Multivers, Leveling Up in the World I Created

Chapter 401: 401 MCU 76

We were watching the war situation on TV.

Pyongyang fell surprisingly quickly, as the high-ranking officials judged there was no hope and surrendered immediately.

The provincial areas actually proved harder to occupy—that was the power of brainwashing.

While we were watching, Sharon rushed over to the resting members and said,

"The U.S. military says they’ve found where Hydra is hiding! They got the information directly from North Korean high-ranking officials, so it should be reliable."

As soon as we heard that, we got up and began preparing.

The location was in Baeksam-eup, between Punggye-ri and Mount Paektu, close to the mountain so they could receive supplies from China.

The surrounding mountainous terrain also made it ideal for hiding things.

This time, all members plus the Wakandans boarded the Odyssey and departed together.

It had been a while since so many people were on board, so the Odyssey was crowded, but it was a large ship, so it wasn’t uncomfortable.

"This operation is going to be broadcast worldwide. So unless absolutely necessary, I’d like you to avoid killing. I understand the resentment, but this is an important matter that affects not just us but the U.S. image as well. And the same goes for Wakanda. I fully understand your anger over the king’s assassination, but please bear with it for the sake of the external image and cooperate."

I said this to the members and Wakanda before arrival, but I couldn’t be sure how well they would cooperate.

Anyway, we arrived at a base near Baeksam-eup, as Sharon had informed us.

The base had many tall chimneys rising between factory-like buildings, constantly emitting smoke as if they were busy producing something.

"As you all know, a lot of alien weapons were stolen from Damage Control, along with various technologies, so we don’t know what they might have. Everyone be careful when attacking."

"Understood."

The Captain briefed the operation and urged caution.

As he said, since a large quantity of Chitauri weapons had been taken from Damage Control, it was safe to assume that almost all of Hydra’s forces here were armed with them.

But that part wasn’t too concerning—the members had become quite familiar with Chitauri weapons through various experiences.

What really mattered wasn’t the weapons, but what other technologies they had obtained and what they had produced and mass-produced.

After the briefing, we split into two teams—Wakanda and the Avengers—and began attacking the base.

There were two entrances, and we judged there was no need to infiltrate stealthily.

ZING—! BOOM! BANG!

"They must have prepared a lot—look how quickly they responded, as if they were waiting for us."

Falcon flew low toward what appeared to be surveillance towers, continuing his attacks.

As he said, Hydra responded immediately the moment we entered, moving in perfect coordination.

Moreover, their weapons weren’t conventional guns—they were plasma-based weapons that fired blue energy bolts instead of bullets.

"As expected, they’re armed with Chitauri weapons. Everyone be careful. Clint, take care of the snipers in the windows."

"Got it."

At the Captain’s request, Hawkeye quickly began taking out enemies who were sniping from the windows.

This time, I wasn’t just defending—I actively attacked, throwing bomb cards I’d made with [Energy Manipulation] or using bearing balls I’d stockpiled earlier as projectiles.

Frankly, I was tired of dealing with these bastards too.

"Oh, what’s that glass-like barrier Natasha’s using? Is that new equipment Jin made for her?"

Tony noticed Natasha using an ability she didn’t usually have and asked curiously.

"Ah... y-yeah. It’s new equipment."

Natasha vaguely brushed it off, hiding her ability as per our agreement.

"That’s similar to the energy shields Wakanda uses. I should apply that to the Iron Man suit too."

Tony mistook Natasha’s [Barrier-Barrier Fruit] ability for equipment I’d made, and as a result, it seemed a new technology would inadvertently be added to the Iron Man suit.

At this rate, energy shield technology might be implemented faster than nanotechnology, unlike in the original.

But maybe that was better.

From Tony’s perspective, no matter how powerful a suit he built, it would always get damaged when hit hard, so he’d developed the nano suit to compensate, greatly improving combat capability.

The problem was that the stored nanites were limited, and once depleted, repairs were impossible.

But if he could protect the suit with energy shields, damage itself would be reduced, significantly cutting down nanite consumption.

Just then, non-human enemies began appearing.

Robots resembling Ultron emerged en masse from the factory-like base, their hands replaced with Chitauri weapons.

"Oh, crap!"

"Wow... This is giving me PTSD."

"Hah... Seriously..."

"So this is what Hydra was preparing."

The members couldn’t hide their dismay at seeing a situation similar to that previous incident.

