Following the direction of the voice, Tony looked up and saw Roy wearing a white animal mask.
“Thanks.” Tony said.
“No problem.” Roy replied.
The sand wrapped around Tony’s arm flew back toward Roy and joined the sand left behind from the dispersed sand cloud, slowly circling around him.
The moment Obadiah saw Roy’s white animal mask and the sand floating around him in defiance of gravity, a name immediately flashed through his mind.
Fourth Hokage!
Unlike Tony, Obadiah paid plenty of attention to the underworld.
That was precisely how he’d managed to get in contact with the Afghanistan branch of the Ten Rings and hire them to attack Tony in the first place.
As the saying went, man’s plans could never outmatch fate.
When Raza, the head of the Afghanistan branch of the Ten Rings, realized that the man Obadiah wanted dead wasn’t some ordinary arms dealer but the famous Tony Stark, he changed his mind.
Instead of killing Tony, he imprisoned him in the cave and forced him to build Jericho missiles.
“This isn’t the desert.” Tony got back to his feet and looked at Roy.
“You’ve only got one gourd of sand.
Is that really enough?” Roy replied calmly, “For dealing with him, one gourd is more than enough.” The moment he’d discovered that Obadiah had launched the Iron Monger project just like in the movie, Roy had already decided how he would deal with him.
“You’re sure that’s enough?” Tony asked again.
He had already tested just how durable the Iron Monger armor was with the Arc Pulse Cannons in his palms.
If even those couldn’t inflict any meaningful damage, then sand should be even less effective.
“You’ll find out in a moment.” Roy looked calmly toward Obadiah.
Obadiah didn’t attack immediately.
Instead, he raised his voice.
“How much did he pay to hire you?
I’ll double it!” Roy ignored him completely and turned toward Tony.
“You evacuate the civilians nearby.” “I’ll handle him.” “All right!” Tony agreed without hesitation.
Seeing Roy dismiss him outright, Obadiah immediately raised his right arm and aimed the Gatling gun mounted on it at Roy.
The barrels began to spin.
Roy stood exactly where he was.
He didn’t dodge.
Nor did he move any sand in front of himself as a shield.
Although Obadiah had no idea what Roy was planning, he didn’t hesitate.
He opened fire.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Not a single bullet came out of the Gatling gun mounted on the Iron Monger’s right arm.
Instead— The weapon suddenly exploded in a catastrophic barrel failure.
What the hell?
Obadiah stared at the Gatling gun on his right arm in shock.
“What did you do?” he demanded.
Roy didn’t answer.
When he’d used the sand to pull Tony away earlier, he hadn’t only clogged the Gatling gun barrels.
He had also sent some of the sand through the gaps in the outer armor and into the Iron Monger suit itself.
Whether it was the Iron Monger armor or the Mark III, the innermost layer containing the pilot was completely sealed.
The outer armor, however, couldn’t possibly be sealed without leaving any gaps.
And that wasn’t limited to the Iron Monger and Mark III.
Even the Mark XLVI from Captain America: Civil War hadn’t been completely sealed on the outside.
Ant-Man had managed to crawl inside it and sabotage part of its weapons system from within.
Obadiah didn’t know how Roy had caused the Gatling gun to fail, but he didn’t waste time thinking about it.
He raised his left arm and attempted to launch the small missiles mounted there.
Roy still didn’t move.
He merely watched Obadiah calmly.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds…
Nothing happened.
The miniature missiles on the left arm remained motionless inside their launch tubes.
This…
Obadiah instinctively looked toward the seven-tube missile launcher mounted on the outside of his left arm.
There was nothing visibly wrong with the launcher.
The exposed missile warheads could still be seen clearly.
The armor’s operating system wasn’t displaying any abnormal readings either.
No matter how he looked at it, the launcher appeared to be functioning normally.
At that moment, Roy spoke.
“Stop looking.” “The firing mechanisms inside the launch tubes have been jammed with sand.” “The anti-tank missile on your left shoulder is jammed too.” Obadiah said nothing.
Without changing expression, he activated the anti-tank missile on his left shoulder.
The armor behind the Iron Monger’s left shoulder opened, revealing the missile inside.
And then— Nothing.
The launcher mount that should have risen into position didn’t move at all.
It was as though it had never received the activation command.
After confirming that Roy had been telling the truth, Obadiah’s expression turned as ugly as it possibly could.
He controlled the Iron Monger armor and charged toward Roy like a maddened beast.
One step.
Two steps.
Three— He only managed a few steps before the giant steel suit crashed to the ground with a heavy BANG!
The sand inside the armor wasn’t enough to completely immobilize the Iron Monger.
But causing malfunctions severe enough to throw its limbs out of coordination?
That wasn’t difficult at all.
Sand grains were tiny.
They were nowhere near as hard as steel.
But even tiny grains of sand could cripple a complex machine made entirely of metal.
Obadiah quickly forced the Iron Monger back to its feet and activated the flight thrusters in both legs.
He wasn’t remotely as intelligent as Tony.
But he wasn’t an idiot either.
The instant the Iron Monger lost control and fell, he understood that there was only one thing left for him to do.
Escape as quickly as possible.
The Gatling gun on his right arm was destroyed.
The small missiles on his left arm couldn’t fire.
The anti-tank missile on his left shoulder was jammed.
Even the armor’s basic movement had been compromised.
In other words— He had lost every means of fighting back.
Under these circumstances, relying on the armor’s flight system to escape was his best option.
As long as he got away, he still had hope.
He might lose his reputation.
He might lose all his wealth in America.
But the technology behind the Iron Monger armor and miniature Arc Reactor would be enough for him to make a comeback.
If everything went smoothly, it wouldn’t take long before he could return with an entire army of armored soldiers and take revenge on both Roy and Tony.
Roy had already guessed that Obadiah would try to escape using the flight system.
The moment the Iron Monger’s feet began transforming and its thrusters opened, Roy raised his right hand and gathered chakra into his palm.
Release.
Rotation.
Compression.
Stabilization!
In the blink of an eye, a blue sphere of energy nearly half a meter in diameter appeared in his hand.
Big Ball Rasengan!
Considering the Iron Monger’s size and defensive strength, Roy didn’t use an ordinary Rasengan.
Instead, he used its larger and more powerful upgraded version— The Big Ball Rasengan.
The next instant— Roy vanished.
He appeared directly in front of Obadiah like a flicker.
Body Flicker Jutsu!
Before Obadiah could react, the Big Ball Rasengan slammed into the center of the Iron Monger’s chest.
The street shattered!
A hurricane-like shockwave swept outward in every direction!
The densely compressed chakra within the Big Ball Rasengan erupted all at once.
Obadiah, still inside the Iron Monger armor, began spinning violently as the suit was hurled uncontrollably into the sky.
BOOM!
The Iron Monger exploded in midair.
Orange-red flames blossomed across the night sky like fireworks.
Done.
Just as easy as I expected.
Roy looked up at the flames and sighed inwardly.
The Iron Monger was undoubtedly an extremely advanced piece of high-tech armor.
But to Roy, defeating Obadiah while he was wearing it required almost no effort.
And that was without even mentioning Obadiah’s complete lack of combat experience.
Even if Obadiah had been a seasoned warrior with years of battle experience, Roy still would have defeated him just as easily.