Chapter 237

As the battle became increasingly fierce, Thanos, far away in another galaxy, had already been informed of the situation here.

This perception is related to the underlying rules of this world, which is that power must have a price.

Ebony Maw dared not disobey Thanos's orders. Besides the fact that he would be crushed to death by Thanos if he disobeyed, the most important point was that the price for Ebony Maw's spellcasting was borne by Thanos.

In this universe, almost no one can bypass this rule, therefore, Thanos can clearly perceive the intensity of the battle on Ebony Maw's side.

This is also the reason why he is not afraid of his subordinates slacking off too much. Even if they slack off, they can't use their abilities against empty space; the feedback from that consumption is completely different from the feedback in a real battle.

Sitting on his throne, Thanos looked far toward the Galaxy; that was the biggest obstacle to achieving his goal.

For hundreds of years, Thanos had wanted to destroy that place every moment, but it was like the center of the universe, with all kinds of geniuses emerging one after another.

Hundreds of years ago, Thanos was wary of Odin's power and dared not approach. He finally waited until Odin was old and weak, the Asgardian civil war broke out, and the Ancient One had grown up.

Such top-tier talent is rare in the entire universe, but in the Galaxy, one can jump out every few hundred years. I really don't know where to go to reason.

However, the situation finally had a turning point.

Odin's weakness was already visible to the naked eye, and the pillars of Asgard were collapsing. Because their strength declined too quickly, the relationship between Odin and the Ancient One was not as close as before.

In the eyes of the current Odin, the Ancient One and Midgard had actually threatened Asgard's ruling status in the Nine Realms. The two sides had shifted from the status of big brother and little brother to the same level, which Odin found difficult to accept.

Being able to maintain such a relationship now was already the result of the Ancient One making concessions everywhere out of consideration for their past relationship, otherwise, the situation would be much worse than it is now.

The war between the Chitauri and the Barbarian Assault Team was a manifestation of the breakdown of the relationship. If it were two hundred years ago, when Odin's body was not so bad, if Thanos dared to let the Chitauri go over to stir up trouble, Odin would dare to let Heimdall open the Bifrost and lead the army to slaughter everyone who dared to invade.

Now, the war has already started, but Odin is still playing dead.

In addition, the Ancient One's current state is not very good either. The huge pressure brought by rapid growth made her body age rapidly, otherwise, how could someone at the Ancient One's level be about to pass away at a few hundred years old?

The Ancient One is actually a bit like Odin, belonging to the kind of person who values their own civilization more than anything else. Usually, they can respect you as a big brother and be humble everywhere, but once it involves the bottom line, they will not retreat even a little bit.

In short, these two people are now competing to see who can die later. Although they know each other well and both know that even if they leave first, the other party will likely not do anything, but instead will take care of them, who dares to gamble on that one-in-a-million chance?

Thanos thought as he walked to the edge of the spaceship. He had a premonition that this was the last window of opportunity.

If he couldn't take action while Odin and the Ancient One were old and Asgard and Earth had no successors with sufficient strength, there would really be no more opportunities.

This is the best time point. Another very important factor is that Thanos knows that other figures lurking in the dark should also be restless now.

Ragnarok—Thanos wanted to laugh when he thought of this word. There are really quite a few people in this so-called prophecy universe who would believe it.

As long as Odin is alive for one day, Ragnarok can never appear. When he dies, then even without the prophecy, the situation will be about the same.

The same goes for the Ancient One's side. Both of them were too domineering in the past, and their reputation among the Cosmic Demon Gods was no better than Thanos's. Now that they are weak, there must be a bunch of guys waiting to kick them while they are down.

"Stealing chestnuts from the fire, fishing in troubled waters." Thanos opened his palm, and the phantom of the Space Stone slowly rotated in his palm.

With a 'snap', Thanos closed his five fingers, and the phantom shattered. "Ebony Maw, don't let me down. I really want to see if everything is as Dormammu said, that the old woman, the Ancient One, is already stretched thin."

Thanos muttered as he turned and walked back to his throne. His mood was very unsettled now.

Oort Cloud: After fighting for more than ten hours in one breath, the fearless Chitauri had already approached the near orbit of the asteroid. At the closest point, the straight-line distance between the two sides was less than five thousand kilometers!

