Almost the instant he saw the core, Alex's eyes lit up. The "Thermonuclear Ray," its surface crackling with arcs of electricity, immediately tore through the air, its target clear and its intent unwavering as it blasted toward the core.
The Hive core was decisive as well, or rather, this thing was the true "Hive."
Almost the moment Alex's gaze landed on it, the multicolored, cocoon-like mass suddenly shrank into a ball and shot away, breaking free of the jellyfish's body and causing Alex's "Thermonuclear Ray" to miss.
But Alex also possessed the ability of "Absolute Hit." The instant the Hive separated from the jellyfish's body, the "Thermonuclear Ray" was already pursuing it.
Yet as soon as it left the jellyfish's body, the Hive immediately slipped into an alternate-dimensional space. The "Thermonuclear Ray" had no ability to cross space, so after losing its target, it simply swept through the air under its own kinetic force.
A large amount of oxygen immediately ignited and burned.
The light in Alex's eyes dimmed.
He frowned.
He realized that he had a fatal weakness, spatial stealth.
Whether it was entering an alternate-dimensional space himself or being unable to have his attacks cross space to pursue an opponent.
Both were serious weaknesses.
Just like when he had first crossed over and encountered the "Big Eater" from the Joker Circus. Its mouth was connected to another dimension and could absorb the energy beam that was still a "Heat Ray" at the time.
If only the "Infinity Gauntlet" could be used in this universe.
Alex thought.
The "Space Stone" on the "Infinity Gauntlet" could easily solve this problem.
Unfortunately, the "Infinity Gauntlet" only worked in the Marvel Universe.
At this moment, Alex sensed something.
The Hive had left the alternate-dimensional space.
Alex guessed that although this super-lifeform capable of interstellar travel could enter an alternate-dimensional space, it clearly could not remain there for long.
It had been the same before, and it was the same now.
Through "Mind Anchoring," Alex had already sensed the Hive's location.
He turned around and looked toward the people fleeing the city in the distance. The Hive had appeared right beside those people.
At this moment, amid the crowd, David, who was carrying his daughter and running with his head down, suddenly saw a brilliant glow out of the corner of his eye.
The glow was about the size of an adult man, and even its outline looked somewhat similar to his.
The mass of light floated over just like that, seemingly wanting to merge with him.
David's hair stood on end. He instinctively sensed danger and hurriedly placed Jenny on the side of a car.
Before he could say anything, the mass of light enveloped David.
At that instant, a huge voice rang out in his mind.
An angry voice.
"Dad!"
Jenny screamed in fright.
The little girl stared helplessly at her father, who was enveloped in light.
She had a feeling.
Her father probably wasn't coming back.
At that moment, her vision blurred. A red cape swept up, and Jenny saw a tall figure appear before her.
Alex glanced back at the unfortunate little girl.
Her father had been taken over by the "Hive." He was basically finished.
Without another word, Alex picked Jenny up and grabbed a man running past him.
"Take her away."
The man was startled and hurriedly said, "Yes, sir."
He quickly picked Jenny up and ran forward.
Jenny looked at the mass of light wrapped around her father, tears pouring out like beads from a broken string.
"Dad!"
"Dad!"
"Don't leave me!"
The little girl's voice quickly faded into the distance.
The mass of light also disappeared, revealing David's figure.
He was a man in his prime, with a sharply defined face beneath his short blond hair. He opened his eyes, which radiated brilliant multicolored light.
He raised an arm and, after examining it for a while, said, "I have traveled through interstellar space, visited many planets, and encountered many powerful lifeforms."
"Among those powerful beings I know who cannot leave their planets and travel through interstellar space…"
"You can be called the strongest."
"You actually forced me to abandon my 'shell.'"
"However, you should be the last one."
"Once I take over your body, I believe there will be no lifeform in the galaxy stronger than me."
Alex laughed, "Done bragging? If you are, then stand there and don't move. Let me chop you down. That way I can still make it back in time for dinner."
The Hive expressionlessly said, "Chop?"
"Aren't you a superhero?"
"I have already become one with this human."
"If I die, he will die too."
"According to your human principles, shouldn't you be thinking about how to save him now?"
