Chapter 357: Chapter 357: Mecha Duel!
"Hmm?" Just as the security personnel at Stark Industries below were confused, not knowing what was happening, Ivan, who had broken into the Stark Industries building, also furrowed his brow. Although he had located Pepper, he was taken aback to see her donning a suit of armor—an outcome Ivan hadn't anticipated. He even felt that things were slipping out of his control!
Especially since there was another suit of armor next to Pepper, Ivan was clueless about who could be inside it.
"Tony Stark?" Ivan looked towards the other suit of armor and tentatively called out, while the mechs under his command surrounded the two armors.
"Yes, it's me!" Tony Stark's voice came from within that suit of armor. "Ivan, right? You actually showed up here. Where's Obadiah? How much value did you create for him that he'd let you come to kill me?"
"Eh? You actually know about my collaboration with him?" A flicker of surprise passed through Ivan's eyes, followed by a cold laugh. "Well, our partnership has ended, and I'm sorry I didn't bring his whole corpse, but I'll send you to meet him!"
"Swish!" As Ivan's words fell, his mech's hand flung a whip filled with thunder and energy. Despite having a substantial R&D budget, Ivan had retained his distinctive energy whip from before, perhaps as a final act of defiance as the 'Mourning Whip'.
Of course, Ivan chose this attack method because it really suited him better, since he was an excellent athlete and particularly skilled with whips. Moreover, combined with a powerful propulsion system, Ivan's energy whip had tremendous force and control.
"Snap!" At the moment the whip was lashed out, the two mechs in front dodged, allowing Ivan's strike to miss entirely. It not only shattered a desk on the spot but also cut through a nearby wall, door, and the floor, leaving the employees of Stark Industries on the floor below somewhat perplexed, not quite understanding what was happening in the executive office above.
"Snap!"
"Snap!"
"Snap!"
And Ivan's attack was just the beginning. The surrounding mechs also launched their attacks. Pepper and Yinsen, inside the mechs, had no experience in controlling them, so Jarvis had been helping them all along.
Even with Jarvis's superior computing power, it didn't mean Yinsen and Pepper could dodge all attacks. After some evasion, Yinsen's armor was bound by Ivan's whip on the spot. The outer electricity damaged the armor's surface and pulled Yinsen towards Ivan.
"No way, you're not Tony Stark! How could Tony Stark be as weak as you?" However, after capturing Yinsen, Ivan showed no joy, even his voice carried a hint of anger.
Because Ivan was sure, the person who couldn't control the armor properly in front of him was definitely not Tony Stark. If Tony Stark was only at this level, he wouldn't qualify as Ivan's adversary!
"Snap!"
"Snap!"
As Ivan's words fell, the surrounding mechs also controlled the whips to strike Yinsen's armor. Facing bullets and even cannonballs was manageable for the armor, but it seemed particularly fragile against Ivan's whip. Even though this set was not a portable armor, it wasn't the latest from Tony Stark either, its defensive capabilities were quite limited.
Facing successive attacks, the armor quickly became battered, revealing the somewhat panicked and clearly scholarly-looking Yinsen inside.
"Boom!" Just as Ivan controlled the whip to kill Yinsen, Pepper decisively controlled her armor to counterattack. Compared to Yinsen, Pepper reacted faster, especially since she had some focus on armor capabilities and had better synergy with Jarvis.
With a muffled sound, Ivan was pushed back slightly, but Pepper's armor's firepower wasn't strong enough to cause significant damage to Ivan's armor.
This had to mention another advantage of Ivan's armor—its strong defense!
Apart from agility and speed, Ivan's armor outperformed Tony Stark's early armors in every aspect, which also fits the common stereotype of the Bear people...
"Weak and feeble, like a woman!" Ivan snorted coldly, controlling the surrounding mechs to attack Pepper while pulling Yinsen's body towards him, his voice cold as he looked at the flustered Yinsen. "What I said applies to both you and Tony Stark—you're like women! Next life, don't play with women anymore…"
"Whoosh!" Before Ivan could finish his sentence, a seemingly powerless, fine laser blasted onto Ivan's chest, but his armor was sent flying, dragging the battered Yinsen along.
"Damn!" Tony Stark, who had just arrived to attack, hadn't expected that his strike would unfold this way. He quickly flew towards Yinsen, knowing that with the current coverage of Yinsen's armor, once Ivan crashed into
the wall and Yinsen hit Ivan, it would mean Yinsen's instant death, especially given Yinsen's frail physique.
"Swish!" Tony Stark reacted swiftly, his flying speed even faster. With no civilians in the office, Tony Stark didn't need to restrain his speed or worry about inadvertently harming others. He quickly got between Yinsen and Ivan's mechs, conjuring a laser in his hand and slashing it across Ivan's whip.
"Crack! Crack!" Ivan's whip crackled with sparks, but Tony Stark's laser couldn't cut the whip on the spot. Tony Stark's expression changed as he quickly grabbed Ivan's whip, holding it on the spot while rapidly controlling the remnants of Yinsen's armor to help Yinsen escape.
"Hehe, Tony Stark, you finally showed up. But do you think you can save him?" At that moment, Ivan let out a screeching taunt, with the mechs simultaneously striking at Tony Stark and Yinsen. Now Tony Stark only had two choices: either dodge and watch helplessly as Yinsen, without the protection of the armor, was turned into mush, or help Yinsen withstand these attacks.
