Duel Invitation (Continued)

Eitri silently sighed. "Thor, you're still the same as ever."

He had already given up on explaining what liquid metal was to Thor. This guy probably would not understand it anyway.

"Never mind that." Thor's expression shifted as he said eagerly, "Since you have armor and weapons, how about we have a traditional Asgardian duel, relying solely on physical strength and equipment?"

"Hm?" Dane raised an eyebrow. "For real?"

"Of course. If we don't use divine power, it should be hard for either of us to die with our abilities."

As for getting hurt?

Asgardian warriors getting injured in sparring matches was an everyday occurrence. When Thor had still been very young, Loki had stabbed him in the kidney during one of their sparring sessions. Had he not been perfectly fine afterward?

The warlike Asgardians feared injuries least of all. Scars were a warrior's medals. So long as they were earned facing an enemy head-on, they were marks of glory.

Yes, a very reckless-brute sort of attitude.

Seeing the tense expression on Thor's face, Dane knew this was the battle he had been hoping for.

On further thought, it made sense. Among all the friends Thor knew, Dane was probably the only one he did not need to worry about accidentally killing if he failed to hold back.

The Warriors Three and the Valkyrie, for instance, were not truly qualified to make him fight seriously, much less to be his opponents.

No wonder Thor was already over a thousand years old, yet his strength had hardly improved. When his power was sufficient for most situations, it was only natural for it to stagnate.

No wonder he had once been so arrogant and impulsive that he had tried to conquer the Frost Giants' homeland alone.

But Dane had made him feel