Chapter 521: Under Attack III
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Of course Duo Ka would not let it go so easily. In fact, he was curious of the giant in armor. Another concern he had was, if the giant was really from within Darkniss, it would spell trouble for all of them. Could it be that something terrible happened in Darkniss?
The problem was a crucial one, for him and for the City of Yedda. Yedda was at the edge of Dual Forest. If the creatures residing in the mysterious Darkniss could cross the Dessert and Mist and enter Dual Forest, it would be a disaster to all of humanity. Besides, Yedda would be the first in line. These creatures that only Level 8 shooters could handle would surely bring about devastation. Would there be a bloody massacre? Or would humanity itself go extinct?
The answers all lie within this giant.
Duo Ka turned his fighter and dived into the forest in pursuit.
An excellent shooter would not lose their target easily. They would rely on their parapsychic sense to locate their prey, and not their eyes. Parapsychic sense was harder to fool.
The sudden twist in events led to puzzlement amongst the onlookers.
Ye Chong stared at the ground that grew larger and larger in view. Celest was too fast, almost at its maximum speed. Any carelessness on his part would have heavy consequences.
Ye Chong placed his fingers lightly on the console. His breathing was short, not out of nervousness, but because the evasion techniques earlier had drained a lot from him. However, Ye Chong did not have time to regulate his breathing now. This was truly a terrible situation for him! He had never encountered such a suffocating round of assault. The lasers never stopped coming, and they were all on mark. Ye Chong could not imagine what it would take to fire so quickly and at such high accuracy. Once, he had thought that only Mu and Shang could do it. Now, he could only marvel at the talents found in this world. In the end, he had to give his all just to keep himself from being shot. He had succumbed into a semi-conscious and half-crazed state, and his hands had moved that much faster.
Now, his mind was concentrating only on the forest. There was no room for further consideration. The blue aircraft had followed him closely from behind.
Ye Chong stopped breathing abruptly. His eyes gleamed as his hands danced across the controls in a blur.
Celest stretched its limbs out midair, bending them slightly as it continued to crash downwards. The mech was about to hit the ground. Duo Ka was anxious. Any aircraft that went shooting down at this speed would definitely be reduced to useless debris. Could it be that this giant be able to withstand the impact?
Just as Dou Ka felt concerned, the giant suddenly slowed down in its trajectory in a seemingly physics defying instant. It was now on level with the treetops. The giant pushed its hands and feet against the branches and extended them again like unwinding springs. It was using the trees to slow down its descent.
Creak crack creak!
The branches gave way as Celest crashed into a tree with a girth that went a few meters across, bringing the tree down with it. The huge tree crashed into the ground, kicking up soil and dust into the air. Seen from above, the giant had seemingly vanished into the dense forest under the cover of dust.
"Do you think you can get away so easily?" Duo Ka thought to himself with a cold smile.
The dense forest was Heaven for a close range mech like Celest. Celest landed its feet heavily into the soft ground and continued pushing forward, making use of the momentum from its descent. Its body tilted, its left leg extended out straight, and its right leg bent into an arch. The left leg traced a long gash into the earth like a plough.
Finally, a chance to catch his breath. Ye Chong panted heavily. Once he entered the forest, the complicated terrain would be disadvantageous to long range combatants. The branches that crisscrossed irregularly everywhere would make it difficult to aim. If they were to fight in the air in the forest, the canopy leaves would prevent light from entering their battleground.
Suddenly, a blue laser beam shot through the leaves and right through Celest's thigh!
How was that possible? Ye Chong's chest tightened. He immediately made Celest dash forward. Ye Chong felt the threat behind him growing stronger and stronger. Cold sweat ran down his back. He could almost smell death itself. It was too long ago since he had a similar feeling!
The opponent pressured him constantly, suffocating him. So far, he had reacted passively without returning an attack even once.
The terrain had not affected his opponent one bit! Ye Chong felt his calmness slowly gave way. However, he knew that he should not slow down now. If he did, the next blue laser beam might just shot through Celest's throat.
…
In fact, the forest did hinder Duo Ka. The shooter shook his head in dissatisfaction. The complicated terrain made it harder for him to shoot. He had aimed at the giant's throat, but shot its thigh instead. Nevertheless, a shooter will have to be at least above Level 5 to be combat effective in the forest. Lesser shooters would be more severely affected.
Without a fighter aircraft, fighting against a creature as strong as this giant would be suicidal. The difference strength would be too great. If the first shot missed, the consequences would be deadly.
The forest was not suitable for flight. Besides, the giant had shown how agile it could be. Duo Ke thought it was terrifying that the giant could move so quickly despite its bulky size, even faster than a fighter aircraft.
There was no other option for him. Duo Ka flew his fighter close to the ground, waiting for the right time to attack. As long as he kept close to his target, there will be plenty of opportunities.
…
Stay calm! Stay calm! Ye Chong reminded him repeatedly.
He forced himself to slow down his breathing. It worked. As his breathing slowed down, his mind became calmer. Throughout the whole exercise, his hands never slowed down.
There must a way! Ye Chong told himself. As long as he was calm, he would figure it out.
His rich battle experience allowed him to stay in control despite the imminent threat. His gaze turned clearer.
What was his opponent's strength? Astonishing shooting accuracy and frequency, unhindered by the environment.
But that did not sound right. Ye Chong recalled then something that Huang Baiyi once told him. A mentalist was best suited for a flat and open battleground, since the open space allowed the mentalist to spread his senses further. If that was the case, this forest should be effective against mentalists.