"Haa... I miss my daughter..."

Even the Captain sighed at the sight.

Tony immediately countered in disbelief,

"That’s exactly what I’ve been telling you! We need to take a hard line against Hydra!"

"Huff... Tony... Let’s catch them first and talk later."

The Captain seemed to have a lot to say but decided to focus on the immediate situation.

"Vision and Myo Myo, go support Wakanda. If Hydra is coming out like this, they might be in danger."

"Understood, Captain."

Vision and Myo Myo quickly flew off to support Wakanda, and we resumed combat.

BOOM! BAM! CRASH!

"Their firepower is strong, but they’re dumber than Ultron."

Falcon remarked as he fought, and as he said, there were only about 100 of them, and unlike Ultron, their AI wasn’t up to par, making their movements sluggish.

But that didn’t mean they weren’t a threat—many super-soldiers were supporting the robots.

"They’re not going to combine or anything, are they?"

"Whoa, whoa, watch what you say. That’s actually scary."

Pietro’s comment made Bruce flinch, and given their history with Ultron, it seemed he was still dealing with the trauma.

Then suddenly, my [Observation Haki] showed me a vision of the Captain dying.

’What the hell!’

SWOOOSH—!

I rushed to the Captain, grabbed him, and pulled him back.

Just then, a Dark Elf black hole grenade landed where we’d been standing, warping the surrounding space and instantly compressing everything into a single point.

"Everyone be careful! They’re using black hole grenades!"

They had even brought Dark Elf weapons from Damage Control.

"Thanks, Jin."

"We need to stay alert. The Dark Elves’ black hole grenades are no joke."

"Right."

From then on, Wanda and Cosmo, who could use telekinesis, began watching the surroundings, catching and pushing away incoming grenades.

Thanks to them, the members could fight more easily, but aside from Pietro with his speed, the ground fighters had to cluster around Wanda and Cosmo to fight.

This information was immediately relayed to Wakanda through Vision.

Fortunately, the enemies didn’t seem to have stolen large quantities of the weapon, as the grenades only came intermittently.

But that actually made it harder for Wanda and Cosmo to time their responses, and they couldn’t focus on combat while constantly watching the perimeter.

The Captain, aware of this, quickly reorganized the team.

"Bruce, blast a path toward the building. Pietro and the flying members keep fighting outside—the rest of you go inside and secure the base."

"Got it."

"Jin, you can fly too—help cover the outside."

"Alright."

At the Captain’s command, Bruce used the Hulk Striker’s powerful defenses to push through the robots’ and super-soldiers’ attacks and began breaking toward the entrance, with the other members following behind.

Following the Captain’s instructions, I put on the [Levitation Cloak] from my inventory and flew up, continuing the fight outside with Tony, Vulture, Falcon, and Pietro.

Meanwhile, the other members reached the base and entered.

The robots and super-soldiers split their forces to defend, some staying to protect the interior and others chasing the infiltrated Avengers.

Ironically, this reduced the remaining outside forces significantly, making them manageable for those of us left.

From then on, Tony and Pietro started going all out against the enemies, seemingly relieved that there were no allies on the ground anymore.

Tony flew around using powerful laser weapons to slice through super-soldiers and robots, and his shoulder-mounted multi-rocket launchers relentlessly devastated the area without regard for the enemy’s survival.

ZING—! SHRRRED!

KABOOOM—!!!

Pietro was the same.

Using the vibranium sword he’d acquired when fighting the Dark Elves, he moved at high speed, slashing through enemies.

With such speed, the vibranium blade cut through anything—super-soldiers and robots alike died without even realizing they’d been hit.

Unable to watch any longer, Falcon called out,

"Tony!"

"Don’t force your views on me! And this isn’t the time for that argument!"

Since they were still in battle, Falcon could only frown and didn’t press further.

After fighting for a while, we began to see the end—the battle wrapped up surprisingly quickly, thanks to Tony and Pietro’s relentless slaughter.

The surrounding area was a mess of blood and body parts.

"Feel better now?"

Falcon asked with a sigh, and only then did Tony and Pietro come to their senses and look around.

They themselves hesitated at what they’d done and said nothing.

During combat, with dust flying and adrenaline pumping, they’d focused only on their targets and apparently hadn’t noticed.

After a moment of silence, I addressed the members.

"Let’s go inside. The members who went in first are probably still fighting. Vulture, stay out here and keep watch—make sure no one escapes."

