Although the Annihilation Zerg held an absolute advantage on the overall battlefield, in the vast and endless interstellar war, there were some local areas where the various cosmic nations currently held a slight upper hand.
A brilliant light streaked back and forth through the Zerg. Wherever it went, countless Zerg died like ants being doused with boiling water. Though the green tide of insects came wave after wave with no sign of retreat, the brilliant light showed no hint of fatigue as it continued its slaughter within the sea of insects.
The Zerg battleships cared nothing for friendly fire; they aimed at the figure within that light and fired energy cannons that spanned thousands of kilometers, directly attacking a massive number of insects along with that person.
A moment later, the intense light vanished. The Zerg were turned to ash, and the figure emitting the brilliant light had dimmed considerably.
However, the sea of insects remained boundless. After a brief rest, the figure charged back into the infinite tide of insects.
"Lord Gladiator, you must hold on!" Under Gladiator's cover, the people inside the battleships launching continuous attacks on the Zerg were all praying. It was precisely because of Gladiator's presence that the Shiar Empire's fleet had not completely collapsed.
This Gladiator was one of the famous Supermen in the Marvel universe. Although he ranked last in strength, his combat power was still extraordinary.
Unlike other messy Supermen, Gladiator's power came neither from solar radiation nor from some Cosmic Energy or unknown space, but from his own self-confidence.
When his confidence soared, Gladiator could exert 1000% of his combat power. When his confidence was low, he could barely reach the level of a first-tier hero.
Not only Gladiator, but in the Kree fleet, Ronan the Accuser and Captain Marvel were also working hard to resist the insect tide. Even if Captain Marvel once had many grievances with the Kree, at this critical juncture, both sides set aside their past differences to fight the insects together.
Xandar's Nova Corps, the Skrulls' Super-Skrull warriors, the Starhawk warriors among the ravagers, and even the Black Order Generals of the Black Order appeared on this battlefield.
After all, even Thanos only wanted to eliminate half the population. Whether he wanted to please Death or implement cosmic family planning, he wasn't so insane as to want the extinction of the entire universe.
As for why Thanos himself did not appear on this battlefield? It was because he had already set out to find the ultimate weapon that could thoroughly end this battle!
At the ruins of a desolate temple, Star-Lord—known as the best treasure hunter and famous among the ravagers for his dance-offs and clue analysis—was carefully searching for traces of the Orb alongside Thanos. If his parallel-world self could see this, he would probably think it was a dream.
"Hmm, this should be the ruins left by the Moswo Dynasty. It's said that The Orb, which possesses infinite power, was enshrined by this dynasty. It seems we are about to find..."
The domineering Thanos reached out and pushed Star-Lord aside. "No need, I have already sensed that fluctuation... the first gem is right there!"
"I hope there's still enough time... before we get eaten by those bugs!"
Asgard.
A long-drawn-out battle finally came to an end. The reason it ended was not that a winner had been decided, but simply because they encountered an even more terrifying threat.
Shin had never been clear about what was happening in Asgard, naturally assuming things were proceeding as in the original story, unaware that the plot had already gone way off track.
Because of Shin, the X-Men failed to stop Magneto in time, ultimately resulting in the deaths of all the national leaders who were attending the multi-nation summit at the time.
It was precisely because of this that a conflict between humans and Mutants was later ignited, followed by the appearance of Apocalypse and the final decisive battle between the X-Men and Apocalypse.
During that time, rumors flew everywhere on Earth. Many people thought World War III or the end of the world was imminent. In America alone, almost every household had dug a basement for doomsday survival.
This intense fear also awakened a long-slumbering deity of Asgard—Odin's older brother, Cul the Serpent.
The Serpent was the former King of Asgard, and his divine title was the "God of Fear," possessing the ability to extract power directly from fear.
One could tell from his abilities that this god's style could certainly not be very upright. Indeed, this God of Fear was so tyrannical that even the warlike Asgardians called him brutal; one can imagine what his rule was like.
With the support of the Asgardians at the time, Odin defeated the Serpent and became the King of Asgard himself. However, Odin could not kill the Serpent because an ancient prophecy said only the God of Thunder could kill the Serpent, and the God of Thunder would also perish in that war.
Odin naturally did not want Thor and the Serpent to perish together, so he sealed the Serpent on Earth to prevent him from meeting Thor. But because of this, whenever Earthlings felt intense fear, the Serpent's power would grow stronger, eventually allowing him to break free from the seal.
Subsequently, the Serpent had been silently absorbing fear to grow stronger. The reason he didn't cause trouble while on Earth was, firstly, because his strength hadn't recovered yet, and secondly, because he was intimidated by Thor.
Yes, the Serpent was intimidated by Thor. One must know that Asgardian prophecies were not only known to Odin; Cul, who had also been a King, naturally knew them well.
Seeing Thor appear on Earth, the Serpent was instead unwilling to act, fearing that his current unrecovered self would perish along with Thor.
Thus, this Serpent changed his approach. The prophecy said he would perish with the God of Thunder, Thor, which meant that besides Thor, no one else could kill him.
What else was there to say! Taking advantage of Thor's presence on Earth, he would launch a sneak attack on the Palace. As long as he occupied the bifrost and cut off Thor's way back, wouldn't he be invincible in all of Asgard?
This was exactly why Thor had been shouting there for so long with no result; the bifrost had already been occupied by the Serpent by then.
Just as Hela had a large group of skeleton soldiers when she appeared, Cul the Serpent, as a former King, was naturally not alone. He had many soldiers under his control via the power of fear. At that time, almost all of Asgard was in a chaotic mess; how could they have time to pick up Thor!
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Now available - Chapter 671: New Drip