Chapter 273

Chapter 273

Outside the arena, the main perspective shifted back to Grath, and the perspectives merged. Baide's captain perspective merged with the main one.

As per convention, in the flag-guarding zone, if there was no more interesting action, the main perspective would follow the top-ranked team on the leaderboard, making it easier to encounter star players from the standings.

The host also held back their commentary, becoming more cautious. After all, Grath was currently ranked first. "The top team on the leaderboard has just entered the flag-guarding zone—which doesn't happen often. They still haven’t separated from Kainan, and their mechas are keeping a low altitude meaning they don't plan to capture flags."

When mechas traveled in vehicle mode as a team, keeping a low altitude made it hard to attack high-altitude flag-guarding units, meaning they don't plan to seize flags. Typically, raising altitude or switching to mecha mode means a fight's about to start.

"Is this the weakest first-place team ever? That'll be fun to review when looking back on past resource battles."

"But their points aren't low either—whether they’re weak remains to be seen."

"So what does Grath’s captain even do? He doesn't run the whole team or fight as a main force. When the screen shows him, he's not even in the rankings—he’s not in the top twenty."

Grath’s online fans are used to this by now and just joke around casually.

"Baide's job is just to draw aggro from his own team."

"No, he's basically a babysitter."

"Nah, he's just filling a spot. He's too old to keep up with the youngsters."

"Whatever—Cyril's easy."

"What the hell?"

In the flag-guarding zone, Baide put his hand on Ye Mo’s shoulder while looking at the flags around them and said, "Turn right."

Leisa led the team in a rightward arc.

As they passed a building, something landed on the mech with a soft thud.

Leisa spun his mech around fast. He saw a young man slowly stand up behind Ye Mo and Baide, stretching like a lazy cat.

He wore a Grath uniform.

Leisa glanced back at the tower they'd just passed and dismissed the alert on the channel. "It’s fine. Continue forward."

At that moment, the main camera froze on Jacob landing on the mech. He stood up slowly, lifting his head like a big cat, and a small caption popped up next to him: "Jacob Grath — currently 6th in individual points, Nation: Grath."

Jacob glanced at Leisa, back in formation, then looked at Baide. Ye Mo had already turned his head to look over.

Jacob walked over and pressed down on Ye Mo’s head. "How'd it go? Anyone mess with you?"

"With me watching over him? No way."

Baide said it like it was obvious, then looked in one direction. "Arnold and Elia are coming too."

As he said that, the mech shook a little. An arm grabbed on from underneath the speeding mech, and Elia and Arnold climbed up one after another.

The camera froze on Elia standing up and Arnold flipping onto the mech.

"Elia Grath — currently 4th in individual points, Nation: Grath."

"Noan Grath — currently 5th in individual points, Nation: Grath."

The chat paused for a second, then exploded.

"Damn, that's sick!"

"I get it! Hand-to-hand combat is always the best! Not mechs — it's actual human moves, and you can see their faces!"

"You can see their faces! And their legs! I’ve been meaning to say it—their uniforms look great!"

"They're all Grath too? Does the whole country use it as a last name? Then Herli and Deenlie were definitely poached."

"Wait, poached? When? Why didn't anyone tell me!"

"That's probably Baide. Does Emperor Baide know? What about Queen Sylvia?"

Ahead was a fork in the road. Elia looked and reminded, "Adrian's up front on the left."

"Oh." Baide said, then told Leisa, "Turn right!"

Elia sighed and pushed Ye Mo between Jacob and Arnold. "Adrian's gonna be pissed — he's not too smart."

Arnold immediately chimed in, "Elia-sis is right."

Jacob, meanwhile, pulled Ye Mo closer.

Seven or eight fast-moving mecha vehicles swept low to the right.

After a moment, dust rose from an alley in the opposite direction.

Before Adrian was even visible, his voice rang out: "Bai—de!"

Then the mech carrying Ye Mo and the others shook violently, as if hit by something heavy. Adrian climbed up with one hand and, as soon as he appeared, unhesitatingly drew his sword and threw it at Baide.

