"BOOM!"
Like a spear of thunder struck down by a god!
Blinding light struck Animo from the sky—
The air, burning from high-speed friction, ignited around his body.
Falling from tens of thousands of meters, even Animo's current body couldn't withstand it.
He desperately spread his wings, but the violently rushing wind almost tore them off!
The flames also scorched them black!
But no matter what, spreading his wings did slow Animo's descent. He also used his wings to adjust his direction, aiming himself at the Confluence of Three Rivers.
The lake there was extremely deep, which could help him alleviate some of the impact force.
And once he entered the river, he would have a chance to escape again.
But how could Ben let him succeed?
He brought his feet together, pushed his arms back, and flames erupted from his soles and arms.
As the flames sprayed backward, a tremendous force pushed him forward. This propulsion was immense, the energy generated by the flames was even enough to send a rocket into space!
"BOOM!"
At this moment, Ben was like a fiery meteor, chasing in the direction Animo was falling.
He started later but arrived first, catching up to Animo in the blink of an eye.
He raised an arm and shot out another laser!
"SWISH!"
The laser instantly pierced the membrane of the bat wings on Animo's back.
Now, only a pair of empty bone frames remained, and the wings could no longer support Animo's glide.
He had the ability to restore them, but restoration took time.
What he lacked most right now was time.
For a person falling from ten thousand meters, it only takes 190 seconds to hit the ground.
And that's under freefall conditions. Don't forget, Animo was shot down by Ben!
Now, he didn't have time to regrow his wings. The dark water was right in front of him—
"SPLASH!!!"
Animo plunged directly into the lake. The surface tension made him feel as if he had hit concrete.
Instantly, a pillar of water shot up into the sky!
It then fell back down like heavy rain, stirring up huge waves on the wide lake, almost capsizing a cargo ship and a pleasure boat not far away!
The powerful impact almost shattered all his bones and ruptured his internal organs in an instant!
But he wasn't dead yet.
His physique was several times stronger than Connors', and the healing ability of the Lizard Serum was therefore more pronounced.
Animo quickly regained consciousness. Although his body felt like it was about to shatter, he still desperately tried to move.
The only way out now was to escape.
But he couldn't escape!
"Splash!"
Ben didn't hesitate and plunged directly into the river with a dive.
"HISS—"
The high temperature of his body instantly caused the surrounding lake water to boil, bubbling and gurgling.
The fish that happened to be near him were instantly cooked.
Fish: We're old friends!
Contrary to what many people might think, Heatblast actually doesn't fear water.
Water doesn't take his life; he can even breathe and speak underwater.
However, it must be admitted that water has a high specific heat capacity. In water, his heat is constantly being absorbed, which does limit his abilities.
Fortunately...
"Life Lock Mode, disengaged."
Ben's gaze fixed on Animo, who was trying to escape, and he coldly pressed the core of the Little Broken Watch on his chest.
With Peter's help, Ben gained partial central control of the Little Broken Watch. In reality, he only did three things.
First, fair...
No, One is the Life Lock Mode, and the second is transformation switching.
This way, he can use the Little Broken Watch more flexibly in combat.
For underwater combat, naturally—
"Ripjaws!"
In an instant, the flames on Ben's body faded, and his lava-like body disappeared. In its place was cold, grayish-green skin.
His head now looked like an Earth fish, with a bioluminescent organ on top.
Webbing was present between the claws of his hands.
His lower body was a fish tail, like a mermaid's.
He looked like a mermaid, albeit a sewer version after drinking too much nuclear wastewater.
Ripjaws are Piscciss Volann.
And Piscciss is a planet made of water, where aquatic combat is their forte.
Although Ripjaws' physical abilities aren't overwhelmingly powerful, they do have something to be proud of.
That would be their powerful bite force and sturdy teeth.
Ordinary steel is more brittle than tofu in front of their teeth.
Even Tony's titanium Battle Armor is no match.
At this moment, watching Animo gradually swim away, Ben, wagging his tail, charged after him.
In the water, he was faster than a torpedo!
At this moment, Animo, who had already swum into the deep water zone, had his vision enveloped by darkness.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
The deeper the darkness, the more it meant that the Heatblast wouldn't appear again.
And the temperature here had also dropped.
Although he was closer to being a cold-blooded animal and preferred warmer environments, that Heatblast's temperature was a bit too much!
The cold lake water now put him at ease.
"He's hidden in the lake, he won't be able to catch me anymore," Animo thought.
"That detestable guy, next time, I'll definitely kill him!"
"You won't get a next time, Animo!"
A voice echoed.
Animo startled and quickly turned to look.
He saw a white splash of water rapidly cutting through the dark lake water, flying towards him like an arrow!
Ben immediately grabbed Animo, opening his massive maw. The mouth, splitting all the way to the back of his head, nearly took his entire head off.
Snap!
His sharp fangs pierced Animo's skin, tearing off a chunk of flesh!
"Ah—"
Animo roared in pain, lake water flooding his nasal cavity.
In reality, unless Ben gnawed off Animo's entire body, this injury would only be a superficial wound for Animo.
However, Ben's goal wasn't to kill him immediately.
He pulled out a vial of serum and forcefully injected it into Animo's wound.
The antidote for the Lizard Serum spread throughout Animo's body, crushing any hope he had of counterattacking once he recovered to a certain extent.
Without the effect of the Lizard Serum, his healing ability had significantly decreased.
Ben grabbed the horn on Animo's head and, carrying him, swam all the way to the sewer outlet before rushing in.
Once on shore, Ben deactivated his transformation.
On land, Ripjaws' strength was only enough to lift objects equivalent to his own weight.
Animo now weighed several tons, so Ben had to deactivate his transformation to drag him away.
At this moment, the third function of the Little Broken Watch, after being cracked, was revealed—it entered calibration mode, and its appearance changed.
The Little Broken Watch had now transformed into the style of a regular wristwatch, with the hourglass symbol no longer being obvious on the outside.
In truth, Ben preferred the watch's original design, but its symbol was too conspicuous. With the recent events, the alien hero would surely be investigated by S.H.I.E.L.D., and Ben didn't want to cause himself trouble.
However, it was somewhat regrettable that although the watch's appearance had changed through calibration mode, he hadn't acquired a new hero for the time being.
"You think you've won?"
Although Animo had lost, he was still defiant, or rather, he had a contingency plan.
"Hehehe, guess where my Gene Variator went?"
Ben glanced at him. From the start of the battle until now, Animo hadn't been wearing a variometer.
"I've combined the variometer and the Canary Device into one. It won't be long before it activates and fires mutation rays across all of New York!"
"By then, everyone will become a mutant!"
"I haven't lost yet!" he exclaimed excitedly.
He even longed to see a look of frustration on Ben's face.
But Ben was unexpectedly calm.
"Is that so? Then guess what, where did Dr. Connors go?"
Ben retorted.
Animo froze.
Not long ago, also in the sewer.
Before the operation, he had already assigned tasks to Peter and Connors.
Peter originally wanted to act with Ben, but Ben ordered him back to Queens to protect Uncle Ben and Aunt May in case anything happened to them.
Since Connors had said he could operate a variometer, Ben sent him out to disable Animo's device.
At this point, Animo completely lost his will to fight.
Before long, Dinosaur Connors returned, carrying a massive instrument.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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