Chapter 156 Behemoth of the Sky?

Darkness shrouded the figure of the Chitauri leader so completely that no one could tell he was trembling.

Every time like this, every time he had to wait for that voice to descend, it was always the most difficult and suffocating moment...

Especially when he was facing failure and an unpredictable destiny.

"It's all that damned Asgardian!" the Chitauri leader clenched his fists bitterly. "His useless nature ultimately ruined this meticulously planned invasion, ending in failure..."

He knew that Thanos would go after that Asgardian himself.

Yet his own troubles were hardly insignificant.

At the mere thought of facing Thanos's boundless wrath, the Chitauri leader could not help but feel terrified and utterly hopeless.

To Thanos, they, the Chitauri, were nothing more than an insignificant tool.

Today's defeat meant that this tool was useless.

If he were in Thanos's place, he would discard a useless tool without a second thought.

However, as the leader of the Chitauri, he had to offer as much justification to Thanos as possible. Perhaps he could shift all the blame onto that Asgardian named Loki...

In exchange for Thanos's forgiveness, provided he would grant them one more chance...

At that moment, amid the boundless darkness, a deep voice suddenly resounded, making the Chitauri leader's hair stand on end.

"You disappoint me."

The voice was calm, deep, and filled with majesty.

The very instant he heard it, the Chitauri leader pleaded, "Please give me another chance! It was all that Asgardian's fault!"

"You have already lost your only chance," the deep voice said indifferently.

"But..."

"Assemble your army," the voice cut off any opportunity for defense, stating instead, "I need them."

Stammering, the Chitauri leader hesitated awkwardly, "The resistance of the Earthers was beyond expectations, and in the end, they dealt heavy damage to our mothership. We are still regrouping..."

"Is that what you wanted to say?"

Though the entity spoke those words casually, they caused the Chitauri leader's last shred of composure to shatter.

Hurriedly, he blurted out, "An Earther broke into our galaxy at the very last moment! Lately, he has been sabotaging my plans everywhere. If not for his interference, I—"

"An Earther? What kind of Earther?"

"He was piloting Earth machinery, extremely powerful..." the Chitauri leader phrased his words with a shudder.

The voice fell silent for a moment.

Then, it abruptly said, "Capture him. This is your new task."

Upon hearing this, the Chitauri leader was overjoyed. "As you wish..."

The voice vanished.

Only then did the Chitauri leader relax, immediately issuing an order: Dispatch the second mothership as well. They must trap those Earthers in that sector at all costs!

...

The surrounding space was entirely unfamiliar to Luke and his companions, looking the same no matter where they flew.

That hazy, ever-present Chitauri planet served as a constant reminder that they were far away from any world they knew.

"The asteroid resources here are much richer, so why aren't the Chitauri mining them?"

Looking at the countless large and small asteroids passing by along their way—far denser than the Chitauri asteroid belt they had encountered earlier—Luke could not help feeling puzzled.

The Chitauri pursuit had come to a halt, failing to follow them any further.

Yet the lifeless expanse before him also forced him to remain vigilant. Everything indicated that something was wrong here.

Even so, his Spider-Sense had not triggered any alarms, which allowed him to let go of much of his anxiety.

"General, a planet has appeared ahead. It should be a satellite of this gray planet," Amitan reported over the comms.

"Let's go check it out. Hopefully, it can give us a place to land," Luke replied in the channel.

Continuous running was not only a burden on physical stamina but also took a massive toll on mental pressure. From the sound of her voice, Four Roses was clearly stretched to her limit. Luke, too, was utterly exhausted, and he desperately needed a place to rest and regroup.

Their first choice was the satellite right ahead. Otherwise, they would have no option but to hide briefly in this asteroid belt.

Radar scans from all five mechs indicated that everything was normal. There were no signs of Chitauri activity on this satellite. The surroundings were quiet, devoid of any anomalies.

"Let's move out and land."

Judging by its volume, this satellite was nowhere near as massive as the Moon. It was merely a small moon with a slight gravitational pull, which was why it maintained a spherical shape.

Yet, despite its modest size, as the Warlord and the four modified Tempests slowly descended, a vast landscape opened up before them.

The surface was riddled with impact craters of varying sizes, strewn with chaotic rubble. Irregular surface fissures ran everywhere, and towering chunks of giant rock rose and fell in the distance.

There was no atmosphere on this satellite. Standing on its surface, one could look up and take in the entire view of the hazy Chitauri planet hanging in the sky.

The radar rapidly mapped the terrain.

Luke discovered that not far from their location, there was a cavern entrance leading to a cavern with a remarkably vast interior, which seemed quite suitable for hiding.

Luke dispatched Anaka and Obya to scout ahead for any movement from the Chitauri, while he stayed behind with Rozana and Amitan.

"This is at least tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Chitauri defense line. However, the mech's gravity meter shows that we are still within the gravitational pull of that Chitauri planet... Without figuring out why the Chitauri refuse to enter this area, I really can't manage to rest easy here..."

Luke knew without even needing to think about it: "There's definitely a conspiracy!"

Anaka and Obya returned from their scouting mission very quickly.

The two reported that the Chitauri were still waiting outside, refusing to move even a single step closer, let alone enter. It was as if something in this sector of space terrified them.

Amitan suggested maintaining high vigilance, as the enemy had clearly laid a trap for them to walk into.

Luke agreed, instructing them to remain on high alert and be ready to evacuate immediately if any trouble arose.

The five mechs leaped across one canyon and crater after another from mid-air, encountering nothing unusual along the way. Even when they reached the cavern entrance, the surroundings remained utterly tranquil.

Standing before the mouth of the cave, Luke wore a look of mild surprise on his youthful face. The entrance was remarkably wide, spanning nearly two hundred meters, hinting at the immense depth within.

Luke had a premonition that the answer he sought might be hidden inside.

"Let's go. Follow behind me," Luke piloted the Warlord and stepped into the cave first. An orange energy shield suddenly flared around his body, providing both defense and a bit of illumination.

The group filed into the cave one by one, their surroundings gradually swallowed by darkness. The five mechs activated their individual searchlights, advancing along the gently sloping ground.

Luke could clearly feel that they were descending deeper underground.

"The slope beneath our feet is very gradual, and the ground is surprisingly flat. It doesn't look natural," Amitan analyzed calmly.

"Wait, there's something ahead!" Luke suddenly halted his steps and ordered everyone to extinguish all lights.

As they cautiously ventured further inward, the space before them suddenly opened up, and the path came to an abrupt end.

Beneath their feet was an abyss. Across from them lay a vast, boundless expanse that stretched beyond the limits of sight—a pitch-black, gargantuan cavern hollowed out entirely from the interior of the satellite!

Who had carved this out? Or rather, what had carved it out?

The answer was right before their eyes...

Luke and Four Roses stared in utter astonishment at the colossal creature floating in the mid-air on the opposite side. Almost in unison, they gasped in shock, "Behemoth of the Sky?"