Chapter 42: Determination

Somewhere in the Pacific, inside the submarine carrier belonging to Athrun's pursuit team.

"Doctor, how is that guy's situation?"

Yzak was pulling the military doctor who was coming out of the emergency room tightly. The other pilots of the team also surrounded him, waiting for the doctor's verdict.

"The patient has temporarily saved his life, but he hasn't regained consciousness yet."

The military doctor took off his mask and shook his head with some regret: "The injuries on his body and face have been controlled, but his forearms are no longer usable. We have no way, so we could only perform an amputation."

"What do you mean by no way?"

Yzak became excited: "If that guy loses his hands, how will he play the piano he likes most!"

"Immediately let the captain drive the ship back to Carpentaria and send Nicol back to his country for treatment. There must be some way!"

He said and turned to find the captain in the captain's quarters.

But Athrun pulled him: "Yzak, don't be willful! We are still executing the mission of the military headquarters, don't make things difficult for the captain."

"Nagging!"

Yzak opened Athrun's hand and grabbed Athrun's collar: "Is this what you should say?"

Athrun was saddened. If he could, he would naturally want to be willful like Yzak, but he had his own responsibilities.

"Stop."

Dearka pulled Yzak: "Nicol had an accident, he is the one who feels the most uncomfortable."

Athrun, who was being grabbed by the collar, didn't mean to struggle at all, just said in a low voice: "I have already contacted the base, and a transport plane will be sent immediately to send Nicol to Carpentaria."

"Tch..."

Yzak let go of Athrun and shouted in a venting way: "I swear, next time I will definitely kill the Strike and the Long Legs."

"Hmm, me too." Dearka agreed.

The two left together. Athrun asked the doctor: "Can I go in and see him?"

The military doctor nodded: "But don't stay too long."

"Thank you."

Athrun entered the ward where Nicol was, and not long after, Athrun's suppressed crying came from inside.

Shihe, who was staying outside, couldn't help it anymore, wiped her tears, and ran away.

Whenever there was a dispute among teammates, it was always that kind-hearted piano boy who stood up to persuade everyone.

Because he hated disputes so much, but now war had deprived him of his hands and dreams. This was too cruel.

Shihe ran all the way to the hangar, but saw the miserable state of the Blitz again.

"Sorry... sorry..."

Shihe leaned on the railing and whispered to herself.

Regarding Nicol's injury, she thought she also had responsibility.

Because her will to fight had indeed wavered because of Li Boyong's appearance.

Originally, she had been ostrich-like ignoring her situation, but now the bloody reality of a compatriot being injured was placed in front of her, giving her a sense of guilt and shame as if she had betrayed her companions.

She, who was already complicated because of Li Boyong's appearance, became even more helpless because of Nicol's injury.

"Sorry..."

Shihe gritted her teeth and made up her mind. She couldn't implicate her compatriots because of her stupidity anymore.

This time it was an injury, next time it could be death.

Sorry... next battle, I won't waver again.

————

After Nicol was sent to the rear base, the Athrun Team started the pursuit of the Archangel again.

Finally, when the Archangel was about to approach the Alaska air defense circle, it caught up with the Archangel.

"Sure enough, they still came."

Li Boyong was resting in his room when he heard the combat readiness alarm.

He ran all the way to the pilot changing room and happened to meet Miriallia and her boyfriend Tolle rushing to the bridge when passing through the living area.

"Second Lieutenant, I'll have to rely on you this time." Tolle saw Li Boyong and smiled cheerfully.

Originally, it was quite normal for a pilot fighting on the front line to be entrusted like this by rear personnel.

But Li Boyong always felt like he had been forcibly set a FLAG...

After all, Tolle was originally going to die in this battle, but now he was piloting Unit 2...

"Oh, oh, rear support is up to you." Li Boyong perfunctorily said politely, parted ways with this young couple at the next intersection, and entered the pilot changing room.

Kira was also changing into his pilot suit silently inside. His expression was dull and painful, and his whole body exuded an aura of not wanting to communicate with anyone.

Since leaving Orb, he had been in this state most of the time, especially after injuring the Blitz, it was even more obvious.

Li Boyong, who wanted to open up, opened his mouth but didn't know how to start.

His current pain was not something that he or Mu could open up by pretending to be a knowing big brother.

At this time, Mula Flaga entered the changing room, and he greeted Kira.

Kira gave a light "hmm" and nodded to respond.

He awkwardly scratched his head, turned to pat Li Boyong on the shoulder, and cheered: "Work harder and hold on through this battle, and we can reach Alaska. I'll treat you to play at the pilot club attached to the base."

"Yes, yes..." Li Boyong nodded.

The pilot club or something is fine, but Mu, you should set fewer FLAGs...

The three pilots changed into pilot suits and rushed into the hangar.

Li Boyong climbed into his Unit 2, made the final check before sortie, and received the system mission at the same time.

【Mission】

Protect the Archangel to enter Alaska and survive in the upcoming battle. (Success reward: 5 Plot Points.)

【Mission】

Shoot down any Gundam in the pursuit team. (Success reward: 10 Battle Merit Points.)

The system gave a total of two missions, which was the first time this situation had occurred.

Li Boyong was a bit surprised, but still quickly analyzed the two missions.

The first one was easy to say, a survival mission, this must be completed.

The Archangel must also safely enter Alaska, otherwise what was the significance of fighting all the way here?

As for the second mission, the reward was very generous. It could be said that this stingy system gave such a good reward for the first time, which made people quite tempted.

It was just that the generous reward naturally represented the corresponding difficulty, which was probably very dangerous.

No, according to the performance ratio of the Skygrasper and the Gundam, it should be an almost impossible mission.

But there was also an advantage, that was this air battle, none of the Gundams had atmospheric flight capability.

Li Boyong hesitated for a while, but reason still couldn't suppress the greed in his heart, so he decided to act according to his ability at that time.

Because the Sword Striker component was hit and thrown into the sea by him, this time Unit 2 was not equipped with any Strike equipment.

After Mula Flaga sortied in the Launcher Strike Unit 1, Li Boyong followed closely in Unit 2.

Then the Aile Strike sortied.

The three units cooperated with the Archangel's firepower to intercept the four incoming MS units. ===== CHAPTER 43 =====