3 chapters will be uploaded on daily basis i.e. 21 Chapters will be uploaded every week apart from the bonus chapters.
1 Bonus Chapter will be uploaded for every 50 Power Stones or 1000 Collections.
All interested readers can read advanced chapters on: Free Members of Patreon can read 12 Chapters ahead of Webnovel for FREE.
[email protected]/Heroicverse
×××××××××××××××
"Oh, right, Boss, the situation here might be a bit different from what we previously anticipated…", Selena adjusted her breathing, then reported everything she had seen and heard before and after entering the Impossible City, down to the smallest detail.
Finally, she warned with some concern, "Boss, even without considering other pure-blood Vampire leaders, those heavily armored warriors alone could very well be our biggest obstacle in taking over this place."
"Vampires with strength comparable to Thunder Warriors? That's interesting."
Karl wasn't worried about this, a confident smile appearing on his face as he softly reassured her, "Don't worry, if it's just this level, it's not enough to affect my plan."
"And it's a good opportunity to test the combat performance of the second and third generation Thunder Warriors…", "What's more, have you forgotten? We still have a trump card in our hands!"
"A trump card?" Although Selena was confused and couldn't immediately figure out what her boss's "trump card" referred to, his calm and collected tone, like a stabilizing needle in the sea, immediately swept away all her doubts and worries.
Since Boss said it's fine, then it must be fine!
Yes, that's right!
"However, since someone has already set their sights on you, for now, don't act rashly."
Karl carefully instructed, "Put off the internal exploration for now; at present, you only need to draw the magic teleportation array before the Centennial Conference begins."
"As for whether to seize it or wait and see, that decision will be made only after I successfully acquire the Immortality Trait."
"Understood."
Selena knew this was a temporary strategic adjustment made by her boss out of concern for their safety, and a warmth filled her heart as she responded sweetly with a touch of shyness, "I understand~~"
After Karl's voice completely faded from her mind, she lifted the soft fur rug on the ground, bit her fingertip, and began to draw the "Tzeentch's magic teleportation array" that Karl had previously shown her using her blood.
Suddenly, her movements froze, as if she had thought of something unspeakable.
Her fair face instantly flushed crimson, and she bit her lip shyly, muttering to herself:
"Oh no, since my consciousness can successfully connect with Boss, doesn't that mean all those embarrassing scenes I imagined doing with Boss… cough cough, will he know all of them?"
"Ah~~ It's so embarrassing, Boss won't think I'm a bad woman, will he?"
…
Meanwhile.
In a certain body of Water near Belle Isle, Detroit.
Karl, who was currently enjoying a sunbath on the upper deck of a luxury yacht, had just finished his "cross-dimensional video call" with Selena.
He was about to activate his powerful Mind Perception ability to continue monitoring the movements within a secret altar on Belle Isle.
To avoid alarming the enemy prematurely and drawing attention, he chose not to invade the minds of the Vampires guarding the altar.
Instead, he merely used his perception to confirm their numbers, positions, and actions.
Just then, the phone placed beside him suddenly rang.
He glanced at it; it was General Ross.
"What is it?" Karl asked lazily as he picked up the phone.
"Mr. Karl, there's an emergency that might require your and Ape God's help."
General Ross cleared his throat, then spoke quickly, "Just a few hours ago, a newly appeared Kaiju, Category Two, attacked Marazand, causing widespread destruction and casualties."
"Subsequently, Prydonia(Imaginary Country) issued an urgent request for assistance to the White House. Therefore, President Ellis notified the Department of Defense, hoping you could send Ape God…"
The "Kaiju, Category Two" mentioned by General Ross was a brand-new concept recently proposed by Dr. Spah Szedifier, the chief scientist of the PPDC Organization.
From a biological perspective, combining the first Kaiju and previously appeared Titans, he roughly divided Kaiju into five levels.
The classification standard was very simple and crude: it was directly based on a behemoth's size, weight, and overall destructive power.
Simply put, the larger the size, the higher the weight, and the stronger the destructive power of a Kaiju, the higher its level!
According to this standard, the PPDC Organization classified the Kaiju code-named "Invader" that invaded San Francisco a few months ago as a Category Two monster.
And the Kaiju code-named "Chaos" that appeared in Marazand was also listed as a Category Two monster.
This alone was enough to show its enormous threat!
If not handled properly, … no, that entire country might become a second San Francisco.
However, the outdated weapons in the Prydonia army's hands simply could not inflict any substantial damage on this Kaiju.
And they didn't have superheroes like Homelander and the Avengers there?
What's more, even if they did, it probably wouldn't be of much use!
Prydonia did not want to see its capital turn into a dead city like San Francisco due to the "toxic blue blood."
After all, almost all important sectors of the entire country, such as finance, industry, and trade, were concentrated in Marazand.
Once it suffered a devastating blow, the Prydonia' economy would directly regress to the "primitive era" of monkeys climbing trees to pick bananas.
And the most reliable solution at the moment was naturally to apply for the Proxy Service and hire Ape God to deal with this Kaiju!
So, Prydonia immediately chose to seek help from its good father, America.
After all, almost everyone knew that the Department of Defense… no, to be precise, General Ross, had now latched onto Karl Merks's big leg and had even publicly endorsed him at the UN General Assembly!
So, in the eyes of the Prydonia' high-ranking officials, as long as they were willing to pay, that man would definitely extend a helping hand.
Even General Ross thought so!
However.
Before he could finish speaking, he heard Karl on the other end of the phone flatly refuse, "Can't help. Let those people go find the PPDC Organization!"
