Ronan, who had just been shot in the hand by the green-skinned pea-shooter, was even more enraged and reached out his hand.
The long hammer he had thrown earlier to pin the warden to the wall flew back into his hand just like Mjolnir!
Well, it happened to be the same hand that had been spat on...
The disgusting, slimy sensation on his hand only fueled Ronan's fury further!
Raising the long hammer high, he prepared to deliver a brutal, bone-crushing finishing move to Gamora!
At this moment of life-and-death crisis for Gamora, Nebula's expression behind Ronan was complex; she slightly raised her hand, but ultimately gritted her teeth and did not act!
But while Nebula didn't step in to stop it, someone else did!
Star-Lord suddenly lunged at Ronan, tightly hugging his legs and shouting loudly:
"Cool guy! Stop, stop, stop! Let's talk this out. She really doesn't know where the Cosmic Orb is, because she wasn't the one who got it at all, I swear to God!"
Hearing the keyword 'Cosmic Orb', Ronan finally refrained from smashing the hammer down. He kicked away the Star-Lord who was clinging to him and said coldly:
"You know where the Cosmic Orb is?"
Star-Lord wasn't angry at all after being kicked away; instead, he put on a fawning smile:
"Of course. Because I am the legendary outlaw who stole the Cosmic Orb from the temple myself—the one known as Star-Lord!"
Hearing this, Ronan frowned. "Star-Lord? Never heard of you. Stop wasting my time and tell me where the Cosmic Orb is, and I might spare your life!"
Star-Lord's smile widened. "Of course, of course. I really, really want to tell you where the Cosmic Orb is, but unfortunately, I'm afraid time has run out. You see, I was just stalling. The activation time for the Necro-bomb on you has arrived~"
"Get down!!!"
As he finished speaking, Star-Lord roared and tackled Gamora, who was beside him, to the ground.
In the next instant, realizing something was wrong, Ronan looked down only to find that the activation button on the Necro-bomb at his waist had been pressed by someone at some point!
And the countdown had reached the final second!
"You despicable..."
BOOM! ——————
Before Ronan could finish his sentence, the Necro-bomb at his waist exploded, sending Star-Lord's group in front of him, as well as Nebula and the Necro-legion behind him, flying!
The power of the Necro-bomb was not to be underestimated; the entire prison shook from the blast!
The criminals and guards in the prison were also knocked to the floor.
Once the aftershocks of the explosion subsided, people began to crawl back up one after another.
Among them were Gamora and the others.
Gamora, pinned beneath Star-Lord, was mostly unharmed by the explosion, but Star-Lord, who had shielded her from the damage, was in a bad way. He was covered in blood, his body riddled with burns from the blast!
If it were a normal person, they would have likely died from such injuries long ago!
"Holy crap! Is this kid okay?"
At this time, Rocket, who was also largely unharmed under Groot's protection, hurried over to check on Star-Lord's injuries.
After all, in his escape plan, Star-Lord's ship was a vital component!
If Star-Lord died, they wouldn't even be able to enter the ship without the Master's authentication!
As Gamora held Star-Lord, her cold heart felt a long-forgotten sense of panic:
"Why? Why did you save me when I was trying to kill you just a moment ago..."
Rocket felt Star-Lord's neck and, finding a pulse, let out a sigh of relief. "Stop crying, you silly woman. This idiot is lucky; he actually survived a Necro-bomb blast!"
"But if you keep doing nothing and cry over him for much longer, he really might die. So move it! Find a med-kit, GO GO GO!"
However, when bad things happen, they always seem to come in succession...
Just as Rocket stood up to look for a med-kit, a tall, dark shadow burst through the smoke of the explosion and kicked Rocket's small body like a soccer ball, sending him flying over ten meters away and knocking him unconscious instantly!
The person emerging from the smoke was actually Ronan, whose waist armor had been blown apart, leaving his flesh a bloody mess!
Facing a point-blank Necro-bomb explosion, Ronan had not only survived but was still able to fight!
This constitution was probably comparable to the Original Spider-Man, who could take a Pumpkin Bomb to the face!
"I am Groot!!!"
Seeing his companion kicked away by Ronan, Groot immediately roared in anger and whipped his arm out, extending it to wrap around Ronan's body, then repeatedly slammed Ronan against the ceiling and the floor!
But if Ronan could withstand a point-blank Necro-bomb, such slamming attacks were completely incapable of harming him!
