Chapter 574: Nascent III
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ye Chong said, "Appilok, you're in charge." He then left the mechs with Celest. Appilok's personal combat skills did not yet qualify him as a member of the commando troop, but Ye Chong still brought him along. A commander needed actual combat experience as well. An experienced commander was more useful than a mech pilot, especially when they had a sizable mech squad.
Ye Chong did not have time to consider the details. He charged Celest straight into the pack of gold-striped black dragons.
Celest charged with determination, like a dagger driving itsef into the heart of the enemy.
The gold-striped black dragons were infuriated by the open challenge. A few dozen of them flapped their wings and shot up higher in the sky, then folded their wings and dived down towards Celest.
Just when it looked like Celest was about to be charge straight into the pack, the bio-mech suddenly made a quick swerve, tracing an arc in the air, and graced past the dragons. The dragons missed their target and howled, and then shot upwards again.
Ye Chong had angered this few dozen of gold-striped black dragons. They broke off from the pack to pursue Celest.
Ye Chong's deceptively simple swerve had impressed his students. Celest had charged into battle with strong determination! All the students had thought that it would crash into the dragon pack.
It was, however, a feint. That sharp swerve was timed and executed perfectly. The gold-striped black dragons had missed their target by only a narrow margin. It was hard to imagine how their commander could time his move so precisely.
The students who followed Ye Chong in this operation were the best of the five thousand, and felt proud of the fact. However, seeing Ye Chong's maneuvor reminded them of what it really meant to be skilled. Whatever pride they had were squashed immediately.
Appilok was the first to react. He was alarmed when he saw the other gold-striped black dragons charging towards them, and ordered, "Our targets are everywhere, fire in all directions. Those who score higher than 90 points in sniping, fire at will." Ye Chong's swerve had given them the space to start shooting without needing to worry about friendly fire.
The students heard the order and reacted to it.
Ye Chong could not spare his attention for the students. He now had to face the pack of dragons behind him. There were 26 of them. These creatures were weaker than the red-tailed beasts, but still, Ye Chong had to be careful dealing with 26 of them together. Any misstep, and he would be defeated by these so-called weaker foes, and that was just not worth it.
Celest executed Slithering Steps, widening the distance between it and the dragons with its high velocity. The gold-striped black dragons would not give up so easily. They flapped their wings and continued to pursue.
It seemed that their efforts were rewarded. The dragons closed in on the bio-mech as they flapped their powerful wings. Their blood red eyes reflected their eagerness to draw blood.
It was long since Ye Chong had piloted a mech for combat. It was only now, in battle, that Ye Chong was reminded of his capability as a mech pilot. In that moment, he recalled how he once dreamed of owning a respectable mech and becoming a qualified mech pilot. The thought came and went in a flash. His eyes focused on the holographic screen. Right now, he felt so proud for having reached so far.
Ye Chong moved his hands across the control console without hesitation. He had no idea how fast his hands were now. It the students saw how he was piloting his mech now, those who felt proud of their hand speed would be so very embarrassed.
Return Charge! Celest decelerated and turned back in only 0.9 seconds.
Ye Chong's vision blurred. Return Charge was a strain on his body, pushing himself to his limit. He did not panic, however. This was not his first time doing it. He just needed to wait for his vision to clear up. It would be over soon, and he needed to be prepared for the next step.
Ye Chong counted the milliseconds as the holographic screen appeared in his vision clearly once again. He could now see the panicking gold-striped black dragons on the screen.
Ye Chong's gaze sharpened. He typed in the relevant commands quickly on the control console. 10 slender fingers tapped the keys rhythmically like raindrops in a storm.
Celest's Return Charge surprised the gold-striped black dragons. They panicked, but since they were focusing all their energy on speeding up to chase their enemy, they could no longer move around as easily as before.
Celest charged with absolute determination, undeterred by anything in its path. In that short time, the weapons pack on its back delivered a lance into Celest's hand. Celest assembled the folded lance with its large mechanical hands. It charged at the dragons with the lance in both hands.
