Chapter 158 Close Combat Foundations
As expected, Eliana and Elise Wang's group of a thousand mechas each found a huge bunch of enemies hiding within the massive wreckages!
Chaos instantly erupted around the battlefield as thousands of mechas started screaming and shouting and cursing, all the while hammering away at each other with all of their strengths.
I had no idea what Sheera Lin did and how in the bloody hell she managed to do it so quickly, but the massive commotion that arose in Eliana and Elise Wang's battles died down extremely quickly!
A mere ten minutes after the massive roar of clashing mechas erupted, a strange silence descended upon the battlefield!
At that time, I did not pay the battlefield too much attention because I was having the time of my life.
Most of the remaining five hundred mechas had retreated by then, and only five enemies were left.
However, the five of them were probably the best of the best in the second grade because damn it!
They were good!
Zac Long, like most of the Long Family kids, was impeccable and extremely all rounded in his abilities.
However, he must be a devil king in the second grade because all four of his companions were freaking demons!
I remember that particular fight as clearly as though it happened just yesterday.
I was in a state of extreme excitement over my rapidly rising skill level in mecha close combat, and all that happened in that fight were etched within my brain like so many godly commands engraved upon stone tablets.
Their strategy was devilishly simple.
Zac Long fought against me one on one to completely tie me up, while the other four took position in the four cardinal directions around us.
Wherever Zac and I danced to, all four demons kept their positions around us.
And due to that, there was always one of them who had free access to unload all of his or her attacks on my unguarded back.
"Bastards! Bastards!" I cried out with all of the bitterness and indignance my heart could muster as I dodged this way and that way to evade the attacks launched by Zac Long and the three mechas I could see.
All the while, the final mecha behind me attacked me again and again and again!
Wham! Bam! Bam! Bam!
I had no choice but to inject a little bit more of my red mecha energy to bolster my rear armor!
If I didn't do that, I would have definitely died in that first minute of engagement.
"I need to figure out a way out of this formation." I thought with great determination and no small amount of shamelessness as I weathered the powerful attacks landing on my back very easily.
"Rotate." Zac Long calmly instructed and like well oiled cogs of a machine, all four mechas around us suddenly rotated clockwise, and a new member of the quintet started to hack and slash away at my back.
All five of them were individually extremely skilled pilots. Although they were not very close to Sherry Lin's godly level, they were not that far behind either.
However, when all five worked together as one, the pressure they emitted was actually higher than Sherry Lin's!
Sherry Lin would definitely not agree, of course. And knowing her, she will probably challenge Zac Long's group straight after reading this, our demonic enemies be damned.
And at this moment, considering her current skill set, she might even win.
But at that moment in that battlefield, fifteen long years ago, Zac Long's quintet was a more difficult enemy for me than Sherry Lin.
They left absolutely no gap in their flawless sequential attacks and they left no error unpunished, no unguarded openings unravaged.
Without my red energy, I would have died a thousand times over in that fight!
However, I did have the red energy, and I did not die.
I shamelessly stood my ground and ate up their attacks, all the while continuing to dodge, evade and try to counter attack.
And after five minutes, I had yet to land a hit on any of them! They were really, really good!
All of my attempts to counter attack would either be very deftly redirected or evaded.
They did not even try to block my attacks! They probably knew that I would be able to unleash incredibly powerful attacks, and that even blocking might still cause them to take fatal damage.
So they deflected my attacks very skilfully.
I assume that I do not have to explain just how exponentially more difficult deflecting attacks are compared to merely blocking them?
Blocking an attack is simply eating up the attack by allowing a more powerful defence to negate that attack.
Shields can do that, or maybe even a powerful arm.
However, deflecting calls for a precisely timed and accurately placed counter attack to redirect my attack!
They were insanely strong.
A portion of my heart was dismayed at my utter inability to inflict damage on them.
However for the most part, I was exhilarated.
Because once more, I could feel my skill level rising!
None of the beautiful moves unleashed by all five of them escaped my senses.
I could see, hear and feel their movements very clearly, and the textbook maneuvers which those movements took after flashed in my mind as well.
I was learning from them, and learning at a very frighteningly fast pace.
One second Zac Long would execute a beautiful move to dodge my counter attack, and in the next second, I would be executing the exact same move to dodge his buddy's attack.
His buddy would attack me at a very sneaky angle and successfully land what should be a powerful crippling blow against my impenetrable armor, and in the next moment, I would be using that exact same move against Zac!
It was experiential learning at its finest.
The foundations of my incredible close combat skills that I had been exhibiting all these years even in times where I was not able to use my red energy was solidly formed that day.
I owe Zac Long my gratitude.
For being such an excellent punching bag!
Haha!