Chapter 551: Ch The battle - 2

Aboard the Red Bull Gang’s Main Ship

"Leader, multiple smaller signatures have suddenly appeared on our radar! They’ve split into four groups and are approaching rapidly from the bow!" Colt hurriedly reported.

"Damn! They’re already deploying mechs?!" Cade, the leader of the Red Bull Gang, exclaimed, jumping out of his seat. "How many?"

"More than forty-eight, Leader!" Colt immediately replied. "And that’s only the number we can detect. There’s no telling how many more might still be out there!"

"Damn it! Who the hell is this bastard targeting us?!" Cade lost his temper and cursed furiously.

"Colt, I’m going to lead our own mech squad into battle! I’ll leave command of the fleet in your hands. Do whatever you must to ensure we don’t suffer too many losses!"

Although Cade was losing his temper, he wasn’t a fool. He knew what needed to be done in any given situation.

"Y-Yes, Leader!" Colt nodded.

Meanwhile, Cade quickly made his way toward the hangar, shouting orders as he went.

"All mech pilots, get into your mechs right freaking now! We’ve got bugs to dismantle!"

It wasn’t long before more than a hundred mechs stood ready for deployment. Every single one looked well-maintained and pristine, a stark contrast to the pirate identities of their owners.

"Half of you, remain here and provide support from the rear!" Cade ordered from inside his own mech, a machine with a rugged design that stood out from the others. Chains and spikes covered its armor, giving it a menacing appearance.

"And pay close attention to our surroundings! The enemy could appear from anywhere. If you spot them, blast them away from long range! Don’t let them get anywhere near our ships! Is that understood?"

"Yes, Gang Leader!" Several voices of agreement rang out through the communication channels.

"Good!" Cade nodded. Pointing toward a few of the pilots, he ordered, "You lot, follow me!"

With that, he charged toward the incoming enemy mechs, consumed by fury and bloodlust. He was determined to obliterate anyone who dared attack his fleet!

Back aboard the Osprey, Captain Shiba immediately noticed the new signatures appearing on his radar around the Red Bull Gang’s ships. Half of the newly detected units had formed a protective formation around the pirates’ existing fleet, while the other half were rushing directly toward the Osprey Squad.

He frowned slightly and pulled up the optical feed with a thought.

A visual display appeared before him, showing approximately fifty pristine, well-maintained mechs. Their standardized designs and equipment stood out immediately.

Looking at the footage, Shiba couldn’t help but sneer.

Looks like they really do have connections to one of the Seven Superstates, and quite deep ones at that, considering they possess ships like these as well as nearly advanced Tier-3 mechs...

"Whatever," Shiba muttered, glancing at one of the officers. "Transmit this to Commander Gale. Tell him his targets have appeared and are heading straight toward him!"

"Yes, Captain!" The officer nodded before promptly relaying the order to Commander Gale.

Meanwhile, at the front lines, Commander Gale was already navigating through the asteroid field, maneuvering past the countless asteroids scattered throughout the area. He had long since noticed the newly appeared signatures detected by the onboard radar of his Gale Swords and had already locked onto them.

Therefore, when Captain Shiba’s notification finally arrived, Gale simply ignored it. He was already focused on commanding the battle.

Instead, he controled the Gale Swords to increase its speed, intent on meeting the leading mechs of the Red Bull Gang head-on!

Seeing the enemy’s leading mech speeding toward him so quickly that it nearly disappeared from his field of vision and radar for a moment, Cade was momentarily stunned. However, he quickly gritted his teeth and refocused.

"Dammit! You think you can attack me just because you’re fast?!" he cursed under his breath.

He throttled the Bull Axe forward and raised its massive axe, preparing to welcome the incoming enemy with an attack of his own.

Meanwhile, Commander Gale skilfully controlled the Gale Sword. Just as the Bull Axe’s attack approached, he shifted slightly to the left mid-flight, narrowly dodging the blow while thrusting the sword in his mech’s hand forward in a piercing strike.

CLANG!!

The silver blade collided head-on with the Bull Axe’s energy shield.

BANG!!

The impact sent ripples across the shield and forced the mech backward.

"Dammit!" Cade cursed in frustration as he lost the initial exchange.

However, he quickly maneuvered the Bull Axe, stabilized its position, and launched a long-range attack using the single-caliber energy weapon mounted on its back, targeting the Gale Sword as it continued rushing toward him.

"Huh!"