By then, Celest had reached the dragons.
The bio-mech dived straight into the enemies, who were still flying straight at it, unable to react in time.
Ye Chong assessed the spacing between the gold-striped black dragons in that short instant. He captured their positions, angels, and movements … Then, his hands moved accordingly.
The blade glistened coldly!
In just a short moment, Celest's jet black archaic lance had torn through the throats of seven gold-striped black dragons. Behind him, a trail of blood mist followed. The bio-mech had chosen the optimal path of destruction.
Ye Chong was now a master in power control, timing and mech maneuvering. He was still as calm as he was before, but steadier and more mature.
The attack would not have been so destructive if his younger self had executed it. Ye Chong had gradually become better and better at this.
Celest shot through the dragons like a spear, but the lance was not all Ye Chong had to work with.
When Ye Chong charged through the dragons, he also released 19 auto lock-on shurikens.
The shurikens flew in the darkness like slithering snakes.
Sharp whistles penetrated in the air. The auto lock-on shurikens were fast, and produced a sharp whistle due to air friction. With 19 of them released, the shrieks were enough to send a shiver into the bones.
This was the main attack. 16 of the dragons were hit straight on.
Only three of them escaped narrowly.
The more attacks were made in a short instant, the higher the impact on the enemies. This series of attacks was achieved in that short instant when Celest charged through the gold-striped black dragons.
The rich variety of accurate and well-timed attacks was flawless.
The remaining three gold-striped black dragons were shocked by the turn of events, and flapped their wings in an attempt to escape.
Ye Chong would not let them. Celest traced another arc in the sky and stopped one of the dragons. The scared creature was no longer fierce and powerful. It fell easily to a shot from Celest's laser gun.
The other dragons did not manage to escape as well. The shurikens cut them into shreds. All 26 gold-striped black dragons perished in Ye Chong's hands. None of them escaped.
Ye Chong was happy with the battle. He could feel himself improving, and more importantly, he could feel how powerful Celest was! Celest was an extraordinary mech. The battle would have ended so quickly otherwise. It showed especially in its agility and ability to execute sprints. Ye Chong had never seen another mech better in them. Celest had demonstrated its prowess in this battle.
Ye Chong directed his focus back to his students.
They had already gathered themselves after the initial shock. The 300 over mechs were now fighting against 36 gold-striped black dragons, without proper coordination. The newbies were weak, as expected. These were only gold-striped black dragons; what is they were red-tailed beasts? Ye Chong was not sure if the students could survive an encounter with them.
Nevertheless, he did not feel dejected. It was only to be expected that inexperienced mech pilots were weak. Once they grew familiar with combat, all the skills that they learned from training could be fully put to use. This process would not take too long.
They would need to go through at least 10, or maybe seven or eight real battles, to become an effective combat force. In a massive combat troop, personal battle prowess was not as important as coordination among the troop members. Lower level squad leaders must be able to assess the battle and attack rhythm, while the overall commander in charge must be able to assess the bigger picture of the battle accurately.
A troop with experienced mech pilots would be advantageous. This advantage would multiply by folds throughout the entire combat troop. Besides, the pilots would be able to obey their commander's orders to the letter and affect the battle outcome.
Only actual battles could turn a mech pilot into a soldier. In this sense, the mech pilots in Ye Chong's starship fleet had all become soldiers, perhaps even elites. They had survived countless intense battles, especially when they were crossing the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. These fierce battles could help a mech pilot grow quickly, honing their minds to become stronger.
The mech pilots in the starship fleet were much stronger than these students. Ye Chong had to train the students from scratch, but he did not give up. If he could train the mech pilots before, he would be able to do it again. Besides, this was the dark and dangerous Darkniss. There was no shortage of enemies to fight against. Ye Chong's only concern was to make sure the battles were harsh and cruel, but did not result in too many casualties.
