The Mech Touch

Most orven phasefighters were too strong!

Their defenses were already fairly tough, but their offensive power was to high due to increased power levels and the use of phasefighter.

So long as the fighter craft were not affected by a space suppressor field, their lethality was too high towards second-class mechs!

Even a popular and well-regarded second-class drone mech like the Fey Fianna was little different in this regard!

As Josh witnessed the two hyper energy shield fey getting destroyed within a few seconds, his mind worked faster than ever as he and his living mech tried to fight for their survival as much as possible.

"Armor!"

The Fey Fianna had already begun to form the best possible response aside from engaging in evasive maneuvers.

One of the handy features of the Fey Fianna was its modular armor system. Developed by Beatrice Hendrix, the modular armor plating had the potential to increase the mech's ability to resist damage by as much as five times!

Of course, this was just a theoretical claim. Whether it was possible to do this in practice was questionable, but Josh did not want his fragile mech to fall into pieces too soon!

The intact modular plates from the fallen energy shield fey as well as the ones located to the rear of the base mech all moved to the front of the machine!

The modular plating quickly formed into makeshift physical barriers that were several layers deep. Only the torso received their protection as there simply weren't enough plates to cover the rest.

It was enough, if only for half-a-dozen seconds.

The firepower of the elite phasefighters was immensely powerful, so much so that one of the Fey Fianna's legs already lost most of its functionality!

However, the desperate move to prolong the survival of the mech worked, if only for a very short period of time. A lot of modular armor plating got burned or vaporized. The penetrating energy attacks easily damaged multiple layers of armor at the same time!

If Josh and his living mech did not work together to reposition more modular armor plating in order to maintain a sufficient degree of thickness, the torso of the Fey Fianna would have gotten blasted by now!

Even so, there was no way the Fey Fianna could resist the attacks for long!

Josh already understood that his desperate actions may have only prolonged his death by a dozen seconds at most, but what else could he do? His Fey Fianna was far too weak compared to these elite phasefighters. He just hoped he could be a little more useful than the swordsman mechs that got shredded to pieces a lot faster than his own machine.

Just as Josh was resigned to die without being able to kill another highly threatening elite phasefighter, the engagement suddenly took a radical turn as a series of plasma bolts, micromissiles and transphasic hyper positron beams struck one of the elite phasefighters!

Since the fighter craft had turned their attention towards the reinforcing mechs, they had neglected to pay enough attention to the first-class multipurpose mechs they had previously tried to contain.

Now that the first-class mechs endured a lot less pressure, they gained more room to launch counterattacks!

One of them just so happened to turn its formidable arsenal against the fighter craft that threatened the Fey Fianna.

Even if the first-class multipurpose mech was no longer in a good condition, it still possessed more than enough firepower to blast part one of the elite phasefighters with ease!

The orven pilots of the other two elite phasefighters completely lost their rhythm to the point where their attacks had stalled.

While it was important to get rid of the annoying human reinforcements, there was no way they could ignore the hostility of a powerful first-class multipurpose mech!

The alien pilots clearly dismissed the existence of the Fey Fianna and split away from each other in an attempt to evade the attacks launched by the first-class multipurpose mechs.

It didn't work. Although the first-class mech soon began to get attacked by other opportunistic small craft, the aggrieved mech pilot became determined to wipe out the two phasefighters.

Despite flying in opposite directions, the first-class multipurpose mech targeted both machines at the same time!

One of the craft got overwhelmed by a deluge of plasma bolts.

The other fighter craft crumbled apart after getting struck by potent positron beams!

It didn't matter that the two phasefighters were not weakened by any nearby space suppressor fields.

In the face of an RA mech whose firepower was on a completely higher level, any additional measures became optional.

Josh and the remaining mechs in his impromptu squad all became impressed at what just happened.

The main reason why the first-class multipurpose mechs hadn't been able to eliminate as many elite phasefighters with such ease was because they faced too many enemies at once.

The arrival of reinforcements had changed this equation!

The RA mechs took advantage of the reduced pressure to attack the elite phasefighters, managing to eliminate many of them in a much shorter span of time!

The pilot of the RA mech soon transmitted a direct short-ranged message to the Fey Fianna and other nearby machines.

"Follow my lead!"

"Yes, sir!"

Josh felt grateful for the RA mech's intervention. He also recognized that it was better to cooperate more closely with such a powerful machine.

More melee mechs joined his squad. They soon began to act in coordination with the RA mech by attacking the elite phasefighters that sought to eliminate the powerful machine.

It was hard work. The elite phasefighters were still too numerous, and many of them did not have much qualms about turning their energy cannons at the second-class mechs.

Josh felt as if he was a few steps away from death the longer he took part in this struggle. Numerous mechs fell apart as they got targeted by the powerful alien craft every 30 seconds.

Though Josh's Fey Fianna managed to escape this fate for the time being, the pilot knew that it would not take much to collapse his machine defenses entirely!

