Since the aggressive troop of ultralifers had already covered a lot of ground, Ves’ honor guard didn’t have much time to prepare for battle.
Nitaa immediately signalled them to exit the mech hall and meet the approaching hostiles in a more favorable location.
"Lucky, come with us as well. We need your claws."
"Meow!"
This time, Lucky was much less reluctant to obey orders. He happily jumped on top of Nitaa’s thick helmet and perched on it as if he was sitting on a throne!
One honor guard remained behind as an insurance. As powerful as the Odineye turned out to be, Nitaa didn’t trust it to detect every possible threat. If some stealthed infiltrator managed to avoid its gaze, Ves might easily get attacked when he thought he was safe!
For this reason, the remaining honor guard hovered very close to Ves. Even though he felt this was a bit excessive, the alternatives were worse.
It took less than a minute for the honor guard to pick their battlefield. They chose a relatively large space that was interspersed with various cargo containers. It was evidently used as a secondary loading hall, so it was both large and full of objects to hide behind.
However, the ceiling was fairly high so anyone who flew upwards would enjoy a commanding view of the loading hall.
As Ves tracked the positioning of his honor guard, he found it curious that they chose to spread out and take cover by themselves.
Barely twenty seconds passed before the soldiers entered the hall. They did so quickly and professionally. Not only did they avoid clumping up too much as they passed through the entrance, a couple of them also started to launch grenades that released a lot of sensor-blocking particles upon impact.
The hostiles detected the presence of the honor guard in advance!
"Damn. I guess they’re not that easy to fool." Ves observed.
It wasn’t difficult to detect the suit signatures of his honor guard. Their medium and heavy suits of combat armor were designed for frontline combat, not for preparing ambushes. Their energy signatures simply couldn’t be hidden!
Despite detecting enemies up ahead, the ultralifers refrained from storming forward. Even if their sensors told them that there were only eleven armored enemies ahead, they did not assume their superior numbers would avail them in a fight.
At the very least, they had to be careful enough to prevent unnecessary casualties!
Different from the honor guard, the ultralifers still kept their fireteams together as they spread out. Four to six troopers stuck close to each other as they moved as a single unit.
That made them a lot harder to deal with. Each member of a small fireteam possessed a different specialty and responsibility. One carried a heavy weapon while another specialized in treating the wounded.
No one opened fire yet. No one stuck out their necks. While the sensor-blocking particles prevented the enemy from detecting their presence from a distance, the ultralifers suffered from the same problem, if to a lesser degree!
Their suit sensors were already configured to bypass the blockage to the best of their abilities. This allowed them to maintain a firm picture on the positions of the honor guard.
As the fireteams distanced themselves from each other, they seemed poised to close the net. Once they confirmed that there were no other enemies besides the eleven unknown soldiers, the ultralifers would definitely take action!
Yet before their commanding officer could issue any orders, Lucky took action first!
Without anyone noticing it, a black blur shot out from beneath the feet of one of the soldiers and directly clawed the man’s brains!
This time, Lucky didn’t hide his phasing powers. The sensor-blocking particles that inhibited sensors also inhibited communications, which meant that he was much more free to unleash his powers!
Before the remaining members of the fireteam could turn around and respond, Lucky dove into the crate that the fireteam had pressed up against and disappeared!
Seconds later, a black blur emerged from another cargo container. Two different armored troops lost their lives in an instant as the insides of their heads turned into sliced ham!
As more soldiers died in an inexplicable fashion, the ultralifers did not choose to retreat.
Instead, they threw all caution to the wind and stormed forward!
"KILL THE FOREIGNERS!"
"LRA FOREVER!"
"LIFE IS SUPREME!"
Heavily-armed soldiers covered with bone-like plating coated in green jumped out of cover and surged forward heedless of the tiny terror that was harvesting their lives at a steady rate!
Yet as deadly as lucky could be, he did not excel at group attacks!
It was at this moment where the difference in gear became evident.
The energy and physical attacks that struck the exposed armor sections of the honor guard either bounced away or only inflicted minor damage. While the Breyer alloy that covered their forms was not the most resilient second-class material, it was still a notch above what the locals utilized!
In contrast, the heavy assault rifles wielded by the Larkinson troops achieved good results against the bone armor worn by their opponents.
While the ultralifers possessed an abundant amount of passion, their funding was not as high! They were just a fringe group that attracted modest support from fellow sympathizers. While their elite units might be better equipped, an ordinary strike force like the current one was equipped with much more standard gear!
The disparity in quality quickly became evident as the well-trained honor guard managed to gun down numerous opponents despite their relatively tough shells.
"Employ kinetic attacks! Their bone armor is much less capable of withstanding physical damage!"
The bone armor was much more capable of dispersing the energy of incoming laser and positron beams. While they broke eventually, the time it took to do so was too long.
Loud impacts sounded from both sides as the soldiers pummeled each other with their heavy rifles. As they drew closer, they also started to employ other weapons.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Mech Touch