Escape (Third Update)

A gigantic purple humanoid figure dozens of meters tall floated in the air, with no wings and no thrusters.

It stood as though atop empty space!

Like a demon god.

The sight deeply shocked everyone around it. Whether they were natives of this world or Reincarnators, none of them could comprehend the existence of such a thing.

Compared to that purple figure, the mechs were as insignificant as ordinary people standing beside mechs.

Inside the cockpit, the Wings of Freedom captain, caught in one hand, wore a crazed expression.

He kept yanking the controls, but the mech in that giant grip did not move an inch. It was clamped tightly in place, and even pulling the emergency escape system proved utterly useless.

Why was this happening?

Why was this happening?!

His mech had clearly been destroyed. He was clearly supposed to become the stepping stone for his rise.

He was clearly supposed to become the reward that would send him to the peak of life!

Why were you doing this to me?!

Cheating! This had to be cheating! Damn Mission Space, wasn’t this supposed to be a Mission Space capped at the level of official Reincarnators?

Even if advanced Reincarnators entered, they would be restricted to the level they had possessed when they were official Reincarnators.

Even with a mech as leverage, this should have been impossible. This was not the power of an official Reincarnator at all!

Yet the cockpit, which kept blaring red alerts and gradually crumpling under pressure, gave him no more time to think.

The entire mech was held in that giant hand, then ground into scraps along with its pilot…

Among the Coalition Forces, Xu Yue’s Wood Clone, posing as a Guardian Knight, naturally abandoned the Reincarnator squad and mingled directly with the upper command’s main force.

Watching his original body charge into the Reincarnator ranks and reveal Susanoo after losing its mech, the Wood Clone wore a strange expression.

In terms of enhancement direction, perhaps his original body still lacked the ability to directly confront major bosses. But when it came to dealing with cannon fodder, he had far too many options.

Still, with so much cannon fodder—and all of them in mechs—cleaning them up consumed quite a bit of energy and stamina.

Had something happened just now, resulting in the destruction of the mech, which had offered the best value for effort?

It seemed…

It was about time to exchange memories…

Connecting to the bridge of Cornelia’s command mothership.

"Governor, I request permission to sortie."

After personally witnessing the miserable death of the First Knight, Luciano, the Ninth Knight—known as the Empire’s vampire for taking pleasure in torturing others to death—felt no fear whatsoever. Instead, his entire body trembled with excitement.

"That’s it! As long as I defeat this thing, I’ll become the First Knight! Hahaha!"

Laughing maniacally, he piloted his custom mech straight toward the target.

Along the way, he executed a dazzling series of evasive maneuvers.

The enemy was indeed powerful, and its speed was astonishingly fast, but it was not without weaknesses!

Luciano might have been insane, but he possessed the military discipline that had earned him the position of Ninth Knight.

That purple mech was cutting down the vanguard’s mechs almost one at a time, but its kill rate still could not keep up with the battle loss gap between the two armies.

Even if it kept killing endlessly, their side would still win in the end!

All he needed to do was wait while it slaughtered those cannon fodder, find the best possible opening, the most suitable moment, and launch a fatal strike.

Once the enemy realized that no amount of killing could change the course of the battle, it would surely expose an opening.

But just as he thought this, he saw the enemy forcibly endure a saturated barrage and kill the captain of that mercenary-like squad.

What he found most incomprehensible was that after the mech, which had originally seemed relatively "normal," shattered apart, an even stranger and far larger mech emerged from within it!

He could not understand what kind of technology this was!

For a moment, he remained where he was, utterly bewildered.

"Sir Luciano, I’ll coordinate with you!"

At that moment, a transmission came through his channel. Luciano saw that it was a modified aerial Sunderland mech. Its weapon loadout seemed high-end, so its pilot should have been a knight of some standing.

In the blink of an eye, the other mech weaved through the battlefield and arrived beside him.

That speed and control were absolutely at the level of a Round Table Knight!

Luciano was somewhat surprised. An unknown nobody actually possessed such skill?

"I am a knight under Princess Cornelia. I have some experience in mech control and entanglement. This enemy is extremely powerful—even the First Knight has fallen. Only you can stop him now, Sir Luciano!"

Xu Yue’s Wood Clone spoke through the comms, leaving Luciano quite satisfied. This kid had good judgment.

"From my observations, this thing was incredibly fast in its previous form. But after becoming so huge and cumbersome, it seems to have retained only the ability to float. Look, it hasn’t moved much at all. I’ll draw its blade first, and while it attacks me, Sir Luciano can strike its back."

Xu Yue spoke with righteous conviction. As a Wood Clone, he naturally understood the current shortcomings of his original body’s Susanoo best. Moreover, this weakness would be easy to deduce through careful observation, so there was no need to hide it!

Relying solely on the Rinnegan’s innate repulsive levitation, its speed truly could not compare to a mech’s!

After the Wood Clone finished speaking, even Luciano, the hot-tempered Imperial vampire, felt an inexplicable trace of emotion stir within him.

Drawing that thing’s blade! That was the attack that had killed even the First Knight.

And this man was willing to go so far for victory, for the Empire?!

A gleam of determination flashed through his eyes.

"Good! I will not waste the opportunity you create. Prepare yourself!"

After Susanoo crushed the mech of the last temporary Reincarnator commander in its hand, it coldly swept its gaze across the surroundings.

"W-what is that thing?!"

"How is that possible?!"

"Wasn’t his mech already destroyed?"

"Those three were the strongest among us! They were dealt with so easily?"

