I sparked a mysterious resurgence in Marvel.

Chapter 257 The Price

The mechanical lifeforms trapped in the thorn cage clearly ignored the warning from that aged voice.

Some mechanical life forms even took this as a conspiracy by humans to trap them here.

The subconscious struggle intensified.

Some of the mechanical lifeforms even picked up their weapons and started firing at the surrounding thorny cages.

"Da da da..."

"Boom! Boom!!!"

Amidst the intense machine gun fire, the occasional sound of missile explosions could be heard.

Under such intense artillery fire.

The extensive thorn cages were instantly and massively destroyed.

In an instant, fallen leaves fluttered down, thorns snapped, and the thorn cage covering an area of ​​150 meters in radius began to tremble with a "rustling" sound.

It seemed to be trembling slightly, or perhaps... it was bursting with uncontrollable excitement.

Not long after.

Those seemingly indestructible thorny cages that bound mechanical life suffered varying degrees of damage.

Two of the thorn cages even had large holes blasted out by missiles.

Just when the mechanical lifeforms thought their counterattack had worked and even couldn't help but increase the intensity of their destruction.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, whose hand was still resting on the miniature thorn cage, suddenly felt an unprecedented, terrifying suction force emanating from the miniature thorn cage in his hand.

The next second, his blood, essence, and even the little life force he had left after sacrificing thirty years of his life, all flowed towards the miniature thorn cage along with this terrifying suction force.

Under that terrifying suction force, the SHIELD agent's skin and flesh shrank at a visible rate.

The Bewitching Cage, which had absorbed the life force of this agent's flesh and blood, emitted a faint green light.

"No·······"

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, whose eyes revealed terror, trembled slightly, but before he could utter a sound, a wisp of shimmering green light engulfed his body, which had become as withered as a mummy.

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Just as the shimmering green light engulfed the agent, a chilling, eerie green light also appeared on the vast thorny cage that covered most of the battlefield.

As this faint green light appeared, the thorny cage that had been destroyed by those mechanical beings instantly regenerated.

This time, the thorn cage that has regrown is more resilient, and also more... dangerous.

Those humans who had stayed obediently in the thorn cage, or whose struggles were not intense due to the constraints of their flesh and blood, were alright.

The thorn cage, now restored to its original state and even stronger, has simply grown denser and bound more tightly.

Those mechanical lifeforms that struggled violently and even damaged parts of the thorny cage fared much worse.

One after another, strong vines shot out and bound them tightly, like tying up rice dumplings.

From the thick, thorny spikes that looked like they had mutated, a large amount of highly corrosive dark green liquid was sprayed out like water guns at the mechanical lifeforms that were bound by them.

"Sizzle sizzle..."

A large amount of white smoke with a pungent smell rose up.

Large dents were quickly corroded into those invulnerable mechanical lifeforms.

Some dark green liquid even seeped directly into the bodies of those mechanical lifeforms from the gaps in their armor.

How could the internal components of those mechanical life forms possibly withstand the dark green liquid that could rapidly corrode even alloy armor?

Almost in the blink of an eye.

Large amounts of white smoke emerged from the bodies of many mechanical lifeforms.

Some were even more unlucky, with large holes corroded in their bodies, and even the core modules that were crucial to the life of these mechanical life forms were corroded.

Before the incredulous eyes of many mechanical beings, amidst crackling sparks, many mechanical beings were silently killed by the dark green liquid shot out from the thorny cage.

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"Hiss~~~ Damn it, what the hell is this thing?"

Upon seeing the horrific state of the struggling mechanical beings not far away, Tony Stark gasped.

At that moment, he was incredibly grateful that he had stopped struggling after hearing Kiris's warning.

Otherwise, I would probably end up like those mechanical lifeforms.

Unlike those robots made entirely of steel, Tony's Mark VI armor conceals a real body of flesh and blood.

If his flesh and blood were to accidentally come into contact with the dark green, viscous liquid secreted by those thorns and spikes...

The thought of the consequences sent chills down Tony's spine.

Upon hearing this, Steve, who had never seen such a bizarre scene before, involuntarily turned to look at Natasha, the "Black Widow," who was also trapped in a cage of thorns beside him.

If he wasn't mistaken, the guy who used this so-called Thorn Cage was wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform.

"Natasha..."

Before Steve could ask, Natasha chimed in, "Don't look at me, I don't know what this Thorn Cage is either, but... if I'm not mistaken, it's probably a 'forbidden object' contained by S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Forbidden items?"

Upon hearing this, Steve and Tony couldn't help but have two rows of question marks appear on their foreheads.

Seeing this, Natasha had no choice but to explain: "'Forbidden objects' are legendary special forbidden items left behind by demons in the human world. In the past two months, strange events have occurred frequently around the world, and some long-forbidden objects have reappeared in people's sight along with some extraordinary events."

"In dealing with these supernatural events at great cost, S.H.I.E.L.D. and countries around the world have also acquired a considerable number of supernatural items, among which the 'forbidden items' are the most powerful and the most bizarre."

"In the past, all cases involving 'taboo items' in S.H.I.E.L.D. were personally handled by Director Fury, so I don't know much about them."

"Of course, all of this is just my speculation, and I cannot be sure whether this so-called 'thorn cage' is the so-called 'forbidden object'."

After Natasha finished speaking.

Kiris's eyes flickered a few times.

