157. Female Dark Elf, are they as good-looking as the Night Elves?

To create an opportunity for Malekith to approach him, Suye had to forgo many of his high-damage Area of Effect abilities.

Spells like mental control, magnetic field manipulation, and silently forcing the Dark Elves to commit mass suicide from afar were all shelved.

Instead, he wielded his Six-Style Greatblade, switching entirely to close-quarters combat. The massive blade split and combined into six distinct components: one greatsword, two chopping sabers, one long saber, and a pair of short daggers.

With the aid of Claude's blade techniques, controlling the six blades was already as effortless as moving his own fingers. Combined with Suye's magnetic field manipulation, it granted him the distinct feel of wielding flying swords.

He slashed forward with the greatblade. When it became lodged in an enemy, it mattered not; he simply disassembled the body of the blade, pulled out the greatsword, and thrust backward without looking, impaling the enemy behind him before flicking his wrist to send the blade flying like a skewer, piercing a line of Dark Elves in front of him.

Immediately afterward, he snapped out the two chopping sabers from the assembly, blades facing outward, and charged forward spinning. The foot soldiers were instantly cleared out in a wide radius.

Next, activating his magnetic field manipulation, the two short daggers buzzed like honeybees around his body, automatically parrying all incoming ranged attacks.

Suye himself once again grasped the long saber, taking down an enemy with every single strike.

The Dark Elves were slightly smarter than the Asgardians in that they knew how to turn their mastered magical technology into ranged energy-shooting weapons and throwable black hole grenades.

Yet this was technological prowess from at least five thousand years ago.

By comparison, Asgardian soldiers five thousand years later still relied solely on enchanted melee weapons, swinging blades wildly in a chaotic brawl. Both their mindset and weapon technology remained firmly stuck in the Middle Ages.

That would be fine if everyone were like Thor, a max-level warrior capable of soaring through the heavens and tunneling through the earth.

The problem was that every single one of them possessed the combat caliber of a novice village guard. They could bully weaklings, but once thrown onto a genuine battlefield, they were utter trash, incapable of defeating even a novice zone boss.

Seeing this, it was truly difficult to fathom how the Dark Elves had ever been defeated by the Asgardians.

Perhaps it came down to that same old issue: the Dark Elves hadn't been defeated by Asgard, but rather Malekith had been defeated by Bor, the King of Gods at the time.

The absence of high-tier combat power was the fundamental reason for their ultimate failure.

Thus, even though Malekith possessed a starship capable of reducing Asgard to ruins in a single raid, he chose to hibernate for millennia, watching complacently as Asgard rose to become the hegemon of the Nine Realms.

Based on Suye's current understanding of Asgardians, Frost Giants, and Dark Elves, Asgardian soldiers undoubtedly possessed the most garbage individual and team combat capabilities.

The Dark Elves' laser guns and black hole grenades should still hold some practical value if brought back to Earth.

As Suye slashed and killed his way through the ranks, he consciously avoided inflicting direct damage on the laser rifles and black hole grenades.

For the black hole grenades in particular, he even attempted to use his magnetic field manipulation to remotely deactivate their detonation sequences.

This operation was remarkably difficult in practice, involving numerous arcane technologies. Suye could only attempt to disrupt the triggering phase; once the activation process completed, he was powerless.

Consequently, his control and capture of the black hole grenades were far from ideal.

After fighting for a long time, he had only managed to secure three to five unexploded finished units.

Yet these few pieces were actually sufficient. Upon returning, he could hand them over to Zheng Xian or directly to Old Su; someone on their end would surely be able to reverse-engineer plenty of useful technologies from these samples.

Furthermore, the benefits were not limited to the miniaturized black hole manufacturing and detonation technology. Numerous other aspects, such as materials and trigger mechanisms, could provide valuable inspiration.

Still, these were merely side details. The truly valuable prize was that cross-shaped starship.

That vessel was a rare treasure that had to be salvaged and brought back. Above all, it must not be allowed to land in London, or transporting it back to the Dragon Kingdom would become immensely troublesome.

Back then, it had taken a tremendous amount of effort for Miss Wa the Second to transport her vessel back, and this starship was vastly larger than Miss Wa's.

