Chapter 987: What a Fast Saber!

After arriving on the competition platform, light flashed up ahead, and another mecha appeared. On this occasion, it was a melee combat mecha rather than a long-distance attacking one.

His opponent's mecha was wielding a saber with a long hilt attached to it, and its overall length exceeded even that of Tang Wulin's spear. The massive blade alone was over six meters in length and over two meters wide, and appeared extremely heavy and intimidating to behold.

"Three, two, one, begin!" The electronic voice ran through a countdown in its customary concise manner, and Tang Wulin's second mecha battle of the competition commenced.

Both mechas charged toward one another without any hesitation. The tactics here were very simple as both of the melee combat mechas wanted to fight at close quarters.

During a clash between melee combat mechas, the outcome would depend on who had the better battle techniques, and whose soul skills could better assist their mecha. 

Generally speaking, a Soul Master had to be quite powerful before their soul skills could make a noticeable difference in a mecha battle. Soul Masters who were at or below the Soul Elder stage would find it very difficult to make their martial souls useful during mecha battles. This was simply because their martial souls were predominantly too weak to substantially damage their opponents' protective barriers at that stage.

Whenever a mecha pilot chose a mecha, they had to consider whether the mecha would have good synergy with their martial soul. Only with great synergy between the two could they display their full power during mecha battles.

The opposing mecha raised its long saber into the air before bringing it down toward Tang Wulin. As he activated his mecha, his heavy saber was sent crashing down extremely quickly, and despite how heavy it looked, it was slashing downward like lightning and reached Tang Wulin's mecha in a flash.

What a fast saber! 

Tang Wulin's eyes narrowed slightly as his hands flew over the control panel, and his mecha abruptly raised its spear upward to block the attack.

A loud clang rang out, and both of the melee combat mechas had similar levels of power, but the heavy saber was clearly crashing down with greater force, so Tang Wulin's mecha was sent sliding backward.

His opponent immediately pressed his advantage, and even though the blade of the long saber had been repelled into the air, the opposing mecha used the hilt of the saber to attack the pilot room that Tang Wulin was situated in. 

What a vicious attack! 

Tang Wulin controlled his mecha to slide backward in retreat, but right at this moment, his opponent suddenly activated his mecha's propeller, and the hilt of the long saber immediately rushed forward.

Tang Wulin raised his spear again to block upward in an attempt to block the attack, but his opponent only activated his propeller for an instant before shutting it off. As such, Tang Wulin's block wasn't met with the strike from the hilt of the long saber as he'd anticipated.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Tang Wulin's opponent swung his massive saber directly toward the waist of his melee combat mecha.

It was quite apparent that this was a mecha pilot with extensive practical combat experience.

Tang Wulin was less experienced than his opponent, and he was quickly forced onto the back foot.

However, his mindset was very stable, and he remained completely unflustered in the face of danger. There wasn't enough time for him to withdraw his mecha's spear, so he abruptly charged toward his opponent instead, activating his mecha's propeller to drastically enhance its speed.

At the same time, he brought his spear down from above, using it as a staff to lash out at the opposing mechas head.

The opposing mecha's long saber was still sweeping through the air, but it suddenly pulled back on the hilt so that the blade of the saber was slashing directly in front of it, and Tang Wulin's mecha seemed to be about to crash directly into the blade as it charged forward.

Not only that, but a layer of flames abruptly erupted from the opposing mecha while an intimidating saber projection flashed through the air. 

Tang Wulin's opponent had unleashed his soul skill at just the right moment rather than refraining from using it until he was at a disadvantage. In the face of truly skilled mecha pilots, the concept of conceding the advantage by unleashing one's martial soul first was nothing more than a joke.

The timing of this soul skill was absolutely perfect, and it immediately placed Tang Wulin's mecha, which was rushing forward with its propeller activated, in a dire situation.

There appeared to be no way to evade this attack, but right at this moment, Tang Wulin's mecha performed a very strange maneuver.

The mecha abruptly swayed before suddenly changing directions with its propeller still fully activated. As opposed to rushing off to the side, it was rising upward.

One had to realize that spontaneously changing directions while the propeller was fully activated not only placed great strain on the mecha, the same also applied to the mecha pilot, so there was no way that the pilot would be able to execute such a maneuver unless they possessed an extremely powerful physical constitution.

