Ch. 271 Russell vs The Hive

Mirror Space was not a very advanced magic.

Any formal mage of Kamar-Taj, once they mastered the precise incantations and gestures, could easily control Mirror Space.

In terms of casting difficulty, casting Mirror Space was about as difficult as Kamar-Taj's signature spell, the Portal.

However, Mirror Space was much more dangerous than the Portal.

Mirror Space could isolate dangers from the material world, but Mirror Space itself was a dangerous existence.

Inside Mirror Space, physical laws that could not be changed in the material world could be easily altered.

What was even more dangerous was that Mirror Space had some "two-bit" tendencies.

For example, even if Mirror Space was cast by Russell, it didn't mean he was the only one who could change the internal laws of Mirror Space.

If the person pulled into Mirror Space right now was not the Hive but someone like the Ancient One or Chthon, it would be like him actively giving them a magical playground under their control.

Besides, Mirror Space had another very dangerous aspect.

Unlike the material world, Mirror Space was easily influenced by the multiverse or other dimensions.

Another example was that traveling from the material world to other dimensions and universes was a difficult task.

But going from Mirror Space was much easier.

Mirror Space was like an unlocked double door.

Through Mirror Space, it was easier to travel to other universes and dimensions than the material world, but other universes and dimensions were also easier to invade Mirror Space.

From a certain perspective, Mirror Space was like a public square.

As long as you had the corresponding magical ability, you could easily go to Mirror Space, even if it was located in another dimension.

In the book of magic for learning Mirror Space, there was a warning note at the beginning.

"Be careful of outsiders from other dimensions!"

Although Russell had not encountered invaders from other dimensions so far, he still firmly remembered this warning.

It was easy to see that anyone who could sense Mirror Space across dimensions and accurately lock onto coordinates to travel here could not possibly be weak.

Even if this entity that could do so wasn't a magical powerhouse like the Ancient One or Chthon, they wouldn't be far behind.

When Russell began to cast different magic gestures, the world in the eyes of the Hive started to change in a very unscientific way.

The sky began to distort, and the ground began to fold.

Objects that didn't exist before emerged in various geometric shapes and combined to form new entities.

After witnessing this scene, the Hive, who had looked down on Russell just moments ago, couldn't help but frown involuntarily.

The scenes before him had exceeded the Hive's realm of comprehension.

He even began to doubt if he had fallen under Russell's illusion.

However, he quickly realized that this wasn't an illusion.

After starting to fold and rearrange matter and distort space, Russell didn't waste any time and began to manipulate the objects within Mirror Space to attack the Hive floating in mid-air.

Cuboid and rectangular rocks and soil were rapidly launched towards the Hive.

In the area where the Hive was located, gravity became chaotic, and the distance in space became unpredictable.

When the geometric rocks and soil rushed towards the Hive like lightning, the Hive, who was swaying in mid-air due to chaotic gravity, did not hesitate at all. The swarm of parasitic insects rushed out of his body like black mist.

Bang, bang, bang...

The geometric rocks and soil hit the black mist-like swarm of parasitic insects fiercely, either bouncing off or disintegrating.

Though the Hive, relying on the swirling parasitic swarm around him, experienced a rollercoaster-like ride with inverted ups and downs due to the chaotic gravity, he still managed to block Russell's attacks.

However, in the next moment, he realized that Russell was just testing the waters.

"Come down!"

Russell's right hand pressed downward, and the Hive, floating in mid-air, suddenly felt an uncontrollable force of gravity.

Boom!

Like a shooting star, the Hive crashed heavily into the ground, leaving behind a huge impact crater.

Before the Hive could feel the intense pain from the impact, Russell's left hand pushed forward and then pulled back as if grabbing something.

The Hive, lying on the ground like a slave, was not grabbed by Russell from a distance.

However, the ground beneath him rolled like ocean waves, carrying a force like a spatial field, and sent him to Russell's feet.

When the Hive arrived in front of him and lay on the ground like a slave, Russell didn't hesitate and snapped his fingers with his right hand.

Lava Pillar!

Dark red, magma-like flames erupted from underground, instantly engulfing the Hive.

The erupting lava pillar consumed the Hive and transformed into a fiery tornado, spinning wildly. The temperature of the pillar soared with the rotation of the fiery tornado.

Although the lava pillar was just over a meter away from him, Russell didn't feel the incredible heat it should have emitted.

His magical barriers and protections blocked the astonishing heat waves of the lava pillar.

Russell was not affected by the heat of the lava pillar, but the Hive, who was engulfed by it, wasn't so lucky.

A sizzling sound, like cooking meat, continued.

Although the dark red flames blocked some of the view, Russell could clearly see that the parasitic insects pouring out of the Hive's body were rapidly consumed by the lava pillar.

The Hive's parasitic insects were not ordinary bugs, but they weren't immune to flames.

After burning the Hive for more than a minute with the lava pillar, Russell clasped his hands together.

Chibaku Tensei!

Russell thought in his mind.

Then, his right hand pointed towards the burnt Hive lying in front of him.

Under his control, the Hive flew up.

At the same time, the soil and rocks on the ground quickly flew towards the rising Hive.

Although Russell called this spell Chibaku Tensei, it had nothing to do with Chibaku Tensei from a certain anime about ninjas.

This was its true name: Earthly Imprisonment!

However, this didn't affect Russell's habit of calling it Chibaku Tensei.

Earthly Imprisonment, as the name suggested, was a confinement spell similar to a barrier.

The principle of confinement was simple: wrapping the target tightly with rocks and soil.

