The Vesian ch force unexpectedly paused in their approach. Neither Ves nor lkor knew why, but they could make a guess.
"Haven’t the Vesians gathered intelligence about the ch Nursery?" Ves asked with a puzzle tone. "Surely they must have known what they were about to face?"
"They might not have done their due diligence. In their eyes, the LMC is just a regular up-and-coming ch manufacturer with only two years of history at most. Can you say that every ch manufacturer is able to erect such a massive defensive installation as the ch Nursery in such a brief amount of ti?"
Definitely not. Anyone who casually read his background would know that Ves only possesses a distant backer. Being a nominal disciple to a Master ch Designer did not afford him a lot of protection regarding these situations. So Masters even apprenticed thousands of ch designers at once and only instructed them casually if they spared the ti for them in the first place.
In any case, the amount of growth he experienced in recent tis was very much out of the norm for an Apprentice ch Designer of his age and background. Now that the Vesians beca aware that they faced sothing other than a pushover, they must have paused to reassess their plans.
"It’s too bad their commander is prudent enough to interrupt their approach." lkor shook his head. "I would have preferred if whoever is leading them is overconfident. That way, it’s easier to spring them into our traps."
"We can’t have everything. At least we’ve increased their apprehension to us."
"Not really. The Vesians still won’t think much of us once they find out how many chs are defending this place. They still outnumbered us by a comfortable margin."
It only took about ten minutes for the Vesians to make their move. This ti, the main formation of chs remained in place while over twenty chs started to sweep forward in different directions.
"Damn! They’re being especially careful now."
The maneuver revealed that the commander of the Imodris raiding force wanted to scout out their target before they made their next moves. It was the safest and most considerate action to take, and it did not take that much ti to gather intel as the ch Nursery was only so large.
Just as they stared at the plot which kept track of the approaching enemy scouts, lkor suddenly received a comm request. He accepted it, causing a projection of Husaan’s face to appear next to the central projector.
"The Vesians have sent out their scouts. Let us out of the walls, and we’ll hunt them down! We’re fast enough to catch at least a third of them off-guard!"
"No." lkor imdiately replied. "Remain in place. The Vesians may be dangling so bait in order to draw us out. Let them co to us."
"...Understood."
Ves scratched his head. "Isn’t it better to deal with the scouts now that they’ve separated from the main body? This is a good opportunity to whittle down their numbers."
"Do you think the Vesians are that easy to fool? Don’t trust what the sensors are telling you. I bet this stationary group of chs here have already started moving elsewhere. And those dots that depict solitary chs might be accompanied by four or five more chs each."
"Ah." Ves realized lkor’s point. The Vesians might have already been aware of the sensors placed in their surroundings. If they knew that others spied on their chs, they would have deployed their own counterasures. "But how will we know where they are if we can’t trust this plot?"
"We wait until they arrive. As long as we don’t take the bait, they’ll eventually give up on their tricks and resort to the direct approach."
A tense hour passed as the Imodris Legion scouts ca into visual view of the ch Nursery. The high walls blocked most of their direct vision, but that hardly halted their attempts to observe the defensive asures of the base as most of their sensors did not need line of sight to work. rely getting close enough was sufficient.
lkor tasked a couple of marksn to shoot at the scouts whenever they thought they could pull off a shot. While most of them missed, they successfully curbed the brazenness of the scouts.
Not once did lkor command anyone to go out and hunt down the scouts. Sanyal-Ablin’s chs consisted of diumweight models that specialised in defense. They could never catch up to the light chs.
Only the Oodis Mudriders might have been able to do so, considering that a fair chunk of their forces consisted of light chs. In truth, these light chs did not make for good defenders, but lkor was deeply unwilling to pull them away from their walls. Their light firepower might an the difference between victory or defeat.
After the scouting phase ended and the light chs pulled back, the Vesians arrived just beyond the maximum engagent range without any attempt to obfuscate their approach.
They stopped short of coming into rifle range. Instead, they spread out and guarded every approached. Monts later, it beca apparent why they did so.
A dozen or so artillery chs began to shell the walls. The explosions ruptured the surface of the walls made out of a blend of junk exotics and various bulk materials. Although they looked extrely firm and thick, they couldn’t withstand a concentrated artillery barrage.
lkor gritted his teeth. "The Vesians usually don’t bother to shell an industrial target. Their commander appears to be an exception. He’s treating us like a serious target."
None of the chs or turrets possessed the capability to retaliate against the distant artillery chs. The most they could do was shoot at the incoming shells as they arced into the walls. More than two-thirds of the incoming shells never reached the ch Nursery, but the remainder that got through slowly broke down the targeted section of walls.
Minutes passed by as the cracks turned into a hole, before widening up into a breach. After the last shells landed, the breach had beco so wide that it could fit two chs walking side by side.
"That’s not good." Ves noted.
The artillery chs then shifted their aim towards the turrets spread throughout the surface of the ch Nursery.
The weaknesses of the turrets hamred ho with each shell that got through the intercepting fire. Their complete lack of mobility turned them into stationary targets that would get destroyed sooner or later.
