"Hmm? Why is he so much stronger than last time?" Richard Parker was stunned by the injuries inflicted on the giant spider. Previously, Peter Parker's lightning power was formidable, but it was nowhere near this effective, especially since Richard had suppressed Peter's spider abilities, which should have significantly weakened him.
Peter had no intention of explaining. He continued charging towards Richard, but just then, several figures appeared around both Richard and Peter, rushing at Peter.
"Boom!" Another explosion echoed through the underground space, with Peter enveloped in lightning, blasting the approaching figures away.
Peter and Harry Osborn could now see clearly that these figures were all spider-limb men. It turned out that Richard Parker hadn't just created one; Peter suspected that Richard had killed far more people for his experiments than he had previously imagined.
Fortunately, these spider-limb men weren't very powerful. They were far weaker than Peter Parker, both in strength and speed, even compared to Peter with only his spider abilities and no Mjölnir.
No wonder Richard called them failures. Besides their eight spider limbs, they had no notable abilities. They couldn't even spin webs.
The failure of these experiments also related to the genetic mismatch. Richard's initial spider experiments used the Parker couple's genes to derive Peter's genetic sequence, creating a relatively perfect result.
Why Peter Parker? He was the most suitable research subject. Other people's genetic sequences weren't so easily obtained, which is why so many mad scientists prefer using themselves or their children as test subjects.
It's convenient and secretive. They don't consider the risks, otherwise, they wouldn't be called mad scientists.
"Interesting!" Richard Parker admired Peter. While he knew a lot about the outside world, he didn't know Peter's exact capabilities.
Even though he was aware of Peter's lightning power, Richard thought that after suppressing Peter's spider abilities, Peter would be unable to fight back, at least not against the giant spider and the spider-limb men.
But Richard didn't expect Peter to be so fierce. Just two bursts of lightning power had dealt with all the minions. Richard knew he had to use more sophisticated means to deal with his son.
"Buzz!" As Peter closed in, Richard's hand once again released strange substances. These vanished instantly, and a confident smile appeared on Richard's face.
At the same time, more of the strange substance appeared before the giant spider and the spider-limb men. Seeing these, the giant spider's eyes gleamed with fervor.
Even the mindless spider-limb men showed some emotional reaction, their previously severed limbs trembling with anticipation as they looked at the substance.
Under their watchful gazes, the substance merged into the bodies of the giant spider and the spider-limb men, releasing a terrifying aura.
This all happened in an instant. As Peter reached Richard, he dodged Peter's attack effortlessly, the sparking explosions failing to harm him.
Richard seemed to possess an enhanced spider-sense, far superior to Peter's, allowing him to detect and gracefully avoid any threats.
Of course, Richard only had evasion skills; he couldn't counterattack the lightning-encased Peter. But Richard didn't need to fight Peter himself. The enhanced giant spider and spider-limb men were already closing in.
"Watch out, Peter!" Harry Osborn shouted. The giant spider's injuries had fully healed, its body now covered in strange, mesmerizing patterns. Harry struggled to shake off the disorienting effect, managing to call out to Peter while throwing a pumpkin-shaped energy bomb.
"Boom!" The pumpkin bomb exploded among the spider-limb men, drawing some of their attention.
Previously, the spider-limb men were mindless puppets following Richard's commands.
Now, they had developed self-awareness. Noticing Harry's attack, some turned towards him, considering whether to eliminate him first.
As the smoke cleared, the spider-limb men revealed minor injuries, none fatal, and those injuries quickly healed.
"They've developed self-awareness?" Richard noticed the anomaly, raising an eyebrow. He redirected the self-aware spider-limb men towards Harry, intending to capture him.
Richard considered Harry weak, even with the armor's enhancement. A few mutated spider-limb men would suffice to capture him.
Richard didn't want to kill Harry; he planned to turn him into another spider-limb man, or better yet, a more perfect spider creature.
Meanwhile, Peter, after Harry's warning, shifted position but couldn't shake off the mutated spider-limb men and the giant spider.
The giant spider's speed and strength had greatly increased. If Peter hadn't been weakened, he wouldn't have felt pressured fighting it.
But now, with only his lightning powers, Peter found the giant spider almost equally matched. Defeating it quickly was impossible, especially with the spider-limb men aiding it.
Peter couldn't assist Harry directly, so he used his lightning power to keep the giant spider and spider-limb men at bay while moving closer to Harry to help.
Harry, experiencing his first intense battle, initially managed to use his energy weapons from a distance. But as the spider-limb men closed in, he became overwhelmed.
Harry's armor gave him enhanced strength, but it lacked an AI like JARVIS to assist in combat. Without spider-sense or combat training, Harry struggled against the spider-limb men.
Facing their onslaught, Harry was quickly knocked down.
"Hello, JARVIS here. Installing combat assistance program…" Fortunately, Peter had asked JARVIS for help. JARVIS hacked into the Green Goblin armor, adding necessary upgrades, giving Harry some combat capabilities.
Though this didn't enable Harry to defeat the spider-limb men, it allowed him to hold them off, provided Peter handled the rest.
But Peter wasn't doing well enough. Initially, he could fend off the giant spider and spider-limb men, but Richard grew impatient as time passed without subduing Peter.
"Buzz!" Richard manipulated the strange substance again, causing the giant spider's patterns to pulse with power. It reluctantly released its strange energy.
This time, the energy wasn't just disorienting; it solidified, lunging at Peter.
Peter's brief disorientation passed quickly, but he couldn't avoid the solidified patterns. They engulfed him, merging into his flesh, making him lose control of his body.
"What's happening?" Peter tried to speak but found himself voiceless. He felt his spider powers return, stronger than ever.
But he couldn't control his body, watching helplessly as it stood motionless.
"Boom!"
"Thud!"
As Peter lost control, two spider-limb men attacked, one punching him away, another impaling him with spider limbs.
"Drip!"
"Drip!"
Peter's blood pooled on the ground as Richard's furious voice echoed, "What are you idiots doing?! Why attack him? Don't you know he's immobilized?"
Previously, the spider-limb men wouldn't have attacked Peter post-control. But now, their enhanced state led to disobedience, with some targeting Harry and others Peter out of residual grudge.
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
As Richard raged, Peter's body moved, shooting two spider-silk spears that impaled the attacking spider-limb men.
Peter watched in horror as their bodies dried up, crumbling to dust.
Simultaneously, Peter felt a surge of strength as his body absorbed their essence, growing more powerful.
Peter realized his body was feeding on the spider-limb men, horrified by this grotesque transformation, yet powerless to stop it.
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