Chapter 227: Barbarian Assault Team

After some discussion, having considered the potential apocalypse caused by tides and the civilization-ending destruction caused by the moon's disappearance and subsequent gravitational shifts, the meeting reached a decision: the Chitauri must absolutely not be allowed to enter the Earth-Moon sphere; it would be best to block them outside the solar system.

"I have a question. According to our previous calculations, the number of Chitauri soldiers is in the hundreds of thousands, but the Asgardian army stationed on the outskirts of the solar system consists of only a few thousand. With such a massive disparity in numbers, is this stationing really meaningful? Won't they be devoured in an instant?" Cobb asked as the meeting was drawing to a close.

"Hmm... good question. I'll go ask Thor," Rogers said after a pause.

"No need to ask." Mordo's gaze was like he was looking at a group of morons. "I can answer this question. Do you know the standard for an elite soldier of the Immortal Palace?"

Rogers shook his head.

"In terms of physical fitness, not a single one of them is inferior to you," Mordo said, pointing at Rogers. "Furthermore, according to the standard configuration for stationed soldiers, there is one light space battleship for every five hundred of them. The firepower and armor of these battleships are pushed to the maximum. It can be said that if that Demon God-level person isn't there, when a real fight breaks out, despite the Chitauri's numbers, it's hard to say who would win and who would lose."

"Ah?" Rogers clenched his fist and felt his own grip strength. Was his kind of power only the entry-level standard for them?

Mordo looked at everyone's surprised expressions and sighed. "I'm even downplaying it. In terms of high-end combat power, with the Supreme Sorcerer, we aren't too far behind Asgard, but looking at the overall combat power of the civilization, Earth multiplied by a hundred wouldn't even touch the edge of Asgard."

"Don't forget, thousands of years ago, when humans were still in the age of drinking blood and eating raw meat, Asgard was already able to lead massive armies to wage endless wars across the Nine Realms. Although they haven't progressed in the last few hundred years and have even regressed quite a bit, they are still not something the current Earth can compare to."

The representative from the White Eagle side fell silent. Mordo's words reminded him of the situation his side once faced with the Native Americans. According to Mordo, the gap between Earth and Asgard might be even larger than the gap they faced when dealing with the Native Americans.

"Moreover, Asgard's strategic depth is extremely vast. The dozens of countries under the Immortal Palace can provide an unimaginable number of reserve personnel," Mordo continued. "As long as there isn't an inside traitor and the Immortal Palace isn't destroyed in an instant, then when Asgard's war potential erupts, it can truly silence all the petty thieves peering at it."

"If that's the case, can we set the main battlefield in that place?" Tony suddenly looked up and asked. "With their cooperation, we will surely be able to block the enemy outside the solar system!"

"That would have to be asked of Asgard. We have no authority to mobilize the army there, and their stationing area is also under their jurisdiction according to the agreement." Mordo was not very optimistic about Tony's idea. "If you can obtain permission, perhaps we can help you open a portal to send you to their station."

Ethan raised his hand. "You have relatively more communication with Asgard; could you please..."

"Impossible!" Mordo reacted extremely violently. "The Mage Association will never make any request to the Asgardians that exceeds the defense agreement!"

The people in the conference room fell silent. It seemed the conflict between the Mage Association and Asgard was deeper than imagined.

"Alright, that's how things are. If there's anything later, you can come to the Himalayas to find me." Mordo placed the emphasis on the words "find me." "I will be staying there for the time being."

After the video cut off, Tony tapped the table. The Mage Association seemed to have undercurrents surging within it now, and a competition they didn't understand was intensifying. However, with the Supreme Sorcerer present, this competition still seemed to be benign.

"We need to deepen our communication with Thor. If the Mage Association is unwilling to act as a bridge for communication, perhaps Thor can become an interface for information exchange," the representative from the Mao Bear side said, looking at the few people in front of him.

"I agree, but we don't have time," Cobb said, looking at Rogers. "Captain, why don't you find Blade and go there together? It should be relatively easier to talk between you two."

