Lord of Cinder in American Comics

Chicago, however, was not so lucky. Apart from the shark with insufficient brain capacity, the other three giant beasts all targeted the White Bio Building in Chicago.

Hill was getting impatient. Watching the video of the behemoths hurtling towards them, he urged his men, "Did you destroy the launcher? Why didn't they change their course?"

Sharon Carter took over the communication role, presenting Hill with the intelligence she had obtained from the White siblings.

"Claire White's control console wasn't hers; it was a machine built by a woman named Emma Russell during a work assignment arranged by Fury. Claire didn't actually know what the machine did; she just wanted to create enough chaos..."

Our people examined the machine, and it seemed more like a biosignal, used to guide these behemoths. The loss of continuous guidance didn't cause them to lose their target; these behemoths, like pigeons, would keep finding their way…”

Hearing Sharon Carter's explanation, Hill seemed exhausted and waved her hand, saying, "Send them to the raft and let them stay there until they die... Also, now that Ash has announced the Beast's whereabouts, allocate S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surplus manpower and armed forces to him. We can't afford to have any more bad reputations..."

Hill issued the S.H.I.E.L.D. support orders, which boosted the team's morale. After all, if they didn't help when trouble came their own country, how were they any different from Nick Fury?

In Chicago, the mass evacuation has begun. Thanks to the real-time updates on the behemoths released by Ash, there are very few people left in the city.

Now, besides the National Guard that S.H.I.E.L.D. and Ash coordinated, the only other people in the city are daring reporters and people trying to take advantage of the chaos to buy things for free.

News helicopters from various media outlets have been constantly in the air, trying to obtain the latest developments.

Their cameras captured Ash setting up a minefield.

Given this purposeful route of action, setting up minefields in advance is the best option. And when faced with this large creature, Ash placed all the anti-tank mines and various explosives he could find in the same area.

The behemoths have a clear objective, and waiting for them to escape is the best approach at this moment. If we rashly intercept them on their route and fail, the resulting risks would be worse than allowing Chicago to undergo further urban redevelopment.

Besides, putting these giant beasts together will also help Geralt to exert his power.

That's right, Geralt appeared out of nowhere and showed up inside the White Bio-Building, which is guarded by S.H.I.E.L.D.

In S.H.I.E.L.D., the people around Hill are now used to Geralt. If anyone else were to suddenly appear there, they would be shot twice and forced to commit suicide, otherwise it would be unworthy of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s identity.

This time, Clint wasn't with Geralt; Geralt was alone, and he was actually drinking milk tea.

While sucking on his straw, Geralt mumbled, "What kind of work do you need me to do? The price is negotiable, um... I see, you'll have to pay extra..."

Geralt's obliviousness as he watched the four large creatures on the screen and heard the slurping sound he made while asking for money only fueled Hill's frustration.

"Money, money, money! All you ever think about is money!"

Upon hearing this, Geralt opened his mouth in surprise, put down his milk tea, and scrutinized Hill, asking, "Could you give me something else?"

"Tell me, how much do you want? And what's your solution?"

"It's the same steel as last time, I've been really short of it lately... As for a solution, let me call and ask first..."

Geralt pulled out a cell phone made by the Dragon Academy, which could communicate across dimensions. Geralt didn't hide it from Hill and let her see the name on it—Oscar (a group member).

Geralt asked as soon as the call connected, "How's the repair going?"

Oscar, sitting opposite, complained, "You still know I'm fixing this thing? We have no materials, and we only have three giant spears left. If you don't get some materials soon, this thing will be completely ruined!"

Geralt spoke to Oscar on the other end of the phone in a gentle and patient tone, saying things like, "It'll be here soon, it'll be here soon, I'll give you a promotion once the stuff arrives," skillfully making empty promises.

Once Oscar confirmed that he could provide the fastest support, Geralt hung up the phone as quickly as possible.

This action drew a slight glance from Hill, as Geralt had never done anything like this before.

"You heard it too, you only have three chances to attack. It's up to you how you plan to arrange it..."

The fact that the attack on these behemoths could be arranged in such a short time completely convinced Hill of Geralt's earlier statement that 'hunters are skilled at hunting large creatures'.

And now there's another Oscar in the hunter group? This newcomer piqued Hill's curiosity.

Given the hunter's previous cooperation, Hill intends to bring some things out into the open this time, partly as a gesture of goodwill towards the hunter, and partly as an assessment of her soon-to-be partner.

That's right. Hill doesn't intend to hire the hunters as employees, but rather to promote them to partners, giving them a certain status and power in reality.

