Marvel: The Sole Player

Corvus Glaive’s specialty was stabbing people in the back; with his peerless blade, he had no idea how many powerful enemies he had sneakily killed on the battlefield.

But he never imagined that one day he would fall for the same trick, and be ambushed by his own shadow.

Taking advantage of the moment Corvus Glaive’s feet left the ground, leaving him with no leverage in mid-air, the surrounding Shadow Soldiers swarmed forward, several black blades slashing simultaneously at his vital points.

"Ah!"

Corvus Glaive let out a miserable scream.

Although he was immortal and indestructible, he didn’t feel any less pain; the sensation of being sliced a thousand times was not pleasant.

Even more disgusting was that a few wretched Shadow Soldiers specifically targeted his lower half.

"Bastard!"

Corvus Glaive roared in anger, violently swinging his peerless blade to sever the black blades stuck in his chest, forcefully tearing himself away from the weapons.

The wounds on his body healed at a speed visible to the naked eye; amidst the surging flesh and blood, he was restored to his original state in the blink of an eye.

Immediately afterward, he turned and swung horizontally, viciously slashing at his own shadow, splitting it in two.

But after the shadow was split, it quickly merged back together, and the black blade in its hand reformed, lunging forward again without a word.

Corvus Glaive showed no fear, swinging his blade in a counter-attack; two identical figures stood in a standoff, golden blade against black blade, every move ruthless and lethal as they fought in a frenzy.

Darian ignored Corvus Glaive, his gaze locking onto Ronan, who was currently fighting the Guardians of the Galaxy not far away.

At this moment, Ronan was fighting one against four, single-handedly battling three male species of the Guardians of the Galaxy and a tree person.

Despite being outnumbered, he felt no pressure at all, easily suppressing the four opponents completely.

Quill and Rocket, the two ranged attackers, were doing slightly better, at least able to maneuver a bit.

Drax and Groot, the two melee fighters, were in a sorry state.

Drax had been beaten black and blue, covered in blood and lying motionless on the ground; Groot was even worse off, his entire body below the neck gone, leaving only a head with a few branch-like tentacles poking out from the stump, slowly wriggling on the floor.

With the two main melee forces down, only the squishy Quill and Rocket remained, struggling to hold on.

Rocket fired his gun frantically, but the bullets only sparked against Ronan’s body, failing to leave even a scratch.

Ronan held his universal weapon in one hand, the blue energy on the Hammerhead gathering thicker and thicker, about to deliver a fatal blow to Rocket.

Just then, a burst of off-key singing suddenly drifted over.

"Oh~ child, things are gonna get easier, things are gonna get brighter~"

Ronan turned his head to see Quill singing at him, his hips wiggling to the rhythm.

The singing was unpleasant to say the least, and the dance was awkward and an eyesore.

But for some reason, Quill’s singing and dancing seemed to have an indescribable magnetic quality; Ronan was actually mesmerized, and the universal weapon in his hand unconsciously lowered.

"What are you doing?" Ronan asked, looking utterly bewildered.

"I’m singing."

Quill answered righteously and even enthusiastically extended an invitation: "Want to join in?"

Seeing no reaction from Ronan, Quill didn’t care and continued to sing and wiggle on his own, his pitch straying so far it was practically flying out of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Anyway, as long as he didn’t feel awkward himself, then the awkwardness belonged to others.

Is this guy an idiot?

Ronan’s face darkened; without another word, he immediately raised the Hammerhead and aimed it at Quill.

Quill’s heart tightened; he had wanted to stall for a few more seconds, but who knew Ronan wouldn’t follow the script? He attacked without warning, and Quill didn’t even have time to dodge.

It’s over, it’s over, I’m toast!

At the critical moment, the shadow beneath Ronan’s feet suddenly began to churn.

Countless shadows leaped from the ground, turning into pitch-black tentacles that wrapped around Ronan’s entire body, binding him tightly.

"What!?"

Ronan’s expression changed drastically; he turned his head to see Darian walking toward him at a leisurely pace.

By now, Darian had deactivated his Light Spell, and the cabin was plunged back into gloom, with almost no light visible.

As Darian drew closer step by step, the surrounding darkness seemed to come alive.

The floor, walls, and ceiling—anywhere there was a shadow—were churning like a vast pool of boiling black water, making one’s skin crawl.

"Playing tricks!"

Ronan struggled violently, and the universal weapon in his hand erupted with power; a powerful shockwave swept out, instantly shattering the shadows wrapped around him, freeing him from the restraint.

