Chapter 2679: The Hunted

Missing a limb was not a fatal impediment to a mech.

In spaceborn combat, it was much more important to keep the flight system intact. As long as the mech was able to fly, it was often able to fight.

Yet as soon as the flight system mounted to the rear no longer worked, a mech could do little but drift in space on a ballistic course!

Of course, most spaceborn mechs possessed secondary thrusters and boosters that were situated elsewhere onto the frame.

While they represented weak points, they added a small but considerable amount of maneuvering capabilities to the mech. At the right times, they could mean the difference between life and death!

It was with the help of these secondary maneuvering systems that the Jeanne D'Arc managed to evade the Sword of Lydia generated by the Swordmaiden battle formation.

Yet the strange sword was still sharp enough to cut straight through two of its limbs, which Venerable Foster found completely absurd!

Even if the Jeanne D'Arc was not in its best shape, a small group of standard mechs should still be unable to cut off the limbs of the mechs.

That this happened at all was very abnormal and caused Venerable Foster to become a lot more vigilant.

The Larkinsons appeared to be very confident in their swordsman mechs. Their artillery mechs no longer directed their firepower at the Jeanne D'Arc.

The Swordmaidens insisted on finishing off Venerable Foster themselves.

For this reason, the remaining Transcendent Punishers directed their firepower towards the Trost. The surviving Garlaner expert mech presented a much greater threat to the expeditionary fleet!

The previous clash between expert mechs had not consumed the Trost too much. The expert hybrid mech's armor integrity, ammunition levels and energy reserves were still in good shape.

Due to its greater power, stronger expert pilot and considerably greater destructive potential, the Trost had to be taken out before it managed to reach the Jeanne D'Arc!

At this moment, the Jeanne D'Arc fought back hard against the prime mech. Even if it had lost a substantial amount of strength and maneuverability, an expert mech was still a force to be reckoned with no matter its condition.

The expert mech was physically stronger and still possessed an edge in mobility.

As Venerable Dise quickly discovered, the force of a serious swing was already strong enough to overpower the guard of her weaker mech. In the first few exchanges of blows, the Jeanne D'Arc already managed to slam its sword against the shoulder of the Bright Sword Prime!

Unexpectedly, the Venerable Foster's powerful attack failed to slice through the shoulder and impair the sword arm of her opponent.

Just like almost every prime mech, the Bright Sword Prime was almost fully covered by Unending alloy. The Jeanne D'Arc may be able to slice a Princess Jecka in half, but its strength was not enough to dent Unending alloy!

Her attack merely bounced away the Bright Sword Prime, teaching Venerable Dise a profound lesson on the gulf between the strengths of the two mechs.

The former Swordmaiden Commander did not dare to tarry any longer. Though she wanted nothing more than to fight Venerable Foster in a sacred duel, she could not afford to underestimate an expert mech.

Besides, the greater battle was not yet won. The Trost could still do a lot of damage as long as it managed to outpace the slower Amphis.

"Commander Sendra!" She called her successor.

"Our blades are ready."

"Harass Venerable Foster's mech. Threaten its back and attack its flight system whenever possible. Don't take any risks. We will not give this woman the satisfaction of killing another Swordmaiden today. Just use your numbers to your advantage in order to constrain her actions."

"We understand." Commander Sendra grinned as she quickly passed on some instructions. "Let's wear her down just like we tackle the most dangerous exobeasts."

The duel had turned into a hunt. The Jeanne D'Arc may still be a vastly superior battle machine, but it was injured and all on its own! The Swordmaidens did not believe they would fail this challenge!

The Swordmaiden mechs attacked the Jeanne D'Arc with great coordination. The Bright Sword Prime still faced the damaged expert mech, but Venerable Dise no longer dared to engage into any contests of strengths.

Instead, the Bright Sword Prime became more elusive. It danced at the edge of the Jeanne D'Arc's range and used the extended reach of its greatsword to launch cautious but safe attacks.

"You craven rats!" Venerable Foster cursed as she came under heavy pressure all of sudden.

If the Jeanne D'Arc was facing the Bright Sword Prime alone, then she was confident she could destroy opponent within a minute!

However, the weak swordsman mechs that her expert mech should have been able to squash with ease were constantly targeting the flight system of her mech.

