The Mech Touch

As a rule, Patriarch Reginald Cross never lost confidence in himself, but there were times when the overwhelming odds against him started to put him in a heavy mood.

"Space knights are not my most ideal opponents."

That was an understatement. Hybrid mechs were mech types that partially eschewed the specialization route that most mech types pursued. They were considered to be the all-rounders of the mech market and were usually filed under the 'other' category of mechs.

Hybrid mechs boasted greater versatility and more solutions in different scenarios, but all of that came at the cost of pure power. Aside from the Bolvar Rage's chest-mounted positron cannon, none of the other weapon systems it carried were powerful enough to inflict serious damage onto the Gatecrasher's prodigious defenses!

Still, despite being restrained by the bad matchup of mech types, Patriarch Reginald Cross did not believe he would lose this duel. The greater adversity and pressure imposed on him due to his various disadvantages only caused him to burst out greater strength and determination!

After evading another attack pass from the enemy, the Bolvar Rage spun and quickly fired another quick discharge of plasma that struck the rear and side of the Gatecrasher.

"Every defense can be overcome!" He told himself. "I just need to create the openings myself!"

Yet even as he fought with gusto, he always had to take into account that his Bolvar Rage was constantly expending a lot of energy. In comparison, the Gatecrasher did not make use of any energy-hungry weapon systems.

As long as this high-intensity battle continued like this, there was a real risk the Bolvar Rage would tire out long before the Gatecrasher was on its last legs.

"I can't let my opponent win on attrition!"

Knowing that Venerable Orthox was trying to earn a slow and steady victory by trying to outlast Patriarch Reginald did not help that much. So what if the Cross Patriarch was aware of the dwarven hero's intentions?

The most scumbag aspect about fighting defensive mechs was that these sturdy machines had all of the time in the galaxy to dance with their opponents!

Perhaps Venerable Orthox would have chosen to adopt a more proactive and aggressive strategy if his comrades were having a lot of difficulties winning without him, but for now he did not see the need to take too many risks.

Still, he almost lost his mental composure a couple of times when both the Gauss Baron and the Burza Fens got done in by the same enemy expert mech.

Even so, Venerable Orthox did not let that dictate his choices. If he began to loosen his defensive fighting approach, he might be able to deal more damage to the Bolvos Rage, but his Gatecrasher might also expose an opening which his opponent would ruthlessly exploit.

He could not allow this powerful expert hybrid mech to get away and hunt down the other dwarven expert mechs on the battlefield!

The Dark Zephyr was only a latent threat now that its expert pilot had expended all of his energy early on. In comparison, the Bolvos Rage was a much more long-lasting expert mech!

Despite its constant weapon discharges and energetic maneuvering, the Cross Patriarch's war steed was still going strong and would remain so for a decent amount of time. Its energy reserves were ridiculously high due to the extreme amount of investment put into the Bolvos Rage's design.

Hybrid mechs were typically characterized by their limited ammunition and energy reserves, but clearly this did not necessarily apply to a high-tier expert mech version of this mech type!

"I can't let this mech loose on my other comrades. I have to lock him in place at all costs!" Orthox vowed in his heart.

What he didn't know was that the Larkinsons also hoped for this to happen. It was more preferable for the Golden Skull Alliance if these two top combatants kept locking horns at each other for the remainder of the battle.

Though the situation looked bad for the human side, Ves still held a lot more hope for his expert mechs.

Their performance so far exceeded that of any other expert mech. The Dark Zephyr had gone ahead and proven the strength of its design and exclusive advantages.

It was subsequently the turn of Riot and the First Sword to prove their chops as expert mechs.

Neither of the two had it easy at the moment.

The Riot was getting beat up from all sides by three Molten Hammer mechs that were driven by angry dwarven expert pilots who also sought to take revenge on the humans for killing their comrades!

Venerable Orfan was constantly trying to deflect the attacks coming from the front of her expert mech while making sure that the attacks that landed on the rear did not hit anything important.

Though the Riot had withstood getting burned by powerful flames, getting smacked by a heavy hamer and getting chopped by a sharp axe, it still managed to remain up for now! Even its attackers were becoming increasingly more amazed at how resiliently the Riot's inner armor layer withstood all of the attacks.

However, it was only a matter of time before the Riot suffered a breach in its defenses! Though the Valkyrie Prime was not comparable to a real expert mech, its Unending alloy exterior had eventually succumbed against the unrelenting power attacks of the Burza Fens.

The same thing could happen again this time especially if the Riot was unlucky enough to get smacked a few more times by the Bashravar's incredibly lethal warhammer!

"I could really use some backup here, fellows!" Venerable Orfan urgently requested for the umpteenth time. Her voice grew increasingly more stressed and desperate after each attempt. "My expert mech is practically falling apart at the seams!"

When Ves heard the request, he called up the Riot's telemetry and quickly studied its overall condition.

"You're doing fine and so is your expert mech, Venerable Orfan. Try your best and keep holding on. By my estimates, you can still hold on at this rate for at least ten more minutes. As long as you can buy us that much time, we can accomplish a lot in the other parts of the battlefield. It is crucial that you anchor these three dwarven expert mechs in place, though. Don't let them loose!"

