Hela, with a cold expression, drew a blade through the void with her hand. She tore an opening in the Mirror Dimension, intending to leave.
Just then, Lucas, Loki, and Thor arrived late.
"Strange, I've brought Hela, Thor, and Loki to help. Soon, an Asgardian army will also be stationed at the passage." Lucas's voice rang out.
Since Hela was already here, Lucas naturally wouldn't give up on such a good enforcer. He held onto Hela, who was trying to leave, and introduced her to the people of Kamar-Taj.
Hela tugged, found she couldn't pull her hand free, and so could only let Lucas pull her along and introduce her to the people of Kamar-Taj.
The many sorcerers of Kamar-Taj were unaware of what had happened in the Mirror Dimension, and Strange did not mention it either.
But Hela still felt deeply ashamed.
After realizing that Lucas didn't want her to leave for the time being, she hastily greeted everyone and then, using the excuse that she wanted to start work as soon as possible, went to observe the array's location.
On the other side, Strange was discussing the details of the Asgardian garrison's defensive arrangements with Thor and Loki.
The Asgardian army were guests, here to help, and Strange did not intend to assign them to the front-line defense. Such dirty and arduous work as front-line defense was better left to Mephisto.
As for whether Mephisto would slack off, Strange couldn't control that.
"I plan to arrange for the Asgardian army to be stationed behind the defensive line, to cooperate with other sorcerers in capturing extra-dimensional creatures that pass through the array's defensive line. What do you think?"
Thor pondered for a moment and agreed to Strange's arrangement. But he still, out of caution, inquired about more detailed information.
"What is the strength of these extra-dimensional creatures, and do you have any data on them? I'll prepare a copy for the warriors."
Strange nodded. "These extra-dimensional creatures that pass through the defensive line are relatively weak, and their life energy is only slightly stronger than that of ordinary people. I will have Wong prepare a document for you shortly."
Thor was puzzled and asked in confusion, "Why are weaker creatures more likely to pass through the defensive line?"
Lucas secretly gave Thor a thumbs up. He was also very curious about this question, but he couldn't ask it.
If he asked, it would make him, the Sorcerer Supreme, seem very amateurish, not even understanding the working principles of his own array.
Strange said with a hint of helplessness, "The energy intensity within weaker extra-dimensional creatures is too low, making it difficult for the array to accurately distinguish them from ordinary people, so sorcerers have to identify them manually. And when too many extra-dimensional creatures attack the defensive line, sorcerers inevitably miss some."
Ultimately, it was due to insufficient numbers.
No matter how good the equipment or how excellent the employees on a production line, it's impossible to completely eliminate defective products.
Of course, if there was a super AI managing the production line, it could greatly reduce the probability of defective products appearing. But unfortunately, Kamar-Taj's super AI only thought about slacking off all day.
Lucas nodded in understanding, then added, "Then we can cooperate with various countries, letting them establish a fourth line of defense, specifically to deal with extra-dimensional creatures entering Earth."
Strange's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Lucas with a face full of disbelief. "Let the countries of Earth deal with magical matters?"
Seeing this, Lucas asked, "What? Is there a problem?"
Strange retorted, "Letting national institutions in reality come into contact with supernatural powers, isn't that a problem?"
Lucas asked back, equally puzzled, "Is there a problem?"
The two stared at each other, unable to understand each other's confusion for a moment.
It was Loki, nearby, who had a sudden inspiration and seemed to guess something.
"In this Universe, the countries of Earth are already very familiar with supernatural powers. Strange, in your world, are the countries of Earth completely ignorant of supernatural powers?"
Strange silently nodded.
Shortly after he arrived on Earth-404, Lucas called him to Earth-616.
After returning from Earth-616, he was called by Ancient One to act as Sorcerer Supreme.
After that came a period of endless work, so much so that even though he had been living on Earth-404 for over half a month, he still didn't have a good understanding of the international situation on Earth-404.
Only at this moment did he roughly guess why some weak extra-dimensional creatures occasionally broke through the encirclement and entered Earth.
On the one hand, errors were inevitable in the work of Kamar-Taj sorcerers.
On the other hand, in every corner of Earth, there were countless ignorant ordinary people helping these extra-dimensional creatures.
"Madness, this world is too mad. Lucas, aren't you worried that once ordinary people learn about the existence of magic, they will actively seek to interact with it?"
"Even if it starts with curiosity, when interacting with supernatural powers like magic, various greedy desires are bound to arise. And human desires, like rocks rolling down a mountain, once they start, can never be stopped."
"These people, lacking guidance and instruction, in pursuit of more power, are extremely susceptible to being misled by extra-dimensional creatures from various dimensions, becoming their followers."
