episode_0021

Lazer’s face turned beet red at my words, looking as if he would rush at me any second, but Yuna, who was beside him, stopped him.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but…”

Yuna said, looking at me.

Her expression was complex, but she didn’t hide a hint of interest and anticipation.

“I understand you accepted Lazer’s offer. And your conditions as well. Lazer will use his personal unit, and you will use a simulated training unit. It can’t be called fair, but… since you brought this upon yourself, there’s no helping it.”

She sent Lazer a warning glare.

“Lazer, stop your useless provocations. This is merely training. I won’t tolerate excessive behavior.”

Lazer bit his lip in frustration, but he couldn’t retort to Yuna’s words any longer and simply breathed heavily.

He glared at me as if to kill me, then scoffed.

“You’re incredibly arrogant. I’ll make you regret this.”

And so, our simulated battle was decided.

Following Yuna’s guidance, we moved to a massive dome-shaped center.

In one corner of the hangar, Lazer’s personal unit, a sleek, silver and green custom mech named Sylph, was displaying its might.

It was clearly an ace pilot’s dedicated unit, specialized for high mobility and precise beam firing.

And across from it stood the mass-produced simulated training unit assigned to me, the IST-3 Sparrow.

Its basic performance was far superior to the Bugbear I used to pilot, but compared to Lazer’s Sylph, it was on the level of a toy.

“Heh heh… You’re going to fight me in that sparrow? In front of a girl, you’re going to try to…”

Lazer scoffed as he looked at the Sparrow.

I ignored his ridicule and climbed into the Sparrow’s cockpit.

The interior was simple, as expected of a standard training unit, but since Icarus’s technology was applied, its basic performance and interface were excellent.

In the short time remaining before the start, I quickly checked the unit’s systems.

Its main armaments were a standard beam rifle and interceptor missiles.

For auxiliary close-quarters combat, a heavy battle axe was attached to its waist.

I closed my eyes for a moment and reconfirmed the objective and its reward that had recently been added to the system window.

[Quest: Ace’s Provocation]

[New Objective: Subdue Lazer’s custom unit, Sylph, with a training unit (IST-3 Sparrow).]

*Additional Reward upon objective completion: [Part] Precision Strike Assistance System (Grade A)

‘Precision Strike Assistance System!’

It gives the Precision Strike Assistance System, one of the core parts of a melee build, as a reward?

‘Good. Since it’s come to this, I’ll stomp him thoroughly.’

I opened my eyes and gripped the controls.

[Simulated Combat Simulation Initiated.]

[Countdown starting…]

As soon as the countdown ended, Lazer’s Sylph rushed at me with fierce speed.

His movements weren’t unpredictable or strange like Yuna’s, but they were orthodox, very fast, and aggressive.

Movements like a sharp razor blade, slicing in.

*Whoosh!*

The beam rifle spat fire, grazing the Sparrow’s side. I reflexively evaded, creating distance.

“Your reflexes are certainly fast!”

Lazer’s mocking voice came through the comms.

I didn’t respond to his provocation.

Instead, I focused on not missing a single one of his movements.

His unit’s characteristics, booster usage patterns, weapon firing intervals, habits during turns…

I began to analyze him as if I were strategizing against a boss in a game.

For now, the priority was to evade his attacks and gather data.

“How far are you going to run?! I’ll finish this soon!”

Lazer became even more conceited as I only passively evaded, unleashing a fierce barrage.

He pressured me with beam rifle volleys and even launched small missiles from his shoulders.

With the Sparrow’s performance, it was impossible to avoid all his attacks.

A few beams grazed the armor, and missile fragments pelted the unit.

Warning alarms filled the cockpit.

But I wasn’t flustered.

Rather, I realized his attack patterns were simple and predictable.

Overconfident in his unit’s performance and his own skill, he was attacking too honestly.

In other words, he was off guard.

Clear weak points began to appear in his movements.

‘Analysis complete.’

I intentionally feigned a slight plunge into the path of Lazer’s beam rifle, luring his next attack.

Then, I briefly and powerfully activated the ‘Movement Flow’ to display momentary maneuverability that exceeded the unit’s limits.

I dodged the beam attack by a hair’s breadth and simultaneously pulled out the battle axe from my waist.

“What…!”

Lazer blurted out in panic.

It seemed he hadn’t expected me to suddenly engage in close-quarters combat.

He tried to pull back, but I didn’t miss the chance, igniting my boosters to maximum output and lunging into his embrace.

“This crazy bastard!”

Lazer frantically discarded his beam rifle and tried to assume a close-quarters defense, but it was already too late.

I brought the battle axe down with full force toward the shoulder joint of his left arm, the very arm that held the beam rifle.

*CRUNCH!*

With a dull tearing sound, Lazer’s Sylph’s left arm was completely severed from the shoulder down and fell to the floor.

Sparks flew violently with vivid destruction effects, and Lazer’s groans, bordering on screams, came through the comms.

“You, you fiend! How dare you do that to my Sylph!”

He hurriedly retreated, firing his remaining right arm’s handgun indiscriminately. But his movements were already within my prediction range.

I closed the distance again, evading all his attacks with fluid evasive maneuvers using Movement Flow.

