Chapter 271

Chapter 271

The battle continued, and the main perspective quickly shifted from the still frames of Herli and Deenlie back to the battlefield between the Kaileer Alliance and Suonan.

The captain of the Kaileer main team had just snapped out of it, reorganizing the team on the comms, "Reinforcements are here. Wait, the situation seems to have changed."

Afraid that the signal might be intercepted by the enemy, he hadn’t been in contact with the detached squad these past few days, and the team’s points weren’t synchronized among the scattered members.

In that brief moment, one of Suonan’s mechas charged straight at him.

He could only cross his arms in front of his chest, barely protecting the cockpit. The force of Suonan’s mecha was immense, leaving a deep groove in the ground as the two mechas ground together until he felt his back hit some building.

On the other side, after Deenlie landed, Kaileer's deputy, who had been coordinating well with them these past few days, rode his mecha and quickly closed in. The massive mecha brushed past Deenlie, as if his only task was to get close, and once it reached a certain distance, it completed its mission and began locking onto nearby Suonan members without a second thought.

He locked onto a Suonan member entangled with the captain’s mecha.

The deputy didn't bother to check on Deenlie, knowing he would follow—and indeed, Deenlie skillfully caught up to the massive mecha. Even though the target was a fast-moving mecha, Deenlie moved as if on flat ground, leaping and turning several times until he scrambled onto it.

The deputy had already maneuvered the mecha close to a Suonan member. By then, Deenlie had just reached the mecha’s shoulder. He leaped out directly, charging at the enemy in one fluid motion.

The Kaileer captain felt the grip on him suddenly release, and then Deenlie’s figure flashed past him, along with the Suonan mecha.

All of this happened right in front of his mecha’s cockpit, and the Kaileer captain saw it with exceptional clarity. His eyes widened as he watched Deenlie follow up his first attack with another, and when the enemy mecha completely lost mobility and tipped to one side, Deenlie, still in midair, twisted his body using his core muscles and landed back on the deputy’s mecha.

This series of movements was exceptionally fluid, appearing to onlookers as perfectly synchronized teamwork.

The deputy’s mecha barely paused before heading off in another direction.

The Kaileer captain stood there watching everything for a long time before suddenly snapped out of it, checking the automatically merged points after the two teams merged. He froze, staring at an unbelievable number.

As the fight began on the other side, several other mechas that had gotten used to coordinating with Herli and Deenlie gradually joined in.

Under this coordination, Deenlie and Herli began harvesting points with great efficiency.

From the first time Deenlie and Herli had hitched a ride on their own, to the deputy’s deliberate cooperation afterward, neither the deputy nor the others had ever failed in their coordination with Deenlie and Herli.

For the deputy himself, it felt as if he just had to do something simple—run over to them, chase the enemy, and do just enough. But he knew this wasn’t about some natural synergy; it was because Deenlie and Herli had a very high margin for error.

Even when the deputy’s or others’ mechas sometimes couldn’t keep up, they would adjust on their own, as if they weren’t weaving between high-speed mechas.

No matter how many times the deputy witnessed such combat skills, he couldn’t help but marvel.

But for Deenlie and Herli, it was as natural as breathing.

In the old Grath territory, long plagued by insect swarms, such skills were essential against the Insect Tide—with no mechas to resist the insects’ claws and serrated teeth, and no firearms powerful enough to break through their shells, psychic weapons were their only reliance.

And the Grath people had pushed this skill to its extreme.

They could move freely through the insect swarm without ever touching the ground.

What was there to fear about a mecha? It was fewer in number than the insects, less agile, and lacked the hard carapace. Though it had metallic limbs, its weaknesses were too obvious—telegraphing their attacks, unlike insects that could strike from any angle, with each one's "heart" hidden in strange places.

Herli stepped onto the rapidly extending cannon barrel of a mecha, skillfully charging toward the cockpit.

Too slow, too obvious, too formulaic—placing the cockpit in such a spot.

"Are you rolling out the welcome mat?"

She held her sword with both hands and thrust it in with force.

Inside the cockpit was exactly Soda. He widened his eyes in the cockpit, facing Herli’s sword blade, as if he had returned to the moment when Ye Mo had charged at him.

This time, Herli didn’t leave after her strike. She maintained her thrusting posture, going down with the mecha.

A loud crash and billowing dust. Herli stood on the mecha without withdrawing her sword. "You look familiar, kid."

Nearby, Deenlie had already finished his fight and was standing on the shoulder of the deputy’s mecha. He snorted at her words, muttering, "What familiar? She remembers perfectly well. Earlier, from far away, she told him that since he had taken her prey, the mecha that was bullying Cyril was hers to handle—don’t interfere."

Herli still hadn’t pulled out her sword, her psychic power steadily active.

