Mission Failed

When Odin heard Zane's first words, he nodded as if he'd expected them, without saying anything.

But after seeing Zane hesitate, Odin suddenly laughed and cursed.

"You reckless brat, is there anything you're afraid to say?"

A trace of regret and pity flashed in Zane's eyes, but it was soon replaced by a wild glint.

"My second purpose for coming to Asgard is to see you off, you old immortal."

"Your time is almost up, isn't it?"

"If I wait any longer, I'll ascend to the sixth dimension."

"By then, our agreed duel would just be me crushing you one-sidedly."

Faced with Zane's words, which almost sounded like a curse for him to die soon, Odin's face remained calm, showing no sign of anger.

In fact, Odin knew Zane wasn't wrong. His time was running out.

It could be days, months, or maybe even the next moment when he would fall from his divine perch.

He was merely holding on, waiting for Thor to grow into his full power.

"Good! After we deal with the Dark Elves, I'll indulge you once, you brat!"

A fierce battle spirit suddenly ignited in Odin's eyes. His white hair began to flutter wildly, even though there was no wind, whipping through the air around him.

His sudden surge of power seemed to distort the very air itself.

Yet Zane, still casual as ever, met Odin's gaze with a growing battle intent of his own.

The two powers clashed violently in the air, creating countless arcs of lightning that crackled in the void.

Their clash even broke through the great hall, scattering the clouds overhead as if they were about to tear a hole in the sky.

After a while, both of them suddenly withdrew their power, and then they burst out laughing.

"Good! I thought you were getting old for real!" Zane teased. "If you died just because I pushed a little too hard, wouldn't that be boring?"

Odin grinned.

"Well, you'll find out if I'm old when the time comes, brat."

"Alright, I've got plenty of state affairs to handle."

"You caused quite the mess when you left last time. Do you even realize the trouble you stirred up?"

"I kept your rooms ready for you. Just head there."

"There's a banquet tonight. Be sure to attend."

Zane chuckled, stood up without another word, and pushed open the door of the great hall.

The bright sunlight shone on Zane, casting Odin in shadow.

It was as if it foretold the fall of one great king and the rise of another.

Lorna was with the goddess Frigga at the moment.

Zane knew they must have a lot to talk about, so he didn't disturb them.

He headed straight back to the room he stayed in five years ago in Asgard.

Along the way, every Asgardian civilian or warrior who saw Zane stopped what they were doing and slightly bowed to show their respect.

Not only because Zane was an ally of Asgard, but more so because of the power he had displayed.

Asgard was a nation that revered strength. To be strong was ingrained in every Asgardian's nature.

When he returned to his unchanged quarters and sat in the quiet, Zane had a fleeting feeling as if he had forgotten something...

Zane frowned, deep in thought, trying to remember what he had forgotten.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit him.

"System, I've already eliminated the Chitauri invaders on Earth. Why wasn't there any reward?"

Zane asked, puzzled.

He remembered that after the Battle of New York, there hadn't been any notification from the system.

Since he hadn't been too concerned with the mission, which only had an A-rank maximum reward, and was instead excited about unexpectedly obtaining the Time Stone, he had subconsciously ignored the matter until now, when he had some quiet time to think.

[The mission did not meet the minimum requirements and has been deemed a failure. No reward or penalty will be given.]

The system's monotonous, synthetic voice echoed deep within Zane's soul, answering his question.

"That can't be right. I wiped out half of the Chitauri army that invaded Earth," Zane said, frowning. "Even the most important Chitauri main brain was killed by the barrier I set up. It should have counted for something."

[Host, please check the mission log. There you will find a detailed progress report.] the system responded.

Hearing this, Zane immediately opened the system panel and began reviewing the specific log for the mission:

[Mission: Eliminate the Chitauri invaders on Earth 

Participation: 19% 

B-Rank Skill Reward Requirement: 60% participation 

A-Rank Skill Reward Requirement: 95% participation 

Result: Mission failed, no rewards ]

"System, explain," Zane demanded, still not understanding after reading the log.

"The total number of Chitauri invaders on Earth was 113,514. 

The main brain accounts for 60% of the participation, while the remaining soldiers account for 40%. 

The host eliminated 22,000 soldiers, resulting in a participation rate of 19%. 

The remaining soldiers and the main brain were deemed to have been killed by Earth's forces and were not counted toward the host's participation. 

Therefore, the mission is judged as failed.]

After hearing the system's explanation, Zane thought for a moment and understood completely.

Even though the main brain, which held the highest participation weight, died due to the corrosion from the barrier he had set up, the push that led to all of it was made by the Ancient One and the many superheroes. So the system had counted it as a kill by Earth's forces instead.

A clearer analogy would be this: if you push someone off a building and they die from the fall, you can't really blame the building for it.

The only ones he personally killed were half of the grunts, which is why his participation was only 19%, resulting in the mission's failure.

This was Zane's first mission failure since binding to the system.

However, he hadn't paid much attention to this mission from the start, so failure was just failure. Zane wasn't bothered by it.

Even if he had the chance to do it all over again, he would still do the same thing.

At this point, he had no interest in rewards below S-rank. Only S-rank and above skills could be of any use to him.

Everything else was like a chicken rib: too insignificant to care about, but not entirely worthless.

If the highest reward for that mission had been B-rank or C-rank, Zane wouldn't have even shown up on the battlefield in the first place.

He wouldn't risk completing a mission only to end up drawing a skill like that C-rank one he got last time—[Eyebrow Dance].

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