Chapter 736: The Gladiator Arena (Continued)

“I know you’ve all been waiting impatiently, so without further ado, let’s welcome this week’s challenger, a young king from a distant planet, nicknamed ‘Thunder Lord’, Thor…”

Accompanied by the passionate introduction, a gate on one side of the arena floor rumbled open.

At the same time, a huge projection screen above displayed a comprehensive close-up of Thor.

In the image, with short hair and magnificent armor, he exuded a strong sense of oppression, truly like a God of War.

“Go, Thunder King. I will always remember having a friend like you…”

Behind the gate, Korg the rock man reluctantly patted Thor’s shoulder, tears shimmering in his eyes.

The other reserve gladiators then approached one by one to bid farewell to Thor, the entire process imbued with a sense of ceremony.

It was less about cheering Thor on and more about a final farewell.

At this moment, Thor, now wearing an additional set of dark gray armor, gazed at the noisy and illusory world outside the gate, his palm, gripping the short-handled hammer, already sweating.

It was clear that even at this moment of entry, he felt uncertain.

Then, urged repeatedly by the commentator, Thor covered his chest with one hand and shouted in his heart: “Long live Asgard!”

Having regained his courage, he then charged into the arena, wielding his short-handled hammer.

In the center of the arena was a vast circular sand pit, its sand stained by the blood and sweat of countless gladiators, already showing signs of congealing, presenting an ominous dark red color overall.

This made Thor, who had just entered the arena, feel very uncomfortable.

However, upholding the demeanor of Asgardian royalty, Thor, upon entering the giant arena, still offered a slightly awkward yet somewhat majestic smile to the frenzied audience around him.

This made his expression look very strange at the time.

Just as Thor was planning to quickly deal with the so-called “champion” and then go argue with the Grandmaster…

The live audience, upon seeing “Thunder Man” in person, noticed that he differed greatly from the “tough guy” in the promotional video, and immediately loud boos and jeers erupted from all around the arena.

In fact, Thor, with his dark gray armor and slightly “slender” physique, was indeed very different from the Thor in the promotional video, who wore magnificent bright silver armor and had sculpted muscles.

There was nothing he could do; Thor, who had been imprisoned in a cell, had never filmed a promotional video, and all the promotional videos currently being broadcast were produced by Sakaar’s technical personnel themselves.

To hype up the gladiator match, they naturally made the challenger, “Thunder Man,” as imposing as possible.

Even though Thor himself was quite muscular, compared to the person in the promotional video, he was still far off.

It was a classic case of “pictures for reference only.”

Fortunately, the current King of the Arena, the “Challenger Reaper,” had a two-year winning streak and had already earned the absolute trust of the audience through many spectacular battles.

Therefore, most of the gamblers present had placed their bets on him.

Now that the challenger seemed so weak, the audience’s boos might also contain a hint of “cheering” for their impending winnings.

Thor, unaware of the inside story, only knew that he was booed wildly by the audience as soon as he appeared, and the smile on his face grew increasingly stiff.

Coupled with the immense death metal noise and the rapidly flickering shadows from the screens above, everything contributed to Thor’s worsening mood.

At this moment, he could only tightly grip the short-handled hammer in his hand to feel a slight sense of security.

“Next, let’s welcome this week’s defender, with a hundred-match winning streak and known as the ‘Challenger Reaper,’ the Hulk!”

Suddenly, the scene changed; the noisy death metal was replaced by the more rhythmic “Immigrant Song.”

Then came an earth-shaking tremor. At the other end of the arena, the largest black gate, covered with runes, rose with the roar of gears.

A heart-pounding roar came from behind the dark entrance, followed by a massive green figure appearing against the light.

Amidst the flying dust, the Hulk slammed into the sandy arena like a cannonball, and with an upward roar, ignited the audience’s enthusiasm with a battle cry that shook the entire Skull Arena.

At the same time, the projection screen above switched to various scenes of the Hulk roaring and raging, his green form like a tireless, frenzied beast.

However, this was precisely the style the audience loved.

As the Hulk appeared, a tsunami of cheers instantly erupted, and some gamblers even tore off their shirts, wildly dancing and waving their arms.

As for the challenger, “Thunder Man,” in the middle of the arena, he was completely ignored.

Meanwhile, Thor, upon hearing the big-headed alien introduce the name “Hulk,” had a momentary look of surprise on his face.

And as that massive green figure rapidly approached, Thor’s smile had long since frozen, transforming into extreme astonishment and disbelief.

“Wait! Wait! This is impossible! How can you be here…” Thor was stunned for a long while, followed by overwhelming joy.

It was known that the Grandmaster’s arena had a high challenger mortality rate, but if the defending side was someone he knew, would there still be danger?

