"There's new garbage!"
"Brothers, come to work!"
"Start working!!!"
"Up, up, up!"
"The early bird gets the worm, and the fast bird gets the food!"
"Damn it, Pala, how dare you steal my stuff!"
"Hey, wait for me!"
Just as Blaine knocked down the hidden weapon, several voices suddenly rang out nearby, coming from both far and near. Blaine instantly became alert. Sakaar was a garbage transfer station, home to countless traffickers of every kind who lived off trash. Killing for loot was neither rare nor unusual here.
They usually formed cliques, but when real benefits were involved, no one recognized anyone else. It could even be said that this constant stream of cosmic garbage was the foundation of their survival. Without it, they might starve to death.
They had lived among garbage their entire lives, scavenging for anything useful to exchange for daily necessities from Sakaar's ruler, the Grandmaster. If someone got lucky and picked up a treasure, they might enjoy endless glory and wealth from then on—though they would just as easily be intercepted along the way.
"Hey, everyone, look!"
"There's someone there!"
"Huh? He's even holding a weapon?"
"Looks like a warrior."
"Brothers, we're getting rich, getting rich!"
"Yes, grab him! Sell him to Grandmaster and we'll have money, hahaha!"
"I must go for some refreshment today!"
"Da—"
"Why did you hit me on the head?!"
"You're only good at this!"
"Spend so much money and only enjoy three minutes?"
"You only have three minutes! I'm a seven-times-a-night man!"
"Put it down. With that money, I might as well go and have a drink with Old Man Rika."
"Brothers can be happy too. Isn't that better?"
"Hey, it's a pity. He seems to be blind. Otherwise, he could sell for more money."
"Yeah, he's a good seedling. If he could win a match in the arena, his value would double."
"Look at him, he's so skinny. I'm afraid he'd collapse if the wind blew."
"And he still wants to be a gladiator? I think it's better to sell him to Grandmaster as a servant."
"Stop. Stop. Shut the fuck up."
"Whoever keeps talking nonsense, I'll kill them."
A deep, powerful voice cut off everyone else. It was clearly the leader of this group.
"Catch him first, then we'll talk."
"Don't fuck it up like last time. You ran into a tough one and let the food slip away."
"Captain, it's not our fault."
"It's all because that old woman Valkyrie is too strong. We can't beat her."
"Yeah, yeah. They say she's still a Valkyrie of Asgard."
"How could we steal from her with our strength?"
"What's more, she's also one of Grandmaster's gold medal fighters."
"Alright, stop your damn whining."
"I just had a stomachache earlier. You really think I was afraid of her?"
"Okay, okay. Catch this guy now, and I'll treat everyone to drinks tonight."
"It's settled, brothers."
The killing intent beside them had already condensed into something tangible. The murderous light in Blaine's eyes grew even stronger.
He had just arrived on Sakaar and hadn't done anything yet, and they were already launching a sneak attack. A sneak attack was one thing, but treating him like a commodity, like a piece of garbage to be traded, pushed him over the edge—especially when his head was still aching and he was already in a bad mood.
"If I don't give you a lesson," he thought coldly, "you'll really think I'm some harmless Bounty Hunter."
Blaine slightly twisted his wrist, retracting the Flood Dragon Trident into the Hunter's space.
"Hey, hey, did you see that?"
"That weapon looks interesting."
"He's got good stuff!"
"I really hit the jackpot this time. This is even better than that big guy just now."
When they saw the trident in Blaine's hand suddenly disappear, their excitement only grew. They were convinced Blaine was hiding treasures on him.
"You want to see the treasure?"
"I'll let you see enough."
Blaine spoke calmly. After clearly sensing their positions, he simply closed his eyes. A five-pointed star slowly rotated within them.
His lips parted slightly, and a thin black line shot out, radiating soul-stirring energy under the sunlight. It was a Dormammu ray.
Those scavengers still hadn't realized the seriousness of the situation. They didn't even pay attention to the thin line and charged forward without hesitation.
"Uh…"
"Uh…"
"Uh…"
The ones struck head-on felt a sudden numbness in their chests. They could only groan in pain before their bodies shattered like mirrors. The Dormammu ray was an indestructible blade, piercing through everything in its path.
Only after the bodies of their companions broke apart did the rest finally feel fear.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Kill him! Kill him!"
It was their leader who screamed first.
"Boss, boss! Aren't you unafraid of even the Valkyrie, the female warrior?"
"Go avenge your dead teammates!"
"Yes, go on! We'll always support you!"
Within the range of his mental power, every figure among these garbage robbers was under Blaine's control.
Those who shouted their support spoke viciously, but their actions were honest. In perfect unison, they all stepped back, directly pushing their boss forward, as if offering him up to fight Blaine one-on-one.
"Go to hell."
Blaine opened his mouth again, releasing several Dormammu rays. Ordinary aliens stood no chance against their speed. There was no surprise in the outcome—every body fell to the ground. No, the bodies were scattered everywhere.
The scorching sun filtered through the hood of the Hunter suit and shone onto Blaine's face once more. At the same time, the soul pendant around his neck emitted a gentle white glow, doing its best to ease his mental discomfort.
It seemed that when Blaine used his spiritual power sparingly, the soul pendant actively protected and replenished his soul.
Blaine slowly opened his eyes. As his vision adjusted, the world became clearer, and his eyes finally adapted to the light of this place.
When he lifted his head, he saw scarlet blood and mangled corpses strewn across the ground. The pungent stench confirmed that this was his handiwork.
Then Blaine turned his head to look at the sneak-attack weapon he had knocked aside earlier.
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