061. Abat

  Whoosh—Boom!

  While Li Aozi was mapping out his attack route, a le air-to-air missile cut through 12 kilometers of sky and struck his transport pne, shattering it into pieces amid smoke and fire. Without hesitation, Li Aozi smashed through the cockpit gss, reversed gravity, and soared into the sky with his loot.

  Boom, boom, boom—

  The missile was loaded with a rge amount of Octogen explosive, and the shockwave nearly flipped Li Aozi mid-air. Luckily, he accelerated just in time, bursting through the smoke areams from the explosion.

  "With power like this, it's still an air-to-air missile. If it had been a ground-to-air bomb—Gamma-tiers are really nothing more than moving mountains to a true superpower."

  Li Aozi didn't dare take a direct hit. No matter how fident he was, he remained cautious of Frost-Pted's military arsenal.

  "Speaking of which, why didn't my [Aura of Goodwill] trigger just now? Someoually fired directly at me—those pilots must not be ordinary."

  【You have triggered an emerge—"Sword of the Heavens"】

  【Type】: Event

  【Duration】: 18 minutes (tdown begins upon engaging in bat)

  【Mission Difficulty】: Brave

  (Note: Brave! This difficulty is less meically plex than a B-level mission but tests your resolve and ce. You o have a just heart—or at least pretend to have oo maximize your rewards.)

  【Description】:

  Knights of the sky, knowing the danger, still boldly charge at you. Impressed by their bravery, you decide to ehem with all yht.

  Though their nation may be detestable, the spirit with which they fight for it is admirable.

  【pletion ditions】:

  A. "Chivalry"—Shoot down two fighter jets that have attacked you, and rescue the pilots.

  Reward: 500,000 XP, +5 to main attribute, +100 reputation with Frost-Pted Air Force.

  B. "Unmanned Skies"—Destroy all Frost-Pted aircraft.

  Reward: 800,000 XP, -400 reputation with Law IV.

  ————————

  "To ighe effects of [Aura of Goodwill] and fire on me directly, those two pilots must be Betas at the very least, and possibly even story characters."

  Li Aozi's [Charm] stat reached an impressive 100.1, bined with the effects of [Aura of Goodwill]. If the oppos weren't narrative characters, they must have had specialized skills or traits that allowed them to bypass his abilities.

  Biological anisms had far superior maneuverability pared to aircraft. Jets required massive turns to ge dire, enduring immense overloads—one wrong move, and the airframe could disie due to structural instability.

  Air bat betwees was like two dogs trying to bite each other's tails. Whoever had more energy and speed would end up behind the other, ready to unload mae gun fire or missiles—by then, the result was almost a fone clusion.

  But Li Aozi didn't have to worry about that. All he o do ivot his body, and with gravity ed around him, he could effortlessly reorient himself toward his attackers. His golden eyes lit up with runes.

  【True Eye】 sed the aerial space. Thanks to his bio-modified enhas, Li Aozi's visual range in clear air ditions reached up to 140 kilometers, easily spotting his targets.

  "Z-11 'Vulture,' one of the most advanced heavy fighters of this era, with triple variable wings. Its maneuverability and firepower are top-notch, and I remember it also has powerful eleic warfare capabilities."

  What caught his attention, however, were the names of the two pilots.

  Magic Stone One: Yelivov

  Magic Stowo: Magath Kubo

  "So it's them... But judging by their skills, that makes sense."

  They couldn't die yet. To Li Aozi, and perhaps even to Blue Star, these two were signifit.

  Calg his move, Li Aozi accelerated and unched himself toward the enemy.

  pared to the 400-kilometer radar range of the Z-11, his relian visual e seemed primitive. But Li Aozi had an advantage—ohe fighter jets entered his range, he had superior mobility ahality.

  "These two jets are incredibly expensive. If I shoot them down, Frost-Pted will stop at nothing to recover the wreckage. Whether for immediate or long-term gains, fighting is the best option."

  Blue Star's hypersonic jets, especially those fully loaded with air-to-air missiles, had a maximum operational range of 3,000 kilometers.

  Fact ierference of the Eerie Storms inds, that operational radius could shrink to less than 2,000 kilometers. Achieving speeds of Mach 5 was highly unlikely.

  Attack!

  Without hesitation, Li Aozi darted toward the enemy.

  "He's ing straight for us!"

  Magic Stowo immediately tensed up:

  "Yelivov, should we open fire? The st missile didn't even hit him. At this range, her LAAM (Le Air-to-Air Missiles) nor HVAA (High-Velocity Air-to-Air Missiles) catch him."

  "Magic Stowo, release the loyal drones," Magic Stone One, Lieutenant el Yelivov, spoke calmly. "Wait for my and, Magath. We're flying the best fighter jets in the world. Once we find our ce, we'll take him down with one shot from the TLS (Tactical Laser System)."

  "But the protocol permits—" Captain Magath hesitated.

  "I'll take responsibility. We're fighting for our try. As Z-11 pilots, the higher-ups won’t abandoes like us over something trivial."

  Yelivov's judgment was sharp. For the natios could be repced with money, but trained pilots weren't so easily found.

  Especially with a fighter like the Vulture, there was no way the nation would entrust it to artificial intelligence. For a powerful [Meic], drones' weak defense systems were like open-source websites—easily hacked.

  "No choice—let's do it!"

  Magath locked his breathing mask in pce, blue energy swirling around his eyes. As a [Ranger], he eled destructive ki through the links along his ned spio the e.

  [Ki Pathways ected]

  [Loyal Drones Released]

  Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

  The heavy underbelly opened up, releasing bat-like mini-drohat surrouhe two Vultures like royal guards proteg a queen.

  Hummm—

  A deep gong-like sound reverberated through the sky. Magath's jet was quickly enveloped in a blue, crag pattern of energy. Veins bulged around his eyes as his flight suit pressed, allowing him to withstand the immense load. He jettisohe auxiliary fuel tanks and smmed the throttle to the floor.

  [Hypersonic Mode]

  In an instant, the forward-swept wings of Magath's Vulture snapped baerge with the vertical tail wings, f a more stable diamond figuration. Three engines bsted purple exhaust, accelerating the jet toward Li Aozi with its loyal drone swarm.

  Oher side, Yelivov, as the primary batant, remained calm. He khat for hypersonic targets, semi-active missiles were essentially useless. P purple energy into his jet, he activated optical stealth, vanishing into the night.

  FAL