Chapter 344: Orb Defense Battle 4
Suddenly, the Windam Dagger leapt onto the back of the MA-form Raider Gundam Aerial Assault Type, while the Sword Calamity jumped onto the Forbidden Blue. All four units charged straight toward the Astray Gundam Zero.
Tolle licked his lips and said, "Huh? All of you are coming straight at me? That's strange.
My unit isn't even nuclear-powered, yet you're sending four machines to gang up on me. That's giving me way too much credit.
But since you're all targeting me, I'll reluctantly take you all in.
Anyway, these machines aren't like the Three Boosted Brats' Gundams—no real plot importance. Taking them shouldn't be a problem."
"Nami, same as usual. In a moment, help me swap the ammo in the twin-barrel Gatling guns and perform shallow assimilation on all four units.
Check who's piloting them, and pack all of them up to take home."
"Yes, Master. Mission guaranteed. I'll add four more collectibles to your collection."
"You really do understand me best, Nami. Next, help me activate the PX system. I'll have some fun with them."
"Understood, Master."
At the same time as activating the PX system, Tolle also enabled the concentrated-focus command as a precaution, aiming to finish them off within an hour.
The longer this dragged on, the greater the burden on him—not just in terms of unit energy consumption, but also the massive damage Orb's territory would continue to suffer.
When the four units reached the coastline, Tolle immediately maneuvered the Astray Gundam Zero, raising the twin-barrel Gatling guns in both hands, while the two Gatling guns on its back also locked onto their targets.
All four Gatling guns fired in a synchronized salvo. Flames burst from the barrels as streams of shells turned into blazing lines of fire, tearing through the air toward the four enemy units at high speed.
Faced with the fierce barrage, all four pilots were forced to evade at once. The Windam Dagger and Sword Calamity jumped down simultaneously, sprinting along the coastline while constantly dodging.
Before long, however, shells disguised by Neo DG cells struck all four units. Through this, Tolle identified exactly who their pilots were.
Piloting the Forbidden Blue Gundam was "White Whale," Jane Houston.
Piloting the Sword Calamity Gundam was "Ripper Ed," Edward Harrelson.
Piloting the Windam Dagger was "Sakura Burst," Rena Imelia.
Piloting the Raider Gundam Aerial Assault Type was "Shining Ominous Star J," John Kelly.
Tolle sighed. If "Moonlight Mad Dog," Morgan Chevalier, were also here, then all five ace pilots of the Earth Alliance would have gathered in one place.
The only thing that surprised Tolle was John Kelly, the traitorous Coordinator. At this point, wasn't he supposed to have been captured at the Panama Base? How did he end up here piloting the Blue Raider Gundam instead?
Then again, Kelly's piloting skills were indeed solid. Even when flying a Strike Dagger, he had once fought Isaac—who was piloting the Duel Gundam with Assault Shroud—to a near standstill.
As for Jane and Rena, those two beauties weren't bad at all. After some conditioning, handing them over to Mu as compensation would be perfect.
That left Edward, the straightforward and decent guy. Tolle decided not to bother too much—he could count as a bonus extra.
After all four Gatling guns ran out of ammunition, Tolle discarded the twin-barrel Gatling guns from both hands, letting them fall to the ground.
His right hand switched to a beam rifle–beam saber integrated weapon, while his left hand drew a beam saber. He charged straight toward the Windam Dagger.
Tolle understood the principle well—pick on the weakest first. When a fight breaks out, you take out the backline.
But it was four against one. Rena immediately pulled the Windam Dagger back at high speed, while the other three instantly moved to support one another.
Edward accelerated as well, sprinting forward to assist. Upon closing in, he swung the two beam anti-ship swords of the Sword Calamity, slashing toward the Astray Zero.
John Kelly transformed back into MS mode, raised his machine cannon, and opened fire at the Astray Zero.
Jane drove the Forbidden Blue straight to the front of the Windam Dagger, using the twin shoulder-mounted shields to block Tolle's beam rifle fire.
Seeing the situation turning unfavorable, Tolle immediately pushed his thrusters to full output and performed a backward leap, disengaging from their attack range to look for another chance to cut into the backline.
He raised his beam rifle, firing continuously at the Sword Calamity while moving closer to the Raider Aerial Assault Type. Then he swung the beam saber in his left hand, slashing straight at its wing.
Kelly wasn't as lucky as Rena. One wing of the Raider Aerial Assault Type was severed, costing him the ability to transform back into MA mode to escape.
However, the Windam Dagger immediately raised its electromagnetic cannon and beam rifle, launching suppressive fire at Tolle to cover the Raider's retreat.
The Forbidden Blue also raised the machine cannons mounted on its shields, firing at the Astray Zero.
The Sword Calamity locked onto the Astray Zero and hurled its beam boomerangs in an intercepting attack.
Tolle could only retreat again, firing as he jumped backward to widen the distance and continue searching for an opening.
The four of them remained locked in a prolonged exchange with Tolle, constantly entangled and probing, with neither side able to decisively break through.
Some might ask: since they were already assimilated by Neo DG cells, why not just take control of them and end it all right there? Why put himself through this punishment?
The answer lay with Tolle himself. He was still only a B-rank pilot. Without pushing himself, how could he advance to A-rank as soon as possible?
Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to pilot so many A-rank units. Even if he did, he wouldn't be able to bring out 100% of their performance. Forcing it might even be worse than sticking with a B-rank unit like he was now.
It was like that fool who had an S-rank solar furnace unit—Exia—but flew it as if it were only A− rank, maybe not even that. He still ended up getting beaten badly by Graham Aker in a customized Flag.
That was the gap in piloting skill. A Gundam's true weakness lay in its pilot. If Tolle wanted to make up for this shortcoming, the only way was to push himself by taking on four ace pilots at once and temper his own skills through self-imposed hardship.
On another front, Asagi, Juri, and Mayura raised their beam rifles and attacked the Strike Daggers that had landed on the coastline.
However, the Earth Alliance pilots raised their shields to block the beam rifle fire while drawing their beam sabers and charging straight at them.
Juri said urgently, "This isn't good. If they keep defending like this, using beam rifles will only waste our energy.
Mayura, you and I switch to beam sabers and engage them directly.
Asagi, keep using your beam rifle to provide covering fire and suppress them."
"Roger!" Asagi and Mayura immediately maneuvered their M1 Astrays to cover each other. Mayura slung her beam rifle back onto the rear waist mount and drew her beam saber.
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