The answer was naturally clear. Earlier, upon detecting Ivan's presence, Tony Stark had both Yinsen and Pepper wear armors, intending for Yinsen to help protect Pepper. After all, Ivan might not know of Yinsen's existence, but he definitely knew about Pepper.
Now, Yinsen's mission was indeed completed. Pepper remained unharmed in the clash of armors, but Yinsen was plunged into crisis, and Tony Stark naturally couldn't just watch Yinsen die in front of him...
"Snap!"
"Snap!"
Thus, Tony Stark blocked the attacks from Ivan's army of mechs. The energy whips didn't directly break through Tony Stark's armor but left scorched marks on it while tightly wrapping around Tony Stark, the terrifying electricity explosively damaging Tony Stark's armor while continuously tearing at it.
Tony Stark's armor was indeed stronger than his previous ones, but in terms of defense, limited by the material, the armor's defensive strength had not made a qualitative leap. It was more powerful than before, even more durable than Ivan's level of armor, but it wasn't enough to completely ignore the opponent's attacks, especially when the attacks were so many and so dense...
Compared to the last time Ivan's whip struck Tony Stark's new armor without any damage or even breaking through the defense, this time Ivan's armor indeed posed a threat to Tony Stark!
"Jarvis!" However, faced with this situation, Tony Stark was not without a solution—that was to call Jarvis!
Ivan indeed had many mechs, but Tony Stark had even more!
Ivan's mech manufacturing was not sparing, so Obadiah's little wealth was quickly cleaned out by Ivan, and this was even after Ivan had helped Obadiah sell a batch of weapons, making some money. Only then did Ivan barely manage to build his own Iron Legion...
But Tony Stark was different. Tony Stark's wealth was not something Obadiah could match, especially with some special metal materials that Obadiah couldn't obtain. Especially now, with Stark Industries not under Obadiah's control, being able to buy a small portion from the black market was already quite good, and these materials limited the number of mechs Ivan could build!
So, all things considered, Tony Stark's armors were about three times more than Ivan's. That is, unless Ivan divided his mechs into three groups, all concentrated in one place, he could only match the number of mechs Tony Stark had now summoned...
"Snap!"
"Boom!"
"Bang!"
Various sounds continuously rang out, with Tony Stark's mechs pouncing on Ivan's mechs that were binding Tony Stark, then trapping them, not giving them a chance to continue attacking Tony Stark. At this moment, Tony Stark only needed to deal with Ivan alone.
"Jarvis, get them out first!" And Yinsen soon regained his freedom, breaking free from the armor and the whip. Under Jarvis's control, he slipped into another suit of armor and left the battlefield with Pepper, hovering in the sky to watch the ongoing battle between Tony Stark and Ivan.
Meanwhile, Pepper was also evacuating Stark Industries' employees. After all, with the destructive power of Tony Stark's armor in action, the entire Stark Industries building might not withstand it!
"Damn! Don't think that you can defeat me this way!" Ivan watched helplessly as Yinsen escaped from his grasp, while Tony Stark's armor only had a few more marks and no substantial damage. Anger surged in his heart, and his hand's whip burst out with strong electricity, dancing it around, trying to pull Tony Stark's armor up and regain freedom for his whip.
"Zzzzz!"
"Crack! Crack!"
The electricity spread over Tony Stark's armor, indeed causing some damage, but
Ivan's dancing whip couldn't break free from Tony Stark's grasp.
"You just said I was like a woman, right?" Tony Stark looked at Ivan with a cold laugh, disdainfully saying, "You made your armor so cumbersome, don't tell me you wanted to go the melee route with it? Well, let me show you just how ridiculous your path is!"
"Swish!" As Tony Stark's words fell, the armor's propulsion system suddenly exerted force, the black-tech propulsion system allowing the seemingly frail armor to burst out with a force even stronger than Ivan's armor, actually pulling Ivan's armor over to Tony Stark's side.
"Boom!"
"Swish!"
Almost simultaneously, as Ivan's armor came close to Tony Stark, both controlled their armors to strike each other, but the difference was, Tony Stark successfully hit Ivan's armor, while Ivan's armor's attack was easily dodged by Tony Stark.
No way around it, the two were simply not on the same level in terms of speed and agility, and Tony Stark's armor, after continuous iterations, was also stronger than the armor Ivan had painstakingly built!
It could only be said that at this moment, Tony Stark was far ahead of Ivan. Ivan had worked hard, and maybe after two or three iterations, he could surpass Tony Stark's brand new armor. Of course, he might be slightly inferior in terms of firepower, but in strength and defense, he definitely wouldn't fall behind...
Unfortunately, it seemed Ivan no longer had a chance for another iteration!
"Damn it! You just dodge like a woman?" As the armor flew out, crashing into the wall and struggling to get up, Ivan's heart sank, continuing to taunt Tony Stark.
"Boom!" And Tony Stark's attack came faster than Ivan imagined. He once again sent Ivan's armor flying out, but this time, Ivan's armor flew towards the sky. To prevent Ivan from resorting to self-destruction in desperation, playing a big move, Tony Stark decisively shifted the battlefield. After all, if Ivan self-destructed, it wouldn't just be a building being destroyed...
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