Energy Hammer

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Han Lin spoke in a grave voice. "Schmidt firmly believes he is following in the footsteps of the gods. Only by obtaining the entire world will he be satisfied. We all know he has gone mad, but whether he is mad no longer matters, because he has already done it.

Schmidt will launch the Valkyrie within three days. He will bomb half the world, beginning with the United States.

And I know where their base is. Their ammunition shipments have not yet arrived, so I need to deploy several units to intercept the shells before they are delivered.

Schmidt's power exceeds our imagination. Once he crosses the Atlantic, he can level the entire East Coast within an hour.

And we have no more than twenty-four hours, because our interception will definitely force Schmidt to take off early.

Schmidt is currently at Hydra's most secret base, five hundred feet beneath the surface in the Alps. This operation will involve breaking straight through their gates and charging in with the army."

While Han Lin was organizing everyone's discussion, deep within the Alps, Schmidt gloomily arrived at the Valkyrie assembly site in Hydra's research base.

Looking at the completed giant aircraft, he said to the neatly assembled Hydra soldiers, "Our greatest enemies have appeared. Captain America and the Shura of the battlefield have emerged in the United States. Though I cannot stop them in their tracks, I can crush the nation behind them.

Tomorrow, Hydra will dominate the world and win victory under the protection of Valkyrie. The enemy's weapons are nothing before us. If one aircraft is shot down, hundreds more will strike back with overwhelming force.

Cut off one head, and two more shall grow in its place. Hail Hydra."

"Hail Hydra!"

"Hail Hydra!"

The assembled Hydra soldiers raised their hands and repeated the Hydra slogan. Every Hydra soldier was equipped with sophisticated energy weapons and standard combat uniforms.

After announcing all the arrangements, Han Lin left the conference hall. Others would handle the remaining work.

As Han Lin walked out of the barracks, Howard grabbed him and pulled him toward his temporary laboratory.

"You have no idea what I brought you this time. This is the product of an era and of technology," Howard said excitedly.

"You told me you wanted equipment that could serve as both a shield and a heavy weapon, so I studied cold weapons.

Broadswords, axes, greatswords—I studied them all, but the overall results were less than satisfactory.

Then I recalled your suggestion of using a tank's firing chamber as a weapon, so I used that as a prototype and made a giant hammer. Of course, ordinary people cannot swing it."

As he spoke, the two arrived before a pillar wrapped in a curtain, like a propped-up tent.

Han Lin had no time to wait for Howard's little riddle. He yanked down the curtain, revealing a cylindrical iron rod over 1.8 meters tall and ten centimeters in diameter. Below it was a rectangular prism connected to the bottom, though the dimensions of the block were somewhat unusual. The entire hammer was 1.5 meters long and roughly sixty centimeters wide.

The most striking difference in the otherwise ordinary-looking hammer was the blue patterns running across its entire surface, as though energy were flowing within it.

Han Lin gripped the hammer, and the system chimed. "Absorbable spatial energy detected. Absorb?"

Han Lin had no desire to destroy the weapon he had just received, so he silently refused and lifted the hammer. Held upright, it was not overly heavy, weighing roughly five hundred kilograms.

Han Lin swung the great hammer around himself twice, then asked Howard, "How did you fuse Infinite Energy with metal? And this metal feels even stronger than Secondary Adamantium."

"How did you know this was Infinite Energy?" Howard launched into another round of questions before continuing, "This was Myron's masterpiece. I had been researching Infinite Energy, and when he came to see me some time ago, he saw it.

Then I shared my Infinite Energy research data with Myron. He took an energy block from me and devoted himself to researching it.

He developed a new kind of Energy Metal. He originally wanted to use Infinite Energy as a furnace to forge Adamantium, but unexpectedly, Infinite Energy fused into the metal during the smelting process.

That created this new Energy Metal—the very material in your hands. We applied to the military for one hundred energy blocks and received all the metal you are holding now.

I designed its shape. A classic model. I hope you do not mind. Even if you do, there is nothing to be done. Once this metal takes shape, it cannot be altered.

This metal is an intermediate product in the creation of Adamantium, so it is much stronger than Secondary Adamantium. While it cannot match Steve's shield, its Infinite Energy properties allow it to resist energy-weapon attacks and absorb them. Myron calls it Energy Metal."

As Han Lin listened to Howard's explanation, delight appeared on his face. His injury last time had made him realize the danger he faced. He was not immortal. If Schmidt had shot him in the head while he was absorbing energy, Han Lin did not think he would have survived.

The appearance of this giant hammer would serve well as equipment for blocking energy weapons.

"This thing does more than that." As he spoke, Howard walked twenty meters away, picked up an energy weapon, and fired at Han Lin.

Han Lin planted the hammer before himself, blocking the incoming beam. Energy flowed across the hammer's surface.

"Smash it into the ground!" Howard shouted.

Hearing that, Han Lin gripped the hammer with both hands, swung it in a full arc, and slammed it heavily into the ground. Blue energy burst outward in a fan-shaped shockwave toward Howard.

Howard had only known from the laboratory tests that an energy shockwave would appear. He had not expected anything like this. The blue energy wave was countless times faster than in the lab and far more concentrated.

Howard had barely run a few steps before he was thrown to the ground, and the energy wave tore the entire barracks apart like strips of cloth.

"Cough, cough..." Howard clutched his stomach as he painfully rose from the ground. "Fxxk you, Lin! Why did you aim it at me?"

"Sorry, I didn't know it was that powerful." Han Lin helplessly shrugged and gave Howard an innocent look, as if saying, You didn't tell me it was that powerful either. "I like it."

He raised the hammer in his hand and waved it at Howard, scaring Howard into hurriedly stepping back twice before remembering that the hammer had not been charged.

"But I hate you. That effect never appeared in the laboratory. I thought it would only produce an energy wave, but apparently it is related to force as well. This hammer only produces that effect after it is struck by an energy attack. At other times, it is merely a hard hammer. Remember that." Howard spoke with some irritation.

"I got it. Anything else to add?" Han Lin asked impatiently as he looked at the hammer. Though its appearance was crude, there was no denying its power.

"Oh, right. Help me thank Dr. McLean. I really like this gift."