The moment she was caught by the "stranger," Gwen felt completely uncomfortable!
Without a second thought, she forcibly broke free from his embrace.
But just as she landed, she heard his somewhat playful and lazy assessment... "You're terrible!"
These words were like a heavy hammer, smashing hard against Gwen's fragile self-esteem.
Frustrated!
So frustrated!
Yet, she couldn't even talk back.
After all... her performance just now really was terrible.
After finally steadying herself, Gwen looked back at Peter and asked rather crossly:
"Who... who are you?!"
Facing Gwen's questioning, Peter hesitated for a moment before speaking in a deep, magnetic voice:
"You can call me... 'The Punisher'!"
This was a title he had come up with on the spot; it was much better than "dock butcher" or anything like that... After saying this, Peter suddenly tilted his head.
An Impact flew past his cheek at just the right moment, hitting the bank wall and blasting a huge hole in it.
Glancing at the furious Shocker not far away, Peter spoke to Gwen somewhat lazily:
"Watch closely, rookie."
"Let me show you what a real hero should do!"
... "Shocker" Herman Schultz was completely enraged.
First, some strange girl in a black-and-white bodysuit had appeared out of nowhere.
Now, another guy in a black-and-red suit had popped up.
Since when did New York have so many cosplay enthusiasts?
Or was it that everyone took him for a pushover?
Did they really think My Lord Shocker, the future King of Bank Robbers, had no pride?!
"Everyone, get the hell out of my way!"
Shocker roared, pointing his massive metal gauntlets at Peter and activating the energy again without hesitation.
Buzz—!
Another invisible Impact distorted the air, carrying destructive power as it blasted toward Peter in an instant!
"Watch out!"
Gwen instinctively wanted to shout a warning.
But before she could speak, Peter had already stepped aside, precisely dodging the Impact fired by Shocker once again.
Bang!
Another loud bang followed as the reinforced concrete pillar behind Peter instantly spiderwebbed with countless cracks, filling the air with dust.
Such fast reflexes!
Gwen couldn't help but marvel inwardly.
Shocker was even more stunned; as an ordinary human, he hadn't seen how the other person dodged at all!
"Bastard!"
Shocker cursed angrily, thrusting both hands forward and frantically unleashing Impacts toward Peter.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
Ripples of invisible death raged through the bank lobby, shattering the marble floors and counters.
However, Peter, at the center of the storm, remained as relaxed as if he were taking a stroll in a courtyard.
His figure wove through the dense network of Impacts, each dodge perfectly timed, forming a stark contrast to Gwen's previous frantic struggling.
"Finished playing yet?"
After dodging another Impact, Peter grew completely tired of the boring game of evasion.
He pushed off hard, lunging forward like an arrow from a bow, reaching Shocker in an instant!
Too fast!
Shocker only saw a blur before a black-and-red afterimage broke through his fire suppression!
He instinctively tried to retreat to gain distance from Peter, but that was pure fantasy.
Before Shocker could make a move, a hand in a black-and-red glove clamped onto his neck like an iron pincer.
In the next second, a surge of immense power struck.
Shocker felt his feet leave the ground as the whole World began to spin.
Bang!
With a dull thud, Peter slammed him onto the floor like a dead dog, his body making intimate contact with the cold, hard marble.
Slammed heavily onto the ground, Shocker felt like his internal organs had shifted, and a metallic sweetness rose in his throat.
If he hadn't been wearing a suit designed to absorb kinetic energy, he probably would have been slammed to death on the spot.
The moment he realized this, his survival instinct overrode everything else!
"Die!"
A hint of madness flashed in Shocker's eyes. Disregarding everything, he cranked his gauntlets to maximum power and unleashed his strongest vibration directly at Peter, who was right in front of him!
He had tested it at an abandoned construction site; this maximum-power shockwave could even collapse an unfinished building instantly!
Buzz—!!!
A visible, extremely violent ripple of energy erupted suddenly, centered on Shocker's body!
The terrifying Impact instantly covered the entire bank lobby!
The innocent staff and customers crouching in the distance with their heads covered couldn't help but double over and vomit under the influence of the terrifying shockwave; some even bled from their noses and mouths, fainting on the spot.
Gwen was also pushed back repeatedly by the aftershock, feeling a tightness in her chest.
She looked at the center of the Impact with a horrified expression.
That guy called "The Punisher" had taken the full force of the strongest attack at point-blank range!
He's dead for sure!
The thought flashed through the minds of both Gwen and Shocker almost simultaneously.
However, reality gave them a resounding slap in the face.
Facing Shocker's maximum-output Impact, Peter's figure only swayed slightly, but the hand gripping Shocker's neck didn't loosen in the slightest!
"How... how is this possible?!"
Shocker's eyes nearly popped out of his head, his face filled with disbelief.
A maximum-output Impact capable of destroying an entire building was actually tanked by a body of flesh and blood?!
Is this guy even human?!
What neither of them knew was that against Shocker, Peter had at least three layers of protection.
First was the Chakra defense!
The moment he sensed Shocker's movement, Peter controlled his Chakra to cover his body and manipulated it to fluctuate rapidly, canceling out the vibrations acting on him and forming the first layer of cushioning.
Then there was his Superman physique, modified by the lizard serum.
One must know that in the original story, Dr. Lizard's strength and defense were far superior to Spider-Man's.
Spider-Man's two encounters with Dr. Lizard were only won by luck after using a serum to force Dr. Lizard back into human form.
Although Peter's lizard serum had lost the tail and scales under the purifying effect of the horse talisman, the enhancements in other areas hadn't diminished at all—in fact, they had reached a new level.
Under these circumstances, using his physical body to withstand an Impact that had already been weakened once was naturally no problem.
Finally, and most importantly, were the healing abilities provided by the horse talisman and the lizard serum itself.
The combination of these two self-healing abilities meant that the moment Peter was injured by the Impact, he was instantly restored to full health.
The final result of the three layers of protection was that Peter easily tanked the maximum-output Impact completely unscathed!
"If you're done playing, it's my turn!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Peter, still holding Shocker's neck with one hand, gave Shocker's hands a gentle squeeze with the other.
Crack~
After a series of cringeworthy bone-snapping sounds, all of Shocker's fingers were broken by Peter, and the continuous output of Impacts came to an abrupt halt...