"Jarvis, lock the weapons system onto that female Tyrannosaur's head and attack." Tony realized that no matter how fierce the assault on the body formed by the T-Rex Dopant's absorbed matter, it was essentially a futile effort. He immediately shifted his strategy.
Although the body was entirely composed of temporarily absorbed surrounding matter and was unafraid of damage, the head was an original part of the Dopant and remained exposed. Previously, it had looked incredibly disproportionate on a humanoid body, but now, as the head of a massive Tyrannosaur, it fit perfectly.
A dozen miniature missiles trailed fire as they flew toward the Tyrannosaur's head.
Elsa watched the incoming missiles, opened her bloody maw, and let out a bestial roar. The massive oscillatory shockwave struck the miniature missiles; under the intense acoustic vibration, they were detonated instantly by the terrifying roar.
"She's certainly got a set of pipes on her—truly worthy of a T-Rex. That sonic attack is comparable to the sonic cannons we used to sell to the military back when Stark Industries had a weapons division," Tony remarked, his tone slightly surprised.
"Based on the intensity of the sound waves, this Tyrannosaur's roar is significantly stronger than the sonic cannons produced by Stark Industries," Jarvis provided a detailed sensor reading.
"It seems standard missiles won't work against this T-Rex Dopant. She's a troublesome opponent," Tony said, dodging a swipe from the Tyrannosaur's tail and pulling up to a safe altitude.
Elsa looked up at Tony. "I'm not letting you leave."
As she spoke, she opened her mouth and inhaled. Tony immediately felt a powerful suction force acting on his suit, trying to pull him into the Tyrannosaur's maw.
"Your breath is a bit much; I think we should keep our distance." Tony adjusted the power of his hand-mounted repulsors to maximum and fired into the Tyrannosaur's mouth.
However, even after being hit by the full-power light-particle cannons, the T-Rex Dopant only stumbled back a few steps.
"Tony, that really hurt," Elsa said in a delicate tone, but because the voice came from the massive Tyrannosaur head, it sounded terrifying.
Tony didn't care to chat. Looking at the Tyrannosaur head—which had taken a direct hit from the Iron Man suit's cannons without significant damage—he frowned slightly. "Is her head really that hard?"
Staring at the hovering Tony, Elsa leaped high into the air, attempting to bite him. Tony maneuvered the suit in a side-roll to dodge the "T-Rex kiss," but unexpectedly, the Tyrannosaur's claws suddenly extended through the air, snagging the suit.
The massive body of the Tyrannosaur was formed by the T-Rex Memory absorbing surrounding matter; naturally, the Memory could also alter the body's structure to a certain extent, such as catching an opponent off-guard by extending its limbs.
"Caught you," Elsa said with a delighted voice, moving to shove Tony and her own claw into her mouth together.
Seeing this, Tony was alarmed. He pushed the thrusters to maximum power, trying to break free from the grip. However, a large amount of sand and earth suddenly poured out from the claw, clogging the suit's thrusters and preventing them from providing enough thrust.
Seeing the razor-sharp teeth right in front of him, Tony grit his teeth. "Jarvis, open the suit!"
Jarvis hesitated for a fraction of a second but immediately executed the emergency exit protocol. The armor opened from the chest, and Tony leaped out.
"A cicada shedding its skin? Without the Iron Man suit, you're just a mortal of flesh and blood; you'll be even less able to resist me. Falling from nearly ten meters... you'll probably lose the ability to move entirely," Elsa said, initially surprised to see Tony abandon the suit, then dismissive.
While in mid-air, Tony pulled out the Lost Driver, strapped it to his waist, and pressed the Machine Memory.
"MACHINE!"
The Machine Memory seemed to possess a consciousness of its own, flying automatically into the Driver's slot. Tony completed his transformation mid-air and landed steadily on the ground.
"So this is the transformation using the power of a Memory?" Tony looked at his armor, which was saturated with a mechanical aesthetic, feeling a slight sense of wonder.
"You actually have a Gaia Memory too," Elsa remarked, surprised as she watched the transformed Tony. She carelessly tossed the Iron Man suit aside.
Then, her tone shifted: "This is wonderful! It seems we really are a match made in heaven. Let me just eat you and that Gaia Memory together. Just the thought of it makes me incredibly excited."
Her words were thick with predatory greed.
Watching the claw swing toward him again, Tony kicked off the ground, easily leaping over a dozen meters high to evade the attack.
"Wald could use high-temperature magma fireballs, and Elsa here can attract surrounding matter to form a giant Tyrannosaur body. So, what is the special ability of the Machine Memory?" Tony tried to resist the Tyrannosaur, but after being swatted away by its tail, he immediately gave up on a frontal confrontation to think.
Tony felt a sudden intuition and looked toward the Iron Man suit Elsa had discarded. With a mere thought, the suit moved on its own. It restructured itself, turning into a new set of armor that attached to Tony, perfectly integrating with his post-transformation Machine form.
Tony had a sudden realization; he understood the ability of the Machine Memory.
The armor structure formed by the Iron Man suit changed according to Tony's thoughts: thrusters appeared on his legs and back, missile launchers mounted on his shoulders, and pulse cannons materialized on his arms.
"I see. In a way, this Machine Memory is perfect for me. It allows me to decompose and reconstruct mechanical structures at will," Tony thought, marveling as he felt the mechanical structure of the armor transform exactly according to his designs.
He immediately felt the urge to apply this power to his experiments, using it to verify ideas he had previously been unable to implement due to technical limitations.
However, a roar from the Tyrannosaur interrupted his train of thought.
Looking at the massive foot stomping down, Tony's expression remained unchanged. The pulse cannons on his arms and the missiles on his shoulders fired simultaneously. They blasted the Tyrannosaur's arm—composed of sand and metal—to pieces. He then began analyzing the Tyrannosaur's structure.
"Attacking this body made of sand is useless; it doesn't matter how many times I break it, it just reforms. The head is too hard to destroy directly. Therefore, I need to break through the body and strike the Dopant's true form inside."
Having formulated a tactic, Tony immediately controlled his armor to change shape, forming a drill.
With missiles clearing the path, he blew a large hole in the Tyrannosaur's body and drilled straight in, locking onto the T-Rex Dopant hidden deep within the massive accumulation of sand and metal.
The power of the Machine Memory poured into the drill, directly destroying the T-Rex Memory.
Once the Memory was shattered, the massive Tyrannosaur body disintegrated instantly. Tony flew out, cradling Elsa, who had reverted to her human form.
(End of Chapter)