Chapter 269: Supporting Suez (Part 2)

The ambush battle at the entrance of the Red Sea continued, but as the battle progressed, the ZAFT military, as the ambushing side, gradually fell into a state of insufficient stamina.

This was caused by many factors. First, due to the Suez offensive in preparation, the ZAFT military could not draw too many troops to conduct the ambush.

Secondly, ZAFT's judgment on the combat power of Li Boyong's unit was wrong.

It wasn't that they didn't expect the number of MS possessed by Li Boyong's fleet; in fact, in terms of MS quantity, the number of MS in Li Boyong's unit was less than what ZAFT expected.

But in terms of pilot quality, it exceeded ZAFT's expectations.

After all, since the last great war, Coordinators had long been accustomed to extremely advantageous combat loss ratios.

Even later, when Naturals also possessed MS, this combat loss ratio advantage still existed.

So this time, the ZAFT military really didn't expect that the MS unit, which even occupied the upper hand in quantity, would be at a disadvantage in the engagement with Li Boyong's unit.

The elite pilots cultivated by Phantom Pain were absolutely not inferior to ordinary ZAFT pilots in ability, and even had certain advantages.

Of course, there was also a very important factor, which was the decisive combat power exerted by the large number of Gundams.

For example, the Abyss Gundam, which was alone in the rear at the beginning, faced the combat power of three GINNs and one submarine carrier, but still occupied an absolute upper hand, and even shot down two GINNs in the battle.

If it weren't for the ZAFT submarine carrier seeing that the situation was not good and turning around to retreat with the only remaining GINN, it might have already become a ghost under Olu's halberd.

It was from the moment the Abyss Gundam's combat power was liberated from the rear line that Olu turned to support the White Whale unit, which was about to be unable to hold on, and helped the White Whale unit repel the GINN unit in front, and the combat power comparison of the entire ambush circle began to change.

The balance tilted toward the Alliance side, and then it was Li Boyong leading the Windams to begin the attack on the *Petrie*-class.

In order to deal with the surprise attack of the three Windams, the escort combat power of the *Petrie*-class began to play a role. Two BuCUEs cruised and harassed within the fire support range of the *Petrie*-class, while a Gunner ZAKU Warrior made up for the vacancy of the *Petrie*-class fire net on the deck of the *Petrie*.

"You two, flank from left and right, don't go too deep, just help me share some firepower, and leave the rest to me." Li Boyong issued an attack order. Wiping out these combat powers was just enough to complete this mission.

Soon, the Windams under Li Boyong began to flank from left and right, and while attracting firepower, they used maneuvers to pull the enemy's fire net.

And Li Boyong seized the opportunity to sharply cut into the fire net of the *Petrie*-class.

The Gunner ZAKU Warrior on the *Petrie*-class soon noticed Li Boyong's "reckless" mobile suit and aimed the muzzle of the beam cannon at the Windam piloted by Li Boyong.

"Hehe, let's play something exciting this time."

But Li Boyong acted as if he didn't see it and continued to maintain his current maneuver trajectory to approach the *Petrie*-class.

Soon, the Gunner ZAKU Warrior, feeling that it had the confidence to hit the target in one shot, opened fire. A thick red ion beam sprayed from the muzzle and shot straight at Li Boyong.

"Evasion!"

Spirit Command used, the Windam piloted by Li Boyong turned right and sank, narrowly avoiding the direct hit of the beam.

Subsequently, the Windam accelerated its dive and, at the extreme distance, used the power of the direction pull-up as a buffer, pulled out its beam saber, and fell toward the Gunner ZAKU Warrior.

The ZAFT pilot piloting the Gunner ZAKU Warrior reacted immediately. It was too late to fill the second shot, so he decisively abandoned the cannon and pulled out the beam axe.

It was a pity that he was still a step slow, and his right arm and half of his shoulder armor were cut off by the Windam falling from the sky.

Subsequently, the Windam that landed on the deck used a backhand diagonal slash to waist-cut the Gunner ZAKU Warrior that was trying to jump back and retreat.

A secondary gun on the side rotated, wanting to aim the muzzle at the Windam that landed on the deck, but Li Boyong's reaction was faster. After shooting down the enemy machine on the deck, he raised his left hand and fired the two-barreled missile built into the shield, destroying this secondary gun.

Up to this point, due to the problem of the field of fire, there was no firepower on the *Petrie*-class that could threaten Li Boyong.

He maneuvered the mobile suit to raise his gun and fire two shots at the bridge, and jumped to destroy the main gun of the *Petrie*-class, then made a detour to destroy the engine part of the *Petrie*.

The *Petrie*-class gradually stopped, and explosions and fires occurred inside continuously. The surviving ZAFT officers saw that the situation was irreversible and began to escape.

"The state is not bad, it seems that many friendly forces died..."

"Without a Ship-Slicing Blade, it's quite difficult to hit a warship." Li Boyong complained after cleaning up the *Petrie* and continued to pursue the two BuCUEs.

It took some time, and with the assistance of the other two Windams, he shot down two more BuCUEs and successfully completed the mission.

And at this time, the ZAFT military saw that the situation was irreversible, and the ambush on Li Boyong's unit had failed, so they began to retreat one after another.

Regarding this, Li Boyong issued an order to stop the pursuit.

After all, their most important mission at the current stage was to support the Suez stronghold, and continuing to waste time in the Red Sea was not a wise move.

After the battle, Li Boyong's fleet began to count the results.

The Alliance side shot down three Gazuutes, two BuCUEs, one Gunner ZAKU Warrior, seven GINNs, six BuCUEs, three DINNs, and one *Petrie*-class.

It could be said that the results were brilliant, but they also paid a considerable price.

The Windam formation had four units shot down, and except for Li Boyong's unit, the other mobile suits had varying degrees of damage.

As for the White Whale unit, three underwater-use Daggers were shot down, and the remaining one was also in a heavily damaged state. It could be said that the disadvantage of the underwater-use Daggers in terms of performance was exposed without doubt in this battle.

The White Whale unit was basically annihilated.

In addition, there was considerable damage to the warships, and because the underwater battle was at a disadvantage at the beginning, the fleet was under considerable pressure.

One destroyer was sunk by a GINN torpedo, and another cruiser was lightly damaged, and one cruiser was heavily damaged and lost its sailing ability.

Even the *Jones*, which served as the flagship, was unfortunately pierced by a stray bullet in a mobile suit launch deck, losing some mobile suit parts.

As for the *Dominion*, which went to pursue the *Lesseps*-class, it didn't achieve any ideal results, but instead had a secondary gun destroyed.

The commander of the *Lesseps* seemed to be prepared for the *Dominion*'s surprise attack, and chose a terrain with many sand dunes when choosing the terrain for the ambush before the battle.

It could be said that they fully utilized the fact that the *Dominion*'s main firepower could only be aimed directly, and occupied a great advantage in the artillery battle.

Coupled with the harassment of the escort BuCUEs, the *Dominion*, which carried three Gundams, didn't achieve any results.

Even after the *Dominion* was damaged, it had to watch the ZAFT military leave calmly.

Li Boyong was not unprepared for such a result, but he had to let the *Dominion* go up at that time. Otherwise, if he continued to let the *Lesseps*-class shell calmly from a distance, the threat to the fleet would be too great.

But overall, Li Boyong's fleet could still be considered to have achieved brilliant results in this battle. ===== CHAPTER 270 =====