The students were now eagerly discussing the battle in their comms channel. That was their first battle, even though Ye Chong thought it was really not that much of a fight. They were 314 against 36 – was that really a battle? Ye Chong thought it was nothing to be proud of. After all, the mech pilots he first trained in the starship fleet could win with five against three when they were battling the red-tailed beasts. These students were still far off from the mech pilots there.
"Take it slow, no rush," Ye Chong reminded himself. His gaze wandered further into the depths of Darkniss.
…
Rui Bing and Sang Kan treaded carefully in the thin, purple mist. This was unfamiliar territory. Who knew what monsters lived here? Sang Kan carried Aried, moving quickly. The Collision mech was only a recent mode of transport. Before that, the Sang Tribe were a hunter community.
He was better than Rui Bing when it came to stealth.
Rui Bing's expression was cold and unyielding, unfazed by the unfamiliar environment around her. She treaded lightly, like a gliding bird. Her snow white training garb fluttered in the wind. She was like a dancing swan, her expression clear and determined.
Both of them had incredible stamina. They ran for a full day and night.
The scenery around them changed gradually. The ground was now covered with light greenery, and the air turned moist. The greenery was actually moss. As they traveled further, Sang Kan found a source of water. Knowing how to test the water for safe ingestion was a necessary skill to survive in the wild. Sang Kan knew the drill. He used whatever he had on him to make a water container.
Rui Bing was not surprised with Sang Kan's skills. The Sang Tribe was similar to Ye Chong in many ways. They were survivors. What surprised her more was how Aried could live in his own mind for an entire day without drinking. Rui Bing found herself impressed with Aried. His commitment and passion were probably the reason for his success.
Rui Bing still had the nutrition pills that Ye Chong gave her earlier. She could not bear eating them before this, but now they would save their lives.
With the nutrition pills, food was not an immediate concern, so they advanced even faster. However, they both knew that it was a matter of time when the pills ran out. They would starve to death if they did not find an alternative source of food. However, they had not seen living creatures so far.
"What's this?" On the third day, they made a discovery.
It looked like skin shed by some cylindrical lifeform, about two fingers wide. Sang Kan had found it. The discovery was invigorating.
Rui Bing studied the dead shell. It was thin, semi-transparent layer in light purple, with wrinkles on it.
Sang Kan carefully nudged the shell gently. As expected, the centre was empty.
The two of them exchanged a look. Rui Bing shook her head to indicate that she had not seen it before. Sang Kan shook his head as well. Despite his wide hunting experience, he was always uncertain.
They continued their advance, but at a slower pace. The discovery was good news. Anything was better than an endless stretch of nothing.
The purple mist grew thicker, and this made them even more vigilant.
As they advanced further, more and more of the shed skin were found on the ground. Some were over a metre wide, and about seven to eight metres long. Humidity was rising as well, but the empty shells looked dehydrated.
Rui Bing and Sang Kang found something else.
A purple flesh column as thick as an arm planted itself in the ground, extending its other end into high up into the sky, as far as the eye can see. The higher it went, the thicker the flesh column.
"Red-tailed beasts!" Rui Bing and Sang Kan cried out softly in unison. Rui Bing's gaze turned sharp and deadly. The hostility was not without reason. The red-tailed beasts were humanity's greatest enemies. The number of people who were killed by these creatures was staggering.
After the great war near Yi Ju, plenty of the flesh columns were sent to Yi Ju for research. Rui Bing and Sang Kan both recognized it well.
Nevertheless, there was something different with this particular flesh column they were seeing. Unlike its solid and firm flesh columns they had seen before, this one was dehydrated and wilting, like it could fall off the mother body anytime. Rui Bing and Sang Kan knew now where the shed skin came from.
Research into the flesh columns had always been important in Yi Ju. They hoped to understand this alien creature and defeat it. Research showed that the flesh columns were hardy creatures. As long as the core was alive, it would not appear dehydrated or wilted. The Sang Tribe called the powerful and regenerative mass of tissue the Flesh Nest.
Was something wrong with this Flesh Nest?
Just then, Sang Kan heard something. He cried out in alarm, "Something's coming!"
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