Venerable Orfan violently cursed over the communication channel. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT $#&*$ I'M DEALING WITH?! THESE #&*$#& DWARVES ARE OUT FOR BLOOD AND IT'S MINE THAT THEY WANT TO DRAIN FIRST! WHY DON'T YOU GET DOWN HERE AND OFFER YOUR BODY UP FOR THESE DWARVES TO #&$&@#$ YOU UP FOR ONCE?! YOU DAMN MECH DESIGNERS ARE SUCH @#&$*(@# FOR EXPECTING US TO RISK OUR LIVES SO YOU CAN GET YOUR JOLLIES OFF AND SAY 'OOPS' WHENEVER ONE OF YOUR DESIGN MISTAKES SCREWS ME OVER!"

Ves swiped his fingers, which muted the direct communication channel to the Riot's cockpit.

He was not unsympathetic towards Venerable Orfan's struggles, but there were many more Larkinsons who also needed assistance. While the battle between the tens of thousands of regular mechs were slowly swinging in the favor of the expeditionary fleet, the balance was still too precarious and could easily be broken if the dwarven expert mechs changed tack.

Compared to Venerable Orfan's torture, Venerable Dise was having a considerably better time.

Unlike the Riot, the First Sword was a lighter and more mobile mech. With the crucial input of Ketis, the expert swordsman mech was designed to be a rough analogue of the strong and athletic bodies of the Swordmaidens.

In fact, the First Sword's proportions matched quite closely to that of Dise's proportions! The ratios were highly similar and the only real difference between their body shapes was that the expert mech looked like it wore a suit of light combat armor.

While these design choices meant that the First Sword was not as able to resist as many direct attacks as the Riot, its Unending alloy armor system still provided it with a sufficient buffer under these harsh conditions.

Right now, Venerable Dise was constantly keeping her expert mech on the move. The harder it was for the three expert mechs of the Hivar Roarers to pin it down, the longer it was able to last on the battlefield.

With this thought in mind, Dise did not hope to accomplish anything extravagant at first. She was already happy if she could just entangle the Paravad, the Morko Mark II and the Domingo Daren so that her fellow Swordmaidens and other comrades could sweep up the weakened Hivar Roarer mechs on this side of the battlefield without any complications.

The situation indeed unfolded as she had hoped. The Hivar Roarer expert mechs were initially supposed to bolstered the battered and demoralized mech pilots who had just lived through an energy bladestorm.

However, their inability to extricate themselves from the surprisingly strong and resilient First Sword meant that the regular dwarf mech troops lost the protection of their guardian angels. This caused them to become incredibly vulnerable to the sweeping counterattack launched by the Larkinsons and the Glory Seekers.

"We need backup!"

"Where are the Slug Rangers? Why hasn't our fire support arrived?"

"We can't hold these humans off with our damaged mechs. We need to retreat!"

"We can't retreat." General Kebrinore said in a stern voice to the beleaguered Hivar Roarers. "If we vacate this flank, these human mechs can turn around and attack our center units from the side. They'll quickly be able to roll up our formations if that happens. No matter what, hold out as long as you can. Don't focus on winning. Focus on surviving and buying as much time as possible. Your sacrifice has meaning and will be remembered!"

"…"

Though the general's words did not sound encouraging, a fatalistic realization had set on the Hivar Roarers at this flank. They knew that while their side was not going well for the Ferril mech forces, the other flank was doing a lot better.

As long as they kept the human mechs here busy, they might be able to buy enough time for their comrades on the other side of the battlefield to overrun the human's weakest flank.

Once that happened, it would be the turn of the dwarves to attack the main human forces from the side, thereby creating a turning point that could result in a cascading collapse of the enemy lines!

"We… we will hold, sir."

"Our lives belong to Vulcan! We shall do everything in our power to do him proud!"

"For the Empire! For the true dwarven god! For Ferril!"

The more the dwarves became disadvantaged, the more they woke up and began to put up a stubborn resistance. None of this was more true than with the Hivar Roarers, who despite all of the setbacks began to draw more strength from their fanatical beliefs as a way to prop up their morale.

"The Vulcan Empire shall exist for eternity!"

"Witness me, Vulcan!"

"Let me dedicate the blood of these evil human wretches to you, oh supreme god of dwarves!"

Plenty of scenes of heroism played out among the Hivar Roarers. The damaged and crippled bestial mechs resorted to throwing themselves onto the enemy human mechs just so that other friendly units could exploit the opening they created.

Still, the recovered morale among the dwarven mech pilots did not make as much of a difference as they hoped. Solid mechs mattered more than shouting repetitive slogans at each other.

When Ves saw the state of the two flanks, he grew increasingly more tense. He gripped his Hammer of Brilliance tighter as he tried to guess which one would collapse first.

If the dwarves managed to gain the upper hand in the left flank, then that would spell disaster for the expeditionary fleet. The opposite was the case if the Larkinsons and Glory Seekers completed their sweep.

The end phase of the battle was slowly coming within reach. Ves guessed it would not take long before the decisive moment arrived.

"Come on. We can't let these dwarves beat us. We can still win!"