The Mech Touch

An empty field of stars suddenly became the backdrop to a massacre!

Hundreds of mechs, many of them bearing the colors and markings of several different mercenary outfits, swarmed towards a single point in space!

That point happened to be the position of the Scarlet Rose!

All manner of missiles, lasers and projectiles slammed against the surface of the mobile supply frigate like hail impacting the roof of a house!

Though the ship's exterior armor withstood the rain of attacks well enough, the outer layers slowly deteriorated, signifying that the ship couldn't remain impervious forever!

Opposing them were Kravon and the Selzer.

The artillery battle bot fired its gauss cannon at a far higher firing rate than before in order to damage as many opposing mechs as possible! Its missile launchers emptied its ammunition canisters without any notion of conserving them for later.

As for the Selzer, the rifleman mech desperately fired laser after laser at the vulnerable ranged mechs. With the power of its rifle, the mech only needed a couple of shots to down a mech! Some even succumbed after suffering just a single hit!

Neither of the two ranged mechs bothered to threaten the carriers that brought these mechs into battle.

The ambushers learned from the previous attempt! Knowing that the motherships were exceptionally vulnerable against their target, the mercenaries involved in this attack had deliberately kept their vessels at a distance, thereby keeping them well out of range of the Kravon and the Selzer's formidable weapon systems!

With no other alternative, the two battle bots could only resist the aggression by whittling down the opposing ranged mechs!

Not every mech stayed back and unloaded their firepower onto the Scarlet Rose.

A handful of mech companies bravely flew forward and attempted to close in on the fugitive ship in order to cripple her propulsion system!

As long as they could get close enough, they could probably sabotage the thrusters and engine systems in short order!

Standing in their way, the Paravin and Fliskin hovered around the Scarlet Rose protectively, fending off any melee mechs that flew too close!

The knight mech shielded the relatively immobile Kravon. Without the space knight providing cover, the former artillery mech would have gotten overwhelmed!

As for the Fliskin, the swift and agile light skirmisher covered the rear, preventing any mechs from attacking the stern of the Scarlet Rose!

Both melee battle bots exhibited superior strength, speed and defense! Compared to their third-rate counterparts, the second-class machines soundly crushed their opposition without any contest!

Although the bots did not fight in an imaginative and crushing manner, the superiority of their specs was enough to compensate for their shortcomings!

The Paravin and Fliskin did not succumb at all even when they were surrounded by dozens of mechs!

A single crushing sword chop bisected an attacking mech in an instant, prompting it to let go of its spear even as some of its components exploded, engulfing the exposed cockpit portions to the deathly aftermath!

The pilot didn't even have the opportunity to eject!

The Fliskin fought much more insidiously. Lacking the strength and reach to cut mechs in half with its superior specs, it instead took advantage of its superior mobility to dance around its opposition.

No matter how hard the mercenary mechs tried to surround the Fliskin with a sphere-like formation, the mech cleverly flew through the cracks before the net closed in on it! Not only that, but the mech swiftly turned around and attacked the clumsy formation from the rear by stabbing its sharp and nigh-unbreakable daggers straight through the thinly protected rear of the mechs!

Though it was a lot more efficient to attack the flight systems of the enemy mechs to end their participation in the battle, the Fliskin acted on much different instruction.

It unflinchingly stabbed its daggers in the positions that best ran the blade through the cockpit!

The Fliskin moved so fast and attacked so quickly that its targets hardly had the time to eject!

Even if they did so, the mech still reacted within milliseconds and made sure to stab the escaping cockpit cabins before they got away!

A shudder swept through the backs of the mech pilots assigned to attack the Scarlet Rose and her escorts.

The casualties suffered by the coalition of mercenaries exceeded everyone's imagination!

In their prior battles, the mercenaries rarely lost too many mech pilots. Most mechs were resilient enough to grant their mech pilots enough time to eject!

Mercenary mech pilots tended to value their lives very highly, so many of them already had their fingers on the ejection buttons or levers!

Yet even then, the two melee battle bots showed no regard for their attempts to preserve their lives! Instead, they harvested them one by one as they rapidly overwhelmed every mech foolish enough to challenge their might!

With so much blood being shed, the Zonan mercenaries quickly lost heart. The ambush wasn't supposed to proceed this way!

According to the plan their mercenary commanders had formed, they should have just swarmed and overwhelmed the four powerful machines by sheer weight of numbers.

Ideally, they would be able to defeat the four second-class mechs and gain possession of the Scarlet Rose.

If the mercenaries failed to do so, then they hadn't necessarily lost.

The Friday Coalition already offered them a rich reward for consuming the strength and resources of the Scarlet Rose!

The powerful state offered enough money to compensate the mercenaries of the losses they suffered and added even more money as an appreciation for their efforts!

With such rich remuneration, no mercenary corps lost out even if they were defeated in the end!

It was too bad that Ves already saw through their plan.

"I won't allow you to enjoy a lossless transaction!"

His instructions to his autonomous battle bots forced all of them to do their best in killing the mech pilots as opposed to their mechs!

Since material losses were meaningless in the eyes of the enemy mercenary corps, Ves instead targeted the one asset that money couldn't easily replace.

Mech pilots! In particular, loyal and skilled mech pilots!

