Chapter 34: Assassination Attempt
Lance Ryder sat cross-legged in the attic of his house.
Moonlight streamed through the large glass windows, bathing the room in a pale glow and giving the entire space a calm, quiet atmosphere.
With his eyes closed, Lance immersed himself in meditation.
Inside his body, magical power flowed like a vast river, circulating along precise pathways. At the same time, deep within his sea of consciousness, he was working through the construction of new rune-based magical elements.
The magic Lance practiced came from the Norse rune system.
However, only twenty-four runes had been passed down to him.
Compared with ancient times, countless others had been lost.
Within the magical worldview, runes formed the fundamental structure of everything in existence. All things were composed of these symbols.
Which meant the true number of runes in the universe was far greater than twenty-four.
Based on Lance's calculations, there should be at least thirty-six, if not more.
But in the current universe, only one being had ever mastered all of them.
Odin, the All-Father.
It was Odin who sacrificed one of his eyes at the World Tree to obtain the infinite knowledge hidden within the runes.
During his decades in Jotunheim, Lance had mastered all twenty-four runes he possessed.
Yet only one path had allowed him to break through into the Legendary Realm—
Ice magic.
The environment of Jotunheim had made that path almost inevitable.
But after returning to Earth, Lance sensed something strange.
It felt as if someone was interfering with his destiny.
Because of that, he decided not to rely solely on ice magic anymore.
There were twenty-four runes.
Twenty-four possible paths of magic.
Surely one of them would suit him.
However, practicing magic on Earth was far more difficult than he had expected.
The inertia of magical elements on Earth was more than ten times stronger than in Jotunheim.
At that rate, it might take ten years for him to reach the Legendary Realm again through another magical path.
Ten years.
By then, Thanos might already have arrived on Earth.
And even a mage in the Legendary Realm would hardly be enough to stop him.
That was why Lance had turned his attention to the Cosmic Cube.
Even if he didn't know where it was hidden now, Tony Stark's new element—inspired by the Cube's energy particles—might offer a different path.
Through that discovery, Lance hoped to construct a new magical system.
In Lance's understanding of magic, the so-called "new element" had always existed in the universe.
It simply hadn't been discovered before.
Tony Stark had created it by imitating the energy structure of the Cosmic Cube.
But the Cube itself had always existed.
And so had its energy.
Which meant, in theory, Lance could reconstruct that same energy pattern through magic.
However, theory was only theory.
Constructing an entirely new magical element required enormous time and carried significant risks.
Tony Stark had succeeded only because of the foundation laid by his father, Howard Stark.
The combined brilliance of two generations of geniuses had led to the creation of the Arc Reactor.
Without that groundwork, even a tiny mistake could have resulted in complete failure.
The same applied to Lance.
Although he had made extensive preparations—visiting every section of the Stark Expo, even obtaining detailed blueprints of every design change made over the years—reconstructing the element magically remained extremely difficult.
It required endless trial and error.
Fortunately, Lance was conducting most of the experimentation within his mental world rather than directly manipulating magical energy.
If he had attempted the process physically, repeated magical backlash could have shattered his consciousness entirely.
Even Tony Stark hadn't succeeded alone.
At a critical moment, Nick Fury had provided him with classified materials collected by S.H.I.E.L.D. over many years.
Those files likely contained key information Lance still lacked.
Suddenly, Lance opened his mouth.
A faint cloud of green smoke escaped his lips.
It was the waste energy produced while absorbing Earth's magical elements.
As his training deepened, Lance felt the inertia of Earth's magical environment more strongly than ever.
The stronger a mage became, the more difficult it was to overcome that resistance.
At times like this, Lance wished he had access to an Infinity Stone.
If he possessed one, the interference of Earth's magical inertia would disappear completely.
He could return to the Legendary Realm quickly—
And perhaps even walk the path of space magic.
But the question remained.
Where had Nick Fury hidden the Cosmic Cube?
Even Alexander Pierce didn't know its exact location.
If Pierce couldn't find it, Lance certainly couldn't.
Which meant he could only wait.
Wait for Loki to arrive on Earth.
Wait for Loki to bring the Cosmic Cube—and the Mind Scepter—with him.
That kind of calculation was extremely difficult.
