The Mech Touch

Many spectators, both in and outside of Phoca Arena, wondered why the LMC had yet to introduce the new drone mech that they had all been waiting to learn about.

However, there were many other people that appreciated this presentation. The missions undertaken by the Skinny Rattlers may have taken place years ago in an age that had already come to pass, but they all served to highlight what made LMC mechs special.

Living mechs already possessed plenty of unusual traits in the past, and they did not grow any weaker or less relevant now that red humanity had entered the Age of Dawn.

On the contrary. The unique and iconic traits of living mechs had become considerably more powerful in the new era, which meant that the LMC mechs on display were actually able to perform even better on the battlefields of the present!

Even though the vast majority of people who watched this event were not in a position to buy mechs, the mech commanders and leaders of various organizations among them inevitably gained a greater interest in the mechs sold by the LMC.

It became clear that the Larkinsons were taking extensive advantage of the elevated publicity of this high-profile announcement!

They not only wanted to explain the design philosophy and the characteristic advantages of living mechs to a greater audience, but also advertise the performance of its existing mech lines.

If not for the fact that the LMC had yet to update them to the Hyper Generation, the mech company would have already started taking a lot of orders.

In any case, the battle centered around moon settlement continued to unfold.

The raiders had already incurred a lot of losses. Even if most of the damage was material, the attacking force clearly did not want to return empty-handed.

An early retreat would not only cause them to fail their mission and damage their credibility, but leave them with a lot of expensive repairs with not a single piece of loot to pay for all of the bills!

The enemy commander fell into a sunk-cost fallacy. The only way to recoup the losses and earn a profit was to go through with the mission and raid the mining colony!

As such, the melee mechs on the attacking side did not slow down in the slightest! They continued their advance and eagerly sought to crush the Crystal Lords that had caused their side to suffer a lot of damage.

"Our rifleman mechs have done their jobs at this time. It was time for them to retreat and leave the rest of the fight to more suitable machines."

The Crystal Lords were incredibly deadly at range, but they were completely vulnerable when attacked up close.

The Skinny Rattlers did not hesitate to pull them back and station them to the rear that was situated deeper inside the colony settlement.

The prefab structures that made up the mining colony were not very sturdy, but they could block enough attacks to provide moderate cover.

Of course, the structures could also provide protection to the enemy mechs, so it became a lot more difficult for many ranged mechs to maintain the same effectiveness as before.

Other mechs had to carry the fight at this stage.

Before all of the attackers came close enough, half-a-dozen or so Doom Guards emerged from cover and began to spray their flamethrowers in a broad spray that looked incredibly intimidating!

Even though the flames outputted by this handful of striker mechs was not concentrated enough to melt mechs in an instant, the enemy mechs couldn't help but stop in their tracks.

Those that did not act cautiously immediately stumbled and lost control as the disorienting glows of the Doom Guards along with the continuous application of flames messed up the enemy mech pilots in an instant!

The momentum of the attacking force immediately stalled as a result.

"We did not field enough Doom Guards to push back all of the incoming mechs, but that was not necessary." The mercenary commander adopted a vicious grin. "Our purpose in using them was to disrupt the charging mechs and cause them to lose their coordination."

The Doom Guards had been dispersed across the defensive line. They blunted the charge of half of the attacking mechs, causing the remainder of the hostile melee mechs to become separated from the rest.

With only half of the enemy mechs reaching the settlement, the Skinny Rattlers immediately began to launch their counterattack!

The continuous blows inflicted onto their side had caused the mech pilots of the raiding force to lose a lot of confidence.

In contrast, the morale of the mech pilots of the Skinny Rattlers had become so high that they fearlessly dispatched their own melee mechs and went on the offensive!

The proportion of living mechs among the attacking force was not high. Only a handful of them consisted of Monster Slayers, but they immediately started to stand out in this frenzied assault!

The Monster Slayer needed a lot of room to maneuver around, so they were not suitable for pitched battles.

They continually kept their distance from friendly mechs and boldly challenged the enemy melee mechs with their large but unwieldy greatswords.

Their performance was far better than usual!

The skill, power and ferocity shown by the mech pilots that had recently mastered the special sword style associated with their Monster Slayers caused many enemy machines to lose their limbs or suffer heavy tears in their armor.

Their impressive damage potential enhanced the psychological suppression of the Skinny Rattlers even further, causing these scrappy defenders to fight with greater courage than their opponents!

The remaining attackers found that their numbers advantage temporarily served no use due to the interference from the Doom Guards.

The striker mechs may be relatively slow and not suited for any offensive action, but they were excellent at area denial!

Numerous enemy melee mechs tried to force their way through the flames, but the disorienting glows of the Doom Guard made it difficult for them to persist.

Other machines pulled out their backup pistols or other ranged weapons, but the Doom Guards happened to be so well-armored that they could continue their efforts without experiencing too much pressure.

The enemy commander wasn't stupid. The frontal assault may have been blocked, but the attackers had also separated a few mech units so that they could circle around and attack the mining colony from different angles.

