Marcus, who had entered the space beyond the portal, was surrounded by electric light. Any Chitauri who approached were instantly charred by the terrifying electrical discharge.
The portal had become a death trap—a meat grinder that destroyed anything that came near it with devastating electrical current.
"Perfect. Let's test the armor's capabilities on you," Marcus thought to himself.
He directed a powerful electrical surge from his hand toward the advancing Chitauri forces.
Electric Shock
The powerful current burst outward, engulfing the attacking Chitauri soldiers. Under Marcus's control, the electricity bounced between Chitauri warriors, obliterating large numbers instantly.
The Chitauri army, constantly conducting and ejecting electrical energy, transformed into a sea of thunder, completely covering the surrounding area with deadly current.
This attack stunned the Chitauri commanders. As Thanos's pawns, they were no strangers to powerful opponents.
But the enemy before them was blocking their entire army from the portal single-handedly.
"Deploy the Leviathan carriers with the Brutes! Eliminate that man!" ordered the commander.
Following his command, a massive biological ship emerged. Standing on its back were more than a dozen towering monsters—the elite Chitauri Brutes.
True to their name, these Brutes possessed extraordinary strength and resistance to energy attacks. When facing powerful enemies, they could easily break through defensive barriers that stopped regular troops.
Marcus immediately noticed the distinctive biological ship.
The deployment of these creatures meant they had special properties beyond regular Chitauri soldiers—at minimum, they could resist energy attacks.
This didn't worry Marcus, however. Whether regular soldiers or these massive Brutes, all were enemies he could easily eliminate.
If he weren't intent on boarding a Chitauri battleship, he would have used the scepter to close the portal long ago.
"How convenient for me," he remarked.
Electricity crazily surrounded his body, making him resemble a thunderbolt incarnate, releasing radiant light in the vacuum of space.
The moment the biological ship approached, the electrical energy enveloping Marcus instantly expanded outward.
Power Release
A spherical electrical pulse radiated from his body. Dazzling light filled the space as everything swept by the energy pulse became wrapped in Tesla coils.
Each affected object transformed into a self-discharging electrical conductor, surrounded by current, constantly attacking anything nearby.
This attack turned the area around the portal into a field of lightning. Any entity entering this field would be relentlessly assaulted by electrical currents. Even a piece of gravel floating in space would be pulverized to dust by countless electrical strikes.
The biological ship carrying the Brutes also transformed into a giant living electrical conductor, the monsters on its back being subjected to the same deadly current.
Here, the special nature of the Brutes became apparent. Though not as large as the Leviathan beneath their feet, their resistance to energy attacks proved significantly stronger.
The biological ship had been rendered rigid by the electrical current, drifting slowly through space purely by inertia.
While the Brutes couldn't fully resist the terrifying electrical pulse, they could withstand the follow-up electrical field after the initial surge.
Even though their bodies were also encircled by electrical coils, they could move—albeit slowly—within the current field.
Their movements were much more sluggish than before, but they clearly demonstrated superior energy resistance compared to the biological ships.
"So you can still move, barely," Marcus observed.
He wasn't particularly surprised the Brutes could maintain limited mobility. After all, the ongoing electrical field following his Power Release was less intense than the initial pulse. While the first wave was devastating, it wasn't absolutely irresistible.
Moreover, he had unleashed a similar electrical pulse on Earth earlier. That attack had been lethal to regular Chitauri soldiers but only moderately effective against the biological ships.
Looking at the dozen massive Brutes standing on the back of the drifting Leviathan, a longbow materialized in Marcus's hand.
"I may not have purple-tier enhancements yet, but Paris's bow should still pack a punch, right?"
He nocked an arrow and pulled back the bowstring. Since he had crafted this bow himself, he hadn't yet tested it in battle. This was the perfect opportunity to evaluate its power.
The bowstring wasn't difficult to draw. As he pulled it back, he felt a magnetic entanglement along the arrow shaft—a feature ensuring that once released, the arrow would launch with optimal force.
Aiming at the head of the biological ship, Marcus suddenly released his grip. The arrow streaked forward, trailing electric light, and struck the Leviathan forcefully.
But the biological ship showed little reaction. The explosive impact he had imagined didn't materialize.
"As expected, it's still not powerful enough. I need to accelerate my mastery of the amplitude crystals."
His experimental shot had failed. The Paris bow without enhanced crystals couldn't reach the destructive potential to destroy the ship outright, even a biological one.
"No matter. Let's deal with you another way."
Energy flickered in his hand as two golden amplitude crystals appeared.
"Let's try [Split Flight] and [Thunder Fire]," he said.
[Split Flight] would increase the number of arrows by 100% after hitting an enemy, while [Thunder Fire] gave the arrows a 30% chance of exploding on impact.
These two amplitude crystals worked together perfectly, transforming him into a bombardier capable of unleashing devastating volleys against the towering Chitauri Brutes.
Additionally, he had previously modified the Paris bow with [Storm Bringer], which released electric shocks, and [Corrosive Magazine], which released toxins. Together, they combined into a corrosive element that could weaken defenses, making his attacks even more dangerous.
After infusing the two new amplitude crystals into the Paris bow, Marcus took aim again and fired. The arrow traced a blue light through space, flying fiercely toward the biological ship.
The moment it struck, strange energy resonated through the Paris bow. As Marcus launched a second arrow, a duplicate energy arrow materialized beside it, flying in parallel.
Swoosh
The two arrows hit the biological ship simultaneously, and the energy within the Paris bow grew even denser.
The third shot transformed into three parallel arrows, all streaking toward the biological ship and the Chitauri Brutes.
BOOM
All three arrows struck at once. On impact, one of the arrows hitting a Chitauri Brute suddenly exploded.
Though the explosion itself wasn't massive, the arrow's corrosive ability was formidable. The moment the monster's body was pierced, its skin began to fester. The simultaneous explosion blasted a gaping hole through its torso.
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