[I didn't expect S.H.I.E.L.D. to possess a forbidden artifact of the 'Thorn Cage' level. It seems Alexander Pierce underestimated Nick Fury.]

Kiris was aware that S.H.I.E.L.D. had collected some information about the "forbidden items."

However, the "thorn cage" was not on the list of "forbidden items" that she knew.

In retrospect, although Nick Fury was somewhat incompetent, he wasn't entirely useless. At least he kept some things very well hidden, not letting Pierce interfere at all.

of course.

This may also be related to the fact that the BOSS had warned him long ago that there are now a large number of Hydra spies infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D.

but.

From this perspective, it seems that I and the BOSS can make a good plan to completely take control of S.H.I.E.L.D.

After all, those good things would just be a waste in Nick Fury's hands.

Thinking of this, Kiris looked at the figure radiating a faint green light not far away, and her slightly alluring eyes narrowed slightly.

And apart from Kiris...

Upon first hearing the term "forbidden item," Tony and Steve began to ponder the information Natasha had revealed.

After a brief silence, Tony said with some dissatisfaction:

"Ha, since S.H.I.E.L.D. has something as good as 'forbidden material,' why didn't they use it sooner? Why wait until so many people have died before using it?"

If S.H.I.E.L.D. had used the "Thorn Cage" sooner, the casualties among the police officers and ordinary S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would not have been so severe.

As soon as Tony said this, Steve glanced at Natasha without saying a word.

Although his gaze didn't say anything, Natasha sensed a hint of displeasure from Captain America.

"As I said, matters concerning 'forbidden objects' are not under my jurisdiction. In fact, I had no idea that Director Hill had sent someone to bring over another forbidden object. Moreover, as far as I know, 'forbidden objects' have all sorts of serious restrictions and side effects. Let alone using them, if something goes wrong and an accident occurs, the disaster caused by the forbidden object going out of control would be no less than the disaster we are facing now..."

Just as Natasha was explaining...

The mechanical lifeform, stunned by the horrific state of its companions, ceased its struggle.

The very center of the thorn cage.

The figure, which was radiating a soft green light, began to lose its glow.

Upon seeing the figure in the green light, Tony, who had previously criticized S.H.I.E.L.D. for using the forbidden "Thorn Cage" so late in the night, causing such heavy casualties on the battlefield, immediately shut his mouth.

After the glowing green light disappeared, all that remained where the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had stood was a pale, withered skeleton entangled in thorns.

Steve, who also witnessed this scene, narrowed his eyes.

"Is this... the price of using those forbidden things?"

After a moment of silence, Tony, usually known for his sharp tongue, spoke first to Natasha: "Okay, I apologize. Regardless, the guy who used the Thorn Cage is a hero. If he has family, Stark Industries will cover their livelihood for the rest of their lives."

Natasha, equally shocked by the scene before her, said in a somewhat heavy voice:

"I thank you on behalf of that guy. If he still has family, I will pass on the message to you."

Just as Tony and Natasha began discussing the aftermath of the hero who used "Thorn Cage," Gillies suddenly spoke up, "Excuse me, gentlemen, this is not the time to discuss this."

"As far as I know, once a 'forbidden object' loses its owner's control, it can easily go out of control and cause all sorts of disasters. And now, hmm, it seems that it has lost its owner again."

"For our safety, and to prevent the forbidden object from truly spiraling out of control, Miss Natasha, I think you'd better ask S.H.I.E.L.D. what good methods they have to control this forbidden object."

As she spoke, Kiris glanced again at the mechanical lifeforms not far away and lowered her voice:

"Moreover, with the person controlling the Thorn Cage dead, those robots are probably..."

Natasha felt a chill run down her spine after hearing Kiris's words.

Yes!

Don't be fooled by the fact that those robots seem scared now. Once they realize that the human agent who controlled the Thorn Cage is dead, will they still stay in place obediently like they do now?

Thinking about this...

Natasha quickly put her hand on the wireless earpiece she was wearing, trying to contact Maria Hill, the New York director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in charge of the operation.

As the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. in New York, Natasha did not believe that Maria Hill was unaware of the taboo item, the "Thorn Cage."

Or.

This forbidden item was actually ordered to be carried by Maria Hill.

That being the case.

So no matter what, Maria Hill must know something about this forbidden object, the "Thorn Cage," right?

"Sizzle sizzle... sizzle sizzle..."

Just as Natasha was trying to contact Hill, a dial tone came through her wireless earpiece.

No matter how Natasha adjusted her wireless earphones, she couldn't receive any information from the outside world.

Let alone connecting with Maria Hill.

Even the combat channel with Steve, who was right next to him, was unreachable.

Watching Natasha constantly adjusting her headphones, Tony Stark said with a gloomy expression, "Don't waste your energy. This strange thorn cage seems to have methods to interfere with signals. I had Jarvis try everything just now, but we still couldn't connect to the outside world."

Upon hearing Tony and Natasha's conversation, a look of seriousness flashed across Gillis's eyes.

Looking at Steve, who was tightly bound in a thorn cage not far away, Kiris took out a small mirror she always carried with her and tossed it to Steve through the gaps in the thorn cage.

With some difficulty, Steve raised his hand and caught the mirror that Kiris threw to him. He then looked at Kiris with some confusion.

His gaze seemed to be questioning why Kiris had thrown this thing at him.

"Put it away. If this 'Thorn Cage' really gets out of control later, this mirror might save you in a critical moment."

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(Typo, please send first and I will correct later.)

(End of this chapter)