Hundreds of artillery chs steadily bombarded one of the last industrial districts of Ardam with their cannons. A continuous stream of straight and powerful disruptor beams struck the titan shield, causing it to wobble and destabilize at a rapid rate.
Different from the models employed by the Hex Army, the Transcendent Punisher Mark II did not possess any 'traditional' artillery armants.
This was not a surprise considering that the Larkinson Clan designed it to function as a bunker ch first and foremost.
Battles in space tended to start at longer distances. Terrain features were almost entirely absent in the void. Both of these factors ant that the best artillery chs tended to be outfitted with weapon systems that could accurately pound distant targets that were within line of sight.
If there was any desire to attack targets that happened to be blocked by other obstacles, a ch force would usually field machines that were equipped with missiles.
Currently, the use of missile weapons happened to have dropped off in the Red Ocean. Though it was cheap and easy to build them and to equip them onto chs, making use of them required the constant consumption of costly missiles.
It took a good amount of money to produce missiles that were fast and powerful enough to threaten chs and other targets. Their warheads had to incorporate volatile exotics that were troubleso or expensive to source.
In a region that was suffering from a galaxy-wide resource shortage, it could be at least ten tis as costly to make use of missile-based chs as opposed to other kinds of ranged chs!
As such, neither the Hexers nor the Golden Skullers fielded missileer chs in larger numbers. They most definitely had their uses, but they simply weren't economical yet to earn their place on the battlefield.
This left the Larkinson Army in a rather awkward position. The Transcendent Punisher Mark II did not possess the capability to inflict heavy damage through indirect fire.
Sure, it was possible to utilize its gauss weapons as siege weapons by pointing them at high angles in the air so that their projectiles eventually dropped on top of their targets, but the specific weapon systems weren't designed or optimized for this kind of usage.
The Hexer heavy artillery chs were able to remain in the outskirts of Ardam and fire their explosive or incendiary shells at any target in the city regardless of the obstacles in their way. The tall structures of the more developed parts of the urban districts could not block the arcing shells in the slightest.
In fact, the Hexers didn't mind destroying every structure in the way. The only reason why they did not waste too much ti on it was because their ti was too limited to pound everything to rubble.
This was why they utilized incendiary shells instead. They only had to fire a few salvos to engulf a rich comrcial district in flas that were hot enough to slowly lt fortified buildings!
"The titan shield is about to collapse." Commander lkor Larkinson spoke to his fellow legion commander. "Be sure to have your n knock out the turrets inside as soon as possible. They have already dealt enough damage to our knight warriors."
Commander Taon lin curtly nodded. "Our artillery chs have already set their targets in advance. We are already familiar with this routine."
The Avatars of Myth led the assault on this specific industrial district, but they did not particularly excel in siege warfare.
This was why the Eye of Ylvaine had split up its artillery ch units and attached them to nurous different assault groups. Otherwise the other ch legions might take ages to overco the strong and resilient titan shields that the Fridayn used in large numbers throughout their settlents.
Though the remnants of the Sundered Phalanx still retained a good amount of combat power, neither of the legion commanders took their opposition seriously anymore.
The Fridayn had dispersed their ch units too much for any of them to be able to stop the attacks on different strongholds.
For example, according to the intelligence gathered by the Black Cats, the industrial district in front of the Larkinson chs was occupied by just 200 or so chs, with at least half of them consisting of Planetary Guard chs.
The Avatars of Myth along with the Eye of Ylvaine brought almost twice as much chs in total, and their overall combat power was greater than that of the machines of the opposition.
"The titan shield is collapsing in three, two, one, go!"
A loud frazzled noise spread throughout the air as the mighty titan shield finally succumbed from getting attacked by all of the disruptor beams fired by the Transcendent Punisher Mark II's.
The heavy artillery chs no longer fired any disruptor beams from their luminar crystal energy cannons, but that did not an their role had co to an end.
The Ylvainan ch pilots imdiately opened fire with their gauss cannons and instantly bombarded the exposed laser turrets that had been firing at the Larkinson chs on a continuous basis!
anwhile, the Avatars of Myth took action as well. Their lee chs advanced forward at a steady pace and mostly focused their efforts on defeating the Fridayman chs that were putting up a futile effort to defend their stronghold.
Though the defenders initially enjoyed a considerable defensive advantage due to the presence of walls, bunkers and other defensive fixtures, the Transcendent Punishers easily blasted them open by relying on concentrated bombardnt.
After that, the Avatars of Myth sent forth Redaxes in order to widen the breach and chop apart any enemy chs in the way.
In the end, the Avatars and Ylvainans succeeded in uprooting all forms of heavy resistance from the industrial district.
Though there were still a lot of scattered infantry soldiers stirring up trouble at different locations, their rocket launchers hardly posed a threat against the Larkinson chs.
The two legion commanders relaxed now that their forces had managed to break open yet another industrial district. Follow-up troops had already arrived to clean up the remaining resistance and plunder another batch of resources from the local manufacturing complexes.