"I have no objections," Rogers responded very readily. His brain was almost overwhelmed from reading in the base; it was truly difficult for this brain that had been dormant for over seventy years to take in so much new knowledge all at once.

"Then let's vote on it. Rogers will represent the official side to contact Thor and attempt to set the battlefield at the edge of the solar system," Cobb proposed. Although everyone had no intention of opposing it, the necessary procedures still had to be followed.

Beep, beep, beep—the green lights on the table all lit up. The resolution passed unanimously.

After the meeting ended, all the lights in the entire base turned back on. This wasn't to see Rogers off, but because all projects had entered a phase of working overtime to meet deadlines. Fortunately, there were some magic materials and high-grade supplements as supplementary food for the research personnel; otherwise, at this intensity of work, more than half would have fallen ill before the Chitauri arrived.

Rogers looked back at the brightly lit base. Here, the essence of the entire Earth civilization was gathered, struggling for a common goal.

Turning around, Rogers climbed into the plane. After giving the ground crew a thumbs-up, the plane accelerated and slid off the runway.

The roar of the engines resounded through the sky as it flew toward New York.

Half a month ago, after the fear project was temporarily suspended, Blade had returned to New York. He felt that staying in the base was meaningless and purely a waste of transport capacity; transporting various resources from other places to the Bermuda Triangle required additional transport resources.

A few hours later, in New York, at Blade's home, Rogers washed his face to stimulate his somewhat sluggish nerves.

"Thor just replied. He invited us to meet at a high-end restaurant near his home," Rogers said, walking out of the restroom while covering his face.

"Alright, I'll go with you in a bit, although I don't feel like I'm that familiar with him," Blade said, moving his eyes away from the screen in front of him.

Rogers looked at the map on the screen, along with the various colored lines and marks on it. "What is this?"

"Vampire nests and activity trajectories," Blade explained. "The vitality of these bats is simply more tenacious than insects. Just by leaving for a few months, their scale has recovered to the level it was before I left."

"So you've gone back to your old profession recently?" Rogers asked.

"No," Blade shook his head. "I haven't killed a single vampire. I want to see if I can directly find the source of these vampires. And I'm a bit puzzled as to why that thing wants to embrace so many descendants."

"Any clues?"

"None. They seem to already know of my existence; the information is hidden very deeply," Blade sighed.

Rogers stepped forward and patted Blade on the shoulder. He knew that for Blade, eliminating vampires had become an obsession. "After we beat back the Chitauri and the crisis is resolved, we'll help you together."

"It's fine, let's go," Blade put on his sunglasses. "Let's go find that stranded prince first. I hope he can really help us."

In front of the private club, after reporting Thor's name, Rogers and Blade were led by staff to a large private room.

Thor and the four people from Asgard had already been waiting in the room for a while. Rogers also unexpectedly saw one more person: Spider-Man, Peter.

"Hey, Rogers," Thor waved at Rogers.

Peter swallowed the food in his mouth. "Captain, long time no see. Um, has Mr. Stark come? I haven't seen him in a long time."

"He still has some things to busy himself with, only I have returned," Rogers smiled. Peter was still as much of a fan of Tony as ever.

"Alright," Peter said, a bit disappointed.

Next, Thor introduced the Asgardians from the Immortal Palace to Rogers, although Rogers had already clearly known their registration information before this.

"This is..." Thor looked at Blade behind Rogers and asked.

Blade glanced at Rogers. *I knew it, this guy has already forgotten me. *

Taking off his sunglasses, Blade reached out his hand. "Blade. We've met before, at..."

"I remember now!" Thor reacted strongly. "That security guard from the base!"

Indeed, when they were in New Mexico, Blade was doing the job of a security guard, it was just that the title sounded a bit better. Speaking of which, Blade had even beaten Thor up back then.

"Oh my, I didn't expect to see you here. How have you been lately?" Thor gripped Blade's hand, smiling while beginning to exert force.

*This guy is quite vengeful? *

Blade quickly switched his bloodline, and the power of the werewolf surged out.

