Chapter 333: A Weakness Appears!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
The steps Qi Long and the others used to evade were not movements that Li Shiyu and the other newer members were familiar with. Only the eyes of Li Lanfeng, who was still fighting the enemy spectres, lit up when he saw those moves. He had seen the rabbit use moves similar to these 7 years ago while they were practising for the assessment. It looked like these techniques must be unique arts from the rabbit's sect. Since Qi Long and the others could learn them, did this mean that he would also be able to learn these moves later on?
The reason why Li Lanfeng would be so taken by this set of steps was that each of the stepping points in the set was exceedingly strange, completely going against conventional logic and laws of inertia. Oftentimes, places which you did not think was possible to get to, you would be able to get there accurately using this set of footwork. This type of utterly unpredictable evasion method would cause all the enemies' attacks to strike air.
Just like Li Lanfeng predicted, this set of footwork which Qi Long and the others were currently displaying was indeed taught to them by Ling Lan. However, it was not like Li Lanfeng believed — these steps were not an exclusive art of Ling Lan's sect but were something Ling Lan had learned in the learning space. It was also the most basic evasion footwork for mecha available in the learning space.
This set of basic evasion footwork from the learning space had been derived over the accumulated tempering of time. Each step in the set was the fruit of concentrated effort from countless mecha operators within the Mandora star system over tens of thousands of years. Ling Lan had tested it — as long as one mastered this set of evasion footwork, learning any of the other so-called advanced evasion techniques of the Federation after that was extremely easy.
Having discovered the benefits, Ling Lan naturally did not forget about her companions. After obtaining permission from Instructor Number Three, she taught this set of footwork to Qi Long and the others. In order for them to integrate this footwork into their instincts, Ling Lan used extremely brutal and punishing training, just like Instructor Number Three had within the learning space, to force Qi Long and the others to rapidly become used to the steps.
Similarly, Qi Long and the others also thought that these steps were part of General Ling Xiao's legacy. After all, only a god-class operator could have such a strange and inexplicable set of footwork.
Li Lanfeng had already been obsessed with this wondrous set of footwork of the rabbit's ever since he first saw it seven years ago. Now, seeing that there was the possibility of learning it, he was instantly thrilled. This surge in emotion spurred his initially suppressed spectre power to expand rapidly in reaction, instantly flinging off one of the spectre powers attacking him fiercely.
"Pfft!" In the hidden room, one of the black-robed men suddenly threw up a mouthful of blood.
"Pete, what happened?" Seeing this, Carter's expression changed drastically.
"The opponent spectre's power suddenly became stronger. My attack was reflected back at me, so I suffered some injury." Pete rubbed at his brow with his fingers, beginning to soothe his somewhat chaotic spectre power after suffering from the counterattack.
"Could the opponent be playing around with us?" Carter's expression fluctuated uncertainly. The power of a typical spectre was stable and would not suddenly increase by so much at once. The only explanation he could think of was that the opponent had not been going all-out from the start.
Carter's words made Pete's expression change as well. "Then what do we do?" If the other was truly playing a pig to eat a tiger, then they were truly in a very bad position. No one wants to die, even if these people were spectres who had always been reaping the lives of others.
"D*mn, how much longer will they need to handle things over at the trap?" said Carter angrily. In order to ensure their safety, he had immediately contacted D2 who had been holding the fort at the heart of the base, telling him to inform D1 to send another spectre over to help as soon as possible.
D2 had responded quickly, telling Carter that there was a great fight around the trap at the moment. The enemy spectre there was extremely powerful, so they needed two spectres working together to kill the other. It would be difficult to pull either spectre out for the time being, so he could only ask that they continue to hold on.
D2's words implied that both sides were similarly fighting just one enemy spectre, so why did they need an extra hand when killing the enemy spectre at the trap was only a matter of time? In particular, the part where he told them to continue holding on was obviously tinged with contempt. This made Carter so angry he could feel the rage swell in his chest. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and say that they would take down the enemy spectre on their own, as long as the mecha warriors could handle all the other small fry; the connotation being that these mecha warriors sent by D2 were truly too weak.
These two were so at odds because spectres and hackers belonged to two separate systems in competition with one another, neither willing to back down. Spectres have always considered themselves the gods of the virtual world, able to dictate the life or death of everyone in the virtual world. Meanwhile, hackers were just an inferior bunch of rebels, unstable elements in the virtual world.
In contrast, hackers believed that they themselves were the true masters of the virtual world. They could alter the virtual world with their abilities, even turn the entire virtual world on its head. In their eyes, spectres were just a bunch of demons lurking within the virtual world, a bunch of revolting, dark stinkbugs that made them feel afraid even as they were filled with disgust ...
Carter angrily cut off his call with D2. If their superiors had not ordered their group of spectres to listen to the orders of the hackers from group D, he would have long have given the other a taste of what's what.
Knowing that they would not be getting any reinforcements, Carter and Pete held an emergency discussion and then decided to play it a little safer. This time, they would not attack one after the other, but instead attack together. Their original strategy of attacking one after the other was to not give the opponent any time to rest — it was a plan to exhaust the stamina of the other spectre. However, now, in view of the unfathomable power of the opponent, they decided it would be better to attack together for the sake of safety.