This distance is the dividing line of death. Once within five thousand kilometers, they entered the range of all the Asgardians' long-range weapons, and the firepower displayed was more than just a little fierce.

Hawkeye sat in his wheelchair, looking up at the sky. The explosion light constantly flashing in the starry sky was more spectacular than any scenery.

"You say, when can we also pull out a fleet that spans the universe like this? Compared to them, we are just primitive people trapped on our home planet." Hawkeye sighed.

Cobb remained silent. He didn't care much about what Hawkeye was sighing about; he just wanted to know when his sister could complete the anchoring and complete the second key step of resurrection.

Everything Cobb was doing now was just because doing so could better obtain all kinds of scarce materials.

With a 'ding', the communication from Yifan Vanko came over. "A small Chitauri unit has broken through the frontal defense line and is detouring toward the rear. Their target might be the Mountain, which is undergoing repairs on the back side. The General Staff requires you to take action immediately and participate in the interception."

"Understood." Hawkeye replied.

Cobb also focused his attention, checked the settings of the Light Genetic Factor Converter one last time, and then pushed Hawkeye to the front of the instrument, letting Hawkeye face the huge statue of the Giant of Light.

"Are you ready?" Cobb put on his goggles and looked at Hawkeye, asking.

Hawkeye extended his right hand, his thumb held high. "Everything is ready!"

"Activate!"

Cobb pressed the start button, the Light Genetic Factor Converter operated at full power, and brilliant light scanned Hawkeye's body.

When the frequency was consistent, Hawkeye's body and soul began to dissociate, merging with the light emitted by the instrument, and slowly floated toward the statue of the Giant of Light.

After Hawkeye gradually merged, the exterior of the statue emitted a milky white shimmer. Under the light, the statue detached from its original material and completely transformed into a polymer of light.

When the shimmer dissipated, what appeared before Cobb's eyes was that familiar Ultraman—Tiga.

"Sure enough, although the environment has changed, the statue with Tiga statue powder as the main body is most likely to transform into Tiga." Cobb whispered.

Hawkeye Barton, who had transformed into Tiga, nodded at Cobb and leaped forcefully into the sky.

"Yifan Vanko, Hawkeye has already set off. Remind the Asgardians to pay attention to avoid friendly fire." Cobb sent a message to Yifan Vanko.

"Received." After Yifan Vanko replied, he provided Tiga's image to the other staff members and marked it as a friendly unit in the system.

Looking at that Ultraman flying at high speed, many staff members in the General Staff were a bit impressed. This mysterious thing really seemed to have some strength.

After Barton left the artificial atmosphere, particles in space quickly surged into Tiga's body. The indicator light on his chest glowed green, and his energy was incomparably abundant.

Controlling Tiga from the player's perspective, Barton passed through the engagement zone all the way, then turned his body one hundred and eighty degrees and flew toward the side, where a team of Chitauri ships was moving rapidly.

Zeperion Ray!

Barton didn't hesitate to use his ultimate move right away. He placed his left hand on his right forearm, and as the ray swept across the front, a spaceship exploded instantly.

The Chitauri's reaction was also very fast, and the counter-fire arrived in an instant. Barton turned to the side, exerting his flexibility to the extreme. After a large-angle stretch in the air, he re-locked onto the tail of the remaining ships, hiding his figure in a blind spot that was difficult to hit.

He raised his right hand, a fireball condensed in his palm, and he swung it forcefully. The fireball shot out rapidly, shooting down another spaceship again.

Tiga's skills were so numerous that he didn't look like a warrior who usually relied on melee combat for damage; he was purely a mage wearing a warrior's skin. Just those ray skills alone were so many that Barton couldn't see the end of them at a glance, and each one was full of power, completely devoid of any "show" pieces.

After Tiga joined the battlefield, this lucky small Chitauri unit immediately suffered. They couldn't match his flexibility, their firepower was suppressed, and they directly became lambs waiting to be slaughtered on the dining table.

Ebony Maw, who was fighting Korik, glanced over there. Tiga's appearance entered his line of sight. Even the knowledgeable Ebony Maw felt a bit strange. From the energy reaction, it looked like a pure light element life form, but it also had a physical body like flesh and blood.

One can only say that the world is full of wonders.

Seeing that nearly half of the small unit had been destroyed, Ebony Maw extended his finger.

Word Spirit: Imaginary Space!

