From a third-party’s point of view, at least up to this moment, Watanabe Gengo was clearly winning this exchange.

He’d knocked aside the wolf spider’s sudden thrust, and his fist was about to smash straight into the wolf spider’s face.

At least, for that one second, it looked that way.

But in the very next second, the wolf spider had already flipped his blocked dagger, deftly tossing it into his other hand—and that hand was now less than twenty centimeters from Watanabe Gengo’s throat.

It all happened in just a blink.

The wolf spider’s dagger carved a deep, wide gash across Watanabe Gengo’s throat. There was no doubt: the deadly venom of the Australian box jellyfish coating the blade had already entered his system. Within thirty seconds, this stranger who had suddenly appeared in the wolf spider’s path would become a corpse.

As for Watanabe Gengo’s punch—even though this was the wolf spider’s first time fighting him, that brief contact was more than enough. If that punch landed, there was no way he’d walk away without several broken bones.

In this fight where every second mattered, the wolf spider had been prepared to take that punch head‑on, to trade severe injuries for Watanabe Gengo’s life.

But then, he realized he was wrong.

Watanabe Gengo never threw that punch.

The wolf spider’s plan had been to borrow the force of that punch to tear himself free from Watanabe Gengo’s range.

But that expected punch never came.

The heavy blow Watanabe Gengo had been winding up, that strike carrying all his weight, changed mid‑swing—from a fist into a clawing grip.

At the exact moment the wolf spider cut open Watanabe Gengo’s throat, Watanabe Gengo’s right hand closed around the wolf spider’s neck.

The sudden shift honestly startled the wolf spider, but he quickly calmed down. He knew this hand squeezing his throat would lose its strength in a few dozen seconds and fall away, along with its owner, collapsing to the ground.

Even though his own throat was being crushed so hard he couldn’t breathe, the wolf spider, who had clawed his way back from the brink of death more than once, could face this kind of situation with composure.

Relax. Don’t force yourself to breathe. Just wait, quietly.

While he waited, the wolf spider replayed their brief clash in his mind, and found himself deeply respecting this unknown man.

What he respected was Watanabe Gengo’s reaction speed and judgment. If Watanabe Gengo had answered with a straight punch, the wolf spider would have pulled off his clean disengage. After that, all he’d need to do was stand aside and watch Watanabe Gengo slowly die.

And with one leg already crippled, plus the poison in his body, Watanabe Gengo would never get another chance to close in on the wolf spider.

Yes—only in this very first, and also only, exchange could he grab the wolf spider and deal a fatal blow. That was the only way Watanabe Gengo had any chance of winning.

A strategy that normally needed careful planning, Watanabe Gengo completed in the instant they crossed paths. That kind of reaction speed and sharp decision‑making drew sincere admiration from the wolf spider.

But that was as far as it went.

—If your body were in better shape, maybe our fight would’ve been much more spectacular. Maybe the one dying here today would’ve been me.

Held aloft by Watanabe Gengo’s single hand, fingers locked tight around his neck, the wolf spider looked down at him from above.

He watched the rage blazing in Watanabe Gengo’s eyes slowly dim, watched the bloodshot veins spread, watched those eyes step by step sink toward death.