The giant wolf stepped out from the darkness beside the throne; it recognized the scent of this person.
Disguised as bait, disguised as Odin's mortal.
It bared its teeth in a menacing growl, but it did not launch an attack; instead, its hind legs were trembling slightly.
Not everyone has the courage to face a battle destined for defeat, especially a wolf.
It could bite off Tyr's hand but couldn't bite through the symbiote like mud, nor Deathstroke's indestructible bones. Its weapons, sharp fangs, and claws posed no threat to the enemy.
Its existence was originally meant to confront the gods of Asgard; its fur, saliva, and even cold breath could restrain the Divine Race.
But when fighting humans, these were of no use.
Su Ming waved the Godslayer in his hand, transforming it into a Long-Handled Warhammer, and slowly approached the giant wolf.
"Hamill, prepare the hypnotic magic. Ciri, go to Earth to get some sleeping pills."
The giant wolf is a furry apocalypse, Asgard's doom, but neither Su Ming, who wants to maintain the Twilight of the Gods, nor Loki, who wants to stop it, can kill it.
Su Ming needs this big dog to start the Winter of the Wolf and open the prelude to the fall of the gods, capturing it alive won't be too troublesome.
And Loki, killing it is useless. Even if the giant wolf is killed, those promoting the Twilight of the Gods will still create giant cats, giant dogs, and even giants, going as far as to modify the prophecy itself.
Wind of Winter, Sword of Winter, Wolf of Winter, that's how the prophecy goes.
But changing to Water of Winter, Gun of Winter, Bear of Winter, does it change things? No, the outcome is still the Twilight of the Gods happening.
Winter of the Wolf is just a sign, giving the gods some time to prepare before being purged, essentially the last curtain call.
"Fenrir, I know you can understand my words, and I understand your mission... I can give you a choice. Are you going to take the medicine and fall asleep yourself? Or do you wish for magic hypnosis? Or perhaps my physical hypnosis?"
Just as the words fell, Ciri already appeared beside Su Ming with a small box. She thought for a long time and still decided to get Gin's help to scavenge animal anesthetics from the black market.
Given that the giant wolf is much larger than an elephant, Gin practically scoured all of the black market's stock in New York.
In the United States, it's easy to get bullets; any caliber of ammunition can be found on the black market. Looking carefully after WWII, even Hydra's energy guns could be bought.
On the contrary, hunting anesthetics are harder to procure; the formal channels require procedures and approval, and the black market has a small demand for such items, as zoos and rangers don't source from the black market.
After scouring all of New York, this small box was all that was gathered.
Ciri took out the contents and showed them to Su Ming; they were all tubes of emerald green reagents, matching the style of the Netherworld quite well.
Su Ming took them and shook them in his hand, showing them to the giant wolf. Although unsure whether they need to be swallowed or injected, the potion looked nice, resembling apple soda at first glance.
However, the giant wolf only eyed him cautiously, the fur on its neck standing on end.
"Hamill."
The mage cast his prepared spell. To enhance its efficacy, Hamill deliberately used Emperor Vishanti's Star Realm Projection Technique, aiming to strike the giant wolf's soul out of its body, thus denoting sleep.
But Fenrir did a lazy roll on the spot, narrowly dodging the seemingly transparent energy-like magic, while letting out a hissing roar from its mouth, its gleaming teeth continuously grinding.
Su Ming nodded: "That's the choice you made; actually, I also think the physical method is the most reliable. Rest assured, I won't let you fall into a long sleep."
On the side, Tyr tried to rescue the giant wolf, but was immediately entangled by Secret Guest, who unleashed black and white magic overwhelmingly. The radiant magic light turned the entire hall into a colorful spectacle, and the Nordic Battle God soon fell into disadvantage.
Like a forest suddenly sprouting from the ground, countless sticky giant tentacles surged over Tyr's head like a tsunami.
Not to mention emerging, even visual contact with the outside world was cut off.
As a Lord of Hell, her casting cost is fully borne by Hell, as long as she doesn't borrow the power of Ancient Gods, she hardly bears any cost herself.
Secret Guest does not need eyes to know Tyr's position and his current situation; these sticky magical manifestations are extensions of her will, wielded like her own arms, and she's holding Tyr tightly.
Thus, she grasped her Giant Sword and slowly entered the tentacle forest, those black-purple branches making way before her, allowing her to personally conclude the imprisoned Battle God.
At this point, Su Ming had already leveraged the cloak to approach the giant wolf's side. Even if it tried to dodge, it was still too slow compared to the Magic Floating Cloak.
The moment Su Ming touched its soft fur, the Strangulation immediately spread across the wolf's body, anchoring it firmly within the Promethium Metal-formed shell, like a living sculpture.
Only the furry head was exposed; that was the only part of it that could move.
Strangulation extended a small tentacle, forming a small knife, and began shaving the top of the giant wolf's head, creating a target-like concentric circle to indicate to the host where to hit.
