Turn right ahead onto the Asgard ring expressway

What was going on?

Luke hadn't heard any explosions from the Destroyer firing lasers everywhere, either. Loki liked putting on a show, so surely he wouldn't have the Destroyer go stealth mode.

Anyway, Luke had no idea how something as big as the Destroyer could sneak around without a sound, unless...

Stepping out of the room first, Luke looked toward the commotion.

What was that?

A crowd of Smurfs had appeared on the street, except these Smurfs weren't exactly small. Almost all of them stood over two meters tall.

"Frost Giants!"

Thor, who followed right behind him, shouted in surprise. He stretched out a hand and summoned Mjolnir.

"Damn Frost Giants! I'll split them in half!"

Volstagg grabbed his twin axes, and the other three readied themselves to charge with Thor at any moment. That was their strategy!

Thor turned to signal them to prepare to charge, only to see the worry and fear in Jane's eyes, along with the other two ordinary people.

Thor paused. "I think we need to evacuate the people nearby first. I'll hold them off with you. Jane! Go evacuate everyone!"

With that, Thor was about to charge forward with the surprised Three Idiots of Asgard and Sif, only to slam face-first into the back of someone's head.

"Ouch! Watch where you're going!"

Luke rubbed the back of his head. Thor really was strong, and his face really was thick. After all, he could send Iron Man Tony flying with his face.

"Sorry, Uncle, but this is an emergency. Could you..."

Before Thor could finish, Luke waved a hand and summoned countless figures.

"Get the civilians out and crush the enemy! Since when did Smurfs dare show themselves instead of hiding from a wizard?"

Luke, who more or less qualified as a wizard, spoke viciously, and countless shadows scattered.

Turning back to the stunned group, Luke gave Thor a backhanded knuckle rap.

"And one more thing: watch where you're going!"

With that, he slipped into stealth and headed toward the Frost Giants. The Troll Soldiers were rather slow, after all, so he might as well deliver them himself.

Thor rubbed his head and glanced back at the Asgardians.

"My uncle's pretty strong."

Loki stood in the deserted hall of the gods, a patch of ripples shimmering in the air before him.

"I agreed to your demand and sent people to assassinate Thor. Now, where is the Casket of Ancient Winters?"

The image of Laufey, the Frost Giant King, appeared within the ripples, and his low, gloomy voice emerged.

Holding Gungnir, Loki stroked the intricate patterns on its surface with his fingers.

"Are you sure your people can kill Thor?"

"Ridiculous. If Odin hadn't been there last time, your corpses would already be part of Jotunheim."

Loki raised an eyebrow, a wicked smile curling his lips. Once Thor died, he would be Odin's only heir. But why did he feel a little sad?

"Loki!" Seeing Loki remain silent for so long, Laufey's tone gradually grew colder. "I hope you understand that Odin won't let a prince who murdered his brother become king."

Murdered his brother? Thor?

Loki silently mocked himself, but a trace of killing intent flashed in his eyes as he looked at Laufey within the ripples.

"Of course I know. But there's one more thing I need you to do."

"You're going back on your word?"

"No!" Madness showed in Loki's eyes.

"Since Odin won't let a prince who murdered his brother become king, go kill Odin! Then there won't be a problem."

Watching the shocked Laufey, Loki's lips curved upward.

"What do you think? Odin is sleeping in his bed right now. All you have to do is walk up and give him one little strike, and Odin will leave this world forever."

Doubt showed in Laufey's eyes, but he was also sorely tempted. If he killed Odin and retrieved the Casket of Ancient Winters, no one in Asgard could defeat him!

(Hela smiled without saying a word.)

"Very well. But I'll need your help. You must help me enter Asgard. That gatekeeper doesn't like us."

"Don't worry. I'll deal with him."

Luke soon reached the Frost Giants. Watching them skillfully control various parts of their bodies to form ice, he felt that keeping one as an air conditioner could have real potential.

But I'm rich now. Why would I worry about affording air conditioning?

Luke released Troll Soldiers one after another. The two-meter-tall Frost Giants looked like dwarfs before them.

Spotting their enemies, the Smurfs formed ice spikes in both hands and stabbed at the Troll Soldiers.