However, why was the shooter able to hit him? The shooter must have very strong parapsychic sense!
Ye Chong realized suddenly that the shooter had hit Celest's thigh. Back when they were fighting in the open, the shooter had always aimed for vulnerable spots such as the throat. Now, it was the thigh that was hit! Ye Chong concluded then that the forest was making things difficult for the shooter.
Having arrived at this conclusion, Ye Chong felt encouraged. His eyes gleamed brighter, and his mind began to race through possibilities.
…
Duo Ka frowned again. That the giant was able to move easily through the foliage came as no surprise. What made him frown was the fact that it appeared to be experienced in fighting in the forest, taking cover behind the tree branches. Duo Ka could sense the general location of the giant, but it was not enough for him to shoot accurately. Besides, he could not understand how the giant's movements were not affected by the wound on its thigh. Once again, he marvelled at the strength of this creature!
Since accurate shots were out of the picture, Duo Ka decided to try a different strategy.
Wide coverage high explosive grenade attack!
…
Celest's holographic scanning system was highly advanced. This was not something Ye Chong got to enjoy every day. Aside from Mu and Shang, the best holographic scanning system he had ever used was Moon King's. However, Moon King was still slightly inferior compared to the best mechs.
Celest was the culmination of the Research Consortium's best research works, which included its holographic scanning system. It was as good as the holographic scanning systems of the Three Aces from the Three Aristocratic Families, and the result of three decades of research by the Consortium.
This allowed Ye Chong to observe the blue fighter's trajectory clearly.
Suddenly, hundreds of grenades rained down on him.
Ye Chong had a taste of the grenade earlier. They were highly explosive. Celest's diamond shaped shield had been blasted into pieces from just one of them.
However, if it was not a direct hit, Celest would probably remain intact.
With his calmness restored, Ye Chong was now a formidable opponent. He did not panic, His hands moved even faster, but steadier.
As the grenades came down, Celest demonstrated its impeccable evasion techniques once again.
Boom boom boom boom!
The explosions never stopped. Where the giant had been moments ago was now a wreck of blown branches and leaves.
Old Wei watched from afar, and thought the situation odd. He had only met Duo Ka a few times, but the man he knew was not one to kill without mercy.
"Strange," their captain, Re Guming sent the message to his group members. He too noticed that something was not right.
Duo Ka never liked to use the high explosive grenades, since they were low accuracy weapons suitable only for wider coverage. Shooters who strived for accuracy never liked imprecise weapons like these.
Now that Duo Ka had used his high explosive grenades, what could it possibly mean?
It meant that Duo Ka was ready to do anything necessary to kill the giant. Why was that, though? Could there be a story behind this? Re Guming and Old Wei both considered the situation. The other shooters who were watching had also realized something was amiss.
Duo Ka noticed that the giant had left his first attack range, and immediately shot out another round of grenades.
With one giant fleeing in front and a fighter attacking without reserve from the back, the forest was quickly marked with a long trip of burnt clearing, about 500 meters wide and over seven kilometres long. All the trees in the clearing were burnt to a crisp, and the ground was marred with holes. Such a violent and nonsensical attack left the onlookers confused.
Had Duo Ka gone mad?
Ye Chong piloted Celest through the shower of grenades, slippery as a fish. The attack did not leave any significant damage, only coating Celest with ash.
Ye Chong did not understand why the shooter was so keen on destroying him, but he was now thinking of how to get rid of the shooter.
So far, he had not figured out a way to overcome the shooter's precise aim.
What was the shooter's weakness? The fighter, of course! In fact, while the shooter had given Ye Chong a hard time, the shooter's fighter was the only thing that made him so powerful against Celest.
The aircrafit was fast, flying at around Mach 22 to Mach 25 by Ye Chong's estimate, and much faster than Ban Meng's Wood Kite. It was obviously something top of the line. To reach this speed within the atmosphere was extraordinary. Even Celest could only reach up to Mach 30, and that was in outer space. Here within the atmosphere, air friction reduced that maximum speed to about Mach 28. Ye Chong was surprised by the fact that this primitive aircraft packed so much power in it.
Nevertheless, the aircraft's speed could not overcome a weakness of its primitive structure –aircrafts were simply not a very flexible transport. Even compared with average mech models, aircrafts would be found wanting. They were only suitable for flight within the atmosphere. They obeyed aerodynamic laws, and had only one engine at the tail of the aircraft. Every change in direction had to be achieved with a curved trajectory. Turning around required the aircraft to make a U-turn. The faster the turn, the larger the U-turn must be. These aircrafts could not change directions instantly like mechs can. Since the shooter's parapsychic sense had a limited range, this provided Ye Chong with an opportunity.
If he could make use of this opportunity well, he would be able to escape the opponent's pursuit.
Celest suddenly stepped on a thick branch and fell backwards. As the mech's body became parallel to the ground, its legs pushed strongly and its engines blasted at maximum power. The giant launched backwards like a cannonball.
Ye Chong could see the blue aircraft grazed closely past him from above.
The giant's abrupt move backwards left Duo Ka unprepared. He quickly changed his fighter's trajectory, but he had a feeling that his efforts would not be enough.
He was now beyond shocked by the giant's behavior. He never thought the creature would have such intelligence, to recognize his weakness in such a short time and figure out a countermove. What a scary being!
If this giant was really from Darkniss, then the creatures that resided in that place must be terrifying. Duo Ke felt a chill down his spine.
There was no room for his pride or dignity now. He chose the safest option - ask for help!