The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3339

Chapter 3339: True Friends

With each minute that passed, the oppression that the Olympus Mons exerted on the expeditionary fleet increased.

Despite the immense distance at this time, everyone felt as if they were being chased by an indomitable bear that kept gaining on them. As long as the powerful monster finally caught up, their bodies would easily get torn apart by just a single bear slap!

Of course, the running humans did not give up their chances of survival. While they were fleeing, some of the humans started to fire their weapons at the looming threat. Even if the hide of the bear was too thick to suffer any damage from these attacks, there was always a chance that it might help!

This was what happened right now. While the Golden Skull Alliance was preparing its faster ships to escape ahead of time, the ranged mechs of the Larkinson Clan had already begun to fire back at the approaching threat!

It was extremely difficult to achieve a high hit rate at this distance. Energy weapon discharges such as laser beams exhibited the highest degree of accuracy while physical weapons such as gauss rifles were much less reliable at extreme ranges.

Even so, none of the Transcendent Punishers, Eternal Redemptions and Bright Warriors armed with ranged weapons dared to slacken off too much. Ammunition and energy cells could easily be replenished later on. Lives could never be restored once they were lost!

Commander Melkor of the Avatars of Myth, Commander Chancy of the Penitent Sisters, Commander Cinnabar of the Battle Criers, Commander Casella of the Living Sentinels and so on were all exhorting their own subordinates to shoot at the closing dwarven ace mechs as if they were in the middle of an apocalypse!

"Don't get paralyzed by fear! Just shoot as fast as your weapon systems can handle. That enormous resonance shield projected by the ace mech looks impressive but probably costs the ace pilot a huge amount of effort to maintain. As long as we drain its energy, the ace mech won't be as scary anymore."

"So what if we're about to die? Our deaths will have meaning as long as we achieve an important goal! Right now, we must buy enough time for our civilians and other clansmen to evacuate from this star system. This dwarven frigate can't chase all of our starships, especially if we split up. Most of us might not make it out of this star sector alive, but our clan shall definitely live on due to our valor today!"

Resisting against a single ace mech was the greatest challenge that every mech pilot in the clan had faced up until now. They were so horrified that hardly anyone thought they could get out alive!

Fortunately, they were trained and disciplined enough to maintain their composure. They clung onto their duty like a lifeline and did their best to fire their weapons if possible.

Even the melee mech pilots such as the Swordmaidens prepared themselves for a suicidal charge. No matter how invincible the opponent seemed, they would never give up without a fight!

"Our sacrifice will have meaning!"

"Fight not for your lives, but for the lives of our fellow clansmen. We are soldiers. This is the time for you to discover what it truly means to serve!"

Though General Verle was glad that the Larkinson Army held up so far, he feared that this was only a temporary condition.

Once the Olympus Mons came close enough to envelop its opponents into its domain field, it would be hard for any mech pilot to remain brave when they were being crushed by the ace pilot's enormous will!

When Verle took a look at what the other mechs in the fleet were doing, he began to frown.

"Why are you hesitating?"

So far, only the mechs of the Larkinson Clan opened fire!

The Glory Seekers and the Cross Clan had yet to take action against the approaching dwarves. The roughly 10,000 mercenary mechs that guarded the outer perimeter of the fleet did not take action either.

During his emergency discussion with the other leaders of the alliance, Ves couldn't help but bring up these points.

"From what I've heard so far, the domain fields of ace pilots are almost impossible to overwhelm through massed regular attacks, but it should still be possible. If you guys join in on the attack, we stand a better chance at overwhelming the Olympus Mons."

Neither Marshal Ariadne nor Patriarch Reginald provided an immediate answer. It was clear to the both of them that the surprise dwarf enemy was primarily interested in attacking Ves and maybe his clan. They were the primary culprits behind the Vulcan Empire's rapid collapse.

As for them? They were accessories as worst and bystanders as best. There was no way the Vulcanites held the same degree of animosity towards them as Ves. Their prospects of survival were actually much greater as a consequence, provided that they split up immediately and distanced themselves from the Larkinson Clan right away!

Ves' mood darkened as he saw this response. Though his allies hadn't said no, they were considering it. He had learned a long time ago that times like these tested whether he could truly count on his friends and allies.

This was also why he held high respect for people like the Swordmaidens. They had faced these kinds of circumstances with the Larkinson Clan before and always stayed true to their oaths and loyalties. His trust in them was ironclad.

As for the Glory Seekers and the Cross Clan, it appeared their willingness to share the misfortunes of the Larkinson Clan was not as absolute!

Professor Benedict decided to enlighten Ves about an important detail. "The mercenary organizations that you've hired to defend the fleet against attackers will not act this time. A standard mercenary contract stipulates many exceptional circumstances where the contractors are not obliged to fulfill their normal duties. Squaring off against a hostile ace mech will definitely trigger a force majeure clause. There is absolutely no way that mech pilots for hire are willing to die for something as trivial as money."

"Damnit!" Ves gritted his teeth. "You can never count on mercenaries when you need them the most!"

Even the larger and more powerful mercenary organizations still shared the same flaws as their smaller cousins. None of their mech pilots were truly willing to die for a cause that was greater than themselves. They only truly cared about earning as much money as possible while keeping their lives intact. As long as either of these conditions could no longer be met, they could no longer be counted upon to perform their services!

Ves did not bother to ask Shederin to persuade the mercenaries to help the expeditionary fleet out for this reason. No matter how much money the clan was willing to throw at them, nothing was more important than preserving their lives and company assets!

He let out a deep sigh. "Then what about you two? Can I count on the Glory Seekers and the Cross Clan to abide by their commitments?"

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