Of course, if Old Su chose to act, nothing would likely pose a problem. The trouble was that Old Su seemed to harbor a deep-seated taboo against intervening abroad, leaving Suye to handle this matter entirely on his own.

In Suye's view, the optimal strategy was to let Malekith take the Aether, then force him to abandon the starship and flee for his life.

That way, he could utilize the Casket of Ancient Winters to directly transport the starship back to the Dragon Kingdom.

To realize this plan, Suye could not simply block the bridgehead.

Glancing down at the Bifrost beneath him, Suye mentally offered a silent apology to Thor: this newly repaired bridge of yours is likely about to lose its integrity once again.

Whether there was any genuine sincerity in the apology, however, was open to debate.

From afar, through telepathic perception, he sensed that Malekith had disembarked from the starship and joined the advancing ranks of the Dark Elves.

Suye swung his greatblade in a wide circle, blasting the surrounding Dark Elves away with sheer force, then performed a backflip off the edge of the bridge, landing flawlessly onto the Bifrost below.

Seizing the moment before the Dark Elves could reorient and charge forward, Suye slammed his palm sharply against the ground.

Summoning Technique!

"Appear, Linda!"

A golden light erupted from the bridge surface, and a blue-and-white mecha slowly materialized from within.

A twenty-meter-tall mecha was incomparable to a starship hundreds of meters tall; it felt a bit like a kindergarten toddler challenging Yao Ming, but Suye possessed the Reality Stone.

As the energy of the Reality Stone surged, the twenty-meter mecha instantly grew to over a hundred meters in height. Soon after, one of Suye's shadow clones appeared inside the cockpit, piloting the giant machine and charging directly toward the cross-shaped starship.

Simultaneously, Suye turned tail and sprinted back along the Bifrost toward the Asgardian royal palace, looking for all the world as though he had been outmatched and was making a panicked, ignominious retreat.

At the bridgehead, Malekith felt a sudden wave of numbness.

On one side was his attacked starship, and on the other was the fleeing Aether. For a moment, he was torn between protecting the greater asset or seizing the critical opportunity.

The starship was his capital for survival and dominance across the universe; it could not be lost, or he would neither be able to leave nor return home.

Yet the Aether was his reliance for a resurgence, the fundamental key to once again dominating the Nine Realms and plunging the universe into darkness. With the Aether in hand, there was so much he could accomplish, rendering Asgard utterly insignificant in his eyes.

Comparatively speaking, the Aether was far more important.

Moreover, observing Suye's rapid escape speed, Malekith quickly reasoned that this robot was merely an impressive-looking spear with a soft core.

Otherwise, that fellow would have had no reason to flee at all.

"Starship, ascend and enter stealth mode! Everyone else, after him!"

Malekith roared, taking the lead in the pursuit of Suye.

Just at that moment, a figure soared out from the distant Asgardian palace, traversing several kilometers of open air before crashing heavily onto the Bifrost.

The individual was none other than Kurse Algrim, who had recently broken out of the palace prison and was preparing on a massive slaughter.

Had Loki been present, Algrim should have followed his guided path straight to the heart of the palace, disabled the protective shield enveloping the entire citadel, and then successfully breached the Queen's chambers to eliminate Queen Frigga while simultaneously safeguarding Malekith.

Instead, with Loki absent, Algrim had chosen the wrong route and headed toward the banquet hall.

All the Great Wall Guardians and Asgard's fiercest warriors were gathered there. Punching through that area smoothly was nearly impossible, even for Algrim, who had absorbed the Aether fragments to become a Kurse.

Of course, the Great Wall Guardians were currently suffering from a severe hangover, so their combat effectiveness might be slightly compromised.

Yet there was an anomaly present.

Though Banner and Tony had spent their time in Asgard researching technological matters, they had attended the banquet the previous night. Furthermore, Banner had fallen asleep closest to the banquet hall, drooling profusely.

It had been over half a year since he parted ways with the Hulk. During this period, Banner had lived a comfortable life, putting on quite a bit of weight.

Where he once possessed a sharp, aggressive-looking slender face, he had now transformed into a square-faced figure radiating an aura of simple-minded goodwill.