Naturally, the flight system of an expert mech like the Jeanne D'Arc was a lot more condensed and harder to destroy. It took more than a couple of hits to cripple the mobility of a powerful machine.

Yet the constant attacks added up. Despite Venerable Foster's skill, it was too difficult for her to fend off the Bright Sword Prime while at the same time defend against multiple attacks from the rear.

What was even worse was that some of the swordsman mechs had the gall to attack the amputated sections of the Jeanne D'Arc! The insides weren't as durable as the exterior and could easily sustain greater damage that further slowed the mech down.

"Fight me like a warrior!" Venerable Foster roared as her indomitable will spiked further!

A resonance shield briefly reformed around the Jeanne D'Arc, but it only lasted for a few seconds before a handful of Swordmaiden mechs successively attacked the bubble and forced it to pop!

Another wave of swordsman mechs swooped in from another angle and struck the rear of the expert mech.

The attackers did not dare to fly too close. Many of their greatswords missed the mark or bounced off the rear armor of the Jeanne D'Arc.

However, one lucky Swordmaiden mech pilot managed to score her blade over a small component that caused the Jeanne D'Arc to lose even more maneuvering power!

Venerable Dise gained more confidence as her prime mech cleverly evaded the swings of the opposing mech before attempting to cut off the Jeanne D'Arc wrist.

The attempt failed, but it kept the expert mech busy and opened it up to even more attacks from the rear!

No matter how many times Venerable Foster turned around her mech to attack the other Swordmaiden mechs, her opponents were too sharp and cautious. They instantly turned away as soon as the Jeanne D'Arc began moving.

This was an incredibly frustrating situation! Foster became more and more frustrated by her inability to pass through a blockade of weaker mechs.

She gradually realized what her opponents were doing. The Jeanne D'Arc was dying by a thousand cuts. The enemy swordsman mechs actually weren't that impressive, but their mech pilots were very skilled at dismantling a vastly powerful enemy.

"I need to break this game." Foster realized.

The Jeanne D'Arc no longer followed the rhythm of its opponents. It completely ignored the attacks of the Princess Jeckas and instead focused its sights on the Bright Sword Prime.

As long as the ringleader mech was taken out of the equation, the Jeanne D'Arc could easily wipe out the rest!

"I'll take you down first!"

"Don't think about it, Foster!"

The Jeanne D'Arc truly pressured the Bright Sword Prime at this time! Venerable Foster's unrelenting aggression forced Venerable Dise to employ as much skill as possible to evade or mitigate the incoming attacks.

Due to the inferiority of her prime mech, Venerable Dise simply couldn't avoid every blow. She tried her best to redirect the attacks towards its chest, shoulders and other areas covered with Unending alloy.

Of course, Venerable Foster knew she couldn't penetrate the absurdly resilient armor plating. She tried her best to land her attacks on the joints and other weak points that couldn't be entirely covered by Unending alloy.

In order to land a meaningful attack, Foster decided she needed to be even more aggressive and decided to trade blow for blow, assured that the frontal armor of the Jeanne D'Arc was able to fend off a direct attack from her current opponent!

Venerable Dise had actually been biding her time. When she recognized Venerable Foster's intention, she saw a golden opportunity!

"This strike is for Lydia!"

The two mechs struck each other at the same time!

The Jeanne D'Arc was the first mech in history to fell a prime mech. Its sword had stabbed straight through the axilla or the 'armpit' of the Bright Sword Prime.

Due to the necessity of making the arms of a swordsman mech flexible, the axilla area was protected by moving plates.

The Jeanne D'Arc's sharp and powerful sword managed to slip through these plates and overpower the imperfect layers of protection underneath. The weapon managed to damage the power reactor to such an extent that the prime mech forcibly shut down!

Unfortunately, the expert mech did not come out of this exchange unscatched.

An instant before the Bright Sword Prime thrust its sword into one of the damaged sections of the Jeanne D'Arc, Venerable Foster's instincts screamed.

She sensed a huge threat from the incoming greatsword!

What she wasn't aware of was that Ves had made the weapon out of Unending alloy shortly before the Battle against the Abyss. Not only that, but he had also filled it up with Qilanxo's spiritual energy.

At the decisive moment, Venerable Dise no longer held back and resonated with the blade! The stab dedicated to Commander Lydia glowed with blue and amazingly penetrated right through the enemy expert mech's chest!

