Chapter 2657: Combination Mechs Thousands of rifleman mechs entered the fray in earnest! As the two fleets entered medium range, the hit rate of rifleman mechs shot up quite considerably! They were able to land hits on vulnerable ship modules and even distant mechs on a reliable basis. This has caused the two fleets to incur damage at a considerably greater rate than before! While the amount of ships that were put out of action did not increase that quickly, many ships were still bearing a lot of new scars as the huge volume of fire steadily diminished their overall durability! Of the two sides, the expeditionary fleet possessed a slight advantage. Although the quality of the mechs of the Larkinson Clan was inconsistent, their superior numbers along with the survival of much of their artillery mechs allowed them to exert a lot of pressure on their opponents! Ideally, the Larkinson Clan wanted to prolong this state as much as possible. Without the intervention of the Destiny Hammers and the Witch Slayers, the Transcendent Punishers outputted so much siege damage that none of the Fridaymen fleet carriers felt very good! Though the mech pilots of the Transcendent Punishers weren't very accurate now that they had put aside the Great Prophet's blessing, at this range they didn't need too much skill to methodically demolish the bunkers on the enemy ships. With dozens of Transcendent Punishers focusing their fire on individual bunkers, it didn't matter if most of their shots went wide! The damage inflicted onto the sections next to the bunkers not only affected the functioning of the artillery mech inside, but also compromised the integrity of the bunker structure. As long as the Transcendent Punishers kept up their heavy attacks, the bunkers they targeted went down sooner or later! Of course, the Fridaymen did not let the Transcendent Punishers go unanswered. The rifleman mechs of the Corundian Giants, Holvein Grenadiers and several smaller units all brought their firepower to bear on the threatening bunker mechs. "Don't let those ranged mechs shoot at our artillery mechs for free!" The Vima Suns of the Larkinson Clan . As a budget second-class rifleman mech, the Vima Sun was a relatively fragile and basic machine that was designed with energy weapons in mind. Though the mech was not that impressive, they were very good in performing their primary purpose, which was outputting a lot of damage. Otherwise, Ves wouldn't have chosen to acquire a lot of copies of this model. As an added bonus, the Larkinson Clan supplied the Vima Suns with modified laser rifles that were upgraded with luminar crystals and some other components. This allowed the Vima Suns to inflict as much damage as midrange mechs, though not without a few limitations. Sadly, as much as the Vima Suns were successful in suppressing a lot of enemy rifleman mechs, they weren't as good at taking damage! Their relative lack of armor was doubtlessly a calculated tradeoff meant to keep them light and affordable. They were ordinarily supposed to rely on hard cover to shield them from damage. If that wasn't possible, then they needed to depend on their decent mobility to remain elusive. Right now, the Vima Suns did not need to resort to the latter. Even if the enemy strike force split up in two different splinters, it would take a lot more time before they caught the expeditionary fleet in a vulnerable position. This meant that the battle at range was only going to keep tilting in the favor of the defenders! General Vander Pierce was well aware of this development. Pain and frustration welled up in his body as he witnessed the results of the artillery duel. The Witch Slayers could still contribute to the battle once they no longer became a priority target, but the Destiny Hammers were pretty much done for in this battle! "It appears we'll have to resort to harder measures." He muttered. Ideally, he would have liked to lean more on his ranged mechs to carry the fight. That would have resulted in less casualties and a cleaner victory. It was not to be. With the Fridaymen absorbing a lot of damage, they were on a time limit. At the general's command, the melee mechs as well as the expert mechs made an appearance! As soon as thousands of additions emerged in open space, the Transcendent Punishers, Vima Suns and other Larkinson mechs instantly changed their targets! Rather than wasting most of their firepower on cracking bunkers and disabling starships, it was much more meaningful to take out as many enemy mechs as possible! "They finally couldn't hold back any longer!" A handful of elite Fridaymen mechs already exploded as a torrent of focused attacks impacted their frames and bombarded the space around them! The true lethality of the Transcendent Punishers was on full display at this moment as their heavy cannons were much more effective at blasting through the much-thinner armor plating mechs than penetrating much heavier layers of starship hull plating! The only problem was that mechs were much more elusive targets in space. The formidable Fridayman mechs did not float like sitting ducks. Instead, they immediately accelerated forward and to the side in order to close the distance to the enemy. Only by getting close would the Fridaymen be able to render the Transcendent Punishers useless! The advancing mech pilots possessed great confidence in their melee combat abilities. This was Task Force Umbra's strong point! As the Larkinson Clan and its allies directed much of their firepower against the advancing enemies, around 6 mech companies of the Corundian Giants deployed in earnest. Their unique space knights formed a large and dispersed wall in space as they slowly advanced to a flanking position. A matching number of cannoneer mechs flew behind the space knights as the latter already started to bounce away positron beams and gauss rounds. Once the space knights accelerated for a long enough time, their flight systems parted in half and exposed an open slot on their backs. The cannonneer mechs all flew forward and expertly mated themselves to the backs of the space knights. The cannons wielded by the ranged mechs mounted on top of the shoulders of the defensive mechs. The shields carried by the latter automatically changed their