anovelconsole Chapter 18 opens with a bang.
Chapter 18 opens with a bang.
Chapter 18: A Stunning Opening (3)
The man emerging from the Midtown Bank looked at the group of police officers surrounding him and Spider-Man crouching on the door with a horrified expression, but didn't say much. However, Sheriff Stacy knew almost instantly what to do: "All hands on deck!"
The police, armed only with pistols, unleashed a barrage of fire at the supervillain before them with their meager 9mm pistol rounds. However, the bullets struck the titanium alloy armor without even scratching off the paint. He silently watched as the police fired again and again, then slammed his fists into the ground, overturning all the surrounding police officers and the police cars parked nearby.
Then, he took a deep breath in horror.
"Come on, Spider-Man, round two!"
"Hand him over to me, sheriff, and you all get out of the scene immediately."
The only one who wasn't knocked over was Spider-Man. He had already swung up to the monster and was punching him again, while simultaneously telling the fallen Sheriff Stacy to get out of there quickly: "I'll take care of him! I almost took him down!"
"You were quite a distance away just now, you bug!"
After knocking Spider-Man back with another punch, Horror noticed the webs attached to his arm. Spider-Man yanked the webs, causing Horror to stumble forward two steps, then kicked him in the head. Spider-Man then pulled the webs again, binding one of Horror's hands to his chest, and punched him in the face once more.
"Don't rush, Herman, I can play like this all day—you know how often the captain says that?"
The horrified man, with one hand stuck to the ground, swung his other fist at Spider-Man, but his feet were somehow also covered in webs, causing him to fall to the ground. Spider-Man immediately sat on him, grabbed his hands, pressed them against his waist, and then fired webs to stick him in place.
Thrill wasn't worried about hurting himself, so he fired a heavy shot into his own chest, sending both himself and Spider-Man, who was sitting on him, flying into the air. However, Spider-Man still had the strength to spare. He used his webs to hook onto Thrill and quickly closed in, then delivered two powerful punches in mid-air before Thrill sent him flying again.
Herman, who had just landed on the ground, hadn't even had time to catch his breath when he was greeted by Spider-Man's gift from mid-air. Spider webs shot from his hands stuck to the two overturned police cars on either side of him and slammed them heavily onto his body. The two police cars collided violently, and the shockwave that was triggered in this situation directly detonated both cars.
Flames burned around him as he stumbled out, dazed. The armor's flaws began to show; due to insufficient funds, the armor had a major problem with heat dissipation. The continuous battles and the explosion earlier had made him feel dizzy, and he could clearly feel that he was dehydrated.
"Stop it, Herman. You know you're not going to make it." Spider-Man stood right in front of him, still trying to persuade him: "You're a genius. You don't need to hurt others to become a big shot."
"If only you had said that when we first met, you little bug." Horror gave a bitter laugh. "You would have said that to Hermann Schultz instead of to Horror."
"I was saying this to Hermann..."
"You're lying!"
The shockwave from the impact tore a crack in the ground, venting a terrifying rage beyond human comprehension: "You say these things because I can do them! You know how powerful I am, how much destruction I can cause!"
"Nobody respected me before I became a horror star!"
"You really don't listen to anything I say, Herman."
Seeing Thriller seemingly regain his composure due to anger, Spider-Man couldn't help but sigh. Fortunately, the police had already retreated to a more distant location, so it wouldn't affect their fight for the time being. Spider-Man chose the simplest way to deal with Thriller: he pulled down the vault door embedded in the wall and pushed it directly towards Thriller.
"Careful when opening the door!"
"What?!"
After glancing around in shock and confirming that he couldn't dodge, Spider-Man fired at the vault door at full power. Spider-Man, enduring the shockwave, pushed the vault door in front of Herman. The two were locked in a struggle through a thick metal door, one side possessing mutated super strength, the other amplified by technology, making it difficult to determine who was superior for a moment.
However, Herman was gradually feeling his limits. He could feel the agonizing sweat pouring down his face, and he knew he would soon lose his fighting ability due to dehydration. Meanwhile, Spider-Man, on the other side of the metal door, also seemed to be losing his strength, and for some reason, his power was not as great as before.