Algrim, however, cared nothing for any of this. Upon entering, he delivered a ferocious kick straight toward the nearest figure: Banner.

Given his strength, that kick could have sent Thor howling in agony for a long time; unleashed upon an ordinary human like Banner, it meant instant death, barring any miracles.

Regrettably, a miracle occurred. Banner was no ordinary human. Just as Algrim's massive boot was about to strike him, the Hulk, who had slumbered within him for over half a year, finally awakened once more.

"Raaagh!"

Amidst a deafening roar, the green-skinned monster burst out of its human shell, unstoppably tearing through every piece of clothing Banner wore, including his indestructible elastic shorts.

Banner was not wearing his own loose attire; to attend the banquet, Tony had forced him into one of his own tailored outfits.

As everyone knew, Tony possessed a flamboyant personality, favoring garments that emphasized a slim, well-defined silhouette.

Such clothing typically possessed very little elasticity.

Consequently, with the emergence of the Hulk, *rip, snap!*

The delicate hearts of the maidservants serving drinks along the periphery, already trembling from Algrim's terrifying entrance, nearly exploded at that precise sound.

In all their lives, they had never witnessed nor even heard of such a spectacle.

Was that even a creature of flesh and blood?

A few of the more fragile maidservants fainted dead away on the spot.

Algrim's terrifying arrival had failed to render them unconscious, but the Hulk had achieved it effortlessly.

The Hulk cared nothing for these reactions. With a swaggering, casual flick of his hand, he struck directly against Algrim's incoming kick.

"Raaagh!"

At this moment, the Hulk remained that low-intelligence behemoth who solved every problem exclusively through violence and roaring.

He despised this creature that had nearly killed him, and desired nothing more than to grab Algrim's giant foot and smash him into the ground with a classic Hulk smash.

Unfortunately, Algrim was no pushover like Loki; he could not be casually grabbed by the ankles and swung around like a toy before being dismissed with a muttered insult about weakness.

Algrim was a formidable warrior capable of pinning both Thor and Loki to the ground simultaneously—a force the Hulk could not easily manipulate.

"Raaagh!"

Algrim let out a matching roar. Without dodging or evading, he poured even greater strength into his leg and kicked forward.

A deafening boom echoed through the chamber as fist and foot collided, generating a shockwave that actually produced a sonic boom and hurled the closest onlookers backward through the air.

Staggered back from Algrim's kick, the Hulk scrambled back to his feet in a single fluid motion and charged straight back at him.

The Hulk would never acknowledge defeat; no matter who the opponent was, it made no difference!

Algrim had not anticipated encountering such a powerful green-skinned monster within the Asgardian palace. With such a beast blocking his path, successfully breaching the citadel promised to be a grueling trial.

Since that was the case, they would simply have to fight it out.

Instantly, two titanic figures possessing astronomical strength erupted into fierce combat in the open space of the banquet hall. Right beside them lay Thor and his companions, fast asleep.

Tony, lying closest, was blasted through the air by the sonic shockwave. Waking for barely a second, he slammed into a table and passed out once more, collapsing face-down with an expression that was both pathetic and comical.

As the Hulk and Algrim exchanged blows, they quickly found the banquet hall too confined. Locked in a grapple, they crashed together through a side window, shattering the stone wall and bursting out into the open air.

A true powerhouse never used doors or windows; they smashed straight through walls!

Once outside, the vast expanse allowed the two combatants to unleash their terrifying strength without restraint.

One would punch the other away, sending him crashing through the opposite wall and collapsing a swath of architecture.

Then the other would charge out in return, blasting his rival back and reducing the surrounding buildings to rubble.

The pair completely transformed into a demolition crew, tearing into the Asgardian palace with such destructive force that they nearly leveled the entire complex.

Faced with such ferocious combat, Asgard's useless guards could do nothing to intervene, forced to watch helplessly as the two monsters wreaked havoc.

In the end, it was Queen Frigga who took action.

Odin was slumbering, Thor was nursing a heavy hangover, and within the palace, only Frigga remained sufficiently lucid to protect Asgard.