Teaming up with an RA mech still yielded a lot of results, though. The second-class mechs were not really able to take down the elite phasefighters by themselves, but so long as they attracted the attention and hostility of the alien pilots, they had already done their jobs!

The Fey Fianna and the other second-class mechs literally and figuratively served as shields for the first-class multipurpose mech.

The powerful machine hailing from the Red Ocean possessed a seemingly endless amount of firepower. The pilot of this powerful machine did his best not to squander the sacrifices made by the reinforcements and managed to take down over 10 enemy fighter craft at a much faster pace than before.

Alas, it still wasn't enough!

The elite phasefighters were still very numerous, and many second-class mechs could not withstand their attention.

Even if the first-class multipurpose mechs managed to thin the herd of enemy small craft by over 15 percent since the arrival of human reinforcements, that still left a lot of phasefighters that had already succeeded in reducing the number of first-class multipurpose mechs.

Both sides suffered greater losses, but the reinforcements suffered the greatest losses by far!

It couldn't be helped. A large number of second-class mechs got thinned out due to their vulnerability against the more powerful alien small craft. This was the price they paid for intervening in a fight above their class.

Just as it seemed that the disproportionate losses to the second-class mechs would ultimately cause them to fail in their mission, miracles started to occur.

When an elite phasefighter swept past the damaged Fey Fianna and went on to damage the ranged mechs following in the rear, Josh immediately grew alarmed.

"Franklin!"

His friend's rifleman mech was not the first machine to get targeted, but the fragility of the adjacent ranged mech meant that his machine soon came under imminent threat!

Yet just before the elite phasefighter could switch to its other target, an explosion of power erupted from another nearby rifleman mech!

"A breakthrough!"

Even though the lucky pillot only became an expert candidate, his age and experience caused him to build up a lot of accumulation.

The more powerful breakthrough energies as well as the ability to surpass his human limits to a modest degree caused the new expert candidate to enter his best state in his entire career!

"DIE!"

The resonance-empowered positron beams fired by his mech exhausted the transphasic energy shield much more quickly than normal. Without its energy barrier, the elite phasefighter quickly succumbed to the firepower!

Though Josh felt a little disappointed that neither him nor Franklin managed to break through, they were genuinely happy that one of their colleagues managed to take the first step.

"I have received new orders." The happy and jubilant-sounding expert candidate said. "There is no obligation for me to fight anymore. I can go back and wait for evacuation. It is just…"

"Go." Josh earnestly said. "You deserve this chance. Red humanity can get much more out of you if you live long enough to break through again. You should not be buried in this miserable grave."

Franklin concurred. "Any of us would make the same decision as you if we were in your position. You are not a coward. You are being prepared for more important battles. Go and fight on our behalf. Kill every alien until you have avenged us all! We are counting on you heroes!"

The expert candidate did not hesitate any further and disengaged from the fight without feeling any guilt.

He was not the only pilot who managed to break through. Over a dozen other pilots across the entire battlefield successfully broke through as well!

Many of them received immediate instructions to focus on preserving their lives while they retreated from the enemy.

The Red Association dispatched several first-class mechs to provide additional cover and support in order to ensure the expert candidates made it back safely!

This was a special treatment that the other mech pilots could never dream of receiving!

They all knew their own places in this battle. So long as they remained mortal, they could forget about getting pampered.

The breakthrough of these lucky pilots stimulated the others into fighting harder. Josh, Franklin and many others who witnessed the emergence of an expert candidate began to feel greater hope.

As long as they managed to break through, they would also be able to gain a new lease on their lives!

Unfortunately, the breakthroughs happened too infrequently. The battle against the elite phasefighters was also steadily getting worse for the human mech pilots as the immediate removal of every expert candidate deprived them of a lot of momentum!

As the losses among the second-class mechs started to reach an unsustainable level, everyone received a new but heavy instruction.

"Are you hearing this, Josh?" Franklin asked. "We have received orders to drag down the remaining elite phasefighters as much as possible."

Josh and Franklin soon understood the intention of the higher ups when a sudden but crucial change occurred.

Every first-class multipurpose mech that had previously mowed down plenty of elite phasefighters with the help of reinforcements turned around and flew away at full power!

The RA mechs completely disregarded the second-class mechs they cooperated with as well as the surviving elite phasefighters that still posed a certain threat!

Although the orven enemies immediately started their pursuit, the second-class mechs did their best to distract them and pull them away from their chase!

The reason why the first-class multipurpose mechs chose to turn tail now was because the situation had so much that they could finally resume their mission!

They no longer feared the elite phasefighters anymore because they no longer had the numbers to keep the first-class multipurpose mechs in place anymore.

This was especially the case when the remaining reinforcements were just strong enough to hold back the most powerful alien fighter craft!

Once the orven pilots realized they could no longer stop the first-class multipurpose mechs from attacking their siege vessel, they grew angry and stured all of their ire towards the second-class mechs that dared to slow down their fighter craft!

The mechs that stayed behind started to suffer enormous losses!

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