Arthrosian Attack

"Hulk, invincible."

Having fought the Crimson God to a draw, Blond Hulk was extremely excited. He beat his chest and roared.

"You’re not a gorilla. Why are you beating your chest?"

Wang Bert mocked. "Looks like you’re not awake yet, Crimson God. Give him another beating."

"Don’t, Blood God. I’m awake now. I might be invincible in the future, but definitely not right now."

Blond Hulk hurriedly waved his hands. "I’m really sorry about earlier. It was all Thor’s fault. His intelligence is just too low, and it caused some problems for me."

"You’re really awake? And even you look down on Thor?"

Wang Bert mocked. "Blond Hulk, being cocky is fine, but don’t be arrogant. You’re still far from the strongest in the universe. Plenty of people can beat you senseless."

"There must be people who can beat me senseless, but definitely not many. I, Thunder Hulk, have status in the universe too."

Blond Hulk said smugly. Wang Bert could not help shaking his head. It seemed Blond Hulk’s cockiness was incurable. He said to the Crimson God, "Give him a punch as a farewell gift."

"Fine. Watch carefully. This is my Fist of Power."

The Crimson God nodded, then clenched Its fist and threw a punch.

"I’m not afraid of you now…"

Blond Hulk was about to say something grand, but the Crimson God’s fist appeared out of nowhere before his chest, transcending time and space. Then he flew backward like a meteor, crashing onto an uninhabited planet with a boom. The continent beneath him shattered and collapsed, and massive amounts of lava surged from underground.

This was a punch powerful enough to destroy a planet.

Was Blond Hulk dead? Of course not. All his bones were shattered, his internal organs were mangled, and he kept vomiting blood. Nothing serious.

"So strong? Good, good, excellent! I, Thunder Hulk, have a goal now. Crimson Giant, one day, I’ll defeat you and become even stronger than you."

Blond Hulk was stunned at first, then lay in the lava and burst into laughter. Wang Bert nodded in satisfaction and waved his hand, sending Blond Hulk back.

"Wow!"

Everyone erupted when they saw the battered Blond Hulk. Wasn’t Blood God being too ruthless? He had only challenged him. Did he have to beat him into this state?

Tony asked, "Hulk, are you okay?"

"I’m not some weakling like you. How could I be hurt?"

Blond Hulk gave Tony a disdainful glance and said smugly, "I hit the jackpot this time. Not only did I grasp a Concept Ability, I also witnessed a punch capable of destroying a planet."

"A Concept Ability? A punch capable of destroying a planet?"

Everyone was stunned. Carol hurriedly asked, "You grasped a Concept Ability?"

"That’s right, Square-faced Woman. You’re no longer my match. I, Thunder Hulk, am now the strongest person on Earth besides Blood God."

Blond Hulk said arrogantly. At the same time, his injuries healed at an astonishing rate. In no time, he could climb to his feet on his own.

Carol became furious. "What did you say?"

"To be honest, my Hulk’s Fury is insanely powerful. You definitely can’t block it. If you don’t believe me, we can give it a try."

Blond Hulk became even more arrogant. Just as Carol was about to agree, Wang Bert waved his hand, splitting Blond Hulk apart and turning him back into Thor and Hulk.

Thor and Hulk, back in their original forms, were both somewhat confused. After a moment, Hulk came to his senses and laughed loudly. "I told you I could comprehend a Concept Ability. Didn’t I just do it?"

Thor came to his senses as well and cursed at Hulk unhappily, "I was the one who comprehended it, okay? And just how much do you look down on me? Even the fusion body despised my intelligence?"

Hulk looked at him with contempt. "Don’t you know your own intelligence?"

Thor shouted angrily, "What did you say?"

Hulk said smugly, "I’m telling the truth. Is there a problem?"

"Hulk, go die!"

Thor completely lost it. He kicked off hard with his right foot and charged at Hulk like a cannonball. New grudges and old hatred combined—he was going to beat this bastard to death.

Naturally, Hulk was not afraid of Thor. He charged forward fiercely, and after exchanging a few moves, they unleashed their ultimate attacks at the same time.

"Hulk’s Fury."

"Thor’s Wrath."

Their two heads slammed together with a boom, making the entire Celestial Head shake. If Carol had not acted in time to protect the space, even space itself might have shattered.

Then Hulk and Thor both fell backward with their heads raised. The two idiots had knocked each other unconscious.

Tony asked Dr. Richards, "Those two are idiots, right?"

Dr. Richards nodded. "Obviously, they are."

Everyone was speechless. Were their brains full of holes?