The wolf's head is a very tough area, but no matter how strong the defense, it can't stop the transmission of shock. Su Ming jumped onto the back of the giant wolf and directly used the Godslayer's Hammer to strike its top.
"Eighty... eighty..."
If it weren't for the fear of hitting too hard and killing it, which should have been a one-hit solution, Su Ming struck several times.
But the result was the same: Fenrir foamed at the mouth and fainted, while Strangulation slowly flowed back onto Su Ming. The giant wolf collapsed onto the ground with such force that the earth shook.
"Magic again." Su Ming took the anesthetic from Ciri, directly sliced open the wolf's leg, and poured the potion inside, while also signaling Hamill to send the giant wolf's soul into the Star Realm.
Triple insurance was appropriate.
While he was dealing with the giant wolf, Secret Guest also dealt with Tyr. Dragging Tyr's head along, she came over. Their battlefield had caved in, countless tentacles vanished like bubbles.
Her sword could only render Tyr unconscious, which was actually the most effective way to counter self-healing ability users. Even Deadpool would pass out if struck by her sword.
In the enemy's sleep, Secret Guest directly snapped Tyr's neck and tore off the head, simultaneously using dark magic to imprison his soul on the Hell Border for later use.
"I'm ready, teacher." She wiped the black blood off her face, and she had a few wounds, but at this moment, fine tentacles were repairing these damages from within.
"Next time, if there's an opportunity, just pull it straight. There's no need to break the neck, wasting 0.5 seconds, not to mention the entire spine's head is more bloody, achieving better tactical goals."
Su Ming calmly pulled the giant wolf along by the tail, casually grading Secret Guest's fight.
What can be said... she has enough power, but not enough darkness.
As a Lord of Hell, lacking darkness and ruthlessness often attracts the covetous eyes of other lords.
Brutality, madness, chaos, evil—these words are all compliments for the Lords of Hell. Only those with these traits, or at least appearing to have them, can earn the respect of other lords.
Secret Guest's essence is still too kind. This girl from a rural Russian background has some particularly naive concepts at heart, so Su Ming can only let her imitate darkness but cannot truly let her become dark.
Because once that happens, she would fall under the control of the Blood Stone, becoming a pure demon, out of Su Ming's control.
"Mm, I was wrong, you still have a lot to teach me." Secret Guest showed a pitiful expression as if abandoned.
It seemed that the previous statement from Su Ming, saying 'There's nothing more I can teach you,' caused a misunderstanding, making her think she'd be separated from Deathstroke.
So she deliberately made a mistake, just to continue 'learning.'
Secret Guest is seventeen now and has lived with her brother, Steel Warrior, for just seven years, with no memories from her early years.
But she lived with Deathstroke on another timeline for ten years and has become dependent on 'family.'
Su Ming patted her head, picking out and throwing away bone fragments from her hair: "For you and me, our time is infinite. Learn as long as you want. Now throw this wolf into the Hell Border; let's continue."
A mouth, seemingly made of shadow, appeared on the ground and swallowed Fenrir, countless tentacles dragging it into Hell like sea anemones, while Secret Guest cheerfully followed Su Ming's steps.
Ciri sighed helplessly, wondering why people in this world seemed abnormal, accepting absurd or disgusting scenes as if they were commonplace?
"Next up is Loki and Hel." Su Ming didn't care about the girls' thoughts, the mask formed by Strangulation dissolved, and he stroked his beard while smoking in a corner of the hall: "Loki is currently kept busy by Wade. We lure Hel over to deal with her, but she will likely bring a large army since she can continuously awaken undead from underground."
Secret Guest leaned closer, resting her great sword on the ground and shaking the head of Tyr in her other hand: "But his mere desire to attract Hel might not be enough. Although he is very loyal to her, she does not care much for him."
Su Ming nodded; this was another sad story of unrequited love. He exhaled smoke silently, casting a sympathetic glance at the head that could not rest in peace.
Left with nothing.
"Hamill, prepare to blow up this city. Secret Guest, launch a Hell invasion, announcing to all the Lords of Hell that the Hell Border and Helheim Netherworld are officially at war."
Mage calculated quickly, departing the great hall to set up. To flatten a city with magic required preparing magic arrays at all stress points.
Secret Guest also nodded and left, returning to the Hell Border to prepare. Hel was not the only one with an Undead Army; Secret Guest could also bring an army of various indescribable creatures.
So, for a moment, only Ciri and Su Ming were left staring at each other.
Ciri hesitated for a while before cautiously asking, "If I wanted to resurrect Vesmir, how would I go about it?"
Su Ming glanced at the cigarette butt in his hand, watching the red tobacco gradually turn gray: "Every world's rules are different, but one common method is to find the soul's destination, like the Netherworld or Hell, and then you go retrieve the soul. The body issue is easier to solve. In the future, there will be a technology called cloning—as long as you don't burn him too thoroughly..."