Super Mothership
Although he had anticipated this possibility, Chloros's expression still darkened when he saw enemy forces appearing both in front of and behind him.
The pirates had joined forces with Gemini. This was undoubtedly the worst possible situation for the Locke Consortium.
It meant that no matter which side he attacked, the other could interfere with his actions, leaving him in precisely the same predicament his fleet was now facing: enemies on both sides, with nowhere to turn...
“Abandon the defensive line! Turn the fleet immediately and withdraw laterally!”
Chloros acted decisively. Realizing that the situation was beyond salvage, he immediately abandoned his plan to hold the wormhole at all costs.
After issuing the order, he turned his attention to the Ghost Pirates' fleet ahead.
“Prepare the Crypt Lord for me!”
...
Chloros's fleet abandoned its defensive positions, turned around, and accelerated away, cutting diagonally across the flank of the Ghost Pirates at a 45-degree angle.
The moment they realized the enemy was trying to escape, Isabel and Nie Yun adjusted their fleet formations with remarkable coordination, maintaining a pincer formation around Chloros. At the same time, both sides deployed large numbers of carrier-based mechas to begin destroying the Locke Consortium's wormhole defenses.
Abandoned by Chloros and attacked from both sides, the semi-permanent fortifications—previously a formidable threat—began to fall one after another. The explosions formed a blazing line across the darkness of space.
Nie Yun and Isabel had the same clear priority: destroy the defensive installations first!
Without these fortifications, if Chloros wanted to return and reclaim control of the wormhole, he would have to establish another solid defensive line while enduring Gemini's firepower.
That was absolutely not something a small fleet could accomplish.
On the battlefield, the mecha units the Ghost Pirates had launched ahead of time had already engaged the enemy in close combat.
However, despite their obvious numerical advantage, the Ghost Pirates had encountered opponents who were every bit their equal this time...
Clang!
After blocking a powerful blow from his opponent, Spartacus released an energy blade that forced the enemy back temporarily. His expression grew grave.
After only a few exchanges, he had already realized that the opposing mecha unit was no easy opponent.
Every pilot in the Hammer of Destruction Mecha Corps was a veteran of countless battles. However, Chloros's elite troops were no ordinary soldiers either. Their combat capabilities were equally formidable.
Among them were nearly a hundred powerful mechas belonging to Chloros's personal guard, placing enormous pressure on the Ryan warriors.
The guard currently fighting Spartacus was piloting a dark-red mecha equipped with a long-handled gunblade.
The machine was agile and heavily armored. Its overall specifications were clearly a full tier above those of an ordinary Bronze mecha.
On top of that, its pilot was one of the elite members of Chloros's personal guard. As a result, Spartacus couldn't gain much of an advantage in their one-on-one fight, at least not in the short term.
Fortunately, although their equipment was inferior, they still had the advantage in numbers.
“Lancelot, Tactic Three!”
“Roger! Follow me!”
Lancelot, who was supporting Spartacus from the side, responded enthusiastically. He raised his shield to maximum power and charged ahead, with Spartacus following closely behind.
That's right. Spartacus's new wingman was none other than Lancelot, one of the Twelve Knights of the Round Table.
As for his previous wingman...
After being killed in action, that unlucky fellow was still stuck in the queue waiting for another mecha assignment.
To ensure fairness, the selection of candidates for the Ghost Knights' reserve force—and the pairing of suitable comrades—was handled automatically according to procedures and formulas designed by the central AI.
Mecha enthusiasts from hundreds of countries around the world, numbering more than a billion in total, including professional soldiers from the Earth Defense Force, first had to achieve outstanding results in the virtual battlefield simulator Civilization Frontline before they could earn the title of Ghost Knights Reserve and qualify to participate in battles on the new maps.
For players who had participated in previous external wars and earned military merit, the system would adjust their selection coefficients according to their accumulated merit points, increasing their chances of being selected.
After they joined a battle, the system would evaluate their performance in each engagement, along with the assessments provided by their Ryan allies. Based on those evaluations, they could either be promoted or demoted.
Players who performed poorly would eventually be paired with lower-ranking Ryan warriors as their comrades. Some might even be eliminated from the program entirely.
Those who performed exceptionally well, on the other hand, would be paired with stronger Ryan warriors in subsequent battles, possibly even officers, and receive a greater allocation of resources.
Of course, if two individuals hit it off and demonstrated particularly strong teamwork, they could also apply to the system to “swear brotherhood” with mutual consent. This would make them permanent battle partners, allowing them to embark together on a blissful journey of becoming inseparable bros...
Under this selection mechanism, Lancelot, whose piloting level was exceptionally high and who had accumulated considerable military merit in previous battles, had been fortunate enough to be paired with Spartacus, a “gold-ranked NPC,” for this engagement.
The Knights of the Round Table took this opportunity very seriously. They spared no expense in upgrading Lancelot's mecha, spending heavily on a number of powerful additional modules.
On the battlefield, Lancelot charged at the front with an enormous alloy shield, while Spartacus followed close behind, like a concealed sword waiting to strike!
The two moved like figure skaters performing an intricate routine together. They dodged incoming attacks while rapidly closing the distance to their opponent.
Just as the two sides were about to collide, the enemy pilot's vision blurred for an instant as the two approaching figures suddenly split apart.
Taking advantage of that brief moment of confusion, Spartacus and Lancelot attacked from the left and right, launching two strikes from tricky angles.
The enemy mecha clearly couldn't defend against both attacks at once. Its pilot had no choice but to raise his gunblade and block Spartacus's slash.
However, just as Lancelot watched excitedly as his own attack drew closer and closer...
Bang!
A flash of fire suddenly erupted from the muzzle of the enemy's gunblade, and a glowing red melee round shot toward Lancelot out of nowhere.
