However, though Norris rarely fought on the front lines these days, he was no rookie.
Even though he had already decided to retreat, he didn't hurry to pull back. Instead, he eased off the pressure and kicked at the Gundam's leg.
That way, even the Gundam couldn't escape the limitations of its humanoid frame. The kick sent it stumbling.
Eli immediately pulled back on the controls, trying to regain his balance.
But the Zaku had already pressed its attack, having seized the initiative.
Eli didn't bother trying to get back up. Instead, he opened the backpack on his suit.
With the powerful thrust, Eli's Gundam Ground Type slid forward a short distance.
The Zaku's slash missed.
Taking advantage of the opening, Eli drew the 100mm Machine Gun from his waist with his left hand and swept it toward the Zaku.
But the Zaku's pilot was far too experienced. He dodged into the wreckage of the warehouse at once.
Of course, a warehouse made of sheet metal couldn't stop an MS from attacking. It could only obstruct Eli's view.
Even so, Eli had no sense that he'd hit his opponent. It was obvious the other pilot had taken cover immediately.
Eli watched the other side of the wall, but the enemy showed no sign of emerging.
With no other choice, Eli had to take the initiative.
Instead of moving cautiously, as if fighting another human, Eli cranked the leg motors' torque to the maximum and charged toward the wall at the Gundam Ground Type's top speed.
The sheet-metal wall was already riddled with bullet holes from the 100mm Machine Gun.
Now, struck by the fifty-ton behemoth that was the Gundam Ground Type, it couldn't hold. The suit smashed straight through!
As metal fragments flew everywhere, Eli focused all his attention on searching for the enemy.
But the first thing he saw was only the soldiers hiding behind the metal wall, struck by the flying fragments and collapsing to the ground, their lives uncertain.
The Zaku, which should have been the most conspicuous thing there, was nowhere to be seen.
Thud!
A heavy impact sounded to Eli's side.
Eli turned and saw Shiro Amada's Gundam Ground Type standing beside a fallen Zaku, its Beam Saber slowly powering down.
The Zaku's mono-eye monitor was fading, and the hatch over its cockpit had been melted through.
Boom! Boom!
Two more explosions rang out. Eli looked over again and saw that the two artillery emplacements had been destroyed by Karen's and Sanders's suits, which had charged in with their 180mm Cannons and six-tube rocket launchers.
The other Zaku, however, had vanished without a trace.
"Captain! Eli!"
As soon as Karen reached the mountaintop, she contacted them over the laser communicator.
On a battlefield that had just seen a fierce MS battle, the Minovsky Particles constantly emitted by MS Minovsky reactors severely interfered even with line-of-sight radio communications.
That was also why Eli hadn't been able to detect the enemy on radar.
"We're fine. There should still be one Zaku left. Have you seen it?"
After confirming that neither suit had suffered any obvious damage, Eli immediately asked them.
"Visual confirmed! It's at the 97-degree bearing, heading down the mountain!"
Before Karen and Sanders could answer, Eledore, back in the Hover Truck, gave them the answer at once.
"Hand that over."
Eli moved his suit over to Sanders's and took the 180mm Cannon from him.
He went to the edge of the mountaintop and crouched down.
Through the lush jungle, he could see a trail moving.
Even though the trees hid the MS, its path stood out clearly to Eli.
The swaying treetops made it impossible for him to see the Zaku itself. Even so, his reticle continued to track the tip of the trail.
Gradually, the suit's reticle and the cannon's sights lined up.
Boom!
The cannon fired, the tremendous recoil kicking up a cloud of dust in front of Eli's suit.
At that distance, the shell arced through the air, then struck precisely at the tip of the trail.
It was a precise shot, guided by Eli's faint intuition and the experience he'd gained in battle!
The trail stopped moving forward. The hit had brought it to a halt.
"Did you get it?!"
Karen, who had also been watching, couldn't help shouting.
Eli ignored her for the moment, staring at the point of impact displayed on his screen.
Then he sighed.
"I probably destroyed the Zaku, but it looks like the pilot escaped."
"What...?"
Shiro Amada exclaimed in surprise.
He could tell that the Zaku had been destroyed, too. But how had Eli known that its pilot had made it out safely?
"I see. What a lucky guy."
Karen didn't seem surprised. She quickly accepted Eli's explanation.
"Huh?"
Seeing how readily Karen accepted Eli's conclusion, Shiro let out a puzzled sound.
"Ah, I've heard about this. You mean Newtypes?"
In his cockpit, Sanders rubbed his chin, realizing what was going on.
Even the Federation had always been vague about the Newtype theory, but rumors about it circulated among the Space Force, which had long fought the Zeon Forces.
"I've heard that the Gundam's pilot is a Newtype. Could Second Lieutenant Eli be one, too?"
Sanders looked at Eli's suit as it slowly rose, the 180mm Cannon still in its hands, and asked.
"How could I be? I'm nowhere near a Newtype. Newtypes are people with potential. I just have sharp instincts."
Eli denied Sanders's suggestion, ruling himself out as a Newtype.
Perhaps when he'd first arrived in this world, he really had thought he could change the tragic fate of the Universal Century.
But the people who'd died horribly before his eyes, and months of warfare, had completely extinguished that unrealistic hope.
On this battlefield, it was only thanks to the system's bonuses that he had the strength to survive.
But if he joined the battles between Amuro and Char, he'd just become one more pilot Char shot down without a second thought.
That was reality. On this Southeast Asia battlefield, Eli was an ace, but before those true Newtypes, he was just an insignificant star, able to shine at all only because of the system.
"Let's go. Time to head back."
Eli turned his suit around and led his squad down from the mountaintop.
A specialized unit would come here later to hold the line. Their job was to return to the rear for repairs and prepare for the next assault or defensive mission.
Battles like this were nothing unusual.
Before you continue