Chapter 258 - Wolf in Rabbit Skin

Qin Fen’s impatient voice from the Red Lotus Phantom echoed in the spacious arena field.

Originally, it just sounded like an impatient urging, but when in entered everyone’s ears, there was an indescribable arrogance, hegemony, and rampancy.

At this time, the five meters tall Red Lotus Phantom seemed incomparably tall to everyone. It was as if it was taller than the Galaxy Steel Spirit and was filled with a mighty prestige.

The European recruits were still reeling in from the shock created by the Jungle Ranger’s outstanding maneuvers. As such, when several people looked at the comrade-in-arms standing by their side, they could see the intention to collaborate in each other’s eyes.

As everyone was a mobile armor pilot, their understanding of mobile armor’s combat mode was far from that of ordinary recruits.

As the main force of the air defense force and ground troops, new mobile armor tactics and combat skills would be introduced every year.

However, as far as the mobile armor pilots were concerned, whether it was new tactics or combat skills, the most important thing was still the mobile armor maneuvers.

In the face of the air superiority of aircraft, maneuvers to dodge the air-to-surface missiles from the opposite side was of vital importance.

In the face of grounded mobile armor, as well as anti-mobile armor artillery operated by a single soldier, the speed of maneuvers was extremely demanding for the driver.

The normal output of the drive furnace was also limited. For a very long time, mobile armor pilots were having a headache from this limitation.

Until one day, a mobile armor pilot, who used to be computer hardware enthusiast, invented a way to exceed the limit of the drive furnace output, which was quite similar to the overclocking of the computer’s CPU.

Compared to the overclocking of the CPU, the overclocking output power of the drive furnace was far more dangerous. Just a single mistake would cause the drive furnace to run out of control and cause the drive furnace to self-destruct.

The explosion of drive furnace due to overclocking had happened more than once in the battle. Similar explosions of drive furnace from overclocking have also occurred even when one was an ace mobile armor pilot.

The overclocking of drive furnace had always been regarded as an extreme way of fighting for mobile armor pilots — it was akin to walking on a tightrope. No one was willing to touch such a minefield if it wasn’t necessary.

Of course, mobile armor enthusiasts often liked to intrude upon this minefield.

Even if the mobile armor pilots didn’t have enough qualifications to become ace pilots, it was of the most basic skill set to see whether he or she could do a certain level of drive furnace overclocking.

Even more, when the mobile armor pilots compete in strength, they would choose the same model with exactly the same performance parameters as the mobile armor to fight to make it fair.

As the matter stood, it could often be seen that whoever could overclock his or her drive furnace better was truly the strongest.

In the past, in the fight with the same Galaxy Steel Spirit, Guss had easily defeated the Galaxy Steel Spirit with the same type drive furnace that was running at a normal output of a hundred percent by just overclocking his drive furnace to a hundred and sixty-five percent.

All European recruits had the ability to overclock their drive furnace to a certain level. As such, they were far more aware of how dangerous it was for Qin Fen to overload the drive furnace to that level, as well as Qin Fen’s true strength compared to East Asian recruits.

Overloading the drive furnace to three hundred percent!?

Several European recruits had migraines when they thought of the data that might have just appeared. Any ordinary ace mobile armor pilot would not be able to do it. In an estimate, no more than five hundred experts with such level could be found among all the mobile armor pilots in the entire Federation, including other planets.

If there was an age limit in the estimation, an age limit among the East Asian recruits present before them… the European recruits suddenly understood one thing…

The East Asian recruit operating the Red Lotus Phantom before their eyes possessed enough strength to be called the number one mobile armor pilot among the Federation recruits!

The battle between mobile armors was totally different from the melee fight among humans.

Humans had their own strengths: some were powerful and some were weak. A high-rank martial artist could easily sweep a large number of low-rank martial artists.

In contrast, the fights between mobile armor were different. After all, all the models of the machine were placed here. The performance they could display did not differ much from what everyone knew. Rarely a chance would present itself where a single mobile armor could sweep through a group of mobile armors.

However, today!

The European recruits were perfectly clear that a mobile armor battle that could rarely be seen was truly going to happen! The East Asian recruit before their eyes was no longer piloting the weaker Jungle Ranger but rather a relatively stronger model, the Red Lotus Phantom.

“Jungle Ranger, according to the official data, has an overclocking limit with its drive furnace of three hundred percent.”

“Red Lotus Phantom, according to the official data, has an overclocking limit with its drive furnace of three hundred and fifty-six percent.”

As several recruits quickly calculated the difference in the strength of both sides, the solemn look on their faces gradually relaxed. Someone even pursed the corner of their lips into a smug smile. Six against one, and not to mention, it’s just a Red Lotus Phantom. We should not lose!

Some times, a mobile armor battle was also a battle of data! Even if the Red Lotus Phantom pilot can go against heaven and overclock its drive furnace to three hundred and fifty-six percent, his chances of winning is no more than three point two seven percent.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry up, will you?” Qin Fen urged, once more.

