This was a skill Darian had obtained previously, but he had never really had a chance to use it.
After all, it wasn't easy to find a pile of sand in the city.
But now, the situation was completely different.
The vast beach beneath his feet was nothing but sand as far as the eye could see.
It was practically a home field tailor-made for him.
At this very moment, a Sand Giant several stories tall stood towering on the beach, looking down at everyone below.
The shadow cast by its massive body covered a large portion of the beach; its legs alone already exceeded the height of the Hulkbuster, and a powerful sense of oppression washed over them.
Even Hulk, who was always known for his size, could only be called a short giant in front of it.
Tony was instantly dumbfounded: "What the hell is this thing?"
Since becoming Iron Man, he had seen many absurd things, but those could at least be explained by science to some extent.
But who could tell me how to explain this thing?
Unlike the stunned Tony, Hulk looked up at the Sand Giant, which was several times taller than him, without a hint of fear in his eyes; instead, an even fiercer rage ignited within him.
Hulk: (°dish°)
Sand Giant: (..)
"Roar!!"
Hulk fiercely pounded his chest, his roar making the air tremble.
The next moment, he bent his legs and stomped down hard, causing the beach beneath his feet to collapse with a boom.
That green figure shot into the sky like a cannonball, lunging straight at the Sand Giant's face.
However, though the Sand Giant looked cumbersome, its movements were exceptionally swift.
The giant arm formed from quicksand suddenly rose, its five fingers splaying open as it grabbed Hulk out of mid-air with a whistling sound that tore through the air.
Before he could break free, the Sand Giant swung its arm and slammed him down towards the ground with the force of a collapsing mountain!
Boom!!
The loud noise, accompanied by the trembling of the earth, smashed Hulk right into the beach.
A radial sand pit several meters in diameter suddenly exploded open, and countless grains of white sand were overturned, turning into a rain of sand that fell with a patter.
Darian, standing on top of the Sand Giant's head, knew clearly in his heart that this little bit of damage was far from enough to take down that big green guy.
Without pausing, he moved his mind slightly, and the Sand Giant raised its massive fist, aiming at the center of the sand pit, and slammed it down again! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The terrifying sounds of Impact exploded one after another, the beach shaking as if there were an earthquake, and white sand flew everywhere.
The sand pit grew deeper and deeper under this violent pounding; in the blink of an eye, the flash of green at the bottom was no longer visible, and Hulk had clearly been driven deep into the sandy ground.
Just then, a muffled roar came from deep within the sand pit.
Immediately after, the entire bottom of the pit surged upward, and a green shadow burst out from the sand, leaping back into mid-air!
Hulk was covered in sand, looking like a green glutinous rice ball coated in powdered sugar, except for those terrifyingly green eyes.
Using the momentum, he slammed his fists hard into the Sand Giant's arm, instantly causing a burst of sand mist, and that thick arm was blown off halfway on the spot, with sand flowing down with a rustle.
Hulk didn't stop; he landed on the Sand Giant's body, using his hands and feet to climb up frantically, rushing towards Darian at extreme speed.
Don't think that just because Hulk roars all day, he's a pure Beast; he actually has a bit of intelligence in his brain.
Although most of that intelligence is just used to tell him that he should use his invincible super strength.
He could see clearly that this big guy in front of him was being controlled by Darian, and he just needed to beat the little guy on top into submission.
Darian didn't change his posture, watching Hulk with cold eyes to maintain his cool.
Then, he softly uttered a phrase.
"Sand Arm!"
Don't misunderstand, this isn't an insult.
As Darian's words fell, the sand grains on the Sand Giant's body instantly began to boil, and countless sand arms sprang out from every part of its torso, reaching out to grab Hulk head-on.
Hulk's incredibly fierce forward momentum instantly stalled.
"Roar!"
Hulk roared, his muscles bulging and his terrifying brute force exploding, directly tearing apart the first batch of sand arms that had wrapped around him, sending sand flying everywhere.
But there were just too many of these sand arms.
Tear one off, and two more would immediately surge up from the side; broken ones were replaced, and replaced ones wrapped around again, layer upon layer, endlessly.
In the end, Hulk was tightly wrapped by countless writhing sand arms, stopping just a few meters from Darian's feet, unable to break free for the moment.
"Go down and settle down for a bit first."
Darian waved his hand, and the connection between those sand arms wrapping around Hulk and the Sand Giant instantly severed.
Having lost its support, Hulk, wrapped into a ball of sand, fell heavily towards the beach below, following the pull of gravity.