configuration so that they still provided adequate protection while not getting in the way of any of the guns! As soon as the Corundian Giant mechs completed their merger, their formidable cannons began to fire a variety of physical and energy attacks! While their fire was not particularly precise, their damage was very considerable! When the Transcendent Punishers attempted to train their firepower onto the Corundian Giants, they encountered a lot of unexpected surprises. The combination mechs outputted an energy shield that was powered by both mechs, thereby making them stronger than usual! If the energy shields had been breached, then the high-quality physical shields carried by the space knight was very effective in mitigating a lot of damage. Even if the Transcendent Punishers concentrated their fire, their target would just rely on their limited mobility to fly behind another combination mech, thereby saving them from further damage. This was just the start. As the Larkinsons continued to fire at the weird combination mechs, the Corundian Giants employed more tactics to reduce the damage they incurred. For example, the combination mechs merged together into a giant shield wall that was able to replace individual elements if they ever came close to collapsing. While this tight formation left them vulnerable to explosive attacks, the mechs collectively outputted an energy shield that was far stronger than what any individual mech could support! If any of the shields wore out, then the mechs in question slowly withdrew from the front and quickly returned to the Eager Condemnation to pick up a replacement shield. Since the shields did not take up a lot of space when stacked together, the CRC fleet carrier had brought hundreds of spare shields that each took a lot of effort to breach. As long as the space knights of the Corundian Giants withdrew fast enough, they would be able to keep rotating several times! The same went for their powerful cannoneer mechs. Their potent firepower was paired with limited reserves. They were forced to return to their fleet carrier to replenish their spent supplies and reduce the heat that they had built up by launching a lot of attacks. While these constant rotations significantly hampered the Corundian Giants, the elite mech pilots were already accustomed to this. The space knights were able to continue to redirect a lot of firepower onto their intact defenses while the cannoneer mechs were able to maintain a high firing rate without holding back. The mech pilots knew that as long as they kept this up, hardly any of their mechs would fall! They would be able to keep up their numbers over the course of a battle and outlast any enemy in the end. This approach worked especially well against impatient Hexers who were eager for quick successes! On the bridge of the Spirit of Bentheim, all of the bridge officers and operators looked unprecedentedly serious. The battle was rapidly heating up! With the appearance of thousands of mechs on both sides, it was clear that a decisive confrontation was at hand! Captain Vraken stood in the center of the bridge and directed the crew of the factory ship like they were extensions of her own body. She kept track of every single detail and issued precise instructions that prevent compartments from getting breached and shield generators from getting overloaded. At this battle, the renowned starship captain fully proved she deserved to be the captain of a great capital ship! While the grand captain did her best to minimize damage to the Spirit of Bentheim while keeping her relevant on the battlefield, others did their part as well. The Hexer trainers who had originally been assigned to help the Larkinsons take control of their vessels took matters into their own hands. As the Larkinson crew members found themselves out of their depth during a battle, the incredibly competent Hexers calmly took charge and commanded the respect and obedience of every clansman! In the rear of the bridge, Ves continued to pay attention to the battle while keeping an eye on the changing sentiment of the bridge operators. Major Verle, who was physically stationed in the CIC on the 37th deck, had less time to spare on talking to Ves. The increasing scope of the battle forced him to spend more time on moving many more pieces into place. His projected form only occasionally brought something up with Ves. "These Corundian Giants are too troublesome." The former Vandal officer shared his frustration. "Not even our Transcendent Punishers are able to exhaust them. They're just too tough." Ves nodded in agreement. "Their designs are very advanced and their combination tactics are highly effective. All of this must be costing the Coalition Reserve Corps a lot of money, but that doesn't appear to be a concern in this case." "The only way to take down these infernal combination mechs for good is to fight them up close. If the Penitent Sisters or the Swordmaidens manage to reach the Corundian Giants, then the combination mechs cannot effectively defend against flanking attacks!" "The enemy won't allow us to do that." Ves grimaced. "The Fridaymen and their helpers have brought plenty of other mechs that can block the approach of our forces." "There's also the expert mechs to consider…" As the regular mechs of both sides were about to confront each other, the expert mechs did not stay behind! Eleven glowing mechs emerged from the ranks of the enemy mechs. The Larkinsons, Glory Seekers and Crossers couldn't help but feel a lot of pressure from the appearance of so many expert mechs. The enemy attempted to shock the Golden Skull Alliance by unveiling all of their expert mechs at the same time! Even though the defenders already received advance warning, the impact was still substantial! Morale immediately dropped as the reality of facing so many expert mechs at the same time put everyone's courage to the test. "Do not falter! We have our own expert mechs!" Five dazzling mechs appeared from the forces of the expeditionary fleet. While their numbers were much less, their appearance nonetheless stopped friendly morale from sliding further. Over four thousand standard mechs fell behind the expert mechs of the Glory Seekers and the Cross Clan. "We are not alone!"