Vertical Strike

In Squad 1655's defense zone, the battle was raging in Sector Six. The defense zone of each Azure frontline squad was quite vast, so above Sector Six at this moment, the rescue helicopter was still nowhere to be seen, nor was there even the sound of rotors. From within the battle array, Captain Liu Feng could faintly hear the communications soldier shouting at the top of his lungs from the rear, but he could not make out the words, nor did he have time to ask. *They should be arriving soon. At least they've entered our zone.* Captain Liu felt a slight sense of relief, yet he dared not slacken his combat focus in the slightest. In truth, they could barely hold out any longer. "Hold the line, everyone! Just a little longer—reinforcements are almost here!" Liu Feng roared to bolster his team's morale, swinging his blade as he lunged forward once more. Not far behind him. The soldier who had been cursing and calling himself "your grandpa" over the comms was actually quite young, just a green youth lacking in both experience and combat power. After that exchange, his emotional composure had completely shattered. His eyes were bloodshot with rage, and in his panic and desperation, tears streamed down his face even as he cursed. He had failed to catch the rest of the transmission coming from the helicopter... "Comms, comms! We are heading directly toward Sector Six. We will be performing an airborne... leap-drop directly over the battlefield." As the helicopter flew forward, it began descending. Following Han Qingyu's decision, Yang Qingbai had racked his brain and coined a new term—"leap-drop"—to inform the squad below. "A direct leap-drop! Please adjust your formation accordingly to coordinate... Hey, are you there? Are you still listening?!" "Squad 1655?! Respond if you copy... Please hold on a little longer. Focus on defense and survival, we'll be there right away. We have a way down!" There was no response from the transceiver. Only the sound of flying dirt and stone, the explosive clashes of dead iron, and the hoarse shouts of soldiers came through over the line. "Speed up," Han Qingyu said. "Yeah... I'm already at full throttle." Yang Qingbai's voice was heavy. This was his first time actually witnessing the frontline of a sighting, and merely hearing the sounds of battle after the abrupt cut in communication was already difficult for him to handle. Though his hands firmly gripped the controls and his eyes were fixed forward with focus, moisture was beginning to brim in his eyes from sheer anxiety and dread. ... Back on the battlefield. Helpless and at a complete loss, the communications soldier had put away his transceiver, gripping his blade and rushing toward the battle array to find his captain. Behind him as he ran. Less than two hundred meters away, more than a dozen wounded soldiers of Squad 1655 were sitting propped up or lying on the ground. The squad's only two medics were conducting emergency first aid on the spot, stanching the bleeding of a soldier who had just been brought back from the front. In fact, Squad 1655's battle today had gone very smoothly at first. Whether it was the ambush, flushing out the Great Spikes, or dividing and encircling them, everything had been executed almost flawlessly. However, during the ensuing combat, two members in the second array made consecutive footwork and positioning errors, and a third member failed to react with timely and correct damage control. This vastly exceeded the maximum margin of error for an Azure battle array. On the spot, fourteen soldiers were wounded and incapacitated by a single sweeping strike from a Great Spike... Had that column sword swept just a little higher, casualties would have occurred right then and there. At the time, Liu Feng had led part of the first array to mount a swift rescue, barely managing to cover them. The wounded were able to withdraw from the battlefield. At the same time, however, the two Great Spikes that had previously been split up and surrounded managed to link back up. Dividing the two Great Spikes at the start of battle was the core element of an Azure squad's array... Conversely, allowing them to regroup in subsequent combat was a catastrophic failure and crisis. The remaining thirty-one soldiers attempted twice to split them apart again, to no avail, only adding several more wounded to their count. Seeing how dire the situation was, Captain Liu Feng decisively shifted to a defensive formation to stall the two Great Spikes, while ordering a soldier to call for rescue. A fierce struggle. Waiting. By now, only twenty-five soldiers of Squad 1655 were still holding out in the defensive formation, nearly half of them wounded. Fatalities could occur at any second. "Captain," the communications soldier gasped urgently, choked with a slight sob. "Speak!" Liu Feng didn't notice the tremor in his voice; as the linchpin of the defensive array, he could not afford to pause or look back. "They don't know how to parachute! They... and there are only three of them. It's useless!" the soldier cried in frantic disarray. "..." A hesitation of less than a single second cost him—the column sword grazed his shoulder, and blood gushed out. Liu Feng had no capacity for deeper thought, let alone sorting out the logic... Hearing what the soldier said, he assumed something had gone wrong with the rescue mission and that no one was coming. "Captain?!" "Contact Rejecters! Call for another rescue team!" "Yes! But..." *Will there even be enough time?