Whoosh!
A black blur flashed through the air.
Bant whipped his tail, and the black bone at its tip tore through steel like a blade, splitting even the air itself!
Kraven was forced into a frantic retreat, scrambling in every direction.
"Hunting Spider-Man?"
"Then tell me now, who's the prey?"
Bant shouted.
He was practically toying with Kraven.
With the enhancement of the spider genes, Stinkfly's combat power had risen by far more than a single level, especially in strength, endurance, and agility. Those three aspects had all been boosted enormously.
Though his overall destructive power still could not compare to the original three war gods, the people here were absolutely no match for him.
Add in Stinkfly's mobility, and it could be said that Stinkfly was now extremely powerful in actual combat.
Sure, Bant had always complained that Stinkfly flew too slowly, but that depended on what you compared him to.
At maximum propulsion, Heatblast could move fast enough to break through the atmosphere, so Stinkfly naturally fell far short of that. But compared to an armed helicopter, he was more than fast enough.
His reaction speed was also great enough to dodge bullets.
At that moment, Kraven was like a pitiful trapped beast, baring his fangs and roaring ferociously, yet looking all the more ridiculous because of his helplessness.
He grabbed an oil drum and hurled it at Bant.
But a stream of slime sprayed from Bant's feelers, and the instant it hit, the metal drum was corroded on the spot.
With such terrifying power, if that stuff landed on a human body, it would probably reduce the person to slurry within a few breaths.
Stinkfly's slime had two different types.
One was the highly corrosive acid he had just used, powerful enough to melt steel. The other did not have much destructive power, but it was extremely sticky and remarkably tough, and when exposed to high heat, it would trigger a violent explosion.
The principle was basically the same as marsh gas catching fire.
"Does your slime never run out?"
By this point, Kraven could not even remember how much slime Bant had spit out.
Honestly, the total amount of those secretions had probably already exceeded Bant's body weight. And yet even so, he was still spraying without stop.
To the point that Kraven could not help but suspect that the stuff was not actually Bant's own secretion at all. Those four feeler-like organs were probably some kind of dimensional portal, allowing Bant to endlessly transfer slime over...
It had to be said.
His imagination was impressive.
But unfortunately...
Bant said, "I can do this all day!"
Of course, that was only in theory. He was quite sure that in this world, no one would be willing to spend a lovely night with a giant green bug full of teeth, whose breath alone was enough to melt off their face.
So, since his girlfriend could not enjoy it, then...
"I'll dump it all on you!"
Bant directly switched into Gatling mode.
Kraven kept dodging desperately.
Using the obstacles inside the factory to avoid the attacks, he also kept hurling random objects, trying to knock Bant out of the air that way.
But without exception, every single one was shot down.
Bant was no master marksman, but with his current reaction speed, those incoming objects looked no different from slow-motion replay.
Seeing that his methods were useless, Kraven did not hesitate. He drew his dagger and prepared to engage Bant in close combat.
As a hunter, he at least had that much courage.
Too bad...
Clang!
The instant Kraven charged in with his blade, Bant also struck back with his tail.
In a flash, sparks exploded into the air!
The toughness and sharpness of Bant's exoskeleton, coupled with his immense strength, instantly cut straight through the dagger Kraven had used for years!
When he saw that, disbelief flashed across Kraven's face.
"That... that's impossible..."
His dagger contained trace amounts of vibranium.
Though there was only enough to amount to a little powder, it had still made the weapon nearly indestructible.
And now it had actually been cut apart!
But he had no time to mourn it, because Bant had not stopped after that exchange.
He kept pressing the attack!
Stinkfly had ten limbs.
Four were the translucent wings on his back, and another four were the sharp abdominal legs that resembled spikes.
As for his hands, they were vicious claws!
Slash!
In the blink of an eye, Bant's claw raked across Kraven's chest, wounding the burly hunter.
A massive wound opened across Kraven's chest like a ravine, and blood came gushing out.
But he did not lose the ability to fight right away.
In that desperate moment, he had hurriedly pulled back and barely avoided being ripped open on the spot.
Now, the pain made him clamp his teeth together tightly, while sweat drenched his hair. Gone was the high-spirited confidence Kraven had shown only half an hour earlier.
Presumably, when he arrogantly attacked the Daily Bugle and Midtown High, he had never imagined he would end up like this, a beaten stray hound.
"So the lion's turned into a hyena, huh."
Bant let out a cold, mocking laugh.
The reason he had not rushed to kill Kraven was because in an older version of a Spider-Man cartoon from Bant's previous life, Kraven had helped Peter once.
But Bant also knew that the two could not be lumped together.
