episode_0025

After intense maneuvering, the Harrier’s beam rifle spat fire.

The green beam successively pierced the right shoulder and knee joint of a Chronos Bugbear.

The heavy mech lost balance, wobbled, and then, sparks flying, crashed miserably into the wall of an old factory building.

Only the finishing blow remained.

I aimed the barrel at the center of the incapacitated Bugbear’s cockpit.

The moment my finger went on the trigger, a fleeting hesitation passed, and the emergency rescue channel was forcibly opened.

“P-Please save me! Please… don’t kill me!”

It was the voice of a terrified rookie pilot.

I asked coldly.

“Why are you here? Who sent you?”

“I-I… my name is… anyway! I don’t know the details! I just… received deployment orders from Nessis and came here. They told me to scout this place, said it was a simple reconnaissance mission! I had no idea a fight like this would break out! This is unfair! Please…!”

‘Nessis?’

The Nessis Corporation, Icarus’s rival.

Before the information could fully register in my mind, a strong warning sound blared inside the mech as blue beam rifle streaks poured down like a storm from an unexpected direction.

“Argh!”

Before the pilot’s last scream could even finish, the Bugbear took the full brunt of the merciless beam barrage, was engulfed in massive flames, and exploded.

The communication cut off immediately.

I looked up and glared in the direction the beam had come from.

New mechs emerged from atop the collapsed building debris and out of the darkness.

They were Nessis’s mechs, distinctly different from Chronos’s clunky Bugbears, sleek and refined, yet somehow cold and intimidating in design.

[Tsk, what a bunch of worthless maggots who can’t even get a single kill.]

Static from an unencrypted channel bled into the Harrier’s wide-area communication reception system.

It was the Nessis mercenaries’ conversation.

[That’s just how those Chronos mercenary bastards are. As expected.]

[Those Icarus guys, they sent their elites. Silvera, Atlas, Pathfinder, huh? This is annoying.]

[But what’s that mass-produced mech? Wasn’t in the intel?]

[Exactly. Where’s Lazer, and looks like some clueless fool got dragged in as a bullet shield.]

[Ha! Wait, I’ll go and cleanly smash that one to pieces!]

Bullet shield? I gripped the control stick, feeling my anger turn cold.

“You bastards.”

With the burning Bugbear wreckage at my back, I maximized the Harrier’s output.

The Harrier shot out like a flash.

The Nessis mech that had just been boasting about smashing me charged at me as if it had been waiting, unleashing a barrage of beam rifle fire.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Blue beam streaks grazed the Harrier’s afterimages.

The mech, with its Movement Flow skill activated, evaded all attacks, using his charge speed against him to instantly close the distance.

[What…? This bastard!]

His flustered voice came through the communication channel.

I drew the energy sword equipped at the Harrier’s waist.

A lightsaber emitting an intense blue light.

I swung it without hesitation at the body of the charging Nessis mech.

Slice!

With a dull sound of tearing metal, the Nessis mech was split precisely at the waist, its upper and lower halves separating.

A single attack. The upper half flew a little further due to inertia before exploding into a fireball.

[Marco’s down!]

[That mass-produced mech… unbelievable!]

[What was that movement just now?]

Other Nessis mercenaries’ astonished voices poured through the communication channel.

I could feel their movements momentarily slowing down.

But the situation was still at its worst.

Though I had just destroyed one Nessis mech, numerous Chronos mercenaries and Nessis elite mechs still filled the battlefield.

Just then, Yuna’s urgent voice came through the friendly-only channel.

[There are too many of them! Not just Chronos, but Nessis too…]

[Sensor interference is getting worse! Enemy reinforcements approaching, we’ve sent a request for our own reinforcements.]

Doctor’s voice was also urgent.

[Tsk, it’s getting hard to hold out!]

Titan’s Atlas also seemed to be under concentrated attack, as his rough voice was heard.

Yuna shouted, as if she had made a decision.

[Plan change, mission continuation is impossible. Disperse under individual discretion, making survival the top priority. Evade the enemy as much as possible and regroup at the designated rendezvous point.]

Yuna’s urgent retreat order echoed through the channel, but I didn’t move.

I looked between the burning Bugbear wreckage, the wreckage of the Nessis mech I had just cut down, and the enemies pressing in from all sides.

[Doctor.]

Amidst the chaotic communications, I hailed Doctor’s channel.

[Can you get an accurate enemy count?]

[Sensor interference is severe, so it’s hard to get a fix, but they seem to be constantly reinforcing. Combined, there could easily be over twenty units.]

Over twenty units.

It was a number that made a head-on confrontation impossible for the four of us.

Yuna’s judgment was correct, but I reopened the team channel.

[We’ll deal with all of them here and complete the mission.]

[What? Are you crazy?]

Yuna’s voice was filled with bewilderment.

[This is a clear trap, either our information leaked, or they lured us here from the start. We should retreat, reorganize our formation, and link up with reinforcements. This is suicide!]

[I’ll answer with this.]

I replied curtly and closed the communication.

