Chapter 6103 Guard Your Mind "LARKINSONS!" Ketis roared as she dramatically raised her Bloodsinger above her helmet. "Are you ready to fell a tree?!" "WE ARE!" Hundreds of voices simultaneously broadcasted from their mechs! Not just the Larkinson mech pilots, but also the living mechs looked forward to taking down the Emperor Tree. The third order living mechs especially harbored a lot of animosity towards the Emperor Tree. The heinous calamity plant served as the ultimate cause behind the downfall of the Zeal. The masterwork mech was slated to become one of the leaders among their kind! Even though the machine was much younger than many of the more prominent mechs, as long as venerable Taon broke through, the Zeal would definitely become a lot stronger! The heavy artillery mechs of the Larkinson Army especially looked forward to the promised ascension of the Zeal. The elevation of a mech of their own 'lineage' should have been a celebration for both heavy artillery mechs as well as the glory of Ylvaine. Instead, the tragedy that took place during the last minute ruined everything. Death through betrayal from a battle partner was one of the most dishonorable ways to lose one's life. The Transcendent Punishers wouldn't have much reason to complain if the Zeal got defeated in honest combat against the Emperor Tree. The custom mech at least made a good showing and died in honor if that was the case. Instead, the Zeal not only became stained with dishonor by striking a fellow living mech in the back, but died in one of the worst possible ways. It was painful for the Transcendent Punisher mechs to think about the Zeal. Their entire mech line would bear the ignomy of this affair for many years to come. The loss of a champion mech also damaged their prestige. Even now, the Transcendent Punishers of Task Force Solus were not allowed to participate in the upcoming action! The Larkinsons did not trust them as much anymore. Ketis also did not want the strike force to get slowed down by the need to haul these huge and lumbering machines around. Of course, mobility was just one of the reasons why she had to leave those lumbering machines behind. "Each of you should know our purpose." Ketis continued to address her troops. "The Emperor Tree stands in the way between us and the ability to claim this piece of land. So long as that alien tree continues to threaten us, we can never let down our guard. I am confident that we can succeed, but that is no reason to take this battle lightly. If an expert candidate managed to get deceived by the Emperor Tree, how do you expect to do any better?" That was a difficult question. Expert candidates were not as impressive as true expert pilots, but they had already proven that they possessed the makings of a hero. Numerous mech pilots couldn't help but doubt whether they had what it took to resist the same insidious mind alterations. Ketis slammed her gauntlet against her chest plate! "Be vigilant, but do not be afraid! Last time, none of us suspected that the Emperor Tree was able to hack into your minds. Now we know! Forewarned is forearmed. We have implemented many measures to prevent the same incident from happening again. I have personally involved myself with the modifications to the hardware and software of the cockpits of your mechs. There are many more tripwires that will send out an alert if there are any signs of improper behavior. Aside from that, the clan has also shipped in living mechs that should be especially helpful towards warding your minds." She gestured at the mechs that looked distinctly more out of place. The Sanctuaries and Pacifiers had not yet activated their glows at the moment, but everyone knew that these machines were able to calm every form of turbulence in people's minds. "We think that these mechs will help ward off any subtle mental manipulation by the Emperor Tree. It is just a hypothesis, however! We have not proved whether this is the case, so this is no reason to be complacent! In addition, the mechs are instructed not to activate their glows at maximum power. It is too difficult for mech pilots who are unaccustomed to Lufa's glow to maintain enough aggression and focus in a battle. What I am trying to tell you is that you are ultimately responsible for guarding the sanctity of your own minds." Ketis deliberately spoke those words to prevent the mech pilots from growing too complacent. It would be awful if they trusted all of the aforementioned safeguards to successfully keep the Emperor Tree's influence at bay. "There are good reasons to believe that the Emperor Tree has become encouraged by its successful attempt to subvert Taon Melin and his then-living mech. According to its established pattern, the damn calamity plant has most definitely strengthened this specific ability. While we still believe that maintaining a distance of enough kilometers will weaken or invalidate his mind control capabilities, this is also not certain. We simply know too little about the tree. Since that is the case, you must always be alert and actively guard your mind." A whistling nose originated from afar. Ketis frowned and turned around to look at the gas-obscured sky. The noise grew louder and louder until numerous mech pilots eventually managed to connect the dots. "INCOMING ARTILLERY STRIKE!" "GET TO SAFETY, KETIS!" BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! The ground shook several times as a trio of kinetic impacts slammed into the ground surrounding Chimera Base! To their credit, the mechs that had previously formed up into columns had already spread out and lifted off into the air! There were only two exceptions. The Storm Sword where Ketis currently stood remained absolutely still. The veteran Swordmaiden pilot fought against her instinct and kept her machine absolutely still in order to form a stable platform. The only action that Ketis had taken was to magnetize her greaves and to dig her Bloodsigner tip-first into the head of