Since this Kraven had already resorted to kidnapping Peter to deal with Spider-Man, there was no guarantee he would not kidnap someone else in the future to threaten him.
And the second reason, naturally, was vibranium.
Kraven's strength came from Wakanda, though not by any proper means.
And the material of that dagger was also very unusual.
Bant had felt it the instant their weapons clashed earlier.
Ordinary metal felt like paper against his tail. The slightest touch shredded it apart. But when Kraven's dagger struck his tail, even though it still broke on contact, Bant had clearly felt the resistance of real metal.
Vibranium was incredibly valuable on the market, but more importantly, it was something you could not buy even if you had money.
At this point in time, Wakanda was still strictly controlling the outflow of vibranium.
Not only did they refuse to export it, they treated it as a state secret. Only a few people were able to smuggle small amounts of it out of Wakanda.
"If you're willing to bring me some vibranium, Kraven, I can spare your life."
Bant rubbed his two hands together like a fly, then slyly added, "Of course, if you can get your hands on some Heart-Shaped Herb too, that'd be even better."
"You know about Wakanda?"
Kraven collapsed to the ground. The heavy blood loss left him dizzy and pale.
But his mind was still clear.
To keep him from dying immediately, Bant smeared slime over the wound.
Kraven's face changed at once.
"Relax. It may look disgusting, but it's actually sterile."
Bant slowly descended, looming over Kraven like a carnivorous plant.
At the same time, his tail curled up like a scorpion's and pressed against Kraven's heart.
"Your choice, hunter."
Bant did not have much ill will toward Wakanda.
Though to be precise, that goodwill came from the Black Panther actor's calm dignity in the face of death, not from Black Panther himself.
He still remembered that after Killmonger seized power and gained his superhuman abilities through the ritual, he burned the Heart-Shaped Herb. That had always struck Bant as a real waste.
In Bant's view, a special herb that could grant superhuman powers after a ritual had tremendous research value.
After hearing his offer, Kraven was certainly surprised, but he did not find it too strange.
Buying one's life with payment was common enough.
Still, he shook his head.
"I can't bring you those things."
It was not that he did not want to.
It was that he could not.
His vibranium and powers had both come from Aja-Orisha, who had been exiled from Wakanda, but the two of them had already gone their separate ways.
On his own, he had no way to obtain either the herb or vibranium.
"That's a shame."
"As a hunter for so long, I imagine you've wondered what prey thinks about in the moment it dies, haven't you?"
Since he could not get what he wanted, Bant stopped holding back. His tail stabbed straight into Kraven's chest.
"Wait, Little Bant!"
Peter, who was still tangled up with Rhino, saw what happened and hurriedly shouted for Bant to stop.
But the spear-like tail had already pierced straight through Kraven's chest, hoisting up the man who had always gloried in hunting prey and turning him into prey himself.
The moment Peter saw that, he forgot to hold back.
With one kick, he sent Rhino flying into the wall.
But he had no time to care about Rhino.
He leaped over and landed in front of Bant, staring at Kraven's corpse in shock and confusion.
"You... you killed him?"
Peter's voice trembled.
He had never before seen death with his own eyes, and in this moment, his cousin who had grown up beside him suddenly felt strangely unfamiliar.
Not just in appearance.
"Because he was a villain," Bant said.
"Why are you this shocked? I've already killed Dong Wu and Green Goblin. Otherwise, how do you think he died?"
"Sudden heart attack?"
Bant sneered.
But Peter was in no mood for jokes.
"We had other ways to stop them from doing evil."
"I chose the simplest one."
Bant cut him off. All four of his feelers turned toward Peter, and he said coldly, "Peter, they're adults. They should be held responsible for what they do."
"If they choose to be villains, then they shouldn't expect to die well one day."
Peter still found it hard to accept.
Fortunately, Bant had never expected to persuade him.
Peter was Peter.
On the other side, the moment Shocker saw Kraven die so miserably, he was truly shocked.
Holy shit, this giant bug really killed people for real!
Even Kraven was dead now. How was a normal human body like his supposed to withstand that?
These criminals never cared about human life when they were the ones killing.
But the instant they themselves became prey, they were suddenly filled with terror toward death.
The few remaining villains exchanged a glance, and only one thought flashed through their minds.
Run!
But how could Bant possibly let them escape?
And it was not just Bant. Harry had no intention of letting off the people who had tried to hurt his friends either!
In an instant, several streams of slime shot from Bant's feelers. From dozens of meters away, they hit the remaining three directly, binding them firmly in place.
At the same time, Harry happened to be holding a pumpkin bomb in each hand, and he hurled them at Shocker and Bullseye.
Boom!!!
Dry tinder met raging fire.
Bombs and slime ignited in the same instant!
/-\
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