A slow change was taking place on the battlefield.
The Larkinsons, Glory Seekers and Crossers were still being suppressed at almost every turn. Only the struggle between ranged chs remained fairly even, but that was because there were too many defensive options available to the ranged chs.
However, even if the Slug Rangers had beco preoccupied, that still didn't change the fact that the Molten Rangers and the Hivar Roarers were downing more enemies than the expeditionary fleet!
It took all of their effort for the Larkinsons and their allies to slow down the dwarven advance. The enemy chs were so sturdy and powerful that they were far harder to defeat than pirate chs or other rabble!
The power increase afforded by coordination beca a lot more significant when it was applied on a large scale. It was not necessarily scary to fight against lots of dwarven chs. It only beca a problem when their ch pilots seamlessly worked together and combined the capabilities of their machines so that they covered for each other's weaknesses!
For example, the Hivar Roarer strategy was relatively simple yet extrely difficult to deal with for the expeditionary forces. The Crumbleshells sounded ridiculous at first, but the combination of high defense and constant damage output at dium range was extrely effective at suppressing chs that weren't able to break through their defensive envelopes.
The Molten Hamrs were even more refined in their synergy. Although they did not possess the power to hit back at ranged chs, they were practically invincible at close range!
The combination of Molten Furies, Shieldbreakers and Magmatars served as their base models upon which the foundation of their combat approach rested upon. As long as the Molten Hamrs were able to field a sufficient amount of all three chs, they were able to augnt their strategy with various different specialized ch models that each added a bit of extra flexibility to the ch division.
For example, when the Molten Hamrs noticed that the center of the human battle line was beginning to buckle, they soon dispatched their largest and strongest offensive chs!
It took a lot of ti for these heavy lee chs to fly to the front. Their mobility may be terrible, but in a relatively static situation like this, the dwarves were in their elent. The threat of their slow but steady advance had forced the human ch forces to play on their terms.
"The Forgehamrs have arrived!"
"Let Vulcan's might ring true in this star system!"
"Hamr their chs to pieces!"
The Forgehamr ch regint was one of the slowest but also most offense-oriented units of the Molten Hamrs. The Forgehamrs had long acquired a reputation within the Ferril Provincial Army for being the biggest powerhouse chs that average ch pilots could use. They were the dream of every Molten Hamr ch pilot that preferred to go on the offensive rather than the defensive.
Nothing exemplified the Forgehamrs more than their Iron Crusher heavy ch. Each of them possessed strong arms that wielded strong and heavy hamrs.
Wherever they passed, every other ch reverently made way. Though this exposed so defensive loopholes as a consequence, any attack that landed on their thick armor simply bounced off or inflicted negligible damage.
The frontal armor of the Iron Crushers was almost as thick as the main shield of the Molten Fury model!
"Strike the iron!"
The massive heavy chs simultaneously swung their hamrs straight onto the damaged and stressed shields of the Bright Warriors and other human chs!
So Avatar and Crosser ch pilots feared getting hit by these massive hamrs wielded by the oversized dwarf chs. They ceded ground in order to evade the deadly blows.
However, so chs weren't able to retreat in ti or did not have space to do so. The outco of these defensive chs were severe as the solid hamrs impacted straight onto their shields!
So shields shattered. Other shields dented. In every case, the chs that got hit by the Iron Crushers all bounced backwards, sotis even colliding against other friendly chs in the process.
The power of the Iron Crushers was too much!
Though their attacks were slow and could easily be dodged, in increasingly cramped battlefield conditions or in situations where their foes weren't able to move away, they were fantastic at breaking stalemates!
Of course, this was bad news for the expeditionary forces as the collapse of their center columns was accelerating. Not a single lee ch could withstand the blows of the Iron Crushers and escape unscathed. If a ch did not shatter from getting hit, they would almost certainly get knocked back by a very hefty distance. This was enough for the dwarven chs to advance closer to the expeditionary fleet!
Of course, they were not without their weaknesses. Though their defensive capabilities were formidable, they were not heavy space knights and lacked the characteristically tough physical shields of the latter.
Their extrely low mobility and flexibility also made them vulnerable to attacks from their flanks and rear. Even a light skirmisher was able to take them out of the fight. The light ch just had to approach the rear of an Iron Crusher and attack the vulnerable flight system that was only moderately reinforced against attacks.
The Molten Hamrs weren't stupid though. The Iron Crushers was one of the prides of their ch division and always surrounded them with multiple escorts.
The only way to suppress and possibly destroy the heavy chs of the Forgehamrs was to direct heavy firepower towards these indomitable chs. The heavier the caliber, the better!
"We can't let the Molten Hamrs collapse our center too soon. If they manage to cleave through our lines, they can split us up and put us in disarray!"
Out of helplessness, the Larkinsons were forced to direct their ranged firepower to suppress the Iron Crushers. Average ranged chs didn't cut it. The Transcendent Punishers perford better but weren't the most ideal solution.
