110 Watching the Battle

As Jos finished handling his miscellaneous tasks, Thor’s trial was also reaching its final stage.

Though to Jos, this whole series of trials seemed somewhat trivial—barely deserving the name “trial” at all.

Thor had been placed on Earth, stripped of his divine powers, wealth, and authority, forced to experience the life of an ordinary human to gain various insights, and ultimately become a superhero!

Come on, where did this transformation script even come from?

Jos wasn’t trying to brag, but even in otherworldly tales where secret realm explorations and magical beast forest trials had been written about for decades, those scenarios felt far more like genuine trials than this.

Still, grumbling aside, it wasn’t Jos’s concern. Whether Odin, Thor’s father, was simply looking for an excuse to polish his son’s reputation, or Thor himself was determined to become a superhero for a certain girl, it was all their own business.

Judging by the timing, Jos decided to return to the temporary base to swap back the sword in the stone. After some subtle probing, he unsurprisingly found no indication that this unyielding weapon was anything other than the same hammer as before.

At that moment, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s surveillance showed that the Destroyer armor had already arrived on Earth and had engaged in battle with Thor. Unsurprisingly, Thor suffered a crushing defeat.

About half an hour after Jos returned the hammer, the distant sky suddenly roared with storm and thunder. Countless bolts of lightning churned ominously overhead—in a world of cultivation, this would certainly signify someone undergoing a heavenly tribulation.

With the thunderclaps booming, the hammer began to move on its own—though even with wind it had been immobile. Suddenly, it broke through the ceiling of the temporary base and shot off at incredible speed toward the distance.

“Is it starting? The final battle,” Jos murmured, glancing at the thunderclouds afar. He nodded slightly and then, accompanied by Tornado, headed in that direction.

Though Jos had no interest in the fight between Thor and the Destroyer armor—after all, once Thor awakened, it was just a matter of a single mighty hammer blow to decisively end it—there was still some room for him to make his presence felt before the battle concluded. Establishing even a slight connection might make persuading Thor to join the Avengers easier.

Additionally, Jos harbored a subtle worry about Loki, who had yet to appear.

This mischievous younger brother should have been nearby, observing Thor. But with his sly illusions, even if standing right in front of Jos, he would be undetectable.

Because of this, Jos had maintained a calm façade, pretending he was completely unaware of Loki’s existence to avoid arousing suspicion from the cunning trickster.

However, the symbiotic poison within Jos’s system was already poised to strike. Should Loki’s true form dare to show, Jos would instantly smear that venomous entity across Loki’s face.

Although the poison symbiote seemed to have lost its parasitic ability due to prior events, system analyses suggested it could still trap a person within the illusion of their “most beloved.”

After all, Loki was one of Thanos’s vanguards. If Jos could track his movements, perhaps he could find a way to wrest the Mind Stone from him in the future.

Yet, according to the original plotline, Loki and Thanos hadn’t linked up yet, so the true situation remained unclear.

Even if Jos did encounter Loki, he doubted whether he could defeat him.

Though Jos was essentially a magic-based assassin, Loki—an Asgardian god—could casually lift dozens of tons with bare hands. Even if Loki wasn’t as powerful as in the comics, Jos’s current strength would still make facing him a tough challenge.

Lost in thought, Jos moved swiftly. After glancing again at the thunderclouds on the horizon, he turned to Tornado and said, “Can you speed up? It looks like they’re almost done over there.”

“Why do you have so many opinions? And why am I supposed to drag you with telekinesis? Can’t you just run yourself?!” Tornado, already exhausted from carrying Jos, snapped in frustration.

“I might need to join the fight once we get there, so conserving energy is essential,” Jos replied solemnly.

“...You’re not just making excuses to be lazy?” Tornado looked at him skeptically.

“Fine, I’m just lazy, okay? Take that!” Jos proudly lifted his chin once his ruse was uncovered.

And then Tornado promptly dropped him to the ground.

“Hey, hey?! I was wrong! Take me there!” Jos shouted.

Watching Tornado vanish over the horizon in a flash, Jos’s cry was weak and futile. Resigned, he hung his arms and trudged forward on foot.

Still, as Tornado had said, given Jos’s abilities, if he ran freely, his speed wouldn’t be much slower than hers carrying two people.

The journey was uneventful, but when Jos arrived at the battle scene, the combat had just reached its climax. Coincidentally, a car struck by a punch from the Destroyer armor was hurtling toward Thor’s temporary girlfriend, Jane!

“Jane!!!” Thor, locked in combat with the Destroyer, had no chance to save her. He turned and let out a desperate scream.

Just as the car was about to crush the first person Thor met on Earth and his first girlfriend, it suddenly halted midair as if blocked by an unseen force.

With a screech of tearing metal, the car split in two. A young man wielding a greatsword stepped out from the wreckage, and nearby, a petite girl with a cold expression flicked her hand, sending the two halves of the car debris flying aside.

“Hey, big guy, we’ve got this side covered,” Jos called out to Thor, giving a thumbs-up.

Neither Jos nor Tornado joined Thor’s battle directly. After rescuing Jane, they coordinated with S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel to evacuate nearby civilians.

“How does it feel to be the good guys?” Jos asked, watching Tornado fold her arms.

“Eh~ It’s okay, I guess,” Tornado shrugged arrogantly, though the slight upward curve of her lips betrayed her true feelings.

Undoubtedly, this life was far better than her previous days of uncertain meals in the slums, and saving lives certainly felt much better than petty theft.

...m.