The Mech Touch

shell that got through the intercepting fire.
Their complete lack of mobility turned them into stationary targets that would get destroyed sooner or later.

If the Vesian artillery mechs hadn ’t managed to destroy their target in their current salvo, they just sent out another one until the turret finally stopped working.

This went on for over two hours until the artillery mechs expended all of their shells.
By then, over seventy percent of the turrets that Sanyal-Ablin had previously erected turned into hollowed-out ruins.

Fortunately, no one lost their lives, as nobody manned the turrets.
Their operators worked at a SASS-controlled command center deep underground.

By now, the Mech Nursery hardly hosted any people.
The only people who remained consisted of those who played a role in the defense of the facility.
As for the civilian employees, Ves all sent them back to Freslin where they lived.

Even if the Vesians managed to breach through their lines and massacre everyone within, at least Ves wouldn ’t have too much guilt on his conscience.

”What will they do next, now that they ’ve destroyed most of our turrets? ”

”They ’ve spent several hours on the surface already. ” Melkor replied.
”The Vesians should be looking to wrap this up.
The longer they stay on the surface, the higher the chance they ’ll encounter the reinforcements from Bentheim.
No matter how careful the enemy commander wants to be, he can ’t fall behind schedule. ”

Every defender tersely waited for the Vesians to make their next move.
Evidently, they had enough of paying around, because they shifted their formation in favor breaching through a defensive line.

Surprisingly enough, the Vesians suddenly put forth two heavy knights.

”Damn! They brought out heavy knights! They ’ll be leading the charge! ”

Ves did not need to hear an explation to realize how bad the situation turned against them.
If the Vesians only brought their medium mechs, then they stood a decent chance at fending off the incoming Vesians.

Now though, the appearance of the heavy knights changed everything.
Even the most basic models of heavy knights withstood at least four times as much damage as a medium knight.
In effect, the two heavy knights possessed as much as an impact on the battle as eight extra medium knights!

In general, only military forces employed heavy mechs.
Not even Sanyal-Ablin fielded a single heavy mech despite having the resources and capacity to do so if they borrowed their backer ’s help.

The appearance of the heavy mechs alone caused everyone ’s morale to drop.
Every mech pilot from SASS and the Mudriders knew how tough these mechs could be.
The odds of killing them fast enough was minute.

”Ves! Conventional forces will take too much time to bring down those heavies! By the time they can be repelled, every other Vesian mech will have free reign inside the perimeter.
We have to take those heavy mechs out early! ”

”Why are you looking at me like that? ”

”Because you frequently pull a miracle out of their butt! If you ’re hiding a secret weapon, then this is the time to employ it! ”

”Well, I ’ve got the Amastendira.
Will that be enough? ”

Melkor shook his head.
”I ’ve already considered it.
While it ’s a devastating weapon against people, it won ’t do too much damage against mechs.
A beam at maximum power is probably capable of piercing through the the armor of light mechs while dealing heavy damage to medium mechs, but it will just bounce off if pointed at a heavy mech. ”

That was really bad news, but Ves already expected something along those lines.
The Amastendira granted its wielder near-absolute superiority against any kind of human-scale battles.
Sadly, it did not change the paradigm that humans would be able to defeat a mech in an even fight.

A group of two heavy knights accompanied by thirty mechs started to form into an assault formation.
The melee mechs stood in front while the ranged mechs stood at the rear.

”It ’s going to be too late to do anything soon! Ves! Tell me you ’ve got something! ”

Ves panicked a little.
He did not possess any other deadly weapons like the Amastendira.
Neither would he be able to purchase any other solutions from the System as he recently drained most of his DP on his second Mastery.

Only until Lucky lazily flew past his vision did he remind himself that he might have one last resort.

”Lucky! ”

The cat halted in its flight and turned its head at Ves.
”Meow? ”

He pointed at the projection of the heavy knights readying themselves for a charge.
”Can you take care of these two heavy mechs? You have to assassinate the pilots and destroy some controls or essential components.
Can you do that? ”

”…Meow. ”

Lucky did not meow in a reassuring way.
The cat looked at the two heavy mechs with their thick plating of armor with very visible dread.
It would be tough for his intangible form to burrow through all of that compressed armor.

The cat tapped the air a couple of times.
Ves communicated frequently enough with his pet to understand Lucky ’s vague meaning.

”So you say you can definitely take out one mech, but you ’re not sure if you have the energy to take out the other? ”

”Meow! ”

”One heavy mech taken out is better than none! ” Melkor told them from the side.

”He ’s right, Lucky.
If you can do it, then go for it! ”

Lucky hastily floated out of the command center in a zip.
None of the sensors showed his position, which worried Ves a little, but at least the Vesians wouldn ’t have any warning either.

He hated sending out Lucky so early in this battle.
Ves wanted to save up Lucky as a trump card or employ him as an assassin that would quietly take out a couple of enemy mechs stationed furthest from the main battle.
Instead, the appearance of the heavy mechs forced Ves to play this card ahead of time.

The battle hadn ’t even entered its most crucial phase and Ves already started running out of cards to play.

As Ves waited for Lucky to make his move, Melkor turned to leave the command center as well.
”There ’s nothing more I can do here.
I ’ll be boarding my mech before I join up with the rest of the Avatars.
Stay here and keep me informed, Ves. ”

”Will do. ”

At least Melkor could fight the the Vesians personally.
As a mech designer, Ves enjoyed no such privilege.