In order to give Malekith a chance to get close, Su Ye had no choice but to give up many powerful AOE skills.
Such as mind control, magnetic field manipulation, and directly using remote, non-contact methods to make the dark elves commit mass suicide, and so on.
Instead, he wielded the six-piece greatsword in his hand and fully switched to melee mode. The six components—a broadsword, two cleavers, one longsword, and two short blades—could split and merge freely.
With Cloud's swordsmanship assisting him, Su Ye was already handling the six weapons as if they were extensions of his body.
Combined with his magnetic field manipulation, he could even make them feel like flying swords.
When the great sword was blocked, it didn't matter. He directly disassemble the blade, pulled out the broadsword, and without looking back, thrust it behind him, eliminating the enemies behind. Then flinging it forward to skewer the Dark Elves ahead like a string of candied hawthorn.
Next, he popped out the two cleavers, blades facing outward, and spun his body forward, clearing a path through the grunts in an instant.
Afterward, his magnetic field manipulation activated, the two short blades buzzed like bees, rotating around his body, automatically blocking all ranged attacks.
Meanwhile, Su Ye once again took up the longsword, slicing through enemies one by one.
The Dark Elves were a bit smarter than the Asgardians in that they knew how to convert their magical technology into ranged energy weapons and throwable black hole bombs.
And this was their tech level from over five thousand years ago.
By comparison, the Asgardian soldiers five thousand years later still only knew how to wield enchanted melee weapons and wildly hack away—both their thinking and weapons remained in the medieval era.
If every soldier were like Thor, a max-level warrior flying through the skies and unstoppable, then fine.
The problem is, each of them is at the level of a village guard. They can bully little kids, but when it comes to the battlefield, they're trash, incapable of even defeating the village boss.
With this, it's hard to believe that the dark elves could be defeated by the Asgardians.
It probably goes back to that same problem: the Dark Elves didn't lose to Asgard—they lost because Malekith was defeated by the then All-Father Bor.
The lack of high-end combat power is the fundamental reason for their eventual defeat.
So even though Malekith could've brought a spaceship and turned Asgard to ruins in a single assault, he instead chose to lay low and sleep for thousands of years, watching Asgard become the ruler of the Nine Realms.
From what Su Ye had seen so far of the Asgardians, Frost Giants, and Dark Elves, the Asgardian soldiers had the worst individual and team combat capability.
'These Dark Elf laser rifles and black hole bombs could be useful back on Earth.'
While Su Ye swung his sword to kill, he also tried to avoid causing direct damage to the laser guns and black hole bombs.
For the black hole bombs, he even tried using his magnetic field manipulation to remotely deactivate their detonation state.
This operation is actually very difficult, as it involves a lot of advanced technology. Su Ye could only attempt to block the activation process, because once it was completed, he had no way to stop it.
So, his results in controlling and capturing black hole bombs weren't very successful.
After a long fight, he only managed to get three or five undetonated bombs.
But even those few were enough. If he brought them back to Zheng Xian, or handed them directly to Old Su, someone on their side should be able to reverse-engineer useful tech from them.
And not just for the miniature black hole generation and detonation tech—there was also potential insight in materials, triggering mechanisms, and other fields.
Still, those were just technical details. The truly valuable thing was that cruciform spaceship.
That thing was a treasure and had to be taken back—there was no way it could be allowed to land in London. If it did, getting it to Dragon Country would be a nightmare.
Back in the day, Miss Val had gone through enormous effort just to ship a Valkyrie back. This spaceship was way bigger than Val's.
Of course, if Old Su stepped in, it might all be fine—but Old Su seemed to have deep scruples about acting outside the country, so this was something Su Ye had to handle himself.
In Su Ye's opinion, the best way was to let Malekith take the Aether and then force him to abandon the ship and flee.
This way, he could use the Casket of Ancient Winters to directly bring the spaceship back to the Dragon Kingdom.
To achieve this idea, Su Ye couldn't just block the bridge.
He glanced at the rainbow bridge beneath him, silently apologizing to Thor in his heart, "The bridge you just repaired might not survive this time."
But whether there's sincerity inside is hard to say.
Whether that apology was sincere or not—hard to say.
Through telepathy, he sensed from a distance that Malekith had disembarked from the ship and joined the Dark Elf assault.
Su Ye spun his greatsword and sent nearby Dark Elves flying, then flipped backward off the pylon and landed perfectly on the Bifrost.
