Chapter 113: Opening the Portal
Scottish waters, 1944.
The ruins of Troonham Abbey.
After centuries of weathering, the once magnificent abbey had been reduced to rubble. Collapsed stones and broken sculptures littered the grounds.
Heavy gray clouds filled the sky, a downpour threatening within the thick cloud cover. Though it was only dusk, the darkness made it feel like midnight.
The dilapidated abbey welcomed a group of uninvited guests.
Leading them was a bald, bearded, heavyset man wearing an antique robe, searching intently among the ruins.
Behind him marched a squad of soldiers in unusual uniforms. One figure stood out—a man wearing a gas mask, his appearance deeply unsettling.
"Is this the place, Mr. Rasputin?" an officer accompanying the large man asked impatiently.
The man called Rasputin frowned. "I'm not entirely certain, but it should be here!"
"Not certain?"
"This is the Führer's last hope!"
"After spending six months, you give me 'not certain'?!"
Rasputin bristled at the German officer's attitude. "What else do you want? If you need specific coordinates, why not ask Schmidt? It's already quite an achievement that I was able to reconstruct a viable location from the stolen data!"
The German officer opened his mouth but said nothing more.
The situation had become increasingly desperate. Although Schmidt's Hydra was nominally still under Hitler's control, it had long since become its own independent operation, and his ambitions were well known.
Rumor had it that over a year ago, he obtained the Tesseract from Norway. Upon first accessing it, he discovered numerous worlds throughout the vast universe.
This top-secret information was quickly classified, but a portion was still stolen by agents loyal to Hitler. Initially, Hitler was thrilled about this intelligence. He wanted to open a spatial gateway to transfer the entire German army elsewhere.
However, they later discovered that without the Tesseract in Schmidt's possession, they could accomplish virtually nothing. Furthermore, many of the worlds discovered were unsuitable for human habitation.
After extensive investigation and research, they finally identified a world filled with fire and lava. Thus, the desperate Hitler conceived a mad plan:
Open a spatial gateway to bring monsters from another dimension to Earth, attacking the Allied forces from behind and buying himself some breathing room.
The bald man leading the group was Grigori Rasputin, a mystic with powerful psychic abilities, as well as a physicist and occultist.
Legend had it that he once successfully hypnotized an entire hall of a hundred people, convincing them he was an all-powerful deity, thereby attracting numerous followers.
However, his schemes were eventually exposed, forcing him to flee and join Hitler's forces.
"Found it! This is the place!"
After searching for nearly an hour, Rasputin shouted from an open area.
"This Troonham Abbey was built at the intersection of ancient ley lines, and this is the center of the entire monastery—not geographically, but the closest spacetime nexus to that infernal dimension!"
"Quickly, get everyone in position. Time is critical—we need to open the spacetime portal immediately."
Logically, without the Tesseract in Schmidt's possession, Hitler shouldn't have been able to open any spacetime portal.
However, Rasputin took a different approach. Using advanced calculations and theoretical physics, he deduced the closest spacetime nexus to that fiery dimension. Then, using a specialized device he'd spent six months constructing, he planned to force open the nexus and create the portal.
Just as Rasputin was frantically assembling the equipment, a squad of Allied soldiers also arrived on site.
"This godforsaken place is nothing but rocks. What the hell did Hitler send people here for, a scavenger hunt?" A round-faced officer wiped sweat from under his helmet and muttered.
"BOOM!"
A flash of lightning and crack of thunder split the sky, the dark clouds pressing lower. A downpour seemed imminent.
"Hey, Steve, you think the intel's solid?" James Barnes slung his sniper rifle across his shoulder, adjusted his helmet, and asked.
After more than a year of war, Steve had completely shed his youthful inexperience. He was tall, powerfully built, and his eyes held an unwavering resolve. His every action inspired confidence.
Initially, Steve had fought alone, but later, during the raid on the Hydra base in Italy, he'd saved more than half of the 107th Infantry Regiment.
Using that as a foundation, he'd established a special operations team. Through some twist of fate, those who joined were all elite commandos—the Howling Commandos—including his best friend James "Bucky" Barnes.
Steve frowned. "Hydra's defenses are tighter now, making new bases harder to find. According to our intelligence, a mysterious force loyal to Hitler has come here."
"Not only is Rasputin here—the leader of the occult Thule Society—but also his top enforcer, Karl Ruprecht Kroenen."
"Kroenen? You mean that cyborg Hitler created through those sick experiments?!"
Steve nodded grimly.
"Supposedly the side effects of the bio-experiments were catastrophic, fundamentally destroying nerve endings, making subjects insensitive to pain and fatigue. Unless their brain or spine is damaged, they'll fight until they're destroyed!"
"Hitler's experiments were utterly inhumane. What he created can no longer be called human. This force is small, completely loyal to Hitler, and responsible for his personal protection."
"According to intel, Kroenen, who's leading this operation, commands this force, and his strength reportedly exceeds even mine!"
Despite facing such a formidable enemy, Steve's face showed no trace of fear—only steely determination.
Steve's journey had been filled with hardship, and his status as a super soldier had been earned through his mentor's desperate sacrifice. Therefore, Steve wouldn't allow himself to back down.
He had to live up to that man's trust!
He carried not just a shield, but a sacred responsibility. No matter how dangerous the situation, as long as he held this shield, he felt unstoppable!
Just then, a violent energy surge erupted in the distance, followed by a pillar of crimson light shooting into the sky.
The beam dissipated moments later, leaving a violent tremor that rippled through the ground.
"Damn it, they've already started!"
Steve yelled and charged forward.
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