5428 The Weakest Link
CRACKLE!
The cockpit of the Elemental Lord violently jerked yet again. The drone mech was reeling from the latest blow inflicted by the tribulation warrior that mastered the power of wind!
Major Jankowksi's highly augmented brain was working at its very limit to keep up with the wind swordsman's blazingly fast moves, but the pressure exerted by this alien adversary was too great!
A lot of distant observers grew shocked by how quickly the difficulty of the lightning tribulation had escalated. The relatively smooth progress in the previous waves had given them the illusion that the subsequent ones would not ramp up so quickly, but the reality turned out to be different.
Only the ones with greater vision and knowledge knew that a lightning tribulation of this magnitude was much crueler in nature. It showed no mercy towards any subject that failed to meet its exceedingly high standards.
A comprehensive multi-modal lightning tribulation did not leave any room for weaknesses! Any shortcoming that negatively affected the performance of the subject would inevitably become exposed and lead to its downfall!
As Ves winced from the latest shock, he desperately tried to think of a way to overcome this predicament.
The fact that he hurriedly moved back to his Unending Regalia in order to take shelter in its protection was a clear sign that he had lost a lot of confidence in his work!
It couldn't be helped. As a mech designer who had lived through plenty of battles, his ability to read the battlefield was not trivial.
His ability to process data was already great, and it had improved even further after his continuous exposure to tribulation lightning substantially upgraded all of his capabilities.
He actually felt a lot more bloated than before. If not for the automatic space folding effect generated by his rapidly improved phase lord cultivation, he was afraid that his true body size would have surpassed the internal volume of this cockpit!
CRACKLE!
"Meow!"
"Ah!"
The Elemental Lord suffered another damaging impact!
It turned out that when the Elemental Lord successfully managed to block both sword strikes from the Wind Warrior, the latter actually lashed out with a powerful wind-infused kick!
Normally, a kick like this shouldn't have done more than to shove the Elemental Lord back, but the concentrated gathering of wind E energy sped it up to the point where it struck the mech's midsection with the force of a battering ram!
The armor plating covering the abdomen of the Elemental Lord had fractured!
This was despite its extensive physical and metaphysical reinforcement!
This move caused Ves' heart to chill even further. The four-armed alien produced by the lightning tribulation possessed too many advantages!
In terms of swordsmanship, the veteran first-class mech officer was clearly outmatched by the wind swordsman.
In terms of speed, a quasi first class standard mech like the Elemental Lord was far inferior to a qi cultivator that commanded the power of wind!
In terms of force, the momentum that the wind warrior could produce to empower its attacks did not make it weak at all. There was little the Elemental Lord could do to deliver any strong impacts.
The five brothers did not want to admit defeat, though. Their very lives were on the line, and they tried harder than ever to exert their growing abilities in effective ways.
"The speed differential is too great! We need to slow this swordsman down or increase our own speed. Fifth brother, are you making any progress in generating an energy field that can suppress or constrict the wind?"
The wood fey had been under a lot of pressure to find a way to constrain the movements of this powerful tribulation warrior.
"I can't! The wind swordsman's power and control over the forces of wind are too deep. The metal-water-wood chain doesn't seem to make a difference!"
"How can that be?! You are harnessing the power of three elements at the same time, while this tribulation warrior only truly leverages the wind element."
"Isn't it obvious? This wind swordsman's cultivation is much stronger and more focused. Just because it only specializes in one element doesn't necessarily mean it is weaker than our combinations."
The difference in accumulation was too great. The lightning tribulation clearly simulated the performance of a highly trained and experienced alien swordsman who was probably in his prime.
The Elemental Lord was technically a newborn in comparison! This matchup was not fair at all in that regard!
As the prospect of losing loomed over the mech, the atmosphere in the cockpit had grown more depressed.
If not for the fact that Major Jankowski was still doing his utmost to coordinate with the five brothers to keep up with the horrifying pace of the wind swordsman, he would have put a lot more thought into pulling the emergency ejection lever!
As Ves quickly managed to restore his armor, he went back to using his administrator access to tweak the settings of the mech and facilitate its damage control activities.
However, this was clearly not enough to turn the tide of this frantic duel and give his mech an opportunity to defeat its opponent.
Even stalling did not work! The fire fey and the earth fey had not ceased to fire their empowered hyper weapons at the wind warrior, but their target remained too elusive to hit.
Even if the two offensive fey managed to land a lucky blow, a wind shield swirled into existence that sapped much of the elements that reinforced the attack!
The defenses of the wind swordsman turned out to be formidable as well. As a qi cultivator who excelled in close quarter combat, this duel-wielding alien had developed a remarkably deep mastery in the application of wind E energy!
As Ves continued to analyze the data, he found it increasingly harder to optimize and improve the performance of the Elemental Lord.
It did not help that the mech incurred substantial damage every few seconds or so. The more the Elemental Lord suffered an attack, the more prone it became to getting hit again due to a reduction in performance!
There was nothing Ves could do to reverse this increasingly more dominant trend.
Ves briefly glanced in the direction of the cockpit.
Much of the reason why the Elemental Lord was losing out against this wind warrior was because his latest work suffered a glaring weakness.
The mech pilot was no longer able to keep up anymore. First-class mech pilot or not, Simon Jankowski was ultimately just a mortal human soldier. How could he possibly keep up with a transcendent alien swordsman who managed to prosper in a high-energy environment?
