XElenea
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Ch. 298 Compensation
🕑 Added 2024-02-18 16:00:06 +0000 UTCAlthough it was true that even if he allowed these Vanir warriors to attack him, they couldn't penetrate his Kryptonian physique, but Russell had no intention of letting others attack him.
It wasn't about whether he would get hurt; it was purely because he hadn't stooped so low.
The idea of not fighting back was something that didn't exist in him.
After adding several layers of magical protection to himself, Russell continued to cast spells with his left hand.
Lightning, fireballs, wind blades, ice spikes...
One after another, low-level attack spells were thrown out by him as if they required no magic power, striking at the Vanir warriors attempting to attack him.
At the same time, his right hand continuously generated magic power, studying the flow of magic and the key points of energy convergence in the giant teleportation magic circle on the ground.
In the midst of battle, it was not always a good idea to multitask.
However, it also depended on the specific situation.
If the enemy's strength was on par with his own, multitasking in battle was undoubtedly a suicidal act.
But if the enemy's strength was significantly lower than his own, then briefly losing focus in battle wasn't out of the question.
Just like the current situation.
Although Russell had only cast low-level magic attacks, they were not easy for Vanir warriors attempting to attack him to withstand.
The fist-sized fireballs may have appeared ordinary, but upon hitting these Vanir warriors, they erupted with the force of a rocket, and a fiery explosion immediately enveloped all targets within a few meters in radius.
Apart from the burning effect of the orange-red flames, the impact force generated by the fireball explosion was equally formidable.
Each fireball, basically, could take the lives of five or six Vanir warriors.
If fireballs were considered group attacks, then lightning, wind blades, and ice spikes were typical single-target attacks.
In the enormous teleportation square, silver lightning, light blue wind blades, and pale blue ice spikes danced continuously, taking the lives of one Vanir warrior after another.
At this moment, Russell once again displayed his unparalleled fighting style, akin to cutting grass effortlessly.
However, unlike the grass-cutting on the city walls, his current method of reaping looked even more dazzling.
The visual effects of magical attacks were always more impressive than physical attacks.
Though this didn't necessarily mean magical attacks were more powerful than physical ones, they certainly had a more spectacular impact on the battlefield.
Vanir warriors guarding the teleportation magic array had no idea what Russell was up to, but they knew they couldn't let him continue.
Once the magic array was destroyed by Russell, it meant that Windrest Fortress would lose all reinforcements from the Imperial City of Noeuthong.
More importantly, whether rebuilding or repairing this giant teleportation magic array, it required astronomical resources.
Otherwise, Windrest Fortress wouldn't have deployed such a massive teleportation magic array.
Seeing that even ordinary Vanir warriors couldn't get close to Russell, the commander in charge of guarding the magic array issued new orders promptly.
Call for reinforcements!
And engage him personally!
Compared to regular Vanir warriors, the commanders were significantly more powerful.
Unlike Earth's military, there were no non-combat officers within Vanir army.
In Vanaheimr, the only criterion for military commanders was their strength.
With the intervention of these commanders, Vanir warriors who had come to Russell's vicinity quickly gave way.
It had to be said that those who became commanders had exceptional skills.
At least in avoiding attacks, their performance far exceeded that of ordinary soldiers.
In just a blink of an eye, several commanders managed to evade Russell's magical attacks and approached him.
However, when they raised their weapons to try to strike Russell, they soon encountered a new problem.
As their weapons got closer to Russell, various colored magical auras began to shimmer around him.
Defensive magic!
Before launching magical attacks, Russell had placed several defensive spells on himself.
Although these defensive spells weren't particularly powerful, they weren't easy for just anyone to break through.
More importantly, Russell wasn't about to watch these commanders destroy his defensive magic.
After various colored defensive magical auras shimmered around his body, Russell continued to cast spells with his left hand, unleashing higher-level attack magic.
More powerful magic was cast one after another.
Magic attacks like flames and lightning relentlessly struck Vanir commanders.
While these Vanir commanders were indeed stronger than ordinary warriors, when facing a more serious Russell, they were not much different from the regular soldiers.
It didn't take long for these commanders who had approached Russell to be consumed by his magical attacks, one after another losing their lives.
After defeating these commanders, Russell once again focused his main energy on studying the giant teleportation magic array.
Time passed gradually.
Before the advanced forces from Windrest Fortress could arrive at the teleportation square, Russell had completed his research on the magic array.
Excellent!
Learned another spell!
After thoroughly understanding all the principles and details of the giant teleportation magic array, Russell didn't waste any more time. He controlled the magic flowing within the magic array and began to destroy this strategically valuable giant teleportation magic array.
As his magic circulated within the magic array, he soon destroyed it from the inside, turning it from a valuable strategic weapon into an intricately patterned decorative piece.
Although the magic array appeared the same on the surface, in reality, it had lost all operational capabilities.
Even if the mage who originally constructed this magic array came to repair it, there was no way to make it function again.
After completing all of this, Russell stood up.
Then, under the watchful eyes of Vanir warriors, he rose from the ground and flew toward the outskirts of the city.
With the giant teleportation magic array resolved, Windrest Fortress became a true isolated city.
Even though there were still small teleportation magic arrays within the city, as long as Vanaheimr Imperial City of Noeuthong couldn't come through, it wouldn't have a decisive impact on the current siege.
Of course, if any of Vanir were to use small magic arrays or other means to teleport here, that would be a different matter, but that wasn't something Russell needed to worry about.
This siege had little to do with him in the first place. If it weren't for Odin's request, he wouldn't have come to Vanaheimr, let alone accompany Thor in this siege.
