Leaving aside Tony, who was filled with confusion.
On the other side, Eren sneered and immediately decided that once he got back, he would thoroughly inspect his Aston Martin.
Then, all those little gadgets like GPS trackers would go straight into the trash.
He had no intention of letting Tony track his whereabouts so easily ever again.
On the other end of the call, Tony, realizing Eren had gone silent, awkwardly changed the subject:
"Alright, this isn't the time to talk about that, kid. You really shouldn't be here—"
As he spoke, Tony's expression turned serious.
Even though Eren possessed some mysterious abilities, Tony didn't believe those so-called powers would be enough to deal with the two raging monsters in the distance.
Regardless of the fact that Eren was Pepper's nephew, Tony didn't want to see the kid get hurt, especially since Eren had saved his life multiple times before.
Before Tony could finish, Eren interrupted, "Relax. Even if something happens to you, I'll be fine. If I dared to come here, I naturally have a way to survive."
As he spoke—
Eren suddenly noticed something moving within a pool of blood a few meters away.
Hmm?
What is that?
Focusing his gaze, Eren soon discovered several tiny, writhing figures twisting within the blood.
To his surprise, they were small, pale worms.
At this moment, these plump little worms were nestled in the pool of blood, making faint sucking noises as if they were greedily drinking the fresh blood.
Where did these worms come from?
Sweeping his eyes over them with slight curiosity, Eren was just about to look away when he witnessed something horrifying.
Right before his eyes—
In just a few breaths' time—
The worms that had gorged themselves on the blood began to swell, as if they were balloons being inflated. Their bodies expanded at an alarming rate, their once firm outer skin stretching taut.
From a distance, these bloated worms resembled overfilled balloons, their soft, reddish skins seemingly on the verge of bursting with the slightest touch.
Pop!
Squelch! Bang…
No—
Eren didn't even have to touch them. The overfed worms exploded on their own with just a slight breeze.
However, contrary to what Eren expected—
Instead of blood and flesh scattering from the burst worms, what emerged were dozens of even smaller worms.
Almost every worm that burst apart released countless tinier worms, multiplying their numbers exponentially.
In just over ten seconds, the number of worms within the pool of blood had increased several dozen times.
"What the hell are these things…?"
Eren instantly realized that something was seriously wrong with these worms, and his mind involuntarily recalled the catastrophic disaster Christine had mentioned earlier.
Could this be the disaster she was talking about?
Eren frowned at the thought.
Squish…
Squish…
As his doubts grew, the disturbing sound of wriggling worms filled the air.
It was as if he had unknowingly stepped into the heart of a worm infestation, completely surrounded.
"This sound… don't tell me…"
A terrible premonition rose in Eren's heart as he scanned his surroundings.
And sure enough—
Beyond the small pool of blood, he saw them.
The worms were everywhere.
Looking across the battlefield, he saw the twisted, wriggling figures crawling over the scattered chunks of flesh…
The broken limbs strewn across the ground were covered in disgusting worms…
Even the bodies of those crushed into pulp or slain by stray bullets were now infested…
Some of the worms had even burrowed into abandoned, bloodstained cars, feasting on the corpses inside, gnawing at their flesh and drinking their blood.
Just moments ago, when Eren had first stepped onto the battlefield, there hadn't been a single worm in sight. Yet now, in mere minutes—
These grotesque creatures had spread across the entire battlefield with unimaginable speed.
Eren wasn't the only one who noticed.
As the number of worms multiplied at a horrifying rate, more and more people became aware of their eerie presence.
A wounded man, his leg pierced by a stray bullet, had been too injured to escape. He had dragged himself into a small alley, praying that the two monsters outside wouldn't come his way.
But he failed to notice the few large, bloated worms that had crawled out from the shadows.
Drawn by the trail of blood he left behind, the worms squirmed closer, inching up his pant leg and toward the gaping wound on his thigh.
Feeling an unsettling movement near his leg, the man turned his head just in time to see a worm burrowing into his wound.
The horrifying sight made his blood run cold.
Who knew what kind of disease these things carried?
Getting caught in the crossfire of two monsters fighting had already been a nightmare, but now these worms? He didn't want to die from some bizarre infection on top of everything else.
"Shit, get off me! You damn bugs—!"
He reached down, intending to yank the revolting worm out of his wound.
But before he could touch it—
Swish!
The worm wriggled deeper into his flesh, disappearing entirely beneath his skin.
Then, from within his wound, it let out an eerie, low-frequency screech of delight.
"Oh God…"
Watching in horror as the worm burrowed into his body, the man turned deathly pale.
The next second, searing pain erupted from his wound, tearing through his senses like fire.
At the same time, dozens more worms slithered toward him, drawn to the scent of fresh blood.
"No…!"
Terror filled the man's eyes as he screamed and thrashed, desperately trying to crush the worms swarming over him.
With frenzied force, he slammed his hands against them, turning several into squirming piles of mush.
But it was too late.
He couldn't stop the worm already inside him.
