Chapter 229: Thorn

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The mech was the same humanoid model in dark metallic glow, of a balanced proportion coated with thorns which rose tidily of different lengths, in a threatening appearance all over its body, from head, shoulders, elbows to even the thighs. Although the spikes were different in lengths, all of them were perfectly sharp. And Ye Chong could not help but notice the fact that the fists were not plain dark like the Black Covers' usual units, rather, those were of a dim gold.

A Black Coves model painted in a color other than black itself? The addition was more than alarming to Ye Chong.

"Warning, Ye. This should be from the heart of the Black Coves, the real war machinery units, the high ranked model. The name of this model should be ‘Thorn’, if my information was not wrong that is. Mhm, so, be careful, the real warring pilot from the Black Coves would be exactly the real deal itself. Jajaja, well, compared to you that is. If I was the one standing in your place, those were just starters for me. Hah! Ye, may you have an enjoyable fight," the distorted mechanical laughed then rang inside Ye Chong’s head. And Ye Chong almost had the urge to strangle that artificial indulgence with the arms of Han Jia.

Certainly, under Photon Mode visualization, Han Jia was no longer undetected. It was a miracle though, for the mech to be detected only after being this close to the Black Covers. Most of the survivors under the attack of the Beauty’s Secretion were gasping in slight fear.

"Leave this guy to me," stated Thorn. "The rest of you will take the warship."

"Yes sir!" The remaining mechs blasted towards the sluggish warship.

Thorn, took a look at the strange mech before him, and was a little shocked, as he realized this was the skeleton mech his heads had been searching for and he could confidently confirm that he was not wrong on his judgement. The fact was, technically no pilot who had undergone systematic training from the Black Coves would fail to recognize the skeleton mech being what the authority desired. And Thorn was the elite from the inside, he was more than well-informed on it.

Skeleton mech had always been something from the myth. Its design approach had been long raised by people, which however sadly nothing new had ever been discovered other than the words of mouth. And there Thorn was, having a clear sight on an actual skeleton mech hovering before him. The Black Coves research unit had been striving to at least grab the gist of its formation, even though the outcome had always been demotivating.

According to the news he had heard, in the 5 major galaxies, the current skeleton mech artisan the humanity could ever have would be the pilot sitting right inside it right now. And Thorn remembered there were also several commands going on in regards of the skeleton pilot himself… What a complicated individual… Thorn thought.

Whoever he was, the skeleton artisan pilot and the skeleton mech itself would be his first priority!

Coincidentally, Ye Chong who remained in the silence before storm was also taking a good look at his foe. Thorn, the warring unit gave a strong resemblance to a porcupine, which one could say to be "thorny" to handle sometimes. Fortunately Han Jia was pretty armed, Ye Chong could not imagine which part of Thorn to strike if he were barehanded.

!? What?

The dark humanoid vanished. Ye Chong was astonished by the vanishment of the foe!

That speed! Ye Chong flinched!

Han Jia twisted its body and took a peculiar turn. Panicked, it shifted to the position where the foe was standing formerly.

Klink! Klank! Klink!

There were a few streams of cold light flashing at where Ye Chong stood before. Ye Chong shuddered, as seeing the foe attempted to raid where he was before. He was really glad he moved his mech away before the rapid slashes happened. The foe was fast, very fast, probably as fast as Han Jia. It could be a close race if they were to have a competition. Mach 8 to 9 was actually this horrifying… now Ye Chong could understand how the foes he faced usually felt when he moved in Han JIa.

And Thorn, menacingly was excited. As expected from a skeleton mech, you never failed surprise me… Complimented Thorn in his mind, as contrary to his belief, he discovered the speed of Han Jia being slightly faster than his. My Thorn is known as the fastest among the core units in the Black Coves. And never once I would see such capability from a mech. No wonder the authority have been wanting the skeleton mech so much.