Tang Wulin's physical constitution obviously wasn't a problem, but generally speaking, a generic mecha like this one wouldn't be able to handle such a strenuous maneuver. However, he had a way to counter this.

His soul power erupted from his body before instantly seeping into the mecha's joints to stabilize it. The mecha didn't release its protective barrier, but a layer of white light had appeared over its surface; that was none other than Tang Wulin's Soul King stage Mysterious Heaven Method soul power.

The saber projection virtually glanced past right beneath his mecha's feet, and its long spear was crashing downward anyway, so he adjusted his attack, thrusting the spear toward the opposing mecha's head instead.

A layer of white light appeared over the surface of the spearhead, and a spear projection flashed as it pierced through the air from above.

Everything had happened in virtually the blink of an eye, and right at this moment, the opposing mecha suddenly squatted down before abruptly springing off to the side in order to evade Tang Wulin's spear strike. 

At the same time, the long saber slashed through the air toward Tang Wulin again.

Tang Wulin brought his spear upward, and the two weapons clashed once again.

"Bam!"

On this occasion, they were evenly matched. The two mechas were both knocked back in different directions before landing on the ground amid loud booms.

After steadying themselves, grim expressions had appeared on both of the mecha pilots' faces. They both knew that they were facing a tough opponent.

This was the first time that Tang Wulin had encountered a mecha pilot who was able to control their mecha to such a high degree of precision. His opponent was using that long saber as if it were an extension of his own arm, and the extraordinary speed of the saber clearly indicated that it was being enhanced by the mecha pilot's soul power.

The more formidable the opponent was, the more Tang Wulin's battle intent was stimulated. That was why he had only used his soul power to enhance his mecha, rather than turning to his martial soul and bloodline power.

He wanted to practice his spear techniques, so his objective wasn't to defeat his opponent as quickly as possible.

Tang Wulin's mecha abruptly stepped forward again before thrusting its spear forward. On this occasion, he injected his soul power into the spear, and his body seemed to have already fused as one with the mecha and the spear.

In the face of Tang Wulin's spear, which had suddenly become faster than before, the opposing mecha chose to block the attack with its long saber. However, in contrast with Tang Wulin, it was slightly angling the hilt of its saber rather than directly blocking the attack head-on.

A loud boom rang out as spear intent erupted from the long spear. The opposing mecha was forced back half a step by the impact, but its long saber also swept toward Tang Wulin's mecha along the shaft of the spear. He was utilizing the length of the weapon to its full extent.

Light flashed through Tang Wulin's eyes as he withdrew his spear, then swept it through the air to knock the long saber aside. Thus, the two of them began to exchange a series of blows at close quarters with their respective weapons.

Neither of them unleashed any soul techniques, and they were solely using their weapons to engage in a fierce battle.

There normally wasn't much technique involved in battles between melee combat mechas, but in this case, their technical prowess made the mecha battle extremely enthralling to behold.

Tang Wulin quickly immersed himself into the battle. After injecting his soul power into his mecha, he felt as if his body had combined as one with it, and that allowed him to quickly integrate some of his own combat techniques into the battle. He was beginning to control his mecha with a higher and higher level of proficiency, and his opponent's combat prowess was also very formidable.

His control over his mecha was close to perfect, and his long saber was constantly flashing through the air, not affording Tang Wulin any opportunities.

The two of them were evenly matched, and a fierce impasse ensued.

Tang Wulin was absolutely sure that his opponent was a mecha pilot from the Blood God Legion, and he had to be at or above the Soul King stage. Otherwise, he wouldn't be posing such stern resistance.

This had become a contest of technique, and neither of them was willing to use their soul skills to beat their opponent as this was a brilliant training opportunity for them.

Unbeknownst to Tang Wulin, the Star Battle Net area in the legion's resting area was in a complete frenzy.

"Who is that? When did such a powerful melee combat mecha expert appear in our western region? Even the third battalion leader is struggling to take him down! This is really exciting to watch!"

There was a large screen in the Star Battle Net area that could broadcast any of the battles taking place in the 30 Star Cabins for the waiting soldiers to watch.

At this moment, the battle being broadcasted was none other than that of Tang Wulin and the long-saber-wielder.

The battle was becoming fiercer and fiercer, and both sides were quite evenly matched. Such a battle was certainly not something that one could see every day, and it was definitely the most spectacular mecha battle in the western competition region thus far.