Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 768 Risking One's Life (Second Update)

Catherine dislikes the current situation quite a bit.

The flying sand and gravel were relentless, causing frequent servo motor malfunctions and even making the bearings jerk. She disliked the encircling storm of fire even more; despite the temperature control system operating at full capacity, everyone in armor was drenched in sweat. But without these storms, the density of parasites they faced would be several times greater, and there would be far more integrated tentacles capable of breaching force field walls. While loudly ordering the heavy weapons team to fill the firepower gaps that the assault squad's explosive rifles and chainsaws couldn't cover, Catherine led her assault squad in a fierce hacking and slashing battle.

"When are you going to fix that damn thing?!" Catherine yelled. She severed the wrist that had just wrapped around a commando's arm armor, finishing it off with a special explosive round. "Can't you hurry up?"

"I don't have the monarch's magical knowledge, I need some time!" Guard Zero lay on the ground, scribbling on the floor with his combat dagger. This was an order from the monarch; Guard Zero needed to rely on his memory to replicate a spell. This wasn't unreasonable; magic was part of Guard Zero's curriculum, and the task Salomon had assigned was definitely within the range of difficulty for his course. After a while, Zero excitedly stuck his dagger into the ground and began chanting a spell Salomon had once recited at the SHIELD base. However, the spell didn't sound as fluent on his lips as it did when Salomon himself recited it.

"I did it!"

"Sisters!" Catherine brandished her chainsword and shouted at a combat squad that had just been teleported in from within the force field wall, "Fire! Swing your swords! We need every bit of strength we have now! Our lives are not our possessions; we are the Lord's warriors, and we will sacrifice ourselves for him! This is his test for us; obey his will and fight!"

Without a word, the combat squad immediately joined the battle. Fighting to the death for their monarch was the Sisterhood's unwavering creed. Zero, the Royal Guard, continued his work, his skills improving with each passing moment. He teleported two more combat squads, but when it came to the third, the teleportation spell suddenly failed. He immediately informed Catherine. "Gamma Squad, I understand. Contact them again after the sandstorm clears," she said calmly. "Skip Gamma Squad and teleport the other squads. Sisters, hold your formation tight and don't let the enemy disturb Zero!"

A raging firestorm gradually eroded the sand around the dunes, and massive, scorching pillars of orange-red flame hovered around the command squad, melting and vitrifying the sand surrounding their dunes at an astonishing speed. The sorority stood atop a colossal stone sculpture left by an alien civilization. The flames gradually stripped away the millennia-old dust that had covered this magnificent work of art, yet no one had any interest in recording the traces of this civilization's legacy; creatures from Earth were fighting to the death on its corpses.

Salomon severed the attacking tentacles with his longsword. Electricity and flames shot straight up the sandstorm from which the tentacles extended, killing an entire swarm of parasites as easily as sweeping up garbage. Just two spells of the trick-level quality were enough in Salomon's hands to unleash terrifying power. The Hive continued to lure Salomon deeper into the storm, and the arcane mage readily followed. The Sisterhood was responsible for killing the Hive's extended consciousness, while he was responsible for killing the Hive's core consciousness.

When he finally reached the heart of the sandstorm, a humanoid figure wearing a tattered black cloak was already waiting there.

Salomon was certain he was far enough away from all the Sisterhood combat teams, about fifty kilometers. Only here could he carry out his battle plan. "You're no ordinary Inhuman, child." The voice clad in black robes possessed boundless malice; even without speaking, the arcane mage could hear the hunger and greed emanating from its very soul. "I don't know why they sent you here, but you're certainly extraordinary. It would be a shame if you died here. Interested in hearing my plan?"

Even as it spoke, the disgusting tentacles continued to surge towards it from all sides. The arcane mage charged forward without a word, accompanied by flames and light, shattering any hive clones that approached him with his longsword and explosives. Whenever the hive attempted to overwhelm him with a dense swarm of parasites, a protective shield of fire would suddenly appear around him, burning the tiny parasites that came near.

"No time," Salomon said coldly. He needed to draw the hive's attention, forcing the monster to concentrate its forces on him—Catherine noticed the surrounding firestorm gradually subsiding, and the sandstorm seemed to have changed direction, surging towards the monarch's location. She could vaguely see the glint of the monarch's longsword within the dark storm. He flicked his wrist, orange-red flames flashing above his ringed hand. Even without fully understanding the planet's coordinates, he could still do some things.

For example, using oneself as a coordinate.

"Yes, my lord!" Tita nodded and issued orders to the fire support team below the command platform. At the same time, several portals flashing orange-red sparks appeared around the Punishment-class air carrier on Earth. The other end of the portals was above the atmosphere of a planet, and massive amounts of air rushed in. Tita ordered the gunners to fire at the portals at full power, while simultaneously launching a strategic weapon into one of them.

"I really admire your ability, child." Hive looked up, its deformed eyes beneath the black hood watching the flickering sparks with interest. "Your ability is powerful. Is this fire? Simple, yet the most powerful ability. You are definitely the most powerful Inhuman besides me."

"But I don't need you."

The hive laughed, and from deep beneath its hood, hidden in the shadows, emerged several tiny tentacles. "Many people say that."

The sorcerer clenched his fist, and a layer of golden shield enveloped him.

Before the Hive could even comment on this phenomenon beyond its knowledge, a deluge of light, accompanied by a dense whistling sound, rained down from the sky. Missiles bearing the insignia of the Immortal City descended from outer space, exploding and shattering the thick soup of dust storms and parasites. Then, the planet suddenly fell silent; the whistling of the dust storm vanished, and one of the brightest missiles instantly expanded into a blinding sphere of light. A temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius erupted in the atmosphere, like a giant hand crushing all the gloom and bringing light back to the world.

This is an apocalyptic scene, and the hive searches for the name of this phenomenon in the memories of the people it has recently consumed.

"This is a hydrogen bomb, a brachiopod. Why do you think I'm talking to you?" Salomon said softly. "I'm willing to pay this price to kill you."

The helmet's detection system was operating at full capacity to prevent excessive light from blinding the wearer. However, just like the power armor's temperature control system, the electronic eyes struggled for a few moments before going out of commission, and the servo motors and power backpack emitted smoke due to lack of heat dissipation. But the nauseating smell of burning electronic components was quickly blown away by the oncoming hot air, all sound disappeared, as if the entire world had been paused, and the high temperature enough to vaporize steel and the sound waves capable of shattering reinforced concrete surged in like ocean waves, with creamy clouds churning up to the stratosphere.

The sorcerer knelt, struggling to raise his shield. The power armor's air circulation system blasted out hot, acrid air. He felt thirsty, dehydrated, deaf, and blind, yet he struggled to stay conscious. Suddenly, a bronze shield inlaid with Gorgon motifs appeared in his hand. He couldn't see anything; he only felt the power armor heating up to a red-hot, almost melting state, arcs of flame leaping across his body. He smelled the burning of his own flesh; dried blood and oil seeped from the gaps in the power armor, then carbonized on the tattered surface, finally turning to ash along with the armor coating in the hot air.

He didn't know how much time had passed; he felt he was about to die.

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(End of this chapter)