Chapter 1342: A Spectacular Deployment

Well...

Apparently, this was precisely the kind of situation that desperately needed every bit of help DG could offer!

After all, most spiritual attacks tended to die down as their users exhausted their limited reserves of spiritual energy, forcing them to attack in short bursts.

But instead of showing any signs of weakening, the incoming attacks suddenly intensified!

"What the hell?!"

Only this time, the threat wasn’t limited to long-range artillery or spiritual energy blasts.

Multiple unidentified enemy mechas had abruptly broken away from their previous attack patterns and were swooping directly toward the battleship!

And judging by their trajectories, those lunatics were actually trying to latch themselves onto the outer hull!

"Oh, hell no!"

The moment the captain saw the rapidly approaching red signatures on his radar, his expression changed dramatically.

He immediately barked a warning over the shipwide communication system, switching the existing alarms to an even more urgent alert as he ordered everyone aboard to prepare for a possible breach.

Because those bastards weren’t merely trying to shoot them down anymore.

They were attempting to hijack the battleship!

And what was their response to such a situation?

Much to the battleship captain’s extreme distress, it apparently involved sending four mechas piloted by three and a half cadet pilots straight into the fray!

"..."

The captain was beginning to think that if he somehow survived today, perhaps it would be better to consider early retirement.

At the very least, his poor heart would probably appreciate it!

And yet, to the astonishment of practically everyone aboard the battered vessel, the moment those four mechas emerged from the launch bay, they seemed to shed every indication that they were being operated by cadets.

It was such an extraordinary sight that gasps of disbelief and excited exclamations immediately erupted from the people who’d rushed toward the observation bays to witness DG’s departure.

Every eye remained glued to the vast sky beyond the viewports.

Jax’s towering crimson mecha, Kyle’s brilliant blue unit currently piloted by one blonde mechanic, Xavier’s shadow-draped machine, and Luca’s own majestic, eye-catching mecha shot out into the open air, moving considerably faster than standard manual mechas.

Hell, they were even faster than most of the combination mechas the cadets had ever seen!

The sheer speed and fluidity of their movements were so breathtaking that people kept scrambling toward whichever viewport offered the clearest view.

Because somehow, the battleship’s cameras simply couldn’t do justice to the spectacular sight of DG’s sudden arrival sending the enemy mechas scattering!

And then, sure enough, the members of DG did something that most ordinary cadets wouldn’t even dream of attempting.

They charged straight toward the incoming enemy barrage!

"Holy shit!" someone yelled.

Several cadets instinctively raised their arms to shield their faces, already bracing themselves for what they were certain would be a catastrophic collision.

But the familiar rocking of the vessel that should’ve followed the impact never came.

Instead, they watched in stunned disbelief as Jax’s massive mecha positioned itself directly in front of the battleship, bringing its two massive tower shields together to project an enormous, glowing energy barrier!

The protective field spread far beyond the shields’ physical dimensions, intercepting the incoming artillery before it could even reach the vessel’s defenses.

BOOOOM!

A blinding explosion swallowed the mecha whole!

"!!!"

For a moment, the onlookers could barely see anything beyond the violent collision of spiritual energy.

But when the light finally cleared, what greeted them was the sight of that same towering mecha suit standing perfectly motionless in its original position.

Not a single visible scratch marred its magnificent frame!

The heavy spiritual attacks that had been threatening to overwhelm an actual military battleship hadn’t even managed to make it buckle!

"..."

The cadets lining the observation bays fell into breathless silence.

And before anyone could properly recover from that ridiculous sight, something even more absurd happened.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Three of the enemy mechas pursuing the battleship from afar suddenly suffered devastating blows, their armored frames buckling and rupturing under the impact!

"WHAT?!"

Their reaction was hardly surprising. None of them had seen anything approaching those three mechas, and even their radars hadn’t detected a thing!

But surely those three hadn’t just decided to self-destruct for no reason, had they?

Especially when the damage they’d sustained looked exactly like the aftermath of a direct artillery hit!

"Wait... where the hell did Xavier’s mecha go?!" a cadet suddenly shouted, frantically searching the sky.

Only then did the others realize that the shadow-draped machine had somehow vanished from sight.

But before anyone could figure out where it had gone, another startled cry erupted from the opposite side of the observation bay.

"Over there!"

The cadets hurriedly turned, only to practically recoil when they realized that Luca’s dazzling mecha had already appeared directly in front of the enemy’s primary formation!

"!!!"

When the hell had he gotten there?!

Hadn’t that machine been right beside the others only a moment ago?!

The proctors watching from the bridge were witnessing the exact same spectacle, and the examiner who’d received the unexpected authorization from Military HQ suddenly felt his terminal growing considerably heavier on his wrist.

Because he was finally beginning to understand why the Marshal’s office had been willing to issue such an absurd blanket authorization in the first place.

These weren’t merely talented cadets who could hold their own against experienced soldiers.

They were monsters!

And with people like these taking the field, perhaps the authorities ought to be far more concerned about whether there would even be any enemies left alive to interrogate by the time the reinforcements arrived!

Still...

As impressive as their performance was, one glaring problem remained.

Numbers.

With the rest of DG’s members scattered across Caldris Minor-7, they didn’t even have enough active mechas at their disposal to count on all five fingers!

And while these guys had already demonstrated capabilities far beyond anything the proctors had expected, the enemy force was still considerably larger.

So... were they seriously supposed to start looking for the rest of them?!