Swinging through Manhattan, Peter saw more and more symbiotes appearing as he searched for survivors. Tony and Hank's upgraded Ultron Mark III robots had already rescued many ordinary people who had been bonded with symbiotes, bringing them to the Baxter Building or Avengers Tower for temporary refuge. However, it was impossible to tell from their appearance alone whether the symbiote grunt soldiers were created by bonding with ordinary people or were just simple symbiote monsters, so the speed of rescuing civilians had slowed down considerably.
After just one night, Knull had created a lot of symbiote friends for himself in Manhattan. There were short yellow ones that looked like Phage, which were the bruisers. There were purple ones that looked like Scream, which were the agile grunts. There were green ones that looked like Lasher, which were the ranged attackers. And there were the gray ones that were immune to fire and sound, which looked like Riot—the elite soldiers. Because Knull had only retrieved Riot's codex, the other three types of symbiotes only resembled their originals in appearance and lacked any special abilities.
Oh, and there were the most common ones, the black grunts that looked like Venom. They had no special characteristics and were as common as stray dogs on the streets.
[Knull is mocking me.]
"Really? I'm not sure he would even think about minor characters like us—whoa!"
The green symbiote grunts on the rooftops of the buildings on both sides, who only attacked with whips from their backs, tried to attack Peter. He nimbly dodged them in mid-air. Suddenly, a mass of sticky symbiote material welled up from a nearby wall, and Knull himself emerged from it.
"My child."
"Sorry, we don't recognize you as our ancestor. I don't, and neither does Venom."
Peter fired a web at Knull's face, but the web was completely disintegrated before it even reached him. Peter quickly landed on a wall and narrowed his eyes, staring at Knull. This is great, Peter. The supervillain is right in front of you. Take the opportunity to ask him what he's up to.
"You're probably confused, or maybe all the guardians of this planet are confused. Why I haven't done anything other than expand my army."
"So, will you be kind enough to enlighten me?"
"I'm testing."
Knull smiled, looking at Peter. "Testing your limits. I need to know how big of a threat I need to become before you decide to destroy me."
"Or maybe not. We already know that killing the symbiote dragon is the only way to revive you completely."
Knull let out a hoarse, dry laugh, then looked at Peter with a look of provocation. Yes, you know. But so what?
Once Knull became powerful enough, they would still have to choose to fight him to the death. If Knull won, he would conquer the entire universe starting from Earth. If he lost, the only way for the people of Earth to defeat him would be to kill Grendel. Either way, they would still be doomed.
"Yes, but you might be spared. I've rarely seen a being like you who can merge so seamlessly with my living abyss. Submit to me, and I can preserve your consciousness to accompany me until this world returns to nothingness."
"Ah, there's always one downside to fighting so many villains." Peter said, as he launched a flying kick at Knull.
"And that's having to listen to the same rubbish over and over again!"
Knull lightly blocked the flying kick with his telekinesis and tossed Peter aside. Since they were fighting on a wall, Peter went into a freefall toward the street below. But he immediately shot a web and swung back toward Knull.
Knull sighed, looking helplessly at the Spider-Man rushing toward him.
"You really are… pathetically foolish."
"Oh? Is that right?"
Peter's right hand touched the bracelet on his left wrist, and in an instant, he pulled out the Dragonfang Sword. To Knull's shock, he had already plunged the Dragonfang Sword into his chest. This time, Knull's defenses had no effect. Knull looked at Peter with surprise, then his expression turned to one of confusion.
Doesn't this person worry about killing me?
That's right, he must have realized that the one he really needs to deal with isn't a Knull clone, but Grendel.
Knull smiled, swatted Peter away, and before his body dissipated, he told Spider-Man his plan.
"The reason I've been waiting is simple. You self-proclaimed guardians have saved a lot of people, haven't you?"
"That's the place you will definitely protect. The place that will force all of you out."
With Knull's last words before his body vanished, a monstrous roar echoed from the port on Manhattan's West Side. The massive black symbiote dragon spread its gigantic wings, announcing its resurrection, and then headed toward the two strongholds—Avengers Tower and the Baxter Building.
"Captain, this is Spider-Man. I ran into Knull. His goal is to attack the shelters after we've gathered all the survivors. He wants us to decide whether or not to kill him."
Peter sighed after he finished, then saw a vintage car speeding down a street in Manhattan already overrun with symbiotes. Behind it was a huge mob of gray symbiotes that were immune to sonic attacks. On a large screen nearby, the Daily Bugle's live broadcast was still playing.
"I'm being chased by these wretched, shameless alien invaders! But don't you worry, my friends! Old J. Jonah will fight with you to the end!"
"It seems even aliens can't stand J. Jonah Jameson's mouth. They've sent so many people after him." Peter shrugged helplessly, then swung on a web and landed directly in the back seat of Jameson's vintage convertible. He punched an elite symbiote grunt that had jumped onto the car, sending it flying.
"Morning, Jonah. Just hitching a ride."
Peter said, and then punched another elite grunt that leaped at them. J. Jonah Jameson looked up, surprised to see Spider-Man had saved him. "Oh, you... Spider-Man? My god, you're alive? Did you switch back to your old suit?"
"Of course I'm alive, and... this is a brand new design."
"Where are the Avengers?!"
"They're discussing a plan. Only those who are immune to symbiote bonding can fight, so we don't increase the enemy's forces." Peter said, as he took care of all the grunts. However, a unique individual appeared behind them.
Riot stomped toward them.
"Spider-Man! Die!"