Then, taking advantage of the dark elves not yet turning to charge, Su Ye slammed his fingers onto the ground, activating the summoning technique.
"Appear! Linda!"
Golden light shone on the bridge as a blue and white Gundam slowly emerged.
The twenty-meter-tall Gundam was no match for the several-hundred-meter-tall cross-shaped spaceship, almost like a kindergartener challenging a giant. But Su Ye had the Reality Stone in his hand.
With the energy of the Reality Stone exploding, the twenty-meter Gundam instantly grew to over a hundred meters.
One of Su Ye's shadow clones appeared in the cockpit and piloted the Gundam, charging straight for the mothership.
At the same time, Su Ye turned and ran along the Bifrost toward Asgard's palace—making it look like he was overwhelmed and fleeing in panic.
At the bridgehead, Malekith was stunned.
One side was his under-attack spaceship, the other side was the fleeing Aether.
He didn't know whether to protect the big one or chase the small one.
The spaceship was his foundation for survival and dominance in the universe; it could not be lost, or he wouldn't even be able to leave, let alone return home.
But the Aether was his only hope for a comeback—his root of darkness and domination over the Nine Realms. With the Aether particles, there was so much he could do; Asgard was nothing in his eyes.
So, by comparison, the Aether was more important.
And seeing Su Ye flee like that, Malekith easily convinced himself that the Gundam was all show and no substance.
Otherwise, that person wouldn't need to run away.
"Ship, take off and enter stealth mode. Everyone else, follow me!"
Malekith shouted loudly and led the pursuit of Su Ye.
At this moment, a figure flew out from the distant Asgardian palace, crossing several kilometers and crashing directly onto the rainbow bridge.
The person was the cursed warrior Argrim, who had escaped from the palace and was now ready to wreak havoc.
Originally, if Loki had been around, Algrim would've followed his guidance straight to the palace's control center, shut down its shield, killed Queen Frigga, and protected Malekith.
However, with Loki absent, Argrim chose the wrong path and headed towards the banquet hall.
That was where all the Great Wall Guardians and Asgard's bravest warriors were gathered.
Getting through there was basically impossible, even for a cursed warrior empowered by Aether fragments.
Of course, the Great Wall Guardians were all a bit hungover and might be underperforming.
But there was one wild card.
Bruce Banner and Tony had been in Asgard working on tech, but they attended the banquet last night too.
Banner had fallen asleep right near the hall, drooling in his sleep.
It had been over half a year since he said goodbye to the Hulk. In that time, Banner had lived peacefully and gained quite a bit of weight.
He used to have a long face and looked a bit fierce—now he had a square face and gave off pure silly vibes.
But Algrim didn't care about any of that.
As soon as he entered, he kicked Banner with all his might.
With his strength, even Thor would scream in pain from such a kick. If he landed it on Banner, a normal human, it'd be an instant kill.
Unfortunately, there was a twist.
Banner wasn't just any Earthling.
Just as Algrim's foot was about to hit, the Hulk, dormant for over half a year, finally awakened.
"Roar!"
With a mighty roar, the green-skinned monster tore through, shredding all his clothes—including his "invincible" underpants.
Banner hadn't been wearing his usual loose outfit. For the banquet, Tony had forced him into one of his own suits.
Everyone knew how flashy Tony's outfits were—form-fitting, stylish.
The fabric didn't stretch much.
So when Hulk emerged—rip, snap!
The maids providing drinks on the edges of the hall were already terrified by Algrim.
Now they nearly fainted from the pop sound.
They had never seen—never even heard of—anything like this.
Was that even human?
A few of the more dramatic ones even fainted.
Algrim hadn't scared them unconscious, but Hulk had.
Hulk didn't care. He casually swung his… arm and smashed it into Algrim's incoming kick.
"Roar!"
At this moment, the Hulk was still the green giant with low intelligence, solving problems with violence and roars.
He hated this guy who nearly killed him. He wanted nothing more than to grab Algrim's leg and do some Hulk-smashing.
Too bad Algrim wasn't a pushover like Loki.
He wasn't the kind of guy you could toss around like a toy.
Argrim was a powerful warrior who could pin both Thor and Loki to the ground at the same time. He was definitely not someone the Hulk could easily handle.
"Roar!"
Argrim also let out a loud roar, not dodging or avoiding, but increasing his strength as he charged at Hulk with another powerful kick.
BOOM!
Fist and leg collided with a shockwave, sending several bystanders flying.
