The Mech Touch novel Chapter 6279

Chapter 6279 Exhausting Retreat

What happened after the expert mechs began their retreat was mostly predictable.

The Lionheart, the Riot, the C-Man and the Greenaxe did not stick around so that their pilots could argue further, but straightforwardly fled into deep space.

Naturally, their enemies did not want them to leave so easily.

"WHO PERMITTED YOU TO LEAVE?! EACH OF YOU MUST DIE TO ANSWER FOR THE AFFRONT OF ATTACKING US AND DESTROYING OUR WAR MATERIALS!"

The Mars responded to this call by blasting out a full salvo of its overstrained ARCEUS System.

The damage inflicted by the resonance-empowered positron beams were not too great, but the machine had been firing them into Tireless Engine for a while now. Even if his true body was larger than his current form, the phase lord still suffered a lot of accumulated damage from getting struck by so many timers!

"I will not let you kill any more comrades in front of my eyes!" Reginald growled. "Forget about pursuing them. I will not let you chase after them if I have anything to say about it. Fight me if you want or back off if you don't want to deal with me anymore. Whatever you decide, don't think about coming after the expert mechs."

The injured but still battle-hungry Tireless Engine gazed at the Mars with a challenging expression.

"YOU ARE OUTNUMBERED. YOU CAN STOP ONE OF US, BUT YOU CANNOT STOP ALL OF US. WITH MY FLEET AND SON AT MY DISPOSAL, YOU CANNOT HINDER US FROM ELIMINATING YOUR FOLLOWERS."

Patriarch Reginald did not bother to correct the phase lord's faulty assumption that he was in charge of the expert mechs.

Instead, he grinned and instructed the Mars to lift its Whale-Cutting Saber in a challenging motion.

The Tireless Engine clearly cared a lot about his proudest son. He wouldn't have tossed over a weapon as precious as the Saint Piercer if this was not the case.

"You can't take them down, because I will stop you no matter what you choose to do. If you chase after my comrades by yourself, I will fight your son and do everything in my power to kill him. I don't care whether he wields your Saint Piercer or not. He is not skilled and strong enough to make that weapon sing. If you choose to hold me back by yourself, then that is great. Your son isn't as strong as he looks. Now that the surprise factor is over, I think my friends can still defeat him as long as there is no outside interference. As for your fleet, do you want me to relocate our duel in the midst of your precious warships?"

Ghirard looked a lot less amused as Patriarch Reginald explained all the ways he could deter the nunsers from running the expert mechs down.

The Tireless Engine clearly cared a lot about his proudest son. He wouldn't have tossed over a weapon as precious as the Saint Piercer if this was not the case.

Even now when the older phase lord had reclaimed his experimental weapon, the Tireless Engine still did not feel confident in his ability to contain and wear down the Mars. _{fгeewebnovёl.com}

Sure, Ghirard managed to inflict extensive damage to the exterior of the Mars, but that was when both sides actively wanted to defeat each other.

If Patriarch Reginald no longer fought in order to defeat his opponent, but merely wanted to stall the alien forces, then there were many ways his fast and highly resistant ace mech could act as a spoiler to his enemies!

There were two big constraints that Reginald imposed on the nunsers.

First, his ace mech was extremely good at inflicting collateral damage. The Ghirard Fleet had already suffered a blow from losing a lot of powerful phasefighters and failing to prevent the human invaders from destroying so many supply depots.

Suffice to say, the Red Cabal would not be happy with the Tireless Engine and the Ghirard Fleet after it had learned about this debacle.

Letting the Ghirard Fleet suffer even more material losses due to provoking the Mars into a destruction-filled rampage would cause the nunsers to suffer even more blame for slowing down the Red Tide Offensive!

Second, Patriarch Reginald and his Mars posed a deadly threat against L'Koi.

The Tireless Engine had fought extensively enough against the Mars to know without a shadow of a doubt that the powerful ace mech truly had the capacity to outfight his son and slay him within minutes!