the mech. As a quasi-first-class mech made out of salvaged and recycled alien warship debris, the material toughness of the Storm Sword was pretty good. It should have been more than capable of blocking a sword stab from an armored infantry soldier. However, the Bloodsinger effortlessly dug into the armor plate as if there was hardly any resistance. What was even more impressive was that its sharpness disappeared, allowing the massive blade to form a solid grip for Ketis to maintain her footing even as a few shockwaves almost threatened to blow her armored body away. Not that she would have gotten far. The Everchanger had already approached with his hands stretched out to cover Ketis and catch her if she fell. "You're vulnerable, Ketis! You need to head to shelter right away!" "Not yet." The swordmaster maintained a fearless and indomitable expression as she continued to hold on to the grip of her greatsword. A sword aura had formed around her, making her look more heroic while also protecting her from anything that got too close. As the Larkinson mech pilots quickly organized themselves into different formations, they soon learned what had happened. "The Emperor Tree bombarded us with giant seeds!" "We believe that the calamity plant has tried to replicate the Devora Cannon of the Zeal on a much larger scale. It has apparently succeeded. Though the tree equivalent of our super-heavy hyper-velocity gauss cannon is much cruder and not comparable in performance, its larger scale along with the power to lob giant seeds far enough to reach our base is of great concern." "Have you taken a look how close those seeds struck our base immediately after launching the first volley. These seed artillery cannons are remarkably accurate! It shouldn't take much effort for the Emperor Tree to dial in Chimera Base. The estimated power of these kinetic seed strikes is formidable, so our base defenses can only endure the bombardment for a limited amount of time." "How long?" "Without any further reinforcements or changes to our base defenses, we will only be able to last up to three hours." That was too short! Ketis felt a greater sense of urgency. "Do you see it, Larkinsons? The Emperor Tree is afraid of us. It wouldn't have resorted to bombarding our base if it was patient enough to hold back its latest tricks. At the same time, the Emperor Tree can reach much further than we expected. For the tree to begin its attack on our base at this very time suggests that it is able to monitor and detect our movements from this range. It knows we have gathered our troops to launch an assault." Since a battle was inevitable, it made sense for the Emperor Tree to throw all caution to the wind and strike the first blow! BOOM! BOOM! Another whistling sound approached from the same angle as before. "Incoming!" "Ketis, move!" "No. Not yet." BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! This time, two of the massive seeds launched from far away had managed to strike the titan shield covering Chimera Base! The powerful shield managed to hold on, but it was clear that it could not endure these powerful blows forever. Ketis simply sneered even as a shockwave buffeted her armored form yet again. The fact that she chose to stay in the open and brave the incoming artillery strike with the courage of a swordmaster inspired a lot of Larkinsons. None of the mech pilots were willing to exit their cockpits and risk getting blown into splatters if a massive seed just happened to hit their bodies! "Time is running out, my fellow Larkinsons. Do you want to let the tree's copycat artillery cannons tear down our base?" "NO!" "Do you want to let the Emperor Tree go unpunished despite masterminding the death of the Zeal and the exile of two of our heroes?" NO!" "Will you allow your fears and apprehensions towards the Emperor Tree's mind manipulation powers deter you from advancing!" "NO!" "Then set off and make the Larkinson Clan proud! We fight not only to secure our place on this savage planet, but also avenge the death and disgrace that happened last time! No matter how much Venerable Taon and Venerable Lanie have come to hate each other, there is one enemy they both wish to kill. Let us fulfill their common desire and tear down the Emperor Tree ourselves! Who are we?!" "WE ARE THE LARKINSONS!" "What are we?!" "WE ARE THE GREATEST!" "What is our strength?!" "OUR COURAGE IS OUR STRENGTH!" "Will you allow this Emperor Tree to humiliate us again?!" "NO!" "Then go forth and show that damn tree what we think about its dying struggle! For the Larkinson Clan!" "FOR THE LARKINSON CLAN!" "For the Golden Cat!" "FOR THE GOLDEN CAT!" "Advance!" Ketis finally pulled out her Bloodsinger and hopped back inside the cockpit of the Storm Sword. Venerable Joshua sighed in relief, but still acted like a worrywart by hovering closely to the quasi-first-class mech that held his wife. The procession of mechs advanced at a steady pace. None of the mechs tried to move too quickly, both because the visibility in the area was getting worse, but also because of the need to spare enough thrust power to dodge incoming artillery strikes in a hurry. Boom! Boom! Boom! The Emperor Tree either was not able to track the advancing mechs, or simply chose not to bother. It continued to launch ultra-heavy seeds at Chimera Base, perhaps knowing that getting rid of the Larkinson Clan's foothold on the planet would cause a lot of difficulties to the gas harvesting operation. Despite sounding confident earlier, Ketis actually felt quite concerned about what she and her fellow Larkinsons were about to face. The scouts never spotted any sign that the Emperor Tree had secretly managed to develop a vastly improved version of a kinetic artillery cannon. To be able to strike at Chimera Base at such a long distance and with so much precision was not normal! Ketis already guessed how the Emperor Tree managed to develop a weapon of this potency so quickly. "It learned from the Zeal…"