Chapter 364

Most cosmic demons do not communicate through speech, as they are not carbon-based lifeforms and lack mouths; they typically use frequency waves incomprehensible to humans, and human language sounds to them like a peculiar kind of wave.

The sorcerers of Kamar-Taj can receive the Voice of the Cosmos through meditation—listening to the frequency waves of cosmic demons—and thus communicate with them smoothly, though some reclusive demons never join cosmic conversations; their transmission methods are clumsy and difficult to understand, what might be called a rural accent.

But even a rural accent is still speech—yet for some reason, somewhere along the line, the deities in Africa mostly cannot speak at all.

At first, Strange did not understand what the sorcerer meant by "cannot speak"; when he first began training, he knew nothing of the cosmic demons' frequency waves and could only force out words one at a time, relying on translation for any complex sentence.

Since the Sanctum Sanctorum had been operating for so long, Strange had not been idle; now he could largely comprehend the frequency waves of demons from various regions and occasionally join cosmic conversations.

But when he heard a deafening lion's roar from the other end of the phone, he finally grasped the full meaning of "the universe is vast, and anything is possible."

This lion deity truly cannot speak—he only roars, loudly, but utterly incomprehensible.

Strange covered his forehead and called Sheer: "... re you certain this matter is life-or-death? We've run into a small problem..."

The Wanderer from Douluo

"Didn't I already say? A king was kidnapped..."

"Alright, I'll need some technical support."

"Technical support? What's wrong? Can't you reach the Panther God? But as far as I know, he's a pretty powerful deity?"

"That's not it."

"Then what kind of support do you need?"

"Can you find me a lion?"

A few minutes later, Sheer appeared in the Sanctum Sanctorum; listening to the lion's roar from the phone, he fell silent and said: "... aybe Stark should just fly there himself."

"No! He'll definitely mock magic—maybe even cut our ship budget again. I know that damn guy; he'll tear our technology apart from top to bottom and cite examples saying that in the scientific world, this would never happen..." Strange gritted his teeth.

Sheer urged him: "Even if you find a lion and understand what it's roaring, how will you get that lion to translate into human language?"

"Damn it, is there no one who understands beast-tongue?"

"I think... perhaps there is. We could try." Sheer stroked his chin.

A few minutes later, Connors and Peter appeared in the Sanctum; Connors, bewildered, said: "You want me to turn into a lizard and listen to what this guy's roaring?"

Connors took a deep breath and said: "Sheer, do you know? If anyone else suggested this, I'd punch them right in the face."

"Then why don't you punch him?" Strange egged him on. "Turning into a lizard to listen to lion roars? That's insane!"

"Because I can't beat him." Connors said, utterly unshaken.

"What about you?" Sheer turned to Peter. "Didn't you get bitten by a spider? You're still in the animal category, right?"

Peter wore a look of extreme discomfort; clearly, the absurdity of this association exceeded his comprehension. He said: "Even if spiders and lions are both animals, Spider-Man and the Lion God aren't that closely related."

"Besides, lions are mammals, spiders are arthropods; lions communicate by roaring, while spiders don't even have vocal cords, and structurally speaking, the two..."

"Enough," Sheer interrupted his lengthy explanation. "Oh, right—I forgot about him."

A moment later, Eddie appeared in the Sanctum; Sheer patted his shoulder, and instantly Venom emerged. Strange studied the black monster and asked: "What's his relation to the lion?"

"Bats and lions are both mammals, aren't they?"

Venom waved a massive hand. "I'll do it!"

Strange handed him the phone. The lion on the other end kept roaring. Venom listened for a moment and said: "He's cursing."

Strange's eyes widened. "You actually understand? What's the principle?"

"Because I'm the Bat... Venom-Man!"

Strange wanted to ask more, but Sheer clamped a hand over his mouth. "When he says that, don't ask why."

At that moment, Stark crashed through the window in his armor, flying in with a frantic expression: "How far have you gotten? Is the demon on the other side tough? Is he making a lion's demand?"

"He really is making a lion's demand..."

Before Sheer could finish, Stark activated the weapons on his armor. "Which latitude is he in? How about we make him next season's member gift..."

