Chapter 419: Empty-Handed Weapon Grab!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
Only Tang Yu alone could not help but cry out in approval, “An accurate decision.”
From Lingtian No.11’s performance so far, his skills obviously marked him as a special-class mecha master with a proficiency in long-range attacks. Although Qiao Ting could rely on even better long-range attacks to defeat the other, that would no doubt make this a protracted battle, a great waste of time. Moreover, Qiao Ting’s current condition, both in terms of the state of his mecha and the state of his mind, would not allow for a protracted battle. His only option was to defeat the current opponent as quick as possible so he could have as much time as possible to rest. Hopefully, he would be able to regain his optimum state to deal with the other two Lingtian members who had yet to show themselves.
Tang Yu believed that Qiao Ting himself was aware that one of the two remaining members was the main regiment commander of the Lingtian Mecha Clan, one of the three special-class operators of the Lingtian Mecha Clan. Since the other was able to become the regiment commander of the Lingtian Mecha Clan, his capabilities definitely could not be underestimated. If Qiao Ting could not face the other at his best, then it would not be so easy to defeat the other.
Of course, Tang Yu had cheered for Qiao Ting’s decision to engage in close combat not just because of that. Tang Yu knew his student very well — although Qiao Ting had chosen an ace mecha geared for long-range attacks, in truth, his close-combat skills were exceedingly strong, even better than some of the average close-combat mecha masters. It could be said that Qiao Ting was an all-rounder who could fight at both long range and close range; so, for him to use close combat against Lingtian No.11, a long-range expert, was undoubtedly the best choice.
Truth be told, Tang Yu also did not believe that there would be another in the academy like Qiao Ting, a mecha master proficient in both long-range combat and close combat. Take this Lingtian No.11 for example.
Qiao Ting’s sudden change in attack style indeed caught Li Lanfeng by surprise. This attack was undoubtedly very abrupt — the beam saber appeared in an instant right before Li Lanfeng’s face. Li Lanfeng did not have time to dodge, much less draw the beam saber from his own back to block. In a flash of inspiration, he decisively flung the beam gun in his right hand out to meet that incoming beam saber.
“Pow! Swoosh!” The beam gun and the beam saber collided, emitting a soft sound. Immediately after, the beam saber’s greater energy instantly cut right through the beam gun. Lacking any beam shield defence, the beam gun naturally could not withstand the beam saber’s attack, splitting into two halves.
Although Li Lanfeng had lost a beam gun, he had also managed to resolve this sudden one-hit kill attack of Qiao Ting’s. Li Lanfeng took advantage of Qiao Ting’s ending momentum; before Qiao Ting could come at him with a new attack, he grabbed the opening to dash away at top speed in his mecha. Swiftly pulling a distance away from Qiao Ting, he drew the beam saber from his back at the same time so he was no longer unarmed.
“This Lingtian No.11 has extremely exceptional reflexes.” The principal’s eyes shone at the sight. These reflexes alone was enough to prove that this Lingtian No.11 was a good potential sprout for close combat …
On the tail of the principal’s delight was disappointment. Such good candidates for close combat, and they just had to go and choose long-range combat. Lingtian No.11 was one, and Qiao Ting was another … the students now all tended to choose speed-type mecha or long-range mecha in order to ensure their own safety. In contrast, close-combat mecha with the highest offensive power but also high risk were being chosen less and less.
“Who’d have guessed that there would not be just one genius …” Tang Yu’s gaze was complicated at this moment. Honestly speaking, he did not want to see his student Qiao Ting, whom he had so painstakingly cultivated and was so proud of, to lose the challenge fight, but the performance of so many of the Lingtian members had made him sit up and take notice. Each of them had their unique points of brilliance, making him yearn to teach them, and one of them had even made him decide to take him in as a true disciple. As such, he also did not want to see them return in defeat.
“Cough!” Tang Yu could only sigh in the end. Troubled either way, he could only force himself to watch as a neutral bystander and wait patiently for the final outcome to emerge.
Qiao Ting saw his carefully planned blow strike air and was frustrated. Unwilling to lose his initiative, he quickly chased after Li Lanfeng and once again swung his sword out angrily.
Li Lanfeng did not hesitate to meet him with his own beam saber. Countless sounds of beam sabers clashing rang out, and the audience could only see a dancing light show. The forms of the beam sabers were almost indiscernible — it was clear to see that the attack speed of both combatants had reached a fever pitch, so quick that others could no longer see the exchange of blows clearly.
“Boom!” A dead beam saber suddenly flew out from the sphere of light. As the attack speed of both combatants had been too fast, none of the spectators knew whose beam saber exactly had been sent flying …
Of course, many people were leaning towards the idea that it was Li Lanfeng. After all, Qiao Ting was an ace operator — no matter how damaged his mecha was, it should still be impossible for him to be disarmed of his beam saber.
The audience’s eyes were discerning. Indeed, the one who had his beam saber sent flying was truly Li Lanfeng. Facing a now unarmed Li Lanfeng, Qiao Ting laughed coldly and once again swung the beam saber in his hands. This attack was even fiercer than those before — it was clear to see that Qiao Ting had no intention to let Li Lanfeng continue living.
With no other tools at his disposal to intercept this blow, Li Lanfeng looked like he was about to be pierced by Qiao Ting’s beam saber. Right at this critical moment, Li Lanfeng’s mecha suddenly sank down low, both his mecha’s arms rose up, and his palms clapped together.