Alex reached out and took the "Fang of Destruction" from his "Inventory," then rested the vicious-looking giant battle axe on his shoulder, letting the red-gold electric light on the weapon sweep through the surrounding area.
"That's something only saints would think about."
"Unfortunately, I'm not a saint."
Alex suddenly stomped on the ground. The road immediately collapsed, and he shot toward the Hive like a cannonball. The "Fang of Destruction" chopped into the Hive's shoulder, nearly severing the entire shoulder.
The Hive let out a muffled groan of pain and dropped to one knee, but no blood flowed from the wound. What filled David's body was no longer flesh and internal organs unique to humans, but light, thick, multicolored light.
The Hive forcefully pulled the "Fang of Destruction" out of its body and kicked at Alex.
Alex raised an arm to block, only to be sent flying by the Hive's kick. He smashed through several cars and broke through the roadside barrier. His feet struck the ground, carving two trenches nearly a thousand meters long across the wilderness before he finally stopped.
At this time, the Hive grabbed its hanging arm and pressed it back into place. The wound immediately joined together. Then it reached out and lightly pointed at several nearby cars.
The cars instantly floated into the air before being hurled toward Alex like cannonballs.
Alex charged forward. As the "Fang of Destruction" swung, it split one car after another apart, then sent an axe straight toward the Hive's head.
The Hive stepped backward and slipped into the alternate-dimensional space.
BOOM!
The "Fang of Destruction" struck the road, cleaving a deep chasm into it. Red-gold electric light shot in every direction, repeatedly igniting the fuel tanks of nearby cars and leaving the scene scorched black.
Alex lifted the battle axe and looked around.
Behind him, a flash of brilliant multicolored light appeared in space. It was as thin as paper and silently sliced toward Alex.
But before it could touch Alex, a pattern of diamond-shaped light appeared in the air.
"Absolute Domain!"
Alex sensed it at this moment. Without turning around, he swept the "Fang of Destruction" backward into the multicolored light.
The blade of the "Fang of Destruction" immediately became somewhat blurred, with parts of it even disappearing. But when Alex pulled the battle axe back, a little multicolored, glowing, viscous liquid was stuck to its edge.
In the space not far away, the Hive's figure appeared, a wound across its chest rapidly healing.
Its eyes blazed with multicolored light as it raised both hands toward Alex, holding its ten fingers straight out.
Immediately, the space around Alex began to crack, producing one fissure after another. Hundreds of strands of multicolored light extended from those cracks.
They whipped about, and anything they passed through was easily cut apart.
They crisscrossed, leaving Alex almost no room to dodge, weaving themselves into a deadly net.
These multicolored strands of light had no physical form. They were violent energy from the alternate-dimensional space, controlled by the Hive and turned into weapons of attack.
Their cutting power was immense, but just now they had been unable to tear through the "Absolute Domain." Alex simply carried the "Fang of Destruction" and smiled as he watched them dance around him.
For a moment, the violent energy from the alternate dimension collided with the "Absolute Domain," producing countless trails of light. But just as Alex had expected, they could do nothing to him.
And for the "Hive," it was clearly impossible to control the energy within the alternate-dimensional space for long.
Thus, after only a few seconds of stalemate, the multicolored strands of light withdrew into the cracks, and the spatial fissures healed on their own one after another.
The moment those multicolored strands withdrew into the cracks, Alex immediately used "Mind Transmission" to appear beside the "Hive." The "Fang of Destruction" swept across David's body with a sharp whistle.
The Hive immediately split into several pieces, and some of its body fragments were further smashed apart by Alex's axe.
Before the pieces had even completely fallen to the ground, the Hive's severed hands somehow moved as though nothing had happened, drawing out one spatial fissure after another.
These were different from the energy strands in the alternate dimension just now. They directly opened up space and used the openings themselves as weapons to attack Alex.
Alex was unsure whether the "Absolute Domain" could block an attack that used space itself.
He made a split-second decision, shot into the sky, and temporarily avoided its force.
The Hive took the opportunity to slip into the alternate-dimensional space. When it emerged again, it had already completely recovered.
Alex frowned. The Hive's ability to move through space was extremely troublesome. It could advance or retreat at will. Although it could not maintain it for very long, it always left him feeling constrained.