The unnaturally sharp greatsword pierced through armor that had managed to withstand thousands of other attacks and still remained largely intact. Aside from getting marked by surface damage, the Jeanne D'Arc should have been able to block or bounce the incoming attack even if Venerable Foster failed to angle her machine away!

Unlike Venerable Ghanso, Relia Foster had no time to express her regret.

Venerable Dise expressly targeted the cockpit from the start. Her gambit succeed and the greatsword of her mech managed to pierce through the cockpit, inflicting until damage onto its occupant!

The surrounding swordsman mechs stilled. Their sensors already sensed the Jeanne D'Arc powering off. The fight was over.

"We succeeded…" A Swordmaiden whispered.

"Commander Lydia has been avenged."

Bits of frozen blood had already leaked out of the cavity from the front of the broken expert mech as soon as it was exposed to vacuum. There was no surviving from getting hit by a giant, mech-sized sword.

Even as the veteran Swordmaiden mech pilots reminisced about the past, the battle was actually not yet over.

The Trost along with around a thousand Praetor and Planat mechs were still in the fight!

Venerable Kelvin Praetor actually only needed less than a minute to link up with the Jeanne D'Arc. With the weapon systems of his hybrid mech, he could have easily wiped out the swordsman mechs with much greater efficiency.

Unfortunately, he came too late.

"Damnable woman!"

With the Amphis right on the Trost's heels, Kelvin was faced with a very difficult decision. What should he do? The Trost couldn't turn back. The Amphis along with the mechs that had won the battle at the left side at great cost would soon block its escape route.

"We can no longer achieve victory." He realized.

Even now, Task Force Umbra and the starships of the Praetor Clan and Planat Clan were already turning away in order to distance themselves from the soon-to-be-victorious Larkinsons, Glory Seekers and Crossers.

This was no longer a matter of winning a battle! At this time, the Praetors and Planats who had been roped into taking part in this disastrous ambush needed to preserve as many lives and assets as possible.

They did not want to go down to the last man! Even if it was slightly dishonorable to flee the battlefield, their two clans could not afford to lose so many combat assets.

"Venerable Kelvin Praetor!" A commanding officer directly contacted the expert pilot. "The Soaring Eagle, the Vindicator 35 and the Palmis Crislin must not fall into enemy hands. We do not have the resources to rescue you back while at the same time safeguarding our crucial fleet carriers and combat carriers."

"What is your request?"

"...We have ascertained that our opponents highly value the Spirit of Bentheim. I would like you to do your best to complete the goal the Fridaymen have been trying so hard to achieve. Attack their factory ship. Do as much damage to this vessel as possible. Find and kill Patriarch Ves Larkinson if you can. Whether you succeed or fail, it is all worth it. The more distress you cause, the more our opponents will seek to tighten their defenses, leaving them with less opportunities to chase after our fleet."

"I shall keep the enemy busy as best I can." Kelvin replied in a heavy tone. "Must I truly seek to kill their leader?"

"It's the only way for us to recoup our losses from this disastrous battle. Our clan has signed a secret agreement that compels the Friday Coalition to transfer a heavy sum of money and a substantial amount of strategic materials as long as we have materially contributed to Ves Larkinson's death."

"Understood. We will not let our opponents have the last laugh!"

The powerful Praetor expert mech decisively advanced towards the Spirit of Bentheim, which startled the defenders!

The Trost bypassed the Swordmaiden mechs, not that the latter could put up any fight at this point.

The Bright Sword Prime was out of action.

The other prime mechs were too far away and had wasted too much time trying to defeat the Ulver Quinn and the other stalling expert mechs.

The slower Amphis needed too much time to catch up to the Trost.

Venerable Kelvin suddenly discovered there were very few opponents left in his way!

Sure, the enemy artillery mechs were constantly bombarding the Trost. However, their firing rate at this stage of the battle had slowed down considerably. While their attacks were still heavy, the Trost was a medium-tier expert mech that was designed to survive constant warfare in Vicious Mountain!

The Trost's condition was still fairly good. The Crosser expert mechs had dismissed its threat and focused their attacks elsewhere, leaving Venerable Kelvin with an almost intact expert mech!

"Hahaha!" The expert pilot laughed as his Trost easily withstood the rain of fire from the enemy artillery mechs. "I'll crush all of your ships!"

The Spirit of Bentheim had too few defenders remaining to block the Trost's approach!