Directly engaging Algrim in physical combat would have been tantamount to suicide, so when the Hulk hurled Algrim through the air during one of their exchanges, Frigga utilized her magic to give them a helpful boost.

That throw effectively turned Algrim into a living cannonball, sending him flying over a dozen kilometers to crash heavily onto the Bifrost.

He landed not far from where Suye stood.

Originally, Suye had been debating whether to intentionally slow his pace and let the pursuing Dark Elves catch up; seeing Algrim arrive saved him the trouble of acting out the scene.

Across from him, Algrim had intended to spring back up and resume his assault on the palace—that green-skinned monster and the deceitful trickster of a mage deserved to taste his wrath.

Just as he moved, however, Algrim heard a shout echo from behind.

"Algrim! Stop that creature! The Aether is on him!"

It was Malekith who shouted. To him, the reason Algrim had been hurled away was no longer important.

What mattered was that with Algrim blocking the path, he finally had the opportunity to rip the Aether out of Suye's body.

For Algrim, personal victory or pride meant nothing. Compared to the resurgence of the entire Dark Elf race, nothing else held significance.

Otherwise, he would never have embraced a suicide mission to become the final Kurse of the Dark Elves.

As long as the Dark Elves rose again, everything else was inconsequential.

Spitting viciously in the direction of the royal palace, Algrim whirled around and charged straight toward Suye.

"Raaagh!"

Resembling an iron tower, Algrim threw a punch weighing tens of tons, hurtling toward Suye with devastating force.

Such a blow could not be casually ignored, even by Suye. Yet he had no intention of dodging either. Raising his Six-Style Greatblade horizontally before him, he braced himself to take the full impact of the strike head-on.

Boom!

Algrim's fist landed with solid force. Suye was sent flying backward, executing a half-real, half-feigned stumble straight into the advancing ranks of the Dark Elf army.

A rare, fleeting smile finally surfaced on Malekith's corpse-like face.

"Let's see where you can run now."

Surrounding him in a tight circle, the Dark Elves raised their laser rifles, aiming directly at Suye's body. With an expression of absolute certainty, Malekith stretched out a hand toward him from afar.

Simultaneously, an invisible force locked onto Suye's body, attempting to yank him upward from the ground.

To Suye's senses, that power was not particularly formidable; a modest exertion of force would allow him to break free at any moment.

Yet Suye chose not to resist. He allowed the mysterious force to lift him into the air and begin tearing the Aether out from within his physical form.

*So this force is a form of control over the Aether itself?*

Suye observed closely, quickly realizing that Malekith's manipulation targeted the Aether rather than the Reality Stone directly.

The energy of the Reality Stone was far too potent for anyone to wield directly; it required a suitable medium or vessel to be channeled and operated.

The Aether served as that vessel for the Reality Stone.

While Malekith controlled the Aether, Suye possessed a natural affinity with the Reality Stone granted by his system. Theoretically, he could use the higher priority of the Reality Stone to reject Malekith's extraction attempt.

Understanding this, a sudden flash of inspiration struck Suye's mind.

*You want the Aether? Fine, I'll give you a taste of it!*

A faint smirk touched the corners of Suye's lips. A burst of crimson light flared across his body, and a mass of viscous red substance was forcibly ripped entirely from his chest. Malekith threw his head back and inhaled it, wearing an expression of profound, ecstatic bliss as he shuddered involuntarily.

Suye felt a strong urge to ask: between the Aether and a female Dark Elf, which did you prefer?

If Malekith had not spent the past five thousand years in deep slumber, surely he could have multiplied his race's population manifold by now.

Judging by Asgard's population growth rate, if the Dark Elves had exerted even a little effort, they could have overwhelmed Asgard through sheer numbers alone.

Unless their own birth rates were similarly sluggish.

Wait, did the Dark Elves even have females?
None had appeared in the films, and he had no idea whether female Dark Elves were as striking as Night Elves, or if their attire possessed a similar boldness...

Observing Malekith's deeply satisfied expression, and then looking at Algrim, who had stepped forward at some point to shield his master's body, Suye wisely decided to keep his thoughts to himself.

Perhaps this fellow simply didn't care for females?

Whatever the case, as long as he was happy.