Hulk was knocked away, but rolled to his feet and charged back.
He wouldn't admit defeat—ever.
Algrim hadn't expected such a powerful green-skinned monster in the palace.
With this thing blocking his way, breaching the palace wouldn't be easy.
So—since that's the case, let's do this.
Closest to the action, Tony was blasted awake by the shockwave—only to hit a table and pass out again, landing face-first on the ground in a ridiculous pose.
Hulk and Algrim quickly outgrew the hall and smashed through a wall together.
Real men don't use doors—they bust through walls.
Out in the open, they fought even harder.
One punch sent the other flying into a building.
Then the other came back and flattened another structure.
They basically turned into a demolition crew, wrecking the palace like crazy.
And in such a battle, the worthless Asgardian guards couldn't intervene at all, just watching helplessly as the destruction unfolded.
In the end, it was Queen Frigga who intervened.
Odin was asleep, Thor was hungover. She was the only one clear-headed and capable of doing anything.
However, sending her directly to fight Argrim would be like sending her to her death. So, when Hulk flung Algrim into the air, Frigga used magic to give them some assistance.
That fling turned into a missile, and Argrim was sent flying for over ten kilometers, crashing onto the rainbow bridge.
Algrim flew over ten kilometers—and crash-landed on the Bifrost, right in front of Su Ye.
Originally, Su Ye was considering whether to deliberately slow down so that the dark elves behind could catch up, but upon seeing Argrim, he no longer needed to pretend.
On the other side, Argrim was originally planning to get up and continue his assault on the palace, aiming to show the green-skinned monster and the sneaky mage a lesson.
But at this moment, Argrim heard a loud shout from behind.
"Algrim! Stop that guy! He's got the Aether!"
It was Malekith shouting. For him, why Argrim was thrown out no longer mattered.
What mattered was—Algrim could now stop Su Ye and give Malekith a chance to extract the Aether.
For Algrim, personal grudges meant little. What truly mattered was the rise of the Dark Elves.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have embraced a death-seeking resolve, transforming into the last cursed warrior of the dark elves.
As long as the dark elves rose, nothing else mattered.
So, after spitting fiercely in the direction of the palace, Argrim turned and charged straight at Su Ye.
"Roar!"
He charged like a steel tower, slamming a punch that weighed dozens of tons at Su Ye.
Su Ye couldn't just shrug it off—but he didn't dodge either.
He raised the Buster Sword and blocked it head-on.
Bang!
Argrim's punch landed solidly, and Su Ye was sent flying, half real and half staged, landing among the dark elf army behind him.
A faint, almost imperceptible smile finally appeared on Malekith's zombie-like face.
"Let's see where you run now."
Around him, the dark elves formed a circle, each aiming their laser guns at Su Ye, while Malekith stood confidently, extending his hand toward Su Ye.
At the same time, an unknown force took control of Su Ye's body, trying to lift him off the ground.
The force, as Su Ye felt it, wasn't very strong. If he resisted, he could break free at any time.
However, Su Ye didn't resist. Instead, he allowed the force to lift him up while it began tearing the Aether particles out of his body.
"So, this is how Aether manipulation feels, huh?"
The Reality Stone was too powerful to use directly. It needed a vessel.
The Aether was that vessel.
Malekith controlled the Aether.
But thanks to the system, Su Ye had affinity with the Reality Stone.
So, in theory, he could override Malekith's control.
Understanding this, Su Ye had a sudden idea.
"You want the Aether? Fine. I'll give it to you."
Su Ye's lips curled into a slight smile, then a flash of red light appeared, and a thick, red substance was torn from his body. Malekith tilted his head back to inhale it, his expression one of sage-like enjoyment, and he even shivered a little.
Su Ye couldn't help but want to ask, "Between the Aether and female Dark Elves, which do you like more?"
If he hadn't been asleep for these five thousand years, Su Ye wondered if Malekith would have already expanded his race's population by several times.
Given Asgard's population growth rate, if the dark elves put in a little effort, they could overwhelm Asgard with sheer numbers.
Unless, of course, their population growth wasn't that fast either.
Wait, do dark elves even have females?
They never showed up in the movie. And who knows if they're prettier than Night Elves—or dress as boldly…
But seeing Malekith's satisfied expression and then noticing Argrim, who had somehow appeared in front of him, blocking him, Su Ye chose to remain silent.
This guy probably doesn't like females?
Never mind, as long as he's happy.