Kulturo Appears—Please Follow and Bookmark

The sky was overcast and dark.

Thick black clouds hung low, bearing the signs of an approaching storm.

Piercing alarms blared along the coastline, carrying far into the distance. Many people living or vacationing near the coast received alerts on their smart devices. Those who had not seen the notifications also understood what was about to happen when they heard the shrill alarms! Over the past decade, countries had established a certain degree of preventive measures against Kaiju attacks. Though when faced with the sudden assaults of Kaiju, those measures were often delayed and unreliable.

People within the alert zone immediately fled in every direction. Those with vehicles rushed toward them, while those without were urged by the loudspeakers of officials patrolling the coastline, shoving through the crowd and racing for their lives toward the designated shelters.

The distant sea surged with violent waves, as though some colossal creature beneath the surface was about to raise its head. The next moment, amid terrified cries and the scrambling flight of the crowd, a gigantic beast with a ferocious horned head and a lean, gorilla-like upright body erupted from the sea in a tremendous spray. Its heavy, mountain-like body split the waves apart, its footsteps pounding against the ground with earthquake-like force as it rapidly approached the coastline.

Massive amounts of seawater splashed in every direction like rain as the colossal beast emerged. The black clouds overhead seemed to hang even lower; from afar, the Kaiju appeared almost tall enough to touch them.

True to a giant beast's Style of Action, the Kaiju began by violently demolishing a cluster of nearby buildings, displaying its destructive power for all to see while incidentally making a modest contribution to the business of contractors specializing in post-disaster reconstruction in this new era.

Even though the specially stationed military forces rushed over at top speed, they could only attack the already-landed Kaiju with their weapons to draw its attention while arranging for personnel to cover the panicked civilians' evacuation and clear the battlefield. However, this newly appeared Category IV Kaiju, named Huoda by the PPDC, possessed extraordinarily strong defenses. Even specialized anti-Kaiju weapons merely enraged it, making it howl twice in pain before becoming even more ferocious.

Buzzz!

The thunderous roar of engines drew closer, blending into Huoda's howls.

Beneath the black clouds, sixteen heavy transport helicopters arrived in spectacular fashion, carrying two gigantic metal giants beneath them with their own engine roars as background music.

As they neared the battlefield, the cables suspending the two Jaegers from the sixteen helicopters snapped loose. One red and one black humanoid mech crashed down, sending up sprays of water dozens of meters high in the shallow sea.

The red one was the Fourth-Generation Jaeger Crimson Typhoon, equipped with three Mechanical Arms.

The black one was made of sharply angular metal blocks. Its two massive chest plates, especially, bulged like pectoral muscles. Its overall design resembled a powerful martial arts master—the Third-Generation Jaeger Shaolin Rogue. Its construction style and supporting Operating System were completely combat-oriented.

Huoda sensed the threat. It turned around, looked at Crimson Typhoon charging toward it in a fighting stance, and let out an enraged roar. Light flashed within its open maw as its powerful arms smashed into the ground. Instead of retreating, it charged straight at Crimson Typhoon.

Buzzz!

Hiss!

As Crimson Typhoon twisted its body, its three arms swung with agility. Three rapidly spinning circular saw blades swept across Huoda's chest and back in an instant.

Scalding blue blood, highly toxic, sprayed from the wounds.

"Did you feel that?"

"Its armor is incredibly tough."

"Be careful. Don't press forward until we find its weakness."

Crimson Typhoon's three pilots, triplets linked through the Drift System, instantly sensed one another's thoughts and became even more agile.

PPDC Headquarters.

Shatterdome.

"The situation isn't good. This Kaiju's armor is far too strong; it'll be difficult to inflict a fatal wound. Shaolin Rogue and Crimson Typhoon probably won't be able to end the battle quickly." After receiving the data transmitted back by Crimson Typhoon's system, Cai Tiantong, the PPDC's Chief Technology Officer for Jaegers, gave a grim assessment in just a few seconds.

Hearing this, PPDC Marshal Stacker Pentecost, who stood beside him watching the battlefield projected on the Virtual Screen, had an already dark expression that turned even darker. His face grew more solemn.

The battle continued.

With its Fighting Master System, Shaolin Rogue nearly went berserk as it unleashed a barrage of heavy punches on Huoda. The two colossal beings seemed to have lost their heads, trading blows and hurting each other. Yet Huoda's armor was clearly absurdly strong. Although Shaolin Rogue's fists made it howl in pain again and again, it never fell.

What frustrated Shaolin Rogue's pilots even more was that Huoda's strength was just as unfair as its armor! Even if they dodged five times, being hit just once made them feel as though they were about to be sent flying despite the steel spikes anchoring their feet to the ground. The shock was simply awful! If Shaolin Rogue's armor had not also met the required standard, and if Crimson Typhoon had not repeatedly come to their rescue during critical moments, inflicting damage on Huoda and threatening it time after time, then during that perilous minute of fighting, they would have thought they were about to die.

Yet now, although Huoda appeared to be wounded in many places, its injuries grotesque and severe, the pilots of both Jaegers felt no relief. Instead, their hearts grew even heavier.

The PPDC had clearly reminded them once again that Huoda's vital signs had not weakened. In other words, the damage they had desperately inflicted looked terrible, but had not actually struck its weakness. Put another way, they seemed to hold the upper hand, but were actually at a disadvantage. If they could not defeat it quickly, no one could predict what accident might happen next.

After all, every new Kaiju represented an enormous unknown risk. Especially when they did not yet know whether it possessed any unique abilities! Based on the few previous cases, a Category IV Kaiju was highly likely to possess some kind of special ability!

"Commander, the Marine Government has sent a communication requesting permission for a new Jaeger to connect to the PPDC's Jaeger combat system and join the battle."

At PPDC Headquarters, Cai Tiantong's gaze darted between the Virtual Screens as he rapidly processed the various streams of incoming data and organized them. Suddenly, his pupils widened. With surprise and disbelief in his voice, he shouted.

"A new Jaeger? Didn't the Jaeger project stop receiving funds to build new ones four years ago?" Stacker Pentecost was startled. He quickly asked, "I've never received any project application or notification from them concerning the construction of a new Jaeger!"

"It's Shao Industries!" Cai Tiantong quickly opened the information and projected the text into the air.

Sixth-Generation Jaeger Kulturo

Builder: Shao Industries

Technology Provider: Dr. Luke Field

PS: There are no pictures of the Kaiju Huoda. There are two pictures of Shaolin Rogue. One is fan-made; it is the first result when you search Shaolin Rogue on Baidu. The other is a more agile-looking orange version that I found on Baidu Baike. The fan-made one was chosen here.

PS: If anyone wants pictures, mention it at the end of the chapter. If people want to see them, I'll figure out how to post them... or readers can post pictures themselves.