A creeping fear gripped his heart, as if the Grim Reaper itself had locked its eyes onto him and was simply waiting for the right moment to harvest his life...

The others also sucked in deep breaths to calm their nervousness before instinctively backing away and creating distance between themselves and the human mech.

"Damnit!! Even if they are not defending doesn’t mean they are defenseless!! We all thought too lightly of it..." said the squad captain.

"If we can learn and shift our tactics... then so can the humans!!"

As he spoke, he looked toward the human mech, which appeared completely unbothered by their presence.

In the next instant, the mech charged forward and quickly took down two more enemy mechs!!

One was pierced straight through by its spear, while the other was drowned beneath intense fire from a hidden hand-mounted weapon system!!

What he didn’t say was that it wasn’t simply that the humans were "learning"!!

While that was indeed part of it, the more the humans fought, the more perfect their movements and control over their mechs became—constantly increasing their lethality in battle.

And that was something he could tell just from observing the mech ahead of him for only a few minutes...

But beyond that, he couldn’t help but realize that the fighting power these humans displayed belonged to elites among elites!! A level far above him and his team, who themselves were already considered specially trained elites for this kind of warfare...

And yet, not only had they failed to react quickly enough to the sudden attacks and changing flow of battle—they had suffered losses almost the instant they entered the battlefield...

That deeply troubled him.

A growing uneasiness filled his heart as he began questioning whether what they were doing would even change the course of the battle at all...

Looking around, he saw that others engaging their own targets had suffered similar setbacks as well—some with fewer casualties, others with even more devastating losses.

Just then, one of his subordinates spoke, breaking the captain from his thoughts.

"What should we do now? How should we proceed?"

"The moment we enter its active range, that mech attacks us with terrifying precision..." he stated uneasily.

Meanwhile, on another part of the battlefield within the 4th Wing, Squad Number 10 rushed forward without even maintaining formation—or at least, that’s how it appeared from the outside.

They too had suffered the same setbacks, but unlike Division 9’s squad, they were far more decisive. Without fear of death, they charged ahead with frightening determination.

Moving between debris fields and the wreckage of five destroyed ships, several mechs at the rear unleashed volleys of charged pulse shots and plasma fire toward the human mechs!!

Around four hundred Hegemony fleet mechs were now converging against barely twenty human mechs from the 4th Battle Fleet.

A terrifying twenty-to-one numerical advantage stood on the Hegemony side.

And yet, the human mechs were still battling against two to five enemies each while simultaneously trying to quickly eliminate their current opponents before turning to face the incoming wave—

Which resembled a wolf pack rushing toward a wounded bear already being held down by another swarm of jackals.

One other mech, with a completely different color scheme from the mostly black units around it, fought fiercely against four enemy mechs already. Unlike the others, this mech was colored blood crimson!!

Inside it, a young man with red hair and crimson eyes smiled faintly as his eyes gleamed with red light.

"Oh? More are here to join the fight, huh? Well, well, well... good for me..."

Saying that, he manipulated Crimson Star, his mech twisting sharply mid-battle and avoiding incoming particle beam attacks fired from behind.

"Looks like it’s time for me to finish you all and go fish the new little fishes that just entered the pond!!"

Adjusting one of the charged energy laser cannons mounted on his mech, he aimed toward three enemy mechs and fired three rapid salvos in succession before immediately turning his attention toward the last opponent charging directly at him!!

At that exact moment, three bright flashes erupted behind him—

And with those explosions, the three Hegemony 4th Wing mechs instantly exploded without even being able to defend themselves against the highly charged laser blasts, which tore through their already crumbling defenses!!

Meanwhile, he quickly sidestepped using his thrusters and effortlessly avoided the energy sword slash launched by his final opponent.

"Checkmate," he said calmly toward the pilot, who desperately tried to retreat after realizing his attack had missed.

But it was already too late...

Crimson Star’s energy sword stabbed directly through the chest area of the Hegemony mech, piercing through it effortlessly before emerging from the mech’s back!!

