The Flaming Giant Beast has a massive size, and as it moves, the flames within it splash everywhere, its presence astonishing.
The heat and sturdy shell give them a terrifying intimidatory power, while their inexplicable power grants them immense strength and speed.
But the Destruction Maidens are not far behind; they have experienced numerous battles, and handling large-sized enemies is second nature to them.
However, Su Ming noticed they seemed uninterested in dealing with Odin; many Destruction Maidens just glanced at him before turning to face the beast.
Somewhat strange, because while they appear neither human nor ghost, they actually possess a complete thought process and strategic thinking.
Choosing to deal with the beast rather than Odin—what does this choice represent?
Watching them wielding Sword and Shield, slicing and jumping around the beast, Su Ming quickly left this battlefield, as one never knows how long these guys will fight.
On one side is the Flame Magic perpetual motion machine, encased in a layer of Uru Metal, its fatal weakness unseen, ordinary weapons scarcely cause harm.
On the other side are Half-Undead Half-Demon creatures, not only adept in Martial Arts but also capable of transforming into flame or black smoke, utterly undying.
Perhaps they will fight until the Twilight of the Gods.
But let them fight on; chaos on the battlefield is good. This time, Su Ming's secondary objective is to help Asgard reduce its military by 50%.
Simultaneously weakening other forces is also no bad thing.
Right now, Su Ming is riding on the back of the Eight-legged Celestial Horse, red cloak waving high, weapons hacking left and right, pursuing in the direction of the retreating Vanir Race.
But soon Vanir Cavalry came to block him.
"Halt! Odin, to harm the Queen, you must pass us first!"
A skinny Vanir minor leader shouted ceremoniously to Su Ming; the Vanir Race generally has slim physiques, likely due to malnutrition.
The battlefield's bloody smell and thick smoke envelop everyone, and the Celestial Horse anxiously scratches the ground with its hooves.
Su Ming flicked the blood off his spear, sitting on the horse with the spear tip pointing to the ground, looking at the rear of the opposing cavalry line, realizing Gullveig was over there...
"Thanks a lot." Su Ming yelled at the Vanir Race, patting Slipnis's neck: "Fly over."
The Eight-legged Celestial Horse stomped its hooves simultaneously, soaring up, flying directly over the heads of the Vanir lines.
The cavalry looked at their horses and their Long Spears, ready to cry.
It's just bullying them for having inferior horses, unable to fly, and lacking ranged weapons, forcing them to tilt their heads to watch Slipnis transform into a white streak across the sky.
And the distant Flying Ships didn't have its speed; even trying to respond was already too late.
Although some fireballs and water magic attempted to attack the sky-bound target, with a wave of the cloak, these spells were all swept away.
"Cloak, check if anyone's hiding using invisibility magic."
The Vanir Race's innate magic is water and wind. Last time, after witnessing a Mage battle at Kama Taiji, Su Ming knew their specialty is creating illusions with the water element.
Loki's innate power is ice, but he can use water too; what Frigga taught him was the Vanir Race's Illusion Magic.
As long as magic is used, the Magic Floating Cloak can sense it.
In response, the red cloth cloak on Su Ming's back raised a corner, sniffing around like a dog; soon it formed an arrow shape, nudged his shoulder.
"Good..." Su Ming pointed with a finger, the Celestial Horse immediately dove, descending on a small hill in the distance: "Gullveig, I'm here to negotiate terms."
The hilltop had sparse trees and a few large stones, untouched by the flames of war, the ground soft and thick with grass.
He dismounted, signaling the Celestial Horse to go play on its own.
But no one responded to Su Ming's shouts, as Vanir cavalry and Flying Ships approached, like thunder rumbling, clouds blanketing the sky.
Su Ming wasn't anxious; he simply sighed: "Cloak, fetch her out for me."
The cloak detached from his shoulder, extended forward and rolled, seemingly wrapping around something invisible; then layered over it like a giant cigar, floated before Su Ming.
The Magic Floating Cloak proceeded to absorb the magic from Gullveig's body, restoring the Queen from her invisible state, glaring angrily at Su Ming, weapon in hand.
Yet below her shoulders, she was entirely secured by the cloak, now a spring roll's meat filling.
"You're not Odin!" she struggled.
"Then who am I?" Su Ming chuckled, as Gullveig's guards emerged from invisibility, surrounding him; he tapped his chest: "Strangulation!"
The black creature emerged from his body, and countless greasy tentacles immediately entangled the guards. The tips of the tentacles grew mouths filled with sharp fangs, ready to devour at any moment.
This question stumped Gullveig. Yes, if not Odin, then who?
But this strange cloak and the ability to grow tentacles all over, it doesn't look like Odin at all, yet there's no such person in the Immortal Palace.
Su Ming wasn't worried about being discovered while being far from the frontline of the battlefield. The Celestial Horse couldn't talk to report to Odin. Besides, it seemed happy on the battlefield and wouldn't care about such details, as it wasn't that smart.
