The instant the energy shield dissipated, a red and blue figure shot out of a web slingshot.
Boom!!
With the force of a cannonball, Xia Luo’s body collided with one of the rhino mechs, shattering its frame. Metal shards exploded into the air, and the suited man in the cockpit was lost in a cloud of smoke and sparks as the mech detonated.
“No!!”
A chorus of desperate screams echoed through the mountain as Xia Luo swung through the air on webs, each strike easily taking down another rhino mech.
Boom boom boom~
Amid the backdrop of flames and explosions, Xia Luo moved as if unopposed, dismantling the mechs that once terrorized soldiers. Before him, these hulking machines were no more than paper-mâché, unable to pose any threat.
“It’s Spider-Man!”
“The real Spider-Man!”
“It has to be him! No one else has this kind of terrifying strength!”
The soldiers’ cheers filled the air, but the true enemy was already inside the cockpit of the enormous spider mech.
“Switch to manual mode!”
Kingpin gripped the control sticks, his gaze brimming with murderous intent.
“Spider-Man, let’s see how you handle the Spider-Slayer!”
Laughing grimly, he maneuvered the Spider-Slayer, driving it straight towards Xia Luo.
Clack clack clack
The spider mech’s eight mechanical legs rampaged across the battlefield, stirring up clouds of dust and debris. Within seconds, its massive shadow loomed over Xia Luo.
“Die!!!”
With a shout, Kingpin forced the Spider-Slayer down, attempting to crush Xia Luo with sheer size.
Boom!!
The ground trembled, sending shockwaves through the mountain as dust and debris spread out. The impact left a massive crater in the earth, created by the powerful Spider-Slayer.
“What?!”
The crowd stared in horror at the monstrous spider mech.
“That spider mech is terrifying!”
“Where’s Spider-Man?!”
“Up there, he’s fine!”
Barton’s eyes fixed on the red and blue figure clinging to the Spider-Slayer’s back.
In the next moment, Xia Luo raised his fist and brought it down with immense force.
Boom!!
Tens of tons of pressure struck down, causing the Spider-Slayer to shudder. The impact bent its legs slightly, but its built-in shock absorption system dispersed most of the force. The punch only left a small dent, barely a centimeter deep—insignificant against the Spider-Slayer’s bulk.
“Hmm?”
Xia Luo was taken aback, while Kingpin sneered in the cockpit.
“Surprised? Your strength isn’t enough to ignore the advancements of technology. The Spider-Slayer has already logged all your combat data—you have no chance of winning.”
With that, he pressed a red button, releasing white gas from vents on the Spider-Slayer’s back.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh
Like steam, the mist spread, and Xia Luo quickly noticed his spider senses becoming dulled.
Whoosh~
Without hesitation, he swung away from the Spider-Slayer, only regaining his senses once he’d put some distance between them.
“Spider-Man, I didn’t just capture a bunch of cheap knock-offs for nothing. I’ve developed a system to counter all of your powers,” Kingpin laughed, advancing with the Spider-Slayer.
A sense of unease gripped Xia Luo as he tugged on his web, activating a trap of glistening webs he had prepared earlier.
Creak creak creak
Instantly, the charging Spider-Slayer was ensnared, its movement slowed as the sharp webbing began slicing through its exterior.
But before it could be damaged further, Kingpin hit another button, causing the Spider-Slayer to vibrate with a specific frequency, shaking off the web trap.
“Die!”
Freed from the web, the Spider-Slayer fired a cable from its mouthparts, lightning-fast.
“What?!”
Harry, watching, gasped. How had it gotten so fast?
Was it all deliberate?
If the Spider-Slayer performed too well too soon, the cunning Spider-Man might not have shown up at all.
That was exactly Kingpin’s plan.
With his spider sense warning him, Xia Luo narrowly twisted to avoid the cable. In response, he switched his webbing to rapid-fire mode, covering the Spider-Slayer in a barrage of webs.
Thwip thwip thwip
“Up!!”
Grabbing a massive bundle of webbing in both hands, Xia Luo’s muscles tensed, his nanometal suit shifting to an intense black.
His eyes glowed a bloody red, and an immense force—seventy tons of raw strength—coursed through his body. With a mighty heave, he swung the colossal Spider-Slayer, smashing it into the nearby rhino mechs.
Boom!!
Shrapnel flew in every direction as one rhino mech was reduced to scrap metal. Xia Luo, still gripping the webs, swung again with tremendous force.
