Chapter 710: A Choice Between Life and Death

"Let’s go! Storm!"

"Curved Blade" let out a loud shout and sensed something was off. He pushed the engine to catch up with Storm and launched into an attack maneuver.

What was once a dual aircraft team of four fighter jets quickly turned into a three-on-one standoff.

The unfortunate one in this scenario was "Tiger." As a high-tier pilot, he had likely accumulated a fair number of points, and this "landlord" status was truly valid.

Storm and Curved Blade’s fighter jets showed no intention of letting Lin Mo snatch away this easy prey; they lunged at the high-tier pilot from the Anti-Government Forces like they were energized.

"Oh God! Hey, hey, don’t go too far!"

Seeing the three fighter jets charging aggressively toward him, Tiger was dumbfounded. He had never encountered such a situation in his life—three against one was utterly unsolvable.

Even a special tier pilot would struggle in this scenario; he quickly maneuvered his fighter jet into a roll and snake maneuver to avoid the three jets.

If they simultaneously locked onto him, that would truly be a tragedy.

But just then, an alarm blared from the cockpits of Storm and Curved Blade.

Storm glanced at the radar screen and noticed two small lights rapidly approaching, seemingly preparing for a beyond-visual-range attack. The fire control radar had already targeted both him and Curved Blade.

"Damn it! Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, the holy knight is down, and now Zorro, the enemy captain, is coming. He’s a special tier, and the other guy isn’t easy to handle either. Hey, Number 13, why is your C3I still active? It’s incredibly powerful!"

However, Storm realized that this information didn’t come from his onboard radar; it was from the C3I system’s war data sharing. This meant that Number 13’s forward-swept wing fighter jet had been continuously sharing enemy data with everyone.

The stealth technology of both sides was rendered ineffective in front of Number 13’s fighter jet, marking every aircraft on the government army’s main display with their codes and positions.

Though the labels were small, they were sufficient for the pilots’ eyes.

Three enemy jets, four friendly jets; with only seven aircraft left in the sky, the government forces held a numerical advantage, yet they lacked a special tier pilot, leading to a lack of overall combat effectiveness.

"Understood, the holy knight is down. That’s not good news. We need to finish this quickly."

As an intermediate pilot, Curved Blade knew the consequences of the two enemy fighters approaching, especially with one being a special tier. If he was allowed to close in, the local advantage would vanish completely, and they wouldn’t even have a special tier pilot to counter him. The outcome of this Death Team Battle would reach its conclusion.

"Brothers! I am the holy knight; I am still alive. Good luck to you all!"

Suspended in mid-air, the holy knight could only offer his blessings to his comrades still fighting in the sky.

His mission was complete; now, all that was left was to wait calmly for rescue in the dry Syrian desert, with the sky’s battle having no further relevance for him.

"Fire!"

There was no more time to hesitate. Storm adjusted the nose of his plane toward the fleeing Tiger and pressed the already activated missile launch button.

As long as the enemy was within visual range, the close-range combat missile would still be effective.

As Storm took action, Curved Blade quickly followed suit, launching a combat missile to ensure their hit rate.

Firing first and guiding later might not be the safest strategy, but under these circumstances, Storm and Curved Blade had to take a gamble.

Two white trails shot out in succession. At this moment, the alarms in Storm and Curved Blade’s cockpits changed tone, and the radar screen revealed two blinking small lights rapidly approaching them from a distance. The onboard computer system quickly identified them—not fighter jets.

They were medium-range air-to-air missiles.

The two enemy fighter jets had clearly initiated a simultaneous beyond-visual-range attack.

"Hold on! I’m coming to support you!"

Meanwhile, Yuri’s voice echoed over the government forces’ public channel, as all remaining fighter jets in the Death Team Battle converged toward this airspace.

Only seven fighter jets remained in the sky, and only three could survive, or one side would be completely wiped out; otherwise, the battle would never end.

The flight maneuver of the X-1 Forward-Swept Wing Fighter Jet had nothing to do with Lin Mo. The Dragon Knight had already accepted his fate; now it was Dragon Show Time.

Close-range combat missile, Mach 4.

X-1 Forward-Swept Wing Fighter Jet, Mach 4.

Two close-range missiles were one thing, but the fighter jet that chased after them at the same deadly speed nearly terrified Tiger.

What was this? An air-to-air missile shaped like a fighter jet? Was there no way out?

The dual WS-15X engines of the X-1 clearly hadn’t reached their limit. Supported by the Void Magnetism, the aircraft was effortlessly propelled to missile-like speeds, even boasting greater maneuverability.