Baide sidestepped, kicked the thrown sword upward, and caught it. "That was dangerous. I’ve got Cyril here—Norton would be upset."

Adrian snorted but obediently crouched in place without moving further.

The main camera quickly shifted, freezing on the image of Adrian throwing his sword moments earlier. The sword in his hand, the movement under his form-fitting uniform, made his muscle lines especially prominent.

"Adrian Grath — currently 3rd in individual points, Nation: Grath."

Baide held Adrian’s sword and didn’t return it. "Great—everyone’s here. Time to work."

The host grew excited. "It seems Grath has assembled and is about to attempt capturing flags. Surprisingly, almost all of Grath’s members are in the top tier of the individual leaderboard."

"Wait—are the top six all from Grath?"

"The internal competition in Grath is intense. That throw could have killed someone. The captain doesn’t seem to have much authority."

"Grath says everyone’s here? That’s only six people, right?"

Baide turned sideways, facing forward. The wind billowed his cloak, and Arnold and the others stood behind him.

He directed Leisa.

"Turn left ahead. Raise altitude."

Under Baide's command, Leisa acted while ascending, also preparing for combat. Even without zooming in, his vision already caught sight of fluttering flags. Leisa remembered—those were the flags of the Kaileer Alliance.

Lakeley, who had been following Cyril, stood frozen on the spot. He looked at the flags, then at Ye Mo, back and forth several times.

"Lmao, I could watch Lakeley's despairing expression a hundred times."

"I know that feeling—the pain of my favorite player going up against my home country."

"Just came from the Kaileer Alliance, Lakeley doesn't need to worry; it's just Grath's internal affairs. Even if he quits now, he won't lose anything."

Keller reacted swiftly; he was already on alert when Leisa and the others approached. As soon as Leisa began to climb, several mechas quickly converged from a distance, blocking their path.

But Leisa didn't stop. He trusted Baide completely, just as Zener and the other kids trusted him unconditionally—it was his only choice.

Baide put his arm around Ye Mo's shoulder, gently pressed against his back, and pushed him forward.

"My Cyril, as we agreed, guarding the flag is still your task. But I am your elder, so I should help a bit. Here's the deal: you only need to guard Grath's flag; don't worry about the rest. I've even picked a spot for you—right here. Go on, Cyril."

When Ye Mo entered the flag-guarding zone, he was already prepared to defend the flag.

But this time he hesitated briefly. "But—"

Wouldn't it be safer to switch targets, like the previous one?

Ye Mo's gaze passed over the few mechas and landed on Deenlie and Herli in the distance.

"No choice, Cyril. Try your best, or else Grath will be eliminated. Oh, looks like they're about to attack."

Ye Mo didn't have time to say more. He drew the sword from his waist, held it horizontally in front of him, and even took off the scabbard, tossing it aside.

"Then we'll be off, Cyril."

As he spoke, Baide linked his mental energy into Leisa's channel, directly controlling Leisa's mecha to turn back. Except for Zener's mecha carrying them, all the other mechas turned simultaneously.

Baide leaped onto Leisa's mecha, and Arnold and the others followed.

Adrian tsked. "You're bullying Cyril too much. Just take the flag and let him have some fun."

"Exactly. Maybe I should stay and watch him."

Baide sighed. "Ah, my Cyril, always the most obedient."

Now, only Zener's mecha and Ye Mo on top of it charged toward the Kaileer Alliance.

Zener panicked in the cockpit. "Ahhh! Captain! Why did you all pull back?! And my mecha seems to be broken—we're going to crash!"

Leisa knew what was happening—it was Baide's mental energy. He calmly said, "Don't panic. Don't use your mental energy to resist, and close your eyes, Zener."

Ye Mo was nervous too, but he gripped his sword tightly with one hand and clutched the flag with the other, keeping it behind him. Grath couldn't be eliminated—they really only had this one flag.

The Kaileer Alliance mechas began to advance.

