The battle between Qilin and First Military Academy had already entered its most intense phase.
The snowstorm that had briefly paused earlier in the morning swept back in, quietly raising the difficulty of this fight by several notches.
Wang Tianwei's "fighter jet" was swaying left and right in the strong winds, making precise shooting impossible.
Leola had one energy conduit ripped out and couldn't reattach it in time, so all she could do was stare at the 48% on her screen in frustration.
He Siyu and Huang Yan's heads were beginning to throb painfully, but neither their conversation nor their combat performance gave away the slightest hint of weakness.
The mental assault had never stopped from start to finish—if one of them weakened even slightly, the other would immediately press the attack.
The four individual soldiers were fighting like mad. At first, there was form, technique, and coordination, but later, exhausted beyond reason, all they cared about was eliminating the other side. Every trick in the book came out, and the thunderous roar of artillery shells rang out from time to time.
Wu Pingzhuo hastily retreated two steps, narrowly dodging a groin kick from Zhang Lyra.
"Big sis! If your strength lands on me, I'm done for!"
"...Uh, I'll go easier."
"Like hell I believe you!!!"
Fu Xingyuan and Jian Jingyu were both completely fired up, trading blows back and forth until they became blurs on the battlefield. In the howling blizzard, their mechs moved so fast that even Wang Tianwei could barely track them with her naked eye—there was no way she could provide backup...
The viewers locked onto the Qilin and First Military Academy livestreams had gone from shock and cheers to sheer numbness.
"...Do those eight have some kind of revenge plan? Don't keep it to yourselves—let me hear it!"
"I just went through a breakup yesterday and thought I'd definitely train myself to be like Fu Xingyuan... Now I think a breakup isn't such a big deal after all."
"That's fighting in mechs! I can't spar that long even hand-to-hand, and I'm also S-rank? Why are we so different?"
"I can't pull off Jian Jingyu's spinning scissor takedown. Tomorrow I'll make my instructor demonstrate it!"
"...Is it possible your instructor is too old? Their body can't take that kind of punishment?"
"The most impressive one here is still Sister Zebra. Her being a regular A-rank and hanging with a bunch of freaks without losing a step is something else."
"Sister Zebra is the real freak!"
Wang Tianwei didn't feel like a freak at all. She was truly running out of options...
Nobody told her that after she tore off two components from Leola's mech, it would trigger her berserker mode! Every single multifunction fire tube was chasing her down with explosions!
"Come on, what kind of mech pilot loads that many firepower attachments onto their own mech? You trying to switch to heavy gunner?"
Leola gritted her teeth.
"Sorry, but against Qilin, I have firepower insufficiency syndrome!"
Huh? Why did that phrase sound so familiar?
Wang Tianwei, frantically fleeing through the blizzard, found her mind starting to wander. She'd said something like that before too, hadn't she? Where was it?
He Siyu gritted her teeth and pushed her psychic barrier to maximum thickness. Huang Yan really lived up to being a double S-rank psychic!
Even with the suppressant coursing through her, she could still pin He Siyu down hard—illusion after illusion, slippery both up close and at range. Truly a tough nut to crack.
Everyone at both academies was clenching their teeth. If they didn't take out the enemy, they'd be the ones eliminated!
In the stalemate, Fu Xingyuan was the first to hear a faint cracking sound. Before he could identify it, Jian Jingyu's electromagnetic cannon shot had already arrived—
"BOOM!"
Snow chunks fell from the branches, followed by an even louder, ear-splitting rumbling!
Wait, one hyper-electromagnetic shot shouldn't have that much aftershock...
Fu Xingyuan turned his head stiffly to see tens of thousands of tons of white snow tumbling down from the heights, mixed with ice and boulders, rumbling downward. Another section was crashing straight off the cliff face, about to swallow him in seconds. The ice beneath his feet was cracking and groaning.
"AVALANCHE!!"
The other seven, still deep in battle, all froze at the sound.
Wang Tianwei was closest. She was the first to feel the powerful rush of air coming straight at her and frantically maneuvered her mech to ascend.
"Move now!"
Huang Yan followed right behind, with Fu Xingyuan and He Siyu in quick pursuit. But the ones who were slightly slower quickly realized—damn it!
A mech's ascent relies on reverse thrust jet propulsion, and the turbulent vortex caused by the avalanche pressed down from above, pinning them in place!
Those who had already risen into the air couldn't descend to help either, because even dropping slightly lower would expose them to that same turbulence.
The safety officer instructor on the rescue aircraft smacked his lips and stood up.
"With them fighting that fiercely at the foot of a snowy mountain, an avalanche was inevitable..."
He pulled out his spatial buckle and walked to the door of the aircraft, ready for rescue at a moment's notice.
"Kes, get the rescue line ready. Wait for my order."
Kes's gaze swept briefly over the spatial buckle in his hand.
"Understood."
Down below, Wang Tianwei tried to fling out her grappling hook to snag Zhang Lyra, but the rope was whipped all over by the air currents and couldn't reach directly beneath her.
"Damn! Second time!"
Next time, she'd have to switch rope materials!
Wang Tianwei was both furious and scheming, and the others were doing the same.
Huang Yan forced her psychic power to straighten her rope and lowered it in front of Jian Jingyu. He Siyu immediately copied the method.
Wang Tianwei wanted to do the same, but her psychic power just couldn't bridge two rank levels to physically affect external objects...
She looked up again—the avalanche was nearly upon them, and Little Bear was still down there!
Wait... Can't do it directly? Then what about using a carrier?
Zhang Lyra's stamina was nearly depleted. She checked that her mech's oxygen generator was still running and ran in the opposite direction while scanning her surroundings.
In her mind, she seriously considered: if her super S-rank mech switched to defense mode and hunkered down on the spot, could it withstand the avalanche's impact?
Pressure of over ten thousand tons... That was a stretch.
But soon she saw a hooked rope extending right in front of her. It was Sister Zebra! She quickly reached out and grabbed it.
Got it!
Wang Tianwei manipulated her mech, rising higher while wobbling through the heavy winds and air pressure, trying to get out of the area.
Zhang Lyra looked up again and saw that the rope was covered in a layer of black metal—it was liquid gold!
Sister Zebra had used the liquid gold to force the rope to stay vertical just now.
"Heh. Impressive."
Once out of the high-pressure turbulence zone, Zhang Lyra could finally reconfigure her mech and take flight. Even then, the strong winds kept their controls shaky.
"Always finding a way, that's you. Thanks, Sister Zebra!"
"Just standard procedure."
Wang Tianwei was secretly proud too. Thinking on her feet in an emergency—she really was a clever one!
Huang Yan's voice came through the squad comms channel.
"Everyone okay? Little Bear made it up too?"
"All good. We're all here."
"Good. My psychic power is about to give out. While they're still catching their bearings, let's pull back."
"You got it!"
"Roger!"
