Chapter 498: Close Range Combat!
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Boom, boom, boom… the beams all made their mark on the respective mecha they had targeted. Due to Ling Lan decision in attacking from a distance where the power of the beam gun was at its strongest, in addition to the a.n.a.lysis of power of the mecha in accordance to the c.o.c.kpit’s endurance, this round of simultaneous shots made the A.I. of the opposing 9 mecha instantly consider the mecha as “destroyed”. The A.I. of the mecha forcibly shut off and the 9 mecha all dropped towards the ground.
“a.s.sholes!” The two captains who were in the rear were so angry their eyes were red upon seeing this scene. They didn’t think that the 7-man team that they were facing didn’t give a s.h.i.+t about dying. Facing their 24-man battle team, they didn’t even think about retreating and even proactively attacked first.
The vision of their members were blocked by the members in front and in addition to the sudden development, they didn’t see that they had already lost 9 members in this round of attack. Upon finding out they had been attacked, they could only give out an order in anger and frustration, “Return fire!”
Like that, the remaining 15 mecha all took out their beam guns and shot at the opposition. Perhaps because the return fire was rushed, many shots ended up missing. They weren’t like Ling Lan’s small team who had already locked on to the target that they were going to shoot at.
However, many beams of light had hit the opposing mecha. Right when they were hit, the left arm of their mecha erupted out a light screen that guarded their front side. When the beams. .h.i.t these force fields, the force fields only fluctuated a bit, then the beams disappeared without a trace. The beams that they had shot out didn’t do any damage to the opposition.
“It’s modified mecha!” One member said with surprise upon seeing this situation.
This discovery made the Second Men’s Military Academy and the Federal Defence Military Academy’s allied battle team become fl.u.s.tered. Modified mechas were considered luxurious items in the Federation. It would strengthen and toughen a part of of common mechas. Some mecha modification masters could even increase the performance levels exponentially. The force field that the opposing side had was without a doubt made for beam gun attacks.
None among military academy students would use modified mechas. This wasn’t because they didn’t have the money, but because the military academies didn’t allow modified mecha from outside the academy. However, creations by those taking the modification major within the academy were allowed to be used. However, the modification ideas that students brought up as research topics usually existed only in the virtual world. Perhaps it was also that some theories and data were not applicable onto real mecha. After all, the students were still young, their theories and research would have inadequacies here and there, and would be unable to be transferred to the real thing.
Although they couldn’t use modified mechas, the students still clearly knew the strength and power of modified mecha. In mecha history, there once was a special-level modified mecha that had shot down five ace mecha in battle. Although there were many reasons the ace mecha were shot down, and there might have even been the factor of luck, the ability of the special-level modified mecha was pretty much similar to ace mecha; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to continuously take down and destroy five ace mecha.
This was also the reason which made the alliance members of the Second Men’s Military Academy and the Federal Defence Military Academy become fl.u.s.tered. The seven mecha in front of them were three special-cla.s.s mecha and four advanced mecha. After taking into account modifications, they were equivalent to a battle team consisting of four ace mecha and 3 special-cla.s.s mecha. What were ace mecha like? One ace mecha could exhaust a full 12-man team of special-cla.s.s mecha, not to mention three. Could they really take them down?
This was also the reason why Ling Lan had been confident in starting a battle with the opposition. With this card that they had up their sleeve which could guard against long-range attacks, Ling Lan was confident in bringing down the enemy numbers to the same as their own before getting into close-range combat.
“Calm down! Attack! Attack!” The two team leaders from the alliance were both yelling into their commlink channels. Right at that moment, if there were to be even the slightest of fl.u.s.tered movements among their side, then that would spell catastrophe for them. They were regretting their decision right then. Why were they so careless? Why didn’t they think about why a 7-man team that couldn’t even form a full team dared to come towards them. They had definitely had something up their sleeve, and they even neglected this point.
However, it was like they were riding a tiger and unable to climb down. Both sides would only be able to rest once one side was eliminated. The only choice was to tough it out and take out the opposition, or else the result they faced in the end would be defeat and elimination. This wasn’t what they wanted and was not something they were willing to accept.
After the orders were screamed out by the alliance team leaders, their team members instantly woke up. They shot beams out wildly in an attempt to get the enemy side’s force fields to reach their maximum absorption capacity. They knew very clearly that if they didn’t break the force field, they would have no way of dealing with them.
After turning on their force fields, Ling Lan’s small team also pulled on the triggers of their beam guns to retaliate. Compared to the opponent’s random shooting, Ling Lan’s small team paid more attention to accuracy. They were so confident only because of the beam absorption s.h.i.+eld that Chang Xinyuan had made specifically for them. It could definitely protect their mecha.
Both sides were fighting viciously. Ling Lan’s side still remained unscathed, while on the other hand, the Second Men’s Military Academy and the Federal Defence Military Academy alliance lost four more mecha. One of the two mecha were taken down by Ling Lan alone.
Talent in profound insight once again showed its strong power when random shots were bouncing around. Whichever mecha Ling Lan’s eyes laid upon, then that mecha’s weakness would appear before her eyes. Thus, Ling Lan only shot out two shots and was able to acquire success.
“F**k. Give up on long-range and get ready for close combat!” The two team leaders of the allied battle team were both smart people. Failing to get any results even after having shot so many beam attacks towards the other side, they quickly realized that the beam guns had probably been rendered useless. If they wanted to turn the situation around, then they could only bet on their close combat abilities to stand their ground.
Seeing that the opposition had switched to close combat weapons, Ling Lan calmly ordered, “Get ready for close combat!”