Towards the momentum of Han JIa, Thorn was not afraid, not even the slightest bit. The capability of a mech was merely an aspect, one of the factors to be taken into consideration. The skills still matter, since a battle between mechs eventually would just boil down to a raw fight between men. I would have better chance to win if that is the case. Hah, I'll have you, skeleton pilot, and your mount.

Gasp...

Ye Chong was a little overwhelmed. Judging by that quick combination of slashes the foe delivered, Thorn had rose to be the strongest foe Ye Chong had met so far.

A battle was brewing. The blood was boiling. The slight excitement tinted that pool of calmness in Ye Chong's head.

Since thorn had no other weapon, Ye Chong’s obvious option would be to have a close-combat with him, even if the Black Covers were known for their superior hand-to-hand tactics and they were truly the expert in this indeed. No doubt, close-combats were the bread and butter of Ye Chong’s fighting record. His alternate identity, YC was also known as the representative figure of mech combats on the Virtual World, or one could say, the mech combats itself.

One lift of the arm… Zoom!

Wise people think alike… or perhaps fools never differ. The moment one lifted the arm, both mechs were triggered.

The daggers were already in both hands of Han Jia as Han Jia raised a stack of afterimages all over the foe, with one right onto the throat, the other slicing towards the heart of Thorn!

The two slashes from Han Jia were dismantled as Thorn stormed itself with a veil of afterimages as well, as it performed a quick hold on Han Jia's incoming cut. Ye Chong was amazed. Even under such insane speed, he managed to maintain his accuracy in both movements and eyes while taking the right action at the right time! It was pain for this potent person to be his foe.

The two mechs then collided into each other. A swirling hurricane was formed between the arms and the blades. One could not tell what was happening as one could only see a rambling mixture of two silhouettes and thousand stacks of afterimages. If any lucky audience happened to there and recorded this to be uploaded to the Virtual World, one could imagine how much replies would be flooding the forum board.

The exchange was rapid, filled with various touch-and-gos, as both parties wielded the same clean-cut style. No conspicuous movement, no flashy bomb and array, just the traditional cuts and blows, where every part of a mech could be a weapon itself. And the fight was epic, as the two mechs were fighting in the closest range possible.

Ye Chong in Han Jia did not even have the time to blink his eyes. The situation was so intense that a slip on the finger could have costed his life.

Thorn on the other side was also all eyes and all ears on the ticking control panel. Being a warring pilot, his experience and techniques were not something Ye Chong could even mimic on spot, although he had yet discovered a way to finish the foe directly, which was perplexing as the fight went on unexpectedly.

What a strange foe… his movements were highly complicated. Not only there were a few standard movements from the mainstream fighting methodology among the five galaxies pilots, there were also some sort of evolved gestures from a kind of martial arts which I could not really tell its exact identity, the techniques involved were too strange for me to identify. And there was also a hint of fundamental moves from our group. Thorn could feel the stress, despite the fact that those movements the foe made were merely the basics of everything. He simply did not reckon sequencing the basic movements could be this potent.

The basics could be rapid. The basics could be this interchangeable. It felt like an epic score formed with the most basic linguistic units one could image. The movements were the stacks of the foe’s shadow. The movements were unpredictable. Commented Thorn.

Ye Chong, in his Han Jia, handling this nuisance of darkness, was not feeling easy either. The stress was something really new to his sensation. This was the first time he came across such skillful fighter after he incorporated the techniques he learned from Lan Yixing’s microchip into his combats.

This Thorn launched his attack really rapidly, even though his model was reacting slower than mine. The timing and landing of each of his moves are impeccable, where he mainly revolves about the use of his own thorns. What a headache… The thorns are so much tougher than I thought, my Han Jia would need three downward slashes to cut one particular spot through while I am required to dodge all his moves at the same time…

If it was not Lan Yixing’s techniques I would have lost right away…

The techniques… the foe’s techniques, they should be of a certain kind of style. Too many of his movements are the anomaly to my senses, I could n… Hold it!