Then, I ignited the Harrier’s boosters to maximum output once more.

The mech shot forward like a spring, charging towards the nearest enemy group.

[Jinwoo!]

[Crazy!]

[Khah! He’s quite gutsy after all!]

Whoosh! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Beams, live rounds, and a volley of missiles blocked my path. I frantically shook the control stick, weaving through them.

The Harrier narrowly dodged the projectiles, dancing through them.

Alternating between the beam rifle and energy sword, I instantly destroyed two approaching Bugbears.

But that was the extent of it.

Evasive maneuvers alone were overwhelming against the attacks flying in from all sides.

Before I knew it, I was completely surrounded by three Nessis mechs and several Bugbears.

My radar was nothing but red warning lights. One Nessis mech aimed its large shoulder cannon at me.

There was nowhere to dodge.

“Damn it!”

Bang!

A thin blue flash descended from the sky like a plummeting bolt and accurately blew off the cannon barrel of the Nessis mech that was aimed at me.

[You can hear my scolding later.]

It was Yuna.

Her Silvera was engaging another mech, yet she hadn’t missed my movements.

CRASH!

With an earth-shattering roar, Titan’s Atlas charged in from the side, as if covering me.

The Atlas’s twin shoulder gatling guns and missile launchers spat fire, unleashing indiscriminate bombardments on the enemies around me.

In an instant, several Bugbears exploded and were thrown back.

[Hahahaha! You’re truly insane! I’ve been bored for a while, this kind of thrill is new! Alright, I’ll play along!]

Titan’s boisterous shout filled the communication channel.

He seemed to have forgotten Yuna’s retreat order, rather, he seemed to be enjoying the situation.

[Let’s give it a shot, situations like this aren’t new to us, are they?]

As Titan roared in his boisterous voice, Doctor calmly replied.

[Yes, the chances are low, but…]

As Titan’s Atlas unleashed a crazy barrage of fire, drawing the enemies’ attention, I piloted the Harrier, diving into the opening of chaos he had created.

[Jinwoo! Eleven o’clock direction, Nessis mech! Missile launch imminent!]

Simultaneously with Doctor’s warning, I sharply swerved the mech and deployed flares.

I heard the deafening explosions of six or seven missiles detonating behind me.

Using the momentum from the evasive maneuver, I immediately dove into the flank of the enemy Nessis mech and severed its arm with the energy sword.

While the disarmed Nessis mech reeled, a missile launched by Titan’s Atlas turned it into a massive fireball.

[Hahaha! We’re quite in sync!]

Titan shouted, seemingly satisfied.

[No time for chatter! Enemy formation rear! High-output energy signature!]

Simultaneously with Yuna’s sharp cry, a blue sniper beam fired from her Silvera pierced precisely through the cockpit of a Chronos custom mech that was charging its heavy particle cannon.

Even while relocating, she was still accurately eliminating key threats on the battlefield.

We fought, covering each other’s weaknesses.

While Titan pushed the front line with his heavy frame, I used my agile mobility to dive in, disrupt, and destroy enemies.

Yuna eliminated dangerous enemies with sniping or secured our retreat path, and Doctor continuously analyzed enemy information and provided electronic warfare support.

The seemingly impossible battle situation seemed to be finding a precarious balance, little by little.

But that balance didn’t last long.

[High energy signature approaching!]

Doctor’s voice turned urgent.

Piercing through the battlefield’s dust clouds, a mech distinctly different from the other Nessis units appeared.

Sleek, dark red armor, an even sleeker and more imposing silhouette.

More than anything, its movements were on a different level.

The dark red mech moved through allied and enemy mechs like a ghost.

Evading the gatling gun barrage unleashed by Titan, it instead pierced without hesitation through the cockpits of two Chronos Bugbears that were obstructing its path.

Overwhelming skill and ruthlessness, indiscriminately targeting both allies and enemies.

[That madman!]

Titan shouted through clenched teeth.

As if Titan’s rage was of no concern, the dark red mech turned its head towards the high ground.

And instantly deployed the large beam cannon mounted on its shoulder.

[Yuna! Dodge!]

Almost simultaneously with my shout, Doctor shouted.

[High-output beam firing! Yuna!]

KABOOM!

A beam streak, incomparably more powerful than anything before, directly struck the rocky mountain where Yuna was.

With a massive explosion, rock fragments flew everywhere, and the spot where Yuna’s Silvera had been was completely annihilated.

[Yuna! Are you okay!]

I shouted urgently.

After a brief silence, Yuna’s voice, mixed with static, was heard.

[No problem.]

Her voice was calm, but it was mixed with the sound of her panting heavily.

Meanwhile, the dark red mech slowly turned its head, looking between me and Titan.

Beyond the helmet’s visor, I felt the pilot’s cold gaze.

[He wasn’t in the intel, yet he shows such movements in a mere mass-produced mech.]

For the first time, a communication came from him. An arrogant and cold voice.

The dark red mech deployed sharp energy shields in both hands and slowly began to approach us.

[When this is over, I’ll need to get paid extra.]