Tilly noticed that the first team dispersed as they saw their opponent approach. Plane No. 1 and Plane No. 3 flew in two different directions in an attempt to flank the second team.
Team No. 2 managed to maintain their formation and continued to approach Plane No. 1, which was the one closest to them.
As a consequence, Plane No. 1 was besieged by the three planes all at once.
Through the Magic Eye, Tilly could see the nervous look on the pilot’s face.
Under such circumstances when the second team was flanked, the pilot of Plane No. 1 could have shot down one of the three planes before the second team shot him down. However, the pilot was apparently in a panic, for he pressed upon the left pedal after a moment of contemplation and tried to avoid the upcoming attack. At this point, the two parties were only 500 meters from each other. The second team immediately changed the direction and started the chase.
The pilot of Plane No. 1 exercised all his efforts to shake his opponent off. Like Tilly had said in her opening statement, the pilot applied everything he had learned to this maneuver. This pilot must have worked very hard, for he seemed to have become quite proficient in plane operation after just one month of training.
Nevertheless, the students from the First Army were not bad either. They managed to stay close to the other team after Plane No. 1 dived and made a sharp turn. Since they outnumbered their opponent, they did not have to keep an eye on the other party constantly. The other party, however, had to watch every move of the three planes. As a result, Plane No. 1 dropped and slowed down. Seeing there was no way to escape, the pilot turned about abruptly and streaked toward the oncoming Plane No. 3.
The second team, in the meantime, found a perfect opportunity to shoot Plane No. 1. Plane No. 6 plummeted and zoomed toward the tail of Plane No. 1 at a downward angle of 30 degrees.
The machine gunner of Plane No. 1 had seen that the opponent plane was coming, and the pilot had tried his best to avoid the shot, but he could not escape the attack anymore.
It only took 10 seconds.
Tilly nodded in satisfaction and said, “Red flag for Plane No. 1!”
It was not until then that Plane No. 3 joined the team.
Plane No. 6 was still climbing, and the other two planes, Plane No. 4 and Plane No. 5, were both in a superior position.
It appeared that the first team had run into a disgusting dilemma.
— if, though, they excluded Plane No. 2 aloft in the air from the team.
Tilly rested her eyes on the area above.
“I saw them!” Finkin exclaimed as he poked out his head from the seat and leaned dramatically against the body of the plane. “Hang on. Plane No. 1 is down!”
“Are you sure?”
“The number on the airport has turned red, but they’re still fighting!”
“That’s because they haven’t noticed it yet,” Good replied, frowning. It seemed that his team members were weaker than he had anticipated. “What about Plane No. 3?”
“If I’m correct, that black dot coming this way should be it!” Finkin hollered. “Mate, they’re in a mess. It’s time to join them now!”
“Just a minute… Turn around. Do you see the sun?”
Finkin looked backward and was instantly blinded by the sunlight. “I was right! I knew you’d bean excellent pilot. We’re right in the sun. I can’t open my eyes!”
“That’s because you lost the game,” Good thought to himself as he shook his head and pressed down the lever. “In that case, let’s go!”
“Yayyyyy!” Finkin howled in excitement.
The roar of the radial engine overpowered the whistling wind. The plane shook violently as it zoomed against the air currents. Good felt his whole body tremble in exhilaration.
He was now a charging knight!
The whole sky was beneath him!
As the pilot of Plane No. 3 had directed all his attention to the slowest plane in Team No. 2, the other two opponent planes started to come after Plane No. 3. It was not until they darted toward their prey in the golden drops of sun rays that they realized there was another plane cracking through the air behind them. They should have ditched their team members and shot down Plane No. 3 first, but they hesitated, which earned Finkin time to take the aim.
By the time the two planes in Team No. 2 realized it, it was already too late. Good brushed past Plane No. 4 and swiftly turned to Plane No. 5. He had been aiming at Plane No. 4 when he was plunging, although he was not certain whether he could successfully shoot it down. Nevertheless, Princess Tilly made the rules, and he trusted her completely.
Good knew his team members could be knocked out of the team anytime, so he must be fast.
Four biplanes thus threw themselves in a bitter and intense battle, and the situation became precarious. Good could even see the livid face of the machine gunner on Plane No. 5. Although Good had explosed himself, he was much faster. After several rounds of chase and run, Good finally found time to take aim. While he was about to ask Finkin to fire, Finkin blurted out.
