Chapter 23: Scorching

The life-and-death battle on the hot sand continued, and the battle situation was scorching and not yet clear.

Although under Kira Yamato's increasingly strong operational skills, the Strike quickly broke through the formation composed of five BuCUEs, the LaGOWE piloted by the Desert Tiger and his wife once again entangled the Strike.

On the other hand, the Lesseps and Petrie launched fierce attacks on the Archangel, and the Archangel also fought back desperately, but under the influence of the desert environment, the hit rate of the beam main guns seemed worrying.

Fortunately, the Archangel side still had two Sky Graspers continuously harassing the ZAFT land fleet. Li Boyong also cut off a main gun of the Petrie, which also put quite a bit of pressure on the ZAFT forces.

It seemed that the battle situation was not unfavorable to their side, but Li Boyong remembered that the ZAFT forces should still have a Petrie-class circling around to pincer them. At that time, the situation would quickly tilt toward the ZAFT side, so they must severely damage the two warships in front of them before that.

After making up his mind, Li Boyong suggested to Mula Flaga: "Major, attack from the direction of the Duel and Buster. The shooting adjustments of those two machines are problematic. Using this point, maybe there is an opportunity to exploit."

"Understood."

The experienced Mula Flaga also saw something and agreed with Li Boyong's suggestion.

The two Sky Graspers changed their method this time, attacking the Lesseps together from the direction of the Duel and Buster. The Duel and Buster's missing aim caused huge loopholes in the originally tight firepower net.

Mula Flaga's Unit 1 opened a big hole in the Lesseps with the Agni. Li Boyong's Unit 2 didn't use the Ship-Slicing Blade this time, but used the main gun and missiles to blow over a Zauort, and that unlucky Zauort also broke a secondary gun.

It seemed that due to the impact of the explosion, the Lesseps' output began to drop, causing the formation of the two land warships to become disjointed.

Seeing this, Li Boyong turned after breaking away and attacked the Petrie-class that was protruding in front from the rear.

The only remaining Zauort on the Petrie-class left deck turned to the rear and fired with full firepower, attempting to stop the Sky Grasper's approach.

However, Li Boyong was very alert and circled from the right wing, dodging the opponent's field of fire.

He first used anti-ship missiles to destroy two anti-aircraft gun turrets, then ejected the Ship-Slicing Blade again, and the machine swept under the Petrie-class bridge in a sharp arc.

The Ship-Slicing Blade left a gap under the Petrie's bridge, and the dense internal wiring under the bridge caused quite a big explosion after being damaged.

Li Boyong dodged the Zauort's pursuit and broke away from the left wing direction.

"The feel is still a bit off; I was originally aiming for the bridge."

He observed his results in the cockpit, feeling slightly regretful.

"Looking beautiful, next, watch me!"

At this moment, Mula Flaga's Unit 1 and Unit 2 crossed each other and launched an attack on the Petrie.

Li Boyong suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart.

Wait, Major, what are you going to do?

Because Li Boyong had destroyed two anti-aircraft gun turrets, Mula Flaga easily got close to the Petrie-class and fired a shot at the Petrie-class at extremely close range with the Agni.

The thick red beam directly pierced through the central area of the Petrie-class, quickly causing a large-scale internal explosion.

"Everyone abandon ship!"

The Petrie-class Captain had to issue the order.

Unfortunately, because of Li Boyong's previous attack, the people on the bridge had no chance to escape. The survivors who had a chance to escape and that Zauort urgently evacuated the Petrie-class.

Soon, the Petrie-class gradually lost power and became a huge wreck on the desert in one explosion after another.

Li Boyong: "..............."

Is it easy for me to do a mission?

Even this was stolen by someone else. Major, be a person.

"Damn it, what's the use of staying in the rear like this."

Feeling anxious about the deterioration of the battle situation, Yzak Joule, piloting the Duel, jumped off the Lesseps.

He wanted to find the Strike for revenge, but the Duel, which had not undergone ground adaptability adjustments, could only stumble forward on one sand dune after another, and then became a shameful kneeling crawl under the siege of the resistance army's armed vehicles.

If it weren't for the protection of the Phase Shift Armor, the myth of rocket launchers dismantling Gundams would probably have been born in this desert.

Just as the battle situation was proceeding in favor of the Archangel side, the ZAFT detachment arrived in a pincer attack. A Petrie-class carrying two Zauorts launched an attack from the side and rear of the Archangel.

This fresh force that had just joined the battle had fierce firepower, and the surprise angle was tricky, catching the Archangel off guard. For a time, the engine was damaged and it lost power, becoming entangled by the cables of an abandoned oil field, and the situation was critical.

Originally, Li Boyong planned to bully the Duel on the way and then attack the Lesseps together with Mula Flaga, who was circling back, but observing the Archangel being pincered and shelled, he immediately changed his mind to pin down that Petrie-class.

The Lesseps on this side was heavily damaged under the attack and temporarily had low power, and the Duel and Buster couldn't exert any effect, posing no threat, so leaving it to Mula Flaga to deal with was not a big problem.

The detachment on the side and rear of the Archangel posed a greater threat. The trapped Archangel couldn't launch a counterattack against them. If they were hit by the detachment's desperate shelling at this time, it would be dangerous.

The Sky Grasper Unit 2 flew toward the detachment, passing through the engagement area of the Strike and the LaGOWE. These two machines with extremely strong mobility were fighting fiercely.

Facing the Strike, the LaGOWE had no energy to attack the Sky Grasper in the sky. Li Boyong successfully arrived at the detachment's position and launched a pinning attack on that Petrie-class.

The appearance of the Sky Grasper Unit 2 forced the two Zauorts on the enemy ship's deck to turn their firepower to anti-aircraft, and the fierce firepower put quite a bit of pressure on Li Boyong. Fortunately, he only intended to carry out a pinning attack to reduce the pressure on the Archangel, and turned to break away under the fierce firepower.

"Hiss, can't break through from the front."

After turning to break away, Li Boyong made a maneuver to change his trajectory and then began to climb.

"But this direction works."

This time, Li Boyong maneuvered the Sky Grasper to launch a dive attack from the rear and above the Petrie.

A simple sway disrupted the aiming of the anti-aircraft fire. After approaching a certain distance, the Sky Grasper's main gun fired, and at the same time, two anti-ship missiles were fired.

The anti-ship missiles were unfortunately shot down, but the main gun destroyed one of the enemy ship's secondary guns, and the Archangel's pressure was reduced again.

The attack succeeded. Although no definitive results were achieved, Li Boyong was not in a hurry. After maneuvering the Sky Grasper to break away, he turned again to launch a pinning attack.

In the current battle situation, he didn't need to be aggressive and risk his life. As long as he pinned down this detachment and didn't let them shell the Archangel unscrupulously, it would be fine.

As long as the LaGOWE was defeated by the Strike, or the Archangel was freed, or Mula Flaga solved the Lesseps, the battle situation could be overturned in an instant. At that time, he would act according to the situation and complete the System's mission.

As for emotional things like saving the Desert Tiger and his wife, he really didn't have the ability to complete them now.

Admittedly, he personally appreciated the Desert Tiger's character, but he knew very well that he couldn't save an enemy who was determined to fight to the death on a rapidly changing battlefield. ===== CHAPTER 24 =====