"Other than that Beiyang guy, the rest couldn’t even block a single move!"

"H-Hey, is that thing really our enemy?"

"…"

The Reincarnator force had only been assembled temporarily to begin with. In an instant, it showed signs of falling apart, as they seemed to regroup according to their original small squads.

Their so-called alliance suffered a devastating blow in an instant.

"These mechs really can’t be underestimated."

Although he had already cut down more than twenty mechs, Xu Yue realized that, considering the enemy’s numbers, his role on the battlefield alone might truly be insufficient to turn the tide.

The mechs themselves had excellent basic defenses. Against a single mech, he could stick Explosive Tags onto key areas, but with so many of them, he would definitely have no chance to perform such cumbersome operations.

And to kill them in one blow required far too much. Ninjutsu at the level of a Great Fireball had no effect at all.

Sage Mode did not last long enough, while the Wood Realm lacked anti-air capability.

He could have continued stalling using the most efficient and least taxing method from before.

But in order to silence them before they made any revealing moves, he had damaged the mech and used Susanoo ahead of time, which was somewhat troublesome.

With the Eternal Mangekyo, using Susanoo meant he did not need to care too much about the backlash Susanoo inflicted on his body, but the consumption was still there.

The Chakra recovery speed of a perfected Sage Body was terrifying enough, and his current Chakra reserves were already considerable. But the fourth form’s immense consumption meant he could not use it without restraint.

On the other side, after their initial shock and fear, the Reincarnators began to regroup into their former scattered squads, barely restoring a little order.

Judging from its size alone, they could tell how terrifying that thing was.

Whoever went first would die first!

But how could they abandon a mission like this? How could they give up?!

"Everyone, use long-range attacks to probe it first! It’s so big, it definitely won’t be able to dodge easily."

"No, we should lure the natives into besieging it first. We shouldn’t be the ones to go first."

"…"

Having lost unified command, this hastily assembled force fell into chaotic leadership, but the overall tendency still leaned toward attacking and desperately securing the mission.

Quite a few mechs opened fire from afar, bombarding Susanoo.

Yet Susanoo absorbed the entire barrage head-on!

Although its surface rippled and sustained damage under the high-energy explosions from the mech weapons, it was quickly repaired and restored.

Inside Susanoo, Xu Yue watched the purple radiance around him tremble and felt the intense vibrations. He knew that if he truly continued facing attacks of such intensity, he would not be able to hold out for long.

Mech attacks were absolutely not the upper limit of what official Reincarnators could unleash. The fact that he could withstand one wave was due to Susanoo’s formidable defense and its subsequent restoration.

That was without a coordinated assault. Otherwise, he would last even less time. He could not drag this out any longer.

Once mechs formed a sizable force, their group lethality truly far exceeded their own overall evaluation level.

"The Reincarnators’ leaders are easy to find—they stand out like light bulbs. But I have no idea which ship holds the Coalition Forces commander of this army. At my current speed, it’s not convenient to rush through every ship…"

With a raised hand, Xu Yue cleaved apart a mech that had rashly approached point-blank. Then, looking at an aerial Sunderland weaving in a serpentine path as it rapidly closed in on him, a smile appeared on his face.

"As expected of a clone with the same thought process as me. It knows exactly what I need right now…"

That incoming Sunderland surpassed the previous Reincarnators’ mechs in every respect.

Its movements had completely reached, perhaps even exceeded, the Sunderland’s limits. It was overclocking at the cost of drastically reducing the mech’s service life.

Facing those tricky movements, Xu Yue maintained Susanoo’s slashing speed and swung at it.

Yet every strike missed by a hair’s breadth, displaying the opponent’s exquisite operating skill.

This scene greatly encouraged the flagship command room, which had been paying close attention to the battle.

That purple "mech" was the greatest uncertainty on the battlefield.

The destruction it could cause might have been limited, but the blow it dealt to morale and the impact it created were far too terrible.

Now, this was the first mech capable of holding out before it!

The Prince and the other staff officers all appeared highly satisfied.

Most commanders aboard the other vessels felt the same.

They had not expected such a brave, selfless warrior, so willing to devote himself to the Empire.

He absolutely had to be richly rewarded!

Only Cornelia, aboard her mothership, fiercely struck the table. She inwardly complained that Xu Yue was being far too reckless. He had actually taken the initiative to lure in such an opponent—was he not tired of living?

A trace of worry also appeared on her face. Had she known he was going to confront that bizarre mech, she would never have approved it.

Yet at that very moment, thick smoke suddenly erupted from the aerial Sunderland’s engine. The overclocking had caused a malfunction, and in the next instant, the sword light that could destroy everything swept across it. The mech shattered into fragments and fell toward the ground…

Luciano, who had been painstakingly searching for an opportunity, finally unleashed his killing blow. The spear in his hand, constantly spiraling like a drill, shot toward the back of the purple "mech."

It was the strongest weapon on his mech, and one of the Empire’s foremost weapons in penetrating power. As long as he found an opening, it could kill in a single strike!

It hit!

The spiraling Knight’s Lance plunged directly into that purple "mech."

Then, after the purple mech flickered for a moment, it shattered with a roar. A human figure fell toward the ground…

As the fierce wind howled past his ears, Xu Yue fell freely and released the seal in his hand. After receiving his clone’s memories, a strange smile appeared on his face.

It was about time to wrap things up…

The third update is complete! Please support me in every way, subscribe, and sponsor me~

Sigh, now that my stomach is feeling better, I suddenly want spicy food again. Someone stop me, ahhh…