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Tony Stark's return gave Fini an even greater sense of urgency. It meant that the appearance of the Mark III and the Iron Monger was not far off. However, no matter how formidable they were, they couldn't be built in a day or two, so he still had a reasonable amount of time.
At the same time, there was good news: he already had an idea of how to deal with the Iron Monger.
When opening a portal, the more detailed the visualization of the location and the clearer the image, the faster it appeared and the easier it was to control.
For Fini, opening a portal to two specific places was the easiest: the first was his home in New York, and the second was Kamar-Taj.
Following those were his school and places like the Himalayas. The key to defeating the Iron Monger lay precisely in the Himalayas.
This is the highest mountain range in the world, with an average elevation of over 7,000 meters. It also hosts the world's highest peak, Mount Everest, where temperatures can drop as low as -60°C.
When Tony was making the Iron Man suit, he initially failed to account for the icing problem at high altitudes, which caused system failure. Fortunately, he discovered it early and promptly swapped the materials for aerospace-grade alloys.
Obadiah Stane, however, didn't think that far ahead. Of course, it might also be because he lacked Tony's miniature Arc Reactor and couldn't perform various flight tests, leading to this oversight.
Regardless, low temperature was a weakness of the Iron Monger. Fini's plan was simple: open a portal and drag the Iron Monger directly onto Mount Everest to fight.
This would ensure the opponent's strength was weakened, allow Fini to escape and whittle the enemy down if he couldn't win immediately, and prevent the destruction of New York, ensuring the safety of many civilians. It was truly killing three birds with one stone.
The only concern was the possibility of the opponent being hell-bent on escaping.
Without the Mirror Dimension and given that the opponent could fly, he would find it very difficult to give chase. Thus, Fini felt he might need to bring Tony along when the time came.
While restricting the opponent, he could also farm some experience off Iron Man while he was at it!
In truth, there were many ways to defeat the Iron Monger if one simply wanted to win. Obadiah was just an ordinary human; with knowledge of the future, resolving him would be too easy.
But what Fini wanted was the experience gained from combat, not just the defeat of Obadiah, which was why he chose the complicated route.
The environment on Mount Everest was harsh. While it restricted the Iron Monger, Fini himself would also be affected to some extent, but relatively speaking, it was acceptable.
Compared to the high-tech suits made by Iron Man, Incursio might be inferior in several technical aspects, but it far surpassed them in others.
Purely from the perspective of adaptability and portability, given the speed at which Tony updated his armor, Incursio would likely remain years ahead of him.
Having finalized his plan, Fini requested a week's leave from school. Since there weren't many classes and his grades were excellent, his instructor agreed without a second thought.
Wearing his Sling Ring, Fini opened a portal.
The cold was piercing, and snow drifted through the air.
Mount Everest truly lived up to its name as the world's highest peak. Even while wearing Incursio, Fini felt waves of chill at this altitude, which wasn't even the summit. For the next week, he would train rigorously in this environment to break through his limits.
Kamar-Taj's methods were primarily for practicing spells, so they weren't as effective for physical breakthroughs. Therefore, he adopted a different approach this time.
Rock climbing!
Climbing the world's highest peak with his bare hands all the way to the top. Although if he fell, the protection of Incursio might prevent him from dying...
During this period, besides facing the difficulty of the climb, the most important point was to control his own limits. If Incursio was forcibly deactivated due to total stamina depletion, and he couldn't open a portal in his normal state, he would truly die in these temperatures.
One day, two days, three days...
Soon, six days had passed.
During these six days, although Fini's climbing speed and distance improved daily, he still failed to achieve a breakthrough.
Fini knew why.
He was afraid. He was afraid of truly overplaying his hand and accidentally dying here. So, every time he thought he had reached his limit, he would unconsciously hold back a sliver of stamina. It was precisely this hesitation that prevented the breakthrough.
"This can't continue!"
Today was the last day of his leave. Fini had to make a decision. This time, he didn't continue climbing upward; instead, he sat quietly in a wide, open clearing. This was the battlefield he had chosen for the upcoming fight.
The cold wind howled and snow danced. Fini, sitting in the snow, endured the freezing cold as Incursio slowly drained his stamina bit by bit.
The sky grew dark, and the temperature dropped lower and lower.
"I can't hold on much longer..."
Fini felt the weakness in his body. At this moment, Incursio felt as though he truly were "possessed by an evil spirit," torturing him along with the wind and snow.
"No, if I go back now, it'll be just like the past few days."
Fini gritted his teeth, forcing himself to persevere. But looking at the dark environment around him, waves of thoughts of giving up kept spreading through his mind.
As the saying goes: nothing is impossible in this world, as long as you're willing to give up.
Fini couldn't stop wondering why he was working so hard. Wouldn't it be fine to just train step-by-step? There was no need to take such risks.
At this moment, Fini didn't notice that as he gritted his teeth and persevered, the bright silver armor on his body was becoming darker and darker, as if it were merging with the darkness—looking as if it were about to vanish, yet also as if it were becoming invisible.
"It might not be necessary, but I damn well want to!"
Fini suddenly muttered to himself, as if answering the doubts in his heart. "I'm just an ordinary guy, aside from being handsome. If I lose even my hard work, what's left!?"
"Bet my life on a fifty-fifty chance and rely on others to survive!?"
"I might not become a hero, but I will never be a coward!"
Fini clenched his fists and stood up. In the darkness, his silhouette grew fainter and fainter, but the crimson eyes on the faceplate grew brighter and brighter. A surge of power flowed slowly across the armor.
Weakness attacked Fini in waves. He felt as though he might automatically deactivate Incursio and collapse into a coma at any second.
Cold snowflakes fell on his face. A heart-piercing chill instantly swept through Fini's body. A longsword floated before him.
Incursio had automatically deactivated!
"Am I going to die here?"
Looking at the sword before him, Fini, barely standing, thought silently as his body trembled. But he wasn't willing to give up. In the howling cold wind, he laboriously reached out his palm.
"Incursio!"
Fini shouted with a roar, using the very last shred of strength in his body.
A roar echoed in his ears as if responding to his call. A happy smile spread across the corner of Fini's mouth. He had succeeded; he had finally broken through his own limits.
Without needing to rely on the commands of Ars Magna, purely through the state of equipping Incursio, Fini opened a portal.
Stumbling through the portal, Fini truly had no strength left. Incursio slowly dissipated once more, and he collapsed onto the floor, losing consciousness.
Fortunately, the last thing he saw before his consciousness faded was Skye's terrified little face.
(End of Chapter)