In the sky, Luca, controlling the "Er-Ha Mecha," followed closely behind the Mark armor.
Although Luca felt that following Tony like a "student listening to a lecture" on such an urgent battlefield was somewhat idiotic, this was his first real participation in a major event. He didn't want to act too recklessly.
After all, he's a senior. He must have some useful experience, right?
Sure enough, the first suggestion Tony gave felt highly practical to Luca.
"Kid, follow me! Empty out your missile pods 2, 3, and 4!"
As he spoke, Tony performed a rapid aerial maneuver, diving toward the densest cluster of Frost Giants near the portal. While flying at high speed, Tony explained the reasoning to Luca.
"Inflict as much damage as possible while the enemy formation is dense. Later, once they spread out, using these high-power missiles risks harming civilians."
"Your armor's other armaments are sufficient. Just keep Pod 1 for emergencies!"
During the explanation, the Mark armor in front had already unleashed its missiles on the gathered Frost Giants. A series of fiery columns erupted from the ground.
Amidst the thunderous booms, the Frost Giants, who had been howling in excitement, instantly began howling in agony.
Seeing this, Luca decisively adjusted his flight path, sweeping over another dense crowd of Frost Giants that hadn't been hit.
"Haro!"
With Luca's command, Haro, who was linked into the comms, immediately grasped his intent. Red locking indicators flashed continuously on the glasses' projection.
Simultaneously, the three missile pods on the mecha's shoulders deployed. Dozens of micro-missiles shot out, twisting through the air like eels before homing in on the targets below.
Boom-boom-boom! Countless explosions lit up the street, causing the entire block to tremble violently.
Though Frost Giants possessed powerful physiques, they were still flesh and blood. They were instantly reduced to severed limbs and minced meat by the blasts.
In the air, the corner of Tony's mouth twitched under his faceplate.
Because the "Er-Ha Unit 1" was not a manned suit and didn't have the "burden" of a human body inside, its internal space was vast. Naturally, its weapon reserves were larger, and the firepower was selected for maximum impact. In terms of pure performance, it was indeed more visually shocking than the Mark armor.
Should I build an army of remotely controlled robots? Tony thought.
Of course, these idle thoughts didn't affect his actual operation. He continued to instruct Luca:
"During combat, minimize the use of energy weapons. Your mecha's core is an ion battery—be mindful of energy consumption. Once the power runs out, even the strongest mecha is just—"
As Tony was speaking, a squad of four or five Frost Giants below simultaneously condensed ice spikes in their hands and threw them at him, cutting off his sentence.
Although Tony detected the attack and reacted in time, he didn't expect the barrage to be continuous. The Frost Giants below kept condensing and throwing ice spikes with a frequency that rivaled a machine gun.
Dodging left and right, Tony was eventually clipped on the arm by one spike.
The exploding spike didn't cause lethal damage, but it instantly transformed into a cloud of white mist that enveloped him. In the blink of an eye, a layer of solid ice over ten centimeters thick condensed on the outside of the Iron Man suit.
Tony was turned into a crystal-clear ice sculpture, falling straight from the sky and crashing into the ground.
"Holy crap! Watch yourself!"
Seeing Tony frozen into a block, Luca dived rapidly. However, he didn't go to the crash site to rescue him; instead, he charged directly at the Frost Giants who had thrown the spikes.
The mecha's arms raised, and the hidden machine-gun turrets on the forearms deployed. A dense hail of bullets immediately peppered the Frost Giants.
However, while the Frost Giants had been blown to bits by the micro-missiles earlier, they didn't flinch against the machine-gun fire. Despite being riddled with bullets and bleeding profusely, none of them fell. Their hides were incredibly thick.
Unfazed by the lack of success with the machine guns, Luca accelerated further, rushing right in front of them. Without pausing, the Er-Ha Mecha slammed into the ground, its feet plowing two long furrows into the asphalt.
Utilizing this hard-braking moment, Luca's hands reached for the flight pack on his back, instantly drawing two ion-constrained lightsabers that flashed with brilliant blue light.
Hum—!
In an instant, the two blades danced. The buzzing sound echoed as a curtain of azure light formed. The air was filled with the acrid smell of high-temperature scorching.
By the time the Er-Ha Mecha swept past the five Frost Giants, the residual afterimages faded. Behind it lay nothing but a heap of severed body parts, their cauterized edges glowing with red-hot radiation.
Thud, thud, thud.
Limbs fell to the ground, some even shattering like frozen ice blocks. Until the moment of death, these Frost Giants likely didn't realize what had happened.
"As expected, Thor was right. To deal with these Frost Giants, you need heat!"
Performing a casual sword flourish and listening to the "vroom-vroom" sound effect Tony had added out of a sense of style, Luca deactivated the lightsabers and sheathed them back into the flight pack.
The lightsabers weren't part of Luca's original design. Tony had insisted on proving his ability to build them, adding these "cool" weapons to the suit. Luca, figuring it was better to have more technology, had accepted the modification.
Who knew they would be so perfect for dealing with Frost Giants? Though they were power-hungry, he just had to use them sparingly.
Luca didn't idle. He ran to the other side where Tony was still a block of ice. Reaching him, he tapped the thick ice. It produced a metallic clink.
"This looks a bit tricky..."
Luca wasn't worried about Tony freezing. Since the Mark III, Tony had included anti-freeze systems. However, breaking this hard, thick ice shell was troublesome. Just as Luca was about to draw his saber again to help, Tony's voice came through the comms.
"Kid, step back a little!"
---