Marvel: The Gourmet God

A commanding shout echoed from the end of the Rainbow Bridge, coming from a peculiar circular domed structure. The source was a guard clad in golden armor.

Under the watchful eyes of this guard, Johnny sensed danger. His gaze landed on the oversized, peculiar sword in the guard's hands.

"The key to activating the Rainbow Bridge—the Sword of Dawn, huh…"

Just the aura emanating from the weapon was enough to make Johnny wary. He quickly assessed the situation.

Fortunately, Johnny sighed in relief. This was the period of the Divine Wars, and the bridge's guardian was not yet Heimdall, the God of Dawn, who could peer across the Nine Realms. Instead, it was merely a moderately strong Asgardian warrior.

If Heimdall had been the guardian, Johnny knew he would have no chance of success in his current state.

Steeling his nerves, Johnny kept his composure and halted his steps. At the same time, his undead specter silently appeared beside him, inching closer to the guardian holding the Sword of Dawn under Johnny's command.

The guard had been cautious the moment he noticed Johnny, but seeing the Asgardian attire and faint divine aura emanating from Johnny, he didn't immediately classify him as an intruder.

This gave Johnny the confidence to risk a gamble.

The distance between Johnny and the guardian was less than fifty meters. Johnny remained motionless, deliberately creating an illusion of passivity to lull the guard into complacency.

The undead specter moved swiftly and silently, closing in with deadly precision.

50 meters…

40 meters…

30 meters…

20 meters…

Suddenly, a resounding chime shook all of Asgard, echoing with an urgency that made both Johnny and the guardian's expressions change.

It was the alarm bell of Asgard—only rung when the realm faced a dire threat.

"Who are you, really?"

The guardian's eyes narrowed. He wasn't foolish. Initially, Johnny's presence hadn't seemed too suspicious. But the alarm ringing at this precise moment cast Johnny in a dubious light.

With a sharp clang, the Sword of Dawn hummed, pointing directly at Johnny. A strange power surged from the blade, seeking to lock onto him.

As the alarm reverberated, Johnny's brow furrowed. He cursed internally, sensing an approaching force—a formidable squad of guards—rapidly closing in from near the Rainbow Bridge.

"No choice but to fight!"

Without hesitation, Johnny lunged toward the guardian, his spear gleaming as divine energy surged through it, sharp and fierce.

Simultaneously, the specter had reached the guardian, its claws as sharp as daggers, slashing down from above.

"What is this?"

The guardian's face darkened as the specter launched its attack. His Sword of Dawn, initially trained on Johnny, swept upward to intercept the descending claws.

Thanks to the alarm's warning, the guardian was ready for battle. Otherwise, the specter's sudden strike might have ended him.

Clang!

The Sword of Dawn collided with the specter's claws, sparks flying from the impact. The specter's ethereal body recoiled from the divine weapon's might, swiftly retreating to avoid the guardian's follow-up strike.

The guardian was momentarily startled by the specter's unexpected appearance. But seeing how his weapon had driven it back in one blow eased his tension.

"This strange creature isn't as formidable as it looks," he thought.

Yet, just as the guardian began to relax, he felt a chill.

"Boom!"

A powerful attack, infused with divine energy, tore through the air and struck the guardian square in the chest before exploding violently.

This attack was Johnny's long-prepared move, executed with perfect timing.

The specter, as Johnny's summoned creature, was completely under his control. Every action it took aligned with Johnny's intent. When Johnny commanded the specter to launch its assault, he had already planned for its retreat after a single strike—it was all part of his strategy.

The goal was to feign weakness and lower the guardian's guard.

This was the opportunity Johnny had been waiting for!

With Asgard's alarm bells ringing and a squad of guards rushing toward the Rainbow Bridge, Johnny knew he had only moments to end this fight and escape the realm.

Otherwise, the only thing awaiting him would be Asgard's merciless judgment.

Amidst the guardian's scream, his body was sent flying. The armor on his chest couldn't withstand the force of Johnny's meticulously prepared strike and shattered into fragments.

Along with the armor, the guardian's chest was torn apart, flesh and blood splattering from the brutal blow.

As he crashed to the ground, the guardian's face turned ashen. Blood mixed with shredded internal organs spilled from his mouth, and his once-formidable aura had all but dissipated.

Staring at Johnny, who was now charging toward him, the guardian's eyes were filled with disbelief. Even now, he couldn't comprehend why this supposed "Asgardian comrade" would betray his own.

However, the guardian's defiance soon morphed into fear, before freezing entirely.

The specter's razor-sharp claws slashed across his throat, and the guardian's consciousness plunged into the abyss of darkness.

"So, they noticed after all!"

After taking down the guardian, Johnny dashed toward the end of the Rainbow Bridge. Within a few breaths, he reached the fallen guardian's side and snatched up the Sword of Dawn lying next to the corpse.

By now, a squad of Asgardian warriors had spotted the commotion at the Rainbow Bridge and were rapidly approaching. In less than ten breaths, they would traverse the distance and encircle Johnny.

Behind this squad, Johnny could see more Asgardian soldiers flooding toward the bridge.

"Damn it! There's no time left!"

Johnny cursed inwardly as he gripped the Sword of Dawn. The specter needed to consume the guardian's corpse to gain knowledge of how to operate the Rainbow Bridge, but there simply wasn't enough time.

With a grim expression and eyes blazing with determination, Johnny made his decision. He gripped the Sword of Dawn tightly with both hands and plunged it into the center of the circular dome's raised platform.

The strange energies within the artifact connected with the platform, causing intricate magical runes on the ground to light up. The massive dome above began to spin.

Johnny's eyes flickered as he twisted the Sword of Dawn, accelerating the glow of the runes on the platform.

"Crack… crack…"

The dome spun faster and faster, and a radiant portal slowly opened. It emitted a peculiar spatial aura, signaling the imminent activation of the teleportation passage.

The only uncertainty was the destination of this portal.

"I just hope it doesn't drop me in front of Odin and Hela," Johnny muttered, his eyes glinting with resolve.

With a final burst of determination, he dove into the fully open, glowing portal.

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