At the same time, the surrounding sand, as if drawn by some force, quickly surged towards the broken part of the Sand Giant's arm, and in the blink of an eye, it re-formed into a complete arm.
The Sand Giant wasn't like Tony's Hulkbuster armor, which required Veronica in low earth orbit to send replacement parts from thousands of miles away if it got damaged.
This was a beach, after all; it could replenish sand at any time, and sand itself could re-coalesce even after being scattered. As long as Darian's mana wasn't exhausted, the Sand Giant could continuously recover, without any fear of depletion.
Hulk shook his head and climbed back up from the sand pit, the two balls of fire in his eyes practically ready to spew out.
And his size had actually expanded by a full circle as if he were being inflated, his muscles bulging as if they were about to burst.
This was Hulk's most shameless passive skill.
The angrier he gets, the stronger he becomes, with an unknown upper limit.
Under Darian's continuous beating, Hulk completely overheated, his rage meter skyrocketing, immediately triggering this passive skill.
"What a cheater."
Darian couldn't help but complain.
It wasn't that he hadn't fought Hulk before; he had even killed a Hulk from a parallel World.
But the premise of those battles was either that he hadn't given Hulk enough time to stack up his rage, or the effect was weakened, at most only slightly stronger than his normal state.
Facing a Hulk with a maxed-out rage meter like this, it was a first for Darian.
"Roar!!!"
After Hulk's combat power increased, his voice became even louder.
The sound wave he roared out rippled visibly, blowing the beach umbrellas askew.
The citizens watching from afar covered their ears one after another, feeling like their earwax was about to be shaken out.
But they didn't leave; instead, they looked excited and thrilled, refusing to leave even when the police tried to drive them away.
"So exciting, so exciting! It's rare to be able to see a battle between super-powered individuals with our own eyes!"
"So awesome!"
"Being able to see a scene like this, it's worth the price of admission even if I die!"
Tony: "..."
Why do these Florida citizens feel even crazier than super villains?
He quickly called Jarvis to dispatch a batch of robots from the Avengers Tower.
Those robots were just things Tony had tinkered with when he was bored; their performance definitely couldn't compare to a proper Iron Man Suit, and their combat power was practically zero, but they were equipped with relatively low-level AI systems, which were just right for search and rescue, maintaining order, and similar tasks.
He didn't want dozens of people to suddenly and inexplicably end up on their heads while Darian and Hulk were fighting.
Darian picked his ear and said to Hulk with disdain: "Why are you roaring so loudly! Take my Heavenly Crippling Kick!"
The Sand Giant below responded, lifting its long leg several meters high, the shadow of its huge sole instantly covering Hulk below.
"Roar!"
Hulk roared, his feet gathering strength as he leapt up fiercely, directly smashing the Sand Giant's sole to pieces.
The Heavenly Crippling Kick had stepped on a nail!
Hulk's momentum didn't diminish in the slightest, and in the blink of an eye, he crossed the vertical distance of several meters, bringing with him a whistle that tore through the air as he lunged straight at Darian on top of the Sand Giant's head!
"Sand Wall!"
Don't misunderstand, this isn't an insult either.
Darian raised his hand, and the sand grains surged crazily, instantly raising several thick sand walls from the ground, blocking the space between him and Hulk, layer upon layer.
The top of the wall was even carved with a dog's head, full of mockery.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Hulk charged recklessly, unstoppable, his fists swinging in succession, smashing one sand wall after another into pieces, causing them to explode into a sky full of sand.
Until the last sand wall was pierced through, Hulk roared and raised his fist high, slamming it down towards the top of Darian's head.
That massive green fist rapidly enlarged in Darian's field of vision, the wind of the punch pressing against his face, even blowing the hair on his forehead backward.
Darian did not dodge or evade; a pair of metal gauntlets instantly covered his hands, and he went straight to meet it.
Bang!!
The two fists collided fiercely, erupting with a shocking, loud noise.
A ring-shaped shockwave exploded between Darian and Hulk, spreading outwards in all directions.
A flash of confusion crossed Hulk's ferocious face; he seemingly hadn't expected this little guy to actually be able to block his fist.
After a brief moment of surprise, he was instantly overwhelmed by surging rage.
He roared and swung his fists crazily, left and right, pounding at Darian in a flurry without any method.
Darian didn't retreat even half a step, swinging his fists to meet them head-on!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The dense sounds of Impact rang out in a chorus, and one wave of air after another erupted from between the two.
Two figures, one big and one small, clashed head-on amidst the sky full of sand, interpreting the aesthetics of violence in the most primitive way.
Although Hulk's strength was powerful, the moment he hit the metal gauntlets, most of the Impact was completely absorbed by their special material.