"Very well, he can't hold on any longer." Thinking this, Horror roared and pushed with all his might, overturning the entire vault door. The vault door crashed heavily onto a police car, sending the wheels flying off, leaving Herman staring blankly at the car that was now propped up beneath the vault door.
Then, he felt a sense of weightlessness. Spider-Man had secretly slipped behind him and stuck to his back, then threw him into the air and crashed heavily to the ground.
If the weapon is so terrifying and powerful that it can't be restrained by spider webs, then just swing him around and smash him!
"Sorry, Herman, I expect your armor to be as durable as you said!"
The horrified man who was slammed to the ground didn't even have time to get angry or raise his fist to unleash a shockwave before he was thrown up and slammed to the ground on the other side. It wasn't until three or four times that he got used to the rhythm, unleashed a shockwave at his own body, and while sending himself flying, he untied the spider silk and then got up weakly.
He didn't want to continue. He underestimated how resilient and talkative that bug was. While it was babbling on and on trying to convince itself to be a "good person," it was also putting on a show for itself.
Fortunately, Hermann Schulz was a genius; he knew exactly what weaknesses his enemies had.
But it's not a good place now.
"Are you still planning to continue, Hermann?"
"Stop your lecturing, you bug. I'm tired. I'm leaving."
"What? Wait, you can't—"
Before Spider-Man could finish speaking, Thriller unleashed a shockwave at the ground, shattering it as he leaped away. Meanwhile, Sheriff George Stacy, who had been keeping watch, finally emerged and gasped at the scene of devastation.
Wounded police officers lying on the ground, a bank almost destroyed, burning and shattered streets—is this what a superhero battle looks like?
Isn't the price too high?
"Hermann has fled the scene. Repeat, Hermann has fled the scene. SWAT team on their way? SWAT team is no longer capable of stopping this! Can the National Guard be contacted? Feed them? Feed them?"
The communicator's electronic signal suddenly cut off, and just as George was feeling confused, an unbelievable voice came from it.
"Sheriff Stacy, this is Steve Rogers. We are pursuing the dangerous criminal Herman Schultz."
"The Avengers are now in charge of the scene."
Completely unaware of the Avengers' intervention, Spider-Man continues to chase Herman, swinging on his webs. Wherever Herman's giant hand reaches, destruction ensues, leaving Manhattan's streets riddled with craters, while Spider-Man does everything he can to stop it.
"Please! Herman?! You're just going to run away like that? I'm definitely going to get yelled at by that awful Jonah Jameson again. Can't you have a moment's peace and let us resolve this directly?"
"You want to solve this problem?"
The terrifying figure stopped below the intercity railway station, seemingly abandoning his escape attempt, panting heavily. There were still quite a few people around, especially at the station above, where many passengers remained.
"Then let's solve this problem, bug. You're a hero, aren't you?"
"Let's see what a hero would do."
No need for the all-out battle as before; Herman's target this time was no longer Spider-Man. He simply raised his hand and blew up the supporting pillar beneath the station.
"What are you doing?"
"Go save them, hero?"
"Good idea, Herman, this way I won't have time to stop you from escaping."
Spider-Man reluctantly got up and swung down to the underpass, starting to use his webs to join the broken load-bearing columns together. He then swung back and forth between the buildings on both sides, using his webs to stick the elevated section to the buildings, all the while shouting for the passengers in the station to escape.
However, the supporting columns continued to collapse, one of which was particularly bad. Unable to be glued back together, Peter chose to kick the already damaged column and prop up the entire viaduct himself, buying time for the station passengers to escape.
Thrill didn't run away; he was just waiting for this moment, waiting for Spider-Man to stand there, using his body to support the load-bearing column and the entire scaffold. He raised his hand, aiming it at Spider-Man.
He listened to the screams of the ordinary people, felt their helplessness. He only needed to clench his fist, and Spider-Man would be sent flying, buried by the collapsing scaffold. He could destroy Spider-Man right now, at the cost of only a few dozen lives.
"Fuck it."
Hermann Schulz lowered his fist, punched the ground, and chose to leave.
(End of this chapter)