Kaecilius's surprise didn't last long.
Because the Chitauri swarming through the sky had already discovered Karl's presence.
They began maneuvering their aircraft, howling as they swooped in.
Their small landing craft were fitted with powerful energy weapons.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Blue beams continuously fired down at the sorcerers below.
The sorcerers raised their shields to block.
The blue energy beams struck the shields—no pain, no itch.
"Hmph. Alien beasts."
Kaecilius cursed, then swept both hands outward, and transparent Spatial Blades appeared in his hands.
With a flick of his arm, Kaecilius hurled the transparent blades. They flew out and, with terrifying precision, embedded themselves directly into the engines of those small landing craft.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Two Chitauri craft exploded on the spot.
The sorcerers' spirits lifted, and they immediately began to counterattack.
All sorts of flashy spells were unleashed.
Unfortunately—
The results were minimal.
These weren't the brain-dead, deliberately nerfed opponents from a movie made to showcase the Avengers.
This was alien technology.
In the grand scheme of the galaxy, the Chitauri were trash—but on Earth, this was a top-tier army.
Ordinary weapons couldn't break that sturdy metal.
And the average sorcerer's magic, for the moment, couldn't pose much of a threat either.
Only when several sorcerers attacked together could they take down a single craft.
But that was like trying to put out a wildfire with a cup of water.
What the Chitauri had sent was an army. For Thanos, who had seized who-knew-how-many planets, these kinds of aircraft were basically infinite—however many he wanted, he had.
On this single block alone, there had to be at least a hundred.
And that didn't even count the scattered ground troops.
How many could the sorcerers possibly eliminate?
"This is getting bad… Why are there more and more of these alien monsters?"
Aldrich couldn't help blurting it out.
"There really are more."
"Looks like we'll have to use more strength."
Karl let out a helpless sigh.
His Tao Mandalas was just too conspicuous—it was directly soaking up half the incoming fire for the others.
Karl hadn't even attacked earlier.
But now, he couldn't avoid it.
Karl's gaze sharpened. He saw dozens of Chitauri landing craft clustering together and unleashing a coordinated volley toward them.
Blue light flooded the air, illuminating half the block.
Several sorcerers combined their power to hold up a magic shield, barely blocking the barrage.
Karl didn't hesitate.
With a wave of his hand, two golden disks of light shot out.
BOOM!
A tremendous explosion erupted.
Within a hundred-meter radius, every craft in the area detonated in a chain of fireballs.
The sky filled with dazzling sparks.
The sorcerers: ???
Kaecilius: ???
What did they just see?
A magic shield… exploded?
You had to be kidding!
Isn't a magic shield supposed to be purely defensive?
How could that thing explode?!
The sorcerers couldn't help looking down at the magic shields in their own hands, their expressions turning into pure existential doubt.
Kaecilius also glanced at his own shield—then forcefully resisted the impulse to throw it.
He probably wouldn't even get the chance to throw it before it dispersed on its own.
Just how strong was this kid's mind?
This kid was a complete freak!
Kaecilius cursed a few times in his head.
But he quickly snapped back to reality.
"Hurry—break through!"
"More Chitauri are converging!"
Kaecilius shouted, leading them as they prepared to punch their way out.
In Karl's hands, magic shields were being thrown out as if they cost nothing.
But the more he did that—
The more they drew the attention of the Chitauri command node.
The Chitauri weren't a true hive-mind structure, but their bio-armor required command support from a mothership positioned in outer space.
That was why, once the mothership was destroyed, the Chitauri lost all power.
In other words—
Whatever a Chitauri soldier could see, the mothership could also see.
Karl and the others had wiped out a huge number of troops. Naturally, the mothership responded by issuing orders.
Chitauri from several surrounding blocks began redeploying toward this area.
With movements that obvious, the Avengers noticed immediately.
"Cap, I'm detecting a large number of Chitauri converging on Fifth Avenue. Do you know what's going on?"
Tony Stark spoke over the team channel.
"No idea."
"But I do know this—whatever the Chitauri want, we can't let them have it."
"Stark, Thor—go check what's happening!"
"We can't let them keep spreading outward from New York!"
Captain America said, panting as he spoke.
Thor and Tony Stark acknowledged and departed.
Both of them could fly.
They crossed the distance incredibly fast.
In just a few dozen seconds, they reached Fifth Avenue.
Then—
The two of them stood side by side in silence.
"…Is that human?"
After a long pause, Tony Stark finally spoke.
"If it's human or not, shouldn't you be the one who knows? I'm an Asgardian."
Thor shot back.
Down below—
That group of sorcerers was cutting through the Chitauri like a hot knife through butter.
They held massive shields, blocking the Chitauri's attacks.
And disk-shaped things kept flying out from among them.
Each disk triggered a violent explosion.
Dozens of aircraft would detonate at once.
The killing efficiency was higher than even Thor's.
To the point that, later on, the Chitauri didn't even dare cluster together anymore.
But even after scattering—
The guy in the center of that group still had terrifying kill speed.
That kind of attack was just too powerful!
And more importantly—it kept coming without end.
In just a few dozen seconds, Tony Stark had watched him throw out over a hundred disks.
By Tony's estimate, even if his Iron Man armor kept firing attacks at that level, it should have run out of energy by now.
But that guy showed no sign of slowing down at all.
"Damn it—who is that?"
"Can a human body contain energy fluctuations at that level?!"
Even Thor couldn't help cursing.
This guy was stronger than the warriors of Kamar-Taj.
"Tony, do you know who this is?"
"Their methods look kind of like wizardry, but what wizard is this strong?"
Thor asked, utterly baffled.
"How would I know? If you don't know, I definitely don't know."
"But I don't think they're human."
"The energy inside them is absurd—just like you."
Tony Stark twitched at the corner of his mouth.
He'd just used an energy scanner on the people below.
And wow—
Not a single normal person.
Every one of them had absurd internal energy readings.
And that young man in the middle was the worst.
He was like a miniature sun.
What kind of monster was this?
Why had he never heard of him before?
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
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