The Lokis were observing Alioth in Karl's hand.
Karl, however, was looking at something else.
What he was looking at was the scenery that had appeared behind Alioth after it was subdued.
It was a citadel.
It looked very much like one of those castles used as a set in a television show: towering stone walls, and plenty of defensive measures visible along the battlements.
It was something that absolutely should not have appeared here.
Yet now, it had appeared right in this place.
"So there really is someone controlling everything from behind the scenes."
"Judging from this, it's someone from Earth too."
A cold smile appeared on Karl's face.
Familiarity was often the easiest opening for a scheme.
In a less connected age, someone from the same place might have meant a trustworthy bond.
But these days?
A stranger might only get halfway past your guard, while someone familiar could take everything.
The more they knew about each other, the easier it was to plot against each other.
For Karl, this kind of Earthborn opponent was the easiest to scheme against.
"Still, let me see exactly what you're trying to do."
A faint cold smile appeared at the corner of Karl's mouth.
With a flick of his hand, he threw Alioth directly into a pocket of space.
Then he strode straight forward.
Several shields revolved around Karl, leaving him completely unafraid of any attack.
In a flash, Karl appeared in front of the citadel.
However, just as he was preparing to investigate it, the previously silent citadel began to move.
A pale-blue beam shot out from within the citadel and scanned Karl once.
His entire body was surrounded by magical shields.
A mere scanning beam like this posed no threat to Karl at all.
So Karl did not dodge.
After the blue light vanished, a mechanical female voice came from inside.
"Unknown high-energy individual detected."
"Threat level—extremely high!"
"Beginning elimination protocol!"
The mechanical female voice disappeared.
Then complicated mechanical sounds rang out.
In front of him, the walls on all four sides began slowly changing shape.
The walls had looked like stone, but now they transformed into an all-metal structure.
Dense rows of gun barrels extended straight out from within.
Karl: "???"
Good grief.
Was the owner of this place insane?
Who put this many weapons inside their own home?
Had they built their house inside a military fortress?
The corner of Karl's mouth twitched.
With a wave of his hand, a large number of spatial shields appeared in front of him.
Karl was extremely cautious.
The technology of the Marvel world was highly advanced.
Putting aside everything else, a mere Earthling, relying on nothing more than a suit of armor, had been able to fight Thanos.
And in Rocket Raccoon's eyes, Stark's technology did not really amount to much.
Yet the technology of the Marvel world was extremely advanced.
Top-tier technological weapons could even erase an entire Multiverse without pressure.
How could a Single-Universe-level powerhouse withstand that kind of power?
Of course, Karl did not think a weapon of that level would appear in a place like this.
But there was nothing wrong with being more cautious.
Space twisted in front of him, forming a layer of shields.
He had only just finished doing this when the technological weapons in front of him changed.
A blue electric arc flickered inside a certain machine.
Karl sensed that the surrounding space-time had directly distorted.
"A deceleration field?"
"As expected, this isn't simple."
Karl's eyes narrowed.
It had actually used technological equipment to interfere with time and space.
That was not something any ordinary level of technology could achieve.
Fortunately, this kind of law had no effect on him.
The artificial intelligence inside the fortress clearly realized this as well.
The sound of mechanical movement rang out again.
At the center of the mechanical citadel, black light flashed.
A cannon blast shot straight toward Karl.
The energy-based magical shield in front of Karl was shattered directly by that terrifying force.
"This is…"
"An antimatter weapon?"
Karl was greatly surprised.
He had not expected to see a weapon here that was still only a legend on Earth.
The matter in that area was instantly annihilated, erupting with astonishing energy.
This was not law.
Nor was it their magical power.
Yet it could unleash an incomparably astonishing force.
This was the power of technology.
Technology developed to its limit was not the slightest bit weaker than mystical power systems.
Unfortunately, this was not a weapon that surpassed myth. Its power was still a little lacking.
It would have no problem dealing with ordinary people, but against someone like Karl, it was still not powerful enough.
Several shots fired in succession.
Yet they only shattered one of Karl's magical shields.
Karl stretched out his hand.
A dazzling platinum-white holy sword appeared in his hand.
This powerful holy sword radiated brilliant light.
The formidable energy weapon directly extended by several dozen meters.
Karl slashed forward with a single sword strike.
Pfft.
It was like a red-hot iron blade cutting through butter.
The alloy that looked so powerful offered no resistance at all.
In an instant, it was severed by Karl's Sacred Sword of the Vishanti.
The severed section was covered entirely in traces of melted steel.
Earlier, Karl had only been seeing this kind of technological system for the first time, so he wanted to test its limits.
But now, that was no longer necessary.
Karl was ready to get serious.
He was going to tear down this citadel-fortress directly and see who was really causing trouble behind it.
Holding the Sacred Sword of the Vishanti, Karl did not need any other magic. He simply charged at the metal wall ahead and hacked at it again and again.
Those walls formed from special alloy could not withstand the crushing weight of the holy sword at all.
Before long, Karl's terrifying power had broken through one layer.
During this process, all kinds of high-tech weapons were unleashed at Karl.
Plasma cannons, ion cannons, antimatter blasts, atomic fission weapons—all of them were fired at Karl.
The shields around him shattered layer after layer.
But Karl did not care at all.
The magical power inside his body could be called endless.
A few shields meant nothing to him.
As long as these things did not kill him instantly, they absolutely could not do anything to him.
Wrapped in powerful magical shields, Karl became like a wrecking crew, constantly breaking through one powerful metal barrier after another.
Every technological weapon was smashed into wreckage by him.
However, Karl could clearly feel it.
The deeper he pushed inside, the harder these metals became.
The weapons inside also grew increasingly powerful.
Karl even felt that the things inside did not belong to the same era as the things outside at all.
They were filled with an ancient aura.
"How interesting. Ancient technology is actually stronger than modern technology?"
"That doesn't make sense."
Karl was completely puzzled, and his curiosity grew even stronger.
Just what was going on with the owner of these technological creations?
How had their technology become weaker the more it developed?
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/Zukooo]
[Thanks for your support!]