Li Yue instantly regretted his sentence after it left his mouth.
"Li Yue, long time no see! You came back at the right time."
The person in front of him slowly turned around and smiled at Li Yue and Annie. There is no doubt that this person was the Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, Ancient One! Moreover, her chest was adorned with the Eye of Agamotto, which emitted green light.
"Uh, Ancient One, Master, that... I didn't mean that just now! I just thought you already..."
"No need to explain; I understand what you mean..."
Ancient One interrupted Li Yue's explanation!
To be honest, Li Yue was very confused right now. What exactly was going on? Shouldn't Ancient One have passed away a while before Dormammu invaded? How could she still be unharmed in front of him?
"Master Ancient One, what exactly is going on? Did Dormammu invade Earth?"
Li Yue asked the Ancient One in front of him curiously. The current situation was beyond his knowledge. He wanted to know what was going on!
"Hello, Miss Annie from another universe. Welcome to Earth!"
Instead of answering Li Yue, Ancient One greeted Annie beside him/
"Master Ancient One, hello! I heard Li Yue mention you. He said that you are Sorcerer Supreme, the protector of Earth. It is really an honor to meet you today."
Annie respectfully bowed to Ancient One. Li Yue had indeed mentioned Ancient One to her when they were in Kamar-Taj. She was filled with respect for Sorcerer Supreme, who had guarded the Earth for hundreds of years!
On top of that, Ancient One knew of her name and recognized that she was from another universe. Annie was fully convinced that Ancient One was worthy of being the Sorcerer Supreme!
"Ancient One, we can talk about Annie later! Tell me about the situation!" Li Yue urged impatiently.
"Come and take a look for yourself!"
Ancient One waved her hand. Li Yue felt the ground beneath his feet moving, bringing him and Annie beside Ancient One.
Li Yue looked at the direction that Ancient One pointed and was instantly stunned.
The sight in front of him was beyond incredulous.
A few hundred meters in front of Li Yue, there was an immense face with two lantern-like purple eyes. This appearance must've belonged to the ruler of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu, the invader of Earth.
Of course, that alone was to be expected, but the thing that surprised Li Yue was the figure that was currently fighting with Dormammu.
Rather than Doctor Strange's lone figure negotiating with Dormammu, Li Yue saw a total of five people! And two onlookers some distance away on top of that!
Li Yue recognized those figures, which was precisely why he was surprised!
Two of the five battling figures were wearing ordinary monk robes, and Li Yue didn't pay much attention to them. They were the librarian Fatty Wong and the mage Mordo, which Li Yue hadn't found in Kamar-Taj. The two of them were busy channeling magic shields to block Dormammu's attacks!
The other three figures were the main reason that Li Yue was extremely shocked.
A figure clad in silver armor was flying in the air, constantly dodging attacks from Dormammu while shooting his own energy beams at Dormammu's giant face. The beam caused devastating damage.
The other figure was wrapped in silver lightning, flying in the air with the Stormbreaker in his hand. He shrugged off most of Dormammu's attacks without much damage, while launching his own attacks using the axe and lightning strikes.
Li Yue could almost see a string of blood-red numbers [-99999] appearing above Dormammu every time an axe hit or lightning strike landed.
The last figure was wearing tight clothes. He blocked Dormammu's attack with a round shield in his left hand while attacking with a hammer in his right hand, summoning silver lightning at Dormammu.
Thunder and lightning filled the area with colorful lights!
...
"Could it be...the Big Three are all fighting Dormammu?"
Li Yue felt like his worldview was about to collapse. He had seen the big three fighting Thanos in the movies, but he couldn't even imagine that he could witness what he was seeing.
Li Yue's shock aside, it seemed that the team of five was rather effective at fighting Dormammu, causing scars on his huge face.
"Is this all you can do? Begone!"
However, their progress was erased in just a moment. Dormammu seemed to decide that he didn't want to entertain these clowns anymore. Countless spears and blades made out of pure energy appeared in the air and shot toward the five figures.
Wong and Mordo's yellow energy shields shattered instantly into countless specks of orange lights. Their bodies were pierced by innumerable blades.
Captain America on the ground only had one shield, so he couldn't defend against the attacks from all directions. He bravely resisted with the Mjolnir until the end, but he died on the spot after the blades skewered his body.
Tony could evade the attacks from the blades, but he couldn't react in time for Dormammu's massive hand. He was slapped into the distance: his armor was still intact, but he didn't get up.
...
Thor, with his Stormbreaker, was the only one left. He ignored Dormammu's attack and rushed through, releasing violent lightning that filled the Dark Dimension.
Countless lightning bolts appeared following Thor's angry roars and ruthlessly struck Dormammu's huge face, leaving behind huge scars.
"Mere insect! How dare you hurt me? I will tear you to pieces!"
Dormammu roared and released a horrifying aura, crushing countless small planets around him. He opened his mouth and gathered a huge amount of energy in it before firing a thick beam of dark energy toward Thor.
Thor had no time to dodge and was hit by the energy beam. However, as expected of an Asgardian, Thor did not suffer much damage even after taking such a huge energy attack. He was only pushed back by the powerful force, even as the attack carved a massive ridge on the ground!
Dormammu stopped the energy attack after sustaining it for full ten seconds. Thor's tall and straight figure still stood stalwart at the end of the ridge!
But with only him left, it was impossible to keep the same pace. Moreover, he had been reliant on Stormbreaker to fight Dormammu. It was apparent how powerful Dormammu was.
Thor resorted to evading Dormammu's attacks. His body might be able to shrug off the blades that Dormammu summoned, but he wouldn't be able to withstand Dormammu's hand and energy attack without suffering considerable damage.
Dormammu even controlled the surrounding planetoids and smashed them at Thor. Fortunately, Thor's Stormbreaker was invincible. He could split apart the planetoids that Dormammu threw at him, creating countless explosions and energy ripples.
...
Li Yue was shocked, but he wasn't frozen. The only thing that stopped him from joining the fray was Ancient One!
Why would Ancient One stop him? Li Yue was puzzled, but he instantly understood what was happening when he saw the dead combatants returning to life in front of him. He stared at Ancient One with a confused gaze!
Ancient One returned a smile to Li Yue!
"That's right, of course I put them in a temporal loop!"