The Mech Touch novel Chapter 391

"Mudriders! Pull back from the front and go to the flanks! Contain the Meandering Monkeys and prevent them from breaching our flanks!"

Commander Husaan eagerly pulled back all of his surviving mechs. In their place, the Avatars of Myth finally committed to the battle.

Although the defensive line instantly stabilized at their arrival, neither Ves nor Melkor smiled, because according to their plans, they should have kept the Avatars in reserve for a longer time.

Still, the Avatars fought valiantly, proving that Melkor did an excellent job in hiring the initial cadre. Led by Melkor himself, their ranged mechs laid down accurate support fire from an elevated position on the walls. They mainly trained their firepower on the frontline mechs hanging back from the melee.

"Knights, pin down that incoming heavy mech! Don’t let it shoulder its way inside!"

The melee mechs led by the two gold label Blackbeaks crashed against the Vesian mech with uncharacteristic fury. The two mech pilots of the Blackbeak got caught up in the fervor and fought back with ferocity. They pushed aside the enemy medium mechs and approach the sole surviving heavy knight from two different directions.

"Out of the way, you puny mechs!" The brash and angry mech pilot of the heavy knight broadcasted.

The Blackbeaks purposefully ignored the warning and began their awe-inspiring clash with the heavy knight. While the Blackbeaks quickly showed that they couldn’t withstand a frontal clash against the heavy knight, their superior mobility allowed them to circle around their lumbering opponent and pressure its vulnerable back.

This forcefully halted the forward momentum of the heavy knight, because it could ill afford to let an enemy pester its slightly weaker rear armor!

"Annoying gnats! Stand still for me!"

The heavy knight continued make wide horizontal sweeps with its large broadsword, only for the nimble Blackbeaks to jump back well before the blade reached their former position.

The two elegantly-styled mechs continued their dance around the heavy knight. The red vapor leaking from their red-dyed relief-studded shoulder pauldrons caused the area around the heavy knight to be partially obscured in bloody mist.

Ves estimated the cost of the heavy mech to be around 300 million credits. To be held back by a pair of mechs with a fair market price of around 100 million credits was very impressive.

As the heavy mech become more flustered, Ves became more familiar with its design. He opened a channel to the two pilots of the Blackbeak and issued some advice.

"The knight you’re facing is very top-heavy! Its legs look sturdy, but they’re actually strained to their limits! Focus on the rear knee joints, it’s the weakest part of its legs!"

"The sword its wielding is large and heavy, but the arms are burdened by an excessive amount of armor! Forget about trying to chip away at the arms, it’s actually a trap!"

"It’s left side is its former shield side. The heavy knight is balanced only when it wields its tower shield. Now that it’s gone, its balance is out of whack. Press its left side to further destabilize its footing!"

The vulnerabilities he pointed out did not lead to an instant defeat, but they successfully enabled the pilots of the Blackbeaks to keep the heavy knight on its back footing.

Not even the Vesians expected for their heavy knight to be pinned down by a pair of knights. The rest of the Chasseurs began to move to help out their beleaguered comrade, only to be stalled by the rest of the Avatars and Sanyal-Ablin mechs.

The front line fell into a momentary stalemate, but that would only last ten minutes as most. The mechs from Sanyal-Ablin had the edge in quality, but they were hard-pressed to hold back the superior numbers of the Chasseurs, especially since they didn’t attack as a horde but instead utilized rigid coordination.

Ves knew that grueling grinds like these tested each side’s resolve and depth. On both accounts, he favored the Vesians over the defenders. None of them besides the Avatars truly wished to stand their ground. The LMC was just a client to them. Once the battle turned ugly for them, Ves had no doubt their will to battle would plummet.

Every minute, another mech succumbed, mostly on the defending side. A couple of pilots died or sustained heavy wounds, but most decided to eject early rather than risk their lives. This hastened the attrition of the defending side, and despite the valiant efforts of the Avatars of Myth, they could not halt the overall trend.

"Damnit, where is Dietrich and his mechs?" Ves wondered.

Due to all of the enemy jamming, Ves lost contact with the Whalers stationed outside of Freslin.

On the flanks, the situation didn’t look much better. The Meandering Monkeys took advantage of the Mech Nursery’s lack of numbers to defend its perimeter and spread out to pressure the walls from multiple directions.

The turrets that survived the previous artillery bombardment suppressed them from climbing over the walls for now, but the Monkeys constantly whittled them down with their ranged weapons. They jumped and ran around with such fleeting grace that the turret operators hardly managed to land any hits.

The situation on the flanks alleviated a little bit when the surviving Mudrider mechs moved to face the flanking Monkeys. This curbed their daring actions, but only for a limited time. The Mudriders were outnumbered at least two-to-one and the turrets would only last long against the full might of the light mech company.

As Ves bit his lips, a crackling comm channel came to life. "Ves!"

"Dietrich, you’re here!" Ves responded with a much-relieved tone.

This entire battle revealed the precarious nature of the defenders. With any help, Ves predicted that the Vesians would have no trouble breaking through the perimeter.

The timely arrival of thirty friendly mechs breathed a lot of life into Ves. "Where are you right now? Are you in a position to hit the Vesians?"