“How can this be?! Why aren’t my attacks hitting?!”

Lazer’s voice was laced with both bewilderment and fear.

He wouldn’t understand.

This situation where a mere training unit was toying with his ace unit.

*CRACK!*

Using propulsion, I plunged low and struck below his right knee joint with the battle axe.

With a horrific tearing sound, his right leg was severed and flew off, and the Sylph, having lost one arm and one leg, could no longer maintain balance and tilted heavily sideways, crashing miserably to the floor.

[Warning! Unit damage exceeds 70%! Combat incapacitated!]

Lazer’s unit’s system warning blared loudly.

I stood over his fallen unit, battle axe slung over my shoulder, looking down at him.

Inside the cockpit, Lazer was speechless from shock and humiliation.

And a new system window appeared in my sight.

[Quest Objective Achieved]

*New objective achieved: Subdued Lazer’s custom unit, Sylph, with a training unit (IST-3 Sparrow).

[Basic Reward 10,000 CR]

[Additional Reward 90,000 CR, [Part] Precision Strike Assistance System]

#

Inside the control room, overlooking the training ground’s hangar.

Yuna, Titan, and Doctor held their breaths, watching the battle situation and various data being broadcast live on the large holographic screen.

When Lazer’s Sylph first began to overwhelm the Sparrow, Titan crossed his arms and snorted, as if he had expected it.

“As expected, they’re no match. Comparing a training unit and an ace unit is meaningless.”

Doctor focused on the rapidly changing data values behind his glasses.

“Standard evasive maneuvers, and he’s maintaining composure. Data-wise, it falls within the reaction range of an ordinary rookie pilot, but…”

Yuna silently stared at the battle screen.

Her expression was as cold as ice, but her silver eyes were analyzing every minute movement Kang Jin-woo’s Sparrow displayed.

The way he evaded Lazer’s attacks was unnaturally efficient, almost as if he knew the attacks were coming beforehand.

‘What is he aiming for? He’s so busy evading, he’s not even counterattacking.’

The situation changed dramatically when Kang Jin-woo suddenly pulled out his battle axe and charged at Lazer.

The energy graph on the holographic screen instantly surged, sounding an alarm.

The Sparrow’s reactor output was temporarily far exceeding the unit’s specification limits.

“What?! What kind of movement is that?!”

Titan involuntarily shot up from his seat.

His eyes were filled with bewilderment and surprise.

It was impossible for a training unit to achieve such explosive acceleration.

“That energy pattern!”

Doctor’s eyes widened behind his glasses. He shouted in excitement.

“He’s completely disregarding the unit’s limits! How is such control possible?!”

Yuna’s expression also subtly hardened.

The ensuing scene was truly shocking.

With only a crude weapon, the battle axe, he began to overwhelm Lazer’s cutting-edge custom unit, the Sylph.

Lazer’s left arm was severed, all his handgun’s energy blasts cut through empty air, and finally, his right leg was also severed, culminating in his miserable collapse—everything happened in an instant.

“No way.”

Titan muttered blankly.

His jaw was agape.

“To wreck it like that with a training unit.”

Doctor was already sitting, frantically recording and analyzing data.

His face was flushed with excitement.

“Incredible combat efficiency!”

Yuna quietly watched the final scene.

“Shouldn’t we officially report this to headquarters, Yuna? Especially that abnormal energy pattern and the pilot’s reaction speed data – this is no ordinary matter! We need to start a detailed analysis immediately…”

At Doctor’s urgent voice, Yuna let out a faint sigh. She looked at the turned-off holographic table and spoke.

Her voice was calm, but a hint of fatigue was present.

“Regardless of reporting it,”

She opened her mouth.

“With Lazer’s unit looking like that, it’s bound to get out anyway.”

Doctor was momentarily speechless at her realistic observation.

Just then, Titan, who had been silently standing with his arms crossed, interjected in a low voice.

“Hmph. Noisy.”

He still wore a displeased expression, but his voice seemed to carry complex emotions unlike before.

“How about we let Lazer himself make the decision?”

Yuna and Doctor’s gazes simultaneously turned to Titan.

“His own unit was wrecked. Whether he reports that humiliation to headquarters or tries to cover it up, that’s Lazer’s problem to deal with.”

Titan said gruffly.

“After all, this Kang Jin-woo fellow is your guest, Yuna. I don’t think we need to step in first and blow this out of proportion.”

His words implied that this was Lazer’s personal problem, while also carrying a nuance of not wanting to shift responsibility onto Yuna.

Perhaps he, too, didn’t want to get deeply involved in this situation.

At Titan’s words, Yuna fell silent in thought for a moment.

He was right.

Lazer’s defeat was a matter of his pride, and there was no need for her to step in first and complicate things by reporting it.

Yuna silently gave a faint nod.

With that, the short discussion in the control room concluded.

An unspoken agreement had been reached to leave Lazer’s handling of the situation up to him.

“Let’s do that.”

“Yeah, I have no complaints either. Lazer brought this upon himself.”

“He’s a dangerous one…”

Titan adjusted his sunglasses, looking at the simulated training unit Sparrow calmly standing.

‘If I met him as an enemy, could I handle him? What a headache.’

An alarm bell rang in his mind.