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"Damn it, who can tell me how those Dark Elves managed to build so many large-scale factories in just a few days?!"
Thor's veins bulged on the back of his hand, and he squeezed the ore tightly in his large hand, hearing the subtle sound of rocks crushing and rubbing inside his palm, as powder and tiny particles sprinkled from the gaps between his fingers.
Rumble—
At that moment, a huge roar suddenly came from the distant valley. Immediately after, Thor and the others saw several Dark Elves transport ships using hoists and steel cables to pull out the severely damaged wreckage of several giant spacecraft from underground, like pulling radishes, and then dragging them in a certain direction.
"That is…"
Thor keenly noticed that the severely damaged giant spacecraft wreckage was almost identical in shape to the "cruciform mothership" Malekith used when he attacked Asgard. It was very likely left over from the great war thousands of years ago.
What exactly did these Dark Elves want to do with this spacecraft wreckage?
"Your Highness, look at the sky over there!"
At this moment, an accompanying scout suddenly pointed to an area on everyone's right and exclaimed. Thor and the others quickly looked over, only to see a huge jagged crack opening in the scarlet clouds, like a terrifying, fanged demon's gaping maw appearing out of nowhere.
Immediately after, a huge "cruciform" spacecraft flew out of the crack and slowly hovered in mid-air.
And the destination of those transport ships dragging the spacecraft wreckage was precisely this large crack—a crack directly leading into the Warp!!
Seeing this, if Thor still couldn't react to what Malekith and the Dark Elves wanted to do, then he truly wouldn't be worthy of inheriting the throne of Asgard.
Thor's pupils contracted sharply, and he exclaimed, "Damn it, those Dark Elves aren't trying to use the wreckage of those spacecraft to build new spacecraft inside the Warp, are they?"
Normally, even if the Dark Elves took a 'shortcut' and directly used the wreckage of those spacecraft as the framework for new spacecraft, it would still take at least ten years or more to rebuild a completely new cruciform spacecraft.
After all, the immense size of the cruciform spacecraft was a factor.
However, when the wreckage of these spacecraft was brought into the Warp for repair and reconstruction, the situation became completely different.
Because Thor clearly remembered that Karl had told him in Sokovia that the Warp was an extremely special dimensional space, where the concept of 'time' had no influence within it.
In other words… a single thought is Eternity!
So, in theory, as long as raw materials were sufficient, the Dark Elves could completely exploit a bug in the Warp—that is, complete the entire process of manufacturing and assembling the cruciform spacecraft within the Warp, and then launch the cruciform spacecraft into the real World through a Warp Rift.
This way, they could easily accomplish the miraculous feat of 'instant spacecraft construction'!!
Thinking of this, Thor immediately fixed his gaze on the huge mining plant in the distance.
To stop the Dark Elves' plan now and maximize the delay in the construction speed of the cruciform spacecraft, the only way was probably to destroy the continuous supply of ore raw materials to the Warp.
However, these mining plants were distributed in different areas across the entire Planet. Unless a large-scale force could be deployed at once, it would be impossible to completely destroy these mining plants.
And due to the influence of Warp energy, the Bifrost Bridge was still unable to perform normal spatial teleportation to Vanaheim.
Using Dark Energy for teleportation was too dangerous; it would be very good if half of the troops could survive being deployed there.
Also, the spatial crack they had just passed through was only large enough to accommodate a small airship, making large-scale troop transport impossible…
Coupled with the Dark Elf warriors who had been blessed by the Chaos Gods, their strength far surpassed that of ordinary Asgardian warriors…
And the tens of thousands of Frost Giants summoned by Malekith, who had already transformed into Nurgle Plague Zombies, made one's scalp tingle…
"Damn it, Loki, I really should have brought you here to see the mess you made!!"
Thor's face showed a hint of unwillingness, but he was powerless to do anything about it.
He really wanted to, as he had in the past, directly rush into those mining plants with mjolnir and wreak havoc.
But doing so would likely be counterproductive; not only would it solve no problems, but it would also accelerate the Dark Elves' actions.
Just as Thor was hesitating whether to return, a scout responsible for vigilance behind him suddenly warned loudly, "Enemy spotted on the western cliff…"
Before he finished speaking, three exceptionally robust figures suddenly leaped straight down from the rock face.
Boom boom boom—
Three Chaos Cursed Warriors, covered in sharp bone spurs, crashed heavily to the ground, causing the entire area to tremble violently.
Their eye sockets burned with scarlet Chaos fire, clearly indicating they were followers under Khorne.
Without the slightest hesitation, the three Chaos Cursed Warriors immediately charged towards Thor and the others, leaving a series of scorched black, massive footprints on the ground.
"Leave these three guys to me, you go first…"
Thor, while spinning mjolnir in his hand, loudly commanded, "Split into two groups. One group returns to Asgard to report the situation here to My Father, tell him the Dark Elves are using the Warp to build spacecraft…
The other group goes to Nidavellir to notify the Dwarf King and have his blacksmiths check if all the black stone obelisks are functioning properly!!"
With that, Thor activated the Thunder God Power within him, and guided by mjolnir, a giant lightning bolt descended from the sky, directly blasting away the two Chaos Cursed Warriors who were first to charge.
However, apart from wisps of smoke rising from their bodies, they seemed to have suffered no damage at all.
Seeing this, Thor couldn't help but force a helpless, bitter smile, "Looks like I'm going to be busy today!!"
...
…
Asgard.