Ye Chong remembered Instructor Hak once mentioned about a kind of martial arts technique from the ancient.

It was a very intense fight as both parties did not seem to be losing anytime.

"Fight for the Black Coves!"

"Yeah!"

Meanwhile, 20 mechs or so from the Black Coves were heading towards the Coxcomb. Their fate was a sad story.

The broken ship did not seem to be reacting anytime soon. Did we really break it just now?

That was what they assumed being the witnesses of this warship getting bombarded by their mates countless times. They had faith in their own weaponry.

The folks on the Coxcomb could not even rest their breaths, as seeing the dark enemies approaching on the projection while having no mech to protect them! The Coxcomb was merely a spaceship to be wrecked!

"All hail the Black Coves!"

"We shall take over the ship! And teach them who rules the galaxies!"

As they felt victory approaching, something occured. Their expressions changed.

Tick! Tick tick tick tick tick!

The Coxcomb suddenly rolled out a hefty amount of laser firing units. The number was innumerable, as if the warship was the factory of the firing units itself. The Black Covers zoned out for a second, probably they never expected a warship to have firing units this many installed, considering the amount of batteries would be needed to run the show.

Zzzt!

Before they realized, they were already surrounded by a laser web. The laser web? That was something new to the trained pilots, then the supplementary bombs came showering upon them.

The extreme firepower of the Coxcomb was a shocker to Fid and Claudia when they were restoring the order of their fleet.

Folks would never understand the power of electromagnetic cannons, to them it would be just a stream of blue light, that would be it. But unlike the electromagnetic firing, the laser beam coming off like a spectrum shower turned out to be more stunning to them.

The crowding fleet held their engines for a considerable amount of time. The crew members were dumbfounded.

The Black Covers? No one liked being a fish in the net and they were experiencing it. They had been rather disdained towards these normal laser beams, as the beams would feel like a pump of water on their armor. Laser beams this dense however, were an eye-opener to them, a soul-taker.

Laser firing units like this could fire about 20 beams of laser per second. And the units on the Coxcomb, contrary to the tradition, were making the pilots losing their mind as they tried counting the number.

It was a depressing discovery by the Black Covers that these beams were not blind-shot after all, they were more accurate than their own snipers. No matter how sturdy their armors were, when hundreds of beams aiming one single mech, it would only lead to an explosion, nothing else. The addition bombs scattered in the space also had also weakened their mechs before they realized.

The glow of 20 mechs exploding had illuminated the space again. The laser web vanished the very second when people were blinking their eyes in blank dismay, as if the Coxcomb withdrew its fangs like the beast returning to its tamed self after a feast.

The contrast was beyond their comprehension.

...

Ah!

Thorn seemed to have noticed something but … but he was not in the mood to take a look around. His screen, his eyes were all on that skeleton mech before him. Sweats were stuck at his fringe, as his ruffled hair went standing like the bushes on a globe. His body was soaked wet. The stress over the time… it was pushing him to the limits. His hands felt fatigued since it was consuming to maintain such amount of APM even for a strong man like him.

But he would not… he would never have a break. The dark twin daggers from the foe were like twinning serpents, aiming their prey and frantically they attacked. He knew if he were to hold back a little, within that brief second, the twin daggers would get beyond his defense. Not only the daggers, the shield was also a danger to look out for. The shield was similar to those mechs of the Black Coves, having sharp edges.

Pant… Pant…

Ye Chong’s breathing became heavier, although he maintained the greatest hand speed he could imagine. The movements he carried out were highly complicated, the controls were not simple and were obviously more than a tap and slide. It was the first time Ye Chong maintained the maximum speed for such a long time.

Han Jia held the incoming punches with its daggers. The thorns of the dim yellow fist were a wonder, a mystery of they material, for they were unhurt by the edges of the dagger despite all the slashes and slams.