Although the Hive attempted to resist, he had no strength to do so after just suffering the burning of the lava pillar.

In just a few seconds, a spherical mass with a diameter of five or six meters, composed of rocks and soil, appeared in front of Russell.

Seeing the sphere floating silently in the air, Russell took out a Space Stone from the system space.

He didn't plan to cast a Portal spell to return to Earth. Instead, he intended to use the Space Stone to teleport the sphere containing the Hive directly into outer space.

When he cast Earthly Imprisonment earlier, he had used X-ray vision to examine the Hive and knew that the Hive hadn't completely died yet.

With the blue-glowing Space Stone in his hand, Russell activated it.

The next moment, above the floating sphere, a circular space portal leading to outer space appeared.

As soon as the space portal formed, Russell beckoned with his finger, and the floating sphere flew towards the space portal, arriving directly in outer space from Mirror Space.

After sending the sphere containing the Hive into outer space, Russell closed the space portal and whistled as he returned to the real world using a Portal spell.

Done!

The first ever "alien" in history, revered as a god by Hydra, the Hive, was taken care of just like that.

Russell wasn't surprised by this outcome.

If he couldn't handle the Hive with his magic and the Space Stone, that would be abnormal.

More importantly, he knew the nature and weaknesses of the Hive and could prepare in advance based on those weaknesses.

After coming out of Mirror Space, Russell scanned his surroundings.

Although there were still some parasitic insects in the air and on the ground, he didn't intend to waste any more time on them.

Now that the main body had been sent into outer space, these parasitic insects had no way to survive for long without their host.

After confirming that these parasitic insects wouldn't cause any trouble, he once again activated the Space Stone.

Russell didn't plan to use a Portal spell to return to Earth.

Although his magical abilities were quite good now, he didn't have the audacity to believe he could directly open a Portal to Earth from another planet.

He wasn't Doctor Strange!

More precisely, even Doctor Strange had to look at more than ten million possible futures before gaining the ability to open a Portal to Earth from an alien planet.

A rapidly forming circular space portal appeared in the rippling edge.

Without hesitation, Russell walked into it.

Castle Hall.

When Russell jumped into the circular pit without looking back, the liquefied Kree monolith returned to its original form.

Skye and Gideon stood in front of the Kree monolith, waiting for Russell to return.

Although they knew that Russell had gone to Maveth to deal with the Hive, they didn't know how long the battle between Russell and the Hive would last.

In order to allow Russell to return to Earth smoothly, Gideon instructed his subordinates to activate the Castle's device to activate the Kree monolith every five minutes.

They were about to activate the Kree monolith again, and Skye, Gideon, and the others couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Just as Gideon was about to order his subordinates to activate the device to activate the Kree monolith again, a peculiar circular space portal appeared in front of them.

They had never seen this space portal before, and Russell walked out of it.

Seeing Russell's figure, Skye, Gideon, and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Haven't the higher-ups arrived yet?" After coming out of the space portal, Russell asked Gideon.

"They'll be here in a moment!" Gideon quickly replied.

"Very well! Package the Kree monolith, and I'll take it with me!" 

"Understood, sir!" Gideon didn't hesitate at all and immediately ordered his subordinates to pack the Kree monolith.

"How did you defeat the Hive?" Skye asked curiously.

"It's simple, I exiled him to outer space," Russell said casually.

The Hive was indeed very powerful for ordinary people and Inhumans.

But for him, the Hive's combat power was not even close to that of the Hulk.

As long as he knew the true nature of the Hive and solved it in advance, it wasn't difficult.

After Gideon's subordinates packed the Kree monolith into a special transparent box, Russell put the Kree monolith into the system space in front of Gideon and his people.

After taking care of the Kree monolith, he patiently waited for the higher-ups of the legitimate Hydra.

On the grassy ground outside the castle.

Gideon had his subordinates set up tents, tables, and chairs in advance.

Russell sat in the main seat, thinking about the follow-up development of Maveth.

First, a legitimate extraterrestrial base would be established on Maveth.

Then, a small town would be established around the legitimate base.

Finally, the ecological system around the town would gradually be restored, allowing Maveth to regain its vitality.

The first two points were relatively easy to solve.

As long as there was enough funding and equipment, the legitimate base and town could be established quickly.

What Russell was mainly thinking about now was how to rejuvenate Maveth.

At the beginning, he planned to use Earth's technological means to rejuvenate Maveth.

But he quickly gave up on that idea.

Using Earth's technology to rejuvenate Maveth was a laborious and unrewarding task.

It not only consumed a lot of resources but also took a long time.

After thinking for a moment, he came up with a crazy idea.

The Living Planet, Ego!

Ego was also a form of life, but it was an extremely special form of planetary life.

If he could use its power, not to mention rejuvenating Maveth, even if he had to rebuild Maveth from scratch, it wouldn't be impossible.

However, in order to use Ego's power to rejuvenate Maveth, he needed to solve a few minor problems in advance.

For example, determining Ego's location and "persuading" Ego to contribute its power.

Determining Ego's location was relatively easy, but "persuading" Ego was not an easy task.

In terms of "persuading" Ego, Russell didn't have much confidence at the moment.

As he pondered how to increase his chances of "persuading" Ego, the other high-ranking members of the legitimate Hydra finally arrived at the castle.

Led by Gideon's subordinates, these pampered high-ranking members came to the grassy area outside the castle.

As soon as they entered the tent that Gideon had set up temporarily, they all saw Russell sitting in the main seat.

Seeing Russell at first glance, they all showed the same shocked expression.

Who was Russell, they knew very well.

This was a trap!

The same thought flashed through their minds without exception.