Duva Struggles to Lift the Hammer

The Deviants Leader merely raised an arm and slapped Thor away more than ten meters. Its eyes, gleaming with an uncanny light, were clearly "thinking," as though wondering why this god was so weak.

Weak enough that absorbing him did not seem like it would provide much of a boost.

The Deviants Leader strode over to Thor.

Thor staggered to his feet and looked down at his nearly split-open chest, sucking in a sharp breath. "Good. You dared to attack the Son of Odin. You have successfully enraged me!!"

He swung a fist at the Deviants, but the Deviants caught it with one claw and squeezed. Thor's hand was crushed on the spot.

Actually crushed.

Thor's eyes instantly reddened. In response to his will, the previously clear skies were immediately covered by dark clouds, with terrifying lightning brewing faintly within them. But in the end, it still failed to strike.

Mjolnir showed no reaction either.

Thor would not retreat. Even knowing that death was likely inevitable, he still glared with bloodshot eyes and roared as he struck with his other hand.

Smack! The Deviants threw Thor's entire body away. Having confirmed that Thor was only capable of this much, it finally relaxed. Several fleshy tendrils grew from its body, ready to formally absorb Thor.

What would it evolve into after absorbing a god?

The tendrils were about to touch Thor. The Son of Odin had only just arrived on Earth and had not even touched his hammer once, yet he was about to die a miserable death as nourishment.

The clouds in the sky gathered thicker and thicker, dark as a bottomless black curtain.

"Come on! The Son of Odin never admits defeat!!" Thor roared madly.

Even though a voice in his heart clearly told him that he was about to die, that he would die on Midgard.

Father, Mother, brother, I may already... Such a thought flashed through Thor's mind. Time seemed to slow countless times over as he watched the Deviants' tendrils draw closer and closer.

The life energy within his body had already begun to leave it beyond his control.

"Honestly, I wanted to see what the Thunder God would do after losing his divine power. I didn't expect you to just brute-force it, but I like that."

A voice rang out. At the same moment, an immensely muscular figure seemed to leap over from hundreds of meters away, descending from the sky and smashing the Deviants Leader into the ground with a thunderous crash.

That was only the beginning. A horrifyingly thick hand seized the Deviants Leader by the neck and yanked it out, throwing it into the distance. Then it launched itself after it in an explosive leap and drove a heavy punch into its face.

That brief instant of action was as swift and violent as a raging storm.

Thor let his ruined hand hang limply at his side, enduring the excruciating pain as he stared in shock at the creature pinning down the Deviants Leader in fierce combat—a creature remarkably similar to the Deviants.

"Don't worry. The enemy is strong, but the warrior I sent out won't lose anytime soon. Let it take this chance to stretch its legs. It's always by my side, so it never gets the chance to fight to its heart's content."

Duva walked over with an absurdly large travel backpack on his back. He looked nothing like someone who had come to fight, more like someone on vacation. "This place really is hot. I hate it. What do you think, Son of Odin? You're sweating too."

Thor was completely bewildered. This was the first time he had encountered someone who barged in at a life-or-death moment, then talked about something completely unrelated to battle—the weather. Was this Midgard's traditional conversational technique?

Thor steadied himself, feeling the weakness coursing through his body. After a moment of silence, he looked away and stubbornly fixed his gaze on his hammer.

No matter who came to kill him or help him, as long as he could reclaim his hammer, he would still be the Thunder God!

But as Thor staggered forward, Duva moved first. He stood before Mjolnir and rested a hand on it. There was no surprise or discomfort; everything looked perfectly natural.

Thor froze.

Coulson, watching through the cameras, and Hawkeye, who had been 0.1 seconds away from firing an arrow at the Deviants, both fell silent.

"Sir?"

"Don't move. Keep watching. See if Duva can lift it." Coulson hesitated before giving the order.

"My hammer..."

Thor opened his mouth, his face turning red. "That's my hammer!"

"What's wrong with letting me touch it? It's not like I'm touching your woman. I just want to try."

Duva was very displeased. I saved your life. Even if I don't know whether Odin and the others would have stepped in at the critical moment, I genuinely made a move. What's wrong with touching your hammer? "Screee!"

The Deviants Leader grabbed the Abomination Xenomorph by the legs and flipped it over. Taking the opportunity, it dropped to all fours and raced back. As expected, Thor still attracted it more.

Its charge was heavy and powerful. But just as it reached Duva and Thor, with only two meters left between them, the Abomination Xenomorph arrived right on time. It seized the Deviants Leader's shoulders from behind and aimed its other hand at the Deviants Leader's head, smashing down again and again.

Every heavy blow was more exaggerated than a missile explosion, unleashing violent shockwaves that made visible ripples appear in the surrounding air.

If ordinary people had been caught in such an environment, the best outcome would have been ruptured eardrums and damaged internal organs.

The two monsters began another fierce clash, every punch landing solidly as the ground shook violently and dust flew everywhere.

The Deviants Leader was clearly immensely shocked by the Abomination Xenomorph's appearance. During their hand-to-hand battle, it repeatedly extended fleshy tendrils, trying to absorb the Abomination Xenomorph's life and genes. But every time, the Abomination Xenomorph keenly noticed and interrupted it with a punch.

Yet even with the battle so close at hand, Thor's tension was focused entirely on Duva and the hammer in Duva's grasp.

Rumble!

A bolt of lightning tore through the darkened sky, followed by deafening thunder, as though a god were enraged—or had sensed what was about to happen.

Thor nervously stopped breathing. This man had saved his life and seemed very familiar with both him and Mjolnir. Could he really possibly...

Duva's gaze sharpened. He suddenly exerted force and yanked upward on the hammer! Thor's heart stopped for half a beat, and then he watched in horror...

Nothing happened.

The hammer remained utterly motionless, as though it had taken root in the earth.

Duva tried again. Once he confirmed that he truly lacked the "worthiness" to lift the hammer, he let go, straightened up, and smacked his lips.

"Am I not righteous enough? I was clearly chanting that I wanted to capture every vampire in the world and feed them to the Xenomorphs. Such a lofty ideal and wish—doesn't that show my greatness?"

This damn hammer did not acknowledge him? Bah, trash hammer. He did not need it anyway.

But he could let the Xenomorphs try—though Duva was not sure whether the Xenomorphs under his command could earn Mjolnir's recognition.

Still, it did not matter if they could not lift it. Duva had originally thought that if some bizarre thing like a Thunder God Xenomorph appeared, Odin and Thor might be very embarrassed.

Now, he no longer needed to worry about that.