This effectively meant that the Mars could easily force Ghirard to stay by relentlessly targeting L'Koi!

There was no way the father would leave his son to contend against a powerful ace mech by himself. The support of the Ghirard Fleet was not enough to change the outcome.

This severely limited the older phase lord's option. If he had to choose between two priorities, then he would rather protect son than to chase down after the fleeing expert mechs!

In the end, the Tireless Engine settled for a decision that best safeguarded his son's life while also giving him a small chance to claim the lives of additional expert mechs in the process.

"PURSUE THE FLEEING COWARDLY FALSE GODS, BUT ALSO DEFEND WHAT REMAINS OF OUR DEPOTS!"

The Ghirard Fleet split into half.

Part of the warships activated their warp drives and sped up into the distance to catch up with the fleeing expert mechs.

The remaining warships and phasefighters stayed behind in order to guard Duqaste XI. The Tireless Engine did not forget about his primary responsibilities.

Ves nodded. "There is no realistic way to take away the Blade Chaser and protect it from subsequent attacks. The Mars fought against two phase lords for an extended period of time. It managed to inflict a good amount of damage to both of them, but also suffered more extensive damage that will necessitate deep repairs. The fleeing expert mechs also incurred varying degrees of damage due to getting hit by warship-grade attacks that they weren't able to dodge. It is also quite favorable for them to make it back without suffering any further permanent losses."

"Then… what happens with Imon's mech?" Tusa asked. "Can you still keep track of it now that we don't have it anymore?"

"The Blade Chaser is a post-living mech." Ves explained. "Even if it has no independent personality, it is still connected to the Larkinson Network. The Golden Cat is able to keep tabs on it, but she cannot really do more than that. The fact that she is able to perceive it even now means that it is still 'alive'. The stab through the upper chest may be a fatal wound to most humans, but it is not an extensive enough affliction to 'kill' a living mech. According to Goldie, L'Koi has claimed the Blade Chaser as his trophy, but his father wants to transfer the machine to his research teams in order to learn everything possible about one of my better works."

That caused Tusa to frown. "How much can the aliens learn from a post-living expert mech? Will they be able to figure out your secrets and develop their own living machines, or will they be able to figure out better counters to our other living mechs?"

Ves shrugged his shoulders. "I cannot say for certain. It depends on what kind of researchers the Tireless Engine gives permission to study the Blade Chaser. It also depends on what the aliens intend to do with their trophy. I don't think there is a serious chance that they will crack the secret to living mechs and develop their own version of them. There is a more serious probability that they will learn how to better respond against other living mechs in the future. Finally, I cannot guarantee that the nunsers will keep the Blade Chaser intact. If they want to learn all of its secrets, then their researchers must definitely resort to destructive methods."

That caused Casella to grow a lot more upset about the fact that the enemy managed to capture her brother's mech!

"We need to reclaim the Blade Chaser."

"Agree." Ves responded. "We need to be realistic, though. If the Tireless Engine has any sense, he will immediately transfer the wreck of your brother's mech deep into alien territory. He will also assign his son to escort his trophy to the rear. Neither of the two have a place on the frontlines."

If the aliens truly intended to take the wreck of the Blade Chaser far beyond the reach of human space, then that made it almost impossible for Casella to reclaim her brother's machine!

Despair welled up in her overstressed mind.

"Imon…"

"Uhm, about that…" Ves slowly said. "I haven't completed my tale. Not entirely. There is one more thing I have to share with you. This involves a very sensitive secret of mine, and it is also very difficult to explain. I would never share it with you if we weren't talking inside Tusa's Saint Kingdom."

The Saint Commander grew suspicious. So far, what she heard was certainly sensitive, but not to the point of ensuring that the mechers or any other third parties couldn't eavesdrop on the discussion.

She had a strong feeling that she was about to learn the true reason for all of this secrecy.

"Explain."

"Well, your brother may have died, but that doesn't necessarily mean he is gone. You see, there are rare cases where living organisms can still live on after death…"