This was also the result after Hill handed over the previous Hunter assessment report to the World Security Council, since Geralt was also presenting the Hunter apprentice Clint's level to S.H.I.E.L.D.

If Geralt's incompetent apprentice is of such a level, then one can imagine the strength he himself and others have demonstrated. Even Geralt's dog can suppress a Marquis of Hell.

The investigation into the Hunters' identities has never stopped. This is an open strategy. If the Hunters want to establish themselves in the real world, they must cooperate with S.H.I.E.L.D., since it is S.H.I.E.L.D. that provides the Hunters with identity verification.

When Hill asked, "Who is Oscar?" Geralt obligingly revealed the newcomer's identity.

“Ostra’s Oscar, in fact, is the name he gave himself after his predecessors. He joined Farron Keep for his lofty ideal—to resist the invasion of darkness. Because Farron Keep was in such a dilapidated state before, Farron itself could not take care of itself, which is why I kept taking on jobs to get building materials and related supplies.”

When Geralt spoke of Farron, the regret and reminiscence he conveyed piqued Hill's interest in this recurring place.

Geralt continued, "But that kid has a unique talent; he's skilled at repairing equipment, so I sent him to Smoky Lake to repair the old gear. You heard it too, this equipment is specifically designed for these behemoths..."

Upon hearing Geralt's explanation, Hill chose to believe him, since there was no way to question the Hunter's story now, as all the information came from the Hunter himself.

Since the hunters have methods, let them use them. This will also allow Hill to provide some information about the tendencies in the reports to these organizations that are about to become partners.

Hill pointed at the giant beast on the screen and asked, "Which one are you going to take down first?"

Hill hadn't expected Geralt to point out his shortcomings so directly: "I need someone to restrict the movement of these behemoths and keep them in one place for a certain period of time so that we can attack them..."

Hill originally thought Geralt would agree immediately and then quickly take down the giant beasts, but he didn't expect that the hunter's hunt had a weakness.

Hill thought of the Tindaros Hound from before, where the same tactic was used: first restrain it, then let the hunter deal with it. Was this time going to be the same?

This put Hill at ease about the hunter's actions; after all, no one likes an ally who is too powerful, and mutual support is the right way.

Pointing to the small shark that could only beach itself and then sink back into the sea, Hill said, "Let's start with that one..."

S.H.I.E.L.D. was the first to monitor this shark, and its behavior patterns followed a certain fixed trajectory, allowing Hill to provide a solution as quickly as possible.

Having located the silly shark, Geralt picked up the paper and pen next to Hill and began to calculate. It was clearly a parabolic trajectory calculation, but Hill found the trajectory of the ballistic missile to be quite strange.

Once Geralt finished his calculations, he called Oscar, who was waiting on the other side.

"Get ready to work, one shot. Position: XXXX.XXXX, ratchet three to the left, four to the right, wait for my signal..."

## Chapter 232: The Supersonic Arrival (Bonus Chapter 7/10)

Geralt watched the scene on the screen. The shark would first crash onto the beach, then stop because it couldn't move on land, and then struggle back into the sea because it couldn't breathe, and then repeat the same action again...

As the shark surged onto the beach once more, Geralt gave a signal the instant it paused.

"Launch now!"

Hill keenly recognized the sound coming from the phone; it was a bowstring, not the sound of a crossbow. And judging from the echo of the crossbow's release, it must have been coming from a large space.

After the crossbow was released, Hill looked at the screen and saw no change whatsoever.

Just as the shark realized it couldn't breathe on land, a giant crossbow bolt fell from the sky, piercing its entire body and pinning it to the beach.

Looking at that crossbow bolt, a rough estimate suggests it's over a meter in diameter, and considering its length of several tens of meters, only a crossbow capable of firing such a bolt could be considered a siege weapon.

Thinking back to the large amount of steel Geralt had requested and the fact that only three crossbow bolts remained, Hill understood the purpose of the steel.

[The Hunting Ballista: Originally a weapon used to stop and hunt Carthus Sandworms deep within the Smoky Lake of the Catacombs of Carthus, it was later repaired by the Ashes and transformed into a tool for launching giant crossbow bolts. Due to its enormous size, loading and reloading take a long time, resulting in a long downtime. For a crossbow, this is a weapon of extreme gigantism, and therefore possesses exceptionally high power.]

After the shark was pierced, the large crossbow bolt caused a fatal wound to its body. It struggled and lost its last life, like a small fish stuck on a skewer.

