Zodhis stared speechlessly at the superheroes who had fallen into the sinkhole. He hadn't expected the Monster Association to stir up trouble at a time like this. Still, after letting them run loose earlier, Zodhis had known that things beyond his control were bound to happen, so he had made his peace with it. The problem now was dealing with the Chitauri.
Right now, every nation in the world capable of observing this battle was on high alert and tense to the breaking point.
This was an alien invasion! Aside from the Saiyan Raditz incident, a large-scale alien invasion on this scale was unprecedented! Raditz had been just one man—immensely powerful, yes, but ultimately taken down. This time it was different. This time it was a swarm of aliens, and their numbers were still endlessly pouring in. Though Zodhis had stepped in to turn the tide, single-handedly wiping out tens of thousands of aliens, his armor's energy had to be finite. He couldn't keep it up forever.
So, after consulting with America, countries with the capability—like China and Russia—deployed their War Machines, Decepticons, Iron Mongers, and air and naval forces. This was no time to worry about losses. If the aliens managed to establish a foothold in America, the entire world would face an alien invasion crisis!
That's why Loki was such an idiot. If he'd opened the portal over some barren wasteland, the Chitauri army could have established a base on Earth and then invaded the rest of the world. If you didn't wipe them out right at the start, trying to clean them up later would be a nightmare—unless you resorted to nuking the whole area. But that would mean catastrophic losses too.
Of course, the Loki who was currently engaged in a love-hate struggle with Thor probably didn't have the brain cells left for that sort of planning anyway, because his plan to conquer Midgard was already looking impossible. Midgard's power appeared even more terrifying than Asgard's. The man flying up there, he knew who he was: Midgard's strongest man at present, and he was indeed displaying the might befitting that title.
Zodhis glanced at a corner with a strange expression. Over there, the Ancient One was merrily setting off fireworks. Passing Chitauri ignored her completely, and then she'd casually take one out with a flick of magic. Such leisure. Or had she already beaten back the debt-collecting Dormammu? The last time the Ancient One had said she was going to deal with Dormammu, Zodhis had prepared himself not to see her for the next decade or two. After all, in a dimensional war, time was meaningless—especially when the Ancient One was entering the Dark Dimension to "repay her debt" to Dormammu. It was possible that in her perception of time only a few days had passed, while on Earth decades had gone by.
"Could it be she's fought him so many times she's gotten the hang of it, and that's why she wrapped it up so fast?" Zod couldn't help quipping.
Dormammu was just a mage who had the dumb luck to stumble into an unclaimed Dark Dimension. In Kamar-Taj, his talent and strength wouldn't even rank alongside the Sorcerer Supreme's assistant, Wong—heck, he might not even place among the top-tier mages. That was why he had so readily abandoned his physical body and soul to merge directly with the Dark Dimension. That move had catapulted him into becoming a universal-level Great Demon Lord… but only within the Dark Dimension. Which meant Dormammu wasn't really that formidable as dimensional demon lords went. After all, if the Ancient One had become the master of the Dark Dimension instead, she'd probably be super-universal by now.
Sensing Zodhis's gaze, the Ancient One looked up, gave him a friendly smile, nodded, and gestured in greeting.
Zod's attention shifted down into the earth. The superheroes who had plunged into the sinkhole were stunned to discover such a complex underground city below!
"Jarvis, scan this place." Tony Stark had an ominous feeling. An enormous city beneath New York—this could very well be the Monster Association's headquarters. That meant the Monster Association they'd been searching for, racking their brains over, practically turning the whole planet upside down to find… had been right under their noses the entire time!!! Such dereliction of duty was beyond belief; it'd make them the laughingstock of the world if word got out.
Using satellite scans, Jarvis quickly produced results. This underground city had a full cubic kilometer of space, with hundreds of excavated tunnels and passages. Even the most conservative estimates suggested it could easily house a thousand monsters. The superheroes who had just fallen in were immediately split up and subjected to ferocious ambushes by the Monster Association!
The Dragon-level monster Natural Water almost instantly sensed and struck at their killing intent, piercing through Bruce Banner, Blonsky, and others with high-pressure water jets. The weaker superheroes were critically wounded on the spot.
"It's a trap!!!" Nick Fury slammed a hand on his desk. The situation on the superhero side was already being relayed back to the Helicarrier in real time, and Fury instantly pieced together the whole scheme.
Loki, the second prince of Asgard, hadn't just brought the alien invasion army Thor had warned about—he'd also made contact with the Monster Association! That was why the wormhole had opened over New York in the first place: because this was the Monster Association's headquarters! They planned to join forces with the Monster Association, annihilate S.H.I.E.L.D.'s superheroes in one fell swoop, and then sweep across the globe conquering everything in their path!
"Motherfucker!" Nick Fury's face went dark with a gleaming black rage.
They had all underestimated Loki, the God of Mischief. He truly lived up to his title as a deity who ascended through deceit. His clownish act earlier had been exactly that—an act. They'd all been played! Even he, the spymaster, hadn't seen through Loki's performance. Terrifying. Was this what a long-lived being of thousands of years was like?
But even now that they saw through it, pulling the superheroes back was impossible. When blades were already crossed, an old saying applied.
"When two foes meet on a narrow path, the brave win!" If one side tried to retreat or shy away, its morale and fighting spirit would inevitably fall short of the other's. This was a basic military taboo, and Nick Fury, who had seen battlefields firsthand, understood it all too well.
"Get those War Machines, Decepticons, and Iron Mongers to reinforce the superheroes immediately, or they'll be overwhelmed!" Fury took over command from Zodhis. The director was holding off the entire Chitauri army single-handedly; he had to step up, because if Zodhis got distracted now, disaster could strike!
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s War Machines, Iron Mongers, and Decepticons all mobilized, and so did Umbrella Corporation's forces. This might be the closest humanity had ever come to a "God"-level disaster. They had to go all out and unite as one!
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