With that said, Ling Lan’s little team instantly equipped the cold weapons from their backs. Because Ling Lan liked using large cold weapons as close combat weapons, the other members of the little team all had a cold weapon in their hands. Even long-range mecha were the same.
“I’ll be responsible for C3, C4, and C5; Zhao Jun is responsible for B5, and C6; Lanfeng is responsible for B7 and C7; the rest are free-for-all!” The opponent had 11 mecha left. In the two rounds of beam gun attacks, Ling Lan saw through each mecha’s overall strength from their launch timing and movements. Thus, she arranged a formation that was suitable for the rest of the mecha.
C4 and C5. One was from the Second Men’s Military Academy and one from the Federal Defence Military Academy. They were also the strongest in their battle team. It didn’t even need to be said that both of them were definitely the team leaders of these two teams. In order to make sure none of her own team members would be eliminated, she had to first take down these two strongest individuals. However, this wasn’t enough. So that most of her own team members could engage in one-on-one battles, she had to intercept one more person. Thus, at the same time, Ling Lan took on the member that was beside these two.
Zhao Jun was now an ace operator, but his mecha was disadvantaging him. Ling Lan didn’t dare to a.s.sign three people to him. Instead, she a.s.signed the two special-cla.s.s operators, B5 and C6, to him.
However, even if she and Zhao Jun took on 5 people, the opponents would still number one more than them. Ling Lan had no choice but to let the last special-cla.s.s operator, Li Lanfeng, take him on. However, Li Lanfeng physical const.i.tution was on the weak side and had problems with endurance. The opponents that were allocated to him was one special-cla.s.s operator and one advanced mecha operator. However, even if it was like this, Ling Lan still couldn’t help but worry whether Li Lanfeng could actually take on the arduous task…
The 4 mecha leftover was comprised of two special-cla.s.s operators and two advanced mecha operators. If Qi Long and the others couldn’t think of something to take them down, or even ended up eliminated, Ling Lan would definitely find them afterwards to sit down and have a “talk”.
Ling Lan’s allocation was very clear. Qi Long and the other three all found the opponents they were responsible for.
“I’ll be responsible for B2!” Qi Long was eyeing a special-cla.s.s operator with strong abilities. Having reached special-cla.s.s operator level himself, he really wanted to do battle with another special-cla.s.s operator once in order to confirm his real potential.
Because Qi Long only had successfully advanced to special-cla.s.s before the beginning of the tournament when the military academies had set out, there wasn’t enough time for him to become familiar with the new special-cla.s.s mecha. Thus, he couldn’t help but operate his own advanced mecha and partic.i.p.ate in the tournament. This was something that Qi Long regretted, hating himself for not advancing earlier.
“I’ll be responsible for C1!” Li s.h.i.+yu said quickly. He had his eyes fixed on the last special-cla.s.s operator. He had already reached the peak of advanced mecha operators. Having touched upon special-cla.s.s operator level, in comparison to Luo Lang and Xie Yi, he was more suitable in taking on a special-cla.s.s operator.
Luo Lang also had his eyes on C1, but after seeing that Li s.h.i.+yu had already taken that one, he chose an advanced mecha operator at random. Xie Yi had some wisdom. He knew that among the seven of them, his capabilities were the weakest. Even the opponent that his teammate had chosen was of similar strength to himself. It was even possible that age and experience made them more of a seasoned veteran. They needed to use their maximum effort to fight them off.
Hearing Li s.h.i.+yu proactively go head to head with that special-cla.s.s operator, Ling Lan raised her brows a bit. Her ideal match-up was that Luo Lang was more suitable to face that special-cla.s.s operator. It wasn’t because Luo Lang’s operating skills were better than Li s.h.i.+yu, but because of Luo Lang’s innate talent. Once he activated his innate talent talent, it would increase the ability of Luo Lang’s mecha operating skills…
However, Ling Lan’s thought only flashed through her mind. Since the members had already made their own choices, as the team leader, the only thing she should do was to put 100% trust in her team members. She should trust that they would definitely be able to do the job right.
Finally they arrived in the range for close combat. Ling Lan roared, “Move in!”
Already with targets in mind, Ling Lan’s group morphed into fierce beasts after hearing the orders and viciously jumped towards their opponents.
Ling Lan was originally in very back of the battle team, but her speed was the fastest out of the seven of them. After one stomp, Ling Lan’s entire mecha suddenly flew up into the sky and went past Xie Yi and Li Lanfeng who was in front. It was like a tiger coming down a mountain, flying towards C3, C4 and C5, the three people who were in the rear line of the opponent’s side.
C4 was the team leader of the Second Men’s Military Academy. When he saw that it was a special-cla.s.s operator that came towards them, his desire to do battle instantly was set aflame. He roared, “He’s mine!”
C3 and C5 heard this and moved their mecha, preparing to pa.s.s by Ling Lan’s sides. The large sword in Ling Lan’s hand suddenly shook and a horizontal slash followed, sending a strong shockwave that quickly spread towards both the left and right sides.
“Bang! Bang!” C3 and C5 hurriedly put up the weapon in their hands and blocked that sudden wave of light, making two loud noises.
They were originally going to fly past Ling Lan’s mecha, but instead they were sent flying back a few steps from Ling Lan’s strong sword strike. They looked at the special-cla.s.s mecha in front of them with surprise. They hadn’t expected that this insignificant special-cla.s.s mecha was going to intercept all three of them. Two of the three were team leaders. Was this guy crazy? Or was he planning on sacrificing himself to give the other members a chance to escape?