Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 194 - 190: Aerial Combat

Chapter 194: Chapter 190: Aerial Combat

"All hands alert, enemy aircraft approaching, repeat, enemy aircraft approaching!" Cheng Ziang calmly shouted, as he rushed to the machine-gun post, grabbing the gun handle.

"Little Ke, check weapons, prepare for combat!" Luo’er was unequivocal, pointing at Hu Daoke and yelling, as he rose to his feet and pushed open another cabin door.

"Understood!" Hu Daoke stood up from the floor, one hand on the cabin door, the other clutching a light machine gun, his fingers laboriously unlocking the safety catch on the machine gun.

Luo’er leaned against the cabin door, took the safety off his rifle, and checked the bullets in the chamber. In the distance, a High-peak people’s aircraft had appeared far behind them, keeping pace and tailing them from behind.

It was a Skylark Fighter, primarily tasked with reconnaissance and ground strike missions. Its design somewhat resembled the American B2 bombers of yore, only much smaller. Two machine guns were attached to either side of the solid wings. Since it was a reconnaissance model, there were no bombs or rockets under its belly.

All High-peak people’s aircraft were two-seat models, with one person responsible for piloting and attacking, and another responsible for communication with the rear. The cockpit of this reconnaissance Skylark Fighter was peculiar, instead of the traditional dual-seat fighter configuration, it was more like an armed helicopter’s stacked cockpits setup. With domed window glass for the cockpit, it made the Skylark Fighter’s cockpit strikingly similar to that of a doe’s armed helicopter.

The raised cockpit at the rear of such a model provided a broader view for the person in the rear, facilitating their reconnaissance duties, but the cockpits in most ground attack fighters weren’t as high.

"Hold off on attacking, it’s a reconnaissance aircraft, make sure of their intentions first!" Luo’er recognized the fighter model at a glance and calmly stated.

Cheng Ziang turned his head to look at him, then nodded. Despite not planning to shoot just yet, he had already cocked the gun, ready to pull the trigger.

"Commander, plane one has located the transport plane’s position!" Just as Mooer and Mu Lansi were about to board, a guard relayed an exciting piece of news.

"Order plane one to wait for plane two to arrive," Mooer turned to glance at Mu Lansi, then gritted his teeth and said, "Order plane two to join plane one, once the two have merged, they will wait for Headquarters’ assault command!"

The messenger communicator on board the Skylark Fighter was a one-to-one text communicator, so the two planes couldn’t communicate with each other, they could only send requests back to Headquarters, which would then relay the command to the other plane.

"Once the two have merged, immediately initiate an attack on the target, no need to wait for a command from Headquarters," Mu Lansi added. Wrinkling his forehead, he continued, "Have those Westerners in the city been captured yet?"

"The encirclement by the Mobile Corps is closing in, we should have news soon." The communications officer lowered his head to respond.

"What a bunch of incompetents, they can’t even capture a few people, wasting our time!" Mu Lansi glanced at the mechanical watch on his wrist, a gift given by the Headquarters during a joint operation, yet he felt no gratitude for it.

"What does he think he’s doing?" Hu Daoke asked, watching the Skylark Fighter behind the transport plane.

"He’s probably waiting for his wingman to arrive. The Ronisca Air Division from Earth would never launch a single aircraft!" Luo’er analyzed with a frown.

"What’s going on?" Tangmo, sitting in the forward row, turned his head to ask.

"Nothing to worry about, a Ronisca fighter is approaching. You two sit tight, it might get bumpy!" Luo’er reassured.

"Do you need my help?" Tangmo asked.

"No, your magic would interfere with the operation of the anti-gravity engine." Pausing for a moment, Luo’er then said, "Yue’er, always be ready to maneuver!"

"Roger that!" Baiyue nodded, her eyes glancing at the rearview mirror on the side of the cockpit, feeling a bit nervous.

"I have a bad feeling about this. These people might not plan on letting us go!" Cheng Ziang voiced, holding his machine gun.

"Look, another fighter, at four o’clock!" Hu Daoke suddenly pointed into the distance and shouted loudly.

"Prepare for combat!" Luo’er swallowed, noticing that after the arrival of another fighter, the one from earlier had stopped keeping pace and was now speeding towards them.

"Strike first!" Cheng Ziang muttered under his breath, suddenly pulling the trigger.

"Da-da-da-da!!!!!"

A few tracer bullets and dozens of bullets in total formed into a barrage, splashing towards the two converging fighters like water. They scattered like startled wasps. One of them returned a hail of bullets towards the transport plane, but missed.

"Hostile intentions confirmed, fire at will!" Following Luo’er’s command, the gun ports on either side of the cabin opened fire on the two separated fighters.

