The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3253

Chapter 3253: Iron Crusher

A slow change was taking place on the battlefield.

The Larkinsons, Glory Seekers and Crossers were still being suppressed at almost every turn. Only the struggle between ranged mechs remained fairly even, but that was because there were too many defensive options available to the ranged mechs.

However, even if the Slug Rangers had become preoccupied, that still didn't change the fact that the Molten Rangers and the Hivar Roarers were downing more enemies than the expeditionary fleet!

It took all of their effort for the Larkinsons and their allies to slow down the dwarven advance. The enemy mechs were so sturdy and powerful that they were far harder to defeat than pirate mechs or other rabble!

The power increase afforded by coordination became a lot more significant when it was applied on a large scale. It was not necessarily scary to fight against lots of dwarven mechs. It only became a problem when their mech pilots seamlessly worked together and combined the capabilities of their machines so that they covered for each other's weaknesses!

For example, the Hivar Roarer strategy was relatively simple yet extremely difficult to deal with for the expeditionary forces. The Crumbleshells sounded ridiculous at first, but the combination of high defense and constant damage output at medium range was extremely effective at suppressing mechs that weren't able to break through their defensive envelopes.

The Molten Hammers were even more refined in their synergy. Although they did not possess the power to hit back at ranged mechs, they were practically invincible at close range!

The combination of Molten Furies, Shieldbreakers and Magmatars served as their base models upon which the foundation of their combat approach rested upon. As long as the Molten Hammers were able to field a sufficient amount of all three mechs, they were able to augment their strategy with various different specialized mech models that each added a bit of extra flexibility to the mech division.

For example, when the Molten Hammers noticed that the center of the human battle line was beginning to buckle, they soon dispatched their largest and strongest offensive mechs!

It took a lot of time for these heavy melee mechs to fly to the front. Their mobility may be terrible, but in a relatively static situation like this, the dwarves were in their element. The threat of their slow but steady advance had forced the human mech forces to play on their terms.

"The Forgehammers have arrived!"

"Let Vulcan's might ring true in this star system!"

"Hammer their mechs to pieces!"

The Forgehammer mech regiment was one of the slowest but also most offense-oriented units of the Molten Hammers. The Forgehammers had long acquired a reputation within the Ferril Provincial Army for being the biggest powerhouse mechs that average mech pilots could use. They were the dream of every Molten Hammer mech pilot that preferred to go on the offensive rather than the defensive.

Nothing exemplified the Forgehammers more than their Iron Crusher heavy mech. Each of them possessed strong arms that wielded strong and heavy hammers.

Wherever they passed, every other mech reverently made way. Though this exposed some defensive loopholes as a consequence, any attack that landed on their thick armor simply bounced off or inflicted negligible damage.

The frontal armor of the Iron Crushers was almost as thick as the main shield of the Molten Fury model!

"Strike the iron!"

The massive heavy mechs simultaneously swung their hammers straight onto the damaged and stressed shields of the Bright Warriors and other human mechs!

Some Avatar and Crosser mech pilots feared getting hit by these massive hammers wielded by the oversized dwarf mechs. They ceded ground in order to evade the deadly blows.

However, some mechs weren't able to retreat in time or did not have space to do so. The outcome of these defensive mechs were severe as the solid hammers impacted straight onto their shields!

Some shields shattered. Other shields dented. In every case, the mechs that got hit by the Iron Crushers all bounced backwards, sometimes even colliding against other friendly mechs in the process.

The power of the Iron Crushers was too much!

Though their attacks were slow and could easily be dodged, in increasingly cramped battlefield conditions or in situations where their foes weren't able to move away, they were fantastic at breaking stalemates!

Of course, this was bad news for the expeditionary forces as the collapse of their center columns was accelerating. Not a single melee mech could withstand the blows of the Iron Crushers and escape unscathed. If a mech did not shatter from getting hit, they would almost certainly get knocked back by a very hefty distance. This was enough for the dwarven mechs to advance closer to the expeditionary fleet!

Of course, they were not without their weaknesses. Though their defensive capabilities were formidable, they were not heavy space knights and lacked the characteristically tough physical shields of the latter.

Their extremely low mobility and flexibility also made them vulnerable to attacks from their flanks and rear. Even a light skirmisher was able to take them out of the fight. The light mech just had to approach the rear of an Iron Crusher and attack the vulnerable flight system that was only moderately reinforced against attacks.

The Molten Hammers weren't stupid though. The Iron Crushers was one of the prides of their mech division and always surrounded them with multiple escorts.

The only way to suppress and possibly destroy the heavy mechs of the Forgehammers was to direct heavy firepower towards these indomitable mechs. The heavier the caliber, the better!

"We can't let the Molten Hammers collapse our center too soon. If they manage to cleave through our lines, they can split us up and put us in disarray!"

Out of helplessness, the Larkinsons were forced to direct their ranged firepower to suppress the Iron Crushers. Average ranged mechs didn't cut it. The Transcendent Punishers performed better but weren't the most ideal solution.

Only the Eternal Redemptions were able to slow the advance of the Forgehammers. When the Iron Crushers began to get targeted by the ultra-heavy rounds fired by the Penitent Sister cannoneer mechs, the dwarven heavy mechs finally showed weakness!

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