The intense heat from the blade instantly evaporated the pilot inside before he could even scream.

Finished with its enemies, Crimson Star, under the control of its pilot, calmly turned toward the approaching mechs of the Hegemony Fleet’s 10th Division.

Meanwhile, the pilots of the 10th Division froze mid-flight for a brief moment after witnessing four of their own destroyed in mere seconds...

And the chilling gaze of the crimson human mech sent even greater shivers down their spines.

"What the fuck?! How did that mech even do that?! And with such speed and accuracy?!" one pilot said, his voice trembling through the comms.

Others were about to agree and voice their own fears when their commander suddenly roared through the channel—

"What are you fools doing?! Focus on the battlefield!! That mech is rushing toward us, damnit!!"

"What?!"

Many instantly shouted in terror as they looked ahead and indeed saw a crimson light rapidly approaching their formation!!

"Fuck!! That human demon is coming at us!!" one pilot cried out urgently.

"Calm your nerves!!" the commander barked. "Just because it took down four from the 4th Wing doesn’t mean it has the overwhelming edge you all are imagining!!"

"Don’t forget who we are!! We are elites among elites!! Compared to us, those brothers who just lost their lives in such brutal fashion were ordinary soldiers without abilities anywhere near our level!!"

"Indeed!!""Yes!! Commander is right!!"

The others quickly echoed his words, rapidly regaining some of their confidence.

Seeing that, the commander of the 10th Division sighed in relief before speaking seriously.

"Still, the enemy is abnormally strong—far stronger than any we have faced before!! So I need all of you to be absolutely serious, understood?!"

"Yes, Commander!! As you order!!"

"Good!! Then follow my commands carefully!!"

"Knight mechs—you will move ahead first, intercept, and engage the crimson mech!! I need at least five of you there!!"

"The remaining knight mechs will hold back the other human units until we finish this one. With support from the speed-type and marksman-type mechs, that should not be difficult..."

"As for the rest, focus on supporting fire and drawing attention away from the knight mechs engaging the crimson unit!!" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Speed-type mechs will harass it constantly and focus on bringing down its shield!!"

"Marksman mechs will provide precision fire support at the right moments to prevent losses on our side!!"

"Spear mechs—you will charge forward and coordinate alongside the knight mechs to force the crimson mech back!!"

"Swordsmen mechs may attack from the flanks and look for chances to inflict damage as well!!"

"But remember one thing!! Until we crack and destroy the shield of that crimson mech, none of you are to rush in for the kill!! Otherwise, you’ll only endanger yourselves and everyone else by disrupting the rhythm and formation of the assault!!"

"Understood?!"

"Yes, Commander!!" roughly four hundred mech troops responded seriously.

Soon after, around three hundred mechs broke formation and rushed toward their designated targets with determination to stop the humans in their tracks and hold them there until further reinforcements arrived.

"Good!! Remember this!!" He looked toward the remaining forces and spoke in a grave tone.

"Our work here is crucial!! If we fail, then our entire wing could be brought down by the enemy!! So I expect no mistakes, and I expect all of you to take this with the utmost seriousness!!"

"Yes, Commander!!"

Nodding his head, he turned his gaze toward the now rapidly approaching crimson mech of the human fleet.

"Everyone, charge according to your assigned roles now!!"

The five knight mechs, each nearly one hundred meters tall, charged ahead while the marksman units unleashed volleys of charged pulse and plasma shots toward Crimson Star once again—this time with far greater precision than before!!

Taking advantage of the distraction caused by the bombardment, the speed-type mechs vanished from their positions, while the spear mechs followed closely behind the knight units. Meanwhile, the swordsmen mechs began circling around the crimson mech as they closed in from multiple angles...

Inside Crimson Star, the crimson-haired boy naturally noticed all of this.

But he was too busy executing evasive maneuvers to avoid being struck by the relentless barrage of highly charged energy attacks as he rushed directly toward the five heavily armoured knight mechs!!