Chapter 369: Team-M's Annihilation!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
The beam shots hit the ground surfaces of those areas which had registered a response on the radar, sending clumps of dirt and clouds of dust into the air. It had to be said that M01's reaction speed was extremely fast — even though he had lost his calm, his solid foundational skills still let him strike out at those energy response spots in the blink of an eye ...
After one round of attacks, there was still no sign of the ace mecha. Before M01 could let out a sigh of relief, a strong gust of wind came up from behind him. His heart skipped a beat, and before he could operate his mecha to dodge, he felt his back being struck by a heavy force and he could not help but spurt out a mouthful of blood.
M01 clenched his teeth against the pain. He urgently controlled the mecha to roll forwards with the momentum of the blow, and at the same time, he drew out a tube of medicinal agent from a slot inside the cockpit. Flicking the cap of the tube open with his right thumb, he poured the agent down his throat.
Even if he had not seen any sign of the opponent, this tremendous force alone let him know that the one who attacked him was most certainly that unseen ace mecha. As expected, the other was not planning to let him go.
M01 knew that he most likely would not be able to leave planet Newline alive as that last strike had dealt severe damage to his internal organs; unless he immediately escaped from here to find an army doctor, then maybe he would still have some hope of survival. However, M01 knew that the powerful ace mecha would never let him escape. Since death was certain, M01's initial fear was swept away as he prepared himself for one last desperate gamble.
This was why he had used the powerful painkiller formulated by the military. This would guarantee that he would not be paralysed by pain, allowing him to execute the following controls before his life was exhausted. This analgesic agent was a type of medical agent their country had concocted to bring out one's life energy in one final burst. It was meant to let warriors with no chance of survival to go out in a blaze of glory, burning up the last of their life to kill off more enemies ... every warrior who was sent out to battle would have a tube of this agent with them.
"If you want to kill me, you'll need to pay the proper price!" roared M01 in his cockpit. He flipped his mecha around and rose to a half-kneel, then raising both his hands, he aimed for the ace mecha ... eyes red, M01 pulled the triggers of both his laser beam handguns. The speed at which he pulled the triggers was three times faster than usual — it looked like under the lash of both the medical agent and his despair, his latent potential had all been unleashed.
M01 naturally did not dare dream that these attacks would destroy the enemy mecha. An ace mecha was not something their energy weapons could destroy. He only wished to leave some damage on the enemy mecha before he died. That way, it would help the comrades from their reinforcements take down this despicable enemy ... yes, M01 had pinned his hopes on his comrades. Thus, he wanted to help his comrades relieve as much pressure as possible before he died.
But how could things turn out as M01 wished? That ace mecha's response instantly crushed M01's barely regained confidence. That ace mecha did not care at all about M01's resistance — facing the two laser beam guns about to fire, the opponent simply swung the great sword in his hands ...
The giant sword flew out of the other's hands and hurtled through the air. Just as M01 pulled on the triggers, the sword had already arrived before him to slice at his two arms wielding the laser beam handguns ...
There was a loud 'snap' and M01 did not see beams pouring out from the handguns in his mecha's hands as he expected. Instead, he saw two arms suddenly fly into the air — he stared wide-eyed at that pair of arms, which held his two laser beam handguns. They drew a graceful arc through the air before landing heavily onto the ground ...
Before he could shake himself from his confused shock, his mecha's screen was abruptly covered by a dark shadow. His vision in the cockpit was entirely blocked off, and soon after, he sensed a tremendous force slamming into his cockpit once more. This time, he was not as lucky as before to retain his awareness despite his injuries; he was instantly struck unconscious by this force, his entire being plunged into darkness ...
Even if M01 was still alive after this attack, having lost consciousness meant that he would no longer have the chance to wake up ever again.
Watching the final enemy mecha collapsing heavily to the ground, Ling Lan smoothly pulled up the giant sword planted in the ground beside her. Without any hesitation, she instantly stabbed the sword through the other's cockpit ...
The sword slid in, and then Ling Lan could clearly see blood spurt out from the cracks in the cockpit. The glow of the enemy mecha's defensive beam shield gradually disappeared, dimming into darkness, and Ling Lan knew that both the man and machine of this enemy mecha before her eyes was gone.
"Opponent's death verified!" As expected, the A.I. of the ace mecha coldly announced the death of the enemy. Only then did Ling Lan pull out her sword from the cockpit. Reflexively, she lifted her head to look towards the battle-lit night skies. A cold smirk appeared on her lips, and with a flicker, her figure disappeared within the dense forest.
Little Four had just alerted Ling Lan to the approach of three mecha from three kilometres away. The group consisted of one ace mecha and two special-class mecha. This was very likely an ace mecha squadron led by an ace main and two special-class secondaries.
