As Ves and Gloriana were busy with thinking about the implications of humans and aliens stealing each other's tech, the ace chs of the human coalition were on the verge of breaking through the strongest defenses of the largest, scariest and most resilient alien warship on the battlefield!
Though it would only take a few seconds at most for the V'gahnt-Zezne to rearrange the energy scales of her first and second layer of energy shields, this was still a viable window of opportunity for the next wave of ace chs to push through the third and final layer of energy shields!
Only a couple of ace chs were suited to make this step.
The Thunderer Mark II was way too far away to get inside the protective envelope of the V'gahnt-Zezne.
Even if the ace heavy artillery ch was in the vicinity, its comparatively awful mobility would an it was far too slow to take advantage of the gaps!
This was why the Saints decided to put forth the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem next.
The Royal Jeem was an excellent choice as it could act as a lancer ch in a hurry.
The Infinite Gear on the other hand had already changed into a lancer ch loadout. Minutes earlier, the highly modular ch had shed its previous loadout and integrated the parts that had been launched by the flagship of the Lehrer Expeditionary Fleet.
Unlike lesser chs, neither of the two ace chs needed to spend much ti on building up a charge.
Their fantastic flight systems and their incredibly powerful Saint Kingdoms were enough to accelerate both machines to a degree that would have torn apart an expert ch!
Saint Robert Montagne and Saint Kalasandra Boojay had already charged forward before the Thunderer Mark II had opened a gap in the first layer of energy shields.
By the ti the Mars and the Embodint of Love had just destroyed the second layer of energy shields, the two lee chs simultaneously struck the third segnted energy shield with incredible power and montum!
"BREAK FOR US!" Saint Kalasandra Boojay decreed!
The twin collisions inflicted so much damage to the segnted energy shield that it broke without any delay!
Part of the reason why the energy shield folded so easily was because it had co under the influence of two Saint Kingdoms.
Though Saint Robert Montagne's ability to weaken this energy asure was relatively average, Saint Kalasandra Boojay's ability to weaken and diminish external energy was much better!
The segnted energy shield already beca a little shaky by the ti a lance and a spear had struck it at the sa ti.
With the power of two charging dium chs, the energy scale finally folded!
"The way is clear!"
Due to how much excess power and montum the two ace lee chs retained, both of them continued to push forward in the hopes of sneaking inside the V'gahnt-Zezne's triple turtle shells!
"Push through!"
Yet just as the two ace chs were about to pass through the final barrier, another segnted energy shield suddenly appeared in front!
"What?! There's a fourth layer?!"
"Damn these orvens!"
The Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem drove their respective weapons against the segnted energy shield, but only managed to sap half of its integrity without inflicting any further damage!
It turned out that the orven battleship's energy shield technology was not as inflexible and restricted as the tech employed by other alien warships.
The more advanced and sophisticated energy shield generators installed on the V'gahnt-Zezne were not able to change their placent along a fixed distance or radius, but also had greater leeway in increasing and reducing its projected distance.
The orvens took advantage of this additional option to reposition distant segnted energy shields from the first, second or third layer and rapidly use them to form a 'bowl' shape around the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem!
This was how the V'gahnt-Zezne was able to form a makeshift 'fourth layer' of energy shields!
The only difference was that it could only be applied in a relatively small area.
Even so, this ergency asure was enough to sap the montum of the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem!
Though the seven Saints had already speculated whether the tricky V'gahnt-Zezne had an extra ace up her sleeve, to see this happen nonetheless caused them to feel less confident in their ability to push through.
It took ti and effort to charge a powerful attack. Even ace chs couldn't unleash multiple potent resonance-empowered attacks in quick succession.
The Thunderer Mark II was a slow ace ch by nature and was far from firing another charged volley.
The energy weapons of the Mars and the Embodint of Love also needed ti to build up a charge as well.
The Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem had only just exhausted all of their accumulated power and montum.
It seed that the ace chs had no way left to break through the improvised fourth layer of energy shields, but that was not the case!
None of the ace pilots had managed to get this far in their progression without encountering unexpected surprises on the battlefield. They were accustod to planning for the worst.
"I knew the orvens would try to fool us." Patriarch Reginald Cross scoffed.
At this ti, the Thunderer Mark II abruptly opened fire with all of its heavy gauss cannons.
This was despite the fact that the ace ch and ace pilot were nowhere close to charging up this attack volley!
Nonetheless, the ten gauss rounds that surged forward at reduced speed and much less resonance empowernt than before still delivered a lot of damage after they struck the fourth energy shield layer!
If that wasn't enough, the Embodint of Love borrowed as much true resonance that the Gemini Saints could muster at short notice and fired a relatively potent positron beam with its transphasic energy rifle!
The snap attack struck with just enough power to finally exhaust the fourth layer of energy shields.