But the seemingly hard ice spikes failed to inflict any meaningful damage. Those little wounds were like mosquito bites to the Troll Soldiers' enormous bodies.

Besides, Shadow Ninjas had no blood in their bodies, so they had no fear of bleeding damage.

After blocking a wave of attacks, the Troll Soldiers counterattacked. Their huge hands grabbed several Frost Giants by the head and, with a little pressure, crushed their skulls.

Finding that unsatisfying, the Troll Soldiers stopped forcibly cracking skulls and instead clenched their huge fists, hammering them down on the surviving Frost Giants.

Without question, the Frost Giants shattered like shoddy glassware.

Soon, this batch of Frost Giants had been wiped out.

Luke scanned his surroundings and discovered that there were still a great many Frost Giants.

"My dear nephew, your beloved uncle really wants to kick your ass hard with the clean toe of his leather shoe!"

Luke directed these Troll Soldiers toward one area, released a few Ninja Soldiers and Assassin Ninja Soldiers to scout for enemies, then ran toward the next location.

He ran back and forth through the town several times, getting the Shadow Legion to different locations quickly so they could counterattack the Frost Giants.

Yes, counterattack meant, "You touched me, so I blew your head off."

Even the Basic Unit, the Ninja Soldier, now had sixteen times the physical capabilities of an ordinary person. Handling a few Frost Giants was no problem.

Besides, the thousand-plus Ninja Soldiers might well outnumber the Frost Giants who had sneaked over...

After half an hour of counterattacks and searches, Luke confirmed that no Frost Giants in town still dared to remain alive, then returned to the square where the townspeople had been gathered.

He had to admit these people were pretty fierce. They grabbed shotguns and opened fire the moment they saw Frost Giants. They weren't very effective, but their fighting spirit was impressive.

To protect-restrain-these people who wanted to go out and fight, Luke had nearly three thousand Ninja Soldiers keep them confined to the square.

In fact, he hadn't needed this many Ninja Soldiers to deal with the Frost Giants...

Feeling rather drained, Luke held a microphone a Ninja Soldier had gotten from who knew where.

"The problem's been dealt with. You can go home now. And while you're at it, could someone identify whose microphone and speakers these are?"

After making a few announcements into the microphone, Luke gathered the Shadow Ninjas to return to the Shadow World.

"Thank you!" a boy holding an ice cream called to a Ninja Soldier.

He had only said he felt a little hot and wanted an ice cream. He hadn't expected a passing Ninja Soldier to actually find him one.

The Ninja Soldier turned and nodded, then dissolved into shadow and returned to the Shadow Dimension.

"Problem solved."

Luke slipped into stealth to avoid being intercepted by the crowd and returned to Jane's research base. Thor and the Asgardians were protecting Jane and the others there, along with a few people who had happened to flee to the place.

"Thanks! I don't know what superhero you are, but your armor's awesome." A boy boldly hugged Thor as he passed, and Thor gave a strange smile.

"That smile makes me feel like you need some time in prison to cool your head."

Luke appeared before Thor and spoke with distaste.

"So, the problem's solved?"

Thor spoke happily.

"Just a few grunts. There wasn't even a big boss. Speaking of which, shouldn't you go home and check things out?"

"Why?" Sure enough, Thor, whose head was full of muscle, still hadn't figured out the truth behind the incident.

"Nothing. You don't need to understand, but I think you should go back and take a look." Luke shrugged.

"After all, Heimdall hasn't intervened in these Frost Giants' cross-world trip at all. That gives me a bad feeling, especially with your father still asleep."

Luke offered a few casual remarks, but they made Thor frown deeply.

Uncle, what exactly are you trying to say?

Thor quietly glanced at Sif, who nodded.

"All right. I think it's time I went back to take a look."

Thor spoke immediately, then noticed Jane standing there stunned.

"Don't worry, Jane. With the Bifrost, I can come to Mid... Earth whenever I want!"

Thor smiled. Jane wiped away the tears that had appeared without her noticing, then went to get the car and drove the group off to find somewhere "quiet."

"Hey, Coulson, move aside. Some people need to get through."

With the Three Idiots of Asgard taking turns giving directions, the group arrived at the place where they had teleported to Earth.

