The Mech Touch

For the first time in an indeterminate amount of years, a stranger had stepped into a foreign realm.

The surrounding native life forms grew confused as an entity that was completely different from themselves had abruptly invaded their territory.

The fish-whales around the ruined and derelict portal site had already been hit by the energy attacks launched from the other side of the portal.

Now, a strong and powerful metal monster had emerged. In this space that was dislocated from the main reality, none of the creatures had ever seen anything that resembled a humanoid combat mech!

Stupid as the fish-whales might be, they recognized a foreign intrusion and a threat when they saw one. The Bolvos Rage that had arrogantly intruded into their territory was not only different from the fish-whales they were accustomed to interacting with, it also radiated clear hostility towards their kind!

In the airless environment that was somehow illuminated by the filtered rays of the blue supergiant star that was situated in the heart of the Garimel System, the large number of fish-whales released silent roars that their bio-engineered senses were somehow able to hear and charged at the foreign intruder in unison!

Though Patriarch Reginald was fascinated by the alien environment and the sheer amount of fish-whales that was surrounding his position, he did not show any fear towards the feral fish monsters that were propelling their way forward.

"Weak! Do you think that quantity is enough to overrun my expert mech? Let me show you what a real expert mech can do!" The Cross Patriarch roared!

At the same time, the Bolvos Rage glowed with power. Its multiple weapon systems, which had already grown hot and strained after firing them at high power multiple times, became stressed once again as their controller forced them to fire at close-to-maximum power!

The entire surroundings lit up in a flash bright enough to blind the fish-whales as hot and powerful positron beams burned through the bodies of over a hundred fleshy monsters!

However, all of this devastation only eliminated a fraction of the fish-whales in the area!

Thousands of them milled around in this strange low gravity planetary environment. So many of the white creatures were pressed against each other that it was as if the Bolvos Rage had ended up in the middle of a titanic flesh structure!

Still, the Bolvos Rage was hardly done with its outburst.

Shortly after firing its myriad of powerful energy weapons, it lifted up its short but substantial shotgun and fired multiple times in different directions!

By the time the Bolvos Rage emptied the drum magazine of its shotgun, thousands of sprays of blood soaked the surroundings in a tide of red as the bodies of all of the fish-whales were run through by many penetrating pellets!

Although ordinary shotgun pellets shouldn't have been powerful enough to penetrate the bodies of the fish-whales to this extent, when backed by the powerful resonance strength of the Cross Patriarch, the shotgun in the hands of the Bolvos Rage reached an entirely new level of lethality!

Only other expert mechs that were able to resist the reality-distorting effects of hostile true resonance were able to negate the enhanced damage.

It was a pity that the fish-whales lacked this capability. None of them had ever demonstrated any hint of extraordinary prowess!

Even the most deadly assassin fishes were only capable of performing their teleportation ability by relying on phasewater-infused bio-organs.

Since the alien creatures were unable to muster anything comparable to a high-ranking mech, Patriarch Reginald had become completely unscrupulous!

Though the constant attacks unleashed by his Bolvos Rage rapidly consumed its resources, its expert pilot did not relent because he had an important mission.

The Bolvos Rage was tasked with clearing the immediate surroundings so that the next arrivals had enough space to deploy into formation!

The next wave of mechs soon arrived. Several assault-oriented mech squads belonging to the Avatars of Myth and the Cross Clan flew out of the portal and quickly deployed into formation despite entering a completely different environment.

The combination of offensive space knights, swordsman mechs, lancer mechs and other armored machines provided the arriving squads with a lot of pushing power.

Though the mighty Bolvos Rage had already freed up a lot of space around the portal site, the surviving fish-whales weren't staying idle.

Too many of them still remained alive! They surged forward and quickly filled up the space that were previously occupied by their deceased brethren!

"They're coming!"

"Interrupt their approach and slow them down! More are on their way!"

While all of the fighting was going on, one of the mechs that had arrived into the unknown pocket space did not actually stick around.

The new Light Hunter mech instead lingered at the portal entrance and ran all of its sensor systems at full power in order to record as much observation data as possible!

At the same time, the mech channeled a lot of energy into its signature Samasel Orb. The module grew hotter as it began to perform a sweeping active scan in a 180 degree angle of the immediate surroundings!

Many details about the terrain, the mechs, the distant environmental features as well as the weird space and sources of light entered the databanks of the newly-built scout mech.

At the same time, the Light Hunter received an extensive data burst from the Bolvos Rage. The high-tier expert mech had entered the mysterious pocket space a bit earlier and captured its own data.

Once the Flagrant Vandal mech had completed its brief mission, it passed through the portal once again.

The expeditionary forces residing in normal space urgently needed this crucial data so that they could gain a better idea of the circumstances on this side of the portal!

The safe return of the Light Hunter mech at least proved that entering the portal did not equate to instant death.

"It is safe to enter the portal!"

"A large horde of fish-whales are swarming close to the portal, but they are no worse than the ones we have fought so far. Clear them out and establish a temporary fort at the gate site!"

