Chapter 367: Chapter 367: Crisis by the Lake?
Even though the incident had passed and Diana had eventually recovered, Robert still unconsciously displayed anger when he spoke of it, because at that time, he truly believed Diana had died. That was the only reason Robert had been so furious!
Meanwhile, Kara's expression also changed as she looked incredulously at Robert, a hint of worry creeping into her gaze. After all, Diana had come to help, and if she really had died, Kara would have found it hard to accept.
However, Kara seemed to have forgotten—if Diana had really died, Robert would not be in his current state, nor would he still carry the various scents of Diana on him...
"When I discovered Diana was dead, my heart filled with extreme anger, and in my irrational state, I triggered the transformation into the Giant Ape Fury Form, reaching a new level of battle power akin to that of a lesser god, and my strength kept climbing..." But before Kara could process all this, Robert continued speaking.
"Using this power, I defeated Frigga, but it's a pity I didn't truly kill her. She seems to be able to resurrect indefinitely in Asgard. Later, King Odin returned to Asgard, and I was about to confront him when suddenly, a trace of Diana's essence reappeared, and I managed to revive her..."
"At that time, Clark also arrived in Asgard, and after a series of battles, King Odin, witnessing the heavy casualties in Asgard, finally proposed to cease the fighting. It was then that the Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One, retrieved us back to Earth."
"Are you insane? You actually rushed to fight King Odin?!" Hearing Robert's words, Kara finally snapped back to reality. She ignored the fact that Diana had come back to life and instead stared at Robert, somewhat frightened, "Don't you know there's a huge gap in strength between you two? Why would you still rush to fight King Odin?!"
"Actually, the gap in our combat powers wasn't that big at the time..." Robert scratched his head and explained softly, "The fury in my heart had pushed my combat power to its limits. If I had really fought King Odin, I might have transformed into a Super Saiyan, reaching the power level of a Sky Father. But then Diana's essence revived, and I immediately came to my senses. To save Diana, I didn't continue to escalate my power, or else I definitely could have fought King Odin!"
"Angry to the point of losing your reason? And you gave up on getting stronger because of Diana's revival?" Kara listened to Robert's words, her eyes flickering slightly as she looked at him intently and said, "If I were in such danger, on the brink of death, would you lose your reason in anger and give up on becoming stronger to save me?"
"Fool, you'll never encounter such a thing!" Robert's voice was firm as he pulled Kara into his arms and spoke seriously.
"What if, I'm just saying if!" Kara somewhat dissatisfiedly slapped Robert's arm and asked.
"There are no ifs!" Robert was not swayed, still speaking firmly.
"Hmph! Then let me put it this way, who weighs more in your heart now, her or me?" Kara broke free from Robert's embrace, staring into his eyes. Although she was questioning him, her voice carried a hint of insecurity, "Previously, Diana weighed a bit more in your heart. Is it because we've had a significant breakthrough in our relationship that we're now on par? Now that you and she have also had a breakthrough, does she matter more to you?"
"No, how could that be? You both are equally important in my heart now!" Robert shook his head and looked earnestly at Kara, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have returned so quickly, would I?"
"I'm a bit afraid…" Kara listened to Robert's words, her heart relaxing slightly, but she didn't fully trust what Robert was saying at the moment.
"In my heart, you'll never be less than anyone else; you must believe me!" Robert embraced Kara again, his voice even firmer.
"You just say it, but I can't feel it..." Kara's head buried in Robert's chest, smelling the scent that wasn't Robert's, still felt somewhat uneasy.
"Then let me show you properly!" Robert understood Kara's point, and he held her as they vanished from sight.
...
"I don't know why, but this hammer doesn't feel as handy as before. It seems like there's some barrier blocking my connection with it?" Meanwhile, at the site of the previous fight with Robert, Peter Parker held the Mjölnir in his hand, muttering in confusion.
At this moment, Peter had successfully transformed the energy within his body into the power of thunder, which was quite different from the Qi he had before. This type of power was more suitable for Peter.
Clearly, Peter had a decent affinity with thunder properties in this
world, and after transforming his Qi into thunder power, the spider silk Peter shot had also changed—a feat he couldn't achieve with just Qi before.
However, after completing the transformation of his Qi, Peter felt that the connection between him and Mjölnir had grown somewhat distant. Although he could still pick up Mjölnir and use its power, this barrier made Peter slightly uncomfortable. It was like suddenly having to switch from chopsticks to using a fork and knife—usable, but not as handy as chopsticks.
Peter didn't realize that this wasn't due to the transformation of his Qi but rather because King Odin had changed the enchantment on Mjölnir.
Of course, King Odin had not returned Mjölnir exclusively to Thor's possession, as Thor had not yet restored his divine power through his own abilities.
King Odin simply prioritized Thor at the top of the list. The effect was simple: only Thor, who had undergone trials and truly regained his divine power, would be Mjölnir's real master. Others who qualified to lift Mjölnir and wield its power were merely temporary wielders. When Mjölnir was in Thor's hands, it would no longer respond to other wielders or provide power to them, unless Thor himself decided to share Mjölnir's power.
