I Hate It When People Point Weapons at My Head

"All squads, attention. An unknown enemy has infiltrated."

"All squads, attention. An unknown enemy has infiltrated."

"All squads, attention..."

The palace, which should have been calm and peaceful, became incomparably noisy in an instant. It had been a long time since anyone had dared to trespass into the Frost Giant royal palace. The last person to do so had been turned into an ice crystal specimen, and his corpse was still standing beside the execution platform outside the palace.

"Interesting. Where did this rat come from?"

Within the magnificent ice crystal hall, Laufey sat upon his throne and listened to his subordinate's report. There was no anger in his eyes—only a touch of mockery.

Ever since he had clashed with Odin on the battlefield of the Nine Realms and made a name for himself through Odin, it had been a long time since he had seen a stranger bold enough to sneak into the Frost Giant royal palace.

"Courage worth encouraging. But nothing more."

Whatever the infiltrating rat's purpose was, Laufey admired his courage.

"You handle it yourselves." With a great enemy looming, Laufey had no time for such trivial matters. His cooperative plan with the Dark Elves had already begun. Malekith had made his move, so naturally, he could not fall behind.

Preventing Odin from returning to Asgard was what Laufey needed to do most right now.

Though he spoke disdainfully of that war-crazed fiend, Laufey knew very well that if they truly went all out in a direct clash, he could only barely hold Odin off for a while with certain special methods.

He could only hope that the Dark Elves, who had already landed in Asgard with the help of an insider, could bring the suffering of war to Asgard and let the homeland Odin had always protected be ravaged by flames.

Then they could come help him.

"My king, Odin has already broken through the third line of defense formed by our joint giant forces." After the captain of the guards reporting the rat's intrusion withdrew, the report from the front lines made Laufey, who had just shown a disdainful smile, immediately furrow his brow.

Odin was far faster than he had expected.

"His Highness Beckett, it seems the Frost Giants are fighting a war?"

Somewhere within the Frost Giant royal palace, The Other planted the butt of the Azure Scepter against the chest of a corpse beneath his feet. Recalling the information gleaned from the conversations among the four patrol squads they had encountered so far, he turned an eager gaze toward Beckett.

The latter was currently leaning openly against a cold stone pillar, his eyes fixed on the glowing screen before him from start to finish, with no intention whatsoever of concealing himself.

"This has nothing to do with us."

After confirming that the red dot on the screen was already some distance away, Beckett started walking again, heading toward the target. Having finished disposing of the corpses, The Other followed closely behind Beckett.

Just as Beckett had said, this war had nothing to do with them. They only needed to take what they wanted and leave.

Because her memories were somewhat blurry, Hela—still unaware that Beckett was following behind her—circled around several locations again and again before finally finding the outskirts of Laufey's treasury.

The tight security made Hela instinctively conceal herself behind a pillar as she focused on the patrol patterns of the treasury guards.

Compared to three years ago, the treasury had considerably fewer guards now. After confirming their patrol pattern from behind the pillar, Hela raised her hand. A scattering of weapons immediately appeared behind her and shot toward the guards before Laufey's treasury like a rain of arrows!

"Wha—!"

This shift of guards had only just taken their posts when Hela's sudden attack pierced straight through them.

"It seems my power has indeed grown stronger." Her long, slender legs, wrapped in a black skintight Battle Suit, stepped onto a fallen blue corpse as Hela rotated her right wrist thoughtfully.

Breaking down before rebuilding really did make some sense.

It was a pity that she was not in Asgard now. Otherwise, relying on the special connection between herself and Asgard, Hela was confident that she could raise her power another level.

"Now, Laufey's treasury is mine." She directly used a Frost Giant's corpse to push open the heavy door before her, and a layout entirely different from Odin's treasury slowly came into Hela's view.

There was a cloak crafted by Wind Giants, said to allow massive Frost Giants to soar freely through the sky using the power of the wind once worn;

There was also a heavy axe forged personally by Mountain Giants, said to possess inexhaustible strength. Rumor had it that Laufey had commissioned the Mountain Giants to create an imitation based on the power of Odin's Mjolnir. Of course, that was only a rumor. Laufey had never used it, and Hela had no idea whether it was real.

Restricted by Odin's existence, Laufey—who was likewise ambitious and sought to conquer the Nine Realms—had collected mostly the historical accumulation of Jotunheim's giant clans in his treasury. Unlike Odin's treasury, which was largely filled with spoils won from war.

"Are they all just unimpressive little trinkets?"

"Where is the Casket of Ancient Winters?"

Hela's gaze swept around the treasury, and she frowned. Something felt wrong. For the treasury of a king, this handful of artifacts was far too shabby and completely unworthy of Laufey's status.

He was the leader who had unified all the giant clans of Jotunheim.

"Tap... tap... tap..."

The sound of boots striking the ground echoed through the chamber, making Hela's expression turn tense in an instant. She had calculated it; it should not yet have been time for the treasury guards to change shifts.

As time passed, two figures emerged one after the other from the distant shadows, appearing before Hela step by step.

Beckett, dressed in a loose black Battle Suit with a silver metal bracelet around his wrist, and The Other, the Chitauri who was grinning viciously at her.

"...Beckett?!"

Having recognized the newcomers, Hela lowered her voice, her face darkening.

"That's impossible. How did you find this place?" To be safe, Hela had even thrown away that fur coat.

"This is fate."

"As long as I want it to be, fate will stand at my side." A hint of disdain appeared in Beckett's eyes as he raised his left hand toward Hela.

A powerful energy fluctuation gathered in Beckett's palm, then blasted straight at Hela the next second!

Damn it!

At Hela's command, magical metal instantly formed a shield in front of her. Yet before she could make another move, Beckett's energy wave had already shattered the thick shield and slammed directly into Hela!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

This was a power Hela, whose injuries had yet to recover, could not withstand. Her graceful body lost its balance and smashed through two-thirds of the display cases in the treasury.

"Then, did your father ever tell you what happens when you enter someone else's treasury without permission?"

A voice came from behind Beckett. The black muzzle of a magical firearm in its wielder's hand was aimed at Beckett's head.

Beckett halted and turned around, seeing The Other beneath the Frost Giant's foot, his face twisted in pain.

"I hate it when people point weapons at my head."

Beckett extended his right hand and pressed his index finger against the black muzzle, expressionless.

Typing on my phone nearly made me smash it. I'm way too unused to it. I got back a little late, then drank two cans of Red Bull and wrote a chapter on my computer, but I'm still so sleepy I can barely breathe...

I owe one chapter. I'll make it up next Monday~