"Got it, Boss..."

Leaving Vulture behind, we entered the base and followed the trail of downed enemies to find the Captain and the others.

Before long, we saw them fighting in a large warehouse inside the building, so we joined in to help.

"You’re here. What happened outside?"

"Cleared. Someone went on a rampage in spectacular fashion."

The Captain, curious about Falcon’s tone, asked again,

"What do you mean by that?"

"You’ll see later. Anyway, focus. Vulture’s staying outside to watch, so don’t worry."

With that, the interior quickly began to clear.

The Captain’s judgment had been right—with walls on all sides, the robots and super-soldiers could only engage in limited areas, making the battle much easier as long as we focused on those chokepoints.

The downside was that it took time, but that couldn’t be helped.

CRASH! BAM!

"It looks like we’re mostly done."

After a long battle, we had subdued most of the enemy forces and were moving forward, only dealing with occasional stragglers.

"Cap! Come look at this. It looks like they were producing super-soldier serum here."

Hawkeye found a lab and alerted us.

It contained large quantities of blue serum stored in IV-like bags, and the Hydra researchers inside raised their hands in surrender the moment they saw us.

In another building, we found a robot manufacturing plant.

Surprisingly, unlike typical North Korean facilities, the entire process was automated, with robots being produced continuously.

It was probably a facility Ultron had created, repurposed by Hydra.

We entered the central building, which seemed to handle administrative work—it was full of desks and paperwork, including transaction records with China.

Checking them, it seemed technology hadn’t been transferred, but a considerable amount of super-soldier serum had been traded.

Suddenly, a loud noise came from inside.

I rushed in.

There, a white man with silver hair and black glasses was facing off with the members.

The problem was what lay at his feet—a nuclear warhead similar to what we’d seen at the missile bases, equipped with a detonator.

The members couldn’t move recklessly and were watching the situation cautiously.

"This is quite troublesome. I didn’t expect the U.S. to start a war without fearing nuclear threats or World War III, nor did I expect China to stay still. If I’d had a little more time, I could have produced more robots and turned the tide... I suppose all of this is because of you people?"

He clasped his hands behind his back, staring directly at us as he spoke.

I asked,

"Who are you?"

"Ah, my apologies. I haven’t introduced myself. I am Daniel Whitehall. I was in charge of Hydra’s U.S. branch. But the Hydra forces in the U.S. have lost almost all their power. Hence, I’m here."

Daniel Whitehall was a villain from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., possessing the ability of immortality.

Having lived over a hundred years, he was older than even the Captain.

With that long life, he had amassed vast knowledge and possessed extraordinary rhetoric skills—capable of brainwashing many through words alone.

But what was strange was that he was casually revealing his identity and plans.

The reason was simple.

"You’re planning to detonate it."

"Oh-ho, a sharp observer. Yes, I am. With this, all of Hydra’s greatest threats will be eliminated."

The members broke into cold sweats and tensed up.

"No matter what you say, it won’t matter."

"Yes, that’s exactly right. So give up."

Without hesitation, I tossed something to him.

"Catch."

"Huh? What is this..."

SWOOOSH—!

Suddenly, I threw something easy to catch, and he reflexively caught it.

It was a black hole grenade—the moment he realized what it was, it activated, sucking him, the warhead, and the surrounding desks into a single point, vanishing instantly.

Bling~!

[[(S) Immortality] ability has been stolen.]

[[(S) Immortality] ability is absorbed by [(EX) Healing Factor] ability.]

Aside from the fact that [Immortality] was absorbed into [Healing Factor], the notification confirmed he was dealt with.

As Daniel Whitehall and the warhead vanished, the members let out sighs of relief and disbelief.

"Wow... I never expected it to be handled that simply."

"Yeah, I was so tense..."

"If you toss it like a baseball, anyone would catch it without thinking."

"Right. Jin’s got good instincts."

I smiled proudly and said,

"I picked it up off the ground earlier. Never thought it’d be used like this."

"Thank goodness. That move saved us."

Putting that behind us, we resumed searching and subduing remaining enemies.

Then Vision contacted us, his voice sounding troubled.

"Captain... Wakanda found something... You should prepare yourself before coming."

"Let me guess—bodies of people sacrificed in super-soldier experiments? We saw the same thing when we took down a Hydra base before. I was somewhat prepared."

"So you expected it. Yes, that’s it. But the numbers are quite large..."