The beam saber was caught between the mecha’s two palms. Where the two met, dazzling electrical sparks bloomed. With that, Qiao Ting and Li Lanfeng were stuck in a deadlock in the air.
“Empty-handed weapon grab!” The spectating students exclaimed collectively. Even the spectating instructors could not help but leap to their feet in shock. This move was considered an extreme skill of mecha control; not any ordinary mecha master could master this move.
“How can this be possible? Even Qiao Ting was unable to master this move.” Tang Yu was equally astounded. The ’empty-handed weapon grab’ was one of his favoured special moves; unfortunately, even Qiao Ting, the student he was proudest of at present, had not been able to learn this move. This was because this move not only had high demands on mecha piloting talent, it also required perfect mastery of the mecha basic controls. However, most operators typically did not like wasting time on the basic controls. Even Qiao Ting had only trained up his basics till they were excellent enough before moving on. This was why Tang Yu had not been able to pass on this technique thus far, but unexpectedly, he had seen it executed by this Lingtian No.11 today.
“Lingtian No.11. Name: Li Lanfeng. Status: Elite family descendant, age 20. Physical skills: Early stage Qi-Jin; Mecha Piloting Level: Special-class, Advanced to Special-class advancement results: Excellent.” The excited Tang Yu immediately searched for Lingtian No.11’s information, and discovered that the other was actually from the same year as Qiao Ting.
“I actually missed such an outstanding student,” said Tang Yu with a regretful expression.
“It should be said that our academy is filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons. There are just too many exceptional seedlings of this type,” consoled the principal.
The principal’s words improved Tang Yu’s mood. Tang Yu thought about the six new students he would be taking — although Lin Zhong-qing had not officially become his student yet, in Tang Yu’s heart, he was already his disciple — and he believed that they would not be worse than this No.11.
In mid-air, Qiao Ting and Li Lanfeng were stuck in a deadlock. And then, right at this moment, Qiao Ting suddenly felt his heart clench, an unprecedented sense of danger stealing over his heart.
Could it be that Li Lanfeng was about to self-destruct as well? Qiao Ting could not confirm where the danger was coming from, and just as he was hesitating over whether he should just let go of the beam saber in his hands and run …
“Ah! Down below!” Spectators see a game better than its players — the spectating cadets who had chosen God-view could all see where the true source of danger to Qiao Ting was.
Apparently, right below the pair in the air, on the dust submerged ground, a mecha had snuck in. He suddenly rose into the air, his cold weapon glinting with cold light as he raised it high and stabbed it insidiously at Qiao Ting’s mecha suspended in a deadlock with Li Lanfeng in the air.
Fortunately, Qiao Ting was high up enough that, at the final moment, he finally saw where the true danger was. This unexpected attack chilled everyone’s hearts and also frightened Qiao Ting enough to make him break out in cold sweat.
Qiao Ting decisively let go of the beam saber in his hands and piloted his mecha to forcibly shift a metre away in parallel. This one-metre distance let him avoid the crisis of having a sword shoved up his chrysanthemum, but even so, that giant blade still scraped across his mecha, sending up countless sparks to blind everyone.
An approximately 2-inch deep gouge appeared starkly on the outer armour of Qiao Ting’s mecha. If not for the substantial thickness of the steel of an ace mecha’s body, this gouge might have directly ruined the mecha’s body.
Qiao Ting narrowly survived this crisis, and one more of the final remaining three Lingtian members on the field had appeared. Except for the regiment commander of Lingtian, Ling Lan, who had not appeared yet, the others had all appeared before Qiao Ting.
“Good, I didn’t come too late.” Qi Long succeeded in one strike and then immediately retreated to one side. His mecha hovered in the air, that giant sword over one shoulder, as he spoke loudly to Li Lanfeng.
“A bit later and I would not be have been able to hold on anymore.” Li Lanfeng was glad that Qi Long had come in time. A little later and he would not have been able to hold Qiao Ting off anymore — at his level, an ace operator really was not someone he could contend with.
“Sorry about that! My mecha’s speed is low. I was already moving as fast as I could.” Qi Long was rather embarrassed. In order to make up for it, he raised the giant sword in his hands suddenly and said, “After this, watch me.”
Qi Long had hardly finished speaking when he shook his giant sword and charged ferociously towards Qiao Ting.
Compared to Li Lanfeng’s speed, Qi Long’s speed was truly like that of a tortoise. Qiao Ting’s face expressed his contempt, and with a slight shift, he had dodged Qi Long’s charge. As Qiao Ting moved, he pulled out his backup weapons, two high-frequency blades, aimed them at Qi Long, who was about half a body length past him, and attacked.
With a loud “bang”, the high-frequency blades struck Qi Long’s giant sword … no, it should be said that they were blocked by Qi Long’s giant sword. Although high-frequency blades were extremely destructive, they could not display their power before Qi Long’s massive cold weapon. The only thing they left on the giant sword in commemoration was a shallow scrape across the body of the giant sword. It was likely that when the weapons had collided, the high-frequency blades’ energy had caused a little bit of damage to the surface of the sword’s giant blade.
“This fellow’s physical constitution must be at monster level.” Qi Long had only swung his giant sword twice, but the principal could already tell Qi Long’s base stats.
“Yes, this fellow is a close combat oddball genius. It’s a shame that in order to raise its strength, the mecha’s speed is a little lacking.” Tang Yu had also identified the weakness of Qi Long’s mecha.