Yet before these flanking units could enter the settlement, they became assailed by groups of Ferocious Piranhas!

The light skirmishers were not strong or tough enough to beat the enemy melee mechs in a straight fight, but they cleverly took advantage of their glows along with their flight capabilities to harass the flankers from multiple sides.

"The Ferocious Piranhas are one of the LMC's most popular mechs, and there are good reasons for that." Commander Powell unreservedly praised this mech model without any duplicity. "Back in those days, there were still many mercenaries who never fought against this devilish mech in the past. You should thank your luck if you are still able to encounter them in the future, because the Ferocious Piranhas can ruin an entire mech force by themselves."

The Ferocious Piranhas showed what it could do. By utilizing their infamous glows, they frequently darted in and out of range.

Each time an enemy mech showed a lot of flaws, the Ferocious Piranhas pounced and utilized their twin knives to quickly target the weak points!

Perhaps a larger and more concentrated formation of mechs would have been able to fend off the Ferocious Piranhas with greater ease, but the enemy raiders had already begun to run out of spare mechs.

The enemy raiding force had lost a lot of fire support. The absence of friendly ranged mechs affected them badly, and it did not help that the Crystal Lords in the rear continually focused their fire on any hostile mechs that flew above ground level.

It was just too easy for them to take down flying machines, especially when the enemy couldn't pressure them back.

The consequence of all of these setbacks and losses eventually broke the raiding forces.

Too many of their machines had fallen or retreated. The mech pilots that hadn't run away or ejected from their crippled machines had lost so much confidence that their heart was no longer in the fight.

When the enemy commander finally made the right decision, the surviving enemy mechs immediately turned around and ran back to their combat carriers!

The members of the Skinny Rattlers all cheered when they sent their enemies packing. They had managed to accomplish a massive victory while suffering only minimal losses in return, all because they had made excellent use of their living mechs!

"New Rulin IIB was one of our greatest victories." Commander Powell spoke with pride. "Our decision to invest heavily in the mechs sold by the LMC paid off. We managed to fulfill our terms of our mercenary contract while earning a large amount of salvage in return. We used the profits obtained from selling all of those wrecks to acquire even more living mechs. As we expanded our forces, we became bolder and became involved in riskier but more rewarding missions."

Phoca Arena's projection systems rotated through multiple battlescapes in sequence.

In one moment, they were witnessing a battle taking place in high orbit of an enormous gas giant.

In the next moment, the Skinny Rattlers launched an assault on a secret mining operation that was taking place on territory claimed by another pioneering organization.

The change in scenery did not disorient a lot of people. The battles and the performance of all of the living mechs were so impressive that few of them minded the spectacle.

This was one of the many reasons why the Larkinson Clan decided to book this enormous mech arena!

The sights and sounds of battle were already stimulating enough, but the depicted machines also seemed to be able to convey a fraction of their glows!

Various glows affected the audience on a mild level, giving them a taste of what the LMC mechs were truly like up close.

A significant change took place as the Skinny Rattlers entered the Age of Dawn.

The mercenary outfit could no longer choose from any contracts where they could expect to fight against other mech forces.

Now that the Red War had essentially kicked off, many alien raiding fleets had begun to attack outlying human-occupying star systems!

"Many of my colleagues in the business chose to shirk away from the aliens. They feared warships so much that they refused to fight against them. We were different. We sought a greater purpose than trying to beat up our fellow humans when we needed each other the most. This was why we accepted dangerous missions where we were expected to defend vulnerable star systems against alien raids."

The projected battles that unfolded were much more brutal and damaging than others.

While the Skinny Rattlers were often assigned to fight alongside other mech forces, they all struggled to fend off the alien raiders that frequently rained down destruction with no regard to collateral damage!

Defenders had to fight battles on land and in space in order to repel the powerful alien warfleets.

"It was during these desperate struggles that we truly found our mission." Commander Powell spoke with a grim expression.

All around him, the mechs and mech pilots of the Skinny Rattlers suffered all kinds of defeats.

Mechs vaporized in an instant as they were struck by the main battery fire from alien warships.

Orbital bombardment broke through titan shields and crushed a large settlement that had only been partially evacuated.

Hundreds of thousands of people perished while the defending mechs futilely tried to attack the warships that incurred no damage by relying on the protection of their transphasic energy shields.

Without transphasic weapons of their own, the mechs of the Skinny Rattlers found it difficult to break through the defenses of enemy warships.

They still tried their best. Many other mech pilots belonging to other forces had broken down from losing so many friends and comrades, but the Skinny Rattlers all stuck together despite not doing better themselves.

Their cohesion and mental fortitude clearly stood out as they fought to defend vulnerable humans.

This was not just a tale about the excellence of LMC mechs.

It was also a tale that highlighted the resilience of human protectors.

Even though many of the 'combatants' of the Skinny Rattlers consisted of living mechs, they bravely served their purpose and did everything they could to support their human compatriots!