Chapter 229: Thorn (1/2)

Chapter 229: Thorn

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: 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!