"Cough, cough, cough…"
"Ah, Doctor, save me, I feel something tormenting my soul, ah, it hurts so much…"
The Medical Room deep within the Heavenly Palace was already overcrowded. Physicians bustled back and forth, but the number of patients coming for treatment not only didn't decrease but increased even more.
Even the corridor outside the door was crowded with many Asgardian warriors standing, sitting, or lying down, waiting to receive treatment.
Wails and screams were incessant…
And almost all of these people had one similarity: they had all suddenly contracted this unknown strange sickness in the past few days.
Initially, some people only showed symptoms like a mild cold, just a slight fever and cough.
So, including Female Medical Officer El, the First Medical Officer of the Heavenly Palace, none of the Doctors realized that the sudden surge in patients would trigger an unprecedented viral crisis.
Thus, in just two days, among the soldiers who had received simple medical treatment, some weaker soldiers' conditions worsened first, beginning to experience severe internal bleeding and emitting inexplicable wails and screams with horrified expressions.
After a detailed examination, the Doctors discovered that the internal organs of these soldiers seemed to be suffering fatal damage from some unknown virus.
However… they were helpless. Faced with the unknown virus, the Doctors could only try their best to calm the soldiers' emotions and increase the dosage of painkillers and sedatives.
In Odin's bedchamber, the exquisite glass made of colored crystal seemed to be covered in a layer of dust, making it dim and oppressive.
And the Eternity Flower placed on the carved wooden stand was already nearing wilting.
The back of its once emerald-bright and dazzling leaves was now covered with spiderweb-like black veins, as if also eroded by some virus.
Odin sat powerlessly on the throne, the light in his single eye much dimmer than usual.
"Cough, cough, cough… Pfft…"
Odin coughed violently a few times, then spat out a mouthful of foul black blood, which startled Female Medical Officer El, who was preparing medicine for him and Queen Frigga. She quickly handed over the medicinal soup and advised with a trembling voice:
"Your Majesty, you must undergo the Odin Sleep, otherwise your condition may develop to an immeasurable extent."
"I'm fine… Cough, cough, cough…"
Odin took the medicinal soup and drank it all at once. After a long pause, he continued to ask, "What exactly is going on with the plague that has appeared in the Heavenly Palace recently? Has the source been identified? Why did it suddenly spread without any warning?"
"This…"
El shook her head with a troubled expression and replied with a trembling voice, "We only know for now that this plague first spread from within the Heavenly Palace, but we currently have no clue about the source or nature of the plague…"
"However, from the symptoms shown by some patients, it can be judged that this strange sickness, in addition to attacking others' internal organs, also seems to be able to affect the soul level…"
"Useless, truly a bunch of useless trash."
Odin roared fiercely, "The Soul Smelting Furnace is the most advanced medical device within the Nine Realms, yet you can't even identify such an unknown disease?!"
El silently lowered her head. In truth, she really wanted to tell Odin that this plague was different from any disease they had encountered before.
Its complexity was the greatest in history!
Because she had detected dozens of completely different unknown viruses in the blood of those patients with severe bleeding, and these viruses were mutating and evolving at an astonishing rate.
She couldn't even distinguish which one caused the severe bleeding… or if all of them could?
However, no one, including Odin, would ever imagine that the source of this 'strange sickness' was actually the Soul-Eating Disease that Thor brought back from Jotunheim!!
"Don't blame El, she has done her best."
Not far away, Queen Frigga, lying on the bed with a slightly pale face, struggled to prop up her heavy body with her arms, then rubbed her somewhat dizzy forehead and said to Odin:
"Don't worry, I believe El and the others will definitely find a way to cure this plague, but before that, you must enter the Odin Sleep…"
As the Queen, Frigga's physique was much stronger than that of ordinary Asgardians, and she also possessed a super physique that could immunize against all diseases, just like Odin and Thor.
So even though she had been infected with the Soul-Eating Disease early on, there were no signs on her body.
However, as time passed, the Soul-Eating Disease's erosion of Queen Frigga's soul had deepened, and her spirit gradually began to become somewhat listless.
"No, wait a little longer."
Odin let out a weak sigh and stubbornly shook his head, "I've been restless these past few days. Valhalla seems to be warning me that something bad is about to happen!!"
"Perhaps you are too anxious?"
Queen Frigga gently comforted him, "Now, Thor has successfully curbed the corruption of Chaos energy on the various Worlds within the Nine Realms using the black stone obelisk, and the Eye of Fear is no longer expanding outwards. Everything is developing in a good direction… Only your body is getting worse and worse!!"
Odin on the throne shook his head again, "A few hours ago, Thor sent back a message… The large number of refugees previously plundered by the Dark Elves are all mining underground minerals on Vanaheim."
"Malekith is attempting to use these ores to build more large spacecraft within the Warp… I believe it won't be long before Malekith leads the Dark Elves to attack Asgard once again!"
Thinking of the impending rekindled war, Odin suddenly felt a surge of irritation.
The most crucial thing was, with his current terrible physical condition, was it even an unknown whether he could last until then?
"Will the war be rekindled again?"
Somehow, a vision she had seen in the flames earlier suddenly appeared in Queen Frigga's mind, and she couldn't help but murmur, "Is Ragnarok truly unavoidable?"
Roar—
Suddenly, a series of strange roars echoed from somewhere in the Heavenly Palace. Not long after, the Captain of the guard responsible for defending the Heavenly Palace rushed into the bedchamber to report:
"My Lord, something is wrong! The Medical Room has suddenly been attacked by several demonic creatures of unknown origin…"