The modified gearbox proved to be a tremendous boon for the Tiger Princess. She actually devised a way to land quickly and swiftly to the ground. One of her attachments was similar to a wingsuit in case she needed to jump from one building to the next. (Did she perhaps want to compensate for not being able to do this feat on her own?)
Thus, a gliding attachment mechanism had been inserted into the gearbox suit right before she jumped out. After achieving terminal velocity, Yang Ling released the gliding wingsuit, not bothering with the parachute and glided away from the current battlefield towards an open grassland (presumably a farm field).
Oddly enough, her own main objective was less taking part in the fight but rather to adjust her gearbox attachments for the fight. Yang Ling did not particularly care which one of those two couples won the plushie, no, the thing she came here for was much needed data for her attachments but she could not get it if she were dropped in the midst of battle.
Not to mention, the current iteration of her wingsuit had a minute design flaw. It was like an escape tool attached to the gearbox, rendering her useless for at least a good full minute unless she decides to use her psychic powers instead. Still, her mental capabilities were meant to manipulate a single individual rather than controlling a massive crowd.
The Tiger Princess removed the Wingsuit attachment and replaced it with combat capable items. Modular in nature, most of the accessories weren’t hard to set up. It felt a bit like a plug and play, so it was easy enough to change them up for battle.
Once Yang Ling felt ready for the battle, she took a deep breath and proceeded forward. The second attachment she was trying out was what she called the ‘Ostrich Legs Attachment’. As the Tiger Princess ran, her gearbox attachment module slowly spread out and increased in length, giving her the form of an ostrich running.
With the tremendous strides it was making, Yang Ling did not have to run hard and fast as the attachment already took care of this. The empty grasslands were suitable for letting her test its top speed, and Yang Ling wanted to learn how durable it would be in combat.
Surprisingly, her half mask had tools of measurement that allowed her to record her experiments making her job ten times easier. Yang Ling had been worried that she would have to take out all the recording instruments she brought along in her ring. She even conjured up the ridiculous idea of using her battle squad mates to take down the results for her.
“I really have to ask Jin how he got his hands on such an advanced piece of equipment and without selling it in the real world!” Yang Ling noted to herself as she noticed that her visor was already measuring her current speed exceeding 90 kilometres per hour.
“I will have to send the researchers a bonus, it met the expected optimal value without any issues… Time to bring it up a notch.” Yang Ling bent down a little and widened her strides more although she started to feel the strain from her back due to her previous handicap.
“Warning, Cultivator Yang Ling. Do not overstrain yourself.” The Visor advised as it also indicated that her ‘health’ bar was diminishing slowly due to her pushing the limits.
“Just a bit further and we will be able to kick one of the Demon Rats with top speed force.” Yang Ling smiled as she dismissed her visor’s advice. True enough, she inserted a mix of chi and mana to focus her strides, which caused the Demon Rats to think that an abomination or demon was rushing towards them.
“As if I do not have enough disruptions in a day!” One of the Demon Rat Officers complained as he called out the human slaves to intercept the attack. But before he could make an announcement, he felt a slight tug at the side of his head and soon after, his body was left standing while his head disappeared completely.
The impact kick of the Ostrich Leg Attachment had caused the Demon Rat officer’s head to dissipate into nothing but blood splat all over his soldiers. Yang Ling immediately jumped up as she kept the Ostrich Leg Attachments and switched it to Tiger Leg Attachment. Her other parts of the body had also equipped similar attachments pertaining to the Tiger.
With her half mask on, she looked like a human superhero in a tiger armoured suit. Her gauntlet attachments were like claws protruding out of a large shield from both sides of her. There was even a tail attachment near her coccyx, and Yang Ling crouched while analysing the Demon Rats that were stunned momentarily at the absurdity of the situation.
Suddenly, one of the Demon Rats recklessly charged forward and without moving, Yang Ling beheaded it even before it could use its Steam Tech weapon on her. It was a new psychic technique which she learnt how to utilise alongside the cultivation of the Royal Zodiac Tiger.
By infusing her telekinesis powers with her killer chi, it enabled Yang Ling to create a sort of wind slash with her mind. However, it could only be used within two metres of her and yet that kill alone had scared the Demon Rats out of their wits until another officer who was oblivious to the current situation, ordered them to rush towards her.
He used his Steam Tech to send the command to all of his rats, and at the same time utilising the powers of amplifying strength via his steam Tech with the aid of Litoride. Yang Ling could sense that the aura around her became more toxic and the Tiger Princess believed that she had to kill that particular Demon Rat Officer to stop the amplification of strength.
Hence, she jumped up to have a more unobstructed view of the Demon Rat Officer, and in midair, her legs attachment boosted her once towards the Demon Rat Officer.
Yet, that officer smirked.
It was not a ruse at all as an Ogre Demon Rat suddenly emerged from the ground protecting the Demon Rat Officer by throwing a punch towards the flying tiger princess. Yang Ling reactively curled herself up, and the shields on both her arms and legs blocked the attack, but it caused her to fly out of the Demon Rat crowd.
The rank and files did not hesitate, knowing that it was the best opportunity to kill her when she seemed incapacitated by the recent attack from the Ogre Demon Rat. “Gearbox has taken considerable damage. 10 seconds required to reboot the system.” The visor warned as there was a percentage bar in the middle of her HUD interface.
“Fuck! No! I –” Yang Ling closed her eyes to avoid seeing the rushing spears that were seconds away from here.
*Clang~!*
The noise of a broad metal shield clashed against the sounds of dozens of spears hitting it. “Lady Yang Ling, sorry we could not catch up with you on time.” A manly figure said as he tried his best to hold back against the multiple attacks at one go. Suddenly the rattling of a machine gun went off, and it lightened the load of the man holding the shield.
Only then did Yang Ling realise that she still had a Squad with her and that these forgotten AIs squad mates had just saved her skin.
