Malekith was certainly not wrong—his family raised dogs.
Except these hounds were Wild Hunt Hounds.
These monsters stood nearly a meter tall and reached nearly three meters in length. Despite Peter being certain he was very close to them, he still could not clearly see the face of a single Wild Hunt Hound. He could only make out their rough outlines; Peter couldn't even be sure if they were actually dogs.
Their snouts were shorter than a wolf's, looking indeed like certain canines, such as a Tibetan Mastiff. However, when their mouths opened within their blurred silhouettes, their canines were terrifyingly large, looking as though they were far too big for those mouths to contain.
Their bodies seemed to be tightly shrouded in a layer of wind that blurred all prying eyes. Peter tried to swing his fist to strike a leaping hound, but for some reason, even though his premonition and his prediction told him the punch had landed squarely on the creature, something unexpected happened.
Peter caused no damage to the Wild Hunt Hound.
Or rather, he should have hit it, but there was no sensation of impact. These creatures seemed to slip into a state of intangibility, as if phase-shifted, making them impossible to hit. Then they would swiftly pounce back. These hounds always appeared suddenly from unexpected angles and vanished instantly from where they stood.
"They seem to be able to switch back and forth between a storm state and a physical entity."
Realizing he couldn't accurately hit these hounds, Peter stopped overthinking and left everything to his body and his Spider-Sense. He began to dodge continuously according to the images predicted by his Spider-Sense, then whipped his leg back, finally sending a hound flying with a heavy kick the moment it solidified.
But soon, even more hounds rushed up from even more devious angles. The greatest advantage of the Wild Hunt Hounds in their storm form was their sheer numbers; they attacked Peter incessantly to buy time for Malekith.
"Are these hounds of yours really dogs? Or are they actually some bat-like mythological creatures?"
After knocking another Wild Hunt Hound away with his claws, Peter looked toward Malekith. He attempted to transform the armor on his arm into the Iron Spider suit, seizing the opportunity to fire an energy pulse at his opponent.
The energy pulse struck in front of Malekith but was immediately intercepted by his automatic storm defense.
Meanwhile, Malekith began to weave a spell, preparing to give Thor a proper "welcome." But at that moment, Loki suddenly began to scream and shout. Controlling the body of the Absorbing Man, he yelled at Malekith: "Malekith! Help me! Hurry!"
"..."
Malekith glanced at Thor, then at Loki. His eyes shifted, and suddenly, with a smile, he moved toward Loki. He cast a spell to let the Wild Hunt storm touch the Absorbing Man. Instantly turned into a storm, Loki immediately broke free from the nanobot restraints. He touched the giant axe once more and charged toward Spider-Man.
Then, he was directly struck by a violent bolt of thunder.
A massive amount of lightning now wrapped around the beam of the Bifrost, beginning to violently tear apart the black storm atop the Rainbow Bridge. Although only a minute or two had passed since the battle began, it was enough for Thor to finish charging his energy, fully combining the lightning with his own divine power to dispel the storm trapping the Bifrost. He called down thunder to knock Loki back, erected a wall of lightning before Malekith, and then shouted to Peter.
"Spider-Man, follow me!"
Ten thousand bolts of thunder instantly cleared the black storm from the entire Rainbow Bridge. Seeing this, Peter immediately stuck a line of webbing onto Thor's back. Loki intended to rush forward to stop them, but Thor had already soared into the sky with his divine hammer. The others watched Thor break through the horizon in silence.
"Damn it!"
Hearing Loki's curse, Malekith, on the contrary, didn't seem particularly bothered. He asked instead: "What's wrong? It's just letting one Thor go."
"Just letting one Thor go? Under the circumstances where Odin cannot leave Asgard, Thor is the most powerful Asgardian. If we can't even kill Thor here, how are we supposed to destroy Asgard?"
Loki's roar was justified because he truly didn't know what to do next. In his view, even if he and Malekith joined forces with Surtur and Laufey, or even added Hela, it would be hard to call them a match for Odin—let alone confronting Thor and Odin together. Furthermore, gods like Heimdall, Tyr, and Baldur were not non-existent; they might not be as powerful, but they could still cause considerable trouble.
But Malekith only looked at Loki with indifference.
"We can pull in even more people, like those greedy Midgardians."
Loki was somewhat dismissive, but then he thought of the many monsters on Earth and suddenly felt this might not be a bad idea. He still didn't believe they could defeat Odin this way, but Malekith remained unhurried. He looked at Loki and spoke casually.
"In this long history, Asgard has accumulated too many enemies. Don't worry, we will always have enough cannon fodder."
"Is that so? Can this cannon fodder defeat Odin?"
"The things Odin fears are not non-existent; otherwise, why would he forge the Destroyer armor?" Although he himself didn't know what Odin feared, Malekith was certain that thing truly existed. If so, wouldn't it suffice to simply go and find it?
Loki sighed helplessly. He hadn't expected the leader he had recruited to have a bit of a "slacker" streak. He could only huff coldly and leave. He had indeed thought of two more strategies that could increase Malekith's strength, but they required time. Of course, considering Odin's condition, time was likely on their side.
On the other side, Thor fought his way along the Bifrost. Malekith was far less indifferent toward the matter than he appeared before Loki. Using the power of the Wild Hunt storm, Wild Hunt Riders and Wild Hunt Hounds continuously charged into the Bifrost to try and stop Thor, but they were all knocked away by his hammer.
Finally, when Thor landed safely, Peter's stomach was about to give out. He nearly vomited on the Rainbow Bridge, but Thor didn't mind. He simply came over and patted Peter on the shoulder.
"Welcome, Spider-Man. You are the first mortal to come to Asgard in hundreds of years."
Peter nodded weakly and then looked up. Appearing before him was an Asgard far more exaggerated and majestic than the one in the MCU films.
The Viking giant guarding the Bifrost looked at both of them simultaneously.
"Odin is calling for you."