There isn't any particularly exaggerated light or shadow effect, but the Magic Floating Cloak squirmed like a caterpillar a few times, detached from Su Ming's palm, and floated up.
Its bottom corner curled up, wrapping around the gemstone like a hand, while the other side shook its collar and regained its dashing appearance.
"Great, it's revived." Su Ming looked at the gemstone with some heartache. Although this thing was of no use to him and there was still quite a bit left, it was the reward he risked his life for, and the cloak seemed to have no intention of returning it to him.
Dr. Holloway turned his head upon hearing this and saw the red cloak with golden edges slowly floating in midair, as if an invisible person was wrapping it, standing together with the two of them.
He took a deep breath, "What is this? Anti-gravity technology, like Stark Industries'?"
"This is magic, don't try to understand the specifics." Su Ming shook his head. The Magic Floating Cloak has existed for hundreds of years, and probably only The Ancient One knows its origins. However, Su Ming kind of knew what the cloak could do: "Cloak, did you see the killer?"
Actually, the cloak doesn't have eyes, but in the known Marvel Universe, it has shown the ability to observe the external environment, so it must have its own method.
The cloak floated up and down, like submerging and emerging from water, and Su Ming guessed this was probably a nod.
Su Ming under the mask closed his eyes slightly and pondered for a second, "If there are any survivors here, take us to rescue them first."
The red cloak instantly bent down, as if sniffing something on the floor of the room like a dog, flying onto a pile of garbage at one moment, and then diving under a desk.
Of course, this was just Su Ming's perspective. In reality, it was detecting the mana traces of other mages.
A few seconds later, the cloak flew back in front of Su Ming, twisted in mid-air like a towel, forming an arrow shape pointing in a direction.
Su Ming looked over there and saw a huge hanging painting, depicting lush rainforests, where lizards and insects seemed to crawl in the shadowy tree areas. If one got closer, they might even smell the scent of the rainforest.
But that was a fixed teleportation gate, leading to a rainforest that might not even still be on Earth.
"Can you write? Where is that place?"
The cloak returned to its original shape, but its collar swayed from side to side, probably saying it couldn't write.
Su Ming turned to look at Dr. Holloway, who was also looking at him.
The doctor had heard that the rainforest was dangerous, and a tiny poisonous insect could kill a person, and now it might be a rainforest on an extraterrestrial planet.
Su Ming was also pondering this issue; he was fine with his full-body armor protection as a modified person, whereas Holloway didn't even have a full-cover helmet.
He had teamed up with the Avenging Angels, and it would be embarrassing if Dr. Holloway died halfway.
But leaving him alone in the bloody-smelling Holy Temple wasn't a good choice either. The enemy in the dark with the advantage of awareness cannot be given the opportunity to defeat them one by one.
But isn't there a Magic Floating Cloak?
"Cloak, my teammate likes red a lot too," Su Ming pointed at the red cloak behind Holloway, whose red and blue uniform really looked... a bit cheesy. "He's a person with great taste, we can go into the jungle to find people, but can you use yourself to cover his exposed skin?"
The Magic Floating Cloak seemed very happy and immediately flew over to tightly wrap Dr. Holloway's exposed areas.
In an instant, Dr. Holloway turned into a red-headed Ah San, like he had a red pumpkin on his head.
There was no choice, he only had his head exposed, and now the cloak even exposed his eyes, which was already quite good.
"Ahem, let's go." Su Ming stifled a laugh and turned towards the hanging painting on the wall.
Lifting his leg over the painting's frame, Su Ming stepped into sludge; although the location was unknown, it had clearly rained not long ago.
The thick humus underfoot emitted a rotten stench, occasionally burping out sticky bubbles like a swamp.
Su Ming's expression remained unchanged, which was a good thing, because although the softness underfoot slowed his forward speed, it also left footprints on the ground.
The Promethium-made combat boots stepped firmly into the footprints left earlier.
Aside from human footprints, there were also dense traces of other unfamiliar species, which had been hunting the previous humans.
These footprints didn't belong to any known creatures to Su Ming. Though they looked like inverted triangles, they clearly weren't the types left by mechanical metals.
This belonged to some kind of creature.
"Uh, I'm having a bit of trouble breathing, can you loosen it a bit?"
Holloway also stepped over the frame of the painting, his head so tightly wrapped that he felt top-heavy.
The Magic Floating Cloak kindly exposed a hole at his mouth, revealing his small mustache at the same time.
The doctor quickly touched his little mustache, confirmed it was still there, and felt relieved.
"Come on, doctor, follow me. Stay wary of your surroundings."
With these words, Su Ming quickly identified a direction and followed, his pace brisk.
Holloway got left behind almost instantly... Deathstroke was surprisingly fast, and after catching his breath in place, he could only dimly see the black-and-yellow silhouette amidst dense leaves.
Thankfully, there was still the cloak to assist him. Like pulling a carrot, the Magic Floating Cloak lifted him off the ground, quickly floating him to catch up with Su Ming.
But he felt like his spine was going to dislocate and had to use his hands like climbing to hook onto the 'turban' on his head, using his arms to share the weight of his body.
Su Ming shrugged, the cloak's method was somewhat rough, but as long as they could keep up, it was enough.
His attention was primarily focused downward, because he noticed fresh blood stains on the grass and branches next to the footprints in front.
Generally speaking, red blood belonged to vertebrate species, and the pyramid-shaped-tracked chasers didn't seem like that, so this was likely human blood.
The person being hunted was injured.
With sword drawn, Su Ming saw the light red blood indicated it was still fresh, which also meant they were getting closer.
After crossing a stretch of rotten wood in a small creek for the second time, the two and a cloth finally saw their enemies.
The Annihilation Insect Race.
Su Ming recognized these strange insects at first glance. In the Marvel World, they resided in the depths of the vast cosmos, generally believed to be at the edge of the Universe.
They were reputedly a locust army that consumed everything, leaving only void in their wake, hence the name Annihilation.
Living beings, planets, even stars, nothing was beyond their consumption.
Their social structure was a beehive pyramid form, with each layer consisting of various species, differing greatly in form and size. But the slightly stronger ones could traverse the cosmos with mere physical bodies, and they were limitless in number, making them a formidable force in the Marvel Universe.
However, under normal circumstances, the Celestial Gods Group and the Life Court kept them in check; they wouldn't typically traverse cosmic space to attack Earth. Something must have gone wrong somewhere.
And now, before them, were roughly three hundred or so, assaulting a rainforest cave, just a minuscule fraction of the swarm's endless branches.
Generally, an invasion by the Annihilation Insect Race would start with billions of insects; the quantity here seemed peculiar.
The cave's entrance was sealed with a golden magic shield, and the insects continuously crashed into it. Some simply began gnawing at nearby rock walls and tree roots, intending to dig in from another direction.
Su Ming pulled Holloway aside, hiding behind a large tree; rescuing was proving cumbersome, requiring a bit of a plan.