Wang Bert smiled. "All right, ignore those two. Let’s continue experimenting with the fusion ability and create the best combinations."

Everyone nodded. This new ability was incredibly useful.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed. At the Heavenfall Star System frontlines, countless warships stared intently at the jump point. As soon as any Arthrosians emerged, they would immediately open fire and send those damned bugs to hell.

"They haven’t appeared for seven days straight. They must be plotting something."

Inside the Blood God, Skye, an elder of the Insect Extermination Alliance, looked at the data on the screen and frowned. "Have the monitoring ships around the Heavenfall Star System sent back any news?"

"They have. They transmit a report every hour on schedule. No Arthrosian traces have been found."

Frank, Earth’s representative commander, said, "The Arthrosians’ concealment abilities are strong, but with the new technology, they can’t hide from us."

"The Arthrosian homeworld is very far from the Heavenfall Star System. Without using jump points, it would take at least half a year to fly here. They can’t be that fast."

Centurion Lindy of Xandar shook her head. "They probably won’t choose that route."

"It doesn’t need to take that long. The Arthrosians are proficient in space abilities. They can open a portal in a star system near the Heavenfall Star System, then travel from there."

Skye shook her head. "We only deployed space radar on the Frontlines. Other star systems don’t have it."

"That’s true. Sigh, I’m still not used to god-level warfare."

Centurion Lindy shook her head. In past wars, there had been no such thing as portals. People either flew or used jump points.

"The times have changed. Both we and the Arthrosians have portals."

Skye smiled. "In any case, stay alert. The Arthrosians will never give up easily, especially since they recently gained powerful reinforcements."

Centurion Lindy sighed. "The scale of this war is getting bigger and bigger."

"That’s normal. Death wants to purge half the life in the universe. How could the scale of the war be small?"

Skye said, "Unless someone can defeat Death, this war will continue indefinitely. Thanos and Hela are merely Death’s generals."

"That level is beyond us. We can only rely on Blood God."

Centurion Lindy shook her head. At that moment, the communicator at her waist suddenly emitted a piercing sound. She hurriedly took it out and activated it.

Then Nova Prime’s terrified voice came through. "Lindy, the Arthrosians have appeared outside Xandar. They’re about to attack. There are too many of them. We can’t hold them off. Bring people back to reinforce us immediately."

"What?"

Everyone was shocked. The Arthrosians had actually gone around to their rear?

Centurion Lindy hurriedly asked, "Prime, why did we discover them so late? Didn’t we deploy a large number of defense and scouting posts outside?"

Nova Prime said bitterly, "All radar and defense posts failed. We didn’t discover them until the Arthrosian army appeared around the satellites."

"The Arthrosians’ concealment abilities are extremely powerful. Xandar hasn’t installed the new technology."

Skye said. The new technology had been installed on the Frontlines, but the rear had not caught up.

Centurion Lindy hurriedly shouted to Skye, "Elder Skye, we must reinforce Xandar immediately."

"Of course. Assemble your forces at once. I’ll have Crystal open a portal to send you over."

"Okay."

Centurion Lindy nodded. Just as she was about to leave, dozens of emergency communications appeared simultaneously on the screen before them. After they connected, representatives from a group of planets pleaded anxiously for help. Arthrosian armies had also appeared on their planets.

"The Arthrosians are attacking everywhere at once."

Skye slammed the table in anger and shouted, "Have Strange lead the Kamar-Taj disciples in opening portals. We cannot let the Arthrosians slaughter the universe."

"Skye, that’s not possible."

Steve said, "Other than Bert, Doctor Doom, and Strange, no one in Kamar-Taj can open portals across planets."

"Carol can help."

Strange’s projection appeared beside them. "Carol is filled with Space Energy. With her as the energy source, we can open a large number of interstellar portals. However, there are many planets I’ve never visited."

Kamar-Taj’s portal spell required the caster to have visited a place before they could open a portal there. Because of that, Crystal had visited many planets over the years. Strange had remained on Earth, so naturally he had not had such opportunities.

"That’s a minor problem. Master already has a solution."

Skye said, "Just share Crystal’s memories of those planets with him. Strange, begin at once. We must stop the Arthrosian attack, or the alliance will fall apart."

"I understand."

Strange nodded. If they could not protect the rear, the alliance would definitely disband. Everyone might have a sense of the bigger picture, but their own homes mattered more.

Without wasting words, Strange immediately gathered the Kamar-Taj mages. Then he brought Carol over and set up a Magic Array around her.

Carol was somewhat speechless. "I’m the energy source?"

