“I guarantee you, the moment we get out of here, I’m going to beat the hell out of you!
I swear!”
“Mr.
Stark, why?
Didn’t I just help you open the door?”
“When you opened it, you didn’t consider my opinion at all!
That was obviously a bomb, yet you just cut it apart with your sword!
Are you insane!?
That was a bomb!”
“But if I didn’t cut it, what else was I supposed to do?”
“If you were going to cut it, at least wait until I’d backed away first!
You think having a hard head means you’ll be fine, but I don’t want to die stupidly by getting blown up by my own bomb!
Do you have any idea how much my back still hurts?”
Inside the mountain passage connecting the cave to the wilderness outside, two armored figures walked side by side.
As they walked, they continued trading complaints, while behind them, Yinsen, wearing his glasses, quietly followed along, enjoying the protection provided by the two armored men.
The safety equipment that had been making Tony uncomfortable had been cleaved in half by a single sword stroke from Lancelot.
Naturally, splitting it apart caused the bomb to explode, sending Tony, who had been the obvious target, flying.
Fortunately, he was wearing thick armor over his body, but slamming into the ground still hurt like hell, especially since the inside of this hastily assembled armor had no impact-absorption system.
“You already killed the terrorists who broke in, but I absolutely won’t let you kill the ones outside.
I’m going to take care of them myself.”
“Mr.
Stark wants to handle them himself?”
“That’s right.
I’m going to deal with those bastards myself, especially that bearded bastard who ordered his men to dunk my head in water!”
While guarding the door, Lancelot had indeed slaughtered many terrorists, but he had not killed all of them.
Several men who had managed to break inside and witnessed an armored knight rampaging through the place like an unstoppable butcher immediately fled outside.
So there were still several terrorists outside, including the bearded man sitting inside the surveillance room.
That was why Tony wanted to handle them himself!
The three of them arrived at the cave’s exit.
Taking advantage of the difference in light intensity between inside and outside the cave, the people outside could not see what was happening within.
Conversely, those inside could not see the outside very clearly either, but because it was brighter outside, they could still make out some rough silhouettes.
“There are more than ten of them.
Mr.
Stark, are you all right?”
Lancelot roughly counted the number of people outside before asking Tony.
“No problem.
Even someone like you can hold off that many people, so this armor of mine can obviously withstand a barrage of much heavier firepower.”
Tony completely dismissed Lancelot’s concern.
As someone who considered himself a genius, he refused to believe that anything he had created was inferior to someone else’s work.
“You two just watch from here.”
The terrorists were instantly stunned at the sight of this gigantic metal can.
They had never seen anything so large or fantastical before, and all of them simply stared in amazement.
“Fire!”
The leader reacted the fastest and immediately ordered them to open fire.
In an instant, more than a dozen firearms unleashed a barrage at Tony.
The relentless crack of gunfire echoed one after another, and Tony himself was violently shaken as bullets slammed into him.
Although the bullets could not penetrate his armor, their powerful impact still caused Tony inside the armor to stagger left and right.
His head was especially bad—the protective helmet was struck repeatedly, causing it to wobble back and forth like a toy drum.
Unfortunately, despite more than a dozen guns firing over a hundred rounds, not a single bullet struck the eye slit in his helmet, nor did any hit the position of the energy source in his chest.
It had to be admitted that these terrorists were absolutely terrible shots; most likely, in their everyday battles, they simply raised their Aks with both hands and fired wildly.
After an entire magazine had been emptied, Tony took advantage of the brief moment when the terrorists were changing magazines and began his counterattack.
There were no firearms inside the cave, so there was no pistol-type weapon installed in his armor.
He could only use rocket fuel or missile propellant as fuel for a flamethrower, turning it into a weapon for launching fire attacks.
In a dry place like this, the destructive power of fire was tremendous.
The terrorists immediately caught fire as well.
The clothes covering their bodies burned rapidly like dry wood, instantly turning them one after another into human torches.
Seeing the terrorists transformed into human torches and running around aimlessly, Tony jumped down and swung his fist.
Using the mechanical thrust of his armor’s engines, a single punch easily knocked down one human torch, sending them flying through the air one after another.
After dealing with the burning men, he raised his armored helmet and saw Stark Industries weapons scattered everywhere.
In a fit of rage, he immediately set those weapons ablaze.
Within a short time, the weapons began exploding, bursting into fireworks that shot high into the air.
Seeing that everything outside was over, Lancelot and Yinsen walked out of the cave together, approached Tony, and stood beside him as they watched the flames billowing high into the air.
“Is it over?”
“Yeah, it’s over.
Everything’s finished.
All those weapons made by my company have been burned to a crisp.
We can go home.”
“Yeah, we can go home…
though I don’t have a home anymore.”
Yinsen’s expression was gloomy and sorrowful.
Tony already knew his story; when Yinsen was kidnapped by the terrorists, his entire family had been slaughtered without a trace.
Just as he had said, he truly had no home left.
“Then come with me to America.
Work at my company.”
“No need.
I want to stay in my country.
There are places here that I love.”
“All right, but if you ever need any help, just come to America and find me.
After making that promise to Yinsen, Tony turned his head and looked at Lancelot standing beside him.
“Good.
Now it’s time to settle things between the two of us.”
“Mr.
Stark, is there something you need my help with?”
“There is.
I have something very important to settle with you.
Didn’t the two of us agree back in there?
I’m going to beat the hell out of you!”
*KLEK!*
Tony closed his armored helmet again and glared at Lancelot.
“Listen!
Ever since you appeared in front of me, first you shoved me out there to face the terrorists and made me take three rockets head-on, then you kept appearing behind me and scaring the hell out of me, and just now you sent me flying into my own bomb!
I’m settling the score for all of that right now!”
“Come on!
Draw your sword!
I’m going to beat you until you learn your lesson!
I’ll show you that this layered armor of yours is completely useless!”
Taking up a boxing stance, Tony stood facing Lancelot, ready to fight at any moment.
Lancelot was stunned for a moment.
Instead of drawing his greatsword, he simply reached up and removed the helmet from his head.
“My apologies, Mr.
Stark.
My duty is to protect your safety.
Now that you have safely escaped the danger, I no longer have a reason to remain here.
Farewell, should fate bring us together again.”
After delivering that exceedingly polite statement, right before Tony and Yinsen’s eyes, Lancelot transformed into countless points of light and disappeared.
Tony, who had been fully prepared to beat the man senseless, was left staring in stunned disbelief.
But the very next second, Lancelot suddenly reappeared in front of them.
“One more thing…
actually…
Mr.
Stark, your armor is completely useless against me.
Really.
Because only a Servant can face a Servant.”
After saying that, Lancelot disappeared once more, leaving Tony to open his helmet with a flushed face, struggling with frustration and embarrassment.
“Fuck!!”