Seeing that the shark had been successfully dealt with, Geralt asked Hill, "What are you going to do next?"

"Of course, it depends on how the Bureau of Control handles it. Of course, S.H.I.E.L.D. will also provide the Bureau of Control with weapons sufficient to take down these behemoths. All they need to do is control these behemoths. That's not unreasonable, is it?"

Hill instantly turned the tide for S.H.I.E.L.D., since everyone now knew that the Department of Control was the department that dealt with supernatural events, if giant creatures were included.

Geralt and Ash shook their heads upon hearing the news, surprised that Hill was also someone who said one thing but did another.

Now that one has been dealt with, all that's left are the giant wolf, the giant crocodile, and the lab rat that fell from space.

Although this laboratory mouse has not grown excessively in size, currently only reaching a height of over ten meters, it is the biggest threat.

Because this mouse was pregnant, it was originally intended to be used in the space laboratory to cultivate more experimental subjects, but after it crashed to Earth alive, it gave birth to its own offspring.

And because of some other strange gene, this rat can self-reproduce, causing its population to explode.

If it weren't for Claire White's ambition that sent these giant rats heading towards Chicago, they might have developed enough to conquer the Earth.

Now imagine how horrifying it would be if a white rat, larger than a heavy truck, were followed by a number of offspring the size of motorcycles, all heading in one direction.

Ash's minefield was also designed to target these rats, since there was only one giant wolf and one giant crocodile, but a whole group of rats.

"If I had encountered this thing in the sewers, I would have given up swimming long ago..."

Ash didn't let anyone hear Mo Ming say those words.

However, just as he was waiting for the giant beast to enter the trap, a familiar spatial fluctuation appeared again, giving the feeling that there were visitors from another world.

But Ash is now in Chicago, hundreds of kilometers away, not at the Firelink Shrine in New York. And there's no one at the Firelink Shrine to deal with this.

Thinking of the Fire Keeper, Ash sighed. The Fire Keeper was probably shopping like crazy in the mall right now, while Irina and Ego were the Fire Keeper's followers, and it was an honor for them to carry things for the Fire Keeper.

For some reason, Ash felt a pang of pain in her heart, as if she had lost something. She had lost the gentle, kind, and understanding Fire Keeper she once knew.

"Sigh~ Never mind, let's deal with this first and then look for it. Hopefully, nothing unexpected will happen..."

Ash thought about it and decided to abandon his plan to return to New York now. Constantine was at the Dragon Academy researching the Time Stone, Geralt was with Hill, and all that was left was a greedy man sleeping in the vault. But what demon would come to save humanity...?

Meanwhile, Hill relayed the weapon usage conditions to Ash. Seeing the time extended by more than double on her phone, Ash instantly felt annoyed with Hill.

But after thinking about it, Ash dismissed the idea; there was no need to target an ordinary person.

Ash racked his brains but couldn't come up with a way to keep these behemoths in one place. The most likely solution was that the ultrasonic generator had already been destroyed by S.H.I.E.L.D.

'Should we upgrade the Thunder Spear to another level? Or get some powerful reinforcements? Should we name them Gundyr or Bordeaux?'

Just as Ash was pondering, a golden-red figure descended from the sky and came to Ash's side.

"It's time for Stark to step in and solve this problem! No need to thank Stark..."

Stark stepped out of his Iron Man suit and waved to the outside world like a celebrity. However, the people around him were just soldiers from the Bureau of Control. They had seen Stark so often that they were immune to this kind of behavior.

Seeing that no one responded to his act, Stark pretended nothing had happened and went to Ash's side.

Stark glanced at the marked minefield location on the map, then said dismissively, "I'm an advisor to the Bureau of Control. Why didn't you call me for something like this?"

“Weren’t you always busy with research? Pepper mentioned your recent situation when she was shopping with the Fire Keeper. She asked the Fire Keeper how she could help you get some rest…”

Stark recalled the recent situation and realized that he had indeed neglected Pepper, focusing only on his recent research.

Somewhat touched, Stark asked, "So what method did Pepper obtain? I want to take this opportunity to surprise Pepper..."

"Uh...you wouldn't want to know..."

Ash thought of the Fire Keeper's idea—a direct, quick, and effective way to put someone to sleep—and couldn't help but worry about Stark's physical condition. Using it on Stark might not result in sleep but rather a coma or shock.

After separating the Fire Keeper, Ash changed the subject and asked, "How do you know about this place?"

This abrupt change of topic made Stark point to the news helicopter flying overhead, looking at Ash with some suspicion, as if trying to gauge Ash's intelligence.