Super Mothership
Secret Dock of the Goldtooth Pirate Crew
A jet-black painted mecha was hauled out of a spaceship. Its graceful lines, full of mechanical beauty, and its highly distinctive design immediately drew gasps of amazement from the pirates.
Compared to the surrounding ramshackle, unorganized mecha of all different shapes and states of disrepair, this one truly stood out like a crane among chickens—nothing less than a noble young lord in a crowd of beggars.
“So this is the loot from this time? It looks insanely strong!”
“This mecha isn’t just strong-looking. We tested it earlier with a small energy cannon—guess what? We didn’t even scratch the paint!”
“Damn… doesn’t that mean it can rival those top-tier mecha from the Shattered Star Zone?”
“When will I ever get a mecha like that…”
“You? You’re not even Bronze-tier yet, you newbie trash, and you want a top-tier mecha like this? Dream on. Anyone can tell this thing definitely belongs to the boss!”
“With this mecha, the boss will probably advance to Gold rank, right?”
“Absolutely. In this year’s Black Star League, we’ll finally have a mecha worth showing off. Maybe our Goldtooth Pirate Crew can even climb a few spots on the Shattered Star Rankings.”
“Hey! Did you hear? There’s a real fat sheep aboard the Fireworks ship. This mecha was snatched from him. If the guy’s willing to obediently pay the ransom, there might be more than just one of these mecha.”
“Really? Then that means we might get a chance too?”
“…”
Amid the pirates’ heated discussion, an out-of-place question suddenly surfaced.
“Huh? Look—what’s crawling out from behind that mecha?”
Everyone froze for a moment, then looked up together.
Beyond the mecha before them, three pitch-black figures were crawling out of the mecha’s storage compartment. They slowly stood atop the mecha’s shoulders, then looked down upon the gathered pirates…
“Hey! That’s quite a welcome ceremony. I like it!” The boss chuckled as he looked through his full-coverage visor.
“Bullshit, right? Master—ah, crap! Captain couldn’t possibly be captured by trash like these, could he?” the third one said, smacking his lips as he looked at the chaotic scene below.
With just a casual glance, even without a combat power scanner, it was obvious that this place was crawling with complete weaklings.
“Mm, the situation’s pretty clear. Looks like these guys were the ones who got captured by the captain. Let’s observe three seconds of silence for them…”
Er Mao said sympathetically. Then the corners of his mouth curled into an evil grin. “Boss, how about we just… kill them all?”
“Hey, hey! No matter what, the hostages are still in their hands. Shouldn’t we restrain ourselves a little first?” the boss said helplessly.
While the three chatted casually above, the pirates below finally reacted—and instantly exploded into chaos.
“Hey! These three don’t look like our people. What the hell is going on?”
“Invaders! Damn it! I knew those guys wouldn’t behave—how did they sneak in here?”
“Now’s not the time for that! Grab your weapons! Sound the alarm!”
“…”
Moments later, the dock descended into total chaos, as shrill alarm sirens echoed throughout the entire base.
Although caught off guard, some of the pirates carrying firearms reacted immediately, drawing their weapons and opening fire on the three intruders.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
Dozens of energy beams and large numbers of Gauss projectiles shot toward the three at high speed, reaching them almost instantly.
Yet the three didn’t even bother to dodge. The threat level reported by their sensors was nowhere near high enough to warrant evasive action.
The next moment, something happened that left the pirates dumbfounded.
“Clang! Clatter!” All the physical projectiles struck the black armor of the three intruders, producing nothing more than a shower of sparks and faint, strange ripples.
The energy weapons had slightly more effect, briefly raising small patches of red-hot glow on the armor—but even those vanished without a trace moments later.
“Th-that’s… phase armor!” a pirate grunt cried out in shock.
Phase armor is a high-end nanomaterial technology that disperses the kinetic energy at the point of impact through instantaneous phase changes in the armor material.
When a rocket enters the atmosphere, the heat-resistant coating on its surface vaporizes and carries away vast amounts of heat, preventing the rocket from melting—this is a basic application of phase technology.
Phase armor, however, requires much more microscopic phase changes, involving high-frequency dampening vibrations. It can even consume the unit’s own energy to repair its phase state, maintaining it at its original configuration.
Even within the technologically advanced Wolf Empire, phase armor is still considered one of the crown jewels of top-tier technology!
“How is this possible? Since when could even infantry equipment mount a weapon like this? And with such terrifying defensive power?”
Phase armor can indeed render most physical weapons ineffective. However, units equipped with such armor consume enormous amounts of energy, and their defensive performance against beam-type weapons is relatively poor. As a result, it is usually installed only on large mecha or warships.
