IMAO Chapter 102

Happy New Year’s Eve! Enjoy the extra chapter!

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Thick smoke billowed into the sky above the slums in the aftermath of the explosion. Although Ji Rong took down a mecha in mere seconds and Jiang Yuan’s godlike marksmanship left them stunned, these battle-hardened mercenaries quickly regained their composure after the initial shock.

After taking down one mecha, Ji Rong charged forward at incredible speed. Even with over a dozen mechas firing at him, no bombs could touch him. This was partly thanks to Jiang Yuan’s cover fire from behind. The bombs were shot down by precise laser beams before they could reach Ji Rong’s mecha.

The mercenaries pushed their mecha engines to the limit as they rushed toward Ji Rong. In their eyes, while the sudden appearance of these two unfamiliar mechs was intimidating, their comrade had mainly fallen victim to a surprise attack. Had they been prepared, they wouldn’t have been so easily overwhelmed.

Besides, raw strength wasn’t everything on the battlefield. Victory often came down to teamwork and numbers. And in terms of numbers, they had the upper hand. If they worked together, taking down these two shouldn’t be a problem.

Normally, they wouldn’t want to mess with such opponents, but the key here was that woman! She must be extremely valuable to these people. She must be worth a fortune!

With their coordination, it wouldn’t take long to deal with the close-combat fighter. Then they could handle the laser sniper and capture the woman!

“Bang!”

Jiang Yuan targeted a mecha trying to flank Ji Rong, but his laser collided with another beam mid-air, creating a shower of sparks.

Following the trajectory of the enemy laser, Jiang Yuan spotted another mecha. Its pilot gave a thumbs up before turning it downward, which was pure provocation.

Ji Rong’s movements were unpredictable. Jiang Yuan wasn’t worried about lasers or bombs hitting him but was concerned about bombs damaging the slums below.

The enemy clearly intended to use their “sniper” to block him.

Jiang Yuan fired several more shots, each quickly countered by return fire, a textbook sniper duel.

Ji Rong’s mecha was now just a hundred meters from the nearest enemy!

The mercenary mechas opened fire, laser guns blazing, even at such close range.

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

Yet even at this distance, the mercenaries couldn’t land a hit on Ji Rong.

“Damn it, Atoya, what’s wrong with you? Weren’t you supposed to keep that sniper busy?” An angry voice crackled over the comms.

The sniper froze for a moment before cursing, “Shit, this sniper’s too fast. I can’t keep up!”

The mercenaries couldn’t help cursing under their breaths over the comms, “What bullshit about not keeping up. You must be slacking off, you bastard. Get it together!”

“I’m not slacking!” a voice protested over the comms, but nobody believed him.

The mechas moved at high speed. In just one breath, the mecha had closed the distance with its target!

After closing in, the mercenary mechas continuously fired bombs to suppress the white mecha’s speed. But the white mecha’s attack rhythm grew faster and faster. Even when the mercenaries tried to blast it with armor-piercing shells, the mecha in the rear executed fluid precision shots, not only intercepting all the lasers in the air but also easily detonating all the bombs mid-flight.

The bomb fragments that eventually fell to the ground had lost almost all their destructive power due to air resistance.

Seeing this, Aka breathed a sigh of relief. The rear mecha’s pilot had been constantly working to minimize bomb damage to the slum district, which slightly eased his guilt about leading the battle here.

When Ji Rong’s mecha got in close with the mercenary mechas, it moved with lightning speed. His movements were like a ghost. Three afterimages of his mecha appeared in the air simultaneously!

One combo!

Two combos!

…Seventeen combos… Twenty-eight… Thirty-two… Forty-five… Ninety combos…

Just as Ji Rong finished dealing with the mechas in front of him, one mecha suddenly appeared, moving at an abnormal speed.

‘Heaven’s Punishment’ – Jiang Yuan’s eyes narrowed slightly. Heaven’s Punishment was a heavy mecha that could achieve extreme acceleration for short bursts after charging up. Combined with the heavy mecha’s ultra-thick defenses, even without attacking, just being rammed by Heaven’s Punishment would leave a mecha crippled if not completely destroyed!

Heaven’s Punishment was very close to Ji Rong. This obviously wasn’t a spontaneous move but something these mercenaries had planned from the start!

“This is bad!” Aka’s face turned pale. At this distance, there was no way to dodge!

But was it really impossible to dodge?

Boom!

A bomb shot out from Ji Rong’s mecha.

But firing a bomb now won’t hit the enemy!

Aka swallowed hard, his heart already sinking into despair.

Bang!

With the sound of a laser gun, the bomb and laser met mid-air. The explosion created a massive mushroom cloud that engulfed Ji Rong’s mecha!

Boom!

A thunderous crash! Ji Rong’s mecha was knocked out of the smoke!

One arm of the mecha was gone, but at the same time, Ji Rong’s right arm wielding the mechanical blade swung violently!

A spark flashed! The Heaven’s Punishment mecha was pierced through by Ji Rong’s blade, the entire mecha flying backward!

Boom…

An explosion rang out.

Seeing Heaven’s Punishment taken down, the mercenaries’ comms fell dead silent. They watched as the one-armed mecha caught the falling Heaven’s Punishment and slowly lowered it to the ground.

Their ambush with Heaven’s Punishment had failed just like that. Their surprise attack plan should have been perfect!

But the coordination between these two mechas was too seamless. One bomb, one laser shot had bought them just enough time to dodge Heaven’s Punishment’s attack!

Who could be piloting these two mechas?

Who could possibly have such skill?

To think there were such powerful mecha soldiers among these attackers!

Terrifying! If these two had appeared on the main battlefield, the northern district couldn’t possibly have held out until now. It would’ve fallen long ago!

The surviving mercenaries remained silent on comms. Although they were reluctant to give up their prey, they were clearly no match for opponents of this caliber.

“Should we retreat first?”

“This is too damn dangerous. I’m done with this job. You guys can have it!”

“Damn it, where did these two come from?”

Once someone spoke up, the remaining mechas scattered in unison, each fleeing faster than the last, terrified of being caught by Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong.

…

Aka stared wide-eyed at the mercenaries fleeing with their tails between their legs, then looked at the two mechas in the sky. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he rubbed his eyes.

This was real…

The mercenaries ran away!

While Aka was still immersed in shock, the survivors, whether they were from the slums or war refugees who had sought shelter there, all burst into cheers of joy.

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