The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3562

Chapter 3562 - Cooling Flesh

The battle against the Titania had tentatively come to an end. As time passed by, the giant astral beast that had woken up and attacked the expeditionary fleet showed no apparent signs of life.

Its flesh was cooling. Its gray blood was spilling out into the vacuum and froze into crystals. Its heavily-damaged exterior was no longer consolidating but instead became more damaged as its vulnerable structure became exposed to the harsh conditions of space.

Every indication showed that the Titania was finally dead.

Yet was this really the case? The Golden Skull Alliance got fooled once and did not want to get fooled again. To that end, the Larkinsons, Glory Seekers and Crossers did not command their mechs to continue fire, but still kept them at full readiness.

A few mechs rotated back to their respective motherships in order to quickly replenish their energy ammunition and energy cells. Aside from that, every other machine could go back to firing their weapons at the Titania at any time.

Nothing happened for a while as the Larkinsons investigated the Titania's damaged and inactive body.

First, the Everchanger flew inside the hole that the other expert mechs had passed through earlier. Though Venerable Joshua had exhausted much of his mental condition in order to unleash the most powerful battle formation attack to date, he was still able to perform fairly simple maneuvers.

The young expert pilot rubbed his eyes as exhaustion set upon his mind. It truly took a lot of energy in order to direct the Superior Mother's immense death formation attack earlier.

"I shouldn't do that again unless I'm sure I can end the battle with my actions."

YOUR WILL IS WEAK.

"Geee, thanks for saying the obvious, Everchanger."

GROWTH IS OUR GREATEST STRENGTH. WHAT IS WEAK WILL GROW STRONG.

"All of that takes time. What is the point of waiting years or decades for us to get up to strength when we are already encountering enemies like the Titania? While we managed to defeat this beast without suffering any losses, it didn't look like it was in good shape to begin with. Who knows what would happen to us if we fought it when it was at its peak."

The battle was a giant wakeup call for everyone in the expeditionary fleet. While their 2-year MTA protection period enabled them to venture into the new frontier without worrying about attack from human forces, the Red Ocean was still home to countless alien species!

Whether they were intelligent or not, every non-human entity that was capable of traveling the stars were by no means weak! Some could even give the MTA and CFA's warfleets a run for their money, so how could a second-class organization like the Larkinson Clan stand a chance against these threats?

Many people in the fleet began to feel more depressed once they realized how much worse this battle could have proceeded. Even if the zones swept by the Big Two had been cleared of all major threats, plenty of alien stragglers managed to slip through the cracks.

It was always a gamble to see whether these unknown but undoubtedly hostile entities were strong or weak. Unlike back in the galactic rim, the power level of these aliens swung wildly depending on their race and origin. A poor encounter could easily lead into a clash against an alien ship whose power was comparable to that of a CFA cruiser!

"We need to make a lot of changes after this battle." Joshua predicted.

Firepower was the main shortcoming of the expeditionary fleet. There was nothing wrong with the Larkinson Clan's ranged capabilities as long as it fought against typical human forces. The Larkinson Army had enough guns to wipe out entire mech regiments before they came close!

However, from a galactic perspective, all the Larkinson mech legions possessed was quantity. Even the artillery cannons of the Transcendent Punishers had proven to be too light and meager to deal substantial damage against massive beasts or alien warships.

Though Joshua wasn't a mech designer, even he could clearly tell what the Larkinsons needed to do in order to stand a better chance against supermassive threats.

"We need bigger guns."

Just the journey through the flesh tunnel gave him a deeper understanding how desperately the Larkinsons needed more firepower. There was no way the clan could continue to rely on its trump cards such as its battle formations to drill through all of this thick and resilient biomatter.

"We're lucky that we only encountered a single astral beast."

What if the Titania wasn't alone? What if the expeditionary fleet had to fight against a small family of astral beasts?

It took several battle formations to neutralize just a single giant astral beast. After that, the Eye of Ylvaine, the Swordmaidens and the Penitent Sisters would no longer be able to repeat their feats!

The prospect of having to fight against several of these giant beasts with mech-grade weapons made him feel pained.

In warship terms, the armaments of a mech were the equivalent of secondary guns!

Secondary guns were only suitable for intercepting mechs, starfighters, missiles, drones and other 'light' targets. Warships came equipped with them in order to deal more efficiently against swarms and to avoid utilizing their main cannons against unworthy threats.

Though Joshua didn't quite think about it, he vaguely understood that the Big Two's prohibition against warships and warship-grade weapons put early pioneers at a heavy disadvantage.

This was the price for getting first dibs on the Red Ocean. By moving earlier than other humans, the early arrivals also had to deal with lingering threats that could end their entire fleets in a single day.

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