Before the two close-range combat missiles could reach their target, two tracer projectiles were fired, and the mixed ammunition chain spewed various warheads that struck the unsuspecting enemy plane, sending sparks flying.

The gold giant dragon was completely unreasonable; it charged in for a savage beating, as if using the cannon to grind the enemy down to sticks suited the Dragon of Slaughter’s twisted sense of pleasure.

"Bastard, bastard…"

Tiger, being beaten like a cornered dog, faced a rain of bullets that threatened to tear his aircraft apart. He could only pull the ejection handle just as the two close-range combat missiles perfectly lunged toward him.

However, the ejection seat with the pilot shot up only ten meters. Before it could detach, it suddenly brushed against the edge of the cannon barrage that tightly locked onto the fighter.

Just that slight brush unleashed a burst of red mist, which was quickly swallowed by the fireball of the exploding battle below.

"Haha, refreshing! This is the fate of provoking the Dragon Lord!"

The cockpit was filled with the roar of gold coins. The Dragon Knight, sitting on the sidelines and munching on energy bars to replenish himself, rolled his eyes, as if the latter part of the battle had nothing to do with him. It was surprising that he maintained such a good appetite under the heavy overload of maneuvers, leaving the Aerospace Department both amused and frustrated. Couldn’t you eat a little less?

Speeding past the killed target, a thick layer of Red Rain suddenly splattered onto the cockpit canopy and body of the X-1 Forward-Swept Wing Fighter Jet. It was the blood of the enemy pilot, along with some flesh fragments.

The ineffective Flowing Wave Heavenly Transformation Magic Circle couldn’t stop this gory substance from staining the fighter jet.

With spots of crimson all over, the blood-soaked Forward-Swept Wing Fighter Jet looked like a blood Asura that had just crawled out of hell.

In the distance, a reconnaissance aircraft clearly captured this scene and relayed it back to the ground, causing spectators in front of various screens to collectively gasp in astonishment.

"Haha, haha, everyone die!"

The gold giant dragon laughed maniacally, even affecting the X-1. The fighter jet trembled violently as if it might disintegrate at any moment amid the laughter of gold coins.

Lin Mo smirked, allowing the gold coins to vent their madness. If Colonel Jiang were here, let’s see if this miserable child could still act so arrogantly!

"Curved Blade! Abandon the aircraft! Eject!"

"Storm" made an incredible decision without hesitation as the medium-range air-to-air missile came charging in.

"What?"

"Curved Blade" couldn’t believe his ears, thinking he misheard.

"One special tier and another almost special tier. Do you want to wait to die?"

On the instrument panel, only two activated close-range combat missiles remained. Storm forced a pained smile and casually pulled the ejection switch.

The explosive bolts instantly blew off the cockpit canopy, and the ejection escape device, along with the pilot and seat, was propelled outward.

Many advanced ejection systems typically launched the seat along with the pilot; however, only a small portion of the seats didn’t remain connected to the pilot after deploying parachutes. Of course, some seats came with gliding wings for emergency battlefield escapes, but due to complex structures and immature designs, only a few fighter jets employed such ejection devices.

"Launch!"

As "Storm" was ejected into the fierce turbulence, he suddenly exclaimed.

From the wings of the pilotless fighter jet, two white trails shot out straight toward the approaching enemy aircraft team.

“Storm’s” helmet displayed flashing geometric patterns on the transparent visor, indicating an extremely advanced helmet-mounted targeting system.

"Abyss Nirvana" was usually a real-world testing ground for those producing aviation weaponry, so it wasn’t surprising to see some special advanced equipment.

As the missiles dashed toward the target like dragons emerging from the sea, a medium-range air-to-air missile coming from a distance collided head-on with Storm’s aircraft, which had no pilot left and no remaining missiles, leaving it defenseless.

Reacting quickly, “Curved Blade” did the same, launching the last remaining air-to-air missile and then promptly pulling the ejection.

He recognized the futility of trying to resist a special tier pilot and a dual aircraft team without assistance from Number 13 and Yuri.

Holding on until the last moment, Curved Blade had to confront reality and chose to give up; his fighter jet met the same fate as Storm’s.

As the Death Team Battle reached this point, ammunition shortages became a common issue facing all participants.

Even if “Storm” and “Curved Blade” gritted their teeth to continue, they wouldn’t last more than a few seconds. After the enemy launched their missiles, the ejection actions of both were in accordance with the rules of "Abyss Nirvana."

However, in actual combat, cases of survival after enemy missiles were fired were few and far between.