Chapter Eighty-Three: The Black Vortex

Before Tony had time to react, Artanis vanished into the shadows, and the smoke that had enveloped the laboratory quickly dispersed as well. Jarvis’s voice sounded once more. “Sir?”

“Jarvis, project the surveillance footage from this room over the past ten minutes.” Tony glanced at the strange object in his hand. After a moment’s thought, he set it on the desk beside him. Jarvis immediately projected the video.

In the footage, Tony could be seen entering the room alone and standing motionless. Then, quite suddenly, he leaned backward, and the peculiar object appeared in his hand.

“All right. It seems our extraterrestrial friend possesses some rather unusual abilities.” Tony watched the footage carefully and confirmed that no mist had appeared at any point. He then turned his attention to the so-called crystal before him.

“So how exactly am I supposed to use this strange thing?” Tony took out a pen and tapped the Ihan crystal. The peculiar device, assembled from several triangles, unfolded outward, while a projection appeared above the central triangle.

“All right. I suppose I know how it works now.” Tony put the pen away with a speechless expression. How could a creation that might be either technology or magic be so poorly designed? One tap, and it opened.

…

The moment Artanis sensed that dark power, he immediately handed Tony the prepared Ihan crystal and set out for the place where the darkness had erupted.

Originally, Artanis had intended to give Tony a brief explanation before presenting him with the crystal. However, plans had been overtaken by events. The eruption of dark power forced him to leave at once, and he could only hope that Selendis and Vorazun had already set up the necessary instruments.

Once Artanis had made his decision, the three of them divided into two groups. Artanis, who had already met Tony, was placed in charge of one group. He handed the Avengers records of the dark power’s fluctuations, the consequences it could produce, and the deductions made by himself and the others. He also instructed them to negotiate with the governments of the various nations—or, if necessary, to bypass them entirely and establish defensive nodes directly.

The other group consisted of Selendis and Vorazun, who hurried to the coordinates of the dark-energy eruption detected by the instruments. Near those coordinates, in the surrounding waters, they would establish stasis barriers and spatial matrices to reduce the impact of the battle that was to come as much as possible.

The temple mages of Kamar-Taj had recently been occupied with resisting the invasion of the Dark Dimension, so most of their forces could not be mobilized. After all, should Midgard’s defensive formations be destroyed, even more terrifying enemies would descend upon this world.

Nevertheless, Kamar-Taj did its utmost to send a high mage to assist the three of them. This high mage was a direct disciple of the Ancient One. His name was Anthony Druid. Mr. Anthony had once been a psychiatrist with a passionate interest in the occult. After encountering the Ancient One, he had been taken on as her disciple.

Anthony accompanied Selendis and Vorazun, helping them establish numerous magical formations in the surrounding waters. The three of them sensed that powerful dark energy almost immediately.

“Not good. We need to move.” Selendis immediately plunged toward the seabed. Since they were much closer this time, all three of them accurately detected the source of the dark power. As they had expected, it was located on the ocean floor beneath these waters.

Vorazun said nothing. She transformed into smoke and vanished before Anthony’s eyes, while Anthony quickly followed Selendis. Without a precise destination, the only option was to fly toward it.

As soon as Artanis sensed the power, he initiated a warp. His coordinates were naturally the location where Selendis and the others had stopped, for during the time he had spent speaking with Tony, the three of them had already reached their destination.

A flash of blue light carried Artanis to the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. The sight before him filled him with unease and fury. Did those damned creatures of darkness know only this one trick?

What entered the vision of the four was an enormous black vortex. Through their psionic senses, Artanis and the others easily discerned its true nature: a force of darkness forged from the blood and souls of countless living beings.

“Praise the gods, Lord Artanis. The spatial anomalies here have been fully analyzed. It appears that the enemy is using a blood-sacrifice ritual to break the seal, and the ceremony has already been completed. We have no way to interrupt it.” Selendis took a deep breath and shared the information she had obtained. The feeling of arriving too late and being powerless was deeply unpleasant, but she knew this was no time to let emotion dictate their actions.

“Let us go back up first. The seal has already been broken. Establishing the spatial passage is only a matter of time. Mr. Anthony, can you evacuate every living creature from the surrounding waters?” Artanis gave the vortex an exasperated glance before turning to Anthony. They had communicated to some extent before setting out, and this mage named Anthony was, as his name suggested, a druid. He could communicate with plants and animals, which was why Artanis had assigned him this task.

“Of course, Lord Artanis. Leave it to me.” Anthony nodded to Artanis, then flew toward the nearest concentration of life. No living creatures remained near the vortex, so driving away those farther off would also provide some assistance during the battle to come.

“Although we cannot prevent the spatial passage from opening, that does not mean we are helpless. We could make a psionic bomb with a hardened shell and throw it inside.” Vorazun looked at the constantly rotating black vortex and offered her suggestion.

The Protoss Empire had never had much use for bombs, but after spending so long in contact with Midgard, Vorazun had developed a keen interest in the various weapons created by humanity. She had even developed psionic bombs with similar functions.

However, such bombs were not especially practical for the Protoss Empire. Their power was inferior to that of other large-scale weapons, and they were single-use devices, making them entirely inconsistent with the Protoss Empire’s longstanding commitment to sustainable development. As a result, they had never been mass-produced. Only Vorazun possessed a few experimental models.

Yet the present circumstances were precisely when a psionic bomb would be most useful. Fleet support was still on its way, they had brought no additional high-energy weapons with them, and they could not approach the vortex. That immediately reminded Vorazun of the bombs gathering dust in her storage facility.

“Oh? A psionic bomb? Then it’s yours to handle, Vorazun.” Artanis’s eyes brightened. He knew something about the bombs Vorazun had created. Their principle was simple: a crystal contained the psionic energy, which was then released in a sudden explosion once the bomb drew close to its target.

Artanis had tried condensing his own power and attacking the vortex directly, but all such attacks were blocked by the force surrounding its outermost layer. He had no idea whether the bombs would be able to reach the center of the vortex.