Let's set aside Luca's hopes for upgrading his knock-off weapons for a moment.
Tony, on the other hand, couldn't help the corner of his mouth twitching when he heard Luca "humbly" claim that these novel weapons were just something he casually threw together.
However, Tony knew this wasn't the time to quibble over details.
Dealing with this seemingly endless tide of demons as quickly as possible was the priority.
Yet, after a few brief skirmishes, Tony discovered that while this demon army looked menacing, their individual strength was ridiculously weak.
During the experiments with the Hell Gate over the past few days, Tony had fought demons that accidentally wandered out before.
In fact, many demons in the current horde looked identical to the ones he had personally captured, but their strength was worlds apart.
So, did splitting into so many copies dilute their individual power?
Hovering in the air, Tony pondered silently.
But seeing two more flying demons burst out of the tower attempting to flee, Tony stopped thinking and turned to intercept them.
However, just as his palm thrusters shifted direction, the two demons in front of him exploded without warning.
Startled, Tony instinctively looked back.
The optical sensors inside his helmet immediately locked onto a figure wielding an oversized sniper rifle on the roof of the adjacent building.
A sniper shot with no warning and no energy fluctuation? That kid Luca really cooked up some terrifying toys!
Thought Tony, but having such a sniper covering him was naturally a good thing. Tony ignored the stray demons in the air and turned his attention to cleaning up other enemies.
Under the firepower of his Mark armor—which had been specifically upgraded for this—swathes of demons screamed and turned to ash.
Actually, it wasn't just Tony who felt the demons were weak. Even the Aurantius Security team, led by Samira to intercept the demon army on the ground, grew more confident as they fought.
Initially, upon receiving orders to fight legendary creatures like demons, many of them had been terrified, thinking only of running away.
The composition of Luca's Aurantius Industries Security Team was actually quite complex.
Aside from a few retired special forces operatives who were genuinely hired through interviews, a significant portion of the members were actually "regular" soldiers from Sokovia.
Many were even former Hydra soldiers who, after changing identities, had been bewilderedly shipped over to Luca by their "leader."
After Sokovia lost Hydra a while back, there had been a brief period of turmoil.
But under the suppression of Luca's mechanical army and the local forces led by Baron Zemo, several warlords were wiped out in succession, and Sokovia had thoroughly stabilized into peace.
After peace was established, the surplus armed personnel—and even prisoners—were partly absorbed into local forces, and partly cherry-picked by Luca to bring to the US.
However, even for such an elite security team, facing creatures like demons for the first time naturally made them timid.
But once the fighting started, they were surprised to discover the truth.
Not only was Samira, their team leader, slaughtering demons like dogs, but even the standard-issue ion blasters provided by the company were effectively killing the demons.
Under suppressive fire, taking down a demon took only three to five shots. No difficulty at all.
Moreover, when small numbers of demons managed to close in, the boost provided by their "high-tech combat suits" allowed the guards to hold their own in melee against these terrifying-looking monsters.
In reality, the Aurantius Security Team's "Simplified Muscle Enhancement Armor" was designed for convenience in daily security work. It wasn't full plate armor but rather a composite combat suit.
While its defensive capabilities were significantly reduced, its muscle strength enhancement was only one to two times that of a normal human.
The fact that these "Budget Super Soldiers" could wipe the floor with the demons showed just how severely these monsters had been weakened.
In the 15th-floor surveillance room.
Luca, who was barely managing to act as the overall commander, narrowed his eyes as he watched the combat footage returned by the drones. He asked softly over the comms channel.
"Si Bei, how is the collection of Demon Blood going?"
Hearing Luca's question, on the third floor, Si Bei—who was moving like lightning past demon after demon—suddenly stopped.
Click.
Following the sound of Si Bei sheathing his blade, every demon within a ten-meter radius crumbled to ash in unison.
However, watching the massive group of demons die only to release a meager amount of Demon Blood—scarcely the size of a fist—into the [Dr. Faust] hat in his hand, even the usually poker-faced Si Bei grimaced.
"Lord Luca, these demons are definitely abnormal. The Demon Blood within them is less than one percent of the normal amount."
Yes. Faced with so many adorable "resources" suddenly appearing, although Luca didn't plan to fight on the front lines personally, how could he pass up such a good opportunity to replenish "ammo" for [Dr. Faust]?
After dispatching Shield's squad, Luca immediately sent a drone to deliver a Capsule containing [Dr. Faust] to Si Bei—his strongest subordinate—ordering him to collect Demon Blood.
But clearly, the harvest was unsatisfactory.
"Less than one percent?"
On the other end of the comms, Luca muttered to himself.
A dozen demons of various types. If they split a hundredfold, that would be over a thousand demons.
Yet, while the current demon tide looked endless, it numbered a few hundred at most.
The reason it seemed overwhelming was simply because their own combat personnel were few.
So, where did the extra Demon Blood go?
Thinking this, a grave expression appeared on Luca's face.
Just then, Robbie, the Ghost Rider wreathed in flames, suddenly approached Si Bei, dragging a dying demon.
Before he even steadied his footing, he spoke in his raspy, skeletal voice.
"It's not just the Demon Blood. These are all just soulless demonic shells."
As if to prove his point while he spoke...
Robbie lifted the demon in his hand, forcing its eyes to meet his hollow skeletal sockets.
However, no matter how the hellfire danced in Robbie's eyes, the demon before him reacted like an "innocent man." There was no sign of it suffering the scorching judgment of the Penance Stare.
In the end, it simply died from its heavy injuries and turned to ash.
"These are nothing but counterfeits created from a minuscule amount of demonic power!"
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