Chapter 701: Time Loop

“Hmm? There’s actually a thief…”

After sweeping away the Zealots and retracting all his dark energy, Dormammu’s massive head suddenly turned towards Scarlet Witch.

At this moment, Scarlet Witch, with her double protection, was gradually letting go of her inhibitions and beginning to absorb the dark energy in the air, utilizing the defensive magic from the Book of Vishanti.

She was converting it into her own Chaos Power.

As a result, Dormammu couldn’t even retrieve the energy from her body using his previous method.

“Oh?”

This discovery surprised Dormammu, but only for a moment.

In his eyes, humans were weak, and a “thief” could be easily crushed.

Dormammu then condensed a mass of orange-red dark fire, which blotted out the sky and descended towards Scarlet Witch’s location.

However, Mike was also an expert at playing with fire.

As the massive ball of flame approached, he simply waved his hand, using his divine power to scatter the dark fire into countless sparks.

These sparks, imbued with dark power, then seemed to be guided by an invisible hand, slowly converging on Scarlet Witch below.

Under the stimulation of this energy, the previous seal on her body was completely broken.

Crimson Chaos Power spread out, and Scarlet Witch, uplifted by this energy, slowly floated into the air.

At the same time, the free-floating dark energy in the air seemed to find an outlet, frantically flowing into her body.

The speed was more than ten times faster than before.

The generation of a large amount of Chaos Power caused her hair to move without wind in the high sky, and her pupils instantly turned a deep crimson.

Fortunately, the defensive magic from the Book of Vishanti did help her maintain the balance of Chaos Power within her body.

At least Mike could tell that while her expression had become as indifferent as it was last time, she still retained a trace of her own consciousness.

This was undoubtedly a good thing for Scarlet Witch.

“The scent of an evil god…”

Dormammu also noticed the changes in Scarlet Witch and discerned a different scent from her.

He mistakenly believed her to be the descendant of a powerful evil god.

Such a human with a powerful background was worth more consideration from Dormammu.

He pondered whether to become an enemy of an evil god for the sake of this human.

Fortunately, she had only absorbed some insignificant dark energy, which was negligible for the powerful Dormammu.

Therefore, after a brief consideration, Dormammu chose to ignore Scarlet Witch.

Instead, he turned his gaze to Mike below.

“Interesting, another deity has appeared on Earth. If I’m not mistaken, the last deity was Odin tens of thousands of years ago…” An intrigued expression appeared in Dormammu’s eyes.

The reason he dared to invade the world this time was precisely because he knew that the previous Allfather, Odin, was already decrepit and could only bide his time in Norway.

In other words, according to Dormammu’s previous plan, his opponent this time was actually only the Sorcerer Supreme, Ancient One.

And coincidentally, when he was connecting the dimensional planes earlier, he overheard Stephen and Kaecilius’s conversation, learning that the Sorcerer Supreme, Ancient One, had also died.

This undoubtedly made Dormammu’s plan to invade the world this time seem unremarkable and without difficulty.

And when one’s strength reached Dormammu’s level, one’s thinking could sometimes become quite strange.

Things without challenge, on the contrary, made him feel bored.

He had made many preparations to deal with Ancient One, but all of them had come to naught.

Therefore, the sudden appearance of Mike, a variable, actually made Dormammu feel intrigued.

A newborn deity as an opponent didn’t seem bad either.

“Dormammu, perhaps we can talk. Earth’s power is not as weak as you think…” At the same time, Stephen, who had set up a time loop spell using the Time Stone, approached Dormammu before Mike could.

Whether Mike’s strength could resist Dormammu was an unknown.

At least, that’s what Stephen believed.

Given Dormammu’s terror and the consequences of defeat, Stephen dared not gamble on this unknown.

In his opinion, Mike was best used as a trump card for backup, and should not be used unless absolutely necessary.

He could still serve as a deterrent to some extent.

This was also why Stephen was so eager to step forward.

On Dormammu’s side, he was originally looking forward to a battle with Mike, this newborn deity, but then an “ant” jumped out.

Dormammu was naturally displeased with such a meddler.

Immediately, with the activation of dark power, he instantly annihilated Stephen.

It was as easy as squashing an ant.

“Come on, newborn deity, let me see your strength—” Dormammu, believing he had dealt with an insignificant person, once again focused his gaze on Mike.

However, before Dormammu could act, Stephen, who had just vanished, reappeared before him.

“Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain—”

Stephen, who had set up a time loop, shouted at Dormammu as if he were in a hurry the moment he appeared.

“You’re still alive?” Dormammu looked surprised, then once again activated his dark power, annihilating Stephen.

So what if he could revive once? An ant was an ant.

He wasn’t worth Dormammu’s extra thought.

However, Dormammu was still naive; the time loop spell Stephen set up would trigger immediately upon his death.

With the power of the Time Stone, this time loop could be triggered countless times.

“Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.”

Therefore, before Dormammu could challenge Mike again, the deceased Stephen reappeared before him once more.

“What an annoying fellow…”

There was nothing more to say; Dormammu once again activated his dark power, annihilating Stephen.

“Dormammu, I’m here to…”

“…”

“Dormammu, I’m…”

“…”

“Dormammu, I…”

“…”

“Dormammu…”

“…”

“Do…”

…Gradually, Dormammu also realized the seriousness of the problem.

Killing Stephen was easy, but this seemingly powerless ant could instantly revive every time he died.

He was the kind that didn’t harm but was utterly irritating.

In the endless loop, Dormammu’s expression slowly changed from indifference to annoyance.

In addition, Scarlet Witch was absorbing dark energy faster and faster; the amount of dark energy absorbed in just this short time was already reaching a point that made Dormammu feel pained.

This give and take was not a good sign.

“Do…”

“Alright, Stephen, leave the rest to me.” In the gap when Stephen revived again, Mike stopped his suicidal behavior.

If Stephen continued with the time loop, Dormammu would probably eventually be annoyed into leaving.

But that was not what Mike wanted.

Only by fighting fire with fire could Dormammu be wary, or rather, give up completely.

Ultimately, he would voluntarily abandon his plan to invade the world.

Moreover, Mike had watched the show for so long; it was time for him to get moving.

Yes, Stephen’s time loop spell not only annoyed Dormammu, but even Mike, as an observer, felt “tired” watching it.

“I’m almost succeeding, are you sure you want to intervene?” Stephen, who was stopped, felt a flicker of doubt.

“Leave it to me, don’t worry.” Mike nodded and said, “If he doesn’t witness the power of Earth, even if he’s annoyed into leaving by you, he probably won’t be content.”

“Alright, as long as you know what you’re doing.” Seeing Mike’s confident demeanor, Stephen said no more.

He simply silently adjusted the settings of the time loop spell again.

Once Mike was defeated and died, Stephen could commit suicide to return time to this moment, this starting point.

Thereby achieving the goal of reviving Mike.

Mike noticed his small action, smiled, and said nothing more.

Then, he walked up to Dormammu and invited, “Don’t you want to know my strength? Go ahead.”

As he spoke, Mike’s body suddenly swelled into a giant hundreds of meters tall, clad in bright armor and wielding a dark golden Spear of Destiny.

With his divine power erupting, his aura was no less than that of the energy being Dormammu.

“Finally, a decent opponent!!!”

Dormammu, who was almost sick of the time loop spell, shed his previous weariness and extended his fiery hands to grab Mike.

[Energy Manipulation (Trait)]… [Dimensional Power (Trait)]… [Absolute Defense (Trait)]… [Dark Power * Energy + 500,000,000]… It was clear that Dormammu was using his true power this time, and at the same time, Mike obtained many trait traits and energy traits.