It's hard to imagine the kind of state Gwen must be in, carrying not only her schoolbooks in her bag but also her black-and-white Ghost-Spider suit every day.
It's like Superman always having his suit with him, then looking for a phone booth whenever trouble arises.
It's one of those unsolvable mysteries.
Gwen being saved by Atreus was not surprising, merely fulfilling a third of her small, lingering wish to be rescued.
"There are still two enemies left. Should we take one each?" Gwen was referring to the Vulture soaring in the sky and the mysterious second Green Goblin.
Atreus clearly had a different assessment. "Big guy, Vulture, or the second Green Goblin—who do you want?"
"Hmm?"
Before Gwen could react, the wall next to them let out a harrowing scream.
"Boom!"
The thick wall exploded into pieces under the force of a powerful impact.
Amidst the flying debris, a metallic, rhino-headed robot ripped through the dust and appeared before them.
Almost instantly, the Rhino fired several small missiles aimed at individual soldiers with a "bang- bang - bang."
Gwen's reflexes were no less impressive than Spider-Man's. In the nick of time, she crossed her arms, releasing webs that shot out and accurately hit the incoming missiles. She even managed to pull the missiles into a graceful arc, sending them back to explode on Rhino's heavy armor.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
A series of explosions followed.
For an ordinary person, such explosions would have been fatal.
Shockingly, the Rhino survived, with only a bit of his metal armor blown off. The outer layer of armor was shredded, exposing the underlying metal structure filled with electronics.
His aggressive charge showed no signs of slowing down.
"Damn it! I hate big guys like this," Gwen decided to swap targets.
Countless battles had proven that Spider-Man struggled with high-strength, high-endurance opponents.
Without the right environment, Spider-Man's abilities didn't shine, and fighting a brute like this was like scratching an itch.
The best strategy was, of course, to swap in someone like Kratos to go head-to-head.
"He's mine. What about you?" Atreus shrugged.
Gwen glanced at the approaching Vulture outside the building and playfully said, "I'll handle him."
To Gwen, this seemed like a good matchup, with her agility countering Vulture's mobility.
But Atreus shook his head. "No, you take care of the hidden Green Goblin."
Then, with a snap of his fingers, a crisp sound rang out.
"Snap!"
A strange humming followed.
Gwen could clearly feel the atmosphere vibrating around her. Eyes wide in disbelief, she exclaimed, "Is this…"
Suddenly, the lights on the outer layer of the Empire State Building flickered, and nearby electrical wires sparked violently. A massive trident of lightning, at least thirty meters long and five meters wide, appeared out of nowhere and struck the hovering Vulture.
As a zombie hero, Vulture's greatest weakness was his reduced intelligence and agility. Most heroes, after becoming zombies, retained only their instincts for killing and feeding. The fact that Adrian could still operate machinery was a small miracle.
Unfortunately, the flying device he piloted wasn't the fully upgraded version based on alien technology from *The Avengers*, but an older model resembling a helicopter. Its electronic components weren't built to withstand electrical shocks or interference.
When Atreus used his newly acquired *Lightung Element Control Lv5* to send a mere 1,000-volt shock, the Vulture's flight system couldn't handle it.
With sparks flying, Vulture lost power and crashed into the adjacent building.
After a series of chaotic collisions, zombie Adrian struggled to climb out of the twisted wreckage.
Two curvaceous, fully armored female robots, with egg-shaped metal helmets, silently appeared before him like ghosts.
"Roar." Adrian let out an inhuman growl.
His zombie roar didn't scare the newcomers.
"Sister, without his flight system, this guy is just a regular man."
"Sister, let's end his suffering."
Two red canisters greeted Adrian.
Excessive firepower is called destruction. Extreme firepower is called *purification*.
When the military-grade thermite grenades unleashed their 2,200-degree Celsius heat on Adrian's body, he was completely incinerated in seconds.
Afterward, even the most skilled forensic experts would struggle to determine if the deceased had ever been zombified.
The Lance sisters had a heavy task. Not only did they take down the Vulture, but they also had to cleanse the entire Empire State Building of zombified security guards and mercenaries.
Inside the Empire State Building, Gwen rolled her eyes as she watched Kratos nonchalantly dispatch the Vulture.
As the mysterious green-armored figure charged forward, Gwen resignedly prepared to face him.
Meanwhile, facing off against the Rhino, Atreus was also having a hard time.
It didn't take long for Atreus to realize that this Rhino was a combination of his comic book and movie versions.
In the comics, Aleksei Sytsevich was a thug for the Russian mob in New York, participating in an experiment that bonded a polymer to his skin. Using radiation and gene-altering chemicals, a layer of tough polymer was attached to his skin, and a horn was added to make him the Rhino.
In the movies, he was just a guy piloting a rhino-shaped robot.
But Atreus's opponent was a massive monster covered in rhino skin and operating a rhino mech.
It was like a Gundam wrapped in a *Meteor* add-on—ridiculously powerful.
As rockets and machine guns fired in his direction, Atreus, despite his high endurance, wasn't foolish enough to take them head-on.
Luckily, the Rhino had no clue about Atreus's strength.
When the Rhino charged at full force, aiming to swat Atreus into oblivion, Atreus suddenly vanished from his view.
Sitting in a three-meter-tall mech, Aleksei couldn't see Atreus crouching low, delivering a devastating sweep to the mech's legs.
A simple martial arts move, combined with tons of force, resulted in terrifying destruction.
The several-ton Rhino mech lost its balance.
But Atreus wasn't finished!
With a swift roll, he positioned himself behind the Rhino and delivered a powerful kick to its rear.
"Clang!"
This time, the Rhino mech couldn't maintain its balance and crashed through the window.
And let's not forget, this was the 99th floor!
As the Rhino desperately tried to slow his fall by grabbing onto the exterior walls of the Empire State Building, nothing could support the weight of the several-ton mech. Even when he managed to latch onto the internal steel beams, they snapped like twigs.
When the massive Rhino mech finally hit the street, the ground shook.
Many nearby police officers were knocked off their feet.
In the next moment, a massive crater, over thirty meters wide, appeared in front of the Empire State Building, causing the surrounding officers to panic.
Police Commissioner George Stacy, who was commanding the scene, turned pale with fear.
And it wasn't over yet!
A bald brute leaped from the 99th floor, bouncing off protrusions on the building as he descended. When he reached the tenth floor, he leaped dramatically, becoming a pale meteor hurtling toward the Rhino.
Poor Rhino. If this had been a different battlefield, his brute strength and endurance would've made him a formidable force.
Unfortunately, his boss was the Green Goblin.
Second-generation Green Goblin Harry, to maximize his mobility, chose the towering Empire State Building as the battleground. This choice left the ground-bound Rhino at a severe disadvantage.
Rhino's fate was sealed.
After falling from the 99th floor and enduring multiple slowdowns, he somehow survived the fall.
But then Atreus delivered the final blow.
Rhino's thick skin didn't extend to the inside of his mouth.
When the knockoff *Blades of Chaos* pierced through his mouth and into his brain with an unstoppable force, even Rhino couldn't survive.
(End of chapter)