The two hands were gripped tightly together, and creaking sounds rang out continuously. If you didn't listen to the sound and just looked at their appearance, you would really think they had a great relationship.

Thor was also a bit surprised. He was different now than he was back then. After experiencing that battle in the Dark Souls world, much of Thor's sealed power had recovered.

He hadn't expected that, in terms of pure strength alone, he still couldn't achieve a crushing victory.

Blade was equally surprised. During the time after his fight with Thor, he had hunted down quite a few vampires, and the bloodlines of those bats had all turned into power and entered his body.

It seemed this Asgardian prince lived up to his reputation; he had some real skills.

"We're friends now that we've fought!" Thor let go and patted Blade's arm. "I'm Thor."

Blade also withdrew his power. "Just call me Blade."

"Come, come, sit down first. You were in such a rush to find me, is it about the Chitauri fleet?" Thor went straight to the point. He had just given the intelligence yesterday, and Rogers had come today; other than the intelligence, he couldn't think of anything else.

Rogers tilted his head and looked at Peter.

Peter felt a bit aggrieved. "I'll just listen, I promise not to do anything."

Rogers didn't speak, just continued to look at him.

"Alright, alright, you guys always treat me like I'm still a kid, I'm about to go to college." Peter shrugged and stood up, walking toward the door.

As Peter pulled the door shut again, a tiny bit of Venom's split-off landed on the carpet.

"Yes, we held a meeting yesterday and discussed it. We want to block the Chitauri fleet outside the solar system; after all, the celestial balance within the solar system is too fragile," Rogers said to Thor.

Thor sighed. "This, I might not be able to help you with. After all, as you know, I am still in a state of exile. Before obtaining my father's permission, I cannot actively contact home."

"If it were in the past, for that kind of fleet, I would have taken my personal guard..."

Thor stopped as he spoke. Ninety percent of his personal guard had been left forever on the Frost Giant's planet.

At the time, Thor didn't feel he had done anything wrong, but looking back now, he could feel that he had been quite a jerk.

"No, actually I'm not here to ask for reinforcements," Rogers hurriedly explained. "I want to ask if you can give us a joint garrison permit, limited only to that Asgardian unit outside the solar system."

"Eh? Asgard has a unit outside the solar system?" Thor was stunned.

Sif reminded him from the side, "There is an army of about five thousand, rotated by several elite battle groups. Right now it should be..."

"It's the Barbarian Assault Team," Volstagg continued. "According to the hundred-year rotation, it should be their turn now."

"A bunch of guys who worship primitive brawling, not elegant at all," Fandral complained. "Barbarians who don't understand technology."

"The Barbarian Assault Team... I used to be quite familiar with them," Thor recalled. "But after that crushing defeat last time, their relationship with me hasn't been very good..."

"Why?" Blade asked.

"..." Thor was silent for a while. "A portion of my personal guard was selected from among them as elites."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have pressed." Blade apologized.

"It's fine, it was my mistake, it was all my own fault," Thor rubbed his face. "Let's not talk about this. For the joint garrison permit, who do you plan to send?"

"This... are there any standards?" Rogers asked.

"If it's ordinary soldiers... no, even the elites under Kingpin who are level ten or twenty wouldn't do. They have very high requirements for their teammates; at the very least, they must make them feel that you won't hold them back," Thor said.

"This... how do you think I would do?" Rogers proposed.

Thor looked at Sif. Sif pondered for a moment. "It's a long shot. How is your close-quarters combat technique?"

"Does it mainly depend on combat technique?"

"No, forgive my bluntness, you have no advantage in physical fitness, and you likely have no advantage in space combat experience or ship piloting ability, so you can only start from the combat aspect," Sif explained.

"No need to say so much," Fandral wiped his mouth. "I'll spar with you in a bit. If you can beat me with your bare hands, you'll have a chance. If you can't even beat me, then you'll just have to train more."

Rogers glanced at the longsword Fandral had placed by the table and nodded. Fighting a swordsman with his bare hands—he felt he still had the advantage. ===== CHAPTER 228 =====