The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1408

The first round between the Felixia Catstrikers and Zeigra ended abruptly after the latter’s departure.

Some of the Catstrikers privately felt relieved as the worst case scenario hadn’t occurred.

When the humanoid mechs of the Catstrikers managed to surround the Crown Cat, they inflicted a considerable amount of damage, weakening the structural integrity of Zeigra’s resilient fur by an uncertain degree.

This probably led the huge cat to conclude that it was in his best interest to depart.

As a precaution, most of the mechs still remained on guard in case Zeigra wanted to start with the second round right away, but for all intents and purposes the battle was over.

The legged transports moved into the clearing and poured out a host of mech technicians and equipment in order to perform emergency repairs on the mechs that suffered serious damage.

Lady Miralix opted to remain inside her Kinslayer in order to guard the legged transports. That did not prevent her from projecting her body onto the battle site to observe and help supervise the aftermath.

A lot of questions welled in her mind. The first round may not have led to the total disaster that everyone feared, but the damage the cat dished out seriously impacted their battle effectiveness.

Perhaps the most tragic casualty of the first round was the rifleman mech that got caught out by Zeigra! Not only did the brutal cat tore out practically its entire internal guts, but the cat also chomped significant chunks of alloy from the mech!

As Ves depressingly studied the wreck of the downed rifleman mech, Lady Miralix’s projection floated up to his side.

\"I don’t need a mech designer to know that there’s no way that this mech will get up again.\" She began. \"What happened?\"

\"Do you mean the incidents where two of the mechs had tripped?\"

\"Yes. What happened?\"

\"Have you heard of the rumors surrounding Zeigra?\"

\"Do you mean to say the claims that Zeigra possesses the ability to corrode the parts of a mech is true?\"

\"With the evidence I’ve gathered, there’s no more room for doubt.\" Ves declared. \"Zeigra truly does possess the ability to induce targeted corrosion and weakening of specific parts.\"

He began to summon up a projection from his comm and pointed at specific log data points which indicated that moments before the spearman mech and rifleman mech tripped, small but critical subcomponents had already started to send out small alerts!

With the help of his explanation, Lady Miralix managed to understand what had happened. Her eyes widened in alarm!

\"If this is true, then it only took seconds for a number of critical components in their legs to fail! That’s too fast!\"

\"According to the rumors of the previous hunters who attempted to hunt down Zeigra, it took several minutes of contact before incidents like this occurred. Either they underestimated this possible effect, or Zeigra has become far more adept at wielding this special ability!\"

The implications weighed heavily on their shoulders. Hunting down a ferocious Crown Cat became a lot harder if Zeigra continually sabotaged the functioning of the mechs of the Catstrikers!

\"How does it work? Can we block Zeigra from utilizing this corrosion ability?\"

Ves helplessly shrugged. \"Beats me. I’m a mech designer, not an exobiologist. You’ll have to ask the developers of Zeigra’s species if you want to know more.\"

\"I doubt they know anything.\" The lady sighed. \"Half the products they cook up in their labs perform vastly out of their expectation. Every Crown Cat is pretty much a product of accident, coincidence and chance. Biosciences are always subject to the chaotic whims of nature. Besides, I’m not allowed to gather inside information and any contact to the outside universe is blocked in the hunting zone. We can only rely on ourselves for answers.\" _{freēwēbnovel.com}

The Catstrikers did employ some unaffiliated biotech specialists, but none of them had any idea how Zeigra could possibly corrode the parts of a mech at a distance.

As soon as Ves disseminated his explanation, the suspicious glances directed at him lessened. The evidence he provided made it abundantly clear that the mech technicians and him hadn’t been negligent in maintaining the mechs.

Still, the worried mech pilots still remained upset as Ves hadn’t been able to come up with any solution to block this insidious attack! The mechs would continue to be vulnerable to Zeigra’s hidden machinations! They would have to continue battling the Crown Cat all the while aware that their mechs might falter at critical moments!

Everyone’s morale inevitably took a serious hit. This single extra complication had already led to the premature destruction of a rifleman mech. Another axeman mech would have to make do without a vital arm, while the spearman mech that tripped required an extensive amount of tedious light repairs as its entire frame got rattled by its fall!

\"What an awful mess!\"

The Catstrikers knew the first round would be the toughest, but after facing Zeigra’s surprising strength and abilities, it became clear they still underestimated the challenge of confronting it in battle.

A lot of analysis and speculation went on in various meetings. Ves only attended a number of them as he became more preoccupied with directing the emergency field repairs on the mechs affected by the battle.

Because pressing Zeigra quickly was crucial to tiring out the beast, the repairs only lasted for around six hours. The mech pilots maintained a rotation of patrols in order to grant everyone crucial time to sleep and rest.

By the time Lady Miralix commanded her hunting team to follow Zeigra’s tracks, the Catstrikers continued forth with one less mech.

There was no way for Ves to restore the badly-mangled rifleman mech! Since the wreck wasn’t going to be moving and fighting on its own strength anymore, he instead recommended the mech technicians to salvage some intact parts that might prove useful in fixing up the other rifleman mechs in later battles.