The Mech Touch

The two mechs tore into each other as soon as the match commenced!

Explosions and other loud sounds rippled through the air as the two artillery mechs unleashed all of their weapons at the same time!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The partially-healed Swarm Monarch immediately got blasted by positron beams and gauss cannon rounds. The combination of pure kinetic force and energy damage caused the Swarm Monarch's tough exterior to weaken and deform.

Compared to before, this process proceeded faster due to the Swarm Monarch's incomplete healing process. It incurred a lot of frontal damage last time so the massive biomech was still full of structural weaknesses!

Since Ilse Lieberman experienced those blows first-hand three days ago, she knew exactly where to aim her guns! She didn't even need to rely on any foresight from the Transcendent Punisher to dismantle the Swarm Monarch in the most efficient manner possible!

However, Gwineth Ulser had the same thoughts in mind. She still recalled all of the areas where the Transcendent Punisher had almost been breached and adjusted her aim to target those sections.

The two forward cannons both unleashed positron beams that were nearly identical in performance to the cannons mounted on the Transcendent Punisher.

Its rear guns were different, though. Instead of lobbing living beetles at the enemy mech, they launched heavy shells that exploded in flames and heat upon impact!

"Incendiary shells!" Ves leaned forward. "This is troublesome."

If the Ylvainan mech was in a pristine state, then its heat isolation capabilities should still be good. Even if a massive barbecue took place onto its frame, its internals should still be relatively cool for a time.

Yet that wasn't the case anymore! All of the drilling and other damage incurred by the Transcendent Punisher permanently weakened its structure. Even if Ves hastily patched it up with replacement armor or filler material, the mech's internals were much more susceptible to external influences.

One example of that is lots of flames burning on its surface!

The energy-dense propellant used to heat up the Transcendent Punisher was specially designed to release as much thermal energy as possible!

Even though its armor plating wasn't about to melt into a puddle anytime soon, much of the heat generated on the surface still transferred inwards, causing the internals closest to the surface to experience difficulties.

Not every component was designed to operate when subjected to excess heat! Many parts had different tolerances to heat, but there were always a few who were more vulnerable to it than others.

Transcendent Punisher was already feeling the pressure! The mech didn't possess much countermeasures against incendiaries. The anti-beetle guns that Ves had jury-rigged onto the mech were completely useless against this threat.

The artillery mech on fire was on a timeline!

Could it last long enough to take down its opponent, or would the metallic mech fall over after its internals were no longer able to function?

The two mechs didn't sit still. Both of them were hexapods, and both utilized their legs as best as possible.

They didn't circle around this time. Instead, the Transcendent Punisher slowly crawled forward. Ilse Lieberman knew it was a lot more troublesome to lob shells at an enemy at close range!

In the worst case scenario, the incendiary shells fired by the Swarm Monarch might land on top of its starting point!

However, getting closer was not necessarily good in other ways. It became more difficult to concentrate attacks on a single point as the Swarm Monarch deliberately rotated its bulk in order to present a less-damaged side to the incoming firepower.

The Swarm Monarch employed the same strategy as the last match! Instead of utilizing drilling beetles, it instead utilized incendiary shells.

The sight was drastic. The Transcendent Punisher looked terrible as if was constantly covered in flames. Its upper layers even started to glow red due to all of the heat they absorbed!

"Can we win?"

"Maybe."

"It looks better than before. Why doesn't the Swarm Monarch keep its distance, though?"

The Transcendent Punisher slowly closed the distance, but the Swarm Monarch wasn't even attempting to stop that. It could have crawled backwards at roughly the same pace, but instead it was turning and weaving from side to side to spread the incoming firepower over the widest possible surface area.

Ilse Lieberman became a bit suspicious of this. An artillery mech never allowed a hostile mech to get closer under normal circ.u.mstances.

She didn't stop her current actions, though. Her mech mech constantly fired its guns at the Swarm Monarch, which slowly wore away its partially-healed exoskeleton.

Most notable, the protection at the top also broke down at a steady pace! This was where the Swarm Monarch had been breached the last time. If the Transcendent Punisher managed to open a gap here, it might be able to achieve victory in the same manner as last time!

Yet as the two mechs came awfully close, the Swarm Monarch no longer pounded the Transcendent Punisher.

The biomech incurred too many hits at this time. Its exoskeleton had already crumbled in multiple places. The Swarm Monarch already suffered some minor internal damage. Though none of it knocked out anything too critical, it had become clear that it might very well fall before the Transcendent Punisher finally succ.u.mbed from all of the heat.

Yet the beetle mech was not down for the count just yet. Even though its frontal side looked battered beyond recognition, it still managed to keep standing!

"If it's about to do something special, then this is the time." Ves whispered.

What he predicted came to pass just a few seconds later!

Large portions of the Swarm Monarch's organic frame suddenly fell apart! Its huge exoskeleton parted and the damaged shells at the back split apart in order to reveal an opening.

Everything that was made of flesh was being drained at the same time, causing the damaged exoskeleton to resemble fossilized remains.