Boom boom boom!!
With each swing, more rhino mechs were flattened under the crushing weight of the Spider-Slayer.
“Argh!! Damn it!!”
Inside the cockpit, Kingpin felt dizzy, unable to press the controls in time.
Meanwhile, Xia Luo’s speed only increased, wielding the Spider-Slayer like a massive sledgehammer, clearing a path through the rhino mechs.
“Fall back!”
Carter, observing the scene, immediately ordered a retreat.
She could see Xia Luo struggling, gradually losing control over the Spider-Slayer’s momentum.
Sure enough, as the soldiers withdrew, Xia Luo finally released his grip, sending the Spider-Slayer hurtling into the mountainside.
Boom!!
The mountain shuddered, rocks crashing down from the ceiling, with cracks spreading along the walls as dust filled the air.
Rumble…
“What’s going on?”
Within the quaking pyramid, two young figures swung into view.
Seeing the widening cracks, their expressions shifted.
“This place is about to collapse.”
“Let’s get out of here!”
“You’re not going anywhere!!”
A section of wall shattered, and a grotesque, green-scaled lizard creature lunged through, eyes gleaming with hunger.
“Spider-Man… I’m going to… eat you!”
“What?!”
The two gasped, and, terrified by the monstrous sight, spun on their heels and fled.
“Ugh! That lizard is hideous!”
“And it can talk!”
“How did we even get in here?”
“We’re doomed…”
The two muttered frantically, somehow finding endless energy to escape.
Meanwhile, Professor Curt Connors, transformed and ravenous, pursued them with growing hunger.
But he hadn’t noticed the shadow trailing behind him in silence.
“The Time Tablet is here, and Kingpin is on the verge of defeat. As long as I get the tablet, I can save my father,” Felicia thought to herself.
The betrayal of her boyfriend hadn’t broken her spirit.
All that mattered now was rescuing her father.
Back outside, Xia Luo noticed the disturbance in the pyramid and grew anxious.
Professor Connors was on the loose, and he was on the verge of losing control.
This had to end quickly!
No, forget fighting!
Turning toward the pyramid, Xia Luo shot out his webs and swung away, only to sense an attack from behind.
Whoosh
A special cable shot out from the rubble and wrapped around him, red eyes gleaming from the wreckage.
Crack crack crack
The debris shifted as the Spider-Slayer emerged, sparking but still mostly intact.
“Hahaha, Spider-Man, out of respect for Xia Luo, I’ll make sure you die with dignity.”
In the cockpit, Kingpin ruthlessly pressed the red button, activating an electric current along the cable. Red lasers flared from the Spider-Slayer’s eyes.
First paralyze Spider-Man, then deliver the killing blow!
Boom!!
A red laser shot forth, cutting a bright arc across the air and striking the distant pyramid.
Bang
The laser sliced off part of the pyramid’s peak, while the figure ensnared by the cable fell limp.
“Hahaha, direct hit!” Kingpin cheered.
At the entrance, Carter frowned at the sight.
“Is he injured… or dead?”
Nearby, Barton squinted, piercing through the electric glow to focus on the figure.
“He’s not dead. There’s… an octopus arm on his back!”
“What? An arm?”
Carter’s face twisted in concern.
She wasn’t worried that Xia Luo would be killed—he had a knack for coming back. But if he’d developed black, mutated tentacles, she couldn’t imagine how dangerous he might become.
Fortunately, as the electric glow faded, she got a clear view of Xia Luo’s current state.
Golden octopus-like tendrils had turned black in Venom mode, and the tentacle that had taken the laser hit was already repairing itself.
Clearly, those tentacles had saved him from a fatal blow.
Snap snap~
With a flick of the black tendrils, the cable binding Xia Luo shattered.
Seeing no trace of a sinister red aura, Carter finally relaxed.
“It’s not Hydra’s power—thank goodness,” she sighed.
But Kingpin’s face twisted in fury at the sight.
“Damn it, how can this be?! How did that not kill him? When did his black spider legs turn into octopus arms? The Spider-Slayer doesn’t have data on this—damn!!”
Seething, he charged the Spider-Slayer at Xia Luo, red lasers firing once more.
Bzzzzz
But Xia Luo, nimble as ever, dodged the deadly beams with ease.
Boom boom boom~~
Lasers scorched the ground at Xia Luo’s feet, but, anticipating their aim, he sidestepped each one, rendering Kingpin’s ultimate weapon ineffective.
