Chapter 7167: Quick Resolution - Mass Release Day 4/5 As Ves and Dulo continued with their collaboration, they gained plenty of inspiration from their current work. The plasma spear was an exquisite weapon that could be used as the basis of a first-class spearman mech design or even a first-class multipurpose mech design for the Larkinson Clan in the future. They just needed to scale it down and substitute the rarest materials for more common ones in order to make it suitable for mass production. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢 The only feature that Ves was not sure about removing was the self-exploding aspect. Other people could not detonate the weapon willy nilly. They needed to practice and master the right cultivation technique. This was doable, but not in the short term. Any mech pilot that wanted to master the capability to throw exploding weapons had to cultivate the requisite steps in order to make proper use of this feature. Without a suitable wielder who mastered this capability, the spears simply wouldn’t explode as desired. It would be a waste to design all of those extra complications. The Larkinsons would be better off if they made use of regular spears instead. In fact, the same rules applied even if Zanthar Larkinson sought to master this amazing new tech. He may be able to adapt the tech to kinetic projectiles, but as long as they needed to be primed by the mech pilot beforehand, it became a lot harder to use them in combat. Oh well. If Zanthar was unable to automate this process, then at worst the Larkinsons could raise a special mech battalion that was filled with ranged specialists who worked hard to master the necessary technique to prime their projectiles to explode. As Ves and Dula finalized the design of the segmented high-penetration self-exploding transphasic darkness hyper spear, they finally turned their attention to the equipment configuration for the third duel. "The Divine Harpoon is one of the lesser threats according to our analysis and predictions." Ves explained to Dulo. "That doesn’t mean we have to take him lightly. Regardless of how much resistance he puts up, he will definitely ensure that we have to work towards our victory. Since he specializes in throwing harpoons, I do not want to bet on whether the Dark Apostle will be able to evade his signature harpoons. That requires way too much experience and skill. It is better to just assume that the harpoons will land on their targets. What we need to ensure is that my other self is able to withstand this blow." He waved at the projection that showed a draft design of a heavy raiment paired with a short spear and an oval physical shield. This was a fairly defensive configuration where the physical shield was clearly designed to block as many harpoons as possible before it inevitably got wrecked. "I understand your intentions." Dulo said as he scrutinized the depicted gear. "I have one question. Do you have any special demands for the spear that you carry into this battle?" "There is only one real demand, and that is that it needs to be fairly light. I intend to allocate most of my mass budget for this duel into beefing up the oval shield and the frontal armor of the raiment. It is absolutely critical that the Dark Apostle can withstand all of the harpoon strikes." "Static defense is not a real solution, Ves. Harpoons are often attached to chains or wires that enable the thrower to pull them back. The Divine Harpoon can keep retrieving and reusing the same harpoons. At worst, their tips may degrade due to repeated impacts to your defenses, but if you do not cut off their connections to their owner, they will continually strike at you. Normally, I would suggest that you try to close the distance as much as possible, but that is not feasible if your thick defenses are compromising your mobility." Dulo indeed raised a good point, but Ves had an answer to this. "I will try to utilize my new fighting techniques to degrade the harpoons thrown by the leader of the Faceless Giants. The power of darkness is good at weakening and corroding everything it touches. I will make sure that the raiment and the physical shield will not let a single harpoon go unscathed after making contact." Ves had a bit more confidence in this as his prior experiments gave him a better insight in what kind of damage he could do with the darkness element. "Okay, sir. I will take your word on it. If the harpoons can be dealt with, then this armored configuration may still work. It is likely that the Divine Harpoon will close in on you and attempt to beat you in close combat when he is down to a single harpoon." "I know. That is okay. I am more than prepared to fight against him up close. At worst, I will purge a bit of my armor if that is hindering my movements. I am not too afraid of losing against him in this circumstance." "If that is the case, do you truly need to equip yourself with a different weapon from the last duel?" "Huh?" Dulo summoned a projection of the segmented high-penetration spear that they had just completed a short time ago. "We can dynamically lengthen and shorten this weapon by adding and removing segments. If we cut this spear down to size, it will become much lighter but still remain a serviceable weapon that you can wield in a single hand. My advice is that instead of working hard to design a new spear, we can simply reuse this one. We can still abide by the mass limit by bringing in less segments than last time. What do you think?" Although the choice of reusing the same kind of weapon was not entirely optimal, Ves did not have much objections to this idea. Sure, the tip of the high-penetration spear was extremely lethal and might easily killl the Divine Harpoon by accident. That was bad because there was plenty of proof that he was the most