Chapter 450: Just a M.E.S.S
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
...(The Gray Valley)...
Bei Guang, Arwa and Hua were sitting right at the opposite of Xiao Wan, formally. Their expressions were grim, even Hua, the usual joker of the team, had become steadier than before. The moment the lady summoned them they felt truly bewildered, as it was in the middle of the night - 4.40am to be exact.
It was Xiao Wan who shattered the silence of the witching hour, "We have just received an update from our intelligence. At 7.14pm last night, the destabilized singularity at the site of Koure Mech Squad had been detected with instances of anomaly. At 9.30pm, the squad had sent men to investigate where none of them survived. 2 hours later, the area of these purple gases had taken the entire base, during which they faced an immediate invasion. And all surrounding forces had received frequent distress signals from the squad."
And there was no more.
The three men flinched upon the statement of the lady. It had been an unwritten rule for all forces to avoid sending out distress signals to others till critical situation. Clearly there was indeed something that night, that caused that demise of a great squad.
Was everyone wiped out that night at the site?
Thought the three of them, while exchanging frightful glances with each other. They were pretty close with Koure. They recognized the hard work the squad had undergone to even get into the ranking. Koure might not be a competent squad compared to them, but obviously one unknown force which possessed the capability to eradicate Koure could eradicate them as well.
"How is the squad at the moment? Has the culprit been identified?" asked Bei Guang. They were shocked by the incident, yet their posture remained undisturbed.
"... I do not know...," muttered Xiao Wan. "But we did not receive anymore updates from them... since 4 hours ago..."
That was an evident statement to their demise.
The three men looked more frightful than before.
Xiao Wan was not looking good either as she elaborated, "All surrounding forces had sent their aids, striving to find at least a survivor from the squad. But, to be honest, we knew nothing from there so far, nothing at all. Regarding the culprit of the invasion this time, we should be receiving an update this noon, probably..."
"Which force did that I wonder...," mumbled Hua. "What should we do now?"
Xiao Wan looked at Arwa, "How do you think, Arwa?"
Arwa gave the question a serious ponder. He might have a plain look of one from the village, but immense wisdom could be perceived in his eyes. A moment of silence passed and Arwa raised his head, "The situation is unclear at the moment. We could only prepare for the worst. I believe, by 6 o' clock tonight, we should have identified the culprit. It would not be too late when we make the necessary adjustments by then."
"What about both of you?" said Xiao Wan, her eyes on the rest.
"Well, we could only do that for now, it seems...," said Bei Guang helplessly. To be frank, what Arwa had suggested was truly the sole thing the group could conduct. They were the minority after all, unlike the great aristocrats who probably had sent off their military forces, crying for war on such situation. Moreover, any other drastic measures could force them out into the light, that would be bad.
"Very well...," nodded Xiao Wan. "We'll observe at the moment, while preparing for the worst. Keep an eye on the situation." Xiao Wan was feeling agitated of the confusing situation. Well, Gray Valley had never been orderly in the eyes of folks, but somehow there were marks of specific unwritten rules wavering in the area, which only natives like Xiao Wan would know.
And at this point, Xiao Wan somehow felt that these hidden rules which had existed over centuries at Gray Valley would face their demolishment soon...
It was just her gut feeling that had been rumbling for days.
The three men exchanged one final glance, before they left the room.
Xiao Wan seemed to have deflated, literally the moment the three men left the place. All the strength she had mustered seemingly escaped through her breath after the conversation. She completely slumped on the chair the next 5 minutes. The irritation pulsed in her soul, growing, as she got up and booted the projector in the room.
"We are now streaming the latest update of..."
That was when Xiao Wan's pupils shrunk to the extreme, as she zapped from her slumber with her back straightened.
... (At Ye family)...
The core members of Ye family stared upon the projection. There was the leader himself, the strategists named Ye Juxing and Ye Guangxing as well as the top pilot Ye Yin who stood right behind the three of them. They looked indifferent, an expression frozen solid of devastating grimness. Ye Luo was also there and apparently was at the other end of the extreme on his expression. He was fairly expressive, biting his teeth, cursing out loud and his father, the strict leader of the family, did not lecture upon his misbehavior for some reason.