All of that energy and nutrients were being channeled to the rear side of the biomech. Underneath where the rear shells used to be, a strange shape gradually emerged from all of the dried flesh and other icky substances.

"Is that.. another mech?!" Ves was stunned. "What a crazy idea!"

The technical challenges involved with putting a mech within a mech was very complicated. He couldn't believe a Journeyman was capable of implementing it without seriously compromising the battle effectiveness of both modes.

"It's so small though." Vincent remarked. "It's like a child compared to other mechs. Even light mechs aren't as small!"

Venerable Jannzi concurred with Vincent for once. "The c.o.c.kpit must be taking up a lot of space."

That was undoubtedly true, but the beetle shape of the mini mech made it a bit more tolerable.

As soon as the ultralight biomech had charged itself, it jumped out of the husk of the Swarm Monarch and landed right behind the Transcendent Punisher!

"Oh no!"

While the flames burning on the Transcendent Punisher's surface was incredibly threatening, the danger wasn't acute.

This was different!

No artillery mech liked to be approached from the rear!

The Transcendent Punisher swiveled its guns as fast as possible, but it was not possible to train all of its cannons towards an enemy from the rear.

Unfortunately, only its secondary pulse cannons were able to adopt the correct angle! The other guns weren't capable of firing straight backs. The Transcendent Punisher had no choice but to turn around in order to put its other weapons to use, but it took many seconds to rotate a heavy mech!

At this time, the slim beetle mech that emerged from the Swarm Monarch started to skitter forward.

Unlike its progenitor, the downsized beetle mech moved remarkably quickly. The ultralight biomech reached the rear of the Transcendent Punisher in no time!

The secondary beetle mech already looked a bit beat up. The pulse cannons might be weak, but the ultralight biomech hardly boasted any protection!

Unfortunately for the Transcendent Punisher, its pulse cannons weren't able to target the beetle mech any longer now that it had gotten this close!

After a few seconds, the beetle mech finally revealed its arsenal.

"Is that.. a drill?" Vincent widened his eyes.

A drill extended straight from the miniature beetle's mouth! Compared to the main weapons of the drilling beetles from the previous match, this one looked substantially more threatening!

The ultralight beetle then proceeded to do something remarkable. It jumped and clamped its legs to the backside of the Transcendent Punisher!

Although the rear of the mech was covered in flames as well, it was not as intense as in the front. Perhaps Gwineth Ulser deliberately did this in order to prepare for this unorthodox move.

The Transcendent Punisher did not take kindly to the parasite that had climbed onto its b.u.t.t. The mech lowered its main body to the ground, but the angle adopted by the beetle was just high enough to avoid getting crushed!

"Damn!" Ves cursed.

He could already tell it was impossible to shake off the beetle mech in this fashion. The six legs of the Transcendent Punishers weren't particularly long or versatile. The mech was never designed to traverse mountainous terrain or tilt its main body at extreme angles.

This meant that it wasn't able to maneuver itself in a way that could threaten the beetle mech. The only real solution was to run up to the side of the dueling ring and attempt to squeeze the ultralight biomech against the surface of an energy shield!

The Transcendent Punisher attempted to do just that. It slowly scurred over to the edge of the dueling ring, but its opponent was already launching its attack!

"That's nasty!" Vincent looked sicked, and so did many other spectators.

The beetle mech's mouth drill was spinning rapidly as it attempted to bore open a hole in the rear of the Transcendent Punisher.

The Ylvainan mech couldn't do anything to stop the beetle mech! The Transcendent Punisher was like a warship. It could unleash devastating firepower at longer distances, but at point-blank range, none of the main armaments were able to turn their muzzles inward. They were physically unable to angle in a way that they were able to fire at themselves!

This was both a safety precaution and an inherent design limitation. The theory was that artillery mechs should be able to rely on other mechs to get rid of threats at close range.

While that mostly worked out in practice, this time was different! The Transcendent Punisher was all alone and despite the ultralight beetle mech's fragility, none of its powerful cannons were able to target the cleverly-positioned parasite!

Ves didn't know how Dr. Navarro could implement such a powerful drill in a mech that was so small and weak, but it didn't take long before a cavity opened up in the rear of the Transcendent Punisher.

The metallic mech was in big trouble at this time!

The beetle mech retracted its drill and began to unleash its next weapon.

Hundreds of tiny beetles poured out of the organic mech. They automatically crawled through the gap before proceeding to wreak havoc inside!

The Transcendent Punisher may look relatively stable from the outside, but hundreds of infiltrators were slowly beginning to dismantle it from the inside!

Ves could practically feel the pain of the mech as it was enduring enough torture to render a human mad. He sympathised with his mech, but nothing could be done about the situation.

He jerked upwards a bit. "Wait. That might not be the case."

His eyes narrowed as he grew a bit thoughtful. He implemented various surprises in each of his mechs. Even though Ves hadn't felt inclined to activate them, seeing his mech in so much agony made him feel frustrated.

No mech should undergo this level of torture, least of all one of his own!