Soda, pale-faced, curled up in a ball in the cockpit, one hand clutching the uniform over his chest. He hadn’t yet disconnected from the mecha.

"Does it hurt? That’s right. I hope next time we meet, you’ll learn to respect me."

Herli stomped hard on the cockpit area, netting another point.

With that, the entire Suonan side was eliminated.

Deenlie jumped down from the deputy’s mecha and landed behind Herli.

With the battle over, he straightened up and watched coldly as the others started cleaning up.

The main perspective shifted from Herli to Deenlie, freezing on the shot of Herli and Deenlie in passing—Herli standing on the chest of the mecha, Deenlie slightly behind her to the side, only his profile visible.

Around them were fallen mechas and damaged buildings, with only the Kaileer Alliance mechas still standing on the field.

On the main perspective, the two images that had shown their rankings reappeared.

This time, since the battle was over and there was ample time, those two images lingered for a long while.

The commentator had been silent for a while, but the main feed chat had exploded.

"Holy crap! That’s so cool! That leg, waist, and chest—the power—I felt it through the screen! I want to experience it in holo-view."

"I’ve already checked for you—no holo-view of them. The holo-view was locked on Kainan’s star player, close up, with a leg really near, almost like kicking me—really immersive. And the chest? Nice. Both of them have nice chests."

"No mecha? Is this a new attack method or some new tech—melee mecha? Is that why Kaileer’s score is so high this time?"

"Which one is the Kaileer Alliance again? I’ve been wanting to ask—I don’t know the first-place or third-place team! Have I fallen so far behind the mainstream?"

"The Kaileer Alliance used to be a mid-tier team. This time they’re third on the mid-season leaderboard, which should be pretty noticeable. They’re going to get famous now. Lakeley will be thrilled."

"Is this the strength of the top two on the individual leaderboard? Two people carrying an entire nation? That’s too exaggerated—it’s shaking the whole tournament system!"

"So why do they both have the surname Grath? Someone, find out their relationship!"

"The first is Grath, and they’re Graths—hmm, that's a chilling thought."

Off the field, on the Leader platform, more eyes turned toward the Kaileer Alliance.

It goes without saying that the Graths, who had been the center of attention, were even more so now.

The leader of Suonan, ignoring the live filming, spoke in a low voice with the person next to him.

...

The Star Alliance's starships detected that the battle had ended and quickly arrived to begin recovering the eliminated mechs.

After the fight, Deenlie and Herli silently came together.

Herli clicked her tongue. "So many eyes."

Deenlie reminded her briefly, "Big Brother."

"I know. I'm just saying."

Despite their words, they immediately retreated into an intact tower at the flag defense point.

Keller's captain had just disengaged from his mech when he saw only the backs of Deenlie and Herli. He wanted to approach but hesitated for a moment, eventually finding the Deputy and saying with a complicated expression, "You've worked hard."

The Deputy waved cheerfully. "No, no, we didn't do anything. It was all Deenlie and Herli's credit."

The captain coughed. "Well... where did they go?"

The Deputy considered for a moment. "Probably left because you were here."

Both Keller's captain and Keller's star player attract many eyes.

Keller's captain: ? he thought.

After a moment of deep thought, he said seriously, "So I should go apologize?"

The Deputy replied with equal gravity, "No, it's best you don't appear before them. You bring the captain's spotlight with you. They dislike being watched."

...

Though Deenlie and Herli had only recently appeared, they quickly became popular. The main screen's viewership was massive, and their personal page stats skyrocketed.

Their surname was Grath, which inevitably linked them to the first-place Grath family.

Thus, a flood of people jumped into Baide's stream. Baide wasn't fazed and, unlike other Graths who would reject the attention, went about his business as usual.

Baide and his group were still leisurely dining. The hotel had stocked ingredients, and Leisa could cook, having prepared a large table of food.

For the first time since entering this place, Baide and Ye Mo enjoyed hot meals.

Lakeley was glued to Ye Mo's perspective, completely unaware of what was happening outside. Standing behind Ye Mo, he remarked, "Leisa really quite knows how to take care of his teammates, after so many years as captain."

Ye Mo didn't seem to have much of an appetite.

Baide made sure to put food on Ye Mo's plate, now showing a bit of a fatherly demeanor. "Don't be nervous, Cyril. Eat more. I believe my dear children have found good flag defense points."

"Is Arnold's group also in the flag defense area?"

Baide actually thought seriously for a change. With Kainan's mech for transport, even if Arnold's group had controlled their landing point, we should still be faster than Arnold's group. "They should be slower than us."

He stroked his chin. "But someone should be faster than us."

After all, Deenlie and Herli were part of a team; they ought to be much quicker than us freeloaders. Then we can have Cyril snatch the flag from them.

For the sake of Grath, we can't let that father-son bond get in the way.