Of all of the ch legions, the Battle Criers were the most subdued of all. As one of the more closed and least public units of the Larkinson Army, not a lot of clansn paid attention to them. It was hard to get into them as the Kinners who controlled this ch legion demanded an unreasonable amount of loyalty from its troops.
Though every Larkinson was loyal by definition, not many were able to readily sacrifice their own lives for the good of the clan.
The Battle Criers might not be the toughest, deadliest or most skilled soldiers, but they were definitely the most committed to Ves and his clan!
Legion Commander Hugin Cinnabar rubbed his trimd red beard as he addressed a compartnt filled with Battle Crier officers. Many of them were fellow Kinners such as himself but there were also a couple of notable exceptions.
Captain Dietrich had quietly distinguished himself among the Battle Criers. Despite his relative youth, he turned out to be a steady leader and was good at inducting new recruits in the ways of the most loyal ch legions.
The native Cloudy Curtainer and forr mber of Walter's Whalers had more than earned Commander Cinnabar's trust.
Right now, Dietrich raised his hand and asked the obvious question.
"Which unit are we responsible, commander?"
Commander Cinnabar crossed his arms. "That depends. We don't know the full details of the hostile dwarven force. There are bound to be a lot of high-priority threats. The reason why we label them such is because each of them can single-handedly inflict a defeat on us. Now, our other brethren in the Larkinson Army have already picked their respective targets. Each of them will be responsible for containing different threats. We shoulder a similar burden. The only difference is that we do not yet know the nas of our foes or the properties of their chs."
Another Battle Crier frowned. "Don't we have enough information on each of the ch regints of the dwarven ch divisions? At least that much should be known to the public, right?"
"Ah, but the Ferril Provincial Army haven't publicized most of its expert pilots and expert chs. The Vulcan Empire may be at peace at the mont but it has always prepared itself for war against its human neighbors. It makes sense to hide their trump cards such as the details of expert pilots. What we must do is to prepare to step up and block their way as much as possible if there are no better alternatives."
This was a difficult task. They were at least able to anticipate how to fight against known threats such as the Gauss Baron or the Paravad. Though it was unlikely that the remaining expert chs of the enemy force were as strong as these heroes, it was still a huge challenge to fight against nurous unknown Ferril expert chs!
By now, the Battle Criers mostly piloted the Bright Warrior IB, the default model of the Larkinson Clan. Although this modular ch platform was both strong and versatile, there was still a huge gulf between this regular ch model and a genuine expert ch.
Were their numbers high enough to complete this task? Nobody knew for certain.
Commander Cinnabar offered them so encouragent. "We are not alone in this. We will have support of nurous other friendlies such as the Heavensworders, the Eye of Ylvaine and more depending on the situation. The Penitent Sisters will cooperate extensively with us. Our responsibility is to block and entangle any expert chs that try to pass through our lines. The Eternal Redemptions piloted by the Penitent Sisters will provide crucial heavy fire support from the rear. Their powerful gauss cannons can inflict a huge amount of kinetic damage per hit and is one of our best solutions to overpower the high-quality armor systems that expert chs typically enjoy."
The heavy air in the compartnt receded a bit after he spoke, but the Battle Criers still weren't sure whether their odds were good enough.
"Sir, if the dwarves deploy 15 expert chs or more, I'm not sure we have the numbers to stop them all." Dietrich voiced his concerns. "Even if our expert chs are able to keep half of them at bay, the rest can probably overrun us or circle around us. Our Bright Warriors aren't fast enough to stay in their way if they try their best to avoid our blockade."
This was one of the difficult aspects about fighting expert chs. All of their paraters were so high that even their weaknesses weren't really a big deal when compared to the performance of regular chs.
Aside from extre cases such as the planned upgrade of the Shield of Samar, most expert chs were able to move faster than regular chs. Mobility granted them a lot of initiative, allowing them to have the agency to affect an ongoing battle in any way they liked.
The Battle Crier Commander was already aware of this but did not look discouraged. Instead, he offered his n a vicious grin.
"Our clan is aware of the risks and has granted us a ans to force the expert chs to target us first. Have you heard about the recent developnt of the new luminar crystal rifles? General Verle has decided to allocate the largest batch of these newly-produced rifles to us. I'm told that each of them are configured to deal enhanced damage to resonance shields and resonance-based defensive asures. As long as we focus our fire on any of the enemy expert chs, we can easily strip their most powerful defenses against conventional attacks!"
This was a huge boon to the Battle Criers! Everyone beca shocked when Commander Cinnabar briefly shared the details of what the new rifles were capable of. Although the standard production model was weaker than the Amaranto's main armant, as long as they were all slotted with the sa light beam attack phase crystals, they could inflict serious damage against one of cheat-like abilities that made expert chs so difficult to defeat!
Still, as much as the Battle Criers were glad to receive the new rifles, the amount was not that much in absolute terms. After all, the clan only started producing them a few months ago and many production crews were still trying to learn the ropes of synthesizing the complicated crystals with the help that the Patriarch had provided.