* "Have the medics take the wounded and evacuate... take as many as they can," Liu Feng issued his final order. He wasn't sure if those remaining could hold out until the next rescue arrived. The defensive formation could not be abandoned; the moment it broke and their strength scattered, they would be butchered. "Yes, sir!" With tears streaming down his face, the comms soldier spun around and ran toward the wounded, unclipping the transceiver from his belt once more. At that very moment. *Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud...* The sound of helicopter rotors reached their ears, faint yet audible. The soldiers in the array, who had not heard the exchange between Liu Feng and the comms runner, still didn't dare relax their bodies, yet looks of relief and joy crossed their faces. "They're here?! Didn't they say no one was coming? Why are they here after all?!" Captain Liu Feng was briefly taken aback as well, but he dared not look up, nor did he have time to shout back and question the communications soldier. On the battlefield, a column sword tore through the air. A soldier failed to retreat in time, and Liu Feng erupted forward just in time, slashing at the Great Spike's wrist to buy the soldier room to dodge. *Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud...* The roar of the rotors grew steadily louder. It was too close—sounding as though it were heading directly overhead. And its altitude didn't seem high at all. What on earth was going on? Why hadn't they parachuted into an adjacent sector?! Were they going to fast-rope down?... Even so, they couldn't come in this close! Wasn't that just asking to be killed?! In truth, Liu Feng overestimated Han Qingyu's trio. Fast-roping... they didn't know how to do that either, having never been taught. But if they were already down at fast-roping height... they might as well go a bit lower and just leap straight down. The situation on the battlefield below was now clearly visible. Gripping the control stick, Yang Qingbai kept depressing the altitude. Trembling slightly and not daring to look back, he asked nervously, "What do we do now?" "Lower it just above the treetops—to whatever height is safe for you. Don't push yourself too hard." Han Qingyu reached out and pressed a hand against his shoulder. "Don't panic." "Got it. And then..." "Still no response from them?" "I'll try again." Yang Qingbai spoke into the mic, "Comms, calling comms, Squad 1655..." Han Qingyu turned to look at Rusty Sister and Wu Xu, repeating the airborne tactic they had just discussed: "In a moment, Rusty Sister drops first to deliver the initial impact and draw their attention. Then..." Han Qingyu's current peak combat power was when three and a half source energy turbines were fully engaged and erupting. Three came from his three-dimensional apparatus, liquid source energy, and overflowing vitalized source energy; the remaining half was the bone-source turbine he had only preliminarily mobilized once and had yet to fully master or stabilize. He was carrying metal blocks on him too—carrying them at all times. Yet down below were merely ordinary black-armored Great Spikes, both already wounded after a prolonged battle. Whereas on his side, Squad 1777's three top combatants were arriving together. It likely wouldn't be necessary. ... The helicopter approached low directly overhead. "Tell them they can't come down like this!" Liu Feng shouted behind him at the top of his lungs. In his mind, the rescue team was preparing to make a desperate attempt by fast-roping down directly into the fight. Although he had no idea why they would resort to this, he was desperate to warn them. The communications soldier paused, finally catching Yang Qingbai's transmission. "Hello? What did you say you're going to do?!" He listened for two seconds, then whipped around in shock! "Captain... they're going to jump down!" "What?!" Liu Feng thought he had misheard. "They're telling you to lead the formation back and expand the defensive perimeter!" "..." Having heard it clearly this time, Liu Feng was dumbfounded—he had never encountered such a