Herli and Deenlie were on the tower, with a wide view. They had already noticed the situation.

"That bastard Baide."

Herli couldn't sit still. Before the Kaileer Alliance mechas could attack, she leaped out, followed by Deenlie.

One after another, they landed on the Kaileer Alliance mechas, mercilessly pressing them down, driving them out of the battlefield.

In the end, only one familiar mecha remained. Herli and Deenlie landed on it one after another.

Deenlie stood on the mecha's shoulder and tapped its shoulder with his sword. "Don't move."

The Kaileer captain stopped, watching Ye Mo warily.

Ye Mo realized that Herli and Deenlie had no intention to fight. Instinctively, he used his mental energy to overlay Baide's mental energy, controlling Zener's mecha to halt as well.

"Did Cyril owe Baide money in a past life?"

"Leaving only one person to guard the flag is too reckless."

"Herli and Deenlie stopped. Do they know the opponent? I remember they're both from Grath—this fighting style is too easy to recognize."

"They know each other very well—they're close."

Not far away, Baide noticed his mental energy being consumed and became thoughtful. Then he quickly appeared gratified. "Looks like Cyril is quite assertive too."

After getting Ye Mo settled, Baide directed several mechas toward one direction. His mental energy had fully taken over these mechas.

Adrian crouched at the edge. "Hitching a ride and being so forward—that's not great, is it? But it seems more useful than a battleship—faster and more agile."

Grath had been researching more agile and practical vehicles to assist in combat. They did exist, but compared to battleships, they ended up being impractical.

Baide ignored Adrian and looked at the others.

"Deenlie and Herli should have higher scores than you, right? That won't do. Everything about Grath must be the best."

"And you don't want to see Grath's face trampled on, do you?"

The resource war was brutally realistic: strength ruled, and rankings and reputation mattered. Arnold and the others had already built a fanbase.

"Right now, the one trampling Grath's reputation the most is the captain who isn't even on the rankings, right? Who is he to lecture his teammates? And now, instead of guarding the flag properly, he's dragging others away to do what?"

"Looks like there's bad blood with Deenlie and Herli—must have had a falling-out when they left. Small nations are like that sometimes; their systems are flawed."

"Does he even understand the meaning of the resource war? You can't be so arrogant with just one or two strong fighters. It'd be hilarious if the mid-season top scorer gets eliminated—Grath and he would go down in history. Why should others be dragged down by being lectured by someone like him? Find a reliable nation to recruit these players."

"By strength. If you don't like it, we have seniority."

"By shamelessness. If you don't like it, we have seniority."

"By virtue of being venerable. If you don't like it, we have seniority."

"? Just a few years older and you can boss people around? Laughable. The resource war has no such rule."

"He got his position through connections, showing off his merits. I haven't seen him contribute anything the whole time, and he makes such ridiculous decisions, leaving flag defense to a single young player."

Baide flipped Adrian's sword in his hand, then turned around and hurled it in a direction.

The sword fell a few seconds later, producing a huge roar. The dust flying up could be seen from their position.

Adrian's eyes widened. He instinctively looked over, then jerked his head back to Baide. "Baide!"

Baide walked toward Arnold, patted his shoulder, and while Arnold was still looking at the commotion, smoothly drew Arnold's sword, then hurled it in another direction.

A few seconds later, another roar echoed.

As the swords fell, the main view gave close-ups of both spots. They landed in front of Suonan and Orolia's towers respectively.

The mechas of Suonan and Orolia instinctively backed off a little, then several mechas surrounded the area.

Baide clapped his hands a few times to get their attention.

"Alright, you two, handle your respective positions. Then start clearing the field until we've eliminated more than half the players. Deenlie and Herli are watching Ye Mo and can't spare their hands. If you still can't beat them under these conditions, I'll be very angry."

Baide spoke in the same cheerful tone as before, but his eyes had changed subtly.

Adrian and Arnold both tsked in unison, but then the four of them obediently responded together.

A comment floated by.

"By strength. Don't like it? We've got it. No more fooling around. This time we're serious."