We need backup! We need backup! Lieutenant Lilian Mecha's was hit and now she is surrounded by enemies!"
A distressed voice was coming from the shared channel; everybody's expression turned tense, including Keiko's.
They instantly turned their eyes toward Lilian's direction and saw that her mecha had already lost half of its arm and feet, and the body leaned over at the drawbridge's edge, clutching at the guard rail tightly to support its body while its remaining hand was swinging the high-vibration saber frantically, trying to fend off the enemies.
Keiko also noticed a wave of ripples undulating on the waterway surfaces where a large black shadow was lurking beneath it. It seemed that the one who destroyed the mecha's limb was ready to make its move once again.
Leoz and Keiko were the two closest to Lieutenant Lilian's position. But, Leoz was still engaged with a group of Zerg, which prevented him from quickly going over to help Lilian.
Keiko knew she was the only one who could help Lilian this time, so she quickly disengaged the hook while crouching down in a position similar to a runner at the starting line.
She concentrated her remaining strength in her legs and then burst forth toward Lilian at lightning speed while gritting her teeth as she withstood the heavy pressure from the explosive burst of movement.
The monster underwater finally made its move. Something long and thick was suddenly shot, aiming at Lilian's mecha bosom where the mecha bridge was. It obviously went for the kill.
Lilian was like a fish on a chopping board. Neither could she block or dodge the incoming attack.
Whoosh—
Clank!
"Aaaaah!"
Lilian exclaimed in surprise, looking at the black graceful figure in front of her who was blocking the attack in her stead, with a gaping mouth and wide-opened eyes.
"Aahh! D-d-death… T-the Death Reaper!!"
Although she had seen Keiko pilot her personal mecha, Hela, this was her first time seeing them in real action.
As a certified fangirl of "The Death Reaper," her fear and dread were quickly replaced by awe and reverence. Her pale face suddenly turned into a blush.
How many people have had the honor of being saved by the Death Reaper personally? It could be counted on one finger! And now she was included in those already scarce numbers! How exciting!!
Keiko didn't know what was going on in Lilian's mind right now as she struggled to maintain their stalemate. If she could hear what Lilian was thinking, she would definitely smack the latter in the head, knocking some sense into it.
While Keiko was engaging with the monster, Seol-Hyun Ae had finished the fight on her side and rushed over to assist Keiko and Lilian.
Seeing on the radar that Seol-Hyun was approaching, Keiko quickly gave an order.
"Seol-Hyun, take Lieutenant Lilian to the back right now!"
"What about you?!" Keiko could hear Seol-Hyun yelling at the other side. "You just said you weren't going to be reckless any longer, and now you've put yourself in danger again!"
"Quit the nonsense; it's an emergency! Hurry up, I can't hold this beast for too long!"
Keiko's voice was firm and stern, leaving no room for Seol-Hyun to argue. It was the same as the last fight with Ferocious Earth Dragon; Seol-Hyun Ae seemed a little bit scared and didn't dare disobey Keiko's word.
"Damn it!"
So she could only curse silently while dragging Lieutenant Lilian's Sieg Mk.2 away from the battle scene toward the docking place.
Because Lilian's mecha was currently disabled, Seol-Hyun Ae's mecha fully supported its body while advancing at a snail's pace. This made them extremely vulnerable to sneak attacks and ambushes from behind or to their sides.
In fact, there were already some groups of monsters that were currently pursuing them from behind.
Keiko was frowning at the situation and thought it was not good. Her brain was working full-throttle to find a way to eliminate the danger to Seol-Hyun and Lilian. Soon, a crazy idea came to her.
As she didn't have much time to ponder, Keiko switched her limbs back into a hand, tilted her body slightly sideways to let the unknown body parts of the monster pass through her, and quickly clutched it tightly as it passed by, catching the monster off guard.
"Hooraaaa!!"
With a roar, she pulled the monster's body with all of her monstrous strength, and once the gigantic body of the monster was floating in the air, she quickly slammed it in Seol-Hyun Ae's direction, crushing the smaller monsters like crushing a watermelon with a metal bat.
Splurt!
Crack!
Other than the splattering sounds of monsters' flesh and innards organs, Keiko seemed to vaguely hear cracking and crumbling sound somewhere down below.
Just like she feared, her little shenanigans were a little bit too much. The impact from slamming the huge monster directly at the drawbridge had been too strong and affected the bridge's foundation. If she accidentally threw another whamming bam into it, it would collapse in a second.
Fortunately, all of the mecha rescue teams were already on the side near the city gate, so they won't be trapped in the event that the bridge really fell down.
