Chiliarch.

In ancient Rome, that word meant "leader of a thousand men".

And although the mecha charging ahead towards me was piloted by a mere eleven year old, he was nonetheless a Chiliarch.

But he was also one who had just lost more than ten percent of his command in just a few short minutes without inflicting a single casualty on us.

In military statistics, it was a horrendous loss!

In an even battle, especially in final stands where the stakes are high, casualties can go as deep as 70 - 80 percent of the total number of participating soldiers from each side before one side beats a retreat or surrenders.

But in most battes with low stakes, an opening engagement which had our results woud be more than enough to send the enemy beating a strategic retreat to regroup and re-engage at a later time.

Ten percent to none losses in a few minutes during an ambush against a numerically unknown enemy should be more than enough reason for any sane commander to retreat towards a safer location.

In military terms, it was a disaster!

And apparently he was aware of the enormity of the disaster that was striking him at full force, because he was taking matters into his own hands, a clear sign of a commander who trusted more in his own fighting abilities, and not in his ability to command.historical

And one who was either very brave and confident of his men's ability to weather the storm and turn the situation around, or one who was batshit crazy.

But the fact remains that in moments like the one he and his men was in, clear instructions by the leader is worth more than a few dead enemies.

His instructions roared out in sentences filled with expletives would galvanize his men and direct their fire that could very well dictate the progress of the battle for the next few minutes!

He had made a critical mistake, and knowing the National Mecha Pilot Academy, its lessons would probably be mercilessly hammered into them in the following few days.

However, his mistake had become a problem for me at that moment.

Because as you know, the "numerically unknown" enemy he was fighting against was actually just a hundred of us in weaker frankenstein mechas!

We were outnumbered by freaking ten mechas to one, and if they managed to throw all remaining nine hundred mechas at me in one go, my Hammer Squad 1 would be goners within minutes.

I need to kill him fast and send his men into absolute chaos!

"He wants to stand his ground? And he aims to lead by example and inspire his men to fight more ferociously? My favorite kind of enemy leader." I thought to myself and grinned.

However, my grin degenerated into a curse real quick because...

"God damn! What's with that black mecha? Is it military grade? Its movement speed is insane!" Jack Yang cursed with all his strength as he spun his mecha to face it.

He barely got into position when the black mecha deftly positioned himself behind his massive shield and gave Jack Yang a horrific shield charge.

WHAM!!!

Jack Yang's frankenstein mecha wasn't built for straight up battles with a bull of a mecha like the black mecha, and he immediately powered down as our first casualty of the battle!

"Damn it! We have a monster boss on our hands! Join me in triple teaming it and kill it quick!" I shouted as I leapt ahead to meet the black mecha in battle with my loudly creaking frankenstein mechas.

I gritted my teeth and forced myself to keep my red mecha energy dormant.

"This is trainig! I will not use my red mecha energy for any reason today!" I vowed.

My mecha's major weak point was in its joints.

Well, it wasn't probably just mine.

Every single frankenstein monster out there probably had extremely weak joints due to the sheer insanity that seemed to drive the mecha designer's mind when building them!

And with weak joints, we would not be able to unleash powerful swings or attacks that places too much pressure on those joints.

Our best options were thrusts or body attacks that place the weight of our attacks directly onto our mecha frames.

But I wasn't aiming to execute an attack at that moment.

Hell no.

Having seen his incredible speed and incredible power, I've already categorized him in the same category as an angry grizzly bear.

And in a fight against an angry grizzly, especially if you're as weak as I was compared to it, you would be playing straight into his plan if you tried to match strength against it.

The most effective way was simply to lure it into a vicious bear trap and then kill it when it was down.

It was inglorious, sneaky, dirty, and damn bloody effective.

My raptor legs pumped hard and propelled me forward towards the black mecha.

Seeing me charge so boldly towards him, the black mecha roared out his challenge and charged towards me as well!

I smirked at a job well done, and immediately spun to retreat at full speed towards the "bear trap" called Roland, Barrick and Tes.

At that moment, they were dealing with other mechas, and were looking away from me.

It looked like I was beating a full retreat deep into the ranks of my army, a clear sign of cowardize and the first indication that the enemy forces was about to be routed.

And in that situation, the wisest thing a commanding officer could do was to order a full charge to slay the fleeing enemies.

How in the world that black mecha actually got himself to believe that we were being routed and was on the brink of fleeing was completely beyond me.

Still, we need to bear in mind that he was an eleven year old!

It was common and understandable that he would be completely caught up in the exhilaration of downing Jack Yang and seeing my fleeing figure probably sent his excitement through the roof.