Chapter 202: 8.9

The Zergs swarm attacked the soldiers without mercy. Some insect spewed poisonous spit, some had a bite that could tear the skin, some had sharp sting that could penetrate the human body. It was a brutal battlefield.

The soldiers were valiantly fighting against the Zergs. The Lieutenant wanted to help their General, but General Vega stopped them and ordered, "Focus to help the soldiers! I will fight that giant praying mantis myself!" 

The Lieutenants gritted their teeth as they knew it would be a life and death situation for General Vega. But it was expected that he would say that he didn't want many soldiers to die under his order. 

Thus, they obeyed the order and helped the soldiers to fight smaller Zergs to minimize soldier casualty. The giant praying mantis was about to attack a soldier before General Vega's sawblade attacked its head. 

The giant praying mantis jumped and used its scythe arm to attack General Vega. The General dodged it by jumping back. The giant mantis then used its other arm to attack the General.

General Vega used his sawblade again to shield him from the attack. He thought the giant mantis would get cut from the saw blade, but it turned out its arms were as tough as steel.

"Damn!" General Vega gritted his teeth and charged in with his drill. He targeted the mantis's abdomen, but the mantis noticed it and flew away, giving General Vega the information that it was a vital part aside of its head, of course. 

Thus, General Vega flew with his mech and continued on using his sawblade to deflect the mantis attack while pressing the giant mantis by continuously targeting its abdomen with the drill. 

The giant praying mantis realized that it couldn't stay like this forever because this human was not playing around. He had incredible endurance and strength. Thus, the giant mantis retreated for a moment.

"D—Did that mantis retreated?" General Vega said to himself. He squinted at the giant praying mantis, who retreated far. The General was about to put down his mech weapon before hearing the loud buzzing noises from afar. When he noticed it, his eyes almost came out of its socket.

The giant mantis returned with another swarm of smaller praying mantises, probably the exact size of a regular human. The smaller praying mantises charged at him with their scythe-like arm. General Vega knew that there was no other way except by using his sawblade. He took a deep breath and then turned on the sawblade arm on his mech to full speed mode, "I will not lose! For humanity!"

General Vega spun around with his sawblade arm and cut all praying mantis that came in his direction. Hundreds of praying mantis' chopped arm fell on the ground, twitching while the mantis' body had been brutally torn by the saw blade. 

However, the amount of praying mantis didn't seem to decrease, and General Vega started losing his energy.

[Oh god, I'm so dizzy, I think I'm going to puke soon.]

[Pupa: So, I guess I will see you get eaten by a mantis and then we are going to restart one hour later.]

[Why do you really want to see me dead?! Where is my host, right!?]

[Pupa: Just like what I said before, it is one of a kind entertainment.]

General Vega's mech finally stopped spinning after he lost his momentum. There were countless chopped bodies of praying mantis on the ground, but the big boss, the giant praying mantis, was still unscathed. 

"At this rate, Lebth Province will be destroyed, and humanity will lose another territory," General Vega gnashed his teeth, he prepared himself again. The saw blade had lost its function after too much usage. Thus, he stripped it to remove some weight out of his mech.

He only had a drill now. He prepared himself to just drill through his way until he reached the giant praying mantis and drilled his body. Though the chance was slim, he couldn't give up here because humanity depends on him!

"Here goes nothing!" General Vega turned on the drill on his mech's hand and then pointed it to the front. There was another wave of smaller praying mantises coming at him, so this was his only chance. 

"RAAARRGHHH!" General Vega's drill pushed through the wave of praying mantises and destroyed all of them. He was so close to the giant praying mantis before the giant mantis dodged and used its arm to catch General Vega.

"Argh!" 

"GENERAL!" the Lieutenants saw their general got caught by the scythe arms of the giant mantis. They charged towards the giant mantis but got attacked by the smaller mantises, which prevented them from reaching the General.

Yunyu saw that there was no more hope because he had been caught in this scythe arm. If he didn't escape soon, the scythe arm would cut him in half. 

[Pupa, let's restart.]

[Pupa: Not yet, you are not dead yet.]

[Goddamn it!]

Just when Yunyu felt hopeless, he saw a silhouette of a mech coming in his direction, and then—

"Let my general go!" the familiar voice of certain alpha awakened the hopeless general. He saw the blazing red SSS Boxer mech with its owner. Altair Roderick suddenly appeared on the battlefield like a superhero that saved the day.

The giant mantis shrieked and released General Vega from its clasp. General Vega recovered immediately, and he glared at Altair, "Cadet Altair! What are you doing here! This place is too dangerous!"

"I come here to save you! I don't want you to die, General!" Altair gritted his teeth, "If you want to punish me, then punish me later!"

Altair pointed at the giant mantis, "That thing needs to die first!" 

Altair dashed towards the giant mantis and quickly kicked its head. The giant mantis shrieked and retreated a few feet away from Altair. It couldn't predict Altair at all because he was speedy.

Thus, it decided to send another swarm of smaller mantis to attack Altair.

General Vega hurriedly stood in front of Altair and then pointed his drill in front again before turning it on to the highest speed, "I will protect you, Altair!" General Vega shouted. 

The incoming mantises got drilled away by General Vega, who seemed to have infinite stamina. Altair gazed at General, who protected him from the swarm of mantises. Although the General was strong and had excellent endurance, he obviously already exhausted almost all his strength. 

Thus, Altair didn't want to waste any more time. He didn't wish General Vega to get hurt, so he said, "I will end this!" 

"What are you—" before General Vega could finish his sentence, SSS Boxer already rocketed towards the giant praying mantis and aimed at its neck.

"DIE!" Altair activated a blade on the mech's leg and kicked the giant mantis' neck. With the blade on the leg, Altair successfully sliced the mantis' head clean. The giant mantis' head dropped on the ground as the giant body dropped next and shook the ground.

Other Zergs saw that their leader had been killed and lost their commander. They started fighting in an uncoordinated manner, making them easy to get exterminated by the soldiers on the ground.

In the end, thanks to sudden intervention from Altair Roderick and his SSS Boxer, humanity was saved once more.

There was a loud shout that was followed by the rest of the people "LONG LIVE HUMANITY! LONG LIVE HUMANITY! LONG LIVE HUMANITY!"