But firing while in flight, it’s impossible to hit a target easily. The bullets fired by Hu Daoke formed an arch of fire in the sky, but they couldn’t hit the agile fighter planes.

The piloting skills of these High-peak people were much higher than Baiyue’s. Their planes rose and fell, evading fire. The lift of these planes also came from anti-gravity engines, so the wings didn’t generate lift. It was due to this that the planes could perform difficult maneuvers that Earth’s planes could barely achieve.

Cheng Ziang operated the machine gun from behind. As long as a fighter entered his field of fire, he would attack without hesitation. But the enemy pilots were clearly aware of the firepower behind the transport plane, so they avoided it by flying behind the transport on both sides.

The two firing points at the cabin door had little effect. Hu Daoke was ok, at least he could form a barrage. But Luo’er used a 30-round magazine rifle, which couldn’t fire like a machine gun, and single shots lacked the firepower.

A fighter suddenly ascended to the height of the transport plane, the nose of the plane pointed at the transport, and a dense barrage was fired at them.

"Yue’er, evade!" Luo’er shouted loudly.

Baiyue gritted her teeth, stepped hard on the descent pedal, and then controlled the control stick to move to the right. The transport plane unexpectedly fell to the right, startling Hu Daoke so much that he almost fell out.

The transport evaded the dense barrage, then Baiyue stepped on the lift pedal hard, and the transport plane suddenly rose dozens of meters to a height higher than the enemy fighters.

"Good opportunity!" Seeing this, Cheng Ziang immediately pulled the trigger. With the roar of the machine gun, a dense barrage rained down on the enemy fighters below.

But the enemy fighters didn’t react at all, they immediately shifted to the sides and quickly rose, evading the onboard machine gun fire.

Only then did Luo’er notice that these Skylark fighters were not using propeller engines at all, but the latest turbine engines. Thus, their mobility and speed were far greater than this transport plane.

Escaping the attack, the two fighters adjusted their positions again and launched a new round of shooting at the transport. Luo’er gritted his teeth, turned his head and shouted loudly at Baiyue: "Yue’er, fly low!"

"Understood!" Baiyue responded, and then began to lower the transport plane. Soon, they saw the dense forest and the winding river on the ground.

"Are you mad? Flying at a low altitude makes us a live target!" Cheng Ziang turned his head and shouted.

"We can’t beat them. It’s best to lower the altitude to avoid killing everyone when being shot down. We don’t have any parachutes left!" Luo’er responded loudly.

"Defeatist!" Cheng Ziang muttered under his breath, operating his machine gun and trying to attack the fighters above.

"Fly close to the river, skim the treetops!" Luo’er shouted.

Cheng Ziang didn’t speak again, while he didn’t want to admit it, he knew that they couldn’t defeat the two high-speed fighters merely with onboard weapons and their own equipment. Now they had to either make an emergency landing in a suitable place, or wait to be shot down. Anyway, they were almost out of the Lining River canyon, and as long as they entered Masya’s territory, they would be relatively safe.

It seems that the fighters recognized their intentions, launching attacks in succession. Although they only had cannons, they could nonetheless destroy the transport plane with their weaponry.

Baiyue controlled the transport, dodging left and right occasionally, perfectly escaping the sequential fire from the two fighters behind. Dense bullets penetrated the lush treetops, immediately causing puffs of leaves and wood chips. When they hit the nearby river, they splashed up long water columns.

Cheng Ziang wasn’t idle either, as long as the two fighters were within his field of fire, he would immediately fire at them without hesitation. In the meantime, the two firing points on both sides of the cabin were also interfering with the two fighters.

After some time, the rear cabin’s machine gun bullets finally ran out. Cheng Ziang had no choice but to shout: "Out of bullets!"

At the same time, one of the fighters was preparing to fight till death. It suddenly rose, then targeted the transport plane below and dived down, firing a dense barrage. Under this dense attack, the top of the transport plane inevitably endured a dozen bullets.

The transport plane suddenly plummeted, followed by the propeller making a piercing sound. Luo’er looked up from the cabin door, and smoke was billowing from one side of the transport plane’s propeller.

"The propeller engine is damaged, the anti-gravity engine has failed, the plane will crash!" Baiyue calmly said. Unlike Tangmo, who was pale-faced next to her, Baiyue had been very calm all along.

"Make an emergency landing on the water!" Luo’er shouted loudly.

"Received!" Baiyue nodded, gritting her teeth and controlling the transport plane to fly forward. God seemed to be looking after them, as a round lake appeared in front of them, sitting beside the river. It was like a mellow white jade within the boundless forest.

"Everyone get ready, the plane is about to make an emergency landing!" Baiyue said calmly, controlling the transport plane to fly directly into the lake.