Just then, the lion's roar from the phone grew fainter. "Whoosh!" The phone shot into the air, and soon a spectral lion emerged from it.

The phone had been held by Venom; when it flew upward, the lion's spectral form appeared directly before Venom.

Venom stared at the lion. The lion stared back. Venom's white compound eyes narrowed into a classic expression of suspicion.

At that moment, the lion's spectral form opened its mouth full of sharp teeth: "ROOOOAR!!!!"

Venom froze for a second. Eddie frantically thought: "No! Don't..."

But it was too late. Instantly, symbiotic factors erupted—a far larger black monster appeared before the lion's spectral form, opening its own mouth, brimming with sharper teeth: "ROOOOAR!!!!"

Now it was the lion's turn to freeze. He swept his long tail across the ground, then took a few steps back.

"Alright, Venom, come translate. Hello, this... Lion, we seek you for a serious matter. Do you know a leopard? The kind like you..."

Venom roared a few phrases at the lion. The lion began roaring again. Venom said: "He's still cursing. He's accusing a leopard named Bast of stealing his territory and his food..."

"This is so strange—how exactly do you understand?" Strange remained perplexed, still wrestling with the question.

Sheer pushed him aside and spoke to Venom: "Get him to contact Bast."

Venom and the lion exchanged two more roars. Venom said: "This cunning lion is asking if we have any compensation. He's heard of the Sanctum Sanctorum's name, so..."

Hearing this, Strange couldn't hold back. He rolled up his sleeves, stepped forward, and held up one finger toward the lion. The lion shook his head violently, his mane flying.

Strange gave a helpless expression and held up two fingers. The lion remained unsatisfied. Strange scowled and made a cross with his arm.

The lion extended his front paw—"Zeng!"—revealing claws hidden in his paw pads. Strange waved his hand; a deep crimson ribbon flew over. He pulled it taut, snapping it twice with a "thump-thump."

The lion let out a weary growl, then raised his tail three times. Strange shook his head and brought his hand down like a blade.

Connors and Sheer stood arms crossed nearby, watching Strange. Connors said: "He still dares to ask how Venom communicates with lions?"

After their gestures, the lion reluctantly scratched the floor with his paw, leaving a glowing spot before vanishing.

Strange took the glowing spot. He paused, as if sensing the information within. He said: "... ot it. Found it!"

Strange turned to Stark. "We've located the dimension where the Panther God Bast resides. But since he has no phone and has never contacted the Sanctum, we'll still need to send someone there..."

"I'll go." Stark turned to leave. Strange chased after him, sighing: "You can't enter that hidden dimension alone..."

At that moment, the phone used to call the lion suddenly flew upward again. Strange, having stepped forward to follow Stark, now stood with the phone behind him.

Suddenly, a circular portal appeared on the phone. A massive lion's paw reached out and slammed hard against Strange.

"Boom!" Strange was flung backward, crashing into Stark ahead of him.

"Oh! You damn lion! What are you doing?!"

The paw "whooshed" back instantly. The phone "plopped" to the floor. Strange stood up dazedly, clutching his forehead. Sheer said beside him: "When you offend a feline, you should've expected this consequence..."

"Oh, wait—he just sent more information..." Strange shook his head. "He says only a black being can enter Bast's domain. What kind of strange rule is that?"

"Probably because he's a black panther."

Stark had already pulled out his phone. "I know T'Challa is dating a mutant—his girlfriend is a teacher at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, also a Black woman. She should be able to enter..."

He reached to call Charles, but Sheer stepped forward and stopped him. "Don't you think there's another Black person closer to us?"

Stark looked at Sheer. His expression grew increasingly odd. "... hat panther doesn't deserve this, does he?"

"Not yet." Sheer pulled Eddie forward. "We've got another Black brother here. A black symbiote is still black, right, Venom?"

Instantly, Venom enveloped Eddie again, licking his sharp fangs with a long tongue. Sheer explained: "If the Panther God can't speak human language either, he can still translate..."

Venom's eyes narrowed again, that classic expression returning. For some reason, everyone felt a chill run down their spine...

————Extra Notes————

A non-messing-around happy interlude:)

Today's subscriptions jumped a lot—so we're just gonna keep feeding it, huh!