Chapter 125: Fish and Net I
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The attacks outside were closing in, slowly but surely.
Inside the almost-crumbling building, things were not as calm as it seemed. Like its heavily bruised exterior, the inside was littered with holes. A thoroughly golden colored humanoid was constantly moving around in the building; the walls were like paper-thin barriers, never hindering the humanoid’s movement. The astonishing fact was that, despite the heavy damage inflicted, the half-building structure was still standing, and one could not help but applaud the brick structure’s admirable stability.
However, if an architect were to witness this, they would have been flabbergasted. The damages were all inflicted at places that would not affect the half-building’s main structure, as though they were all the result of stringent calculations. What was left of the building had a shifted center of gravity, and its support structure was heavily vandalized, but just as the building’s collapse seemed imminent, the golden humanoid’s "renovations" greatly reduced the probability of collapse!
That golden humanoid was Ye Chong.
One could not help but commend Gu Shaoze’s ingenuity! The miniature mech was spectacularly designed, and even Mu could not deduce much of the mech’s functioning principles.
Miniature mechs were a branch of mech design, unappreciated throughout its existence, researched by only a few aristocratic families; and Gu Shaoze’s miniature mech, Guardian, was entirely different from the average miniature mech.
Guardian looked like a space suit. The metallic faceplate pressed against Ye Chong’s face, with an odd pair of eyes in alternating silver and black. His head was fitted with a cover of the same metallic make, and the insides were fitted with an advanced scanning system. The shoulders armors were tough, and Ye Chong could only regret on the lack of barbs on the armors. The main engine was spread across his lower back; the engine’s power surprised Ye Chong when he first activated it.
The most inexplicable feature was that every joint of the Guardian was equipped with auxiliary engines. These auxiliary engines were not used for direction maneuvering, but to amplify the mech’s strength. With Guardian, Ye Chong’s strength was now nothing short of astounding. With a short burst, Ye Chong could accelerate to an astonishing Mach 10! Even Harmony of the Winter Aria could only reach a maximum of Mach 7, and the average starship could only fly at Mach 3 or 4.
With Guardian on him, Ye Chong could now attack with the force of an average mech! One should know that an average mech was about 10 meters tall, and giants like Yu Di could even reach to an astonishing 20 meters. Guardian, however, was only slightly less than 2 meters tall. With such a large difference in size, the chances of Guardian being locked on and hit decreased greatly.
While offering such outstanding physical abilities, the mech also required good piloting skills. Perhaps only someone like Ye Chong, with nearly inhuman abilities and an incredulously robust physique could pilot this superior mech. Due to spatial constraint, besides the inherent cushioning property of the unknown metal that made up Guardian’s main body, there virtually were no suspension systems for the mech! With an acceleration from at rest to Mach 10 in 1.2 seconds, the force due to the abrupt change in velocity would have squeezed the guts out of a normal person!
Weaponry was Guardian’s weakness. The 2 daggers by its thighs left Ye Chong a little disappointed. The daggers were sized like the ones used by humans in combat; can such tiny weapons pierce through mech armor? The brass knuckles also seemed suitable only for human combat, and not one between mechs! It seemed that Gu Shaoze had only designed the mech for his skillful combatant of an escort, the golden haired Number Two, and did not emphasize much on weaponry.
Guardian - the name was fitting for the mech!
Ye Chong was completely covered in the luster of golden metal, in a mech with a modern design. If not for the luster unique to metals, Ye Chong would have suspected the mech to be made of something non-metallic. Ye Chong could even feel the softness of the metallic faceplate; pressed against his face, the faceplate changed according to his facial expressions. Could this malleable metal be any good for defense? Ye Chong was highly suspicious!
There were too many things that perplexed Ye Chong, but he did not have the time just now to explore them. The sounds of explosions were approaching, and the blast waves shook the vulnerably swaying building, with small rocks and dust falling from above!
Time was too short! If he had more time, Ye Chong believed that he could, with the help of Guardian and Mu, break through the opponent’s surrounding formation. It was a pity that he remembered too late about the inconspicuous ring that Gu Shaoze handed to him before he died! Nonetheless, regret was not a good habit. Ye Chong pulled himself together and meticulously went through his experience in controlling Guardian.
Abruptly, Ye Chong stopped, and listened. "Huh?" The enemy’s attacks now felt different to Ye Chong; they were more disorganized and not rhythmic as before. What happened?