The six European recruits glanced at each other before nodding vigorously at the same time. In each other’s eyes, they could clearly see that they absolutely had no intention to fight this recruit alone and also, a determination to make sure that Qin Fen was devoid of the opportunity to participate in tomorrow’s mobile armor tournament.

Otherwise, this only remaining Red Lotus Phantom of East Asia Military Region would create a mythical record in the mobile armor recruit tournament.

A single mobile armor successively defeating all other mobile armors!

Today, the East Asian recruits had already created a mythical record in the recruit tournament. They absolutely could not allow them to create another record!

As a result, the six mobile armor pilots decisively made their way into their respective armor with large strides.

Under the moonlight, the six white-skinned mobile armor pilots had a red glow on their faces.

Six against one! Even if their skin was thick, even if the reason was sufficient, they all knew what it was like to feel like two cents.

If it was kept private, everyone would rather be defeated than do such a shameful thing. Only this was related to the face of the entire European Military.

In just one day, the European Military Region had already lost twice to the East Asia Military Region. Furthermore, it was in two ace events of the European Military Region. Had they lost to the tyrant king American Military Region, it would have been nothing. However, they had lost to the East Asia Military Region which had not done so well in the past.

How could they still continue to lose this face!?

The moment the six European stepped into their respective mobile armor cockpits, the East Asian recruits suddenly noticed a solemn and stirring aura from their backs.

Six against one and also with such a moving and tragic atmosphere! East Asian recruits began to worry about Qin Fen. At the same time, they were secretly regretting the fact that they should not have used the most powerful Thunderburst in advance.

If they had the Thunderburst, their odds would have improved a lot!

Buzz… buzz… buzz…

In the next moment, the noise of mobile armors starting up echoed through the field. The six mobile armors of varying sizes didn’t spread out and surround Qin Fen’s Red Lotus Phantom, but rather, they vigilantly gathered around before approaching Qin Fen bit by bit.

Encirclement!? The European recruits were perfectly clear that it would be tantamount to giving the Red Lotus Phantom a chance to break through.

One-on-one!? Having just watched the Jungle Ranger ravage the Galaxy Steel Soul, none of the six were feeling any confidence. In the battle, they were planning on supporting their companions and rescuing anyone at moment notice.

There was too big of a gap between the battle strength of both sides. The opponent the European recruits were facing was a seasoned soldier that had gone through a hundred battles rather than an innocent recruit whose military service was shorter than them.

“Fight!”

As the synthetic voice sounded once more, the six mobile armor didn’t immediately take off to attack but rather opened all the muzzles, barrels, and missiles at first notice!

If they could fire their weapon instantaneously, these six mobile armors would not be parsimonious at all. They collectively started shooting, holding no bars!

If such a scene was seen by a military enthusiast who had no idea what had happened before, he or she would think that two mobile armor squads were having a collective match or that they had encountered the air strike of an ace air force pilot.

They were left with no choice. In the earlier battle, that scene of the little white hare biting the lion to death had truly terrified the European recruits. They were so terrified that they didn’t dare make light of the enemy. More importantly, fighting this Red Lotus Phantom was equivalent to confronting a medium-sized cosmic warship.

The European recruits were rather fast. Just as the signal to commence the battle rang, the quiet arena was immediately abustle and astir. A criss-cross net of fire composed of high explosive shells and large caliber rounds formed a blockade line to prevent the Red Lotus Phantom from breaking through again and arriving by their side.

Even if the pilot of Red Lotus Phantom could truly go against heaven and overclock its drive furnace to the three hundred and sixty-five percent limit, it would still be highly improbable for him safely breakthrough the criss-cross blockade net created by the firepower of the six mobile armors.

Even before the missiles of the six mobile armors could lock on to the Red Lotus Phantom, the launch button had already been pressed to the limit.

As a European recruit qualified to enter the “Crusade”, they were perfectly aware that they didn’t have the ability to lock on to the opponent who could overclock to three hundred percent.

Choosing to lock on would be tantamount to bringing disgrace upon themselves. The opponent had the superb strength to end the fight even before the missiles could lock on to him. If they didn’t lock on to him and launch the missiles relying on their instincts and luck, the outcome would be far better than if they chose to lock on to Qin Fen.

A mobile armor pilot couldn’t just rely on high-tech instruments, the final direction of a battle could often be determined by the pilot’s intuition as well.

For a moment, blazing firestorms, resplendent lights, and deafening explosions covered the entire arena, for the fear that they couldn’t completely scrap the Red Lotus Phantom.

“Fight!”

The moment the signal to start the fight resounded, a sharp gleam shot out from Qin Fen’s eyes as the blood in his body started seething. One against six. Moreover, while he was using the Red Lotus Phantom, the opponent still had a Thunderburst.

Drive furnace overload, four hundred and seventy-seven percent! Red Lotus Phantom’s Phantom Dance Steps activated, carrying out the ultimate shuttle sprint! Red Lotus Burst Rounds selected, targeting Thunderburst’s head!