"Ordinary people are fine, they lack magical knowledge and can't cause too much damage."
"But if various countries secretly supported..."
Lucas blinked.
Facing Strange's questioning, he silently retrieved a recently updated world map.
"What is this?"
"A world map."
"I know it's a world map, why are you giving it to me?"
"Look carefully."
Strange was puzzled but he still took the world map and examined it carefully.
The seven continents and four oceans, the five permanent members of the World Security Council.
Strange looked again and again, still finding nothing wrong with the world map.
Seeing this, Lucas could only helplessly point at the map. "Here."
Strange asked, puzzled, "Here? Is there a problem?"
Lucas was silent.
After a moment, he slowly said, "This was originally where Japan was located."
"Oh, Japan."
At this point, Strange suddenly realized.
Then he seemed to remember something and asked, "Why is this an ocean?"
Lucas cleared his throat.
He patted Strange's shoulder and said, "Strange, the thing you're worried about already happened when various countries weren't so familiar with supernatural powers. So, I gave them a small warning."
Strange was puzzled. He looked at Lucas and asked, "A small warning? What small warning?"
Lucas smiled shyly, making a gesture of pushing something down and off a cliff.
Strange fell silent.
Then, he took out his phone to search, keywords—Japan falls.
Unfortunately, he couldn't find the information he wanted.
The homepage titles that popped up on the search engine were "Japan Private Cinema" and "Japan Free Live Broadcast."
Strange's face darkened, and he scrolled down several pages, finally finding some related information.
"Unprecedented Earthquake, Japan Sinks into Mariana Trench," "Unveiling the Sinking of Japan, Suspected Alien Attack," "Japan Sinks: God Annihilates the world," "Japan Sinks: Ragnarok."
Strange browsed carefully for a moment. Although these reports were better than the advertisements above, they were all speculative. Repeatedly, they were just the author's conjectures.
But from them, Strange still pieced together the truth. Mainly, it was the hints given by Lucas and some comments and replies in the comments that hadn't been completely deleted.
More than two years ago, someone on Japan colluded with a Dimensional Lord, so Lucas came knocking, and the aftershocks of their battle shook the foundations of Japan, pushing the entire Japan into the Mariana Trench.
Putting away his phone, Strange shook his head and chuckled.
Alright, it wasn't a crazy Earth, it was a crazy Sorcerer Supreme.
With such a big commotion, it was already impossible to stop the world's nations from prying into the secrets of supernatural power. Even if magic was used to make the world forget about this matter, a blank page in history would still arouse suspicion from those with ulterior motives.
However, he didn't seem to be doing much better himself.
After another smile, Strange said, "Lucas, since you caused this mess, you have to be responsible for fixing it."
Lucas retorted, "What mess? Didn't I already deal with Infinite Ultron? What he did can't be blamed on me."
Strange chuckled. "The mess I just mentioned refers to how your actions exposed the extraordinary world to the public, leading to an overly close connection between Earth's mortal world and the extraordinary world, to the extent that people are constantly summoning extradimensional beings without knowing anything."
"Are they?" Lucas asked, puzzled.
"I don't recall any increase in extradimensional life invasions in recent years."
Mordo, who was standing by, coughed lightly. He whispered a reminder, "At first, there was indeed a significant increase in extradimensional being invasion incidents."
"It was only after the Cul incident that the number of extradimensional being invasion incidents plummeted. The exact reason for this is not very clear."
"Is that so?" Lucas nodded thoughtfully.
"Sorcerer Mordo, why didn't you tell me?"
"Although the number of extradimensional being invasion incidents increased then, they were all minor skirmishes that Kamar-Taj sorcerers could handle with relative ease."
Mordo added, "As for now, the environment in the various dimensions of the Multiverse is too bad, and the activity of dimensional beings has greatly increased, which has led to increased work pressure for the sorcerers and some oversights."
"Alright, I understand. Look, haven't I found helpers now?"
Lucas shrugged and said, then he patted Thor and Loki respectively.
"Thor, the bravest of the Nine Realms, his bravery is unanimously acknowledged by the people of Asgard, God of War."
"Loki, unparalleled in strategy, his wisdom even frightens Asgard, known as the God of Mischief."
"With Thor and Loki helping, I believe these problems will be effectively resolved."
Thor proudly raised his head, his lion-like golden hair gleaming in the sun.
"Lucas, I appreciate your praise, but I still need to remind you of one thing. The God of War of Asgard is my father, Odin. Although I also preside over war, my divine office is the God of Thunder and Strength."
"Does that matter?"
"It's very… hic… important."
Thor replied earnestly, but the hiccup made his answer seem less serious.
"Shit, how much did you drink before coming here?" Strange saw this and was utterly exasperated.
(End of Chapter)
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