It was a major battle.
Ye family had summoned an astronomical force for the operation this time.
There were warships, a whooping 300 of them. And that was only the 1/3 of the entire Ye force in He Yue galaxy, which consisted 1000 units.
Warship had always been an alarming sign for residents of all galaxies. Be it the 5 major galaxies or He Yue galaxy, the aristocrats could only craft their units behind the curtain.
Ye family was generally defenseless in this war as they lacked the ranged force necessary against the foe, most of their mechs were melee models so they needed to draw out whatever they can fire at the foes, especially after that encounter at previous war. The cannons of their warships were certainly formidable and could be considered as the design suitable on small crowd-control, crowd of those monsters for example.
The reality was not as simple as they imagined however. They were going to face unknown creatures emerging from the fearsome purple mists due to a destabilized anomaly. It was not going to be like a plain day at a pest-control company during their fight against crustalades and bristleworms.
The firepower formed by 300 warship units did not hold those ferocious monstrosities long, as Ye family was clearly outnumbered while the family was facing a much more agile, fearless mob than before.
Eventually Ye family could only bring out their army of mechs, as an attempt to regain control of the situation.
A war of fist-against-fist would always be a close-combat, that a punch could cost a wound on oneself, even for the experts like those of Ye family. The war field was then transformed into a slaughterhouse. The authority was tearing in silence as they witnessed their apprentices heading for the inevitable death, like the moth to the flame. It was an irony as they were reminded of the early 10 to 20 years they trained these new blood.
The apprentices had demonstrated great discipline as they fought bravely against the unknown lifeforms from the alternate dimension. They attempted holding back the monsters with their guard at their best. The 8 mech squads of Ye family were slowly engulfed by the waves.
8000 mechs guarded the incoming blows of these monsters from one wave to another. The 300 warship units had never held their fire since then. But there were too many casualties, the authority of Ye family was being driven up to the wall. 3 mech squads had been completely engulfed in less than 30 minutes. The figure was ticking fast that they had lost count somehow.
The destabilization occurred right in the territory of Ye family, so there was nowhere for the family to run. They could only fight at best. In no time 2/3 of Ye family's force in He Yue galaxy had been summoned there.
That was only the beginning however...
...(At Xue Lai clan)...
They were fighting, they were fighting with all their might.
But, unlike Ye family, the Xue Lai clan was at an upper hand in the war.
A team of total 15000 units, consisted of all models in the clan, had swarmed upon the destabilized area. They were calm bracing for the war.
The firepower of Xue Lai clan had engulfed the wave of monsters instead.
It felt easy peasy as they saw the carcasses hovering in space.
...till they saw one anomaly they failed to notice at first.
Logically, if there was nothing in the purple mist, the beams should travel through the gaseous entity effortlessly. But... somehow, the beams were not passing, something seemed to be holding all the incoming beams inside the mist.
The purple mist was expanding rapidly.
That was when Xue Lai clan felt the stress. They quickly summoned about 500 units into the mist yet none of those had returned. They had been bombarded the purple mist with all their weaponry for the last 30 minutes, nothing had happened nevertheless.
And somehow, the more they fired, the quicker the mist spread...
"Hold your fire!"
They eventually had to pause and watch.
...(At Xi Feng tribe)...
The Xi Feng tribe was probably the real tragic one among the aristocrats, as their territory sat right between two spatial anomalies.
The leader of the tribe was looking pale, paler than those men behind.
There were far more casualties in the Xi Feng tribe, at least more than what the tribe had expected. They could do nothing other than seeing their compatriots exploding in the voidness of the space.
As they were being sandwiched, the mechs at frontline were literally halved to handle incoming attacks of both sides, leading to an insufficient firepower.
The monsters broke through their firewall easily and their claws had led a dramatic increase in the number of casualties.
Explosions and cries were head from the transmission of all men. The glaring light of their mates blowing up shone upon their stumbled expression.
What... what are they...