But just as he regained his footing, the shadow beneath his feet churned again.

Several thick shadow tentacles lunged out from within, tightly grabbing his ankles and pulling him toward the ground with all their might.

"Get off me!"

Ronan roared, swinging his universal weapon to smash the ground; the shockwave cleared the surrounding shadow tentacles away.

Before a new wave of tentacles could gather, he lunged toward Darian, his weapon wrapped in dazzling blue lightning as he swung it down toward Darian’s head.

Darian didn’t stop walking; he merely gave a slight lift of his finger.

The shadow on the ground in front of him suddenly swelled, and a giant black snake lunged out, opening its maw to bite Ronan, tossing him into the air before closing its mouth and swallowing him along with his weapon whole.

Puchi!

The next moment, countless black spikes pierced out from both inside and outside the giant snake simultaneously, so dense it made one’s scalp tingle.

Boom!

The black snake exploded into fragments, pieces flying in all directions.

Ronan fell heavily from the air, landing on one knee with several bloody holes in his body; blood flowed out from the wounds, clearly indicating he was seriously injured.

"Damn it, what kind of ability is this!?"

Ronan was filled with shock.

He had never seen such a bizarre ability; even the square-faced woman from years ago only glowed all over and then used the Iron Head Technique to ram into starships.

Although that ability was ridiculously powerful, it was at least within the realm of his understanding.

But Darian’s ability before him was something he truly could not comprehend.

Regardless, Ronan knew Darian was the one behind this; as long as he killed the opponent, all of this would end.

Biu! Biu! Biu! Biu—!

Ronan raised his universal weapon and fired several energy beams in quick succession, densely blasting toward Darian.

Darian stood his ground, neither dodging nor flinching, allowing the energy beams to hit him, passing directly through his body.

The next moment, his figure suddenly turned black, and his entire person transformed into a shadow that merged into the ground.

Ronan’s pupils shrank, and he subconsciously covered his backside.

The surrounding black water surged up, bubbling like a boiling pot.

Immediately after, countless shadow tentacles burrowed out, each covered in blood-red eyeballs of various sizes squeezed together—a nightmare for anyone with trypophobia.

The tentacles swayed and wriggled frantically, intertwining with each other, filling the entire cabin in the blink of an eye.

Looking around, there were dense shadow tentacles and red eyeballs everywhere; the scene alone was enough to make one’s Sanity drop precipitously.

The next moment, countless shadow tentacles swarmed toward Ronan from all directions.

Ronan gripped his universal weapon, and a shockwave radiated outward from him, shattering the nearest shadow tentacles.

But these shadow tentacles were formless and intangible; once shattered, they would reform, and once reformed, they would multiply, seemingly impossible to kill off.

As time passed, the surrounding shadows grew thicker and thicker, trapping him tightly in the center.

Ronan’s movements became increasingly sluggish, his body already covered in shadow tentacles.

No matter how many he blasted away, the shadow tentacles would quickly heal and swarm forward again, wrapping around his entire body in layers.

Just then, a figure slowly rose from the shadows, holding a black blade condensed from shadow.

Ronan sensed the chill coming from behind and was startled, immediately activating his universal weapon to release a shockwave.

However, Darian’s figure only flickered before solidifying again like a shadow.

His movements didn’t stop; with a sudden burst of strength from his wrist, the black blade slashed viciously at Ronan’s right arm, which was holding the universal weapon.

Chila!

Accompanied by the crisp sound of bone cracking and the muffled thud of a blade cutting through flesh.

Ronan’s right arm was severed, blood gushing out and splashing onto the metal floor.

"Ugh, ah——!"

The intense pain caused Ronan to let out a shrill scream.

And the universal weapon in his hand fell to the floor along with his right arm.

Without the universal weapon, Ronan completely lost his ability to resist; he was immediately wrapped in shadow tentacles and forced to kneel before Darian, his mouth also stuffed full with several tentacles.

Darian looked down at Ronan: "Ronan, dying at my hands can be considered a glorious death in battle; at least it’s much better than dying to Quill’s awkward dance."

Ronan: "???"

Although he didn’t know what it meant to die to Quill’s awkward dance, could his current state really be called a glorious death in battle?

You bastard, at least let me take that thing out of my body first!

If he died like this and his corpse was discovered, with that thing hidden inside found during an examination, Ronan couldn’t imagine what would be said about him; that would be ten thousand times worse than death.

Thinking of this, Ronan’s scalp tingled, and he began to struggle with all his might.