She looked at the monster, which was actually a predator, and felt that it was rather familiar.
Not long after, she finally recognized this abomination.
"So it's you… we meet again, you fugly! Time to get my revenge!"
It was the predator she had met when she first woke up in this era that had given her quite a scare and a nightmare that she still often dreamt of until now.
She had fought several times with this type of predator in the Monster Arena before.
It was called Nymph, based on its appearance, which looked like a disgusting combination of dragonfly larvae and human beings. It was a rank-A monster, only slightly weaker than a Devil Mantis, and just like a Devil Mantis, it could roam freely inside the water.
It had a pair of pinchers, which were actually an extension of its mouth, hidden beneath its body in front of its abdomen.
Nymph, like a dragonfly nymph, can extend its pinchers at breakneck speed, almost supersonic, to catch its prey. Added to its mass, the force that the Nymph could exert when it shot her retractable mouth at its enemy was nearly as destructive as a guided missile.
Of course, it had a weakness too.
The elongated labium was actually one of its vital spots too. If one could render it immobile and then break it or cut it, then it would only leave the Nymph with its huge body, which was practically an easy training dummy.
This was exactly what Keiko had done. She had ripped the labium apart, and the Nymph was flailing about wildly from the pain, slamming its own body to the right and left.
The impact was enough to shake the bridge foundation once more, and a huge rumbling sounded from below. Keiko instantly knew what happened, the bridge started crumbling down at an alarming speed.
Despite how much damage it had done to the bridge, the Nymph didn't seem to stop anytime soon.
Keiko initially thought that the monster was in a lot of pain, so it lost its mind, but then a realization hit her hard—the monster actually wanted to escape into the water!
Keiko, of course, wouldn't let its plans go smoothly.
Her Hela was lying down on the ground in a crawling position, and with one big stomp, she pounced at the monster like a cheetah. As soon as it got into close contact with the monster, Keiko stretched Hela's hands to stop and then used them to support the body while her feet performed an upward kick at the monster's abdomen, kicking it into the air.
The Nymph, which was still busy destroying the bridge, didn't have enough time to react to Keiko's action. It couldn't dodge Keiko's action and was flung around 20 meters into the sky without the slightest resistance.
Now, it was the Nymph's turn to become a fish on the chopping board.
As it reached the top limit before gravity started pulling them back to the ground, Keiko was waiting patiently from below.
The moment the monster entered her range, she jumped as high as possible while switching her four limbs into four high-vibration sabers and then executed a perfect and flawless quadruple roll in the air, slicing the helpless predator into two like a spinning saw cutting through a wooden log.
This was the first time since she came here when she stayed clean after the battle.
"Enough, Keiko, Enough! Hurry up and retreat!"
Keiko's ears echoed with Lu Diyun's order, which Keiko quickly followed. She rushed through the crumbling bridge, every part of the bridge behind her completely collapsing after she had passed.
The scene was so dramatic, it could've won an Oscar for the best picture of the year if it'd been shot as a movie blockbuster.
As soon as she arrived, Keiko quickly installed the cable and then spoke through the intercom.
"Thank you everybody for rescuing me."
"I… I also want to thank you for saving my life earlier, Second Lieutenant Keiko!" Lilian was the first to answer.
"Thanks for saving my subordinate. This way we didn't owe each other," Valentine said in a cool way.
"I'm only doing my duty," Leoz said plainly. He seemed to be the same type of person as Antonio.
"It's been hard on you, Keiko. Fortunately, this time you also escaped from such a dangerous situation," Lu Diyun said in a gentle tone.
Only Seol-Hyun Ae didn't give her a reply.
'Is she still angry with me?' Keiko thought. 'Well, I kind of deserve it, so let's apologize to her. I don't know if it will work though…'
"Seol-Hyun… uh, that… I'm sorry to make you worry…"
"Heh, as if you really meant it…" Seol Hyun retorted sarcastically.
"Hehehe…"
"What are you laughing at?!"
"…"
There was no reply from Keiko, and Seol-Hyun suddenly went panicked.
"Huh, Keiko, what happened?! Keiko answers me!"
Lu Diyun's voice came over her intercom, "There's no need to work up, she just fainted from exhaustion."
"Fuuh…" Seol-Hyun exhaled a sigh of relief and then shook her head and complained weakly, "Being her friend is so stressful…"
As the six mechas were being pulled back onto the top of the wall, another wave of swarm tide was approaching the wall, but this time it was welcomed with a bombardment of the city's heavy artillery.
Keiko went unconscious amidst the loud roars and bangs.