Many of the mercenary corps participating in this ambush consisted of outfits operating for several decades.

Each of them were led by seasoned mercenary commanders who completed all kinds of difficult and bloody missions.

They might have experienced much, but Ves doubted that they encountered an enemy with the might of second-class mechs and the ruthlessness of an unscrupulous mech designer!

To prevent the mercenaries that heavily outnumbered him from overwhelming his meager forces, he had to hit them where it hurt!

Such ruthlessness was very rare on the battlefield. Most mech pilots were more concerned with defeating enemy mechs rather than aiming at the lives within.

Even if the mech pilots wanted to kill their counterparts, they didn't have the power and skill to accomplish such a difficult objective!

Therefore, after encountering the depraved battle bots that breached cockpit after cockpit, several mercenaries already exhibited cold feet.

"Halt! Let's not go in too fast! Let the other guys go first!"

"Those cowards want to drive us to our deaths! Don't fall for their trap!"

"Retreat! Our boys won't be a part of this anymore! We've already lost over thirty percent of our mech pilots! We've suffered enough!"

Too many mech pilots became deterred by the show of force from the Scarlet Rose.

Though the mech captains and the mercenary commanders knew that they brought enough mechs to overwhelm the four deadly machines, who wanted to send their brothers and sisters to the meat grinder?

Continuing the assault resulted in nothing but death until the mechs went down!

Seeing as how the four battle bots only suffered scratches and surface damage so far, they probably wouldn't go down until at least hundred mercenary mech pilots consumed their strength!

This was a very brutal calculus!

If the outfits in question were part of the military, then their mech pilots and commanders would definitely pay the price as long as the mission was important enough!

Yet even if the outfits shared some ties to the military, most of their mech pilots and support personnel consisted of civilians!

With no military training to speak of, their discipline and willingness to pay the ultimate price was very shaky!

After harvesting over a hundred-and-twenty lives, the mercenary mechs all backed up. Not a single mercenary mech pilot retained the courage to continue the costly assault!

Even as their mercenary commanders or other mech officers ordered them to resume the assault, not a single mech pilot dared to confront the seemingly godlike war machines!

Ves did not let the mercenaries linger in the vicinity of the Scarlet Rose.

"Redirect fire towards the melee mechs!"

The Kravon and Selzer stopped firing their weapons at the distant ranged mechs and instead brought their weapons to bear against the stagnant melee mechs!

Mechs exploded and entire parts vaporized as lasers and gauss cannon rounds impacted the exposed mechs!

"Retreat! Abort the assault!"

When the first mercenary corps decided to give up on the mission and recall their surviving forces, the ones who remained came under a lot more pressure!

This was especially when Ves instantly ordered his two ranged battle bots to cease firing at the fleeing mechs and instead direct their lethal firepower towards the mechs that didn't receive any orders to pull back.

The hesitating mercenary corps instantly suffered more casualties!

At this close range, it was impossible for the Kravon and Selzer to miss their shots! Each weapon discharge resulted in another shattered mech!

With so many precious mech pilots dying along with their fragile machines, the remaining mercenary corps that originally banded together to tackle the Scarlet Rose finally issued the necessary orders!

"Retreat!"

"Pull back!"

"Get away from the Scarlet Rose!"

"No more! Enough is enough!"

The diminished mech companies retreated step by step depending on how quickly their leaders issued the order to retreat.

The mechs still maintained a semi-random formation as they retreated, fearing pursuit from the Paravin and the Fliskin!

Ves smirked when he saw this result. He ordered the Kravon and the Selzer to cease firing their weapons.

What the mercenaries didn't know was that both battle bots had almost reached their limits. The Kravon didn't carry that much ammunition and the Fliskin's heat levels had been rising at a very worrisome rate.

If the battle went on for five more minutes, then the two battle bots would definitely stop firing, thereby exposing a crucial gap in his defenses!

Fortunately, the mercenaries did not take advantage at this temporary reprieve. They had long lost heart in this battle. Even if they guessed that the two battle bots had almost reached their limits, none of them wanted to be the ones to test this assumption!

After all, the melee mechs still appeared to be in good shape! It was no problem for them to fight a while longer and harvest at least a hundred more lives!

Though both sides fought vigorously against each other just moments ago, neither side attacked each other the moment the mercenaries called for a total retreat.

Ves did not wish to agitate the mercenaries. His actions so far presented a very clear message.

Attacking him resulted in losing their lives!

Leaving him alone meant that Ves would leave their lives intact!

With such a clear message, the frightened mercenaries all chose the second option! They retreated honestly and ran out of engagement range as fast as their mechs could carry them out!

Ves observed the retreating mechs quietly. He kept his battle bots on standby without attempting to resupply them. If he showed any weakness at this stage, the mercenaries might change their minds!

In the end, no one called his bluff. Ves relaxed as the mercenary mechs flew well out of range.

"Well, I hope these mercenaries truly stop bothering me now!"

This was the third ambush he encountered ever since he crossed into the borders of the Great Zona Republic!

While he always managed to crush his opposition, each battle resulted in a significant consumption of his battle strength.

If this went on, his Battle Bots would become nothing more than ornaments after a couple more battles!

"The consumption is too great!"