believed Nyarlathotep knew how he had verified Natasha's identity, but he couldn't perform another verification because his remaining diamonds wouldn't be enough for another resurrection spell. Perhaps that was why Nyarlathotep had chosen to leave Natasha here, knowing Salomon didn't have enough capital to gamble again.

“That might not be Natasha, but something else,” Salomon said. “But I can’t be sure, because if our target were to impersonate Natasha, my magic might not be able to tell, because it wouldn’t be an impersonation at all, but a transformation of flesh and blood, a complete change of appearance. That’s His hobby; He’s keen on impersonating those close to us, making us distrust each other. Only in this way can the chaos He loves be born.”

"Woof woof!"

"What? You're saying this is Natasha?" Salomon glanced at Jones. "Are you sure?"

"Woof!"

"Perfume? Don't be silly, she's already showered, how could she still smell of perfume?"

"Ooh~" Jones sneezed. "Woof!"

"You insist?" Salomon frowned, finding Jones's words somewhat unbelievable.

"You're still young, and you went to an all-boys school, so it's normal that you don't understand these things." Coulson patted Salomon on the shoulder. "I have a girlfriend, and I can assure you that this is Agent Romanov. Don't worry too much. Because you know He can shapeshift, and He knows you know this. If that evil god really wanted us to split apart, He only needed to put Agent Romanov here."

"Then why not go a step further? He could use this idea to disguise himself and lie here." Salomon pointed his sword at Natasha in front of him, appearing extremely cautious. "Then he could ambush us when we're not paying attention."

"Perhaps He anticipated our reaction, which is why He placed a real Romanov agent here." Coulson pressed Salomon's hand. "Don't be too tense. You haven't received professional training, so you can't suppress your fear, and people do many irrational things when they're afraid."

The sorcerer sighed; dealing with Nyarlathotep was always fraught with lies and chaos, and he was almost used to it. "Alright, then we need to figure out which level He's on," Salomon said. "Jones, wake her."

"Who's there!"

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(End of this chapter)