Chapter 371: Attack of the Frost Giants!

"What's this about?" Tony Stark, having just finished a meeting, was taken aback by Jarvis's announcement. He was puzzled as to why Jarvis suddenly started focusing on climatic issues, especially since Tony had just spent a great deal of energy in a meeting and was now looking forward to some rest.

Unfortunately, the lengthy meeting had been fruitless, with no consensus reached among the various powers involved. However, there was a unified secret move towards the development of mechs, most notably by Justin Hammer of Hammer Industries.

Initially, Ivan Vanko had collaborated with Justin Hammer, successfully staging the first surprise attack on Tony Stark, nearly killing Happy Hogan. To save Ivan, Hammer had even invested heavily in Colonel Cumberland, attempting to forcefully bring Ivan back.

But Colonel Cumberland encountered the far more formidable Tony Stark. In the clash of backgrounds, Ivan was still taken away by Stark, and Colonel Cumberland was taken by Colonel Rhodes for interrogation.

At that time, Justin Hammer lacked the capability to rescue Ivan further and chose to abandon him, using Ivan's left-behind data and products to continue his research, aiming to create an Iron Legion much like Ivan had.

Even Hammer Industries had begun researching mechs before Ivan's collaboration with Obadiah Stane, but, in this special world, the importance of geniuses far surpassed ordinary scientists. Lagging in both manpower and financial resources, Ivan managed to develop an Iron Mech Legion far superior to Tony Stark's earlier versions, while Hammer's progress was hampered by technical barriers and was thus slow.

This time, Hammer once again entered the fray, leveraging his prior experience in mech development to form a new alliance with a military faction to jointly develop mechs.

As for his thoughts of revenge against Tony Stark, Justin Hammer had given up on that. He was satisfied enough to slightly annoy Stark and steal a few contracts from Stark Industries.

As for his earlier idea of building an Iron Legion to show Tony Stark "a lesson," Hammer had completely abandoned that thought.

There was no way around it; Tony Stark's current strength was something that Justin Hammer couldn't contend with. Tony, capable of nuclear-level destruction, could single-handedly annihilate the Iron Legion that Hammer had envisioned!

After all, the failure of Ivan Vanko was a clear precedent, and Justin Hammer didn't have the funds to burn through just to satisfy his pride. Wouldn't it be more profitable to sell the mechs he could produce?

Tony Stark was well aware of Justin Hammer's and many others' efforts in mech research, but he didn't concern himself with it, confident that they could never surpass him in this field.

After all, Tony Stark was the creator of this type of mech, and others were merely imitators lacking core technology. If they managed to build mechs like Ivan's, that was already impressive. To surpass him would require a Tony Stark in each of those powers!

At this moment, Tony Stark was confused as to why Jarvis had issued a meteorological alert, since he hadn't set any such directives.

"Sir, this cold current isn't a naturally occurring meteorological phenomenon but appeared suddenly on Earth. With its emergence, the entire Earth's environment is now cooling down, and the core temperature of these cold currents might even approach the theoretical absolute zero!" Jarvis explained as Tony puzzled over this.

"I've accessed a vast amount of data from Europe and discovered this is likely a supernatural event, and not an ordinary one at that. You should know, sir, the amount of energy needed to reach temperatures near absolute zero!"

"A supernatural event? Did you find anything else unusual?" Tony Stark asked, furrowing his brows, "Also, did the production of the mechs complete while I was in the meeting? How many have been made?"

"We've replenished the mech count to thirty-seven, including three of the latest models!" Jarvis quickly responded. Indeed, Tony Stark was a man of significant resources, which many top powers would envy. The replenishment did not cost him much.

Especially since a lot of the materials and components in the mechs required Tony Stark's special manufacturing techniques, which might be costly and time-consuming for others but not so much for him.

"Dispatch two mechs to check it out!" Tony commanded after hearing Jarvis.

As a supernatural event that had implications for the entire Earth's climate, even though it was not occurring on American soil, Tony felt the need to pay attention. After all, Jarvis had mentioned that this event was affecting the global climate.

"Yes, sir!" Jarvis quickly complied, and under his control, two mechs swiftly left Tony Stark's residence heading for Europe to investigate.

At that moment, in Europe, a frost-like fog was gathering near Norway. The accumulation wasn't particularly fast, but its impact on the entire Earth was significant as the volume of the frost fog began to grow increasingly large.

Originally, Diana would have noticed this frost fog if she were still at home, but she had once again returned to Themyscira and thus did not

 encounter this phenomenon.