Moreover, this made it very difficult to kill the Hive completely.
To kill the "Hive," he first had to restrict this ability of its.
Alex suddenly slapped his forehead, "No need to restrict it. As long as I can affect it, that's enough."
"For example, if it were as though an alternate-dimensional space simply didn't exist in reality, wouldn't it be unable to sneak into one?"
———
[New York Television Station]
The telephone rang nonstop, and the station's hotlines were nearly overwhelmed with calls.
The station director was as frantic as an ant on a hot pan, "What about the helicopter team? Why haven't they reached Chicago yet?"
"If they don't get there soon, our viewers are going to tear this television station apart!"
Because Homelander and the Hive had suddenly entered an alternate-dimensional space, the global live broadcast had been forced to stop.
Naturally, this caused dissatisfaction among the viewers.
Overseas viewers could perhaps only complain online, but viewers within the Federation were directly calling the television station.
The station's hotline was on the verge of being overwhelmed.
The station director was so anxious he was practically jumping in place. Fortunately, someone shouted at this moment, "They're here! They're here!"
"We got in touch with the Chicago branch. They've already reached the scene."
The station director immediately shouted, "What about the footage? Get it switched over here right now."
"The footage is coming in. It's on Line 3."
"Excellent. Restart the global live broadcast immediately."
"Everyone, get your act together. If we handle this well, our television station is going to become an internationally famous media outlet!"
The station director shouted loudly, "As long as we make money, I'll give everyone a 30% raise next month!"
With that promise, the television station staff, who had been overwhelmed just moments before, immediately became energized and threw themselves back into their positions with renewed enthusiasm.
Soon, footage of the highway leading out of Chicago appeared on television and online.
Through mobile phones, televisions, computers, and all kinds of communication devices, people could clearly see that the highway out of Chicago had already become a battlefield.
Car wreckage could be seen everywhere, and there were even human bodies.
They could even see the Hive's body, shaped like a jellyfish but cut in half.
Immediately, countless voices appeared online.
[What happened? Is the 'Hive' already dead?]
[That corpse is huge. Will it decompose? Won't it cause some kind of pollution?]
[Pollution is hard to say. After all, this is a creature from outer space. It might carry some kind of space bacteria or something.]
[What the hell is the Federation doing? Why aren't they controlling the scene and dealing with that giant jellyfish's corpse first? What if it causes an epidemic?]
[Where's Homelander? Did Homelander go back?]
Just as people were discussing this, the footage changed again. On one section of the road, a red cape could be seen flying in front of the camera.
[Homelander! I see Homelander!]
[Eh? Who's that man facing him?]
[Yeah, why does it look like Homelander is confronting this man?]
[Could he be the true form of the 'Hive'?]
[I don't know about the rest, but I do know that battle axe Homelander is carrying is badass. Is that his new equipment?]
[Hey, now that you mention it, I really did overlook it. When did Homelander get such an outrageous weapon?]
[Look, they're fighting!]
On the screen, Homelander and the man engaged in combat.
Homelander's figure flashed repeatedly, dodging the multicolored beams the man sent out one after another, then swinging his battle axe and chopping deep, shocking wounds into the man's body.
Any one of those wounds could kill an ordinary person.
Yet when they appeared on that man's body, it was as though nothing had happened. Whenever his body was cut apart, he could always heal rapidly.
Even when the battle axe chopped off his head or split apart his limbs, it still could not truly kill him.
[Holy shit, what kind of monster is this?]
[Now I can be certain. That's the real body of the 'Hive'!]
[How terrifying. That jellyfish wasn't even its real body.]
[I can't imagine. Without Homelander, the other superheroes might not be able to do anything about this thing.]
[Whatever. Go, Homelander! Kill that monster!]
[Why is everyone cheering for Homelander? Don't monsters have rights? Why does the monster have to die? Humans are so narrow-minded. Can't we coexist with extraterrestrial life?]
[Where did this bleeding-heart come from? Take him out and shoot him!]
With the footage from Chicago going online and the global live broadcast restarting, the internet became a frenzy over the battle between Alex and the "Hive."
At this moment, the eyes of the entire world were focused on this highway leading out of Chicago.
Focused on Alex, wielding the vicious giant axe, his red cape dazzling.