The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

The fight just became a lot more dynamic now that the Nelerat Mark I's unexpectedly shifted its strategy!

The defensive rifleman mechs huddled inside their makeshift fortification for a long time. They showed great willingness to let their deployable armor construct absorb a lot of enemy fire on their behalf.

It was not until the temporary fortification withstood so many fire energy beam attacks that it had essentially crumbled apart that the Nelerat Mark I's shifted gears.

They did so in a dramatic fashion.

Despite being categorized as defensive rifleman mechs, the Nelerats were quite fast and light when they weren't weighed down by so much excess armor.

Of course, the defensive rifleman mechs still flew a tad bit slower than traditional rifleman mechs. The Nelerats were not only weighed down by armor, but also had to carry many other components such as energy shield generators, energy cells to keep the former running and a lot of spare ammunition.

At this time, the Nelerats expended a lot of ammunition, so much so that they had actually chosen to put down their second rifles.

Flying forward with only a single gauss rifle in their arms might slow down their firing rate, but made their shots more precise and controllable when they maneuvered in the air.

It also helped to make their remaining ammunition reserves last longer. The mech pilots hired by P&T had to pay a lot of attention to how many times they could still fire their rifles. They needed to finish off their opponents before they fired their last rounds, or else they would lose the match by default!

"In the previous demonstrations, your Fey Fianna demonstrated their defensive capabilities by resisting attacks from one direction." Master Aulaus Kreshnik said to Ves as both mech designers observed the unfolding battle. "This has cast your mechs in a favorable light, but also obscured the fact that mechs equipped with modular armor systems are generally vulnerable when attacked from multiple angles. Even if you can borrow the modular armor plates that are carried by all of the fey, they can only last so long."

Ves did not look particularly concerned when he saw that his Fey Fiannas were about to get flanked and assailed from multiple directions. He silently watched the Nelerat Mark I's show their most handsome sides as they flew in the air and sped towards the other side of the oval-shaped arena with a lot of momentum.

It was at this time that more people started to believe that the Nelerats had managed to gain the upper hand in this challenge match!

"The Fey Fiannas are going to lose!"

"The only reason why the new LMC mechs are at a disadvantage is because they are really bad at fighting mechs that are strong in the earth element."

"Is this everything the Fey Fianna can do in a fight against other mechs? This is seriously disappointing. Even if we aren't able to fight as many mechs as we used to, I would never entrust my life to a machine that cannot even win a match against another mech.

The pressure exerted by the Nelerats rose sharply as they assaulted one of the three Fey Fiannas.

Just like before, the defensive rifleman mechs primarily launched their kinetic attacks against one of their foes.

The Fey Fianna received so many attacks that multiple fey had to utilize their own metal bodies to block the incoming damage!

This made it much harder for the Fey Fiannas and their fey to return the favor. The fire laser beams launched by the luminar crystal weapons missed their shots much more frequently than before.

It was much harder to hit a moving target than a stationary one, especially if the former came closer!

Not only that, but the increased stress and the vibrations produced by the heavy kinetic impacts spoiled the aim of the main body and the offensive fey.

In contrast, the fire energy beam attacks did not seem to bother the Nelerats at all. The attacks emitted a lot of brightness and heated up the surface of the defensive rifleman mechs, but unless the repeated laser beam strikes managed to hit the same sections, it was hard to inflict any critical damage.

The range between the two mech teams shrunk quickly. Once the Nelerats began to get fairly close, they rose in the air while also slowing down to prevent themselves from crashing into the shielded boundaries that separated the arena grounds from the audience who were seated further away.

It did not help that the Fey Fiannas stuck fairly close to the large energy shield barriers. Their positioning meant that the Nelerats had to fly even closer while watching their velocities carefully in fear of overshooting and colliding against large energy barriers that had been known to break many crashing mechs in the past.

Yet it was during this crucial time interval where the Nelerat Mark I's helplessly slowed down so that they could start to circle around that the Fey Fiannas unveiled their own gambit!

Previously, the Fey Fiannas had been content to fly and maneuver in the same space while fighting like traditional drone mechs.

The Fey Fiannas fought in a similar fashion to rifleman mechs, but with more weapon systems at their disposal. Having entered the fight with a luminar crystal rifle as well as two luminar crystal fey made it seem as if the drone mechs had geared up for a ranged firefight.

Even if the drone mechs possessed light melee combat capabilities, everyone in the mech arena unconsciously regarded them as pure ranged mechs. They ideally preferred to attack their opponents from afar, as the backup knives assigned to them did not look threatening enough when wielded by largely ranged combat-oriented mechs.

It was because of all of these assumptions that the Nelerats had moved a lot closer to the Fey Fiannas!

Now, this crucial decision provoked a targeted response from the Fey Fiannas.

Though the drone mechs were not yet in a hurry to make their moves, their relatively faster and lighter fey moved first!

