Chapter 2553: Surprising Counter The performance of the Ferocious Piranha shocked the mech market! The Valkyrie Redeemer already proved what a perverse glow was capable of. Now, the third-class mech market received their own version of a mobile mech that could make the lives of their enemies miserable! Though the LMC uncharacteristically declined to announce the release of the Ferocious Piranha, the LMC's most avid customers all tried out this product. The results completely surprised them! Against weaker opponents, the Ferocious Piranhas had the power to render them defenseless! A lot of pirates, gang members and criminals wailed as the first waves of Ferocious Piranhas easily defeated at least twice their number! The Ferocious Piranhas were especially deadly against melee mechs. Regardless whether the devilish light skirmishers managed to disable their opponents or not, any enemy mech pilot that managed to retain their wits had to fight under constant pressure. This meant that even well-trained elites and military mech pilots experienced some problems. If even the Fridaymen mech pilots who had to fight against the Valkyrie mechs on a regular basis couldn't maintain their best condition, how could a bunch of third-class mech pilots fare any better against an even scarier glow? In the first week of the Ferocious Piranha's release, a lot of footage of one-sided victories quickly flooded the galactic net. Every local mech community went abuzz as they tried to verify the authenticity of the dramatic footage. "This is impossible! A squad of light mechs can't possibly defeat 37 pirate mechs without suffering any losses. This battle record must be fake!" "The LMC is going too far with this publicity stunt. How can a single light mech possibly win ten duels in a row? It's completely obvious that the entire sequence is staged." While a lot of people expressed their incredulity at the unreal battle reports, as time went by the proof kept pouring in. The existing customers of the LMC already possessed a lot of trust towards the unique mech company. As long as their mech rosters had room for some light mechs, they eagerly invested in some Ferocious Piranhas. The only problem interested buyers encountered was when they learned how much they needed to pay for a single copy. "Who the hell buys a light mech that is at least five times as expensive as a Desolate Soldier? This is a ripoff!" "The LMC is getting greedier and greedier. It didn't used to be this way. Anyone who spends 3 million hex credits to buy a single light mech is stupid!" Despite these comments, plenty of believers in the LMC bit the bullet. Their enduring trust in the company and the brand caused them to believe all of the hype and promises surrounding the Ferocious Piranha model. "It's like the Doom Guard, but better!" Many fans of the LMC were already familiar with the Doom Guard's glow. They recognized the value of transplanting that glow in a very swift and agile light mech. Soon enough, squads and even companies of Ferocious Piranhas started to enter the battlefield. While the effect of superimposing their glows didn't lead to a lot of strengthening, the mechs were able to cover a lot more space! In one battle, twenty-five Ferocious Piranhas enveloped a group of enemy mechs. The light mechs completely cut off any escape routes. In another battle, a hidden Ferocious Piranha sneaked up to a derelict space station and slowly made its way over to a group of mechs taking cover behind a fixture. As soon as the unsuspecting mechs detected an incoming signature from behind, the Ferocious Piranha erupted its glow, paralyzing the enemy mech pilots in place! The glow of the Ferocious Piranha was a lot more effective when it took the enemy by surprise. As the afflicted mech pilots struggled to regain control over their mechs, the solitary light mech had already closed in and meticulously struck the vulnerable targets until they all lost battle effectiveness! As the public became increasingly more convinced of Ferocious Piranha's amazing prowess, its sales spiked incredibly quickly. The third-party manufacturers the LMC contracted to produce the mechs simply couldn't keep up with the flood of orders. The demand for the Ferocious Piranha exceeded that of the Doom Guard when Ves initially presented it to the public. The enthusiasm surrounding the new product had reached an even greater scale as the LMC's subsidiaries in Vicious Mountain and Majestic Teal expanded the mech company's reach into more markets than ever. Though the LMC's Marketing, Sales, Operations, Production and Relations Departments had become unprecedentedly busy, it was all worth it as an even greater flood of money poured into the company's coffers! Unlike the affordable Desolate Soldier, the Ferocious Piranha was a premium product sold at a very high price tag. Even with all of the middlemen taking their cuts, the LMC still received much more money per sale. In the initial month, the beancounters estimated that the Ferocious Piranha model might enrich the LMC by as much as 300 billion hex credits. In the second month, that figure would probably double to around 600 billion hex credits. In the third month, the mania surrounding the Ferocious Piranha may boost the LMC's fortunes by up to 1 trillion hex credits! It was difficult to predict what would happen after that. Many optimists predicted that sales would continue to trend upwards as more and more people wanted to take advantage of the Ferocious Piranha's killer glow. Other analysts were a bit more cautious. They didn't believe the Ferocious Piranha was allowed to reign supreme on the battlefield. While the mech was incredibly effective up close, it was not unbeatable. From the Doom Guard, many people already knew that the shared glow of these two mech models could be resisted. The easiest way to do that was to force mech pilots to experience the suppressive glows many times. Frequent exposure to this torturous glow allowed mech pilots to get accustomed to the effects. As long as the mech pilots trained their minds during these sessions, they became more and more capable of maintaining their battle effectiveness in the presence of a Doom Guard or a Ferocious Piranha. While it might take months of intensive training to strengthen