Meanwhile, at this moment, Qiao Ting's group who had moved off ahead of Ling Lan did not linger in the skies above the mecha storehouse to protect their team members as Ling Lan had done. With a clear focus, they moved west, preparing to join the fight in the most battle-intense dormitory district.
Of course, Qiao Ting's group did not choose to enter the frontlines, aiming to land instead at the rear end of the ground forces. This was because they knew that on a merciless battlefield, unidentified mecha would be considered by both sides as part of the enemy forces by default. They were not arrogant enough to believe that they would be able to survive the combined attack of both sides.
Sure enough, Qiao Ting's group had just begun their descent when they received a warning from a mecha column that had temporarily stopped for adjustments. Qiao Ting responded quickly, immediately reporting their status as cadets. As they were indeed piloting trainee mecha of the academy, they were finally allowed to land under the close supervision of the ground mecha team.
Just as Qiao Ting's team was feeling restless and uneasy, Qiao Ting received a video call request. He immediately accepted the call, and a person instantly appeared on his mecha's screen. It was his instructor, Tang Yu.
When Tang Yu saw Qiao Ting, he let out a quiet sigh and said, "Qiao Ting, so it is you. Why have you brought your people here in mecha?"
Qiao Ting primly gave a cadet's salute to Tang Yu and then said respectfully, "Although we're only cadets, we too can fight. So we've come, prepared to raise weapons and protect our academy."
Qiao Ting's reply made Tang Yu's eyes flash with a trace of approval. Able to keep calm in moments of crisis and choosing to go to the mecha storehouse to obtain trainee mecha — this action was undoubtedly correct. Leaving aside whether their combat skills would be at all effective in this cruel battle, their choice at least gave them some means of protecting themselves. Compared to those students trapped in the dormitory district now, reliant on the forces outside to protect them, Qiao Ting's team was perhaps much more likely to survive this battle.
At this thought, Tang Yu looked back at the dormitory district behind him with concern. Although both sides were still stuck in a stalemate at present, their side was already stretched to their limits. Not only had the ground forces been dispatched, even all the instructors of the military academy had stepped up to fight. In other words, they had nothing left in reserve, but they had no idea whether the enemy had any reinforcements left ...
Tang Yu could not help but look up at the endless starry sky above. If the enemy still had any fighting strength left in reserve, the outcome of this battle would undoubtedly be their defeat. Perhaps they instructors would still be able to rely on the superiority of their mecha and temporarily escape with their lives, but the students in the dormitory district behind them would definitely be destined to die ... seeing how the enemy was throwing their full force at the dormitory district, even the stupidest person could tell that the enemy's objective was precisely the students behind them ... would the Federation truly lose several generations worth of capable fighters because of this?
Tang Yu was extremely anxious but he still appeared as calm as usual on the outside. Before things became truly dire, he absolutely would not reveal his anxiety and affect the confidence of these excellent children before him. Thus, he ordered, "Qiao Ting, lead your team members to move alongside us. After this, follow our orders."
Even if they did not manage to protect all the cadets in the end, he still wanted to safeguard these excellent seeds before him now ... Tang Yu vowed in his heart. This was why he had asked Qiao Ting's team to move with them — if things really took a turn for the worse as he imagined, he and the other instructors would do their utmost to protect Qiao Ting and these other excellent talents, giving these excellent seeds a better chance at survival.
"Yes, Sir!" Qiao Ting immediately agreed to Tang Yu's orders. Qiao Ting was well aware that, lacking experience, they were indeed in need of experienced instructors to provide practical guidance. This would make it easier for them to adapt to the cruel realities of battle.
Just like that, Qiao Ting's team followed Tang Yu and the other instructors into battle. The instructors were primarily special-class operators with a small portion being ace operators. Some, like Instructor Tang Yu, were top-class ace operators. On the battlefield, Tang Yu could fight on even ground with two to three regular ace operators — in the past, before the number one ace operator Senior Colonel Qi had advanced to imperial status, he had even been able to handle four to five ace operators simultaneously on his own.
Though they were all ace operators, there was still distinction within the ranks. Of course, this distinction was due to the accumulation of battle experience and had very little relation to control techniques. This was also why ace operators who had gained their advancement inside a military academy like Qiao Ting would be looked down upon by those battle-experienced advanced mecha warriors. Although many of the ace mecha operators who had advanced by this route had very high-level control skills and techniques, due to a lack of true battle experience, there had been numerous cases where battle-experienced advanced mecha warriors had set up traps and successfully turned the tables on these ace operators and killed them.
Thus, levels were actually not that important — the most important thing on the battlefield was whether you could grasp every opportunity available to kill your opponent and survive.