"Cap, shield up!"
Hearing the shout from not far behind, Steve didn't hesitate. He kicked away the demon in front of him that was trying to engage him.
Then he quickly raised his shield, crouched down, and curled most of his body behind the Vibranium shield.
The next moment, an arrow flashing with dangerous red light whizzed over Steve's head, landing in a pile of Lizard Demons in the distance with an exaggerated parabolic trajectory.
BOOM——
Fire shot into the sky, and the earth trembled.
The group of gathered demons was instantly blown into mincemeat. A translucent shockwave carrying debris spread outwards.
The glass of buildings on both sides of the street was all shattered, and a huge circular crater was left on the ground at the center of the explosion.
Even Steve, who was more than a hundred meters away from the explosion center, was thrown several meters away by the huge wave generated by the explosion, slamming hard onto a bus behind him.
"Cough cough, Barton, didn't we agree to reduce the charge time by one second?"
Enduring the pain in his back, he stood up, ignoring the car behind him that had a huge dent smashed into it.
As Steve spoke, he raised his shield again and with a few clang clang sounds, smashed the demon to death. It was the one he was entangled with just now, which ended up being embedded in the car's metal sheet because it wasn't prepared.
However, before the somewhat embarrassed Hawkeye could answer.
Hulk, who was closer to the explosion center, crawled out of the collapsed building, covered in dust and dirt.
"ROAR!!"
Angry, Hulk grabbed two pieces of rubble larger than a meter beside him and backhandedly threw them at the two demons beside Hawkeye.
With two bang bang sounds.
Feeling the whistling wind beside his ear and seeing the demons whose heads were exploded by the stones, Clint felt a chill down below, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching a few times.
"Hey! Hulk! I was helping you solve the siege!"
"Hulk hates explosions!!"
Angrily baring his teeth at Hawkeye in the distance, Hulk smashed the surrounding building ruins, sending debris flying everywhere. He then kicked away a demon wriggling at his feet that wasn't quite dead yet.
Only then did Hulk charge forward again.
"Cap, we are 800 meters from the next Hell Gate!"
Natasha, running over from behind, reached out to help Steve, who was stumbling a bit, and said softly while looking at the projection screen on her wrist.
"I'm fine, keep up quickly. Don't let Hulk rush so deep by himself again!"
After saying this, Steve strode forward to follow.
Yes, although they were splitting up and had the bodyguard mechas assigned by Luca as support...
Not every Avengers member had the ability to fight independently in the demon tide.
It just so happened that Hulk, the unstable factor, needed Natasha's company. Naturally, the weaker combatants, Steve and Clint, were grouped together with them, forming a four-person squad.
However, perhaps even Hawkeye himself didn't expect that when dealing with demons—enemies with high attack and defense, and diverse, bizarre abilities—his output as an 'ADC' was not weaker than a 'Berserker' like Hulk.
Most demons couldn't withstand the attack of laser arrows. Even for a few demons with specialized defense, among the special arrowheads Luca equipped him with, there were specialized energy armor-piercing arrows.
And if there were a large number of demons gathered together, a charged explosive arrow could almost clear the field.
After this back and forth, both Steve and Natasha began to regret not agreeing to Luca's 'trade-in for upgrade' equipment event back then.
However, even with Hawkeye, an excellent 'DPS,' and Hulk, a pathfinder comparable to a demon bulldozer...
In fact, fighting until now, Steve and the others could clearly feel that pushing forward was becoming increasingly difficult.
At first, they didn't even need to check the 'Spatial Weak Point Distribution Map' given by Tony Stark. Just based on the density of demons, they could roughly distinguish where the Hell Gate opened.
But now, the spread-out demons had covered the entire New York. Even the areas behind them where the portals had been closed would soon be filled quickly by demons running out of other Hell Gates.
Especially since there were few living people in New York right now. Those headless-fly-like demons would swarm over like a torrent the moment they detected the aura of the Avengers.
The density was almost comparable to the zombie tides in movies.
"How many Hell Gates are not closed yet?"
Steve knocked down six or seven demons with a shield throw, let the Haro mecha in the air help finish them off, and turned to ask Natasha beside him.
"There are 88... 87 left. Manhattan and the Bronx have been mostly cleared, mainly by Aurantius. His mobility and destructive power are very strong. Those demons basically can't hinder him much."
Hiding behind a stone wall, Natasha looked at the information in her hand and said quickly.
There was no exaggeration in what Natasha said.
Luca, piloting the Boxer Gundam, could basically crush those demons. Especially since the Gundam itself had excellent flight capabilities.
In fact, without the other Avengers members as 'burdens,' Luca mostly ignored the attacks of those demons.
He would rush directly near a Hell Gate, clear the surrounding demons with a round of bombing, then let the following Haro mecha bring a 'box' to cover it, and finally fire the gun and leave.
Otherwise, with Steve and the others' ground advancing speed, it would be impossible to close so many Hell Gates in a short time.
The reason why the Avengers prioritized clearing Manhattan and the Bronx wasn't due to financial or economic prosperity considerations.
After this battle, New York was destined to be reduced to ruins. No matter what kind of prosperity it had, it could only remain in the past.
Mainly, these two districts in the northwest were closer to the inland direction. New York State, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania were all in this direction.
Closing all Hell Gates in this direction earlier could also minimize the difficulty of blocking the demons. Instead of letting them harm the land, everyone's intention was still to drive these demons towards the sea.
However, judging from the current number of demons, this goal was obviously difficult to achieve.
"Because the blockade line is becoming harder to maintain, Aurantius has withdrawn some of the outer omnic troops to enter New York to assist in destroying the Hell Gates."
"In addition, those Ka... Kamar-Taj mages have also allocated some manpower to participate in the clearing of the Staten area."
"The speed of closing Hell Gates should increase later, it's just... the demons spreading out might..."
Speaking of this, Natasha's tone became hesitant.
Obviously, although there was a way to solve the Hell Gates, with this efficiency, the battlefield might eventually spread to the entire East Coast.
However, just as the two fell into a brief silence, Rhodes' somewhat terrified voice suddenly sounded in the communication channel.
"Hey guys... does anyone know... where to find a container over a hundred meters long?!"