However, both Diana's return to Themyscira and the frost fog had a bit of connection to Robert...

Firstly, Diana. The news of her having a boyfriend meant she needed to speak with her mother, Hippolyta, even though Robert couldn't yet return with her to Themyscira.

Also, a crucial reason for Diana's return was that she had been surpassed by Robert in strength. As an Amazonian warrior, this was something Diana couldn't accept. Even though she loved Robert and was with him, it didn't mean she wanted to always be at a disadvantage, especially not in terms of strength. Diana couldn't rightfully claim Robert as her own without equal or superior strength.

Therefore, Diana returned to Themyscira to seek ways to enhance her power, which was also somewhat related to her near-death experience in Asgard.

Diana knew that a slight increase in her strength wouldn't be enough because she had watched Robert grow at an astonishing rate. Being a fierce Amazon warrior, a daughter of Zeus, and a demigoddess, Diana hadn't yet reached her peak in strength, and her power was still gradually increasing. Even so, she had been overtaken by Robert!

What was more crucial was that the kind of mimicry and transformation Robert had previously displayed didn't just surpass her; it completely crushed her!

Diana was unwilling to accept this, so she wanted to increase her strength as much as possible, not only to assert a dominant position in her relationship with Robert but also to prevent being sidelined the next time Robert faced a formidable enemy.

As a fierce warrior, Diana especially couldn't let such a scenario occur again!

Apart from Diana, the frost fog also had a connection with Robert, as it was none other than the Frost Giants who had sneaked onto Earth!

There was a secret passageway between Jotunheim and Earth, and during a certain period, the Frost Giants had used this passage to try to transform Earth into a frost-covered planet and claim it as their territory.

Unfortunately, the Frost Giants had been defeated by the arriving Asgardian army and even had their Casket of Ancient Winters seized by King Odin. They had been severely weakened over the years and had no chance to rise again...

But now, with Asgard declaring that Earth was no longer under their protection and they would no longer intervene in Earth's affairs, the Frost Giants were tempted.

More importantly, the Frost Giants realized that their sacred artifact, the Casket of Ancient Winters, was not in Asgard but on Earth!

Whether to reclaim the Casket that belonged to their kind or to enable the Frost Giants to rise again, all members of their race desired this. So they quickly used the special passage from Jotunheim to Earth, aiming to first retrieve the Casket and then see if they could make Earth their new home...

As the frost fog accumulated, the two mechs arrived at the scene. However, as they approached the frost fog, their operations became increasingly sluggish, and a layer of frost even began forming on the inside and outside of the mechs!

Tony Stark had specifically designed the mechs to be frost-resistant and had installed a special internal circulation system to prevent external airflow and water from affecting them. However, these measures proved ineffective against the frost fog...

With a hiss, Jarvis, facing this situation, didn't even wait for Tony Stark's command; he immediately controlled the Arc Reactor in the mechs to release energy, attempting to melt the frost inside and outside the mechs.

With a swoosh, just as Jarvis's efforts began to show effect, and the two mechs started to move again, a blast of icy blue light struck towards the location of the mechs!

As a super artificial intelligence, Jarvis's response was naturally quick. He immediately controlled the mechs to dodge, but only one managed to evade the icy blue light. The other was hit and instantly turned into a block of ice, its Arc Reactor extinguished on the spot, and it fell from the sky, shattering on impact, turning the mech into debris!

"What the hell?!" Tony Stark, watching the feed from the other mech, couldn't help but curse. His mechs had been dismantled and destroyed many times, but never in such a manner, which demonstrated just how terrifying the power of the icy blue light was!

"Try to penetrate that frost fog and see if you can send back any useful information!" Tony Stark was very decisive, knowing the remaining mech probably wouldn't make it back either. He quickly issued the order to make the most of its final moments.

With a hum, Jarvis didn't even respond verbally; he controlled the mech to unleash all its firepower, blasting its palm cannon towards the direction of the frost fog while speeding towards it at several times the speed of sound.

Using the palm cannon as the spearhead and offense as the best defense, Jarvis calculated that this was the best approach in a short time...

With a crack, both Jarvis and Tony Stark had underestimated

 the frost fog. When the mech actually entered the fog, even though the Arc Reactor was continuously attacking, the mech was still directly covered by a layer of ice and then completely lost power.

The icing was slower than the icy blue light and the ice was thinner, but the result was no different. The mech also lost its ability to move, and the last images transmitted back were of the frost fog before it completely lost contact...

Undoubtedly, this mech was also destroyed in the frost fog, and now Tony Stark and Jarvis didn't even know who or what they were dealing with...

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