Monster

Facing Thanos, who had cowed the universe, Alex had never felt the slightest fear. But when he encountered Apocalypse, Alex inexplicably became afraid, as though he had met his natural enemy. No matter how strong he was, he would still be suppressed. Though it was somewhat unreasonable, that was the feeling Apocalypse gave Alex.

Meanwhile, Nick Fury was completely stunned. After a long while, he finally asked in disbelief, "Alex, is what you said true?"

"Go back. Don’t interfere in this matter." Alex shook his head bitterly, his mood somewhat low.

Nick and Alex had been communicating through telepathy all along, so none of the others nearby knew what Nick was doing. Watching him stand up one moment and sit down the next, occasionally crying out strange, incomprehensible things, they exchanged confused looks, unsure what to do.

Only Natasha vaguely understood something. Noticing Nick’s pale face, she could not help asking worriedly, "Nick, what’s wrong?"

Hearing Natasha call to him, Nick immediately snapped back to his senses. He looked around, his eyes filled with struggle.

"Did you find something out?" Seeing Nick’s expression, Natasha’s face immediately turned serious. Leaning toward him and staring into his single eye, she lowered her voice. "What did Alex tell you? Don’t even think about hiding it from me!"

Nick turned to Natasha, but just as he was about to speak, he saw her eyes suddenly widen in horror. After a brief pause, Nick immediately understood. Alex must have revealed the matter to Natasha as well.

"You should withdraw. I’ll stay!" After standing there blankly for some time, Natasha finally calmed herself. With a slight frown, she pondered for a moment before saying, "At least one person has to remain here. It’s S.H.I.E.L.D.’s duty."

Nick nodded, then shook his head. "Everyone else withdraws. You and I will stay!" Not giving Natasha a chance to persuade him, Nick added firmly, "That’s an order!"

"Fine, stay if you want to stay!" As Natasha and Nick confronted each other without yielding, Alex cut in, sounding somewhat helpless. "With me here, keeping you safe won’t be a problem."

With Alex’s assurance, Natasha immediately relaxed. She shrugged and sat back down, staring blankly in boredom. The remaining matters were for Nick, the director, to handle.

Before long, all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s personnel had withdrawn, leaving only Nick and Natasha, along with a young man carrying a quiver and holding a black metal bow.

"Clint, there’s really no need for you to stay!" Nick looked at the young man beside him with a headache.

The young man, Clint, raised the left hand holding the metal bow. He furtively glanced at Natasha, who sat calmly beside him, but his response did not answer the question at all. As if swearing loyalty, he spoke with an especially resolute expression and blazing eyes. "As long as I, Clint Barton, am here, no one can hurt you… any of you!"

"If he wants to stay, let him stay. It’s none of our business if he dies!" Nick was about to continue persuading him when Natasha suddenly spoke, her expression indifferent.

Hearing this, Nick rolled his one eye in exasperation. Yet inwardly, he could not help complaining, If the kid didn’t have a crush on you, I wouldn’t bother caring about him!

"What’s going on?" Alex had been watching Nick’s side all along and immediately noticed that Natasha and this archer named Clint seemed unusual.

Nick seemed to have found an outlet and poured out all his pent-up frustration in one breath.

"What can this kid do?" Natasha was one of Alex’s few friends, so Alex immediately grew serious. He had to make sure Clint measured up.

"Archery!" Nick replied, then added after some thought, "His arrow skills are supernatural!"

Alex was about to ask more when he suddenly sensed an abnormal fluctuation of energy within Mount Wundagore. His expression immediately changed. No longer caring about anything else, he left behind a sentence and instantly moved toward the depths of the forest.

"Be careful. They may have started fighting!"

Hearing Alex’s parting words, Nick’s face changed as well. He turned to Natasha and Clint, took a deep breath, and slowly said, "Come on. Let’s move out too!"

When Alex sensed the energy fluctuations deep inside Mount Wundagore, the other factions at the mountain’s foot also discovered the anomaly one after another. In an instant, several groups revealed themselves and advanced into the depths of the mountain from all directions. Though every faction had been exposed, their respective concerns kept them from clashing, and they rushed toward their destination without incident.

Alex was far faster than those people and was the first to arrive at the site of the abnormal energy fluctuations.

What surprised Alex was that the fluctuations had not been caused by a battle between Apocalypse and the High Evolutionary, but by an enormous rocket standing in the center of a valley. More precisely, they came from a bomb mounted at the rocket’s tip. There was no need to guess; this bomb had to be the Gene Bomb developed by the High Evolutionary.

Without time to care about the vanished Apocalypse and High Evolutionary, Alex took a step and immediately appeared atop the rocket, preparing to remove the Gene Bomb.

Yes, Alex had changed his mind after seeing friends like Nick and Natasha. The Gene Bomb might truly allow humanity to undergo higher evolution, but no one could guarantee that it would succeed, nor could anyone say its chance of evolution was one hundred percent. Alex did not want to lose his friends because of a single bomb.

However, before Alex could reach out, a gray shadow suddenly shot out of nowhere. It pounced on him, dragging him down from the rocket’s top. They crashed into the ground and rolled a long distance before coming to a stop.

Alex’s head was somewhat muddled. Only after his body stopped did he slowly regain his senses. Looking closely, he discovered that the gray shadow on top of him was a monster that resembled both a human and a wolf, strikingly similar to the Werewolves that later appeared in movies.

While Alex was still considering how a Werewolf had appeared, the creature on top of him had already swung its claws down at him.

Alex was someone who had fought Thanos to a draw. Whether in ability or physical fitness, he far surpassed ordinary people; even a true Werewolf could not compare to him. He had merely been caught off guard earlier. Now that he was alert, he sprang up in a kip and flipped the Werewolf off himself.

The Werewolf was exceptionally agile. It adjusted its body midair and landed steadily on the ground, its gray-green pupils locked tightly onto Alex.

"Whether you’re a Werewolf or not, I’m not interested in playing with you right now!" Alex muttered after glancing at it. With a casual gesture, he froze the Werewolf in place and charged toward the Gene Bomb once more.

But what greeted Alex was not the Gene Bomb, but a pack of Werewolves, along with more than a dozen unknown bird-men. Yes, bird-men—humanoid monsters flying through the air.

Alex stared at the monsters before him in disbelief, a thought suddenly surfacing in his mind: Could these monsters all have been created by the High Evolutionary? It was no wonder Alex thought so. The High Evolutionary was a geneticist and a madman. Creating these half-human, half-nonhuman monsters would be perfectly normal for him.

"Whatever you are, get out of my way!"

Still working hard to recover. This time, Scorpion was serious!!!