With a sickening pop, the wound on his leg ruptured—
And from within, countless smaller worms poured out.
A bloodcurdling scream of agony and despair echoed through the alley.
That unlucky injured man was not an isolated case.
As the battlefield's blood and scattered flesh were completely devoured by the rapidly multiplying worms—
These creatures, driven by their insatiable thirst for fresh blood, turned their attention toward the many wounded lying across the battlefield.
Though these bloodthirsty, eerie worms were far stronger than ordinary ones, they were still vastly inferior to humans.
Even those injured by the battle between Abomination and Hulk could easily crush the worms underfoot.
A few worms alone posed no real threat to humans.
However, as their numbers swelled, forming writhing torrents of flesh that surged toward their victims—
Human bodies, once resilient, suddenly seemed fragile before the relentless tide of worms.
...
At the center of the battlefield.
As General Ross commanded his armored vehicles and gunship helicopters to concentrate fire on Abomination, an urgent voice from a nearby captain cut through the battle noise:
"General! We're under attack—by worms!"
...???
Ross doubted his own ears. He turned toward the captain, his expression questioning.
The captain, assuming Ross hadn't heard clearly, shouted again.
"General! Worms are attacking us! Two soldiers have already been swallowed—"
"Fuck!"
Before the captain could finish, Ross furiously kicked him.
"Goddammit! It's bad enough we can't take down Hulk or that freak Blonsky, and now you're telling me my soldiers are being overrun by worms—spineless, squishy, goddamn worms?! You want me to become a laughingstock!?"
Staggering back from the kick, the captain's face was pale with fear as he forced a bitter smile.
"General, it's not our fault! There are too many of them! The bullets we have are completely ineffective—you need to see for yourself."
He pointed behind him.
Ross followed the direction of his finger—
And saw a monstrous wave of writhing worms surging through the street.
The worm tide had already engulfed half the block, steadily advancing toward the wounded who couldn't escape in time.
If the worms were any faster, the injured wouldn't even have a chance to run.
At the front of the wave, several soldiers armed with submachine guns were unleashing a barrage of bullets into the oncoming horde.
Ordinarily, submachine gun rounds were lethal to most life forms on Earth.
Yet against this overwhelming tide of worms, their firepower seemed utterly insignificant.
Each bullet that tore into the horde killed dozens—sometimes hundreds—of worms at a time, their bodies bursting into grotesque splashes of fluid.
But in the face of the sheer mass of wriggling creatures, these shots were like pebbles dropped into an ocean, vanishing without a trace.
The tide of worms didn't even slow down.
The soldiers could do nothing as the creatures surged closer.
Behind them, an armored vehicle was already swarming with countless worms.
They clung to its surface in a pulsating, undulating mass, writhing madly as they climbed higher.
The horrifying sight made Ross's skin crawl.
Even without a fear of tight spaces, anyone witnessing this surreal nightmare would feel sick to their core.
Ross involuntarily cursed.
"Shit! Are these things even worms!?"
Just then—
A streaking missile, trailing smoke, struck the advancing worm tide.
Boom!
In the next instant, a fiery explosion consumed the writhing mass, turning thousands of worms into ash.
A powerful shockwave followed, blasting apart nearly half of the massive tide, ripping countless worms into bloody shreds.
The missile had been fired by Tony.
At the sight of the monstrous wave of worms, he immediately recognized the threat.
The sheer numbers alone were horrifying.
Other than a few high-powered missiles meant for Abomination, Tony's current arsenal lacked any weaponry capable of handling such a horde.
Thus—
Seeing the worms closing in on the survivors, he decisively launched a missile to block their advance.
On the ground, Ross and his soldiers quickly caught on.
Ross bellowed at his captain:
"Idiot! Bullets are useless—use grenades, explosives, and missiles! Those things might be tough, but they sure as hell aren't indestructible!"
The weapons that couldn't pierce Abomination or Hulk might still work on these disgusting worms.
"Yes, sir!"
The captain, now understanding Ross's intent, immediately rallied his troops to prepare for a bombardment.
But just as they were about to act—
The street ahead stirred.
The half-destroyed worm tide—
Was reforming.
The worms that had been burned or blasted apart were being absorbed by the surviving ones.
Using the corpses of their fallen kin as nourishment, the remaining worms began to grow at an alarming rate.
Meanwhile— On the rooftop of a nearby building.
Tony watched grimly as the swarm reassembled.
His face darkened.
"Goddamn it."
These worms were ridiculously persistent.
Due to his rushed departure, combined with the limited carrying capacity of the Mark IV suit, Tony hadn't brought much heavy weaponry.
His customized high-powered missiles were numbered.
Each one he used depleted his stockpile.
If he fired a few more, he wouldn't have anything left for Abomination.
With this in mind—
Tony activated his comms and patched into Ross's radio.
"General Ross," he said, his voice serious. "We need you to mobilize weapons now. I have a very bad feeling about this—if we don't handle these disgusting worms properly, they might cause even more destruction than those two monsters."
(End of Chapter)
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