After the Blade of Chaos stirred the rhino-man's brains into mush, the system notification came:
**[Congratulations to the host for killing the rhino-man, Aleksei Sitsavage! His soul has been successfully devoured and purified.]**
**[The host's core attributes have been upgraded to their limits: Constitution 66, Strength 68!]**
**[The host has gained the following skills: Cold Resistance Lv5! Heat Resistance Lv5!]**
**[The host's Constitution-based skill (Hardened Skin) has been upgraded to (Steel Skin): The host now enjoys passive tough skin, capable of resisting point-blank shots from a 7.62 caliber full-power rifle. When focused, the host can withstand shots from a 12.7×99mm Browning machine gun. In both states, the host's base armor value defaults to 50 and 80, respectively.]**
**[The host's Strength-based skill (Mighty Throw) has been upgraded to (Titan Throw): The weight limit for thrown objects has been increased to 3 tons.]**
Actually, Atreus didn't need the system to tell him; he could clearly feel the surging power coursing through his body.
His heart was pounding forcefully, and waves of strength were flowing through his veins.
He felt like, if he flexed hard enough, his physique could rival that of Kratos.
Unfortunately, this was the limit of his current strength and constitution.
To be fair, his strength and constitution were still far inferior to the rhino-man's. After all, that guy wasn't even human. Unless Atreus wanted to graft polymer skin onto himself and expose himself to radiation, his skin's toughness would never reach the rhino-man's level.
But Atreus was already quite satisfied.
Just then, Atreus noticed a trembling police officer in front of him, shakily pointing a small handgun at him.
"D-Don't move."
Atreus was momentarily speechless: Really? Officer?
Fortunately, Chief George arrived just in time to intervene. "Officer John, put down your gun! He's one of the heroes protecting New York City."
"Oh, alright, Chief."
Chief George looked at the man who called himself Kratos with a gaze full of complexity. His precious daughter had personally confirmed that Kratos was on the side of justice.
George didn't want to Anger a superhuman aligned with justice.
"police shouldn't enter. You'll get killed."
bald, bloodied giant of a man nodded slightly toward chief, then leaped five meters into the air, showing inhuman agility as he bounded toward the top of the Empire State Building with a series of massive jumps.
George complied, but he couldn't help but watch the mysterious hero disappear with a conflicted gaze.
At the top of the building, Gwen was unsurprisingly caught in a fierce battle.
The high maneuverability of the Goblin Glider was giving Gwen a hard time. Not only was it fast, but it could chAtreuse direction with incredible agility. Gwen had fired her webs multiple times but couldn't catch the second Green Goblin.
And to make things worse, one time when Gwen pretended to charge forward, before she could pull herself back with her web, several small missiles exploded nearby, almost killing her.
Even more strangely, both combatants asked the same question at the same time: "Who are you!?"
Gwen asked because she had realized the enemy's flying skills were far superior to Harry's. This didn't seem like the Harry Osborn from the zombie universe.
The second Green Goblin asked out of genuine confusion. In his world, there was no female Spider-Man.
"Hehehe! Your identity doesn't matter. Once I kill you and turn you into a beautiful zombie, you'll take off that cursed mask yourself and reveal your true face."
The chilling voice, naturally, sparked Gwen's rage.
She began entangling various objects with her webs, hurling them at the distant Green Goblin, but it was no use.
While Gwen was in a stalemate, things seemed even worse for Peter.
Harry was toying with him.
"Ahhhh—" Liz and Michelle were screaming continuously.
Mary Jane, however, remained silent.
The three women's reactions tugged painfully at Peter's heart.
That despicable Harry was treating this like a fishing game, knowing full well that Spider-Man couldn't fly. He had the glider soar to a height Peter couldn't reach, then, with cruel amusement, dropped Peter's three girlfriends from the sky.
"No—"
The three women were dropped from a height of one kilometer, spaced 300 meters apart.
In Harry's mind, Peter couldn't possibly save all three at once.
"Hahaha! I'm curious, Spider-Man, who's so righteous and virtuous, who will you save, and who will you let fall?" Harry Osborn's wild, manic laughter filled the dark night sky.
With malicious intent, he awaited his childhood friend's choice.
Harry was wrong.
Spider-Man was never a narrow-minded hero. Throughout history, he had saved a derailing train, stopped a cruise ship sliced in half by an alien laser cannon—when had Peter ever not stubbornly fought to save hundreds or even thousands of innocent civilians with his webs?
Peter's choice was, of course, **I'll save them all.**
"Thwip, thwip, thwip!" His left hand shot webs to catch the plummeting Mary Jane, and his right hand ensnared Michelle. As for the one in the middle...
"Liz, hold on tight!"
In her panic, Liz clung to Peter like a koala as he soared to meet her.
"Ahhhh!" Peter yelled, using all his strength to pull the other two women toward him with his webs.
Harry was furious. He had gone through so much effort to torment Peter's girlfriends to make him suffer, not to let him pull off a heroic rescue.
The Goblin Glider chased after Peter as he fell, and Harry struck at him with a deadly claw, aiming for a defenseless Peter who couldn't evade or block.
"Ah!"
Several terrifying wounds, deep enough to expose bone, appeared on Peter's back.
At that moment, watching the blood spray from Peter's back like rain, the three women's hearts shattered.
Within moments, the Green Goblin's claws had shredded Peter's back into a bloody mess. Peter didn't even know how much of his flesh was still attached.
Despite the excruciating pain, Peter gritted his teeth and shot out one last web, swinging the three women toward a high-rise building under construction.
"You won't save them! You'll die with your women!" Harry's veins bulged to the extreme.
He was filled with hatred!
He despised all real expressions of family, friendship, and love in the world.
Everything he lacked had somehow been found in his childhood friend.
It was this indescribable envy and hatred that drove Harry to lose his sanity.
What he couldn't have, he must destroy.
Unable to bear it any longer, Harry decided now, he would kill Peter.
Just then, a thunderous roar exploded in their ears.
"You bastard! They are Peter's wings!"
Peter: ???
Harry: ???
The three women: ???
Kratos had arrived.
Like the greatest hero always making their entrance last.
The so-called grand finale was nothing less than this.
With fiery power, he leaped through the air and kicked Harry, sending him flying away from Peter.
Harry's once somewhat handsome face was completely distorted by the force of the blow.
For a moment, Peter even wondered if his childhood friend had been killed by Kratos's kick.
Peter had lost too much blood. As he barely managed to absorb the impact and safely land the three women on the ground of the construction site, the last thing he said before passing out was, "Don't kill Harry."
Peter hadn't forgotten Kratos's lethal tendencies.
Atreus paused for a moment and finally nodded. "Alright!"
(End of chapter)