Right when Thorn’s punches were held, he made a thrashing knock with the elbow, the thorns were glowing cold. Ye Chong in his Han Jia believed that his armor could not take the sharp thorn so he backed off like a breeze, trying to dodge.

The few thorns over the elbow were then disengaged and began propelling towards Han Jia. Hah! Thorn was confident that with this twist carried out at such a distance, the foe could never see this coming! These thorns would deal great amount of damage, they would at least inflict something on the foe’s mech even if they could not penetrate the armor.

To experts like the Black Covers warring pilots, one simple plot twist was more than enough to turn the tide.

Klink! Thup thup thup thup!

Han Jia blocked the thorns with its shield. Ye Chong had seen this coming ever since the time when he saw Thorn ruptured the Beauty’s Secretion with its spikes moments ago. The spikes were absolutely something to watch out for, since it was able to shatter Beauty’s Secretion enveloped in skeleton shells.

Ye Chong then felt the delay in movements of the foe, even though he had no idea why, he changed his battle approach anyway, as Han Jia started weaving in different directions frequently, which were disrupting Thorn’s senses. Han Jia’s speed was superior from the beginning so it was a torturing act for Ye Chong to abuse it against Thorn.

Thorn could feel his hands getting spasm soon. His fingers danced madly on the control panel. Man I never knew this skeleton prick could be this sustainable in battle.

Absolutely, no one would know Ye Chong’s inhuman vitality till one tasted it, while his APM was the result of Mu’s continuous training. The marble trainings were once a hell for Ye Chong. Getting spasms was something usual for Ye Chong who underwent the intensive training courses daily. No man would be aware of the torment Ye Chong had undergone in order to get specs like these.

Frankly speaking, from the aspect of techniques, Ye Chong was clearly inferior compared to the experienced foe. Vitality-wise for long-term battle would be a different story. Ye Chong was only exhaling louder than usual, which mostly was due to the brewing excitement inside him.

Ye Chong had long understood the importance of high APM in mech piloting, although not all inputs were effective execution. To a mech processor, its effective input-execution would be limited to a certain amount of figure, which once your APM had overtaken the figure, it would be a mere waste of stamina as you accelerate further while most of your inputs would be neglected.

And to avoid that, Ye Chong had been trying to minimize the amount of inputs to execute a specific action. And his attempt had been proven to be effective in the battle today. If he were to face Thorn in the past, he would be inputting much more commands and probably be drained dead in the end.

The following attacks of Thorn remained its ferocity, although the execution was not as seamless as before. Ye Chong could tell the lethargy within, but the intenseness of the battle had grown beyond their imagination.

Thorn, as his fingers moved on, had never seen a man being able to last this long in a close-combat before. It was then he noticed his weakness being his vitality. Under normal circumstance most players would be knocked out with those sinister tricks of his. But he met the wrong opponent today, as the foe seemed to be well-aware of all kinds of dirty tricks as well.

A sudden urge rose in him to back off and forfeit the battle, as he knew that he would surely lose if he persisted. The skeleton pilot had known most of his moves after exchanging for so long and did not seem to be giving up anytime soon.

Like seriously if there was one moment his hand twitched, he would be stabbed right to his fatality with those daggers.

"Ye, retreat. The remaining 5 warships are heading towards us." Shang’s voice sounded a little agitated.

Ye Chong had a shock. He looked at Thorn who jumped away, taking a turn and was running away.

Tink! A fine blue lining zapped through Thorn’s body.

Ye Chong could see the blue beam penetrating the armor of Thorn and zapping further into the endless space.

"You are welcomed."

The voice rang proud in his head as Ye Chong turned back and saw Shang waving his weapon of vanity behind the ajar gate.

"Why can’t he be the expert in style…" muttered Ye Chong, who zoomed towards the Coxcomb without style…

Well. You would do the same.

If 5 warships were behind you.