Even the reinforced force-field shield held out for only a brief moment before the rapidly spinning special projectile punched straight through it.
The projectile continued unabated and struck its target.
Lancelot barely managed to twist his body in surprise before the impact. The left arm holding his shield was blasted apart, sending mecha components flying in every direction. His entire arm was torn clean off!
“Damn it! An armor-piercing round!” Lancelot and Spartacus exclaimed simultaneously.
Armor-piercing ammunition was one of the Woolf Empire's high-end technological achievements.
Take Gemini's advanced Sea Storm-class mechas, for example. Their enormous ship-cutting blades incorporated armor-piercing technology developed by Gemini itself.
However, the Woolf Empire had clearly made another major breakthrough in miniaturizing armor-piercing weapons. It had successfully applied the technology to solid projectiles.
If Flint's legendary mecha, the Black Demon, achieved penetration by using highly compressed energy projectiles to concentrate enormous force on a single point, these armor-piercing rounds worked differently. They generated a special field through high-speed rotation, allowing them to counteract defensive force fields and penetrate enemy defenses.
Unfortunately, the biggest drawback of these special rounds was that they were exorbitantly expensive and extremely delicate.
They were expensive because their unusual materials were exceptionally difficult to manufacture, driving up production costs and making them unsuitable for widespread deployment in conventional armies.
They were delicate because each projectile contained an intricate, precisely engraved network of energy circuits. As a result, they were far too sensitive to be fired using electromagnetic weapons.
The powerful electromagnetic field generated during firing would instantly disrupt the projectile's armor-piercing properties.
Consequently, these rounds could only be fired using conventional chemical propellants, as with the gunblade wielded by their opponent.
On the scale of space warfare, projectiles fired using conventional chemical energy weren't even considered medium-range weapons. Their velocity was simply too low, making them suitable only for close-range combat.
In terms of range, rate of fire, and destructive power, they were nowhere near comparable to the crystallized energy projectiles fired by the Black Demon.
Nevertheless, none of these drawbacks could diminish their lethality.
For example, firing a melee round unexpectedly during close combat, just as this enemy had done, made the weapon extremely dangerous. It almost resembled a form of gun-kata, blending firearms and close-quarters combat into one technique.
With one of his arms suddenly destroyed by the armor-piercing attack, Lancelot noticed that the enemy's gun muzzle was once again, almost casually, turning toward Spartacus.
His heart immediately tightened.
If Spartacus died, wouldn't all his hard-earned merit points be deducted until his score went negative?
Without time to think, he instinctively threw himself forward. While using the blade on his right arm to block the enemy's attack, he desperately maneuvered his body into the projectile's line of fire to shield Spartacus.
The enemy pilot froze for a moment.
His opponent's force-field shield had already been penetrated by an armor-piercing round. Charging forward under these circumstances was practically suicide.
The spirit of self-sacrifice was admirable, but the enemy pilot showed not the slightest hesitation in attacking.
Swoosh!
The armor-piercing round Lancelot had expected never came. Instead, a flash of cold light swept past, and his mecha's right arm went flying through the air as well.
From the enemy pilot's perspective, the mecha had now been reduced to a limbless wreck. Although it hadn't been completely destroyed, it had lost all meaningful combat capability. There was no reason to waste another precious armor-piercing round on it.
Spartacus wanted to seize the opportunity to attack, but the experienced enemy pilot kept his gunblade trained subtly on him, leaving absolutely no opening.
Several long-range attacks landed, but they merely dimmed the enemy's shield slightly.
Spartacus had no choice but to maintain a continuous barrage, using the covering fire to help Lancelot retreat temporarily beyond the enemy's attack range.
His expression was now extremely grave.
So this was the true strength of the Locke Consortium's top-tier elite troops?
Until now, Spartacus had either fought against Gemini forces with inferior equipment and capabilities or bullied weaker opponents among the pirates of the Shattered Star Domain.
Only now did he finally understand just how powerful the Woolf Empire really was.
He also finally understood what the old clan leader had meant when he sighed and said, “You don't understand.”
Unfortunately, Spartacus had little time to reflect on the matter. The enemy mecha was already charging toward him.
The two quickly entered another round of close-quarters combat. However, the gunblade, which remained poised to fire at any moment, exerted tremendous psychological pressure on Spartacus. It forced him to fight cautiously and awkwardly, and he rapidly began losing ground.
Lancelot, watching from the side, grew frantic. But having lost both his weapons and one of his arms, he was powerless to intervene in the fight above.
“Damn it! Good thing the captain prepared a trump card for me in advance!”
Seeing that Spartacus was about to lose, Lancelot's eyes hardened. The mecha's core in his chest began glowing red!
In the midst of his fierce battle, Spartacus suddenly heard a thunderous shout through his communications channel.
“Buddy, get out of the way!”
Spartacus's heart jumped. He immediately forced himself to endure a blow and rapidly disengaged from the enemy mecha.
The opposing pilot hadn't yet figured out what was happening when his rear radar erupted with warnings. He quickly turned around and swung his arm!
Swoosh!
The blade pierced its target. Lancelot's entire mecha was impaled on the gunblade.
Yet Lancelot, whose machine had been completely wrecked, merely let out a cold laugh.
“Heh! Taking out an elite monster with me? This trade is totally worth it!”
BOOM!
The next instant, an enormous, brilliant fireball erupted across the battlefield.
Spartacus's force-field shield flickered wildly as the energy storm hurled his mecha hundreds of meters backward before he finally managed to stabilize himself.
Looking at the center of the explosion, where absolutely nothing remained, Spartacus couldn't help clicking his tongue in amazement.
That much firepower... The damage has gone way beyond what's necessary, man!
TL Note- Sacrifice...
Next
Comments
Post a Comment