With a sudden surge of strength from his arms, Ronan snapped the branches binding him!
Then, with a face as cold as frost, Ronan strode toward Groot.
Groot tried to attack again with his arms, but the battle-hardened Ronan wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.
This time, Ronan directly seized Groot's incoming wooden arms with his hands, then stepped forward and delivered a violent front kick to Groot's chest!
Thump! ——————
Crack! Crack! ——————
Amidst a dull thud and two crisp cracks, wood splinters flew as Groot was sent flying backward with a collapsed chest and broken arms!
"Hmph! You're not bad, but you're not qualified to be my opponent!"
Ronan snorted disdainfully, tossed aside the broken wooden arms in his hands, and turned to walk toward Gamora and the fallen Star-Lord.
Gamora naturally wouldn't just sit and wait for death. Star-Lord had saved her last time; now it was her turn to save him!
Picking up the dagger Drax had dropped when he was sent flying by Ronan earlier, Gamora rushed at Ronan!
But if Drax, the strongest fighter on the field, and Groot, the second strongest, were no match for Ronan, how could Gamora, whose constitution was only slightly better than a normal person's, possibly be his opponent?
Gamora was overwhelmed in both strength and speed. Ronan struck second but arrived first, grabbing Gamora's throat with one hand and seizing her knife-wielding hand with the other!
With just a little pressure, Ronan made Gamora's eyes roll back, and the knife fell from her hand.
Ronan held Gamora high, enjoying the sight of his enemy's agony before death, and mocked her:
"I am Ronan the Accuser. No one can betray me and live, even if you are the daughter of Thanos. No one can save you now!"
Gamora feebly hammered at Ronan's tightening arm with her hands, her life beginning to flash before her eyes.
From when she was a child and half her home's population was killed by Thanos's order, to being taken and trained as an assassin by him, to secretly looking for a chance to kill Thanos, until she met Star-Lord and the others and formed this temporary team...
"Let... her go!"
At that moment, a hand grabbed Ronan's ankle.
Ronan looked down to see Star-Lord, the one who had played a trick on him earlier!
He hadn't expected this kid to be alive, let alone have the guts to crawl back and seek death again!
Ronan's face twitched with anger as he raised his foot and stomped heavily on Star-Lord's back, causing Star-Lord to cough up a spray of blood that flew two meters!
Even so, Star-Lord didn't let go; instead, he stubbornly wrapped his other arm around Ronan's leg as well.
This left even Ronan stunned!
By all rights, the force of that stomp should have flattened even a man made of iron. How was this person not dead yet?
Could it be that he had misjudged him? Was this guy not from some lowly race, but from one with noble blood like his own?
But...
A cold smile appeared on Ronan's lips. "Unfortunately, no matter how noble your lineage, if you oppose me, you must die!"
With that, Ronan slowly raised his foot again, aiming it at Star-Lord's head.
No matter how noble your blood, if your head is crushed, you'll die all the same!
Star-Lord looked at the giant foot descending toward him, a blue light flashing in his eyes. For a moment, it felt as if time had slowed down.
He looked around: at Drax, still embedded in the iron door and sleeping like a baby; at the armless Groot lying beside the unconscious Rocket; at the guards and prisoners hiding in fear; and finally at Gamora, being choked in Ronan's grasp. He finally...
Gave up...
Did you think there was going to be an awakening?
Come on, that's the kind of treatment only shonen manga protagonists get. He was just an ordinary human abducted from Earth by the Raiders. What kind of awakening could he possibly have!
It seemed today was the final curtain for the legendary outlaw Star-Lord. Sayonara to this damn Universe!
As Star-Lord closed his eyes in resignation, the blue light in them vanished, time returned to its normal flow, and Ronan's heavy foot descended toward his head with a gust of wind!
"Whew~~~~~~"
But faster than the wind was a sound!
A whistle!
An arrow glowing with red light arrived just in the nick of time, hovering over Star-Lord's head when Ronan's foot was only a centimeter away, blocking the fatal stomp!
Hearing that familiar whistle, Star-Lord snapped his eyes open. Seeing the familiar arrow before him, he couldn't help but whip his head toward the exit!
Accompanied by the sound of footsteps, a man in a red leather coat strode out from the exit. He looked at the disheveled Star-Lord and let out a uniquely raspy, boisterous laugh:
"Hahaha! Son, did you miss your daddy?"
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