The Mech Touch

Chapter 7560 Bastard

Saint Commander Casella Ingvar and many other soldiers tried their best to determine the timing and targeting of the next superdimensional siege cannon attack.

Unfortunately, most friendly units were still too distant from Hypeh-Tekas II. Their high-powered sensor systems would have normally been able to examine the orbital fortresses in detail, but the dense clouds of dark miasma scattered every kind of signal no matter their nature and properties.

In other words, they were still flying in blind!

Only Casella managed to derive an early warning of an impending strike. Her expansive Command Field and her sharp intuition vaguely detected the rising malice from the surrounding deathborn and dark miasma.

Even though their behavior and patterns still appeared completely random to everyone else, the ace commander could still discern a greater movement from a large number of subtle and minute fluctuations.

Her eyes shone brighter inside her cockpit. The Command Field centered around the Minerva Mark II grew hotter and more agitated as she tried her best to anticipate the next attack!

After a few seconds of silence, her attention locked onto the largest and most massive hull in the combined fleet!

"DISE! INTERCEPT!"

Casella had no time to convey any other information, including her most probable guess of the trajectory of the incoming attack.

Nonetheless, this brief forewarning granted just enough time for Saint Dise to spike her true resonance and perform a specialized deflection technique!

It happened in an instant.

A superdimensional projectile cut almost straight across a large expanse of space, ignoring all of the dark miasma in the way, before quickly breaching past the perimeter of Casella's Command Field!

The domain field in question managed to detect the breach and intrusion a lot better now that Casella became aware of what was possible, but the surprisingly slender and compact projectile flew so fast that she could do nothing to impede its flight!

Psychic storms inflicted virtually zero damage against a solid superdimensional slug.

Projecting Dragon Scales onto the Tortuous Scream was also pointless. It took time to manifest this resonating ability, and the change in defensive strength was incredibly weak when applied to an enormous capital-grade hull.

Pretty much the only thing Casella could do in this incredibly short interval was slow down her subjective perception of time and track the passage of the superdimensional round.

The incredibly dense and hard slug followed a direct trajectory to the center of the Tortuous Scream's vertical superstructure!

Somehow, the distant alien gunner obtained enough data to not only know where to aim, but also anticipate the Tortuous Scream's maneuvers through space!

This was incredibly unreasonable and provided further proof that the aliens were able to obtain high-quality observation data from the surrounding dark miasma!

If this superdimensional slug was allowed to pass through space without getting stopped, then the damage it would inflict on the Tortuous Scream would be catastrophic!

The Armitage suffered serious damage from the first blow, but the actual losses were quite manageable.

The giant carrier was designed very similar to fleet carriers. This meant that she possessed a long but narrow hull that contained plenty of open spaces in order to accommodate a large number of combat units.

The Tortuous Scream was in a completely different situation! Much of her internal space was filled with dense and powerful electronics and structural components. A superdimensional slug launched with great momentum could punch through all of that and inflict catastrophic damage to the most important and sensitive interior of the orven battleship!

The massive hull might even crack in half from a single blow!

Yet just before the extremely fast projectile was about to crush directly through the middle of the vulnerable battleship, the First Sword Mark III slashed down with her enormous greatsword at a speed too swift to be seen with the naked eye!

Too fast!

Even if the First Sword Mark III had been winding herself up like a spring, she should never physically be able to make this move!

In fact, the ace swordsman mech had exceeded her physical limitations and swung her weapon so fast that it was frankly impossible according to her nominal parameters.

Thanks to Saint Dise's reality-distorting willpower, the living mech not only acted faster than she should ever be able to, but also managed to direct her attack just so that the flat of the Decapitator's blade managed to strike the incoming projectile at an oblique angle!

An extremely powerful vibration shook through space!

This spatial ripple expanded from the impact site and spread in every direction, making everyone feel as if they had briefly passed through unstable space.

"What happened!?"

