Chapter 275

Chapter 275

"So I hate small bugs."

Baide withdrew his sword from the mech's chest. Dust filled the air, yet he had no trouble spotting Orka.

Orka tensed up, quickly retreating through the spreading dust, weaving between buildings and ruins toward his teammates.

Baide stood on the mech, angling his sword behind him, as if weighing something for a second. Then he looked behind him. The Buston flag flew high on the tower.

He lifted his right foot and stomped hard on the mech beneath him. The mech quickly cracked apart into pieces. Then Baide used his sword to flip up some of the fragments, turned sideways, and kicked them toward the top of the tower.

The mechs near the tower instinctively scattered.

But Baide's target wasn’t them.

The Buston flag was broken off from a point slightly above the middle, falling pitifully from the tower to the ground.

After that, Baide leapt off the mech and climbed the tower as agilely as a large cat. The mechs near the tower hung high in the air, but no one tried to stop Baide during his entire ascent.

As Baide climbed the tower, the mechs inched back one by one. By the time he reached the top, they had already retreated a good distance.

Meanwhile, the mech fighting Leisa got some order, stopped fighting, and headed in one direction.

Leisa took this chance to break away and come near Baide. He turned his back to Baide, faced outward, and warily watched the mechs not far off.

Baide had already reached the top of the tower, but he didn't stop. His target was the spire above.

The spire had no space to stand; all sides sloped downward. At the very top was only the broken stump of a metal flagpole. It was a dangerous place where it was easy to fall, but Baide remained calm.

He grasped the flagpole with one hand, took off his cloak with the other, and draped it over the pole.

The wind unfurled the cloak, revealing the emblem of Grath outlined in dark gold thread.

After doing this, Baide looked toward a direction.

There was a mech there.

Inside the mech, Orka cautiously backed away. Even though Baide hadn't been watching him, he'd already told his teammates to spread out.

The teammate in the co-pilot seat had a grim expression. "He spotted you?"

Orka stared intently at Baide. "Yeah. He's taunting us. Wants us to come over."

At the same time, the mechs near the tower seemed to receive an order and resolutely turned around and left.

One side had backed down. The winner was already decided.

The host stood up, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Grath has toppled Buston's flag!"

Then he repeated it louder: "Grath has toppled Buston's flag!"

The venue was silent for a few moments before the whole crowd erupted: "Grath has toppled Buston's flag! Grath has toppled Buston's flag!"

They roared with all their might, "Grath has toppled Buston's flag!"

This was something that hadn't happened in millennia. The strong remained strong, the weak remained weak—this was especially obvious in resource wars.

It wasn't that countries lower on the ladder couldn't rise, but the process was bound to be slow and painful.

What was scarier than not moving up was falling down the ranks. Dropping meant losing national resources. If they didn't bounce back to their old spot next time, it would only get harder to climb back over time.

Every nation was scrambling to climb the ranks, hold their rank, and push ahead.

They cheered for the strong, but they were even more hyped about this miracle.

Baide couldn't hear the cheering outside. He just watched the mechs scatter, a sly smile on his face. "Who said you could leave?"

Before his words even faded, he threw his sword. This time the force was even greater, and the distance was shorter.

Orka noticed. He sidestepped his mech. The distance between them had already widened, making this attack easy to dodge.

And indeed it was. The sword flew right past Orka and slammed into the ground ahead of him with a loud crash.

Baide's powerful mental energy exploded from the sword, sweeping across the entire area, shattering the mechs that had frozen.

At the same moment, all the Buston mechs stopped moving, as if frozen.

Even Leisa's mech, which was farther away and hovering in the air, lost control for a few seconds, struggling to stabilize.

Baide sighed in regret. "What a waste of a good sword."

A red line of text slashed diagonally across the screen.

"#7 on the individual ranking, Orka eliminated."

A few seconds later, the audience was allowed to comment.

"Damn, Orka was #7. The only reason I know is because he got eliminated. They didn't even have time to pop up his profile before he was out."

"Where's the guy who said the Grath captain didn't deserve his rank? Come on, say it to his face now."

"Nah, I don't want to get beaten to death and get him fined by the Star Alliance too."

"I admit I was a bit too loud earlier."

"Present. Been a Baide fan for ten years."

"Captain isn't all about strength—you gotta organize the team too. And honestly, he's not exactly nice to his teammates, is he? Plus, Grath hasn't even started defending their flag yet."

"While you all argue, I want to ask: has Buston called their deputy to defend the flag? Are all their flags with the main squad? Buston can't be out just like that, can they?"

Outside the venue.

The audience, at some point, had started chanting Baide's name in unison.

On the leaders' stand, Norton looked as expressionless as ever, maybe even a little impatient.

The others stood behind Norton, motionless and expressionless.

Only Secretary-General Lin looked like he'd given up on life, recalling which sword Baide had brought. Please don't let it be an artifact… The swords the Grath used were priceless, many with deep historical significance.

Take the swords Cyril got from Norton—all priceless relics. Only the Grath would use them as everyday gear and still find something to complain about. Every single one had killed dozens of King Insects.

