Venom, a New Form

Inside the sealed manufacturing plant.

It was late at night. The workers had all gone home to sleep, and fortunately, that was why they had avoided being caught up in tonight’s battle.

The enormous production floor was divided into three levels by iron scaffolding. Some of the machinery had just been smashed by Kyle, spitting bright sparks and black smoke.

Thud, thud, thud!

The factory floor trembled faintly as the dark-green giant charged in recklessly. His oily green eyes swept over the surroundings, as if searching every corner for someone’s trail.

Whoosh—

A faint black shadow flashed past on the left. Hulk casually tore off a section of iron scaffolding and hurled it over. It missed the shadow by a hair and crashed into a glass rack behind it, followed by a chorus of shattering glass.

The black shadow vanished again, silently blending into the darkness.

Roar!

Hulk let out an impatient growl. Spotting a gas tank ahead, he walked over and gripped its front underside with both hands, yanking out the gigantic cylindrical tank—seven meters long, two meters in radius, and weighing over ten tons—as if it were a weapon.

With a shove from both palms, Hulk sent the enormous gas tank flying. It thundered across the floor, clearing out countless tightly packed machines and cover across nearly half the area.

Whoosh—

A black shadow seemed to be forced out from within, flickering once in the darkness. Hulk’s senses were incredibly sharp. With a low roar, he immediately sprinted into that patch of shadow.

As he approached, black whips twisted and interwove within the shadows, reflecting a dim gleam. Using the factory’s iron pillars and beams, they had vaguely formed a half-finished net.

Only after Hulk stepped into the trap did a pair of eerily crimson eyes flash from the third-floor ceiling above him.

"Close the net!"

Kyle had been standing upside down on the ceiling. He suddenly kicked off and dove toward the ground, violently yanking down on the whips in both hands and drawing tight the net that had already been woven from them.

Hulk roared in fury. Tough black whips wrapped around his hands, waist, and neck, tightening fiercely under the force poured into them!

Kyle had never intended to subdue Hulk with the whips. As long as he could briefly restrict Hulk’s movements, he could bring the battle back under his control!

"Try this!"

His crimson tongue licked across his lips. A powerful burst of air exploded beneath his feet as he pulled on the whips for leverage. At the same time, he used Aerial Sprint to burst forward. Riding the momentum of his body, he drove his knee viciously into Hulk’s face.

This knee strike perfectly combined three sources of leverage, pushing his physical strength to its limit!

Kyle’s expression changed slightly. His knee felt as though it had struck vibranium harder than steel. Hulk’s body did not budge in the slightest; his head merely tilted to the left as green blood trickled from his nose. The massive impact left him slightly dazed.

But that was all. They were merely superficial injuries. Not only were they insufficient to wrest victory back from Hulk, they made him even angrier and more violent!

Hulk stared at Kyle nearby, fury blazing in his dark-green eyes. As his thick arms exerted force, the tough whips gradually began to snap.

Kyle showed no fear. Seizing the moment, he quickly pulled back his knee. His left hand maintained the whip restraint, while his raised right hand had already transformed into a sharp blade that slashed swiftly and powerfully down at Hulk’s forehead!

The blade gleamed as it touched Hulk’s brow, cutting a rather deep, long wound. Sickening green blood flowed steadily down from it!

Roar!

Hulk bellowed furiously. All the restraining whips snapped completely. His freed hands rose, and with a single punch, he sent Kyle flying!

Bang!

With a dull crash, Kyle struck the gas tank back-first, his body arched. The giant tank’s steel casing caved inward and twisted until it was nearly broken in two.

"Master, it seems we can’t beat him…"

Venom’s bitter voice sounded in Kyle’s mind, utterly devoid of its earlier confidence.

"Cut the nonsense and think of something." Kyle sucked in a cold breath. He was embedded in the gas tank in a spread-eagle position, with two ribs slightly fractured in his chest. Fortunately, they quickly healed under the Healing Factor.

But while he healed, the wounds on Hulk’s body were gradually healing as well.

Venom had nearly exhausted all the moves available in its full-body coverage state. If they still proved ineffective, Kyle could only rely on his Divine Body to wield Fire God Power in battle.

"Stall for time. I still have one move left!" Venom answered quickly.

No one noticed that the puddles of black liquid formed from the shattered whips on the ground around Hulk suddenly began moving with intent.

The black liquid slid up Hulk’s leg and slipped into the wound on his neck in the final second before it healed.

"You said it."

Kyle braced both hands against the gas tank’s casing and forced apart the warped steel. But before he could stand, a massive shadow enveloped him.

Kyle raised his head slightly and met Hulk’s gaze. Hulk bared his teeth and growled at him furiously, lifting one bare foot.

Bang!

Kyle’s body shot diagonally upward like a black rubber ball, smashing through the iron scaffolding on the second and third floors before breaking through the factory’s ceiling.

Still airborne, Kyle spread wings from his back and finally came to a halt in midair as if braking. Venom’s liquid dripped from his body like rain.

"Venom, how long do you need me to stall? I’m really about to lose my temper!" Kyle said in a low voice.

His unawakened Divine Body, unable to use divine power, was still far too passive against an extremely enraged Hulk.

"Just a little more…"

Before Venom could finish, Kyle’s pupils contracted. The factory roof below suddenly burst apart as Hulk shot straight toward him like a rocket.

Kyle had just wanted to beat his wings and evade, but Hulk was too fast. By the time he reacted, Hulk’s left hand had already grabbed one of his feet.

It’s over.

That thought surfaced in Kyle’s mind. With Hulk gripping his ankle, he found it difficult to break free for the moment. All he could do was fall freely with Hulk, dragged toward the factory below.

The wind howled past him. In his field of vision, the distance between his body and the factory below rapidly shrank.

Under the pressure of danger, golden flames appeared in Kyle’s eyes, causing the Venom mask on his face to melt away like frost.

Just before Kyle could no longer restrain himself from retracting Venom and releasing his divine power, Venom’s excited prompt suddenly rang through his mind. "It’s done!"

As if following those words, droplets of viscous black liquid emerged from Hulk’s body and returned to Venom’s main body on Kyle’s surface, filling in the portions of the Venom mask that had melted away.

Kyle froze for a moment. The fingers of his left hand slowly curled into a fist as the black shell over his entire arm rapidly expanded and hardened, soon forming a massive fist resembling an iron hammer.

The strength throughout his entire body was mobilized and brought under control, concentrated upon his hammer-like left fist.

At the instant before he hit the ground, Kyle instinctively threw a punch, slamming it into Hulk’s solid chest nearby.

The power he had built up poured out in a satisfying torrent, like floodwaters bursting through a dam!

The next moment.

Hulk released his grip in pain. His enormous body was thrown high into the air, as though struck by a speeding maglev train, before smashing and rolling across the ground and gouging out a trail twenty to thirty meters long!