"The Tortuous Scream… is undamaged! The First Sword Mark III managed to deflect the projectile!"

When the analysts reran the footage taken by the highest speed optical sensors, they observed a frame-by-frame playback of the crucial moment.

It turned out that the First Sword Mark III not only managed to strike the dangerous superdimensional projectile, but also exert just enough force in the right direction to deflect it in a harmless direction!

Those who performed calculations after the fact quickly concluded that Saint Dise had not mindlessly batted aside the powerful round, but deflected it while exerting the least amount of force.

This also happened to minimize the load on the ace mech and the greatsword, thereby lowering the chance that they would sustain damage!

The analysts could not think of a better way that Dise could have resolved this situation!

"STAY SHARP." Casella warned everyone. "A THIRD STRIKE WILL COME SOON. THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT ONLY ONE OF THE ORBITAL FORTRESSES HAS OPENED FIRE SO FAR. THE OTHER ALIEN FACILITIES MAY BE LACKING THIS CAPABILITY. WE NEED TO CONFIRM THIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE."

It made a huge difference whether all four or just one enemy orbital fortress possessed an ultra-long-ranged siege cannon.

Right now, the members of the combined fleet did not dare to lower their guard. In fact, even if the aliens only managed to make a single one work, they still did not take this threat lightly.

Many people had performed the calculations or ran the simulations. The power of those superdimensional strikes clearly exceeded the defenses of any mundane defenses of their starships. Every hull was vulnerable regardless of their design or origin!

At this moment, Ves and the Dark Apostle had a little more time to think. They both couldn't help but look back at the Tarrasque which had retreated to the rear.

Though the heavy cruiser had become less conspicuous among the other vessels, they still found it difficult to set aside the danger to their wife and children.

"My wife…"

"Our children…"

"I thought you didn't care for my human family."

"You are mistaken." The Ascended Giants responded to his other self. "I may not care much for your wife, but our children carry our flesh and blood. They are still human for the time being. I am confident that they will follow in our footsteps and ascend to gianthood once they have reached adulthood."

Ves strongly objected to this intention!

"They will not become Ascended Giants! I will not have any of my kids become beholden to the heavenly authority of the Red Ocean! I will die before I let any of them become a slave to an alien superexistence!"

The Dark Apostle merely smirked underneath his helmet. "I do not think you have the luxury of denying your children their destiny and privilege of being descended from my blood. Look at your little ship. See how fragile this metal shell has become in the face of the weapons of our enemies. Their human conditions make them all the more vulnerable. If Andraste and Marvaine turned into giants, then they are far better off than the vast majority of mortals in human-occupied space. They can defend themselves against most threats and flee into depths of space if they are outmatched. They do not have to rely on the protection of others and can survive in barren locations without relying on any infrastructure. Would you deny your precious children the advantages of an ascended body?"

He made a compelling point, but only to a certain extent. Ves knew that phase lords may be able to survive a hostile universe so long as they were careful to remain hidden, but that was ultimately a cowardly way to sustain their own existence.

Ves did not want to see his son and daughters flee into barren star systems and live like rats in a gutter.

He also did not want to see them lose their humanity and become completely brainwashed by the Red Ocean!

"My children are humans and I am proud of it." He pushed back against his other self. "Do not mess with them. Do not try to convert them. Do not even mention the idea. My babies are my bottom line, got it?! They are born as humans and they shall realize their potential as humans. I will never allow them to be tainted by alien or foreign influences. Red humanity is not weak to the point where we need to resort to gianthood to overcome our challenges."

Fortunately for Ves, the Dark Apostle chose not to push him for the time being.

"Understood." The giant responded even as he maintained a smug expression on his face. "You will come to revisit your stance sooner or later. I can be patient. You have taught me that. Once this entire dwarf galaxy goes to hell, you will beg us to grant strength of gods to your, no, our children."

"..."

Bastard.

How did the Dark Apostle learn to become to eloquent?