maneuver in his life. Yang Qingbai began the final countdown over the transceiver: "Prepare to jump-scatter! Five, four..." The comms soldier howled toward the battlefield, relaying the count: "Prepare to jump-scatter! Five, four..." "Jump-scatter" was standard Azure combat terminology, normally used during the final stage when a Great Spike and its shuttle craft were about to self-destruct. It wasn't actually jumping backward, but rather a drilled maneuver involving counter-blocking against the front to trigger a rapid backward spring; because the motion resembled a scattering leap, it had earned that name. Jump-scatter?! Hearing this, Liu Feng hesitated, not daring to follow the command. "Tell them—" "He says his name is Han Qingyu!... One! Jump-scatter!" *Han Qingyu?!*... Liu Feng bellowed, "All hands, jump-scatter!" The well-trained squad soldiers reacted almost purely on muscle memory, executing the drilled motions and controls immediately upon command. The perimeter of the defensive battle array expanded outward. Every soldier engaged in close combat with the Great Spikes, Liu Feng included, broke away and pulled back. Then, reflexively, they looked up. The helicopter was already hovering right above the treetops. "*Whoa!*" That was the only sound they managed to make throughout the entire sequence that followed. In the air, a figure in iron armor flashing with blue light dropped straight out of the helicopter door. *Whoosh!* Source energy erupted in midair, bursting into blinding speed. The iron armor shot like a bullet toward one of the Great Spikes. *Whoosh—* Belatedly noticing the threat, the Great Spike swung its column sword diagonally upward. *Clang—whir!* Drawing her blade mid-fall, the iron-clad figure gripped the long sword with both hands, swinging it in a sweeping, ferocious arc to cleave downward through the sky. *Boom!* Long blade slammed into column sword. The iron armor was driven back through the air. The Great Spike, meanwhile, was blasted backward, staggering violently. At the same time, the other Great Spike lunged from behind toward Rusty Sister before she had even touched the ground. Squad 1655's warning shouts were still trapped in their throats, caught before they could make a sound. The iron suit in their sights had already reacted. Hanging inverted midair, her deceptively heavy frame flipped with lightning speed and flawless fluidity—head down, legs up, hooking backward—a kick as fast as lightning smashing directly into the pursuing Great Spike's face! *Bang!* The Great Spike was knocked back. The iron armor hit the ground, knees bending slightly before she straightened up, standing resolute in a sideways stance. The transition between blade strike and kick had taken less than two seconds. *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* Two explosive roars of three-dimensional apparatuses resonated in midair. To one side, a black spear cleaved the wind, thrusting straight toward the crown of the first Great Spike that Shen Yixiu had repelled. Still stumbling, the Great Spike reacted just in time to jerk its head aside. *Chrrk!* The spear glanced off-center and pierced deep into its chest. "Hss-aaoooww!" The Great Spike threw back its head, letting out a rasping screech. Still airborne, Wu Xu released both hands from the Binggu Spear, drew the heavy sword from behind his shoulder with his right hand, and spun his body to execute a horizontal cleave... *Krrrk!* The heavy sword cleaved clean through the armor plating. Burying itself nearly halfway through the Great Spike's neck. On the other side. The second Great Spike facing Han Qingyu, though kicked in the face by Rusty Sister, was still in relatively good condition. Han Qingyu dropped down before it. The Great Spike swung its arm, brandishing its column sword. And yet... Han Qingyu was not falling by gravity alone; driven by twin turbines, he was already right in front of the Great Spike's face. Suspended in midair, his arms aligned to one side, holding twin blades in parallel. Using the rotation of his torso to drive his arms, pivoting around his entire body, Han Qingyu slashed clockwise from his rear right to his front left... *Whoosh!* At high-speed detonation, the twin blades cracked through the air with a sonic boom. *Boom, crunch!* One blade into the face. One blade into the neck. Cleaving straight through. Then, descending from the front, a vertical cleave straight down upon its crown. Two more blades hacked into the Great Spike's chest, slicing downward. He landed. *Creeeak, creeeak... crack-crack-crack-crack...* Self-destruction was imminent. The soldiers of Squad 1655... stood there as one, utterly speechless. Yet each harbored thoughts of their own: *Is it over?* *Is this... a vertical strike?!* *Never leap into the air, never jump...* *Wait, what?!*