"Even the Inhumans, who usually stay out of world affairs, were drawn here. That means they're probably not the only ones," Josh muttered, watching the radar screen as the Inhumans' aircraft disappeared into the energy field surrounding the island.
He hadn't encountered the Ancient One yet, but given his knowledge of Kamar-Taj, he was sure she wouldn't have missed this event.
However, based on what he knew from the movies, she would probably stay out of it.
That was what Josh thought.
Of course, if he had known that the Ancient One had covered for him several times, he might not have hesitated so much. He probably would have just charged in with Ophelia and Vito.
"Boss, let me go!" Vito volunteered immediately, noticing Josh's hesitation.
As Josh's personal bodyguard, Vito was beginning to feel that his importance was diminishing, and that gave him a sense of crisis.
If ever there was a time to prove his worth, it was now.
"Leader, we want to go too!" As soon as Vito spoke, the Jedi Knights standing guard nearby also stepped forward, eager for action.
"Boss, it's been a long time since I had a chance to do something myself. I want to have some fun as well." Ophelia ran her fingers through her hair and blinked with a playful smile.
"...Since all of you are so eager, it would be unreasonable for me to hold you back. Take these—each of you, one dose. Use it when necessary, and above all, prioritize your safety!"
Josh glanced at his loyal subordinates before entering the cockpit of the VTOL. When he returned, he was carrying a box. Opening it, he revealed a row of syringes filled with dark red liquid—
The same dragon serum that Vito had used a month ago when they wiped out the last remnants of Wakanda.
There was no shortage of this serum. It only took a small amount of blood to make a single dose, and with the regenerative abilities of Daenerys' three dragons, Josh had already stockpiled quite a bit. He even had some permanent versions.
However, because of the serum's sheer power, he had rarely distributed it, except for early experiments and the time Vito used it in battle. Letting so many people have it now was a rare move.
But the current situation left him no choice.
"Heh, I love this stuff," Vito grinned as his eyes lit up.
The transformation was painful—the dragon's powerful genes tore at the body—but the overwhelming strength it granted was intoxicating.
The others had seen the effects of the serum before and were visibly pleased. It was indeed a great advantage.
And like Vito, none of them cared about the pain.
There was no need to mention Ophelia. As for the Jedi Knights, they had gone through extreme selection to enter the Jedi Academy.
Over the years, Josh's orphanages in various countries had taken in hundreds of thousands of children. Most of them were ordinary children who would never come in contact with Ouroboros, let alone the Jedi Academy.
Most would eventually join the Continental Group or settle in Austria as normal citizens.
Only a few thousand were recruited by Ouroboros each year.
And those who made it to the Jedi Academy were even rarer. Including the current first batch, fewer than 200 people had ever made it in.
Even fewer had graduated—only 24.
They were truly one in a million, and every one of them was invaluable.
Each of them had undergone brutal training to become elites. A little pain? That was nothing.
Of course, becoming a true Jedi warrior meant skyrocketing in status, immediately rising to the top ranks of Ouroboros.
Soon, Ophelia, Vito and the Jedi Knights were fully equipped and ready to go.
However, even though the energy field covering George King Island was weakening and would likely disappear soon, flying in a VTOL was still too risky.
A ship would be too slow and would also be affected by the energy field.
So…
"Boss, is this thing really reliable?"
Standing at the open hatch of the hovering VTOL, Ophelia looked down at the massive figure below with an expression of disbelief.
Behind her, Vito and the once-excited Jedi Knights were frozen in place, their faces stiff.
"Relax, it's perfectly safe… Besides, you can directly command it through a psychic link. In the Antarctic environment, this is far more useful than a boat—and it's much faster too," Josh said with a dry laugh.
Although he reassured them verbally, he wasn't entirely confident himself.
But trusting Yuri's expertise, he still made the promise.
What lay before them wasn't an uncommon sight in the real world. In fact, it was something extremely common—
A squid.
But while a squid itself was nothing unusual, its size was another matter entirely.
Who the hell had ever seen a squid over a hundred meters long?
Yet this very creature was second only to the Dreadnought-class warships in the Soviet Navy's Red Alert universe.
That's right—this was the Giant Squid.
Of course, calling it a "Giant Squid" was technically incorrect because its real-world counterpart was not a squid at all but the colossal Humboldt squid, an invertebrate even larger and more formidable than the giant squid.
To be precise, it was a squid, not a cuttlefish-two entirely different creatures.
In the real world, an adult Humboldt squid only grew to about ten meters.
But in the Red Alert world, after it was discovered and captured by the Soviets, it was genetically enhanced to ten times its original size, over 100 meters long.
Moreover, through psychic conditioning, it became a monstrous sea beast capable of taking on Allied warships—even aircraft carriers.
And the mastermind behind this biological weapons program? None other than Yuri.
In fact, many of the Soviets' cutting-edge weapons were Yuri's creations.
Because it was a living organism, controlled by psychic influence, it was completely unaffected by the energy field.
Additionally, during its enhancement process, its jet propulsion ability was specifically boosted, allowing it to reach an astonishing speed of 200 km/h.
Thus, even though they were currently at the edge of the energy field, the trip of 500 kilometers to George King Island would only take about two hours.
Of course, there were still challenges.
The Giant Squid was designed to combat large surface ships and submarines, not to transport people.
Attempting to modify it for transportation would disrupt its biology and weaken its combat capabilities.
Moreover, since it was traveling underwater, the extreme pressure and environmental effects would be unbearable for an ordinary human.
However, given the circumstances, they had no choice but to use it as an improvised transport submarine.
Fortunately, Ophelia and the others were all super-soldiers. Equipped with full-body vibranium suits, they would be able to withstand the conditions without compromising their combat effectiveness.
In the end, though clearly reluctant, Ophelia and her team took the plunge—diving into the ocean and entering the Giant Squid's body…
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