Repel the Tiger King

Although Norris rarely fights on the front lines these days, he is by no means a novice.

Even though he had already planned his retreat, he did not rush to pull back. Instead, he momentarily eased the tension of their struggle, lifted his leg, and kicked at the leg of the Gundam before him.

In this way, even a Gundam could not escape the constraints of its humanoid form, and it was sent stumbling by the kick.

Eli immediately pulled back on the control stick, trying to restore the machine's balance.

But the Zaku had already pursued, having seized the initiative.

Eli decided not to insist on standing up and instead took the opportunity to activate the backpack thrusters.

Under the powerful thrust, Eli's Gundam Ground Type managed to slide forward a certain distance.

This caused the Zaku's slash to strike empty air.

Taking this chance, Eli used his left hand to draw the 100mm machine gun hanging at his waist and swept fire toward the Zaku.

However, that Zaku's reactions were far too seasoned; it dodged into the wreckage of a warehouse at the very first moment.

Of course, a warehouse made of sheet metal could not block an attack from an MS; it could only obstruct Eli's line of sight.

Even so, Eli had no sensation of having hit the opponent; it was clear the pilot had immediately prepared defenses.

Observing the other side of the wall, Eli saw no sign of the enemy emerging.

With that, Eli had no choice but to take the initiative.

Eli did not move cautiously like a human soldier; instead, he cranked the torque of his leg motors to the maximum, charging toward that wall at the highest speed the Gundam Ground Type could muster.

The wall, made of sheet metal, was already riddled with bullet holes from the 100mm machine gun fire.

Now, struck by the fifty-ton behemoth that was the Gundam Ground Type, it could hardly hold up and was smashed through by sheer force!

Amidst the flying iron shards, Eli immediately focused all his energy on searching for traces of the enemy.

Yet, the first thing he saw was merely the scene of soldiers who had been hiding behind the iron wall being struck by the flying debris, collapsing on the spot, their fates unknown.

The Zaku, which should have been the most conspicuous target, was nowhere to be found.

"Bang!"

At that moment, a dull thud sounded from Eli's side.

Eli turned his head to look and saw Shiro Amada's Gundam Ground Type standing beside a fallen Zaku, slowly deactivating its beam saber.

The Zaku's mono-eye sensor was slowly fading, and the hatch of the cockpit at its waist had been melted through.

"Boom! Boom!"

Two more explosions rang out. Eli looked again to see the two gun emplacements being destroyed by Karen and Sanders, who had rushed up and fired their 180mm cannons and six-tube missile launchers.

However, that other Zaku had completely vanished.

"Captain! Eli!"

The moment Karen reached the top of the mountain, she sent a message via laser communication.

On this battlefield that had just experienced an intense MS engagement, the Minovsky particles being continuously released by the MS Minovsky reactors severely hindered even line-of-sight wireless communication.

This was the reason Eli had been unable to detect the enemy's movements on his radar.

"We're fine. There should still be one Zaku left—did you see it?"

After confirming that neither of their machines had sustained significant damage, Eli immediately asked.

"Trace confirmed, heading 97, moving down the mountain!"

Before Karen and Sanders could answer, Eledore, inside the hover truck, provided the answer immediately.

"Give me that."

Eli maneuvered his machine to the side of Sanders' unit and took the 180mm cannon from its hands.

He reached the edge of the mountain peak and knelt down.

He could see a trail moving through the lush jungle.

Even though the trees obscured the MS, that trail was crystal clear in Eli's eyes.

The swaying treetops made it impossible for Eli to see the Zaku's form, yet his crosshairs tracked the tip of that trail nonetheless.

Gradually, the machine's targeting reticle and the cannon's sights aligned.

"Boom!"

The cannon fired suddenly, the violent recoil kicking up a layer of dust in front of Eli's machine.

At this distance, the fired shell even traced an arc before precisely intersecting with the tip of that trail.

It was a precision strike made by Eli, relying on his faint intuition and the combat experience he had gained over this period!

The trail stopped moving forward, brought to a halt by that single hit.

"Did we get it?!"

Karen, who was also observing the area, couldn't help but shout.

Eli temporarily ignored Karen's words, his eyes fixed intently on the impact coordinates displayed on the screen.

He then let out a sigh.

"The Zaku should have been destroyed by me, but it looks like the pilot managed to escape."

"Wha..."

Shiro Amada let out a sound of surprise upon hearing this.

He was equally capable of confirming the fact that the Zaku had been destroyed, but how had Eli determined that the pilot was safe and sound?

"Is that so? What a lucky guy."

Karen, however, did not show any signs of surprise, accepting Eli's assessment almost immediately.

"Eh?"

Seeing Karen accept Eli's idea so easily, Shiro Amada let out a strange noise.

"Ah, I've heard rumors about this—the so-called Newtypes, is it?"

Inside his own cockpit, Sanders rubbed his chin, having realized something as well.

The Newtype theory had always been treated with ambiguity by the Federation, yet within the Space Forces that had long been locked in struggle against the Zeon Forces, rumors regarding it had been circulating.

"There are rumors that the pilot of that Gundam is a Newtype. Could it be that Second Lieutenant Eli is one as well?"

Sanders watched Eli's unit, which was slowly rising while holding its 180mm Cannon, and posed the question.

"How could that be? Someone like me can't be called a Newtype. Newtypes are people who possess infinite potential; I'm merely a bit more sensitive in my intuition."

Eli denied Sanders' suggestion, distancing himself from such a classification.

Perhaps when he had first arrived in this world, he truly did harbor thoughts of changing the tragic fate of the Universal Century.

However, the people who had died miserably before his eyes and his months-long career in the war had completely severed such unrealistic notions.

On this battlefield, he relied on the system's bonuses to grasp the power needed to survive.

But if he were to intervene in the battlefield between Amuro and Char, he would only become another pilot casually shot down by Char.

This was reality; the ace of the Southeast Asian front, Eli—who could only project his own existence by relying on the system in the face of true Newtypes—was merely an inconspicuous star.

"Let's go. Let's head back."

Eli operated his unit to turn around, leading his squad down from the hilltop.

Specialized units would arrive later to maintain the front line; all they had to do was return to the rear for maintenance to prepare for the next assault or defensive mission.

Battles like this were nothing out of the ordinary.