Chapter 345: Orb Defense Battle 5
Just as Juri was about to be the last one to switch to her beam saber, a Strike Dagger had already rushed right up in front of them.
She was caught off guard and slammed to the ground by the charging Strike Dagger, which rammed her with its shield.
Asagi immediately raised her beam rifle and fired a green beam from behind the Strike Dagger, piercing straight through its cockpit.
Mayura raised her shield and rushed in front of Juri, protecting her as she said, "Juri, be careful. Watch yourself."
"Thanks, Mayura. I'll be more careful."
Even with assistance from the PX system, this was the first real combat experience for Asagi, Juri, and Mayura. When forced into close-quarters combat, a bit of panic was unavoidable.
However, they quickly adjusted their rhythm. Fighting as a three-person team—two in front blocking and attacking, with one in the rear taking opportunistic shots—they successfully held back the Earth Alliance MS units advancing along their defensive line.
Unfortunately, pilots on other defensive lines were not as capable, and some Strike Daggers managed to break through and enter the inland bases.
Fortunately, Kira arrived in time. Piloting the Freedom Gundam, he unleashed another full-barrage, map-clearing attack, destroying the weapons and heads of a large number of Strike Daggers.
After finishing that volley, he targeted the Strike Daggers that were positioned too close to the M1 Astray units for safe ranged fire.
Kira dropped the shield from the Freedom Gundam while airborne, drew beam sabers in both hands, and charged down, slicing through the Strike Daggers and instantly turning them into MS wreckage.
Once he cleared that attack route of enemy MS units, Kira retrieved the shield, deployed the ten wing binders on Freedom's back to enter high-mobility aerial combat mode, and sped off to another defensive line to assist.
Asagi, Juri, and Mayura stared at Kira's retreating figure, all three blurting out in unison, "That's amazing." ×3
At the same time, Mu also arrived on the battlefield in the Perfect Strike, heading straight for the area where the Earth Alliance's airborne landing forces had just deployed.
He raised the ultra–high-energy pulse cannon and used sustained beam fire to attack several Strike Daggers hiding nearby, instantly skewering three of them in one continuous blast.
The remaining Strike Daggers immediately scattered, attempting to escape.
However, they had already been locked onto by the Huayan. After a barrage of blue laser beams, the remaining MS units were completely wiped out.
"Whoa, this battleship's firepower is insane. Even the automated defensive turrets use beam weapons," Mu muttered in admiration after glancing at the Huayan. Then he quickly corrected himself, "No, no—this is no time to get distracted on the battlefield. I should head back to the coastline to support them."
With that, Mu piloted the Perfect Strike back toward the coastal defense zone, intercepting further Strike Dagger incursions.
He arrived above the defensive line held by Asagi, Juri, and Mayura and fired another sustained ultra–high-energy pulse beam at the newly advancing Strike Daggers.
As the beam swept across the area, three more Strike Daggers were instantly destroyed.
Mu then landed in a half-kneeling pose in front of the exploding wrecks, pulling off a classic "real man doesn't look back at explosions" move.
"Well? Pretty stylish, right?" Mu said smugly to Asagi, Juri, and Mayura. Then he warned them, "I'm just a rookie like you, you know. But now's not the time to be sightseeing. If you keep spacing out, the enemy will be right on top of you, ladies."
"Yes, understood!" ×3
Asagi, Juri, and Mayura immediately refocused, raising their beam rifles and firing at the distant MS landing forces.
At that moment, the Huayan flew in at low altitude and arrived at the coastline. Prompted by Nami, Lynn Minmay spoke to the three girls, "Your energy and ammo should be running low, right? Come aboard for resupply. We'll hold the line here for now."
Already familiar with her, Juri nodded right away. "Thank you, Captain Minmay. We'll dock for resupply immediately."
Watching the three of them leave under the Huayan's heavy fire cover, Mu said enviously, "Oh? A female captain too—and so young.
Those three ladies get to rest and resupply already. Must be nice. Looks like I'll have to keep holding the line a bit longer."
After entering the Huayan's hangar, a large group of Haros carrying maintenance robots rushed over, resupplying and performing quick repairs on their units.
Three service Haros also delivered water and nutritional energy bars directly into their cockpits.
After using the cockpit facilities, the three pilots returned to the battlefield in their fully resupplied M1 Astray Gundams equipped with the Tempest packs, resuming their defensive duties.
On another front, the Archangel continued to engage the Earth Alliance's aerial forces, firing anti-air missiles and linear cannons at incoming aircraft.
At that moment, the three Boosted Men charged straight toward the Archangel.
Clotho said curiously, "Hey, is that thing over there? Is it that white one?"
Orga replied impatiently, "You're so noisy. Who cares if it is? Just shoot it down."
Shani wore a twisted grin as he laughed. "Yeah, yeah—just blow them all up! Hahahaha!"
The Archangel's radar detected them immediately, and Rommel reported, "Enemy MS… no, MA units are approaching!"
Before Murrue could issue any orders, Orga launched the first attack.
Using the Calamity Gundam's back-mounted 'Skewer' twin high-energy long-range beam cannons and the chest-mounted 'Scylla' multi-phase energy cannon, he unleashed two green beams and one whitish-red beam in a sustained barrage.
Murrue immediately commanded, "Hard starboard! Evade!"
The Archangel swiftly maneuvered aside, narrowly avoiding all three beams.
However, an Orb warship behind it was not so fortunate—it was struck directly by the beams and exploded before sinking.
Clotho said seriously to Orga, "You missed! Orga, you're terrible."
Orga retorted angrily, "You're the one who wouldn't fly steady! That's why I missed. Now let me down already—once we're on land, I won't miss again."
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