Yet the three suits of armor before them completely overturned the pirates’ common sense.
Compared to nanometer-level phase armor, atomic-nucleus–level phase armor based on mithril materials was undoubtedly a far more advanced piece of forbidden black technology.
In fact, mechanical insects are capable of freely switching between solid and liquid states, which naturally grants them some of the inherent characteristics of phase armor materials.
Coupled with their ability to conduct and absorb energy, this allows them not only to possess extremely high resistance against physical attacks, but also to absorb energy-based attacks without discrimination.
As long as the material’s tolerance limit is not exceeded, any energy attack is nothing more than recharging the unit.
Moreover, the three avatars piloted by the brothers were constructed from even denser heavy mechanical-insect materials, pushing their defensive power to more than double.
“Heh! You’re already scared stiff? These super avatars cost a million Infinite Coins apiece just in materials alone. Not being able to break their defense is perfectly normal. In the end, it’s poverty that’s limiting your offensive power…” the boss said lavishly.
Although they didn’t actually own the avatars, the feeling of driving an ultra-luxury ride really did go to one’s head.
“Uh… boss, we should still think about how to complete the mission. This is a self-funded trip, after all. With our mental power, we can control these avatars for at most an hour.
“And… it looks like they’re about to get serious…” the third brother said, pointing around them.
Sure enough, a large number of base turrets began rotating their barrels toward them, while dozens of mecha rumbled in from the distance, clearly intending to overwhelm them with numbers.
No matter how strong their defenses were, sheer scale still mattered.
“Capture the ringleader first! Seize the pirate boss and force him to comply—then we won’t have to worry about the hostages! Leave the big guy to draw fire; we split up!” The boss had barely finished speaking when a torrent of attacks surged toward them.
The three stamped the ground beneath their feet and scattered like three afterimages.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” The area around the Ghost mecha was instantly devastated. Transport vehicles carrying other mecha were completely overturned, and the surrounding pirates scattered in panic.
Three black shadows crashed to the ground like tanks. Without pausing for even a second, they kicked off powerfully with their hind legs!
“Boom!” A crater several meters wide was left behind as the three figures vanished once more.
“Stop them!” “Ah!” “Don’t come any closer!” “Rumble—!”
In the next moment, mixed with countless screams, dust and smoke filled three straight paths, perfectly demonstrating what it meant to be utterly unstoppable.
In the blink of an eye, the three of them had smashed open escape routes and left the dock behind at full speed, leaving nothing but wreckage and terrified pirates in their wake.
Just as the pirates were still reeling in shock, several sharp snap! sounds of steel cables breaking drew everyone’s attention.
In the area previously saturated by the base’s artillery fire, the jet-black mecha had already broken free of its restraints and was slowly standing up amid the billowing smoke…
The faintly visible crimson eyes sent chills down the spines of the pirates, as if they were gazing upon a freshly descended demon king from hell.
“H-how is this possible? Who’s piloting that mecha?”
“Quick! Stop it!”
“Boom! Boom! Boom…”
…
In a room high within the pirate base.
Goldtooth was staring grimly at the chaos unfolding at the dock below, especially at the black mecha that had begun its rampage. The sight stabbed painfully at his eyes.
Having a top-tier mecha storm his lair—even if it could eventually be suppressed—would still cause enough damage to make Goldtooth’s heart bleed.
Three powered armor units suddenly popping out of the mecha was one thing, but the mecha that had already been brought under control immediately turning against them as well… In Goldtooth’s eyes, there was only one person capable of doing that.
“This… is what you meant when you said even the mechanical race couldn’t tamper with it?” He turned his head, grinding his teeth as he glared with blazing fury at the chief mechanic, who was covered in grease.
Bastard! When exactly had he been turned?
What a perfect case of double-crossing!
No wonder that guy had paid the ransom so readily—this had all been a trap, a scheme aimed directly at the Goldtooth Pirate Crew!
“I-it’s impossible! I clearly dismantled the entire onboard AI!” The mechanic looked even more shaken than Goldftooth, as if his worldview had collapsed.
“Heh, heh! Good, good—what a fine ‘impossible.’ I’ll give you credit for being a real man!” Goldtooth sneered, baring his teeth, then drew the pistol from his waist without another word.
“Whoosh!” With a faint whistling sound through the air, the mechanic’s head snapped backward violently. A look of disbelief froze on his face as he collapsed to the floor, a pinprick-sized wound in his forehead stealing his life away.
Even in death, the unfortunate mechanic never understood how that bizarre mecha had been activated. That mystery was even more baffling than why Goldtooth had decided to kill him in the first place…
TL Note- Control....
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