"First Battalion has gone completely silent!"
Listening to his staff officer's report, Li Long took a painful, deep breath, the wrinkles on his face twitching uncontrollably again.
In just five minutes, his remaining two companies had lost another thirty men—an entire platoon.
The speed at which they were being silenced reminded him of the fall of Old Eridu.
And it was that time, that one battle, that had reduced his battalion to its current two companies. A force of fifteen hundred men, now down to only two hundred and seventy-one.
But that was a catastrophic-level Hollow disaster. This was just one person. A single damn person!
He couldn't help but curse angrily:
"Dammit, I never should have believed that son of a bitch's bullshit about this mission being perfectly safe!"
The staff officer at his side spoke up again, Wei Yong's young face still holding a trace of immaturity:
"What should we do? Have Second Battalion move in?"
Hearing this, Li Long's anger flared. He roared:
"Move in my ass! You want those brats to charge in with their heads?!"
Seeing the dazed look in Staff Officer Wei Yong's eyes, Li Long's fury blazed even hotter.
"What are you staring at?! Tell them to fight and fall back! Stall for time!"
Turning to his second-in-command, he immediately ordered:
"Vice-Commander, get my damn autonomous mech up here now!"
"Yes, sir!"
——————
After the previous episodes—which could have been titled 'Three Punches to Shatter a Genius's Soul' and 'Commander, I'm a Man of Letters'—the other soldiers suddenly changed their combat strategy.
Relying on their ranged weapons and coordinating with thrown projectiles for cover, they forced Andrew to constantly look for openings to snag people with his grappling hook.
The straightforward battle had inexplicably turned into a chase, yet they showed no intention of retreating. Andrew, whose goal was to quickly clear the threat outside the research facility, found himself momentarily at a loss.
After all, this was a force of over two hundred men. Even if he were catching pigs, at this rate, Andrew couldn't possibly round them all up before Zhu Yuan arrived, not even if he worked non-stop.
'I still need to find their command room and grab their leader.'
But the tents were all identical, stretching out in rows. He couldn't just search them one by one, could he? With all that commotion, the target would have seen him coming and bolted.
Andrew tapped the right side of his helmet twice. This was the perfect time for the Bangboo, Belle, to shine.
Under Andrew's cover, Belle slipped out of an open door, gave him a distant wave, and then dove into a narrow nearby channel.
A Bangboo slipping into the chaotic camp was like a drop of salt water in a glass of water—it vanished without a trace in an instant.
With Belle searching covertly, Andrew prepared to get back to his game of whack-a-mole.
Just then, a shadow fell over Andrew's head. Accompanied by the hum of a running mechanical core, a massive, angular autonomous mech slammed down.
Staring at the pure black paint job, the oversized power hammer on its left arm with a red-painted head, and the heavy cannon that made up its entire right forearm, Andrew recognized the model of the autonomous mech before him.
Guardian II.
Andrew had seen information on this military autonomous mech before while looking through the Phaethon siblings' bestiary.
Although there was no video footage, the text records of its armaments had given Andrew a basic understanding of this autonomous mech.
This autonomous mech, whose performance and firepower were a whole level above the original Guardian model, made Andrew break into a smile.
"An autonomous mech, right?"
The Dullahan Tachi, which had remained on his back and unused because he had only been fighting humans until now, was slowly drawn by Andrew.
"So, since there's no one inside you, I guess I can finally use my blade~"
Far away, watching the battle on an electronic screen, Li Long felt his throat tighten. The person who had inflicted such heavy losses on his troops in mere minutes was only now getting serious?
If he knew that the weapon Andrew was currently using was, at best, a low-rank weapon for him, he'd probably start packing his bags to run.
But none of that mattered to Andrew, who was preparing for battle.
As the Guardian II entered a combat stance, the heavy machine gun mounted on its left shoulder immediately began to strafe.
Compared to rifle rounds, Andrew actually showed a bit of respect for heavy machine gun bullets.
After all, even though they'd only chip away a tiny bit of his armor's durability, every little bit counts. Wasting durability on this would be a real luxury.
With a kick from his left foot, a shield left behind by some unlucky soul flew into the air, and Andrew caught it securely in his left hand.
The heavy machine gun fire clattered against its surface. Only when the Guardian II's barrel overheated and entered its cooldown period did Andrew toss the shield aside.
The surface was pitted and dented, but the fist print in the center was still clearly visible even in its ruined state.
Poor platoon leader. After his spirit was broken, his shield followed suit.
As the firing stopped, Andrew charged forward behind the shield, reaching the front of the Guardian II. The autonomous mech was so tall that Andrew only came up to its waist.
He unleashed a downward diagonal slash, but the autonomous mech, as if anticipating the move, suddenly retreated on the wheels in its feet, causing Andrew's strike to only slice through a small piece of armor on its right leg.
CLANG
The sound of metal on metal rang out. The resistance transmitted through the blade prevented the last strike from smoothly penetrating deeper.
"Damn, this part is pretty tough!"
But for Andrew, who had roamed Iceborne with the Sapphire Star, he was long accustomed to monsters that needed their parts tenderized before they could be damaged.
Although, the main reason it needed tenderizing was because the weapon Andrew brought was the Dullahan Tachi.
But no matter. Tenderizer, activate!
A volley of three Ether shock bombs was launched at Andrew, but he dodged the first two with a quick sidestep.
As the third bomb arrived, Andrew's grappling hook had already shot out and latched onto the Guardian II's head display.
As the hook retracted, this time it wasn't the target that was pulled toward him. Instead, it was Andrew who launched into the air, flying toward the autonomous mech.
But just as Andrew landed on the autonomous mech's head, the Guardian II suddenly assumed a strange starting pose.
The grenade launcher on its left arm raised and contracted—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it curled up—while the impact hammer on its right arm rested diagonally on the ground, as if preparing to smash something with all its might.
The familiar tenderizing combo of a clutch-claw attack followed by a weapon swing—he hadn't even had a chance to use the initial attack before the Guardian II unceremoniously... started spinning?
The rotation started incredibly fast. The moment he realized something was wrong, Andrew had already released the grappling hook, using the centrifugal force to create distance.
As it turned out, Andrew's decision was absolutely correct.
In less than a second, the autonomous mech's spin reached its maximum speed. Everything around it was pulverized by the power hammer, clearing a small, circular patch of flat ground.
And if Andrew hadn't let go in time, he would have faced a choice: get flung off, or hold on tight and experience the spin cycle of a washing machine.
-
Hello! Walnut here! Or... Miku Dayo in this case heheh...
Unfortunately, I had 2 stories deleted from my main account, "Walnut-chan," and I decided to post them here on this other account... I'm counting on your support to recover what we've lost!
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