MG - Chapter 366: Secret Weapon? (Patreon)

Meanwhile, Imperial Scale and Stella still hadn't managed to shake off the Hunters pursuing them.

Although the logistics Mecha Girls had volunteered to stay behind and cover their retreat, they weren't from the Armed Forces Department. Even though they had been granted permission to lift [Regulation Two of the Mecha Girl Restrictions], they weren't combat personnel and were no match for the Hunters.

Two Hunters easily suppressed them, while the third continued pursuing Imperial Scale and Stella.

BOOM—!

The ground shattered, spraying mud and water everywhere.

An icy killing intent surged toward them from behind.

Imperial Scale ducked beneath a deep blue scythe and gently shoved Stella aside.

"Stella, go!"

She spun around and unleashed a vicious roundhouse kick that cracked through the air.

The Hunter that had ambushed her crossed its twin blades to block the strike. Even after taking the blow, it was forced several steps backward.

Beneath its pallid ram-headed mask, its cold eyes flickered with surprise.

It was hard to imagine that a Mecha Girl who was still only a reservist could possess such terrifying strength.

Stella was in no condition to fight right now. She knew that staying beside Imperial Scale would only make her a burden.

So she backed away on her own while scanning their surroundings, searching for anything that might help Imperial Scale.

Imperial Scale seized the moment while the Hunter was visible from attacking and lunged at it.

Amid the pouring rain, Imperial Scale and the Hunter darted back and forth. The Hunter moved like a ghost, while Imperial Scale fought with powerful, sweeping attacks.

Within only a few breaths, they had already exchanged dozens of blows.

CRACK—!

A bolt of lightning lit the surroundings as bright as day.

Their shadows flashed across the ground.

The lightning lasted only an instant.

As its light faded, the Hunter disappeared once again.

Its body became almost completely transparent, making its movements even harder to track.

Imperial Scale could only barely determine its position from the way the falling rain distorted around it.

"This is bad."

Imperial Scale gritted her teeth and frowned, keeping her gaze firmly locked on the elusive Hunter as she turned with its movements.

After their brief exchange, she understood perfectly well that she wasn't its equal.

The fight might have looked evenly matched, but the Hunter had been completely at ease.

It had merely been playing with her like a cat toying with a mouse.

Now it seemed to have lost patience.

It entered a true hunting stance, like a venomous snake coiled and ready to strike.

More importantly, if the Hunter suddenly turned and went after Stella, Imperial Scale wouldn't be able to stop it.

"Die! Hehehe!"

The Hunter gave a sinister laugh.

Its silhouette flickered like a ghost before suddenly lunging at Imperial Scale from the side.

It had no intention of wasting any more time on her. The electromagnetic shield was already gone, which meant their positions would soon be exposed.

Their lives might not be worth much, but if they could survive, why would they choose to die?

A deep blue blade suddenly appeared directly in front of Imperial Scale's face.

The strike was fast, vicious, and came from an awkward angle.

Imperial Scale could barely make out the cold gleam of its tip.

She raised a hand, trying to trap the blade between her fingers while leaning backward.

But she was already a fraction too slow.

Swish!

The blade went straight for her throat.

BANG!

At that exact moment, a rock nearly half as tall as a person came flying in from the side.

The Hunter was startled and immediately withdrew its blade, jumping backward.

It coldly glanced to the side and spotted its other target.

The Mecha Girl who had fallen from the cliff was still in a throwing pose.

Clearly, she had thrown the rock.

"Then I'll kill you first!"

The Hunter snorted and abandoned Imperial Scale, turning toward Stella instead.

When Stella saw it charging at her with its weapon raised, she shrieked in terror, spun around, and ran.

Imperial Scale immediately tried to chase after them.

But the fall from such a great height had still taken a toll on her legs. Combined with the intense fight against the Hunter, she had barely taken a few steps before excruciating pain tore through them.

Her legs gave out.

Imperial Scale crashed into the mud.

Stella wasn't doing much better.

She limped desperately ahead, but compared to the Hunter, she might as well have been crawling like a snail.

