In the eyes of Natasha, Barton, and others, Russell appeared exactly like Steve Rogers, dressed as Captain America, and had the same appearance as an ordinary Earth human. Moreover, he was a human wearing a uniform with a classic American muscular build.
But in Knull's eyes, the Russell he saw was completely different.
Firstly, he noticed that the uniform covering Russell's body was a result of symbiote transformation.
As the creator of the symbiote race, Knull had quite an eye for this.
However, he soon realized that something was amiss.
At first glance, Russell seemed to be possessed by a symbiote and using its shapeshifting abilities to disguise himself as someone else.
But Knull quickly identified the differences.
There were no symbiotes he had created on Russell's body.
In Knull's perception, the current Russell appeared both symbiote and human.
Or to put it another way, he seemed to be a human with symbiote abilities.
Seeing Russell, who looked completely different from other symbiotes, Knull inside Grendel was puzzled.
Had the symbiote race evolved to this point?
Knull remembered that the Grendel he possessed had been encased in ice, but he had no idea how long Grendel had been frozen.
After Grendel was frozen, he had fallen into a slumber.
He had only awakened again when Grendel himself woke up.
After casting a few glances at Russell, Knull decided to first understand the situation in front of him.
Under his control, the massive Grendel began to move.
He didn't let Grendel leave his spot, nor did he make Grendel take flight.
Several black tentacles, like those of an octopus, emerged instantaneously from Grendel's mountain-like body.
These black tentacles reached the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Hydra soldiers in front of them as quickly as octopus tentacles.
Without giving these S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Hydra soldiers any time to react, the adult-sized black tentacles bound them tightly.
In the next moment, these octopus-like black tentacles merged with these people.
Possession!
Although Knull was a God of darkness, in his current state of having no physical body and only a soul, he could only use the abilities inherent to Grendel.
Once the black tentacles possessed these individuals, Knull immediately accessed their memories.
In a matter of seconds, Knull figured out what was happening in front of him.
S.H.I.E.L.D., symbiote agents, Hydra, Superhero Serum...
In the memories of those Hydra soldiers, Knull found information related to Russell.
When he left New York, Russell hadn't hidden his identity.
Although he hadn't spoken to these Hydra soldiers, they still recognized him.
There was no way they wouldn't recognize him.
Over the past few months, he had become a figure of note not only in New York but in the entire United States.
Superhero Serum, Octopus Monster Industries and Laboratory founder, inventor of the Zaku battle armor...
Russell's reputation in human society had far surpassed the reputation he had built in the underground world over the past few years.
But this was normal; after all, regular human society was the mainstream society.
When Grendel's black tentacles surged forth, Russell knew exactly what Knull was plotting.
The possession through the black tentacles was clear proof of that.
Even if Knull was an God of darkness who had been dormant for who knows how many years, just like an ordinary human, when he woke up and found himself in an unfamiliar scene, he would immediately try to understand what was happening.
Seeing Knull reading the memories of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Hydra soldiers, Russell approached Bakshi and calmly said, "Get ready to run. This big guy in front of us isn't easy to deal with!"
"Run?"
Bakshi hadn't expected that when Russell came over to him, it was to say these words.
Just as Bakshi was about to ask what they should do next, Russell did something that left him dumbfounded.
After saying that, Russell didn't hesitate at all; he turned around and started running.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished from the laboratory.
This...
Seeing Russell turn and run without any hesitation, Bakshi ordered the surviving Hydra soldiers to retreat.
Although Bakshi didn't know why Russell was running, he was certain of one thing: if Russell said this symbiote dragon was difficult to deal with, then it was definitely not easy to deal with.
Bakshi didn't have much combat experience, but he wasn't foolish either.
After Russell left the laboratory first, Bakshi and his team also left the laboratory swiftly.
In just a short while, only Natasha, Barton, and others were left in the laboratory, along with the unfortunate individuals who had been possessed by Grendel.
While the Hydra personnel could retreat as invaders, Natasha, Barton, and their group couldn't.
Just as Natasha, Barton, and the others were planning to use the symbiote agents they had retrieved to deal with the suddenly awakened Grendel, Grendel spread his massive wings.
With a gentle flap, the laboratory was filled with hurricane-like gusts of wind.
As the strong wind surged, Grendel's massive body took flight.
Knull didn't immediately attack Natasha, Barton, and others.
Instead of attacking them right away, Knull was more eager to leave the massive laboratory that felt oppressive to him.
For humans, this laboratory was incredibly large, almost like a football field.
However, for Knull, the laboratory felt excessively cramped.
If Knull was controlling his own body, he wouldn't feel suppressed.
But the problem was, he was currently controlling Grendel's massive body.
The sturdy ceiling seemed as fragile as a cake in the face of Grendel's enormous form.
Without much effort, Knull manipulated Grendel to fly thousands of meters into the air.
After leaving the laboratory, Knull severed the five or six black tentacles that had possessed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Hydra soldiers, converting them into second-generation symbiotes.
Under the influence of gravity, these S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Hydra soldiers fell toward the ground like meteors.
As they plummeted at extreme speeds, their bodies visibly transformed.
In just two or three seconds, they turned into something resembling Venom.
Just as these black tentacles transformed into second-generation symbiotes, Knull was about to use a mental connection to command these symbiotes, but he remembered some not-so-pleasant scenes.
He recalled Grendel, the body he possessed, being brutally beaten by a golden-haired figure wielding a hammer and surrounded by lightning.
The God of Thunder, Thor!
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