"Yes. It’s a pity you can’t use magic. Otherwise, you could travel the universe as freely as Bert."

Strange said as he drew the Magic Array.

"I can’t learn something that unscientific."

Carol shook her head. "Hurry up and start. I can’t wait to wipe out those bugs."

"Carol, that won’t do."

Skye’s voice came through the earpiece. "All god-level and stronger combatants must await orders. No unauthorized attacks."

"Understood."

Carol and the others nodded. God-level powerhouses could alter the outcome of a war. They could not act rashly, especially since the enemy had god-level powerhouses as well.

At the same time, battle had already begun in the outer space around Xandar. The Nova Corps faced the Arthrosian army.

The Nova Corps’ flagship and warships continuously fired all kinds of energy cannons and Particle Cannons at the Arthrosian fleet. Quite a few Arthrosian warships exploded in space with booming blasts.

But it was useless, because there were simply too many Arthrosian warships, and their firepower was extremely fierce. Nova warships were frequently blasted apart by their biological cannons.

Besides flagships and warships, the Nova Corps also deployed large numbers of spindle-shaped fighters to attack the Arthrosian army. Seeing this, the Arthrosian commander ordered, "Release the Armored Beetles to destroy those fighters. Also, deploy the ground forces. I want the entire planet thrown into chaos."

"Yes, Commander."

The subordinate immediately accepted the order. A large number of massive Armored Beetles flew out at once, firing small energy spheres one after another at the fighters.

The spindle-shaped fighters dodged while returning fire. The Armored Beetles’ defenses were extremely strong, requiring multiple hits to kill one. Worse still, there were far too many of them, and the fighters soon fell into a disadvantage.

At the same time, more than ten enormous spheres descended toward Xandar. The warships hurriedly intercepted them, but the shells on the spheres’ surfaces were too hard. Even warships could not easily break them.

In the end, only a few spheres exploded in the air. The remaining spheres crashed thunderously onto Xandar, with dust sweeping through the surroundings alongside the Shockwaves.

Then the spheres opened, and huge numbers of differently shaped bugs flew out, flooding toward Xandar’s cities like a tidal wave.

The Xandarian residents were terrified. They screamed as they fled toward buildings, but many were caught by the bugs and immediately became food.

"Damn it! Deploy the guard units and intercept the bugs everywhere. Also, demand that all residents and tourists capable of fighting join the battle. These bugs always exterminate everything. Helping us is helping themselves."

Nova Prime slammed the table furiously and shouted the order. The soldiers immediately went to carry it out. Before long, the city began fighting back. Guard units, some residents, and tourists all took up weapons to resist the bugs.

"You little bastards, come on! Your Grandpa Rocket is right here!"

Rocket roared while carrying a Rocket Launcher. Drax beside him was even more fearless, charging directly into the swarm with two daggers in hand.

That was right, the Guardians of the Galaxy were on Xandar. They had just completed a mission and had intended to head to the Frontlines to work for their patron, but before they could depart, the bugs attacked.

"Letting the bugs penetrate the rear lines… the alliance doesn’t have a bright future."

Star-Lord muttered as he activated the Milano. "Rocket, Drax, get on! We’ll use the Milano to deal with them."

"Okay."

Rocket and Drax immediately returned to the Milano. Rocket operated an energy machine gun, firing at the dense sea of bugs ahead while cursing, "Why haven’t our weapons been upgraded in all these years? Quill, have you been embezzling money?"

"You’ve got the nerve to say that? If you didn’t cause trouble every day, our weapons would have been upgraded ages ago. Unlike now, even the seat cushions are three years old and stink of Drax."

Star-Lord cursed. Rocket looked a little embarrassed, while Drax burst out laughing. "The cushions I sit on stink terribly."

Even with the Guardians of the Galaxy helping, Xandar still retreated step by step. At that moment, a massive portal opened in the middle of the city. Then warship after warship flew out of the portal in a steady stream. They were the reinforcements led by Centurion Lindy.

When Centurion Lindy saw Xandar’s miserable state, her eyes immediately turned red. She cursed loudly, "Damned bugs! All warships, enter combat formation immediately."

"Yes."

The warship commanders answered. At that moment, dense pillars of energy descended from the sky. All five warships that had just emerged were blown apart, trailing black smoke as they fell toward the ground.

Centurion Lindy was startled and hurriedly directed her fighter upward. She discovered that, at some point, a massive Arthrosian fortress had appeared in the sky.

That was right, a fortress. This was the Arthrosian elite unit, the Fortress Bug. Its size was not particularly large, but its firepower was exceedingly savage.