Of course, those privately-owned factories tended to possess defenses of their own, but it only took a single ch company at most to secure these places.
Not everyone was as paranoid and cautious as the Larkinson Clan.
Both Taon and lkor found the ti to chat about nurous topics.
"I thought you would have broken through during this battle for certain." Commander lkor carefully spoke to his fellow legion commander. "You've been an expert candidate for many years. That should be more than enough ti for you to take the next step. You and your fellow Ylvainans fought hard against the Witch Shatterers in the last battle."
Commander Taon let out a tired breath. "My ti has not yet co. I am afraid I have to disappoint you. Our clan will have to wait for a longer ti before it can welco its first expert pilot that excels in heavy artillery chs."
A lot of clansn looked forward to Taon's breakthrough. Though the Larkinson Clan no longer suffered an acute shortage in expert ranged chs, the Amaranto, the Minerva and the Prothea did not excel in unleashing mass destruction.
Their precision was great and they were good at using their distinct advantages to defeat different types of opponents, but when it ca to matters such as siege warfare, the three expert chs still fell short.
This was why Taon's status as a pilot was of great significance to the Larkinson Clan. The longer it took for him to break through, the longer the Larkinson Army had to go on without a siege machine that could make jobs such as breaking open titan shields a lot easier.
"Do you have any confidence in your chances of breaking through?" lkor asked. "Maybe you should focus more on your training and less on handling the administration of your ch legion. After several years of growth, there has to be ch officers within your ranks that can take over your responsibilities."
Taon shook his head again. "That is true, but I am aware of my own problems. I have trained my skills as closely to my current limitations as possible. Spending any further ti on deepening my abilities won't benefit anymore. My problem is more… philosophical."
"Oh. I see. Is it a ntal thing?"
"You can say that." Taon frankly admitted. "I have approached nurous expert pilots in the past in order to hear what they have to say. Most of them tell that I have too much faith."
"Too much faith? That… shouldn't be a problem, right? There are plenty of warriors who believe in sothing but are still capable of breaking through in the end. Just look at the Hexers for example. The Handmaidens of Death are hardcore believers in Helena and the Superior Mother, but they are still making a lot of progress."
"That is true, lkor, but there are still differences. The Hexers may have faith, but they still hold on to the principle that they must beco strong as well. Their pride and their conceit compels them to push themselves beyond their limits."
"It sounds like you have a good understanding of your specific problem. Why haven't you been able to overco it, Taon?"
"Perhaps… it is because I don't feel enough urgency. There are so many strong heroes in our clan that I am often in a position that doesn't require to do anything special. If the expert pilots of our clan can't take care of a threat by themselves, our clan can always make use of battle formations to launch powerful attacks. Even if we have exhausted all of our own asures, we can still lean on the help of Patriarch Reginald Cross and the Mars to bail us out. With all of these powerful elents, my role has beco indispensable, especially when I am often stationed in the rear."
lkor wanted to scratch his head. "This sounds like a familiar problem. In the past, we didn't have many expert pilots, and it was easy for a powerful enemy to outnumber the ones we had. Our situation is a lot different now. We just welcod three new expert pilots in our ranks, so our pressure has been reduced."
"This is a good developnt for our clan." Taon stated. "The only regret is that it might not be as good for my own developnt."
It was not necessarily good to gather too many expert pilots together. Studies had shown that subsequent breakthroughs happened at a lower rate. This was because the ordinary ch pilots no longer tended to push themselves beyond their limits during crisis situations, but increasingly hoped that the existing expert pilots would save them instead.
This was why many ch militaries tried to spread out their expert pilots as much as possible. The presence of one or two per ch regint provided enough protection to the troops, but did not make them complacent to the point where they constantly expected their heroes to clean up after their sses.
"Why not switch to another ch?" lkor curiously asked. "You don't have to remain stuck in the rear while piloting your custom Transcendent Punisher ch. Your Eye of Ylvaine also fields lancer chs. Those Transcendent Chargers have impaled many Fridayman chs during the last battle, but they have also received fierce counterattacks in return. I bet your chances of breaking through while piloting a lee ch like this will be a lot higher."
Taon adopted a rueful smile. "I did think about that, but… our clan doesn't need an expert lancer ch. A machine like the Point Break of the Sundered Phalanx is not a useful addition to our lineup. If I break through while piloting a Transcendent Charger, my talents and abilities will develop in a way that will help beco stronger while piloting lancer chs. That is not my goal. My plan is to continue to pilot a heavy artillery ch and wait for the day that I can finally beco the hero that the Larkinson needs."
That… was a difficult but noble determination. lkor had nothing to say against that. If he was in Taon's place, he probably wouldn't have been able to resist the temptation of becoming a demigod.
There were countless ch pilots in existence that were willing to do anything to undergo apotheosis! None of them cared about the circumstances of their breakthroughs so long as they actually succeeded in advancing!
"I wish you good luck, then. I truly hope you will be rewarded for your effort."
"I know I will. I just don't know when it will happen." Taon whispered back.
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