The collision of mechs in the center of the battlefield was slower but much more impactful!
Sturdy mechs collided against each other with their shields up front! Other melee mechs either swooped past each other while trying to rake their opponents or stopped in the middle in order to start killing as many mechs as possible.
After a long time of waiting and advancing, the mainstay mechs of the two forces had finally clashed!
The Molten Hammers were especially eager. The oldest and most storied mech division in the Ferril punitive fleet had waited for a long time in order to show their prowess once again. Now that they were allowed to fight against human mechs for the first time in decades, the mech pilots did not want to shame their predecessors who managed to defeat the previous rulers of this star sector!
"Slaughter the tall folk!"
"Our hammers will smash them to pieces!"
"My shield shall never break!"
The first units to oppose the Molten Hammers were the Avatars of Myth and the Cross Clan!
The latter tended to field sturdier and more solid mechs than the Glory Seekers. The Crossers also favored mechs with more resilience, endurance and staying power, which made them suitable to fight in standing battles.
Ves had already caught plenty of glimpses of the mechs fielded by the Cross Clan. Many of them were designed by Professor Benedict though the majority were still rather generic.
There was nothing wrong with their performance, though. They were solid and performed well in all of the basic parameters that mattered.
As for the Avatars of Myth, many of their mechs consisted of Bright Warriors.
The rifleman mech configurations were still further in the back and were already locked in an exchange of fire with the Slug Rangers.
The lancer mech configurations had not yet built up a charge. It was too risky for them to dive into the formidable dwarven mech formations.
The swordsman mech configurations were already hard at work trying to deal damage without exposing themselves too much to the deadly dwarven mechs.
The space knight configurations were the main focal point at the moment. They were the only mechs of the Larkinson Clan that could stand up to the heavy assault that the Molten Hammers excelled at! The pressure they had to endure was incredible and it only grew worse as the unique mech models fielded by the dwarves began to show their worth.
The most iconic dwarven mech model was the space knights fielded by its elite mech regiment. The overstrength Vulcan's Chosen fielded 3000 Molten Furies, which was the signature shield-bearing mechs of the Molten Hammers!
The low stature of the Molten Furies quickly gave the Avatars of Myth and the Cross Clan a lot of headaches. None of them had much experience with fighting mechs that were so short but so resilient at the same time.
The Vulcanite mech pilots were well aware of the pros and cons of piloting dwarven mechs. They made good use of their lack of height to make it more difficult to land effective attacks on them. At the same time, they also concentrated their attacks on the mid-sections of their opponents. This often resulted in awkward exchanges where the taller humanoid mechs had to employ neglected moves in order to defend against such low blows.
Of course, the Avatar and Crosser mechs tried to lower themselves in order to fight against the dwarven mechs on an equal basis, but this only prompted the Molten Hammer mechs to do the same.
The clash in the center was by no means a static crush between two massive forces. The huge distances in space along with a need to maintain distance from too many mechs lest they collide against each other meant that the actual battle line stretched out across many kilometers.
Mechs were quite big, after all! With the high degree of effectiveness of ranged mechs in space warfare, melee mechs tended to avoid clumping up too much in order to prevent themselves from becoming easy targets.
"Stand your ground! Our clan is depending on us. Do not let a single dwarven mech pass!" Commander Melkor exhorted his men as his mech constantly fired positron beams at suitable targets.
In front of him, the melee mechs of his Avatars were struggling to contain the dwarven mechs.
The Bright Warriors they piloted all exuded identical glows that provided the Avatar mech pilots with both comfort and strength. Yet that was not enough to resist the pushing power of the Molten Hammers.
Commander Melkor quickly grew grave as he witnessed the performance of the signature mechs of their opposition.
The Molten Furies that were the main dwarven mechs responsible for absorbing the blows of their opposition were hardy and difficult to deal with. In a one-on-one fight, it took too much effort for an offensive melee mech to break through their defenses.
So far, the only way the Avatars managed to overpower these hardy machines was to gang up on them and attack them from multiple angles. The Molten Furies and their thick shields were too difficult to overcome from the front!
"Argghh!"
"Careful!"
"Don't stay too close!"
As the Avatars and Crossers began to destroy the Molten Furies, they suddenly learned why they were called this way. Anytime a Molten Fury got wrecked or ejected its cockpit, the machine in question blew up with so much force that any mechs in front of it got blasted with such violence that they inevitably incurred damage.
This presented a major problem to the mechs up front. Aside from the space knights who were still able to bear the explosions, every other melee mech had to make way and make sure they did not face any of the Molten Furies head-on. This constrained their choices and quickly caused their performance to drop.
"Hah! They're too afraid of our molten surprise!"
""Push them back, laddies!"
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