An exposed secret weapon is no secret at all.
Boom!!
In an instant, Xia Luo, with the assistance of his tendrils, launched himself at the Spider-Slayer.
Wham
With a powerful slide tackle, he struck the Spider-Slayer’s underbelly, sending violent tremors through the machine.
Bang~
Sparks fizz
With a surge of power, Xia Luo lifted the colossal spider mech. His tendrils wrapped around its legs, yanking them apart one by one.
Snap snap snap
“No!!”
Metallic spider legs flew off as the damaged mech staggered, and Kingpin, his face twisted in frustration, pressed the final button.
Boom~~
Immediately, a high-temperature flame burst from the belly of the Spider-Slayer, and the massive machine started to lift off.
But Xia Luo’s spider sense had already warned him, and he swung out of the fire’s reach.
“Spider-Man, next time we meet, you won’t be so lucky!”
In the cockpit, Kingpin snarled, spitting out threats.
Before encountering Spider-Man, he’d always considered that kind of talk childish.
It wasn’t his style.
After all, he’d spent his life turning losses into victories—he didn’t lose.
Usually, his enemies were the ones making desperate threats.
But now, he understood why people did it when they faced a near-certain defeat; it was the only thing he could do without effort.
It’s fine. As long as I get out of here, I’ll have another chance to win!
He tried to comfort himself.
But soon enough, he realized he was wrong.
He might not have another chance.
On the ground below, one of Xia Luo’s black octopus-like tendrils extended, shooting several meters to pierce the Spider-Slayer’s propulsion system.
Bang!!
Sizzle~
Sparks erupted as the tendril melted under the intense heat, but it was enough to disrupt the Spider-Slayer’s flight system.
“No!! Damn you, Spider-Man!”
With a torrent of curses, the unbalanced Spider-Slayer tilted and began to plummet toward the pyramid.
Inside the Pyramid
“Oh no, run!”
“This is terrifying!!”
Two figures shot webs, swinging around the stone statue in circles.
Professor Curt Connors, lost in his mutated, feral state, chased them without a second thought, oblivious to the repetitive futility of his attacks.
“Stop! I’m going to eat you!!”
Time and again, he lunged, only to crash into the walls, leaving a trail of holes and cracks.
Chitter chitter chitter
Atop the statue, a tiny red and blue spider crawled to the top of the stone head and shot a stream of webbing at Connors.
Thwip thwip thwip
Boom!!
The magical web exploded, and the wall crumbled, burying Professor Connors beneath a pile of rubble.
Seeing this, the two young Parkers finally breathed a sigh of relief.
They landed on the statue, watching the little spider with newfound admiration.
“It helped us.”
“What is it?”
“Looks like Spider-Man’s pet. I heard J. Jonah Jameson mention this little guy before.”
“Oh, what a cute little thing.”
“Spider-Man left it here to protect us.”
“Xia Luo has some pretty amazing friends.”
Their attention was entirely on the tiny spider, while a dark figure in the shadows quietly lifted the Time Tablet, preparing to leave.
Suddenly, the little spider sensed something.
Hiss!!
It let out a sudden, sharp hiss, startling the two young Parkers, who instinctively shot webs and swung away.
Boom~~
The next second, the entire pyramid trembled as the wall to their left exploded into rubble. The massive Spider-Slayer crashed through, obliterating everything inside the chamber.
In the corner, the two, barely escaping, stared at the destruction in shock.
Meanwhile, across the room, Felicia had not been as lucky—she lay pinned under a boulder, the Time Tablet lying nearby.
“Argh!! Damn it, how did that thing get here?”
Gritting her teeth through the pain, she struggled to free herself, but her legs, crushed and bleeding, were already broken, making any movement agonizing.
Bang!
Just then, the cockpit of the Spider-Slayer was violently kicked open, and a disheveled Kingpin crawled out.
Dusting off his white suit, his eyes locked onto the Time Tablet.
“Hmph, Spider-Man, you can’t win.”
He grabbed the tablet, holding it up as the black-suited Spider-Man swung closer, his smile turning wicked.
“Don’t come any closer, or I’ll destroy it,” he threatened.
Whoosh
Xia Luo landed on the back of the Spider-Slayer, shaking his head at Kingpin.
“Sorry, you can’t threaten me.”
His goal was Kingpin, not the Time Tablet.
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