"What exactly happened that day after all?" While Peter continued to hold Mjölnir, trying to absorb its power to enhance his strength, Pietro hesitated and muttered beside him, "Robert and Kara just suddenly flew away, and they haven't returned yet. Could something have happened?"
"That's why we're all working hard to improve our strength!" Barry Allen looked at Pietro somewhat helplessly and said, "As comrades, although we can't match their strength, we can't just stand by every time they face danger, unable to even participate or know what's happening, right?"
"Yeah, we've awakened our current abilities, not to be bystanders. We should have more opportunities to act!" Johnny Storm nodded in agreement. Since re-entering the world of the extraordinary, Johnny had cherished it, even stopping his flirting to hang out with Peter and the others, because Johnny felt that they were the real deal.
"Why do you talk so much?" Lorna looked at her brother Pietro and said irritably, "Can't you just immerse yourself in training like everyone else?"
"I'm not slacking off, it's just that the progress is indeed a bit slow!" Pietro looked helplessly at Lorna, explaining. Since Peter had obtained Mjölnir, Pietro's progress, which had already been the slowest, was now completely at the bottom.
Before, although Peter had worked very hard, the physical improvements from his genetic mutations had reached a plateau, and his Qi cultivation wasn't particularly gifted, so his combat ability had seen great improvement, but his overall battle power had not increased significantly.
In this situation, Pietro could still see Peter, who was more diligent yet slower in progress than him, and felt somewhat better, not too upset about the gap widening between him and Barry in terms of speed.
But now, Peter had a new trick up his sleeve, and his strength had suddenly surpassed Pietro's, not only diversifying his offensive methods but also wielding the power of Mjölnir, becoming one of the top fighters in their small team, even able to clash with Kara briefly!
Faced with this situation, Pietro was somewhat disheartened. He hadn't been idle and had tried to work hard, but Pietro was unclear about the direction his speed abilities should develop. While both he and Barry were speedsters, Barry's abilities manifested externally similar to his but were fundamentally different. What Barry could achieve through effort, Pietro couldn't, which added to Pietro's frustration and dismay.
"Progress is slow, then work harder. If you were as diligent as Peter used to be, your progress wouldn't be so slow!" Lorna glared at Pietro and said, "You envy Peter now, but have you thought that his current ability to wield Mjölnir might be the result of his past efforts? With your attitude, even if a miracle appeared in front of you, you probably wouldn't be able to seize it!"
"How could that be? If I could progress quickly, I'd also immerse myself in the joy of enhancing my strength every day..." Pietro pouted, feeling a bit embarrassed but unable to deny that Lorna was right. In their small team, he truly was the least diligent.
Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't putting in any effort at all, but each of his efforts was intermittent. Whenever he didn't see results after a period of effort, Pietro would struggle to keep going...
"I'll find a place to try and work harder!" Pietro said, and in a flash, he disappeared from the spot, not sure if he wanted to cool off or
if he was embarrassed and planning to slack off.
"You..." Lorna watched the direction in which Pietro had vanished, feeling somewhat angry for a moment. She intended to ignore this brother of hers, but after all, they were blood-related, how could she truly not care?
Moreover, honestly speaking, since Pietro had gained his abilities and mingled with the small group, his personality had also become more restrained like Johnny's, not as frivolous and inconsistent as before, which was a kind of progress!
Lorna couldn't expect Pietro to reach Peter's level of diligence or help Pietro gain Barry's talents...
"You continue training, I'll go check on him, I'll be back soon..." Thus, the ultimately soft-hearted Lorna decided to go check on Pietro, just in case he was really in a bad place.
Pietro had gone further than Lorna had expected, perhaps knowing that Lorna would come after him, so he intentionally ran farther.
Lorna's ability could help her fly and even enhance her speed without much physical strain, but compared to a true speedster like Pietro, she was still a bit slower. Of course, if even Lorna could easily catch up to Pietro, then Pietro, the speedster, would really be useless...
"Pietro? What are you doing? You're not planning to go swimming, are you? Or are you practicing that lightness technique for running on water again?" After a while, Lorna saw Pietro standing by the lake and couldn't help but call out to him, somewhat exasperated.
Previously, Pietro had envied those like Lorna, Susan Storm, Kara, and Robert who could fly, but although Pietro was very fast, he couldn't fly.
Robert had once casually mentioned a lightness technique, saying that at a certain speed, one could run on the surface of water. Believing his words, Pietro and Barry both practiced it earnestly.
After all, both Pietro and Barry were fast enough to cross rivers with their speed on normal days, but there were always insurmountable obstacles that required detours. If they could master this technique, it would indeed be very useful...
Unfortunately, the technique Robert mentioned casually was easily mastered by Barry, but Pietro had never managed to get it right, always ending up falling into the water and looking quite embarrassed. So when Lorna saw Pietro at the lake, she thought he was practicing this technique again.
"Lorna! Be careful!" Pietro, hearing Lorna's call, glanced over at her and suddenly his expression changed drastically as he urgently shouted at her.
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