If the Vesian artillery chs hadn’t managed to destroy their target in their current salvo, they just sent out another one until the turret finally stopped working.
This went on for over two hours until the artillery chs expended all of their shells. By then, over seventy percent of the turrets that Sanyal-Ablin had previously erected turned into hollowed-out ruins.
Fortunately, no one lost their lives, as nobody manned the turrets. Their operators worked at a SASS-controlled command center deep underground.
By now, the ch Nursery hardly hosted any people. The only people who remained consisted of those who played a role in the defense of the facility. As for the civilian employees, Ves all sent them back to Freslin where they lived.
Even if the Vesians managed to breach through their lines and massacre everyone within, at least Ves wouldn’t have too much guilt on his conscience.
"What will they do next, now that they’ve destroyed most of our turrets?"
"They’ve spent several hours on the surface already." lkor replied. "The Vesians should be looking to wrap this up. The longer they stay on the surface, the higher the chance they’ll encounter the reinforcents from Bentheim. No matter how careful the enemy commander wants to be, he can’t fall behind schedule."
Every defender tersely waited for the Vesians to make their next move. Evidently, they had enough of paying around, because they shifted their formation in favor breaching through a defensive line.
Surprisingly enough, the Vesians suddenly put forth two heavy knights.
"Damn! They brought out heavy knights! They’ll be leading the charge!"
Ves did not need to hear an explation to realize how bad the situation turned against them. If the Vesians only brought their dium chs, then they stood a decent chance at fending off the incoming Vesians.
Now though, the appearance of the heavy knights changed everything. Even the most basic models of heavy knights withstood at least four tis as much damage as a dium knight. In effect, the two heavy knights possessed as much as an impact on the battle as eight extra dium knights!
In general, only military forces employed heavy chs. Not even Sanyal-Ablin fielded a single heavy ch despite having the resources and capacity to do so if they borrowed their backer’s help.
The appearance of the heavy chs alone caused everyone’s morale to drop. Every ch pilot from SASS and the Mudriders knew how tough these chs could be. The odds of killing them fast enough was minute.
"Ves! Conventional forces will take too much ti to bring down those heavies! By the ti they can be repelled, every other Vesian ch will have free reign inside the periter. We have to take those heavy chs out early!"
"Why are you looking at like that?"
"Because you frequently pull a miracle out of their butt! If you’re hiding a secret weapon, then this is the ti to employ it!"
"Well, I’ve got the Amastendira. Will that be enough?"
lkor shook his head. "I’ve already considered it. While it’s a devastating weapon against people, it won’t do too much damage against chs. A beam at maximum power is probably capable of piercing through the the armor of light chs while dealing heavy damage to dium chs, but it will just bounce off if pointed at a heavy ch."
That was really bad news, but Ves already expected sothing along those lines. The Amastendira granted its wielder near-absolute superiority against any kind of human-scale battles. Sadly, it did not change the paradigm that humans would be able to defeat a ch in an even fight.
A group of two heavy knights accompanied by thirty chs started to form into an assault formation. The lee chs stood in front while the ranged chs stood at the rear.
"It’s going to be too late to do anything soon! Ves! Tell you’ve got sothing!"
Ves panicked a little. He did not possess any other deadly weapons like the Amastendira. Neither would he be able to purchase any other solutions from the System as he recently drained most of his DP on his second Mastery.
Only until Lucky lazily flew past his vision did he remind himself that he might have one last resort.
"Lucky!"
The cat halted in its flight and turned its head at Ves. "ow?"
He pointed at the projection of the heavy knights readying themselves for a charge. "Can you take care of these two heavy chs? You have to assassinate the pilots and destroy so controls or essential components. Can you do that?"
"...ow."
Lucky did not ow in a reassuring way. The cat looked at the two heavy chs with their thick plating of armor with very visible dread. It would be tough for his intangible form to burrow through all of that compressed armor.
The cat tapped the air a couple of tis. Ves communicated frequently enough with his pet to understand Lucky’s vague aning.
"So you say you can definitely take out one ch, but you’re not sure if you have the energy to take out the other?"
"ow!"
"One heavy ch taken out is better than none!" lkor told them from the side.
"He’s right, Lucky. If you can do it, then go for it!"
Lucky hastily floated out of the command center in a zip. None of the sensors showed his position, which worried Ves a little, but at least the Vesians wouldn’t have any warning either.
He hated sending out Lucky so early in this battle. Ves wanted to save up Lucky as a trump card or employ him as an assassin that would quietly take out a couple of enemy chs stationed furthest from the main battle. Instead, the appearance of the heavy chs forced Ves to play this card ahead of ti.
The battle hadn’t even entered its most crucial phase and Ves already started running out of cards to play.
As Ves waited for Lucky to make his move, lkor turned to leave the command center as well. "There’s nothing more I can do here. I’ll be boarding my ch before I join up with the rest of the Avatars. Stay here and keep inford, Ves."
"Will do."
At least lkor could fight the the Vesians personally. As a ch designer, Ves enjoyed no such privilege.
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