“It’s you!!!”
Iron Monger roared in rage.
He remembered who that name belonged to—his dear nephew Tony Stark’s personal fitness trainer.
“That’s right, it’s me!
Did I scare you back to normal size?”
As Gaia spoke, he shot out Silk to trap a large chunk of rock and swung it hard right at Iron Monger.
Iron Monger slammed his head directly into the thrown rock, bellowing through the dust cloud created by the shattered boulder, “I’m going to kill you both!!!”
Seeing Iron Monger charge at him, Gaia quickly backed away and glanced up at Tony in the sky.
“Hey, did you get scared down to normal size too?
Come over and help!
Stop standing around like an NPC dumbass—do you think you’re Hummingbird?”
Tony snapped back to reality and fired a repulsor blast at Iron Monger.
Flying down to Gaia’s side, he asked curiously, “How are you doing that?
I didn’t see any devices on your wrists!
Are you a mutant?”
Gaia raised a hand and splattered a small blob of Silk right across Tony’s faceplate.
“No talking during battle!
Why don’t you ask your dear uncle why he can turn into Frankenstein’s monster?
He’s way stranger than me—this is my first time seeing flesh and machinery growing together like that.
Dodge!”
Even as he spoke, Gaia took several rapid backsteps to reposition.
Having witnessed Gaia’s unbelievable abilities, Tony didn’t dare ignore the warning and quickly engaged his thrusters to ascend.
The very next second, multiple energy beams rained down precisely where the two had been standing.
Immediately after, dozens of micro-missiles cut through the smoke, splitting into two waves—one tracking toward Tony and the other homing in on Gaia.
Having anticipated this, Gaia fired a loose web to intercept the incoming missiles, then released an electrical current through the web to detonate them all at once.
Having handled the missiles, Gaia sprang forcefully backward, dodging Iron Monger’s descending stomp from above.
Little Gaia pointed indignantly at Iron Monger and cursed, “This isn’t fair!
Why are you always targeting me?!”
Gaia shot Silk onto Iron Monger’s face, pulled himself forward into a sliding kick using the tension, and launched Iron Monger flying.
“He’s right.
Why keep targeting me?
I’m not your nephew!”
Having cleared his own batch of micro-missiles, Tony flew back and followed up with a few repulsor shots against Iron Monger.
Seeing Iron Monger take the hits completely unharmed, Gaia couldn’t help mocking, “Hey, are you going soft?
Where’s the kick?
You seriously need to see a doctor, Tony.
Even a mosquito bite leaves an itch!”
Realizing Tony couldn’t even manage proper support, Gaia sighed helplessly.
“Watch and learn.”
Before his words even faded, while Iron Monger had yet to get back up, Gaia fired Silk once again.
The instant the Silk attached to Iron Monger, Gaia surged with power, releasing as much electricity as he could.
In an instant, golden lightning crackled around Gaia’s arms.
Current powerful enough to instantly melt metal surged from his arms, traveling along the Silk straight into Iron Monger.
“Arghhh!!!”
Blinding arcs of electricity flashed through the smoke, and beastly shrieks echoed throughout Tony’s villa.
Tony, who had been wallowing in guilt and shame over his uselessness, watched in slack-jawed shock as Gaia generated raw lightning with his bare hands and instantly melted Iron Monger’s mechanical frame.
*Is this guy even human?!*
Feeling that the fight was settled, Tony touched down beside Gaia.
Just as he was about to urge Gaia to spare Obadiah Stane’s life, he heard Gaia bark harshly, “Get back!”
Before Tony could process the warning, Gaia let go of the Silk, grabbed Tony beside him, and retreated rapidly.
“Argh!
Tony Stark!
Gaia!
I’m going to kill you both!!!”
Under Tony’s stunned gaze, Iron Monger—orange-red molten metal still dripping from his body—staggered to his feet and roared toward the sky.
As if summoned by an irresistible command, surrounding metal objects began flying toward Iron Monger from every direction.
Rebar, structural steel beams, auto parts, and more.
If Gaia hadn’t been holding onto Tony with a vice grip, Tony would have been dragged in as well.
Five meters…
six meters…
seven meters…
Tony and Gaia watched helplessly as Iron Monger expanded into a towering colossus over ten meters tall.
“Holy shit!” ×3
Little Gaia stared calmly at Iron Monger, stroking his chin.
“Didn’t we just get our powers a few hours ago?
Why is our debut battle against a thunderous iron giant?
Is this really the intended difficulty for a starter-village boss?
How is this any different from fighting Yang Jian on Stage 1 of *Dream Journey 3*, or taking on Sorenson the second you blast off Earth in *Seer*?!”
Tony swallowed hard as he stared at the colossal Iron Monger.
Turning to Gaia with hopeful desperation, he asked, “Buddy, if you’ve got any other killer moves, lay them on me.
Let a clueless beach redneck like me get his mind blown.”
Gaia looked up at the ten-meter-tall Iron Monger and shook his head.
“I’ve already thrown everything I have at him.”
Receiving that answer, Tony muttered curses in despair.
“Oh, shit…”
“I…
AM IRON MONGER!!!”
The roar exploded from Super Iron Monger’s throat, turning into a sonic shockwave that slammed into Gaia and Tony.
Gaia held up fine; relying on his superhuman power, he planted his feet firmly on the ground, his incredible physical constitution allowing him to tank the sonic blast with ease.
Tony was another story.
Taking the brunt of the sonic attack, he was pushed near critical injury, barely kept upright by the support of his armor.
“You holding up OK?” Gaia asked, noticing Tony’s state.
“Not great…
I think I just saw my parents…” Tony murmured weakly, looking like he was on the verge of breathing his last.
Hearing Tony’s faint voice, Gaia knitted his brows slightly and carried Tony out of the way of Super Iron Monger’s energy beam.
After growing, Super Iron Monger’s attacks had become immensely more powerful—at least ten times stronger than before.
Run?
Gaia glanced at Super Iron Monger, who periodically jumped into the air trying to stomp him into paste, and abandoned the thought.
What was he supposed to do?
He couldn’t beat him in a straight fight, nor could he escape.
This was a real tough spot.
The more Gaia thought, the more annoyed he grew.
Just as he focused his mind on finding a way out, his Spider-Sense rang out again.
This time, Gaia envisioned a massive, rhythmically beating heart.
“Ooh~” Little Gaia leaped onto Super Iron Monger’s chest, patting the spot over the heart.
“Right here!
Right here!”
Gaia’s eyes narrowed on Super Iron Monger’s chest.
He shot out Silk once more to dodge an attack.
“Tony!”
Tony caught his breath heavily.
“I’m…
almost recovered…
real soon…”
“I need you to draw Obadiah Stane’s attention for me.”
Tony asked in pleasant surprise, “You figured out a way to take him down?”
Seeing Gaia nod, Tony coughed softly, swallowing back a mouthful of blood.
“Alright, leave it to me.
Let go of me.”
“Got it.”
Gaia released his grip.
Tony immediately ignited his thrusters, rocketed right up to Super Iron Monger’s face, and fired a repulsor beam point-blank into his mug.
“Come on, Obadiah Stane!
I’m right here, big guy!
Didn’t you say you wanted to catch me?
Then come on!
Come and get me!”
As he taunted him, Tony fired off repulsor blasts into Super Iron Monger’s head every few seconds, driving him wild with rage.
Very good.
Tony Stark used Taunt on Super Iron Monger.
The taunt was super effective.