"Finished dealing with those Smurfs?" Coulson asked lightly, ordering the agents blocking the way to let them through.

"You got another bargain out of me. Making me do odd jobs without even paying."

Luke spoke casually and soon reached the Bifrost's teleportation site.

"Wait for me," Thor told the reluctant Jane before turning to Coulson.

"It seems you've stolen my friend's things. Please return them."

"They were requisitioned, sir. We'll return them to Ms. Foster very soon," Coulson replied awkwardly.

"You outright robbed me!" Jane protested quietly, but everyone present heard her.

Coulson gave an awkward but polite smile. However, Thor's status was far too unusual, and with some of the information Luke had revealed, he didn't dare act rashly.

He quickly had someone take Jane to retrieve her things before she could say anything else, maintaining his smile throughout.

Thor nodded, quite satisfied with this.

"Uncle, want to come see Asgard with me?"

Thor called to Luke, who was slacking off to one side.

"Uh, unlocking a new map sounds good."

Quickly canceling matchmaking, Luke came to Thor's side.

"Coulson, I'm going on a little trip too. Remember to tell Tony so he doesn't interrupt my vacation."

You're going to another planet, and you're still worried he'll bother you?

But what could Coulson do? He could only become an emotionless nodding machine.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Thor cleared his throat.

"Heimdall, open the Bifrost!"

Thor shouted with considerable presence, but...

A minute quietly passed without anything happening.

Little buddy, can you actually do this?

Luke shot Thor a scornful look, leaving Thor feeling rather embarrassed.

"Heimdall, I know you can see us! Open the gate!"

Finally, a beam with extremely powerful energy fluctuations descended from the sky, carrying Luke and the others from Earth to Asgard at tremendous speed.

"Not bad. More exciting than a roller coaster," Luke offered his assessment. Thor, meanwhile, saw the frost covering Heimdall and had an ominous feeling.

"Heimdall, what happened to you?" Thor helped Heimdall sit on the ground. Extremely weak, Heimdall could only speak slowly. "Loki took Frost Giants to assassinate the king. Hurry and stop him!"

"What!" Thor was shocked, but he didn't dare linger and immediately flew off.

"You're not waiting for me?" Luke called, but Thor had already flown far away.

"You should take him somewhere else first. There's still water from the melted ice here. It's damp, which isn't good for an injured person to rest in."

Luke made up an excuse and had the other Asgardian warriors help Heimdall elsewhere while he prepared to sneak toward Asgard.

"What the fuck!" Luke appeared on the Bifrost. He hadn't expected the bridge itself to be its energy transmission channel. It contained such powerful energy that he couldn't pass through it in stealth.

"Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck!" Luke could only take flight, but that was much slower.

Looking at the distant palace, Luke was speechless. With a bridge this long, wouldn't crossing it take up most of the time when deploying troops?

His speed wasn't actually slow, though. He could fly at nearly a thousand meters per second, while his ground-level stealth speed exceeded ten thousand meters per second, enough to take right off. But Dark Energy adhered far too strictly to the rules laid down by that man and couldn't fly.

Besides, Luke couldn't even react when moving too fast, though he could use that to pull off Flying Thunder God maneuvers.

Moving at a decent speed, Luke soon arrived before the magnificent palace.

Damn, isn't having a house this big exhausting? Wouldn't even going to the bathroom take a ten-minute walk?

Looking at the enormous palace, Luke had no idea where to go. After waiting a while, he was just about to gamble with fate and had found a twig when he suddenly saw the distant Bifrost activate.

When did you two get over there?

There was no helping it. Asgard was too big, with far too many buildings blocking his view. Luke hadn't even noticed when those two had gone over there.

Sighing, Luke could only fly back again. Didn't these youngsters know to respect the old and care for the young? Didn't they know elderly people had trouble getting around?

He also thought that once he met Odin, he absolutely had to make him put up a bunch of signs. Otherwise, how was anyone supposed to find their way around such a huge palace?

Luke had even decided what the signs should say: "Turn right in five hundred meters for the prison," "Turn right in four hundred meters onto the path leading into the prison," "Continue straight ahead to reach Odin's sleeping chamber," and "Recommended route: turn left into the alley ahead to access the expressway out of Asgard."