“The number for Plane No. 5 turned red!”
Almost at the same time, Plane No. 3 was shot down too.
Now, there were only Plane No. 6 and him left on the battlefield.
Perhaps, the pilot in Plane No. 3 was too nervous when flanked by the two planes from the other team and thus let Plane No. 6 slip and catch up with them.
“What the heck are those guys doing? They didn’t shoot any of the planes down!” Finkin complained gruffly as he turned the machine gun. “Now, it has become one against three!”
“We used them as a decoy in the first place,” Good said airily. “Well, there’s also another possibility, that is, that Plane No. 6 is a hard nut to crack.”
His prediction was confirmed.
No matter which direction he chose to go, Plane No. 6 immediately caught up without giving him a single chance to escape. He had to move constantly, otherwise the opponent would shoot him down before Finkin did.
“Damn it,” Finkin muttered irritably. “Can’t you fly a little faster?”
“I’m doing what I can!”
“We’ll be killed if things go on like this. Do something! How about flying to the port? We can take refuge from the sailing ships!”
“If we crash into the ships carrying refugees, what do you think will happen?”
“Er… we’ll be executed,” Finkin said, deflated. “Then forget it. At least, we aren’t the first ones that get kicked out. We’re doomed, unless there’s wind sending us up.”
“Wind…” Good muttered in a daze and suddenly came up with a solution. “You’re right. I know how to get our way out!”
“Huh?”
“Do you remember the upwind near the cliff?”
The wind from the Swirling Sea changed constantly, especially the one close to the beach. Because of the cliff, the air currents went around the precipice and turned into a gust of upwind. One could hear it whistling rymthically upon the cliff.
Finkin stiffened for a second after realizing what Good was talking about. “Are you crazy? You never know if there’s an upwind or not. If you get too close to the cliff, you’ll easily crash the plane!”
The upwind only confined to a certain area. Beyond that specific area, they’ll dissipate into the sea breezes. Due to the bumpy surface of the cliff, the wind could go in any directions. Therefore, it was even harder to maneuver the plane through the upwind than passing through the ships.
“I have to give it a shot. Just a little bit of wind and we’ll be able to shot up in the air!” Good said as he quickly dropped and zoomed toward the Aerial Knight Academy.
Plane No. 6 hesitated for a moment and also accelerated.
“How do you know when the upwind will come?” Finkin asked incredulously.
“The ships carrying refugees will tell me!” Good returned as he continued to drop. The plane was getting closer and closer to Plane No. 6. After a wide turn, it almost leveled the horizon. Many students would think that he had lost the game at this point, although the plane was still running at a tremendous speed. It was clear that he had nowhere to go.
He was now within the shooting range of his opponent.
“Clock the time!” Good bellowed.
“I think we still have eight seconds! Six, five, four — ” Finkin counted through his teeth.
In the meantime, Good was also keeping an eye on a ship coming toward the Shallow Port, yet he was not looking at the flag or the sail but the birds perched upon its mast. The flag and the sail were rippling in the air, so it was impossible for him to tell the wind power from them.However, the birds could capture the slightest change in the wind.
As though sensing something, the birds flapped their wings and descended from the mast before they flew toward the cliff. For a moment, they strongly resembled agliding “Seagull”. Good had noticed earlier that birdsliked to travel between ships and the cliff. It seemed that they could soar in the sky without necessarily flapping their wings!
The moment the birds reached the edge of the cliff, Good rose abruptly.
It was actually a very dangerous move because of the dramatic elevation angle. However, at this moment, the birds suddenly surged as though an invisible hand had been supporting them.
There came the wind.
In an instant, Good heard a piercing whistle.
Against the gust of wind, the plane shook tremulously. It again accelerated and, miraculously, shot up into the air and reversed.
The whole world turned upside down.
For a split second, time froze. Good saw Plane No. 6 flash below him, totally unprepared. The pilot sitting in there looked up at him in astonishment.
Somewhere in the distance, a pack of birds leaped out of the horizon, their white wings forming a stairwell leading to Heaven.
He had not lied to Her Highness.
His passion for flying grew every day after he joined the Aerial Knight reserve. He was addicted to flying.
This was what impressed Good most among all he had learned.
Now, the situation had changed.