Only the Eternal Redemptions were able to slow the advance of the Forgehamrs. When the Iron Crushers began to get targeted by the ultra-heavy rounds fired by the Penitent Sister cannoneer chs, the dwarven heavy chs finally showed weakness!
Occasionally, a bright and powerful beam landed on the Iron Crushers as well!
Unlike the attacks unleashed by average Bright Warrior chs, the powerful positron beams fired by the Amaranto never failed to burn through the armor of the Iron Crushers and take them out right away.
However, before Venerable Stark could continue to pick off the threatening hamr-wielding chs, her position behind the Graveyard fell under an intensive bombardnt!
"Don't even think about killing my brothers!" Venerable Leiva roared as her Gauss Baron continued to pepper the Graveyard's heavily-battered surface with continuous artillery fire. "A masterwork ch is wasted on you, tall folk!"
So far, the Amaranto and the Gauss Baron were the only expert chs that made their presence known. Everyone could sense that would soon change. The only question was which side would expose their expert chs first. The side that put them to use first would lose a lot of initiative. If it wasn't necessary, it was best not to expose them too early.
"These humans won't last much longer. What can a bunch of cannoneer chs do? They still have to defend themselves against our Slug Rangers."
"They should have brought at least twice the amount of chs to stand a chance against defeating us. We're invincible!"
"We don't need to disturb Venerable Orthox at all if this battle proceeds at this rate. How many expert chs can they muster when they don't have the backing of a state?"
Though the Vulcanites had plenty of reason to feel confident, the expeditionary forces weren't losing as much confidence as they should. They all had their reasons to believe that they would beco the eventual victors of this tough battle.
The Glory Seekers put their faith in the Superior Mother whether they were winning or losing. They were still human and could still experience fear, despair and other negative emotions.
However, their strong faith in the Superior Mother along with witnessing her might in a previous occasion had given them a rock-hard belief that they would never be led astray!
Whether they lived or died, it was worth it to get noticed by the greatest Supre of the Hexer state!
As for the Crossers, they fought for other reasons. Pride and family were two major reasons why they stiffened their spines. However, what truly kept them going was the respect and awe they held towards Patriarch Reginald Cross.
As long as their leader entered the fray, he would quickly be able to teach the dwarves a lesson! Short of a dwarven ace ch showing up, the Crossers were relieved that not a single enemy could defeat their patriarch!
As for the Larkinson Clan, their reasons were much the sa. The ch pilots did not entertain any notions about giving up because there was no escape and because their families were counting on them. Each of them shouldered the future of their people and they could never afford to let the dwarves claim their victory. To lose this battle was to lose everything!
The stakes couldn't be higher for the Larkinsons. This was why they began to develop a lot of anticipation for what might be happening next.
Will the Larkinson Clan show off the might of its battle formations?
Though no one communicated with them about this topic, it still hung in the minds of every ch pilot of the expeditionary fleet.
The situation on the battlefield was not ideal to perform those massive attacks. Even though the expeditionary forces tried their best to compress the dwarven chs together, the Molten Hamrs and the Hivar Roarers did not let the tall folk dictate their movents. The dwarves tried their best to follow their own plans, which did not entail backing up and letting themselves get pressured all the ti.
Anticipation continued to build up as ti passed by. The Penitent Sisters and the Swordmaidens had already been moving around for a while now. They previously circled around and pretended to act like ordinary reserves.
It wasn't until a few monts ago that they had built up speed and begun their final approach.
Did the dwarves know?
This question hung in the minds of every human ch pilot. It didn't seem as if the Vulcanite got wind of what the Larkinsons might be doing. The dwarven ch formations had compressed to an extent and there were certain sections of their battle line that had beco a lot more congested with chs!
General Verle even commanded additional Transcendent Punishers and the Eternal Redemptions to open fire on the Molten Hamrs.
The more the dwarven chs ca under bombardnt, the more they pressed together in order to form sturdy shield walls that heavily neutralized incoming fire!
The only pity was that the Hivar Roarers were much more difficult to compress. They also split their units into two separate wings. Their chs were significantly more dispersed as they employed drastically different battle approaches.
"It will have to do." Ves quietly muttered.
The dwarves still didn't appear to have a clue. The chs that would be engaging their battle networks had camouflaged their actions well. Even their approaches didn't appear so notable. The situation at the front had grown urgent that many other chs were beginning to move forwards.
Ves still wasn't sure whether it was the right decision to go through with this move at this ti. Even though General Verle judged that the current situation couldn't go on much further, exposing two of the Larkinson Clan's most powerful battle formation in this relatively early stage might not yield the maximum effect.
Still, the prospect of taking out a lot of enemy chs when they were still dense and nurous was too hard to resist. The longer the dwarves enjoyed a substantial edge in numbers, the more they could leverage this advantage to skew the balance even further!
Instead of allowing that to happen, the Larkinsons had to do their best to even the scales. At least, that was supposed to be the logic behind this move.
The main matter of concern for Ves was whether they were squandering a resource that could have been spent on greater threats.
"Where are the dwarven expert chs? Will we be able to defeat them if we have used up our cards?"
Ves dreaded the answers to these questions.
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