Counterfeit Hero

Even if the firepower intensity and resistance strength of the bandit army are somewhat unexpected, Colonel Chuck may still be making a fuss over nothing.

On the cold and simplistic cockpit control panel computer of the ”Boxing King” Mecha, as a red warning light flashed nearby, large segments of information and coordinates appeared. Immediately, the Suss Mecha Warriors, who were gathering, heard a sudden acceleration in the previously steady cannon fire from the defense line.

Meteor shower-like energy cannon light clusters leapt across the low evening sky, bombarding Hill 205. The explosion shockwaves tossed loose sand and rocks in all directions. Chaotic wild winds wrapped in dust spread and fluttered everywhere. Broken branches and stones scattered, crisscrossing in the air, falling like raindrops on the slopes, tree leaves, and rocks, crackling incessantly.

The firepower coverage lasted for a full half hour. The mechas, utilizing a four-corner stand structure for bombardment, had nearly exhausted an entire box of energy. The intense vibrations during the shelling made the entire defense line tremble.

The defensive mechas in the center segment of the line had already pulled to the flanks, revealing a straight road aimed at Hill 205.

”First Battalion, full assault!”

With an order, more than three hundred mechas of the Suss 402 Group’s First Battalion surged out of the woods, leaping over the two-meter-high trench armor blast walls.

The dense formation spread out like green beans scattered in a rush as the mechas advanced rapidly. Behind them, the remaining two battalions maintained a tight formation, slowly moving forward to fill the gaps left by the advancing mechas.

With the earth-shaking footsteps of the mechas, who would believe that the flesh and blood on Hill 205 could withstand such an assault?

”They’re coming!”

Cosmo’s heart was pounding fiercely. The brownish-yellow soil, burning wreckage, black explosion residues on the ground, and indistinguishable red bloodstains, the towering smoke columns, everything twisted under the ferocious charge of the Suss Mecha Group, becoming surreal.

This was the first battle for the First Battalion of the bandit army’s SM 3rd Group, led by Cosmo. Despite having Markovich and the Sharp Blade Company in command, Cosmo couldn’t help his heart from racing.

As a Mech Knight who grew up in the Free World, Cosmo and his Phantom Stream companions from the First Battalion were accustomed to various kinds of conflicts. It was a part of their lives. But everything they had experienced was different from the war before them!

To be honest, Cosmo was a bit flustered when they first entered the position.

The position had been dug with five-meter-deep mecha trenches, just enough for the mechas to enter the trenches in a prone position with tracks. Once inside the trenches, the whole world changed.

Countless energy bullets rained down from the sky, with violent explosions following one after another, densely packed without any gaps. The surging soil and gravel resembled waves crashing against a dam, disorderly falling down, striking the external armor of the mechas, making a crackling sound.

The sky was obscured by the thick smoke from burning mechas and the flying dust. Numerous severed limbs, large and small, flew in front of Cosmo. Blood turned into a mist in the explosions, staining the transparent cockpit cover red.

Cosmo even saw a severed hand with only three fingers sticking to the window in front of him. As it slid down, it made a gap in the blood mist that revealed a view filled with the twilight glow and the dense smoke of fierce fire. Through this blood-red slit, what he saw was hell.

Not just here, but the entire Free World and even the entire universe was such a place of torment!

Cosmo knew that this was a war that swept the entire human world, and people like him could not escape it. He could neither kneel and beg for mercy nor hide deep in the mountains and forests. Although he was a civilian Mech Knight, the education they received since childhood was still about honor and combat.

However, it wasn’t a matter of wanting to fight and being able to fight. The Free World had been sealed off for too long. What was isolated wasn’t just the era’s economy and technology but also war. They had never expected that real war would look like this!

Without a complete set of energy attack means and the energy defense system, being on the battlefield of this era almost equaled being barehanded and naked. No matter how high one’s close-quarters combat skills, it was powerless in group combat. The outdated projectile weapons of the Free World seemed like toys in children’s hands compared to energy weapons. Modern military mechas of various countries didn’t even need energy shields; their armor alone was enough to withstand ninety-nine percent of metal projectile weapon attacks.

Being able to join the bandit army was fortunate. Cosmo thought so, and almost every Mech Knight who joined the bandit army thought so. This feeling of luck became especially strong when receiving a new modified mecha controller from Fatty!

The Absolute Kill Stream and the Mountain Breaker Sect, which once stood at the pinnacle, had already been utterly defeated! Their sect mechas and infantry regiments equipped with outdated weapons were crushed in front of the Northern Commerce Alliance’s military mechas. And at this moment, the bandit army’s SM 3rd Group had their own military combat mecha - ”Sword.”

To be honest, the Mech Knights were very disappointed at that time. This mecha, modified from a Private Mecha, was very simplistic. Even compared to the unadorned mechas of the Suss Empire, the ”Sword” looked like a commoner standing before a noble.