a mech pilot to the point where it was able to fight without losing control, even a couple of days of exposure was already enough to make a difference. They just had to buy at least a single mech that featured this hellish glow! "Damn this bloodsucking mech company! Why do they charge so much for a Ferocious Piranha?" No matter whether someone wanted to buy a Doom Guard or a Ferocious Piranha, they had to hand over at least several million hex credits. This was a rather hefty price level for most third-raters. In general, the bulk of the private sector made use of more affordable mechs that were generally priced below 1 million hex credits. Yet no matter how much these reluctant customers cursed the LMC's excessive pricing strategy, they went through with placing their orders. Even if they had no intention of fielding LMC mechs in battle, they at least had to secure a machine in order to toughen up the minds of their mech pilots! "If I don't do this, who knows whether my outfit will become history after being assailed by a squad of Ferocious Piranhas." As the Ferocious Piranha model continued to gain momentum, a lot of people began to demand a counter to the mech. "We can't let this overpriced light mech take over the mech market. We have to find some way to beat this monster!" "What about using O-K alloy?" "Too expensive! Leave this toy to the Fridaymen. I need actual solutions." Unfortunately, no one found a great answer. They only came up with a couple of obvious ideas. The Ferocious Piranha inherited the same strengths and weaknesses of every light skirmisher. This meant that while it was incredibly quick and difficult to strike, once it got hit, it should incur significant damage. To the regret of many critics, this maxim did not apply as well to a premium mech such as the Ferocious Piranha. However, as long as a large group of ranged mechs opened fire on a group of approaching Ferocious Piranhas, it was not impossible to defeat these nefarious mechs before they were able to get into point-blank range! In practice, it was not that easy to take the Ferocious Piranhas down in this way. As long as the light mechs came under intensive fire, they were always capable of changing direction and seeking ways to avoid or mitigate the incoming attacks. "Are you idiots? As long as we are the defenders, we can repel this scourge by deploying striker mechs!" Striker mechs were the natural counters of light skirmishers. Their potent flamethrowers and shotguns posed a significant threat against any mech with weak armor. However, the results were not as good as expected. As one group of mercenaries assailed another group of mercenaries, the defending side suddenly trotted out a handful of shotgun-wielding striker mechs! "Take this!" The shotguns unleashed blasts of tiny projectiles that sprayed outward. The cones of projectiles easily collided against the light mechs that attempted to evade the attacks. Unfortunately, the Ferocious Piranha was not as fragile to these attacks as other light mechs. The striker mechs deployed by the defending side were too cheap. Their weapons hardly dented the frames of the approaching threat! "Aggh!" The striker mechs abruptly slowed down once the Ferocious Piranhas got close. The shotguns continued to fire another time, but the mech pilots were unable to keep their aim straight. Even though their shotguns possessed a lot more potency at closer ranges, the Ferocious Piranhas reigned supreme, which defied common sense! The striker mechs fell as easily as any other mech that got close to the latest product of the LMC. "Wait a minute. If we have to buy a striker mech, why not try out the Doom Guard?" This was an interesting option! Though expensive, the mech shared the same glow. As mech buyers began to experiment with deploying Doom Guards to defend against Ferocious Piranhas, the results were surprisingly good. Sure, the Doom Guard was slow. Sure, the Doom Guard was expensive. Sure, the Doom Guard required a strong-willed mech pilot. Yet as long as someone overcame these hurdles, the LMC striker mech proved to be remarkably effective against the Ferocious Piranhas! First, the Doom Guard's identical glow allowed its owners to exercise the mental resilience of all of their mech pilots. In battle, friendly mech pilots were able to acclimatize themselves to the Doom Guard's glow, thereby preventing any enemy Ferocious Piranhas from taking them by surprise! Second, the Doom Guard's premium price delivered premium performance. Its 34F Enison Spreader flamethrower might not have a high range, but it fanned out in an impressively wide area in front of the mech. No matter how swift and agile the Ferocious Piranha tried to avoid the flames, it was futile against such a powerful flamethrower! Not only that, but the Enison Spreader also happened to be very lethal as long as any mech was being sprayed. Even the tougher-than-normal Ferocious Piranhas couldn't last very long when doused by a Doom Guard! The third reason why the Doom Guard performed exceptionally well against the new terror was that its glow was actually effective against the mech pilots of the Ferocious Piranha! "What? Are you kidding me? I thought the mech pilots of the Ferocious Piranhas were immune to the glows of their own mechs!" "The rules don't work that way. Not just the Doom Guard, but also the Ferocious Piranha can be used to counter these expensive light skirmishers." This resulted in a number of very odd confrontations. The Ferocious Piranha's glow may spare its effects against friendlies, but enemies were fair game! Therefore, there were some battles where the Ferocious Piranhas of both sides became crippled as their glows acted against each other! The Ferocious Piranhas didn't offer any mental training opportunities. This meant that the mech pilots of the light skirmishers were just as vulnerable to the glow as the rest! It was different for the Doom Guard. In order to make use of it, the mech pilot already had to be strong enough to withstand its influence. For this reason, the mech pilot of the Doom Guard exhibited no changes if enemy Ferocious Piranhas came close. A lot of expensive light mechs soon started to burn into husks at greater frequencies. Their mech pilots got a taste of their own medicine!