"Huh?"
General Ross was stunned by the sudden and decisive refusal.
Karl had personally promised before that he would help America and its allies resolve crises when monsters appeared, for a fee, right?
And Prydonia happened to be one of America's allies.
However, based on General Ross's understanding of Karl, he knew that the other party would never refuse such a "lucrative job" without reason.
After all, Marazand's annual GDP is at least over 90 billion, and even if only 3% is charged as compensation, that's a full 2.7 billion U.S. dollars!
If 10% was charged, that would be 9 billion U.S. dollars…
Forget robbing banks, even printing money wouldn't be this fast.
After a brief moment of contemplation, General Ross tentatively asked, "Mr. Karl, may I ask the reason for your decision?"
"The reason is simple." Karl answered without hesitation, "Those idiots previously voted in favor of sanctioning Sokovia at the UN General Assembly!"
"I see."
General Ross suddenly realized, recalling the absurd scene that had occurred at the UN General Assembly earlier. He then immediately changed his previous attitude and said with a firm tone:
"Mr. Karl, your reason is well-founded, and this is entirely the result of Prydonia's own doing…", "Please rest assured, no matter what happens, I and the Department of Defense will always stand by you. I will call President Ellis now to inform him of the final result."
Although he said so, General Ross immediately wrote down a warning in his heart: Never easily offend Karl Merks, because he holds grudges very much!!
This old fox is very sensible!
Karl's lips curved into a slight smile, clearly very satisfied with General Ross's answer.
Although the two of them merely had a mutually beneficial relationship, it must be said that General Ross's courage to stand with Karl at a crucial moment and make a decisive choice was indeed admirable.
So…
Karl decided to give him a little reward!
"General Ross, as a partner, I want to remind you that perhaps the real crisis does not come from that Kaiju!"
Karl then rattled off the names of seven cities before hanging up the phone directly.
Everything that needed to be said had been said.
After all, the other party was not Karl's subordinate, so a hint was enough.
As for whether he could seize this opportunity, it depended on General Ross's own fortune.
…
General Ross looked at his phone, its screen gradually dimming, and remained silent for a long time.
Just as everyone around him was guessing that he would fly into a rage after being rejected, General Ross, as if he had thought of something, suddenly burst into relieved laughter.
"Hahaha, it seems I've gambled correctly again!!"
General Ross had clearly realized that the final reminder was Karl's intentional response to his earlier declared stance… or rather, a reward!
However, he needed to quickly analyze what would happen in those cities.
Thinking of this, General Ross quickly asked his subordinate to bring a map and used a marker to circle the seven cities Karl had just mentioned.
They were Green Bay, Chicago, Cincinnati, Huntington, Winchester, Binghamton, and Kingston.
"What could it be?"
Looking at the seemingly unrelated cities on the map, General Ross couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
First, it was certain that, given his understanding of Karl's character, the other party would never speak carelessly about such matters.
So that means…
Next, in these seven cities, it is very likely that some major event, far more dangerous than a Kaiju invasion, will occur?
Could seven powerful Titans appear simultaneously?
No.
The probability of such a situation appearing is extremely slim!
Then what could it be?
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck General Ross's mind, and he keenly grasped a clue.
"Wait a minute, could it be related to those damned Vampires?"
General Ross then ordered his subordinates to retrieve all information related to Vampires that had occurred in the past month from the internal network.
Sure enough.
All seven of the aforementioned cities had recently experienced a large-scale riot caused by Vampires.
However, all of them were successfully suppressed in the end.
General Ross couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.
If it was just Vampires, then logically, the threat should be far from the level of a Kaiju, right?
Is there something else?
Like… the "demon" that appeared in Hell's Kitchen?
Forget it, never mind, in any case, let's quickly deploy troops around those cities first!
General Ross immediately decided to take a big gamble.
If he won, he would achieve fame and advance further!
If he lost, at most he would resign!
And this impending crisis, perhaps for ordinary people, was a devastating catastrophe that would destroy their homes and families.
But for speculators like General Ross, this was undoubtedly a godsend opportunity to further consolidate his position and expand his personal public influence.
If handled properly, his military career, which was about to end, might usher in an unprecedented second spring!
Thinking of this.
Even General Ross, whose temperament was always known for being calm and seasoned, couldn't help but feel a little excited.
At the same time, he secretly congratulated himself.
It was no exaggeration to say that latching onto Karl's big leg was absolutely the most correct choice he had made in his entire career.
At this moment, a staff member whispered, "General, President Ellis himself called, asking when Ape God will go to Marazand for the rescue operation. Prydonia has almost blown up the White House's phone…"
"The timing is just right." General Ross's eyes lit up. After taking the phone, he reported directly before the other party could speak:
"Mr. President, I'm afraid we really can't help with Prydonia's request this time… Because a greater crisis is waiting for us to resolve!"
…
PPDC Headquarters.
"What did you say? The Department of Defense actually refused Prydonia's request for help?" Stacker Pentecost's eyes widened in shock and anger. "Aren't they allies?"
The staff member shrugged with a bitter expression, "Officer, General Ross said that the PPDC Organization is a special agency established specifically to deal with Kaiju, and Prydonia is a member state, so the PPDC Organization should assume its responsibilities and obligations at such a time."
"Bullshit!" Stacker Pentecost couldn't help but curse, roaring indignantly:
"That son of a bitch Ross, he clearly knows our Hunter Mecha isn't ready yet. He's obviously trying to make us look bad in front of the other member states!"
"Hmph, does he really think that without the Department of Defense's connections, I can't solve this crisis?"