Tony Stark's return intensified Finney's sense of urgency, indicating that the appearance of the Mark III and the Iron Monger was imminent. However, even with their advanced technology, they couldn't be built in a day or two, so there was still ample time.
At the same time, there was good news: he had an idea of how to deal with the Iron Monger.
The more detailed the location of the portal he imagined, the clearer the image, the faster it would appear, and the easier it would be to control.
For Finney, opening portals to two locations was the easiest: his home in New York and Kamar-Taj.
Next easiest were locations like his school and the Himalayas, with the key to defeating the Iron Monger lying in the Himalayas.
This highest mountain range in the world has an average altitude of over 7,000 meters and is home to Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, where temperatures can reach as low as -60 degrees Celsius.
When Tony was building the Iron Man suit, he hadn't initially considered the issue of surface icing, which caused a system malfunction, but fortunately, he discovered it early and replaced it with space-age materials.
Iron Monger, however, didn't think so much about it. Of course, it's also possible that he couldn't conduct the tests because he lacked Tony's miniature Arc Reactor, leading to this oversight.
Regardless, the low temperature is Iron Monger's weakness. Finney's plan was simple: open a portal and pull Iron Monger directly to Mount Everest for the battle.
This would weaken the opponent, allow for a quick escape if they couldn't win, wear him down, prevent the destruction of New York, and ensure the safety of many ordinary people—a triple win.
The only concern was that Iron Monger was focused on escaping.
Without the Mirror Dimension and with Iron Monger capable of flight, it would be difficult to catch him. Therefore, Finney thought it might be worthwhile to bring Tony along.
While restricting his opponent, he also gained experience from Iron Man!
Actually, there are many ways to defeat Iron Monger. Obadiah is just an ordinary person; knowing the future would make defeating him easy.
But Finney wanted the experience gained from the battle, not just to defeat Obadiah, hence the complicated process.
The environment on Mount Everest is harsh; while restricting Iron Monger, Finney himself would be somewhat affected, but it was manageable.
Compared to Iron Man's suit, 'Possessed' might be inferior in many ways, but it also far surpasses it in many others.
In terms of adaptability and portability alone, given Tony's rate of armor upgrades, 'Possessed' would be ahead for many years.
Having decided on his plan, Finney asked for a week's leave from school. Since he didn't have many classes and his grades were good, his professor agreed without much thought.
Wearing the slingshot, Finney opened the portal.
It was freezing cold, and snow was falling.
Mount Everest truly lives up to its reputation as the world's highest peak. Even in his 'possessed' state, Phineas felt a chill even at this point, not quite at the very top. He would be training hard in this environment for the next week, pushing his limits.
Kamar-Taj's training methods were primarily for magical practice, so they weren't as effective for physical breakthroughs. Therefore, he had adopted a different approach this time:
rock climbing!
Free soloing the world's highest peak, all the way to the top—though a fall wouldn't necessarily be fatal thanks to the 'possessed' protection…
Besides the difficulty of the climb itself, the most crucial aspect was controlling his limits. If he forcibly released the 'possessed' state at his physical limit and couldn't open the portal in normal condition, he would truly die in this temperature.
One day, two days, three days…
soon, six days passed.
During these six days, although Phineas's climbing speed and distance improved each day, he still hadn't broken through.
Phineas knew why.
He was afraid, afraid that he would really overdo it and accidentally die here. So every time he thought he had reached his limit, he would unconsciously hold back a little bit of energy. It was this concern that prevented him from breaking through.
"This won't do!"
Today was the last day of his leave, and Finney had to make a decision. This time, he didn't continue climbing upwards but sat quietly in a wide open space—the battlefield he had chosen for the upcoming battle.
A biting wind howled, snowflakes danced in the air, and Finney endured the cold as the 'Demon Possession' slowly drained his strength.
Darkness fell, and the temperature dropped further.
"I can't hold on much longer..."
Finney felt his body weaken. The 'Demon Possession' made him feel as if he were truly being tormented by a demon, ravaged by the wind and snow.
"No, if I go back now, it'll be the same as the past few days."
Finney gritted his teeth, forcing himself to persevere, but looking at the darkness around him, thoughts of giving up kept creeping into his mind.
As the saying goes, nothing is impossible if you're willing to give up.
Finney kept wondering why he was pushing himself so hard. Wasn't regular, methodical training perfectly fine? There was no need to take such a risk.
At this moment, Finney didn't notice that as he gritted his teeth and persevered, his gleaming silver armor grew increasingly dark, seemingly trying to merge with the darkness, as if about to vanish yet also about to become invisible.
"It's unnecessary, but I'm willing!"
Finney suddenly muttered to himself, as if trying to answer his own thoughts: "I'm just an ordinary person. Besides being handsome, what's left if I don't even try?"
"Gambling my face for a 50/50 chance, relying on others to survive?!"
"I may not become a hero, but I will never be a coward!"
Finney clenched his fists and stood up. In the darkness, his figure grew fainter, but the crimson eyes on his mask grew brighter, a power slowly flowing through his armor.
Waves of weakness assaulted Finney; he felt he could automatically dispel the 'evil spirit possession' at any moment and collapse unconscious.
Cold snowflakes landed on his face, a chilling sensation instantly engulfing Finney's entire body. A longsword floated before him.
The 'evil spirit possession' had automatically dispelled!
"Am I going to die here?"
Looking at the longsword before him, Finney, barely able to stand, trembled as he silently thought to himself. But he was unwilling to give up. In the howling wind, he laboriously stretched out his hand.
"Possessed by Evil Spirits!"
Finney roared, using the last ounce of strength in his body.
A roar echoed in his ears, seemingly responding to his cry. A happy smile appeared on Finney's lips. He had succeeded; he had finally broken through his limits.
No longer needing the command of the 'Golden Great Evolution Technique,' relying solely on the 'Possessed by Evil Spirits' buff, Finney opened the portal.
Staggering across the portal, Finney was utterly exhausted. 'Possessed by Evil Spirits' slowly dissipated again, and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Join p4treon for advanced+uploaded chapters...
[email protected]/Horizons685
(End of Chapter)