He plunged the Godslayer into the ground, looking at Gullveig's face, and without waiting for her answer, he continued to ask.
"So, Queen of Warnerheim, why did you bring the Vanir Race to Asgard?"
"Naturally, to overthrow Odin, even if it ends in mutual destruction." She kept wriggling, but the cloak firmly held her in place.
Su Ming reached out and touched her face, lifting her chin.
"So you're not afraid of death, but you ran away, fearing being eaten by Demons? Interesting."
Gullveig turned her head forcefully and spat at him: "You are not from the Immortal Palace. If you knew that if some things in the Golden Palace fell into the hands of Demons, the Multiverse would be destroyed, you wouldn't be so relaxed. The personal grudge between Warnerheim and Asgard cannot be at the cost of the entire Cosmos."
She gave time for Asgard to deal with the Demon army first and then fight with the Vanir Race.
"Hmm... so that's how it is. It makes sense. The task of the Demon army is to head straight to the Golden Palace Treasure Vault, eliminating and devouring all obstacles, right? Mephisto probably wants the Wizard's Eye, doesn't he? All the Lords of Hell want it."
It was a huge yellow eyeball, fixed on a metal tray. That eye seemed alive, watching all who entered the vault.
The gaze was like looking at a grain of sand.
In the vault with it were also Agamotto's Treasure Pearl, the Monument of Life and Time, the Ice Box, the Infinity Gauntlet, and a lot of other things.
These things are extremely powerful and dangerous and can only be stored in the vault.
However, most Lords of Hell focused on the Wizard's Eye, in the comics, beings like Serrator also wanted it.
It is said that if used properly, it can bring the entire Multiverse to a lower dimension, turning into a vast Hell Plane.
Gullveig didn't answer. She didn't know exactly which treasure the Demons were after, but even if it were the Monument of Life and Time, that would be incredible.
It records the evolutionary path of all life, capable of evolving a snail into an advanced intelligent life in seconds, with a powerful physique like the Divine Race. If Demons used it to evolve themselves, it's terrifying to imagine what they would become.
"You and Frey are good people. Even during revenge, you consider the Cosmos, which I admire... But this is also why you lost to Odin. War is unscrupulous. Perhaps being Queen for so long gave you the illusion you could be a General or Commander, but you see it yourself, you have almost no talent for commanding an army, nor the resolve to destroy everything."
Su Ming sighed, patting the Queen's head as if she were a small animal. Gullveig did have a thick head of golden hair, which felt quite good to the touch.
"Don't touch me, filthy Shapeshifter. I have resolve, but that doesn't mean madness!"
"That's because your father never realized how mad Odin is, and you still haven't realized only a madman can deal with a madman." Su Ming withdrew his hand and sat cross-legged on the grass under the murderous gaze of the surrounding guards.
The Magic Floating Cloak lowered its height, keeping the Queen facing Su Ming.
"Even if we die in battle, we'll die with honor. Death exists to prevent us from becoming like Odin. If you're going to kill me, do it quickly!"
Su Ming shook his head; once honor becomes involved, it's hard to say. It's too much based on personal beliefs, and everyone has a different perspective on honor.
"Don't be excited. I'm from Midgard. I sympathize with your plight and understand your motives for rebellion, but I'm afraid you've been deceived by Surtur."
Su Ming looked around; the warriors' eyes were blazing. This parasitic-like situation was evidently not a good sign.
"He's one of the Lords of Hell. I clearly understand that there's no free wine," the Queen calmly replied.
"I'm just afraid you won't even be able to die if you want." Su Ming gestured for Strangulation to drag over a guard. He examined the guard like inspecting livestock, flipping the eyelids, checking the teeth and throat, even letting some blood. Finally, he concluded: "This power is elementalizing the Warnerheim People. You're likely to become Flame itself, part of Surtur's power. That's hardly honorable."
Gullveig was silent for a moment. She watched the guard's blood ignite into small flames upon contact with air, realizing it was true.
Surtur was using them as stepping stones. Even if the Vanir Race were wiped out, he'd have a free world, plus a bunch of humanoid Flame Monsters, all while severely wounding Asgard. It was too good of a deal for him.
The Magic Floating Cloak not only sucked away her invisibility magic but also the power Surtur lent them. As the influence of the Flame disappeared, Gullveig gradually calmed down.
She began to doubt whether the anger and destruction she felt were illusions because now she felt very peaceful inside, with no thoughts of mutual destruction.
It was those Flames that drove their thoughts to extremes.
"Let me down and face me in your true form. We need to talk."
"As you wish. Actually, you don't have many options now, but allying with me is a good choice. I'm willing to offer you a method that causes minimal damage but brings quick results, making Warner and Aesir equals."
The Strangulation receded, revealing Su Ming's original appearance, full of smiles.