Secretary-General Lin adjusted his glasses. Whatever sword that was, he was going to put in a request to recover the pieces later.

A Star Alliance battleship was already flying in, starting to retrieve the eliminated mechs.

Baide let go of the flagpole, dropping onto the lower part of the tower's top. He crouched at the edge like a big cat and tilted his head toward Leisa, signaling him to come over.

Leisa powered down his mecha and landed on the tower. "Do you need me to go get the flag from Cyril's side now?"

Baide waved his hand dismissively. "No need."

"My lovely children are already working hard. That's one of the joys of being a father."

He glanced lazily at Leisa. "Take a seat, captain. If the captain has to worry about everything, what are the team members for?"

Leisa looked confused, but he was used to following Baide's lead. Even if he didn't understand, it didn't matter—he could just follow orders. Baide's strength was undeniable, and even if they disagreed, it didn't matter.

Kainan had already far exceeded Leisa's expectations, and he had a vague suspicion.

"Why does Baide insist on being everyone's dad? It's kind of offensive, and why isn't he starting to defend the flag now instead of wasting time?"

"That's not just a little rude. Adrian, with that obvious temper of his, would throw a punch right there."

"I bet Baide's the strongest on the team. If he were any weaker, he wouldn't be captain."

"Is there really no bad blood between Captain Grath and his own team?"

"Am I the only one who feels sorry for Leisa? Baide says, 'If the captain has to worry about everything, what are the team members for?' Meanwhile, Leisa worries about his teammates being too nervous to sleep at night. (／_＼)"

...

Meanwhile, Lakeley had no such worries and was totally happy. "Basically, it's like Cyril and the Kaileer Alliance are one family now."

Zener deactivated his mecha and followed Ye Mo, looking a bit awkward.

Deenlie glanced at him. "Thank you for looking after Cyril."

Zener immediately straightened up. "You're welcome—no, thank you—no, I mean, Cyril looked after me a lot."

Deenlie gave a quick nod and checked Ye Mo for injuries. He rubbed the side of Ye Mo's face with his thumb, making Ye Mo's head tilt a little.

Then Deenlie looked at his thumb, now a bit dusty, and frowned.

He should never have let Baide take Ye Mo. Ye Mo looked like he'd rolled around on the ground—completely dirty.

Ye Mo looked up and felt embarrassed. "I already showered."

Deenlie grunted and nudged him deeper into the tower. "Go rest for a while."

Deenlie looked at Herli, who was still surveying the area, trying to pick a flag defense point to seize. "Maybe over there."

Deenlie held the flag out flat in front of her. He met her eyes without a shred of guilt. "One of us has to stay behind to guard the flag."

"Why does it have to be me?"

Meanwhile, Lakeley had no such worries and was totally happy. "Basically, it's like Cyril and the Kaileer Alliance are one family now."

"But don't get too excited. I checked—Herli and Deenlie are still registered under Grath, so they're considered foreign help for the Kaileer Alliance. According to the same-origin assistance rule, since Grath is a new member, this applies."

"Wait, are you telling us not to get excited, or are you telling yourself?"

"? This clause hasn't been used in years! And it's meant to help new countries!"

"Helping anyone still counts as helping. We're all from the same neck of the woods. Don't be too jealous."

"Lakeley really knows his stuff, but I still say: don't get too full of yourself. What dumb luck to run into a big shot like Grath."

"Isn't anyone worried that Deenlie and Herli are fighting over there? Cyril is still trying to mediate, and Zener's face has turned a bit pale."

...

At some point.

Baide suddenly stood up. "It's about to end."

Leisa, standing beside him, turned his head.

Baide stretched.

The next second, all the terminals carried by the players on the field started beeping.

Leisa looked at his terminal. This was the signal for the end of the match, but it wasn't time yet—the flag defense wasn't over.

Based on past experience, by the end of the flag defense, more than half of the teams would still be in the game, but usually not much more than half. Then the Star Alliance would eliminate the lower-ranked teams based on their scores.

But the mechanism of the flag defense match meant that the number and spacing of flag points were carefully designed so that until the very last second, some teams would still be defending flags while others were still capturing them.

Under this mechanism, the resource battle had hardly ever ended early.

But now, Leisa wasn't all that surprised. He glanced at his terminal and confirmed his hunch.

"More than half the teams eliminated. Flag defense over early."

There were two criteria for advancing in the first round of the resource battle: first, having at least one team member alive; second, defending the flag long enough.

Now that flag defense had ended early, it meant that fewer than half of the teams still had surviving members.

And he was still standing on the field, which meant Kainan had advanced to the next round.

Leisa's fingers trembled a little. He checked the notification over and over, as if trying to read a thousand meanings into it.

Baide couldn't care less about how he felt. He stood at the edge of the tower. "Let's go."

Before he even finished speaking, he jumped off the edge. Leisa reacted and jumped after him, quickly equipping his mecha in midair, transforming it into a combat vehicle, and catching Baide as he fell.

In the distance, Herli, who had carefully picked a good flag defense point and was guarding the Grath flag, kicked the edge of the tower, sending chunks of rubble flying.

"Baide, you're so annoying!"