Seeing that Sif had already withdrawn from the battlefield, Qin Xiao grabbed hold of the momentum and released his strength to the side.
The Destroyer's massive mechanical arm slid away and slammed heavily into the ground.
Using the instability of its center of gravity, Qin Xiao stumbled forward and fell to the ground, then swept low, aiming directly at the Destroyer's ankle.
"Boom!"
The Destroyer's enormous body lost its balance and crashed to the ground.
How could Qin Xiao possibly let such a perfect opportunity slip by?
Before the thing could even turn around, he raised his fist and smashed it straight into the back of the Destroyer's head.
"Bang!"
The metal roared under the impact. The Destroyer was completely unscathed—but Qin Xiao felt as if the bones in his fingers were about to shatter.
He immediately realized that bare hands weren't going to crack this turtle shell. With a grimace, Qin Xiao reached toward his waistband.
A Tang saber was slowly drawn out of thin air.
Of course, to the onlookers, it looked like Qin Xiao was calmly pulling a long blade straight out of his pants.
Fandral stared in horror at the sword in Qin Xiao's hand, then subconsciously glanced down at his own crotch.
Asgard possessed powerful magic capable of forging all manner of weapons, yet Qin Xiao carried no trace of magical fluctuation at all. Fandral simply couldn't understand where this blade had come from.
Qin Xiao, for his part, had no idea what Fandral was thinking. All he knew was that this was the perfect moment to strike while the enemy was down.
With the Tang saber drawn, he pointed it at the Destroyer on the ground and thrust without warning.
The blade slipped cleanly through a gap between the metal plates of the Destroyer's body.
But this kind of physical damage had no effect whatsoever on the hollow structure inside.
Gritting his teeth, Qin Xiao swung the blade down at one of the metal rods along its body.
The blade slid along the metal with a screeching grind, sparks bursting from the edge.
After forcing the cut through, Qin Xiao discovered—there wasn't even a scratch left behind.
He glanced worriedly at the Tang saber he had just upgraded. Thankfully, the blade itself wasn't damaged.
Still, he no longer wanted to use it. With a flick of his wrist, he put the saber away.
The Destroyer was already twisting its neck, trying to turn back toward him.
Qin Xiao aimed at its half-turned face and drove his fist into it again.
The flames that had just begun to ignite in the Destroyer's head were snuffed out as it rolled over and slammed face-down into the ground once more.
"Click! Click!"
Whether it was the Destroyer's combat instincts or Loki's command, no one could tell.
The machine on the ground stubbornly tried again to turn its head, clearly intending to fire a beam of flame energy at Qin Xiao.
Even though Qin Xiao's bones ached from punching metal, he had no better way to deal with this shell.
Seeing it dare to turn again, he punched it—again.
"Get back down!"
"Clack!"
"Boom!"
"Clack!"
"Boom!"
The two seemed locked in a bizarre contest—one struggling desperately to turn its head, the other refusing to let it move even an inch.
The three Asgardian warriors and Sif stood frozen, eyes wide.
"Is that really the Destroyer?" one of them muttered."The one that guards the treasury? The one personally enchanted by Odin?"
By the time Qin Xiao was trading blows with the Destroyer on the ground, the warriors had helped each other to their feet and regrouped beside Thor.
Fandral watched Qin Xiao pound the Destroyer again, his face dark, and asked grimly.
Looking at the others, he saw the same disbelief mirrored in their expressions.
"Is that truly the Destroyer? We just fought it ourselves. Thor… is this really Midgard? Is this really the world we're meant to protect?"
Hogun stared blankly at Qin Xiao and pulled Thor closer as he spoke.
"Earth is not as fragile as we imagined," Thor said slowly."There are beings here as powerful as my father."
He thought of what Qin Xiao had told him—about Odin's old friend, the Sorcerer Supreme.
"As powerful as Odin?" Hogun swallowed hard."Fine. I take back every ounce of my disdain."
While they were reassessing Qin Xiao's strength, Qin Xiao himself was silently cursing.
This thing really was like a turtle shell—no matter how hard he hit it, nothing worked. If this kept up, not only would he get nothing out of it, his fists would be completely ruined.
No matter how abnormal one's endurance was, there was always a limit.
And seriously—why could that guy Thor still not sense his hammer? Hadn't he already learned humility and restraint?
Qin Xiao grumbled inwardly.
At last, the Destroyer seemed to have had enough of being pummeled.
Instead of forcing its head to turn, it pressed itself flat against the ground—and a torrent of violent flames erupted from its body.
The recoil blasted its upper half violently backward.
Qin Xiao continued punching on instinct, his mind momentarily dazed.
No one expected the Destroyer's head to suddenly lift high into the air, as if a propeller had been installed beneath it.
Caught completely off guard, Qin Xiao was flung far away.
"Pah!"
He spat out a mouthful of sand.
Originally, he had planned to rely on his agility and keep harassing it up close.
But unexpectedly, the Destroyer turned away from him entirely and strode straight toward Thor and the others.
"Are you ignoring me?" Qin Xiao muttered, rubbing his aching wrist.
"Thor! Don't you have some kind of divine weapon like Mjolnir? Maybe the Spear of Eternity or something? Otherwise, I can't break this turtle shell!"
Thor's face twisted like a bitter gourd.The Spear of Eternity? Was he joking? That was Odin's weapon.
"Then I've got no choice," Qin Xiao continued grimly."You'd better hurry up and get your power back—and pick up that hammer. Otherwise, today's going to be very bad."
He rushed back toward the group ahead of the Destroyer.
If Thor could sense it, he would've picked it up long ago—why wouldn't he?
Thor clenched his teeth, scanned his surroundings, then ignored Sif's attempt to stop him and charged straight toward the Destroyer.
"Loki! I know you can hear me!" Thor shouted."Your target is me, isn't it? Let them go!"
"Brother, I know I was arrogant and foolish before. If I hurt you in any way, I'm sorry—but they're innocent!"
There was no falsehood in Thor's expression. These words clearly came from genuine reflection.
Otherwise, he never would have said earlier that he wasn't going back.
"Thor!"
A tense cry rang out behind him.
It was Jane. Seeing the enormous "Destroyer" standing in the town, she had panicked and driven back.
"I'm fine!"
Thor raised a hand behind him, signaling Jane not to come any closer.
Just as he turned back to speak again, the Destroyer spun around and swung its arm, smashing Thor and sending him flying.
"Thor!"
Multiple voices screamed at once.
According to the original course of events, after saying those words, Thor should have felt the call of Mjolnir.
But this time—it was different.
Thor staggered back to his feet.
Flames flickered inside the Destroyer once more as it strode toward him again.
Jane and the Asgardians rushed toward Thor in panic.
Qin Xiao moved to intervene—
But to his shock, a radiant golden portal suddenly opened in midair.
A long, slender arm reached out from within, stopping Qin Xiao dead in his tracks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For advanced chapter visit my patreon:
patreon.com/fatimasoomro123
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~