Gale snorted and countered in kind, firing the two high-powered plasma cannons mounted on the Gale Sword’s back directly at the incoming projectile.

BOOOOM!

An explosion erupted midway between the two mechs.

Using the blast as cover, the Gale Sword surged forward and unleashed a horizontal slash with its sword.

"You think you can take me out like this?!" Cade roared.

He maneuvered the Bull Axe and met the incoming slash head-on with his own massive axe.

CLANG!

The two weapons collided with a deafening metallic noise.

Although the Bull Axe managed to block the Gale Sword’s attack, it was clearly losing ground. Its thickly armored arms visibly trembled under the tremendous force of the impact.

Suddenly, warning messages flashed across Cade’s internal monitoring system.

[WARNING! WARNING! LEFT FOREARM FRAME AT MAXIMUM COMPRESSIVE LOAD. OVERSTRESS DETECTED! RIGHT SHOULDER ROTOR JOINT UNDER PRESSURE. MICROFRACTURE DETECTED!]

"Damn it!" Cade cursed.

Without hesitation, he kicked the Gale Sword with the Bull Axe, forcing it backward and creating some distance between the two mechs.

I can’t let him keep taking the initiative! Cade thought, gritting his teeth.

These two exchanges had already revealed the gap between their mechs. He couldn’t defend against the Gale Sword’s attacks indefinitely. Meeting them head-on would be catastrophic as well.

Knowing he couldn’t afford to let his opponent maintain the initiative, Cade switched weapons. A burst-fire machine gun suddenly appeared in the Bull Axe’s hands, and he immediately aimed it at the Gale Sword.

Commander Gale reacted the instant he saw this. He pulled the control stick, and the Gale Sword burst forward with even greater speed. It sidestepped so rapidly that it seemed to leave a clone in its previous position before darting straight toward the Bull Axe.

Cade snorted and immediately pulled the trigger.

A burst of bullets erupted from the machine gun as the Bull Axe simultaneously fired its back-mounted cannon. The hail of bullets and cannon shells swept through space, narrowly missing the Gale Sword before striking the asteroid behind it and detonating in a series of explosions.

Seeing his attacks miss, Cade didn’t panic.

He quickly adjusted his aim, refusing to believe that either the mech or its pilot could maintain such incredible movement speeds for long while dodging his gunfire. At the same time, he actively maneuvered the Bull Axe to create even more distance between himself and the Gale Sword.

But Commander Gale wasn’t bothered in the slightest. He continued pressing forward without losing momentum or slowing down. Instead, he launched another attack mid-flight, swinging his sword and unleashing a vertical slash of energy toward the incoming barrage.

The two attacks collided in midspace and canceled each other out, triggering another explosion.

WHOOSH!

The blinding light produced by the blast instantly obstructed Cade’s forward vision.

"Oh, shit!" Cade panicked.

Not only had he lost his direct line of sight, but the Gale Sword had also disappeared from the Bull Axe’s detection system, causing him to lose track of his target entirely.

At that moment, Cade realized he’d made a terrible mistake.

Realizing his mistake, Cade quickly switched back to the Bull Axe’s massive mechanical axe. He expanded his divine sense into the surrounding space, focusing intently on detecting even the slightest disturbance.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Suddenly, he heard a sound coming from his left.

Hearing this, Cade smiled coldly. He decisively maneuvered the Bull Axe and swung its mechanical axe toward the right, sneering as he spoke.

"This kind of trick might fool a mech’s detection system, but a pilot doesn’t rely solely on the mech’s sensors! You fool! You forgot about divine sense!"

With that, Cade slashed at the Gale Sword, which had suddenly emerged from stealth.

In an instant, the Bull Axe’s massive mechanical axe cut the Gale Sword cleanly in two!

"Hmph!" Cade snorted.

But almost immediately, he sensed that something was wrong.

He looked at the remains of the Gale Sword, only to watch them suddenly disappear, as if the mech he had just cut apart had never existed in the first place.

"How could this be?!"

The confident smile vanished from his face, replaced by sheer panic.

Just then, the Bull Axe jolted violently before being hurled forward at incredible speed, slamming directly into an asteroid.

Cade’s vision blurred for a moment, and sharp pain shot through several parts of his body.

[WARNING! WARNING! ENERGY SHIELDS DOWN! ARMOR DAMAGED! BACK-MOUNTED CANNON NONFUNCTIONAL! WARNING! MECH HAS LOST THE FUNCTIONALITY OF MULTIPLE SYSTEMS! WARNING! WARNING!]