After dozens of consecutive clashes, Darian remained as steady as Mountian, with absolutely no trend of falling behind.
"So this guy is actually this strong?"
Tony, who had been watching from mid-air, couldn't help but gasp.
Except for Thor, this was the first time he had seen someone capable of going toe-to-toe with Hulk in a physical confrontation without falling behind.
In this situation, Tony, like the other citizens, turned into a spectator watching the show from the sidelines.
It wasn't that he didn't want to intervene; he really couldn't get involved.
Most firepower was like tickling to Hulk; only pure numbers like the Hulkbuster armor could contend with Hulk, but now that even the Hulkbuster was dismantled into parts, he had no need to put on the Mark 43 and go up there to scratch Hulk.
"Roar!"
Seeing that his invincible brute force had no effect, Hulk became increasingly irritable.
He no longer pounded wildly, but instead opened his large hand and suddenly gripped the fist Darian had swung, his massive body pressing forward, attempting to crush Darian with static strength.
"As expected of Hulk, even the tactics are the same."
Darian had fought a Hulk in the Wasteland, so he had expected this long ago.
Without a word, he aimed his other free hand at Hulk, and several balls of light shot out, crashing into Hulk's body.
Weakness, Slow, Poison, Bleed, Stun...
Multiple debuffs stacked instantly, Hulk's body visibly stiffened, and a trace of brief confusion flashed in his eyes.
Seizing this gap, Darian grabbed Hulk's arm with a backhand, his waist suddenly exerting force, and he twisted his feet.
The next moment, Hulk's massive body was swung into the air, tracing a semicircle, and slammed hard into the head of the Sand Giant.
Boom!!
Sand flew, and a deep pit was smashed into the head of the Sand Giant.
Hulk shook his head and propped his hands on the ground, about to climb up, but discovered that the sandy ground beneath him had become unusually soft at some point, beginning to rotate and flow, dragging him down like a small whirlpool.
Darian stood in front of him, looking down at him, and said cheerfully: "If you've overheated, go take a bath and calm down."
"...Mmph!"
Just as Hulk opened his mouth to roar, he instantly got a mouthful of sand.
His massive body was quickly engulfed by the quicksand, the whirlpool spinning faster and faster, white sand churning, and he sank deeper and deeper.
Hulk tried to struggle, his hands and feet exerting force, wanting to part the sand layer, but the surrounding sand was just like flowing water, with absolutely nowhere to exert force, giving him a frustrated feeling of a clay ox entering the sea.
The harder he struggled, the faster he sank.
In a few breaths, Hulk was entirely trapped within the sand whirlpool, looking as if he had been swallowed into the Sand Giant's stomach.
Beneath the quicksand, it was another scene entirely.
Hulk was wrapped in the dense, flowing sand, surrounded by darkness and heavy pressure.
He tried to push upwards with brute force, but the sand layer kept flowing away with his movements, making it impossible for him to find a solid point to exert force.
Even if Hulk's strength was strong, he couldn't exert force out of thin air, let alone step on his left foot with his right.
Due to the violent struggle, oxygen consumption was rapid, and Hulk instinctively wanted to breathe, but only more coarse sand grains poured in, directly blocking his nasal cavity and mouth, with not a single bit of air getting in or out.
Hulk was furious about this.
So, in his anger, he got angry for a bit.
No way around it; even as strong as Hulk was, he was helpless in this situation.
The rage burning in his chest was gradually overcome by the suffocation of oxygen deprivation, the strength of his struggle gradually lessened, and those eyes burning with rage slowly lost their luster under the burial of the sand.
Don't know how long it had been, under the green skin, the bulging muscles began to relax, and the massive body slowly shrank like a leaking balloon.
Pfft!
Outside the quicksand, the Sand Giant's rear end suddenly loosened, and then, like squeezing toothpaste, it slowly expelled something, which fell onto the soft sandy ground.
This person was none other than Bruce Banner, wearing a pair of large shorts.
[Mission "The Sun is Getting Low" completed]
[Rewards obtained: 2000 EXP, Item "Giant Serum", Equipment "Omni-directional Mobility Gear"]
[Item: Giant Serum (After drinking, you can turn into a ten-meter-tall giant for a period of time, but be careful of a certain 1.6-meter-tall shorty, and at the same time, protect your nape well)]
[Equipment: Omni-directional Mobility Gear (A set of sophisticated three-dimensional mobility equipment, containing high-pressure gas tanks, anchor launchers, retractable cables, and special blades, dedicated to slaying giants; non-professionals do not attempt)]