Just then, Mu spoke urgently, "Ye, something’s happened, get ready to move!"
"There was only one small area left, the enemy’s target must be inside! Hmm, their shooting rhythm has slowed down!" As she noticed some of the enemy’s mechs had stopped shooting, Feng Su knew that it was now time to move!
10 Dawn mechs broke through the enemy’s formation under Feng Su’s order!
The sudden intrusion broke the rhythm of the MPA mechs, but they reacted swiftly - almost immediately, 10 Messengers flew in to engage. Without any unnecessary forewarnings, tens of nanowave beams were shot towards the Dawn mechs! Another 10 of the MPA’s mechs rushed towards the last piece of standing structure in the area!
The two sides were obviously familiar with each other, and fought without hesitation. Then 10 Dawn mechs flew like butterflies amongst the flowers, flying forwards, backwards, or crossing with each other. The nanowave beams shot through the spaces between the Dawn mechs as they flew about in a seemingly irregular pattern, but completely avoiding the attack.
The round of fire left the enemy unscatched, and the MPA’s arrogant Messengers were shocked!
MPA was equally informed of the Orbits, but there had been no violent exchanges between them all these years, and a battle of this scale with more than a dozen mechs was unprecedented. Almost everything the MPA pilots knew about mechs from the Orbits came only from their intel.
If one were to compare the three forces, the MPA had a closer relationship with the Five Galaxies, and was more in touch with normal society. Black Cove and the Orbits were very different; they were practically two independent communities. MPA’s elite pilots also interacted more with regular people, compared to the other two forces. From those regular people, they derived a greater sense of superiority, and all those years of smooth victories left most of the elite pilots arrogant!
The exposure of their warship last time, with their main force mechs utterly defeated, was an unprecedented humiliation!
Moreover, the 4 mechs that perpetrated that humiliating incident was not even part of the Three Forces! How could this not infuriate them? If not for the location in the Orbits, where infiltration was harder, and MPA’s reservation against the mentalist sanctuary, they would not have sent a mere 25 mechs! However, given the swift response to their intel, where the MPA had prepared such a formidable force, one could see that they knew much about the Orbits! However, if Ye Chong knew that the MPA had deployed the largest possible offense they could gather on the Orbits against him, might he be flattered?
Feng Su charged fearlessly towards the 25 enemy mechs! Her goal was to stall the 3 main force mechs of the enemy - Mermaid’s Curse! Mermaid’s Curse was one of the MPA’s 3 main force mechs. Their defining features were their sharp offensive weapons, accurate targeting and powerful automotives. If Ye Chong were here, he would have noticed that this mech model was identical to the one that tried relentlessly to kill to him some time ago.
The mechs were in an elegant white, with protective fins that curled slightly upwards, giving an air of aristocracy. Besides the usual accessories like lasers and heat ray guns, they also came with the enormously destructive nanowave guns; and unlike the Messengers, the nanowave gun was their main weapon. Their propulsion system was also a notch above the Messengers. The lock-on mechanism was manual, which depended heavily on the pilot’s capabilities. This was why pilots of main force mechs were very few in numbers compared to pilots of the Messengers!
These 3 Mermaid’s Curse mechs were Feng Su’s main targets. With the Dawns against the Messengers, and an advantage in numbers, the Messengers will not stand a chance! The only mechs that could be a threat to them were these 3 Mermaid’s Curses!
Mechs from the Orbits’ sanctuary had peculiar battle strategies. They always battle in groups! One on one, a Messenger was more powerful than a Dawn. However, in the case of 5 against 5, both stood an equal chance of winning; in the case of 10 against 10, Dawns would hold the advantage. Hence, Dawn mechs always operated in groups of 10! This unique battle strategy was enough to confound the MPA and Black Cove!
The 10 Dawns behind Feng Su flew in a swish towards the only standing building in the area! They had formed a circular formation; they believed that, even with 10 Messengers within their circle, breaking through would not be easy!
MPA’s mechs had their hands full defending themselves - the enemy was not looking to destroy them all, but merely keeping them occupied, unable to attend to their mission! The purple Wings of Nirvana shone the brightest on the battlefield! The legendary trump card was true to her reputation - she was single handedly keeping 5 mechs occupied, including 3 of the Mermaid’s Curse mechs, and she seemed to accomplish this with ease!
In this massive operation, success seemed close at hand, and the pilots tightening the circular formation could not help but felt slightly excited.
All of a sudden, a golden figure flashed by!