The way was open for the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem to push forward!
"The way is free!"
"Wait! There are more!"
Whoever or whatever was in charge of the orven battleship's defenses had responded quickly. Many more energy scales from the third, second and third layer of energy shields disappeared from their original positions and ford successively deeper bowls around the two ace lee chs!
"Damnit, the V'gahnt-Zezne has just ford a fifth and sixth layer!"
The fifth layer was already bad enough, but the fact that the aliens found it necessary to form a sixth layer was either an indication of panic or a demonstration of technological superiority.
Whatever the case, the effort required to break through both layers was exceptionally difficult to the current gathering of ace chs!
That didn't an the ace pilots were willing to give up. They were not the sort of warriors who accepted defeat so easily!
The Saints had already made their own preparations for this eventuality.
The Embodint of Love had completely expended its power, but the relatively slower but physically stronger Embodint of Sacrifice had yet to make any move at this ti!
The ace space knight didn't have any ranged weapon other than a compact energy pistol, but Saint Sandro Gemini resorted to another ans to deliver a powerful attack.
Just like what Saint Jeremiah Gauge had done during the Battle of Pima Pri, Saint Sandro Gemini had commanded his ace ch to toss its ch sword in the direction of the next segnted energy shield a short ti ago!
Both Gemini Saints had empowered the ch sword with as much true resonance as they could beforehand, but the Embodint of Sacrifice had held on to the weapon in order to save its power for just this kind of situation.
Now, the sword had soared into space with far greater power and montum than its modest size suggested!
It arrived in front of the fifth energy shield layer at the best timing and generated a forceful explosion upon impact that almost shattered the segnted energy shield entirely!
Though the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem weren't quite ready yet to launch their follow-up attacks, there was another ace ch that was not as burdened.
"It's my ti again!"
The Mars had surprisingly surged forward just after it had opened fire with its ARCEUS System earlier.
The advantage of an hybrid ch was that it carried multiple different weapon systems, and that just happened to play an incredibly useful role in this instance!
As the Mars charged forward, it lifted its transphasic shotgun and fired a powerful slug that crossed the short distance and struck the weakened energy scale like a hamr!
Thanks to the damage inflicted by the Embodint of Sacrifce's ch sword, the potent shotgun attack had delivered just enough damage to break this obstacle.
"The sixth layer is exposed!"
The Mars was far from done at this ti. The ace ch initially deployed into battle with a set of missile launchers mounted on its shoulders.
These launchers had begun to fire a full salvo of transphasic missiles that quickly reached the sixth layer and generated rippling explosions that substantially weakened the segnted energy shield in question.
This presented Patriarch Reginald Cross with a great opportunity to launch a follow-up attack!
Though the Mars had already exhausted all of its available ranged weapon solutions for the ti being, it had one weapon left that could still deliver a powerful blow.
The ace hybrid ch charged forward and lifted up its transphasic axe before chopping it down towards the damaged sixth layer with all of the montum that the Mars had accumulated!
The powerful axe strike not only broke the stressed segnted energy shield, but also preserved a bit of montum for the Mars.
"We finally got through!"
Yet as the Mars and the other two nearby ace lee chs attempted to pass through the 'tunnel' that they had opened up through their collective efforts, the V'gahnt-Zezne flexed her defensive prowess once again!
Just as many people thought that the orven battleship was only limited to projecting this many layers at most, many more segnted energy shields disappeared only to reappear in front and around the Mars, the Infinite Gear and the Royal Jeem!
"This is getting ridiculous!"
"How many tis can the damn alien battleship keep up this farce?!"
A seventh, an eight and even a ninth layer of energy shields had ford around the breach!
Though the eighth and ninth layer of energy shields looked a bit more unstable due to their extre positioning, that did not change the fact that they firmly blocked the way ahead.
"We can't expand the gap any further!"
The ace chs that had worked together to break through the successive layers of energy shields had all fallen into a lull state at this ti.
The powerful machines and their ace pilots needed precious seconds to accumulate power and prepare for another attack.
The V'gahnt-Zezne was determined not to give the humans this opportunity!
Already, over five of her primary plasma cannon batteries and dozens of secondary kinetic cannon batteries were about to open fire at the three ace chs that had stopped in front of the seventh layer of energy shields.
Once these city-destroying gun batteries unleashed their might at the breach, the ace chs in question would have little choice but to retreat in order to prevent their defenses from getting overwheld!
Yet if they did so, all of the effort they had put into breaching through the successive layers would be for naught!
Just when people thought that the six ace chs had failed to get inside, a certain ace light skirmisher suddenly appeared well inside the defensive envelope of the orven battleship.
What surprised everyone was that the ace ch of the Adelaide rcenary Company had appeared much closer to the hull of the V'gahnt-Zezne than the other ace chs!
"What?!"
"How did it get there?!"
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