No matter whether they were luminar crystal cannon fey or energy shield fey whose generators were still in recovery, each of these fey completely stopped what they were doing and started to fly towards the closest Nelerat mech!

"Huh?!"

The mech pilot of the latter machine grew shocked, so much so that his mech no longer dared to fire its gauss rifle.

The Nelerat quickly turned around and tried to distance itself from the 12 fey that seemed to radiate bloodlust and fury.

Yet how could a defensive rifleman mech possibly outpace the much smaller and lighter fey at such a close range?

What compounded the Nelerat's problem was that it had been moving closer when the fey radically altered their behavior.

This made it impossible for the poor mech to outrun the living spurs!

A few seconds later, the fey almost managed to catch up to the fleeing Nelerat. None of the other defensive rifleman mechs could offer any support as their attacks would more than likely cause friendly fire.

A brief interruption occurred when the Nelerat's fast-charging energy shield had just come online in the knick of time.

Yet the chasing offensive fey easily took care of that by firing their forward-facing luminar crystal cannons at the target in front of their muzzles enough times for the weak energy shield to shatter for the umpteenth time!

This left the stricken defensive rifleman mech completely vulnerable to all of the fey!

The smaller combat machines physically mobbed the Nelerat from every available direction.

Soon, all 12 fey pressed the Nelerat from every side, which not only caused it to become immobilized, but also forced the machine to descend to the arena floor!

The defensive rifleman mech tried its best to dislodge all of the fey and resist their combined pushes, but the Nelerat simply did not have the thrust power or leverage to free itself from its predicament!

Once the Nelerat touched the surface, it was practically pressed flat onto the arena floor with no way to utilize its limbs!

Let alone using its gauss rifle, the mech could not even move its limbs to punch or tear the fey away!

Although the mech in crisis received a bit of support from the other 3 Nelerat mechs in the field, the modular armor plating successfully blocked most of these attacks, though not perfectly as a few gauss rounds still managed to get through.

Regardless, the fey could still withstand a light beating, so they continued to fire their thrusters at maximum power so that they could give no chance for the Nelerat to escape!

The only problem at this time was that the fey were unable to inflict meaningful damage to the trapped machine.

The luminar crystal cannon fey were unable to push against the Nelerat with their cannon barrels pressing against the mech.

That would break or deform the weapon!

The offensive fey could only imitate their defensive brothers and use the flat sides of their bodies to keep the Nelerat immobile.

Fortunately, the Fey Fianna had more tricks up its sleeve.

Even as the remaining Nelerats opted to open fire at the Fey Fiannas that had suddenly become a lot more exposed due to sending out their fey, the drone mechs made a simultaneous move.

"Fix bayonets"

"What?!"

The Fey Fiannas calmly withstood the gauss attacks that tried to wear down their modular armor systems and pulled out their backup knives.

They then proceeded to slot the handles of their knives into a holder that unfolded below the barrels of their luminar crystal rifles.

The Fey Fiannas suddenly looked a lot more deadlier than before!

The knives themselves might not seem threatening, but everyone knew that the Fey Fiannas had become much more troublesome to fight against now that they were wielding bayoneted rifles!

Two of the Fey Fiannas blindly charged at the remaining Nelerats in order to spook them and prevent them from firing their gauss rifles without interruption.

The third Fey Fianna flew straight towards the immobilized Nelerat.

With all of the fey still restraining the opposing machine, the Fey Fianna found it trivially easy to charge and thrust its bayonet between the gaps of fey and into the exposed rear of the Nelerat!

The descending charge attack was so powerful that it deformed the fairly light and thin luminar crystal weapon, but the mech pilot did not care as the trapped Nelerat had instantly shut down due to the fatal attack!

"One down!"

The 12 fey abandoned the defeated enemy mech and promptly approached the next Nelerat!

The enemy mech pilots had wised up after they saw what happened to their colleague's mechs. The Nelerats did not dare to tangle with the Fey Fiannas anymore and quickly sought to fly to the other side in an attempt to distance themselves from the fey.

However, the fey were not slow at all. The head-start of the Nelerats meant little, especially when the limited fighting space inside Phoca Arena made it impossible for the defensive rifleman mechs to keep accelerating in the same direction!

The fey pulled off the same tactic as before. As long as these devious machines managed to catch up to an enemy machine, they would all plunge to the ground and leave their prey completely vulnerable to the bayonet attacks of one of the Fey Fiannas!

In fact, the other two Fey Fiannas did not remain idle. They ran interference and prevented the remaining free Nelerats from targeting any weak points. They even charged forward and attempted to spear the Nelerats with their bayonets whenever they had an opportunity!

The complete outburst of aggression exhibited by the Fey Fiannas took everyone by surprise!

No one expected for the Fey Fiannas to counter the Nelerats by using the fey as physical trapping machines!

If the Fey Fiannas fought against proper melee mechs, then the fey would never have been able to get away with this ridiculous stunt, but that was not the case this time!