Word Spirit: Deus Ex Machina!

Two fluctuations crossed the galaxy and fell into the remaining small unit. The computing power of the Chitauri's "local area network" began to become life-like. The ships near Tiga quickly moved toward their own side, and the parts on the ships were reorganized in an instant.

Korik was a bit angry. What did Ebony Maw mean by this? He still had time to consider other things in the middle of a fight! Wasn't this purely looking down on him, the God of Earthquakes?

Divine Power: Earthquake Wave!

The vibration that shattered space slapped onto Ebony Maw, pulling his thoughts away from Tiga and back into the battlefield.

Korik had already rushed in front of Ebony Maw. The earthquake wave disintegrated the magic defense around Ebony Maw, and the sharp axe blade swung down rapidly, leaving a not-so-small wound on Ebony Maw's body.

"You dare to look elsewhere at a time like this? Are you looking down on me?" Korik shouted at Ebony Maw, who flickered away.

"Hmm, you guessed right. Smarter than I thought, your brain is still a bit bigger than a walnut. I am looking down on you." Ebony Maw gently wiped his wound, and the hideous wound healed immediately. Provocative words also came out of Ebony Maw's mouth.

That's what he said, but Ebony Maw, whose move had been broken, still withdrew all his attention. Korik's strike just now had destroyed the rhythm that had suppressed him for so long. If he didn't focus on the enemy, Ebony Maw would suffer a big loss.

On the flank of the asteroid, when Ebony Maw's Word Spirit was issued, Barton immediately began to maneuver toward the distance, pulling away enough space before stopping.

This is the problem of insufficient knowledge. If it were a proper Cosmic Demon God who had promoted step by step, even if they hadn't fought Ebony Maw, they could roughly judge the effect of this Word Spirit based on the rule fluctuations stirred up by the Word Spirit, unlike Barton, who dodged rapidly like a frightened bird.

Now that Barton had dodged, it could be considered as giving the remaining units time to reorganize.

By the time Barton took his position, the opponent's transformation had ended. Hundreds of spaceships formed a strange mechanical creature two or three times larger than Tiga.

The main body of this creature was composed of activated steel and instruments, but the mind was composed of the Chitauri who had been scattered by the Word Spirit just now.

At first glance, the composition structure looked a bit like a magnified version of Yifan Vanko. These Chitauri were really playing the script of mechanical ascension.

It's just that the script itself was a bit messy and required the help of Ebony Maw's Word Spirit magic to successfully transform.

Barton controlled Tiga to emit a mental disturbance ray, attempting to decompose the mind of the big guy in front of him. At that time, conflicting thoughts would naturally allow them to disintegrate from the inside and collapse without being attacked.

However, what Barton didn't expect was that after the mental disturbance ray hit accurately, the mechanical Demon God had no reaction at all, as if it didn't possess a mind that could be affected.

The electronic eye of Yifan Vanko on the ground rotated slightly, and the appearance of the mechanical Demon God outside the planet was quickly zoomed in. Watching the whole process, Yifan Vanko had only one guess: that the mechanical Demon God might be using a hive mind as its mental core.

Every Chitauri mind connected to the network became a part of the hive mind, and the manifested Imaginary Space was the underlying architecture connecting all minds. To use an analogy, individual Chitauri could be said to be neurons, while this newborn consciousness was the human consciousness composed of neurons.

Yifan Vanko had thought about this way of constructing a mind when he was modifying himself, but he later ruled out this method. The reason was that this kind of mechanical mind could not self-replicate, self-backup, or self-proliferate like more popular artificial intelligence, because the degree of differentiation was still too high.

While recalling, Yifan Vanko thought of something. He seemed to know how to counter this kind of existence. If all the Chitauri were on the same "local area network", then the project on Ethan's side might really be able to exert an effect...

While Yifan Vanko was thinking about new ways to counter the enemy, Barton was trapped in a bitter battle.

When hundreds of spaceships were scattered, they were lambs waiting to be slaughtered. Once they aggregated, they immediately became a big trouble. The armor was thick enough to resist most rays, and the flexibility was not bad, especially the ability to transform in real-time, which meant there were no blind spots in the attack range. In terms of firepower, the aggregated gun barrels were thick enough to pose a big threat to Barton.

In short, the situation suddenly became tricky.