Thor’s face broke into a smile again, “Doctor Banner, do you remember me? I’m Thor, we used to be work friends!”

At this moment, Thor had a premonition that this meaningless battle could definitely be avoided.

As he spoke, Thor tried to make his smile appear as “gentle” as possible, while extending a hand towards the Hulk, as if to soothe him and also to “reconcile” with him.

In Thor’s memory, whenever the Hulk went berserk, Black Widow would always “pacify” him this way, and it always worked.

He now wanted to replicate that scene.

“Uh, is your friend crazy? What is he doing?…”

In the luxurious skybox, Nebula didn’t know the relationship between Thor and the Hulk, so watching Thor’s strange actions, her mind was full of questions.

According to the Grandmaster’s arena rules, once both gladiators stood in the central area, the match had already begun.

And Thor, with his 1.9-meter “slender” figure, stood before the 2.5-meter, extremely muscular Hulk, making him appear like a small chick.

In this situation, Thor, who was at an absolute disadvantage, not only failed to initiate an attack, but actually abandoned his defense and offered himself to the opponent.

In Nebula’s opinion, only someone with a serious illness would do such a thing.

“Actually, Thor’s approach isn’t wrong, but before this, he might have needed to change his image, or even undergo a sex change…” Mike knew that Thor’s current actions were imitating Black Widow, and he had to admit, he was quite good at it.

Unfortunately, a rugged man making such a feminine gesture, aside from being comical, wouldn’t have much of a calming effect.

“Forget it, I’ll give you the answer ahead of time. They actually knew each other already…” Mike didn’t keep her in suspense and gave the answer directly.

Otherwise, it would have been truly difficult to explain to Nebula why Thor was acting so foolishly.

“No wonder,” Nebula nodded in understanding.

She returned Thor to the ranks of normal people.

In the other luxurious skybox, Loki also just learned that the defending King of the Arena was actually the Hulk.

Knowing the relationship between the Hulk and Thor, he also breathed a sigh of relief for his brother.

In his opinion, his brother would at least not die in the arena this time.

At the same time, the Grandmaster, seated in the main position of the skybox, slightly frowned at the “harmonious” scene in his arena.

Everything was needed in the arena—combat, gore, frenzy—but the least needed was “love and thunder.”

That would make the arena lose its inherent appeal.

And indeed, the audience in the parallel stands, hoping for a passionate battle, grew impatient when the fight didn’t start, and once again let out huge boos.

Many even threw trash into the arena in dissatisfaction.

This commotion seemed to activate the Hulk; seeing the “familiar” smile on Thor’s face, his anger surged—as if he saw the person who had tried to control him in the past.

Instantly, the Hulk charged at Thor like an out-of-control train, launching a merciless onslaught. Fists the size of sandbags rained down, smashing Thor around the arena like a rubber ball.

Thor’s head was spinning, completely in a state of passive defense. After he reacted, he dodged while continuing to try and awaken the Hulk:

“Banner! I know it’s you! Let’s both calm down!”

“We’re friends…”

However, Thor’s renewed efforts still had no effect.

Instead, the Hulk seized the opportunity to grab Thor’s head and brutally rub it against the arena wall.

Under the dazzling lights, dust filled the arena, and splashing blood and shattered bones intertwined, creating a hallucinatory and brutal spectacle.

The audience, who loved to see this, erupted in cheers and applause louder than a tsunami.

“It’s over, I already told Thunder King not to provoke the King of the Arena, and to control the distance. It seems he didn’t remember any of it…”

Through the small window of the ventilation shaft on the detention cell wall, Korg the rock man saw Thor’s tragic state and couldn’t help but mourn for his little brother.

Yes, Thor’s earlier strange gesture of reaching out, in the eyes of the reserve gladiators, was a provocation to the King of the Arena.

At this moment, they only hoped that Thor, who had enraged the King of the Arena, could survive a little longer under the rain of attacks.

As for turning the tide and winning, that was completely out of the question.

With everyone doubting him, Thor, pushed to the brink, finally reawakened the thunderous power within him.

Upon closer inspection, one could see that the lightning sparks encircling his body were much more solid than before.

Even without Mjolnir in his hand this time.

“Hmph!!!”

Cornered, Thor roared, and the thunderous power on his body suddenly erupted, forcing the already frenzied Hulk back.

“Since communication is impossible, I can only knock some sense into you first…” Subsequently, Thor, wreathed in lightning, launched a counterattack against the Hulk.

His lightning-infused punches began to cause the Hulk pain.

Of course, for the thick-skinned Hulk, this amount of pain was still within his tolerance.

In fact, the pain further fueled his rage.

