The most gruesome fight of this mission finally began in the skies around this area. In order to make sure the Hailiyan mecha operators did not get past them and chase after Ling Lan's group of four, everyone in team 03 put all of their efforts into holding back their opponents. After being unable to break through team 03's human barricade, Hailiya's forces knew that if they didn't completely defeat team 03 who blocked their way, they wouldn't be able to chase after those Federation mechas that had escaped. Thus, they set up their positions and began surrounding team 03.
Qi Long and the others who were flying quickly towards the base, suddenly heard loud explosions coming from behind them not long after they had left. They felt their hearts tremble in that instant. However, instead of slowing down they decisively put their engine into full throttle, causing their mechas to instantly break through the lightspeed barrier as it moved like lightning towards Hailiya's first line of defence, while doing so, they didn't dare and couldn't look back. Their comrades were willing to sacrifice themselves to delay the enemy from chasing them just to increase the chance of them surviving. They definitely couldn't waste their sacrifice on reminiscing the past.
Sun Yaofei saw his team members self-destruct one by one and his eyes began to redden. However, he couldn't order them to retreat because the time they gave Ling Lan and Qi Long to escape was not long enough…
"Hold them back for three more minutes…" Sun Yaofei encouraged his team members again, even though he knew that after three minutes, none of them might even survive. However, he still told everyone to stand their ground. That was because the more time they could hold on, the higher the chances of Ling Lan and Qi Long escaping…
They were originally trash and useless. Even though they were reborn, they still missed out on the peak times of being a successful mecha operator, but they had no regrets. However, their regiment commander and team leader were still growing day by day with immeasurable futures ahead of them. Even if all of team 03 members' lives were used to exchange for their futures, it was worth it. Sun Yaofei thought this way and those from team 03 thought this way too. This was why they were willing to die and self-destruct to not let Hailiya's forces get past them even by one step.
In a battle where death was imminent, some of the mecha operators managed to break through their limits in this life-or-death situation. Their mecha piloting skills suddenly climbed to new heights which allowed them to hold the fort for three more minutes.
Seeing the radar indicating that there were more and more enemy mechas coming their way, Sun Yaofei knew that this was their limit. If they continued to stay here, no matter how many people they had, they still wouldn't be able to hold off the overwhelming number of enemy forces.
"Retreat!"
Sun Yaofei gave an order as he slashed away the two mechas who were surrounding him with his large sword. He then put the mecha's engine on full throttle and began to retreat quickly!
There were only three others who successfully got away from the enemy forces with Sun Yaofei. These three mecha operators' situation were like Sun Yaofei's where they had all advanced to become imperial operators after breaking past their limit in the life-or-death moment. In this battle, only imperial operators could manage to create a way for themselves to get away.
"Deputy leader, we'll leave our regiment commander and leader to you." Seeing that they had no hope of escaping, three other members who were left behind screamed out their last wishes before they decisively held onto their opponent and self-destructed.
"Bang, bang, bang!" The three continuous sounds of explosions were oddly piercing loud, as they made Sun Yaofei's heart tremble. He tried to look forward with his reddened eyes, but tears just kept blocking his vision! Out of the 21 members who had stayed behind, the only ones who were able to escape was four people including himself. The other 17 members all perished in battle. This was the most terrible loss 250 Ace Mecha Clan had ever sustained since entering Planet Haijiao's battlefield. Team 03 was completely crippled.
"Let's go!" Sun Yaofei held himself back from wanting to just curl up in a fetal position and cry as he shouted. The reason they were not staying behind and fighting to their deaths was not because they were afraid to die, it was because their mission wasn't completely yet. Protecting their regiment commander and leader until they reach Base 013 was the most important thing they had to do, even if they were to die, they needed to die while serving that purpose.
At that moment, team 02 and 08, who were escorting the transport team, was fighting fiercely with the strongest team under the G.o.d-Killers' regiment commander, Team Luo Qi. Team 02 and 08 also had sustained a lot of injuries and deaths during this battle.
Right when the two sides encountered each other, the two teams were clearly at a disadvantage when going against a battle team filled with imperial operators who were more capable than them. If it wasn't for Liu Furong and others who had already reached the peak level of ace and halfway towards becoming imperial operators, along with their fearlessness, and causing the opponents a great deal of trouble by fighting recklessly, they would have been completely annihilated.
In the skies above the transport team, the officers led by Yao Jian had encountered Team Jia Na. Deputy Leader Yao Jian's capabilities were similar to Leader Liu Furong. The two mecha operators in his team of mecha operators were also two of the few ace mecha operators from team 02. This was also why Liu Furong gave the most difficult task of stopping the enemy to Deputy Leader Yao Jian. In Team 02, other than the leader's officers, only Yao Jian's officers had hopes of holding back a team full of imperial operators.
Yao Jian knew clearly of the difference between them and their opponents, so he just gave the order to try their best to hold the enemy back and make them unable to attack the transport team down below them.
It should be known that Yao Jian and his officers perfectly held back the enemy. As the three mecha operator from Team Jia Na began fighting with them, those three began to feel very frustrated. They were clearly more capable than their opposition, but they couldn't get their enemies to fight them head on. Instead, their enemies were like bees, buzzing around them constantly. If those three from Jia Na were to get close to them, they would just run away as fast as they could. If they wanted to make a move against the transport team below them, Yao Jian's team would attack them from behind. If they changed their targets to them, Yao Jian's team would evade again… It was clear that Yao Jian's team of three were obeying the rules Ling Lan had set. 'If the enemy was to attack, you would retreat. If the enemy was to focus on a different target, you would interfere. If the enemy was to become exhausted, you would attack. If the enemy was to retreat, you would give chase.' Yao Jian's team of three instilled these words into their real battle and made the three people from Team Jia Na almost spat out blood in frustration.
However, even the best way of holding back your opponents would slowly lose its effectiveness if there was a great difference in capabilities. Soon after, the three from Jia Na became used to Yao Jian's team way of fighting before they finally caught a chance where Yao Jian's team were slower at retreating. Yao Jian's team now had no choice but to fight a tough battle because they couldn't evade in time.
Seeing Yao Jian's team became gradually disadvantaged and was nearing a crisis, Song Yiqing, who was pus.h.i.+ng the transport team to quickly move forward, bit his lip in frustration before he immediately ordered the leaders to put down the supplies in their hands and aim their beam guns towards the three people from Team Jia Na to attack them furiously. Han Jijyun was also among Song Yiqing's group and he also couldn't just watch his comrades lose their lives in front of his eyes.
Even with Han Jijyun, Song Yiqing and the others' help, Yao Jian's three man group were still under a lot of pressure from the attacks coming their way. Suddenly, one person in their team got hit in his mecha arm, causing that arm to be cut off instantly.
Seeing this, Han Jijyun, Song Yiqing and the other mecha operators attacked more ruthlessly, making the three operators from Team Jia Na feel even more frustrated. Having enough of this fiesta, Jia Na ordered one of his mecha operators to give up on his opponent to go get rid of the troublesome people below them.
Seeing one of the imperial operators splitting off from his team and ruthlessly pouncing towards his direction, Song Yiqing's expression changed instantly as the attack coming towards him was at a level which could kill him instantly.