The more powerful the forces involved, the harder it became to predict the future accurately.
Lance sighed softly.
Gradually, the magical energy in his body calmed.
His thoughts settled into silence.
Then—
A strange sound broke the quiet.
Lance frowned.
As a powerful mage, he could hear far beyond normal human limits, even without actively listening.
After living on this street for several days, he had already become familiar with its nightly rhythm.
Even occasional gunshots fit into that pattern.
But this sound—
It was different.
It disrupted the entire rhythm of the night.
And that immediately put Lance on alert.
In the next instant, Lance disappeared from the attic.
High above the busy streets of Manhattan, a figure swung rapidly through the air.
Behind him, three oval-shaped drones chased closely.
Within seconds, they all rushed into a maze of narrow alleyways.
One drone failed to maneuver in time.
It slammed into a wall and exploded.
Fragments embedded themselves deep into the concrete.
Peter Parker, swinging between buildings with spider silk, felt a chill run down his spine.
At first, he thought the flying machines were just toys built by some bored college student.
But now it was obvious.
They were trying to kill him.
Before this moment, Parker had already destroyed four or five drones.
Yet three still remained.
Fortunately, one had just crashed.
Otherwise, the situation might have become far worse.
As he sped forward, Parker repeatedly fired spider webs at the surrounding walls, hoping to trap the drones.
But the machines maneuvered with surprising agility, dodging every web.
It almost seemed as if someone was controlling them directly.
Suddenly—
Parker's ears twitched.
Another drone appeared in front of him.
He had no idea where it came from.
Or how many there were.
But it was already charging straight toward him.
Locking onto Spider-Man was extremely difficult.
His agility far exceeded the operator's expectations.
The drones could only follow his movements.
But in the middle of the chase, Parker saw an opportunity.
The machines were incredibly fast.
So he deliberately exposed a weakness.
Instantly, the drones fired brilliant energy beams.
At that exact moment—
Parker released his web and dropped straight down.
Two of the drones collided midair.
Both exploded.
Parker had calculated their flight paths perfectly.
In a split second, he moved between them, forcing them into each other.
Only one drone remained.
Parker hit the ground hard and struggled to stand.
The final drone hovered above him.
For some reason, it hesitated.
It didn't attack immediately.
That hesitation gave Parker the moment he needed.
A beam of light flashed.
The drone finally fired.
But Parker had already rolled aside.
At the same time, a strand of web shot out and stuck to the drone's underside.
He yanked hard.
The machine slammed into the ground—
And exploded instantly.
Using the momentum, Parker leapt onto a nearby wall.
He looked down at the flames below and exhaled deeply.
His racing heart slowly calmed.
He still had no idea who had tried to assassinate him tonight.
But although the attack had been dangerous—
It wasn't enough to kill him.
Parker didn't dwell on it for long.
He quickly disappeared back into the city.
After he left, Lance Ryder appeared silently on a nearby rooftop.
In truth, he had been observing the entire fight.
He had even prepared to intervene if necessary.
Spider-Man couldn't die yet.
For Lance's plans, Peter Parker still needed to remain in the spotlight, attracting the attention of villains and organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D.
Lance didn't bother following him.
He already knew Spider-Man's true identity.
There was no point.
As for the destroyed drones scattered across the alley—
Any useful data inside them had already been erased.
Even if they hadn't exploded, finding clues would have been extremely difficult.
Still, if someone wanted Peter Parker dead—
They would try again.
Sooner or later.
Lance vanished again, returning to the attic of his house.
But somewhere else—
Inside a hidden base—
Most surveillance screens had already gone dark.
Only two remained active.
They showed Spider-Man moving through Manhattan's streets.
Even though Parker believed he had destroyed every drone—
The enemy was still watching him.
Tracking his movements through other unseen methods.
At any moment, they could launch another attack.
Inside the base, heated voices echoed through the room.
"Why did you hesitate just now, Spencer?" someone shouted.
"He would have been dead already!"
The man being questioned remained silent.
But a young man sitting in a wheelchair spoke up instead.
"My father is the world's leading robotics expert."
"Norman Osborn."
"You need to understand something."
"He's not a killer."
And just like that—
The mastermind behind Spider-Man's assassination attempt was revealed.
Norman Osborn.
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