Unprecedented and Unsurpassed

"Rest in peace."

He understood why the other party had lost their sanity, but so many had died here already; there was simply no right or wrong in this place.

If you don't want to be killed, you must kill—it was as simple as that.

Xu De did not hesitate at all. He merely lowered his gaze as he swept past the now-cold wreckage and flew toward the rendezvous point he had agreed upon with Hans and the others.

The coordinates he gave them were not far; this location had not left the battlefield, and its strategic importance was minimal.

Most importantly, based on the gravity of the Earth-Moon orbit, that area would be the place with the most debris.

Even the armor of a standard Ginn would not dare to move at full speed in the face of such dense wreckage.

Furthermore, the Ginn's machine guns were incapable of penetrating the majority of the debris.

Instead, the kinetic energy of bullets striking the wreckage would cause the debris to collide, making the situation on the scene even more complex.

While it wouldn't be enough to allow a Mistral to turn the tide of battle, it was at least sufficient for hiding.

Moreover, due to the distance, even if they had to submit their trajectory records later, they would not be labeled as deserters.

After all, even the World Tree had exploded, and with communications down, it was perfectly normal for everyone to be scattered.

"Communications still haven't been restored; the range of this jammer is just too vast."

Looking at the radar, which was still suffering from severe interference, Xu De muttered to himself.

The way radar functioned in space was quite different from that on Earth.

Earth-based radar was affected by the curvature of the planet, and its effective range was tied to the size of the radar array.

However, space lacked the interference of planetary curvature, so it should have been incredibly vast.

This was one of the sources of the Earth Alliance's confidence, as they possessed far more bases and fortresses in space than PLANT.

The colonial satellites belonging to PLANT had no combat utility whatsoever.

Unfortunately, because of the Neutron Jammer, that confidence no longer existed.

Just as Xu De was approaching the location, an alarm for a combat heat source suddenly blared.

Although the Neutron Jammer was active, infrared heat sensors were still functioning normally.

However, there were so many obstacles that the temperature sensing was not very sensitive.

It beeped only once before disappearing.

"Combat?"

Xu De frowned slightly and cautiously began to head toward the direction of the heat source.

On the other side, the five-man squad led by Hans was currently looking at the Ginn before them with troubled expressions.

They had indeed taken advantage of the aftermath of the explosion to reach this position, but they had been relentlessly pursued by this Ginn.

It gave them no chance to shake it off. Fortunately, thanks to the coordinates Xu De provided and their own daily practice in debris combat, they had managed to enter this ruin before the Ginn could close in, allowing them to hold their ground with five Mistrals.

"Holy crap, Xu De is such a god of ruin warfare, this is insane!"

Milai, who was maneuvering through the ruins, exclaimed while skillfully piloting his Mistral.

"It's like he knew the World Tree was going to collapse ahead of time."

It was precisely because they had been frequently dragged into training for ruin-based tactics by Xu De that they felt a sense of security while others were still panicking over the collapse of the World Tree.

It was truly absurd.

"Stop the chatter, that's a Ginn on the other side!"

Price said nervously.

Although they were accustomed to fighting Ginns in ruins, the odds of a Mistral against a Ginn were probably ten to one at best.

And they, all told, only had five units.

Even though they were used to fighting in ruins, they still dared not relax in the slightest.

"What are you afraid of? We're invincible in here!"

"Right, Hans?"

"...Perhaps."

Facing Milai's flippant remark, Hans was somewhat perfunctory.

His entire focus was on the battle at hand, and he had no time to spare for their intermittent chatter caused by the ruins.

Xu De might come, but it wouldn't do to feel completely secure just because of that.

Just as Xu De had said, to survive, one could only rely on oneself.

Unknowingly, Xu De's way of survival was slowly influencing Hans.

It was gradually molding him into a professional soldier.

In contrast to the proficiency of Hans's five-man team, the Ginn pilot on the other side, who had initially thought he could easily take the lives of those five Naturals, was now feeling dizzy and frustrated by the surrounding wreckage.

"Inferior scum! Stop right there!"

"If you've got the guts, fight me one-on-one!"

The youth, already seething with frustration over Junius, spat out these vicious words.

However, due to the interference in the laser communication, the transmission was intermittent and barely audible.

"He's panicking."

Milai, with a slightly cavalier attitude, shrugged his shoulders, his face lighting up with excitement.

"Strike while he's vulnerable!"

"We can't be reckless; we need to wear him down."

On the other side, the more serious and cautious Flint shouted loudly.

But no sooner had he finished speaking than Milai had already pushed his throttle to the limit, flying out from behind the wreckage and unleashing a barrage from his twin Vulcan Cannons at the Ginn's rear thrusters.

In Milai's brown eyes, he could already see the scene of his opponent exploding into fireworks.

If Xu De could do it, then he certainly could too.

He had practiced this so many times.

Besides, the temptation of shooting down a Ginn with a Mistral was right there before him.

If he succeeded, it would be an unprecedented feat.

This was an even more exaggerated achievement than Xu De's Moebius.

He could already imagine the glory that would be heaped upon him in the future.

Countless honors would be bestowed upon him by the high command.

Luxury cars, beautiful women, fame, and fortune.

He! He would become the next hero.

No! He would be the most special hero of all!

"You idiot! Get back here!"

At this moment, Flint's attempts to dissuade him had no effect on the eyes-reddened Milai.

On the other side, seeing the Mistral suddenly appear behind him, the Ginn did not rush to adjust its posture with its verniers. Instead, it ascended a certain distance, dodging the inaccurately locked-on Vulcan Cannons, while the Coordinator inside wore a sinister grin.

"Do you think I'm like you low-lifes?"

As he spoke, the Ginn turned to the side, and the machine gun in its hand opened fire.

The cumbersome Mistral and its massive inertia left Milai like a target moving at a constant speed in space, and without a shred of resistance, he was easily struck by the Ginn's machine gun.

First came the spray of blood in the cockpit, followed by the explosion of the machine.

The youth, just like most people here, vanished amidst his own screams; he didn't even have time for last words, let alone leaving a corpse behind.

"Milai!!!"

The death of their teammate plunged the remaining four into a state of panic.

They were all just recruits, still carrying the mindset of amateurs.

If they had been professional soldiers, they might have maintained some combat effectiveness even with a teammate dying beside them.

But this was their first battle, and they were facing such an intense battlefield.