Not afraid of being broken to pieces, leaving purity to the World!

Seeing Ronan’s movements, Darian said cheerfully: "Don’t worry, I’ve heard of your Kree customs; after death, you must be buried in the soil of the Kree Empire to rest in peace."

"I respect you as a worthy opponent. To show my respect, I will properly preserve your corpse and let the people of the Kree Empire take it back, so everyone can see the scars on your body and know you died in battle, not from awkwardness, so you can enjoy the glory you deserve after death."

Ronan: "???"

Who the hell wants you to preserve my corpse? I want to be cremated!

Ronan: "Mmph! Mmph mmph!!!"

He couldn’t speak and could only squeeze a series of muffled, indistinct roars from his throat, his eyes bulging as if they were about to fall out, his entire face flushed red.

"Alright, there’s no need for words of gratitude. You can go in peace."

With those words, the blade in Darian’s hand slashed down.

Ronan’s eyes instantly widened to their limit, his gaze filled with resentment; his body stiffened for a moment and then slowly went limp.

The next moment, the system’s notification sounded in his mind.

[Task ’Save Ronan’ settlement complete]

[Rewards obtained: 30,000 EXP, Guardians of the Galaxy Favorability +20, Skill ’Charged Strike’, Equipment ’Ring of the Elves’, Equipment ’universal weapon’, Item ’Gwent Cards’, Item ’Electric Toy’]

[Skill: Charged Strike (Allows charging for any form of attack; the longer the charge time, the higher the damage. A full charge will definitely trigger a critical hit effect. The charging process will terminate if interrupted)]

[Equipment: Ring of the Elves (A ring secretly crafted by a certain Elven King who didn’t have one; can increase certain spirit attributes)]

[Equipment: universal weapon (A technological marvel from the Kree Empire, an ultimate killing weapon that integrates functions such as firing shockwaves, releasing energy, creating energy shields, and controlling gravity. Note: The original binder Ronan’s identity information and the Kree Empire’s backdoors have been completely removed; please use with confidence)]

[Item: Gwent Cards (Friend, how about a round of Gwent?)]

[Item: Electric Toy (Long battery life, waterproof and silent, full of vibration)]

The rewards this time were quite generous.

Especially the Charged Strike skill; it was simply a versatile god-tier skill.

It could be used for both normal attacks and damage skills, with a 100% critical hit trigger; one just had to be careful not to be interrupted by enemies during the charge.

The Ring of the Elves was another piece of equipment that boosted spirit power.

Without a word, Darian slipped it directly onto his finger.

Not counting the daigua ring, he was now wearing three rings: the Professor Yang’s Ring, the life-steal ring, and this newly acquired Ring of the Elves.

If he collected seven more rings, he could fill all ten fingers; when the time came, spreading his hands with ten shining rings would definitely look cool.

The universal weapon was just like the Whiplash Armor from before—after all backdoors and binding programs were cracked, it was directly given to him as a reward.

Complaints aside, this weapon was indeed powerful.

One could tell from Ronan’s performance that it was capable of both offense and defense, truly a technological artifact.

Darian knew about Gwent Cards.

In a certain famous card game, there was a rising star in the Gwent World who, in order to collect Gwent Cards scattered across the World and find his adopted daughter along the way, traveled everywhere as a Witcher, slaying monsters and demons.

He didn’t know if the daughter was ever found, but the Gwent Cards were certainly all collected.

The most ridiculous thing in that game was that no matter how urgent the matter was, even if enemies were at the gates, NPCs would sit down and play a round of Gwent with you.

If you didn’t know better, you’d think everyone was a gambling addict reincarnated.

"I wonder if these cards have that much magic; I’ll find some time to try playing with Emma when I get back," Darian muttered.

As for that Electric Toy, Darian glanced at it and pretended it didn’t exist.

Immediately after, the system notification sounded again.

[Congratulations Player, you have successfully leveled up!]

[Player: Darian]

[Level: 27 (2000/92000)]

[Attributes: Strength 102, Agility 62, Constitution 62, Spirit 62]

[Distributable Free Attribute Points: 5]

Darian didn’t hesitate; following his previous allocation method, he put two points into Strength and distributed the rest evenly.

The panel changed accordingly.

[Attributes: Strength 104, Agility 63, Constitution 63, Spirit 63]

Darian controlled the shadow tentacles to pack up Ronan’s corpse.

He had promised Ronan he would send his body back to the Kree Empire, and he always kept his promises.

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