Major Jankowski had become the weakest link of the Elemental Lord.
Ves deeply regretted the fact that he had only completed the fabrication of altered Fey Project long after he had sent Saintess Ulrika Vraken away!
If she was in the cockpit, then she would have been able to outfight the wind warrior and win this bout by this time!
It did not even matter if the Elemental Lord was not an ace mech. An ace pilot had broken the human limit and could reach much greater heights!
Even if the Hexer ace pilot was not available, Ves could have asked a favor from the Devos Ancient Clan.
The Terrans would probably not object to lending out one of their own resident ace pilots.
Instead, Ves had been taken by surprise and had little choice but to borrow the best mech pilot of the Bluejay Fleet.
There was no use in crying over spilled milk. The harsh reality of the situation was that Ves had no choice but to work with the assets he had on hand.
Though Major Jankowski was far from able to match the extraordinary alien warriors of Messier 8? in his current state, Ves knew of at least one method to correct this shortcoming.
He briefly weighed the risks of employing this method.
It did not take long for him to make up his mind. Ves had already invested one of Lucky's precious gems to upgrade the performance of the Elemental Lord. There was no way he wanted to lose his investment!
"Lufa! Lend me your power!"
The angelic design spirit readily descended upon his progenitor.
Of course, Lufa did not bestow his glow to Ves in his guise as the Angel of Tranquility.
Instead, Lufa altered his presence with the power of revelation, thereby causing his aura to change into a variation that was better known as the transcendence glow!
Ves' demeanor had changed substantially after he had willingly become the conduit of Aspect of Transcendence.
Major Jankowski sensed the changes in the cockpit, but the mech officer was so focused on the fight that he did not consciously think about what was happening.
Nonetheless, the transcendence glow was already having an effect on his mind and spirit.
By promoting the obsessions, ambitions and focus of the subject to the extreme, this amazing glow was able to elevate the mood of any active mech pilot to the peak and beyond!
In order to produce the strongest possible effect, Ves not only embraced Lufa's descent, but also tried to merge himself with the design spirit, thereby causing the lines between the two to blur!
"Simon Jankowski." Ves spoke with a voice that had gained an ethereal reverberation. "You are 56 years old, yet you have made no notable accomplishments in your career. While you have managed to make accomplishments as a mech officer and reached the rank of major, is this where your true ambitions lie?"
The mech officer's eyes twitched, which signified that at least one part of him was paying attention to Ves' oddly hypnotic and compelling voice.
Ves added more heat in his words. "You are a failure of a mech pilot. Others may look up to you and think you are impressive for becoming a mech major in one of the strongest human organizations, but as far as we are concerned, you are still a mortal who is bound by the constraints of reality. Your willpower is too weak and you have not managed to earn enough glory to make people remember your name after your passing. You are an insignificant existence!"
An air of judgment exuded from Ves as the transcendence glow fully exerted its influence on Major Jankowksi!
"Many of your peers have managed to undergo their apotheosis in their twenties and thirties, thereby allowing them to step foot on the path to godhood. What about you? What you have managed to accomplish can be replicated by millions if not billions of other mech pilots in the Red Ocean and the Milky Way Galaxy? Nothing! You have earned no glory to speak of! Your prestige is entirely borrowed from the Red Association! Where is your pride? Where is your ambition? Are you truly content to live and die as a mortal?"
Though Major Jankowski was not able to free up enough of his focus to offer a response, his body language as well as his stimulated emotions made it clear that he was not reconciled with his mediocre life.
Every authentic mech pilot yearned to attain greatness!
Jankowski had suffered many setbacks in his decades of service. His failure in attaining any breakthroughs had crushed his youthful dreams and forced him to settle for less.
Now that he had come under the effect of the transcendence glow, he revisited these regrets and suddenly felt a lot less willing to bow down to reality!
Why should he allow others to become the hero when he was willing to work much harder to attain greater strength?
Why should he admit defeat when he still had many decades of time to develop his strength as a mech pilot?
Why must he embrace his own weakness and end up becoming the primary reason why the Elemental Lord was unable to overcome the 30th wave?
Simon refused to accept these outcomes!
He desired greater strength! This was the only way he could rewrite his own fate and avoid any further regrets!
As Major Jankowski's mental activity had begun to peak, Ves prepared to give the mech officer a final push.
He held the Hammer of Brilliance in his armored grip and raised it above Jankowski's head.
The hammerhead still exuded a bit of heat due to its prior exposure to the tribulation lightning.
"Every human has a chance to attain greatness. If you wish to shed your mortality, then this is the time! Accept our blessing and rise up to become our elemental champion!"
WHACK!
The flat side of the Hammer of Brilliance struck Major Jankowski's helmet!
Despite the lack of direct contact, the transfer of extraordinary power ensured that the mech officer had become affected by Vulcan's influence!
Even though Vulcan was primarily a craftsman as opposed to a warrior, his ability to enlighten people had a wondrous effect on Major Jankowski!
The RA mech officer's mood and emotions had already been pushed to the limit. The impact from the Hammer of Brilliance just happened to push them past a tipping point, causing Jankowski to undergo an unstoppable transformation!
An explosion of willpower occurred in his head as he surpassed his mortal boundaries for the first time in his life!