pro-human Ascended Giant among his kind. If Ves did not have enough confidence in the Dark Apostle’s ability to avoid a killing blow, then it may be better to equip a less lethal armament. "Maybe we should look into increasing the toughness of the spear tip at the cost of reducing its lethality." Ves suggested. "We can do that, but I still think that you should retain the original specifications. The sharp tip is excellent at carving through armor. It can also inflict serious damage to the body of a phase lord whenever you desire. It is better to have the option available to you than not in the event that the Divine Harpoon is unexpectedly more powerful than you thought. A sharper spear tip can also be used to degrade the harpoons used by your enemy. You only need to exercise more control if you want to avoid any unintended fatalities." It took a bit of persistence, but Dulo successfully convinced Ves to reuse their previous work, though with a number of modifications to make it more fitting for the third duel. It was quite difficult to figure out the Divine Harpoon’s complete combat routine. Most of the footage and talk centered around him gushed over his harpoon throws. It was unclear how good he was in close quarters combat. In any case, the work on preparing the armaments for the third duel concluded rather quickly as a result. Ves banked much on the quality and the performance of his raiment and physical shield, but he was not directly involved in their development. He could only hope that the collies would be able to do a good job and ensure they could resist and degrade the projectiles thrown by the Divine Harpoon. Ves and Dulo finally turned to the fourth and final duel. This was the one that Ves considered virtually unwillable, so he decisively scheduled it as the last duel. He really hoped that it would not be necessary to win against the foremost fighter and leader of the Ascended Giants. The most recent upgrades gave him much greater confidence in the Dark Apostle’s fighting power, but he may still end up losing once or twice. That meant that Ves needed to have a loadout that could give him a realistic chance of winning the fight. Yet letting the Oscillating Fist get close and giving him an opportunity to pummel the Dark Zephyr was extremely dangerous! This was why Ves decided to adopt a completely different strategy for this fight. "I want this duel to unfold quickly and end on a fast note if I have failed to take him down quickly." He stated. "In order to accomplish this, I intend to enter the dueling ground while carrying a pair of lances. Blast lances to be more precise." That caused Dulo to grow enthused. This was familiar territory for him. "You mean the same kind of blast lances used by my Redlance mechs?" "Yes, but we’ll be making use of upgraded versions. We can readily apply the exploding tech we have applied in the earlier weapons that we have worked on. These lances need to blow up with the greatest possible force upon impact as possible. They need to rely on a combination of high momentum and powerful explosions to strip the Oscillating Fist’s spatial barrier in the first impact, and hopefully inflict a crippling blow in the next impact. To that end, the Dark Apostle will be equipped with a medium raiment that is paired with a powerful linear flight system." This was a risky configuration, but had the potential to finish the duel in the fastest and most explosive manner! Although it was a bit cowardly to avoid prolonged contact with the Oscillating Fist, Ves hoped that the Ascended Giants would still be happy with all of the spectacle produced by the explosive lances. Dulo looked intrigued. "I think it has a chance of working, especially if you reserve enough mass for the two lances. The only detail that I find questionable is whether you can finish the job with just two lances. Isn’t it safer to carry three or four? Even if they are smaller, you can still make adjustments in case your initial charge attack failed to deplete your opponent’s spatial barrier. If it is still left intact, then your final blast lance will probably be able to destroy it entirely, but leave your opponent’s armored body relatively unscathed. Carrying more blast lances can help with this situation." "You are right, Dulo, but I don’t want to take too many chances. Two charges are enough. Any more, and the Oscillating Fist may be able to launch a counterattack that can disrupt my approach. This battle must start quickly and end quickly before any further complications can arise. Two blast lances has to do the job. One must be extremely good at breaking apart spatial barriers. The other must excel at eating through armor and compromising the body of the phase lord." "What if the two blast lances successfully inflicted heavy injuries to the Oscillating Fist, but failed to force him into defeat?" "Then..." Ves hesitated. "Depending on his condition, the Dark Apostle may choose to engage him up close with a backup knife in an attempt to finish the job. The Oscillating Fist relies on a strong and healthy body to exert the utmost of his potential. If his body is compromised, his greatest weapon has also become compromised. He won’t be as scary as before... at least that is what I hope." His alter ego needed to make a very important judgment call. If the Oscillating Fist still had a decent amount of fight left into him, then it was highly inadvisable to engage him up close! All in all, this game plan was hardly perfect, but it was the best that Ves could come up with. The next best option was to equip himself with a rifle or a cannon, but that was too ’dishonorable’ in the eyes of the Ascended Giants. "By the way, sir, do you even know how to perform charging attacks like lancer mechs?" "Not really, but... it shouldn’t be too difficult... right?" "..."