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Jackson was free again, but he didn't seem to be doing too well. Morgunov was just waiting for him to launch another attack, but the poor fellow was flying around all haphazard-like, tumbling through the air and zigzagging for no apparent reason.

Despite being destroyed, it looked like the Mk. V's Cage System had still done a number on him.

Morgunov felt a swell of pride in his mechanical child and wiped away an imaginary tear as he snickered to himself.

Abruptly, a group of Vannie generals were flanking him, getting close enough to draw his glance. Some heavy materialization bombardments flew his way, and for a split second, he thought he might actually have to deal with them personally.

But then a troop of Mk. IIs rolled through them like bowling pins and started splitting off to go capture their scattered remnants.

Honestly, he was starting to feel a little bad. This was his first time deploying the Roberts in real combat, but they were exceeding his expectations by a substantial margin. If the enemy didn't get its act together soon, this whole battle might come to a disappointingly swift conclusion.

Hmm, maybe the Vannies just needed a little encouragement.

"Eheheh! C'mon, fellas! Don't tell me you're finished, already! It's been so long since I fought you guys! I've still got so many new tricks I wanna show ya!"

That was encouraging, right? Yeah, he was pretty sure it was.


Chapter Two Hundred Forty-Two: 'The forest's reflection...'
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Hector talked to the Queen over the phone again. As the reapers had predicted, she at least sounded understanding of his decision to take the land offer from the Lorentians. He of course made sure to explain that he'd found a very valuable artifact on the land and that it wasn't his intention to slight her or the Atreyan government in any way.

Whether or not she was actually cool with it, only time would tell, he felt.