Thus, in a back-and-forth exchange, the battle became increasingly spectacular and brutal.

With each impact, the entire arena seemed to tremble, and everything within the arena became a weapon for the two of them.

After Thor once again used the arena’s mechanism, the giant gate’s rotating gears, to repel the Hulk.

Finally finding space to charge, he leaped into the air, his ordinary short-handled hammer swinging into a blur. He then moved in front of the out-of-control Hulk and struck him with a heavy blow, sending him flying into the sky.

As the short-handled hammer shattered and the Hulk flew into the air, the entire arena fell silent.

Undoubtedly, at this moment, Thor, wreathed in lightning, was truly the God of War himself.

“Cool, so this guy really knows how to use a hammer…” Korg the rock man, peering through the window, showed a look of amazement on his face.

Looking proud of his little brother, he then raised his arm and cheered: “Thunder King… Thunder King… Thunder King…”

Under his lead, the other reserve gladiators also joined in, cheering Thor’s “title.”

And the sound grew louder and louder.

“Boom!”

Not long after, the Hulk, who had flown high into the sky, predictably crashed heavily into the semi-solidified sand, kicking up clouds of dust.

It was only at this moment that the audience seemed to react, followed by protests and curses from the gamblers.

The fight being exciting was fine, but losing money on bets was not.

In the arena, Thor, having gained a huge advantage, looked at the battered Hulk, and ultimately couldn’t bear it in his heart.

After all, the two of them had fought side-by-side in the Avengers.

“The sun’s getting low!”

Suddenly, Thor’s face once again showed a “Natasha-like” smile, and he again extended his hand, representing “reconciliation,” towards the Hulk.

If he remembered correctly, “the sun’s getting low” was Natasha’s most classic line for calming the Hulk.

This left a deep impression on Thor.

Indeed, upon hearing the “code word,” the Hulk’s eyes gradually became confused and sad, like a helpless child.

Seeing success within reach, Thor breathed a sigh of relief, and his smile grew even more “radiant.”

But just as Thor let down his guard, ready to celebrate victory, the Hulk suddenly erupted, grabbing him and using his signature “Loki-style Beatdown” technique, repeatedly smashing Thor into the ground.

“Beautiful!!! That’s it…” In the luxurious skybox, Loki, seeing this familiar scene, couldn’t help but vigorously pump his fist.

Because the battle was so spectacular, Loki, as a mischief-maker, had already been engrossed in watching.

Now seeing his brother receive the same treatment as himself made him even more excited.

Equally excited were the many gamblers in the parallel stands.

Seeing the King of the Arena regain his might, they once again offered cheers and celebrations.

The Hulk, meanwhile, in a pause from his frenzied attacking and venting, suddenly blurted out through gritted teeth, “Bad friend!!”

Then, without mercy, he slammed Thor to the ground, then went to pick up a huge spiked club, preparing to end the match.

Lying in the sand pit, Thor, thanks to his powerful physique, remained conscious. And he had clearly heard the Hulk say “bad friend.”

This undoubtedly proved that the other party recognized him.

Watching the spiked club draw closer and closer to his head, and the Hulk’s face growing increasingly grim and hateful, Thor finally realized that his desire to “awaken” the Hulk was completely wishful thinking.

“What was I still hoping for???”

Thor’s expression immediately turned to anger and unwillingness. He shouted towards the sky, and even more intense thunderous power erupted from his single eye.

At the same time, the sky and earth changed color, and lightning, like dragons, poured into the arena, encircling Thor.

Instantly, he entered his “God of Thunder” complete form.

Thor, lifted by the lightning, then struck the Hulk and the spiked club in his hand, sending them flying.

This time, even when the King of the Arena was sent flying, the gamblers in the stands didn’t boo.

Only because this gladiator match had reversal after reversal, and exciting moments one after another; even if they lost money in the end, it was worth the ticket price.

Just as Thor, wreathed in thunder, was about to deliver the final blow to the Hulk, he unexpectedly saw a fleeting look of fear in the Hulk’s eyes, like a wounded beast.

Thor’s heart softened again, and the thunderous power on his body slowly dissipated.

Pity, forgiveness, mercy… Thor seemed to be increasingly developing the potential to be a God King.

However, he did not understand the scars within the Hulk.

The Hulk didn’t need pity; he just hated that everyone only saw him as an appendage to Doctor Banner, summoned as a weapon when needed, and discarded when not.

No one truly cared about the Hulk as an independent personality.

Even when Thor repeatedly held back and showed goodwill, it was always with the hope of awakening Banner, or out of consideration for Doctor Banner.

Therefore, Thor’s display of goodwill undoubtedly further provoked the Hulk, causing him to recklessly pounce on Thor and grab his neck…