Thus, the two of them attacked Li Lanfeng at the same time. This combined spectre attack almost broke Li Lanfeng's layered spectre power defensive shield. He had initially been able to operate his mecha to dodge the enemy mecha's beam attacks, but now he could no longer spare the effort to do so. Against the simultaneous forceful attack of two spectres, Li Lanfeng needed to use all his strength to withstand it ...
During this time, as Qi Long and the others were dodging, they had managed to take down another three mecha by working together. Compared to how easy things seemed to be for Qi Long and the original team members, Li Shiyu was obviously struggling a lot more. He was hit several times by the enemy's beams, but luckily it was only one or two beams each time. With the protection of a beam shield, he had not taken any damage.
However, the situation soon took a turn for the worse. Li Lanfeng's strange behaviour had been noticed by quite a few of the enemy mecha. In contrast to the other unhittable mecha who were evading their attacks so mysteriously, Li Lanfeng's almost immobile mecha was an obvious sitting target. They all knew to go after the weakest link 1 , and so all the attacks of these mecha began to congregate onto Li Lanfeng's mecha.
As he was the closest to Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu was the first to see the threat to Li Lanfeng. He rushed forwards without hesitation to use his own mecha as a shield.
"Hells!" Qi Long and the others too became aware of the problem now. They all began to gather around Li Lanfeng, and this odd shift brought the attention of all the remaining enemy mecha who had initially been oblivious to the weakness of their team. The number of beams attacking Li Lanfeng's mecha increased even more — with this, even Qi Long and the others had no choice but to control their mecha to block some attacks and try to divert attention. The team was put into a passive position.
Ling Lan was just about to order Little Four to help Li Lanfeng finish off those two spectres when Chang Xinyuan operated his mecha to rush and stand before Li Lanfeng's mecha, shouting, "You all go and finish off the other mecha, I'll protect Li Lanfeng."
Following this cry, Chang Xinyuan's mecha suddenly transformed from a humanoid mecha into a large pot lid 2 . The large pot lid abruptly stretched and covered Li Lanfeng's mecha entirely ...
"Holy crap, Chang Xinyuan, what is this thing?!" Qi Long saw the other's mecha transform into this extremely black, large pot lid and could not help but exclaim in shock.
"One of my immature designs. I'm not very good at mecha piloting, so I was afraid of pulling down my battle clan in future. That's why I designed this most defensive solution. I call it Divine Turtle Shield. It's used to attract the enemy's fire, allowing my other teammates to attack freely ..." explained Chang Xinyuan, "But for now, I can only make this pot lid shape. It's rather far still from my original idea of a turtle's shell, and even its defensive strength is not at the standard I would like."
"How long can it hold out for?" Ling Lan asked as she continued to fire her beam gun. She pulled her trigger consecutively, attacking a particular mecha ten times in succession at the exact same spot, finally destroying that mecha completely.
"It's able to block the simultaneous attacks of 10 beam guns for 10 minutes. The other side has approximately 20 mecha left. I should still be able to hold out for 5 minutes." Hearing Boss Lan ask about his shield, Chang Xinyuan quickly answered without daring to include any irrelevant chatter. Facing Ling Lan, Chang Xinyuan was still rather timid.
"Good! Chang Xinyuan, mark this down as a merit for yourself. Lingtian Battle Clan, follow me!" With no more worries holding her back, Ling Lan gave this direct order and then charged on her own out into the fray.
Ling Lan was not a person who liked to attack passively; she liked taking the initiative. Since Li Lanfeng was being protected by Chang Xinyuan and would not be in any danger for the next five minutes, she decided to go head to head with the enemy. Only in this way would they be able to hinder the other side's unbridled attack on Li Lanfeng so Chang Xinyuan would be able to hold out for even longer.
As for those two spectres, Ling Lan was prepared to let Li Lanfeng continue playing with them, with Little Four acting as an alert guardian. Ling Lan felt that it was worth taking the risk if Li Lanfeng could gain a little more experience. After all, a battle between spectres was not so easy to come across.
Howling exuberantly, Qi Long and the others charged out after Ling Lan. Finally, the blades of the two sides clashed, and the enemy mecha's thoughts of steamrolling their opponent by relying on their numbers were thoroughly crushed by Ling Lan.
In order to bring her full combat power into play, Ling Lan was using the standard Federation advanced mecha which was at the same level as the enemy mecha. Meanwhile, Ling Lan's true level had long been at mecha master level though Ling Lan was unsure whether she was in special-class level or already in ace level. This was because she had promised her father before that before she managed to gather enough points in Mecha World to redeem an equivalent mecha, she would not cross-levels to operate a more advanced mecha.
Of course, when Ling Xiao had found out that the mission she had received this time was an SSS-rank mission, in order to ensure Ling Lan's safety, Ling Xiao had handed his own imperial mecha to her and permitted her to use it at critical moments. Thus, finally operating a more suitably advanced mecha, Ling Lan's sealed powers were beginning to manifest. Like a wolf let loose into a flock of sheep, she began her wild massacre.
A sharp roundhouse kick sent the 4 or 5 mecha around her flying. And as they were flailing around defenceless, she raised the beam gun in her right hand and sent a barrage of shots firing at those mecha's cockpits.
Her super strong close-range combat skills combined with perfect and accurate marksmanship caused three mecha to explode in an instant. Ling Lan's super strong attack power flabbergasted the surrounding enemy mecha. In unplanned unison, they actually stopped their attacks to stare dumbly at that fearsome mecha standing tall within the raging flames and thick smoke.