"How much power do these new rifles have, sir?" Captain Dietrich asked.
"We don't know, to be honest. Our clan hasn't perford many tests with them due to safety concerns. However, it is estimated that they can inflict at least four to ten tis as much damage to resonance shields than regular weapons. That ans if we arm 200 Bright Warriors with these new rifles, they can potentially inflict as much damage to an expert ch as an entire ch regint! This is a crucial opportunity to equalize the odds considering we are already outnumbered by the enemy. The less chs it takes to occupy the dwarven expert chs, the more we can free up other friendly chs."
What the Larkinsons had to do was to negate the numbers disparity as much as possible! The Larkinson Army was constantly figuring out ways to counter or deal with specific dwarven units with the least amount of cost. If they didn't do so, then too many dwarven chs would be free to surround the Larkinsons, reinforce other dwarven units and generally tip the balance in the Ferril Provincial Army's favor.
The Battle Criers had to do the sa, and shouldered one of the most dangerous responsibilities. Dietrich and everyone else knew that even if these new luminar crystal rifles were able to live up to their promises, that didn't an that the enemy expert chs would quickly be toppled.
Every expert ch was clad with extrely high quality armor. That was especially the case with dwarven chs as they were bulkier and stockier than their regular humanoid counterparts!
Another factor that limited the effectiveness of the new weapon system was that the Battle Criers actually had to hit their targets. This was quite difficult to achieve against faster and more agile expert chs. Their high mobility characteristics along with their extraordinary ch pilots easily allowed them to be very proficient at evading attacks.
As the Battle Criers discussed how to handle highly mobile targets, elsewhere other groups of Larkinson soldiers were trying to figure out a way to contribute to the defense of their clan.
"Our job is simple, n." Commander Casella Ingvar addressed the Living Sentinels. "We hold the line. That is all. We are not ant to maneuver a lot. From the beginning, our job is to stick close to our ships and prevent the enemy from getting close enough to threaten our vulnerable ships and people. We aren't the stars of the show, so we cannot single-handedly stop any of the hostile dwarves. However, we do not have to defeat any enemy alone. Whether it is the Gatecrasher, the Paravad or any other powerful dwarven ch, there will be elites to take them down. Our job is to stall, block or distract any opponent who gets close enough to our fleet. Is that understood?"
"Yes, commander!"
"Who are we?!"
"We are the watchers clad in silver!"
The Avatars, the Penitent Sisters, the Swordmaidens and so on all held similar sessions. The cloud of uncertainty that hung over the clouds of the soldiers evaporated when they received concrete instructions on what to do in the coming battle.
Everyone gained their own purpose. So were tasked with preventing the Molten Hamrs from punching through the lines of the Golden Skull Alliance. Others were expected to skirmish against the mobile assets of the Hivar Roarers. So were even expected to fight against specific chs.
Venerable Stark stared at the projection of the three most prominent enemy expert chs.
She and the other expert pilots of the Larkinson Clan were all contemplating their own priorities in the upcoming battle.
Of the six expert pilots, two of them looked distinctly upset.
Though Venerable Joshua and Venerable Jannzi did not see eye-to-eye with each other very often, this ti they shared the sa sentint.
"If only I had an expert ch…" Joshua whined.
Venerable Jannzi tapped her foot in frustration. "I'm not happy with this either, but there is nothing we can do. We can still contribute to the battle in our own ways. Your Valkyrie Pri and my Shield of Samar are still far more powerful than any regular ch."
"It's not the sa! I wouldn't dare fight against a real expert ch!"
"There are still ways to fight them." Jannzi said. "You just need to cooperate with other friendlies. That's what we did in the Battle of Reckoning. I don't see why we can't employ this solution again."
It wasn't the sa. As long as an expert ch was really serious about defeating their pri chs, Joshua and Jannzi would definitely be pushed to their limits. If not for the fact that their pri chs were clad with a copious amount of Unending alloy, their pri chs might not even be able to withstand a single powerful resonance attack!
Compared to this unfortunate pair, the other expert pilots were a lot more upbeat.
Each of them were highly confident about their own chances. Their expert chs were far more powerful than typical ones. They not only incorporated powerful resonance materials, but also enjoyed nurous unique advantages that allowed them to stand out further.
However, aside from Venerable Stark, the other three Larkinsons expert pilots were aware that they suffered from a major shortcoming.
"Our expert chs are strong, but I'm not sure whether we can keep up." Venerable Tusa stated the obvious. He exchanged glances with both Venerable Orfan and Venerable Dise. "We might be impressive in the eyes of other ch pilots, but among expert pilots we are still too young and weak. Our resonance strengths asure in the single digits and we don't have much real battle experience with our expert chs."
Venerable Orfan grew impatient. "What are you trying to say, Tusa?"
"We ought to be fighting against their expert pilots that more closely match our strength. However, since our side is short on expert chs, we have no choice but to fight against their more powerful ones. Let's consider the other two prominent enemy expert chs. Can any of us fight against the Gauss Baron or the Paravad by ourselves?"
The other expert pilots weren't able to supply an imdiate answer.
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