Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 262 Review Time (First Update)

London was eerily quiet in the dead of night. Even during the day, few people passed by here, let alone now; even gangsters wouldn't want to live in such a desolate place. Apart from some strange-looking insects chirping in the moonlight, nothing made a sound. Suddenly, a loud cough echoed in the empty space, a flash of orange-red light followed by a deafening clang of metal and a shout of curses.

A golden-red light illuminated the nearby ground. Phoenix stood atop a rusty iron railing, looking down at his master.

Salomon struggled to his feet from the concrete, cursing Mephisto furiously. However, with his head still hidden inside his helmet, no one could understand what he was saying through his muffled voice. Nick Fury, though also thrown out of the portal, showed no anger; instead, he seemed to gloat over Salomon's misfortune.

"Actually, I'm a little disappointed." After getting up from the ground, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. pulled out his frantically ringing phone to check the messages he had missed. But before dealing with business, he still wanted to share his thoughts on this trip to Hell. "Honestly, I thought Hell was absolutely terrible," he said, "but I didn't expect that the territories of those Hell lords weren't so bad after all."

The sorcerer's helmet slowly retracted into his breastplate, revealing a sweat-soaked head. He glared at Nick Fury, then silently picked up the Holy Lance that had fallen to the side. Nick Fury wisely kept quiet, lest Salomon poke him with the lance. When Kamar-Taj's party finally arrived, Mephisto was already waiting for the sorcerers in His territory. Upon seeing Salomon with the Holy Lance, He immediately declared His willingness to sign a peace treaty with the Sorcerer Supreme. The old deacon unhesitatingly produced the magical contract that the Sorcerer Supreme had prepared beforehand—a matter Salomon was completely unaware of from the beginning. This journey seemed solely for the purpose of displaying the Holy Lance to Mephisto, much like displaying a nuclear weapon.

As for why Salomon was to act alone, the old deacon explained that having Salomon act alone would not only distract the other Hell Lords and ensure the team's safety, but also allow Salomon to act as a deterrent to the other Hell Lords, similar to an aircraft carrier patrolling or a fighter jet carrying nuclear warheads. Weapons don't necessarily have to be used; unlaunched nuclear weapons are the greatest threat. However, Salomon felt that Mephisto had already foreseen this scenario. The reason He didn't sign the contract beforehand was to see the arcane mages' frustrated expressions when they finally arrived in Hell after all the hardships, only to find they hadn't even gone that far.

However, only Salomon was unaware of the situation; the other sorcerers had already been assigned tasks, so Mephisto only got to see Salomon's expression—which was enough to make the old devil happy all day.

Before this, Salomon had been wondering what he would do if Mephisto fought desperately, but he hadn't expected Mephisto to sign the pact so readily, without the slightest hesitation, as if the Kamar-Taj attack was merely a minor accident. Mephisto was confident in the feasibility of the pact, because he was trading a piece of information for temporary peace, and this information was crucial; the Sorcerer Supreme's attitude was very likely aimed at obtaining this information.

Damn devil! Damn perverse sense of humor! Salomon didn't blame the Sorcerer Supreme. Perhaps the Supreme didn't tell him this information because he was playing a game in some unknown place, and he didn't need to interfere. Therefore, he accepted this fact instead of showing off his toys like a spoiled brat.

He was just a little unhappy.

The old deacon had Salomon and Nick Fury leave first. Only after Salomon's safe departure would the arcane mages leave Hell; in their view, Salomon's safety as the heir was paramount. They didn't open the portal in front of Mephisto, but outside of Mephisto's territory, to avoid demonic interference with the spell, for safety reasons.

Perhaps because the arcane mage who opened the portal was in a hurry to send Salomon away, he opened the portal at Salomon's feet. This arcane mage seemed somewhat inept at casting interdimensional portals, resulting in a slight error in the destination. Fortunately, no one was injured, even though Salomon wasn't wearing armor.

At most, his nose is broken.

"Why are we in London?" Nick Fury glanced at the location tracking on his phone. "I thought you were going to New York, otherwise I wouldn't have come with you."

Salomon, however, maintained his sullen expression, seemingly harboring a strong grudge against Nick Fury. "Agent Romanoff's domineering personality caused my family problems," he said, glaring at Nick Fury. "Do you know how terrible that is?"

"I heard you bought Agent Romanov a pair of red-soled high heels?"

"You even know about this?"

“I know everything, Salomon. Earth, of course.” Director Fury wiped the sweat from his bald head. It wasn't summer yet, and the cool night air could easily make one catch a cold. “This is your own fault,” he said. “I'm not going to help you. To be honest, I have no experience dealing with these kinds of contradictions, so I can't offer any advice.”

"But I do," the sorcerer scoffed. "I know a designer at a Russian jewelry theater; I had a pair of earrings made there. Stark introduced me to that designer."

How much did you spend?

"9000 pounds. But now it seems that one pair of earrings is not enough; I need to go and choose another piece of jewelry."

"Where did you get so much money? You didn't sell the artifacts I gave you, did you?" This was the first time Nick Fury had learned about the secular power of Kamar-Taj. Before this, he had always thought that hermit organizations like Kamar-Taj were dirt poor.

"This is my living expenses," Salomon shrugged. "It's just that I don't usually spend much money. I rarely buy luxury goods; I still lick the lid off my yogurt. Besides, oil-based currency is meaningless to me. It can't buy anything except some worthless things and daily necessities—diamonds are nothing, they're just consumables. Gold is what's truly valuable, as are magical items. But that doesn't stop me from using those meaningless scraps of paper to reach the top of the food chain in secular society, because in your rules, those scraps of paper represent status, and I'm just following your rules."

Phoenix chirped in agreement, always believing that its master should be at the top of humanity.

"You've been too close to Stark. I should have Captain Rogers teach you the proper way to spend money," Nick Fury said. "Now send me back to Washington. Europe, including that monastery and Ghost Rider, has been taken over by S.H.I.E.L.D. Also, Stark's in big trouble; he's been looking for you many times."

"That wasn't a magical incident; Stark can handle it himself. It has nothing to do with me." Salomon removed his gauntlets and put on his slingshot ring. "I need to focus on resolving my family conflicts. Also, I'm afraid I've missed many days of classes; my physics tutor can be quite unreasonable when he's angry."

"Yes, many days. Not only did you miss your birthday, but you also missed two months of classes," Fury said gleefully. "You only have three or four months to review your A-levels. You little brat, better work hard; everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. is more educated than you."

"Except for you, you street thug."

I wrote this while I was slacking off.

I'll write the next chapter while I'm having dinner, and I'll post it around the time I get off work.

(End of this chapter)