The biggest source of doubt that made many people hesitant about entering the portal was the inability to know what would happen when they entered the portal.

Now that the collected data showed that the other side was not only stable, but also not an enemy stronghold, the next squads of mechs fearlessly poured into the portal.

The tables had turned!

After enduring the constant invasion of the fish-whales into the mining site, the human mech forces could finally enact their revenge against the hostile alien races!

The amount of melee mechs rapidly rose as they arrived in batches and quickly fought to interrupt the tide of fish-whales and push them back when possible.

The initial struggle was difficult. Even after the Gold Beacon and several ranged mech companies had arrived to provide firepower support, the sheer quantity of fish-whales made it difficult to defeat them quickly enough to prevent them from using their numbers to their advantage!

"There's too many of them! Our mechs are getting battered by all of the alien bodies!"

"We're getting outflanked in multiple directions!"

"Careful! The sergeant and assassin fishes are about to attack!"

With the blue fish-whales charging at the mechs from the front and the assassin fishes attacking the human machines from the rear, the vanguard suffered a lot of damage all of a sudden.

Hordes of grunt fishes descended upon any damaged mech that was unable to control its own movement anymore. Their toothy maws crunched and tore the mechs into several pieces.

Few mech pilots managed to survive this onslaught!

During this critical period, there was practically no room for the cockpits to eject.

Even if they did so, they were liable to fly right into a tide of feral and bloodthirsty fish-whales that mercilessly crushed the ejected modules into pieces!

"Backup is coming! Hold your ground!"

The vanguard troops were still pouring through the portal without stopping!

In a short amount of time, several hundred mechs had emerged and began to work earnestly in pushing back the sheer quantity of fish-whales.

Soon enough, several notable units arrived.

The radiant Quint piloted by Isobel Kotin and the ostentatious B-Man piloted by Vincent Ricklin both arrived at the same time!

Due to receiving a brief information package prior to entering the portal, neither expert candidates became lost upon entering the mysterious pocket space.

"Fear not, men! Your savior has arrived!" Vincent roared as his custom hybrid mech went to town on the enemy fish!

Although his B-Man only possessed a small fraction of the firepower of the much more impressive Bolvos Rage, it still had its good points.

The most distinctive advantage of Vincent's custom mech was that its main armaments consisted entirely of kinetic weapon systems!

A dozen missiles launched from the rear launcher module and slammed into the fish-whales before exploding the bodies into bloody particles!

The gauss cannons integrated into the mech fired one round after another. Each of them struck with enough force to stun or cripple a grunt fish!

If that wasn't enough, the small laser weapons mounted on the side of the B-Man's handsome-looking head peppered the nearby creatures with laser beams. Though the damage was hardly fatal to the alien creatures, it still contributed to the fight!

Overall, the B-Man was practically in its element right now! Vincent was having the time of his life as he could fire all of his weapon systems with little concerns about getting attacked.

The fish-whales were so stupid and mindless that they only focused on attacking the closest enemies. Only the assassin fishes possessed the intelligence to bypass the closest targets in order to attack the weakest enemies.

With the Bolvos Rage and the many melee mechs blocking the overwhelming majority of hostile fish-whales, the B-Man fired all of its weapon systems with no concerns about running out of ordnance.

All of the rounds and missiles were meant to be used! Saving them up was pointless as the Larkinson Clan already planned to ship over a lot of supplies once the gate fort came online.

"Hahahaha! Kill these fish! We're all eating grilled fish tonight!"

Compared to the crazy attacks of the B-Man, the Quint fought at a much more measured pace.

Although the Quint was arguably the most impressive standard mech in the Larkinson Army's mech roster, it was not exactly up to date anymore despite its numerous upgrades and modifications.

The B-Man was not only newer, but was also much more suited to fight the weird fish-whales.

Fortunately, Isobel did not let herself get bothered by that. She was not interested in competing against her fellow expert candidate.

"Good work on holding back the fish swarm!" Commander Melkor called as the first phase of the invasion was complete. "Make way for the second wave! The Living Sentinels are coming!"

The tide of the battle turned once the second wave arrived.

Before this point, the Sentinels and other defenders had to stay back in order to eliminate all of the fish-whales that had already entered the main reality.

Evidently, the defenders killed enough of the invading enemies that it was finally safe to deploy them on this side of the portal!

The defensive mechs of the Living Sentinels began to form their sturdy shield walls. This not only made it a lot more difficult for the fish-whales to press the invading mech forces back, but also provided valuable defensive cover for the vanguard mechs!

Still, a defensive posture was far from enough to eliminate thousands of fish-whales and turn this area into an oasis of calm.

The Golden Skull Alliance had to go on the attack!

Commander Casella did not hesitate to activate her Command Field and infuse hundreds of mechs with her willpower!

"Eliminate the immediate threat and clear this space of hostiles!"

"Yes, Commander!"

The Larkinson mechs burst out with greater power than ever!