After flying back outside the city, Russell glanced at the ongoing battle between Thor and the Windrest Fortress lord.
Although they hadn't determined a victor yet, it was evident that Thor had gained the upper hand and would probably defeat the Windrest Fortress lord shortly.
However, Russell soon noticed something was amiss.
Despite Thor's fierce attacks and the constant strikes of his Mjölnir, Russell couldn't sense any intent to kill emanating from Thor.
This... According to common sense, even if Thor didn't have the intention to kill the Windrest Fortress lord on the spot, there should still be some killing intent emanating during the battle.
But now, not only was Thor not emitting any killing intent, his battle spirit wasn't particularly strong either.
What exactly was he planning?
Russell furrowed his brow slightly upon realizing this anomaly.
After pondering for more than ten seconds, he decisively abandoned the thought.
As long as there was no risk of Thor being killed by the Windrest Fortress lord, he didn't need to think too much about it.
Turning his gaze away from Thor and the Windrest Fortress lord, he once again joined the battle on the city wall.
To be precise, he started his grass-cutting spree on the city wall once more.
As he slew enemies left and right on the city wall, he encountered two advanced warriors who had awakened divine power.
Unfortunately, much like Ivette's bodyguard Francis, these two advanced warriors didn't pose any trouble for him.
Strictly speaking, these two divine power awakened warriors were slightly weaker in terms of pure combat strength compared to Francis.
However, their awakened divine powers were quite interesting.
One possessed Speed Divine Power, while the other had Forest Divine Power.
Speed Divine Power, in simple terms, was extreme speed.
As for Forest Divine Power, without the advantage of their home turf, it displayed effects similar to plant-based magic.
The addition of these two advanced warriors briefly interrupted Russell's grass-cutting spree.
However, they didn't hold out for long and were defeated by Russell's unreasonable Kryptonian physique and Power of Thor.
After defeating these two divine power awakened warriors, no one on the city wall could stop his advance anymore.
Just as he was considering whether to achieve a true decimation within Windrest Fortress, a deafening thunderclap echoed in the sky outside the city.
Boom!
Following the thunderous noise, the lord of Windrest Fortress, clad in golden armor and wielding a silver trident, was struck by a massive silver-white lightning bolt.
Subsequently, Mjolnir, wreathed in lightning serpents, slammed into his chest, causing the lord of Windrest Fortress to crash heavily against the city wall like a falling meteor.
The lord of Windrest Fortress had been defeated!
Seeing this scene, Vanir warriors on the city wall showed expressions of melancholy.
In Vanaheimr, the defeat of the military commander often meant the failure of the entire war.
Without the restraint of advanced forces, numerical superiority meant nothing.
Just as Russell thought Thor would issue a final assault order, Thor slowly landed in front of the lord of Windrest Fortress.
After speaking a few words with the Windrest Fortress lord, Thor gave the order to retreat.
This... Listening to the sound of retreat from the Asgardian army behind, Russell felt like he couldn't keep up with Thor's train of thought.
Although he didn't know what Thor was thinking exactly, he didn't waste time pondering the issue.
After retracting the Sword of Athena, which had harvested the lives of numerous Vanir warriors, he flew towards the Asgardian army outside the city.
Half an hour later.
A camp outside Windrest Fortress.
Inside a newly erected commander's tent, all the advanced warriors and commanders of the Asgardian army gathered.
Only after everyone was present did Thor, sitting at the commander's seat, slowly speak, "The lord of Windrest Fortress has agreed to my request. He will cede a portion of Windrest region for us to establish a new camp and civilian residential area."
As soon as Thor finished speaking, Sif and the other commanders nodded silently, indicating their understanding.
Russell had found Thor's actions strange earlier—why did Thor show no intent to kill and, even with the upper hand, order a retreat? Now, he finally grasped the reason.
This siege was nominally an assault on the city, but Thor had never intended to capture Windrest Fortress. Seizing a city like Windrest Fortress, one of Vanaheimr twelve main cities, could potentially trigger a full-scale war with Vanir. Thor had opted for a more prudent approach—to force the Windrest Fortress lord to make concessions, thus securing more benefits for Asgard.
Although it fell short of taking control of the entire Windrest region, this approach could prevent a full-scale war between Asgard and Vanaheimr.
After the others nodded in agreement, Thor continued, "I will leave one-third of our forces here. The remaining troops will return to our original camp."
"After the agreement is signed, those staying behind will depart to establish the new camp."
No one in the tent had any objections to Thor's arrangement. As the military commander and the crown prince of Asgard in Odin's absence, Thor held absolute authority here.
After issuing various detailed orders to the commanders inside the tent, Thor dismissed them along with Sif and left Russell behind.
Once they were alone in the tent, Thor asked slowly, "You contributed significantly in this battle. Do you have any rewards you desire?"
Russell wasn't Thor's subordinate. Strictly speaking, Russell wasn't even an Asgardian.
Although Thor hadn't given Russell specific orders, he also didn't intend to exploit Russell's strength for nothing. If Russell had contributed to the battle, he didn't mind offering appropriate compensation.
"What can you offer me?" Russell responded with a smile.
"I know you've been researching divine powers recently. If you wish, I can have someone make copies of all the divine power books in the public library for you."
"Additionally, I can provide you with some treasures from the royal library."
Thor was well aware of Russell's interests and directly mentioned the rewards.
"That reward sounds excellent, thank you!" Russell didn't decline and expressed his satisfaction.
"By the way, aside from that, there's one more thing I want!"
Thor continued.
"What is it?"
"I want to entrust you with preparing a piece of land on Earth."
"Preparing a piece of land? What do you want to do?" Russell's curiosity was piqued by Thor's request.