As the Hunter closed in with murderous intent, Stella panicked and pulled out every pineapple shell she had hidden on her body, throwing them at it one after another.

The Hunter had already been preparing to strike.

But the instant it saw the pineapple shells, the words of the [Star Drivers] flashed through its mind.

[Be especially careful of those yellow, round, spiky secret weapons they use!]

Hmm...

Yellow.

Round.

Spiky.

Wasn't that exactly what this Mecha Girl was throwing at it?

The Hunter didn't dare block them directly.

It dodged left and right, even retreating far away in case the pineapple shells suddenly exploded.

It did have its doubts.

There wasn't even the slightest trace of energy coming from the pineapple shells. They were basically inert objects no different from rocks.

Could something like this really be a secret weapon used by Mecha Girls?

But the [Star Drivers] were wise.

They were its commanding officers.

Their warnings had to be taken seriously.

After all that dodging, the distance between Stella and the Hunter widened again.

Stella finally gained a moment to catch her breath.

Unfortunately, she had also run out of pineapple shells.

The Hunter immediately closed in again and cautiously eyed Stella.

"You're out of secret weapons now, aren't you?!"

"Secret weapons?!"

Stella tilted her head, completely confused.

"Then die!"

The Hunter raised its long blade and swung straight down toward Stella's neck.

"Ah! Master!!"

Stella's pupils contracted as she instinctively threw up an arm to protect herself.

At that moment...

CLANG—!

A sharp metallic impact rang out, accompanied by the Hunter's muffled grunt.

The long blade was knocked violently from its hand and landed off to the side.

Its cold eyes immediately turned toward a nearby ridge.

Two figures were standing there.

"Whoa~~ Comet, your aim keeps getting better and better."

Caio Yang stood casually beside Comet and poked her in the waist.

Comet was bracing an enormous silver-white sniper rifle with an unmistakably futuristic design and a caliber comparable to a cannon.

This was her signature weapon, [Silver Comet].

Any Mecha Girl who placed in the top ten at the provincial-level Panlong Mountain Circuit earned one opportunity to enter Mecha Island and have [Regulation Two of the Mecha Girl Restrictions] lifted.

As long as she had no history of harming humans and passed a few simple assessments, she would then be able to activate her own signature weapon whenever she wished.

"Um, Master... I was actually aiming for that monster's head."

Comet's face flushed, though the rain made it difficult to see.

"What? What?!"

Caio Yang stared at her in shock.

"You were aiming for its head?!"

He compared the Hunter's head with the position of its blade.

They were a full meter apart!

His knees nearly gave out.

"For the love of God, please don't accidentally shoot Stella or Imperial Scale!"

Comet's mouth twitched.

Sure, her aim wasn't great, but it wasn't so bad that she'd shoot her own allies.

The Hunter standing in the middle of the area, however, was growing nervous.

"Calling the Starbreaker. A top-tier Mecha Girl with an awakened signature weapon has arrived as reinforcement. Should we withdraw?"

Stella scrambled back to her feet and shouted toward Comet.

"Shoot it! Shoot it! It's trying to run!!"

After tattling on it, she immediately retreated more than ten meters away.

The Hunter fell silent.

Void Hearts were extremely valuable resources to both Mecha Girls and humans.

According to the orders of the [Star Drivers], a Void Heart could never be left behind in this world.

That meant whenever a Hunter encountered danger, it had only two choices.

Retreat, or resort to more extreme measures.

If the [Star Drivers] ordered it to retreat, it would leave immediately.

If they ordered it to stay, it would cut down the Mecha Girl in front of it and then destroy its own Void Heart.

But no reply came from the warship.

Only static.

The signal had been cut off.

Not by the Mecha Girls.

By the [Star Drivers].

They...

had apparently been abandoned.

The Hunter froze for a moment as that realization sank in.

In the distance, the corner of Comet's mouth curled upward.

She brought her right eye to the scope and locked onto the semi-transparent Hunter.

"Stella, you little brat...

"Nice dodge~"

BANG—!