Chapter 6104 Threats From Above and Below The journey from Chimera Base to the Emperor Tree was not particularly long, but the tension in the air was palpable. Ketis sat in the rear of the cockpit of the Storm Sword. The relatively cramped conditions left her with little choice but to install her command seat sideways. Even then, the size of her combat armor left her with very little room to move. The initial leg of the journey proceeded quietly. The Emperor Tree kept bombarding Chimera Base, making no attempt to launch any of its super-heavy seeds at the advancing mechs. Even if the Emperor Tree was able to detect the mechs, the probability of hitting anything was extremely low. The Larkinson mechs all flew in the air in a dispersed formation. It was extremely unlikely for three projectiles to strike any of the machines, especially when there was a significant delay between launching the seeds and having them reach their intended destinations. Artillery cannons specifically fired explosive shells because it was so hard to land precision hits at moving targets at enormous ranges. Every projectile needed to explode upon contact or at a programmed height in order to have any chance of damaging enemy mechs! The Emperor Tree had yet to learn this lesson or develop this specific solution, so the mechs had little to fear from above. So long as the mech pilots remained slightly vigilant and made sure they were not at risk of colliding directly against the enemy machines, there was no chance they would get struck by a giant seed! "Be careful. Flagrant Vandals, make sure to scan for threats from above and below. I have a feeling that the Emperor Tree will not allow us to approach unchallenged." Ketis instructed. As a swordmaster, her combat intuition was just as good as that of an expert pilot. It might even be better as Ketis often had to rely on her combat armor and her sword aura alone to resist enemy attacks. As powerful as she may be, there were too many weapons that could kill her in an instant. Mech and warship-grade firearms could obliterate her body with ease, and so could bombs that had been planted in secret. Perhaps to compensate for her much greater vulnerability to weapons that she was not properly equipped to confront head-on, Ketis had a better sense of detecting possible threats. Right now, her intuition transmitted more warning signals to her mind. She became increasingly more convinced that the Emperor Tree had prepared a trap for the strike force. From where did the Emperor Tree plan to strike? What sort of weapons did it prepare for the mechs? Half a minute passed as she struggled to anticipate the danger. It was one thing to stumble into an ambush unprepared. It was another thing to expose it in advance. After thinking about what the Emperor Tree had already exposed last time and what it might possibly be able to do next, Ketis eventually cast her eyes downwards. "The ground." She suddenly realized. "Ascend! Beware of threats from below! I think the Emperor Tree is about to launch its root spikes at our machines!" The mechs had been flying at a medium height up until this point. They needed to maintain enough vision of the ground in order to keep track of their coordinates. They also attempted to rely on the cover of Solus Gas to make themselves harder to detect. However, now that there was a possibility of threats emerging from below, the mechs increased their altitudes right away. From the moment they did so, the Emperor Tree launched its strike right away, proving that it was definitely able to monitor the strike force somehow. The ground exploded as hundreds of long and sharp root spikes shot straight into the air! Their length was astonishing! They extended so fast and so much that every mech was at risk of getting impaled! Fortunately, the timely warning from Ketis alerted all of the Larkinson mechs in advance. Despite the heavier than usual gravity of Reticula Corein V, the powerful second-class and quasi-first-class mechs possessed more than enough mobility to react in time and evade any spikes that threatened to impale them from below! "We're clear!" Ketis let out a sigh in relief when she saw that the root spikes failed to touch any of the mechs. To be fair, the veteran mech pilots and living mechs already had a good chance of evading the root spikes. They had fought enemy warships for years which forced them to become very sensitive towards warships that targeted them with their overpowering gun batteries. Mechs and mech pilots that failed to evade in time after receiving an alert usually did not last long on the battlefield! "The root spikes are sharp and strong, but they are too rigid to bend and move." "Their length is astonishing! They can reach far above the Solus Gas cloud!" "Be careful about crashing into them. They will snap when struck from the side, but they can dent or damage your machine if the impact force is high enough." The Emperor Tree did not give up after failing to hit a mech. Another array of root spikes launched from the ground as the strike force advanced further. This time, the density of spikes was considerably higher, making it hard to avoid collisions even if the Larkinson mechs managed to prevent themselves from getting impaled again! It was easier to anticipate and dodge the spikes from a higher altitude. While the increasing concentration of Solus Gas made it harder to observe the ground, the simple use of scout mechs as observers solved this particular problem. The only issue was that the Light Hunter mechs were in greater danger than the rest of the strike force. They needed to fly lower to the ground and continue to transmit sensor data to the other mechs. "Careful!" The Light Hunter mechs all boosted out of the way as the Emperor Tree appeared to target them specifically! This time, the calamity plant tried to be a bit clever and attempted to impale the Light Hunter with angled root spikes! Seeing them come from different angles forced the Flagrant Vandal mechs to dance around the extended roots while doing their best to make sure that none of the sharp ends of the root spikes impaled their mech frames! This cycle repeated multiple times. The lack of any further variations caused the Larkinson mech pilots to relax, though they still maintained their vigilance towards the tree. Eventually, the Emperor Tree ceased its attempt to impale the mechs from below. They were flying too high for the roots to have a decent chance of striking any of the elusive machines. Ketis felt thankful that she and the staff officers all came to an agreement that it was better not to bring the Transcendent Punisher Mark III's along this time. If the Larkinsons attempted to haul those big and heavy machines forward with the help of lifter platforms, there was no way this form of support would be able to maneuver fast enough to evade the root spikes! Dozens of lifter platforms would have gotten struck from below, causing them to malfunction and drop a lot of expensive heavy artillery mechs! The only other solution to evade the threat from below was to fly at a much higher altitude. This was what the strike force was already doing. Though the airspace of the surrounding region appeared safe, Ketis grew more and more concerned about what kind of threats the Larkinsons would face next. It may be a lot harder to strike at the mechs from below, but what about other angles? Since Solus Gas was heavier than the local air mixture, its concentration was much lower at higher altitudes. The mechs were even able to perceive the vague silhouette of the top of the tall Emperor Tree from their current vantage points! However, Ketis did not feel secure at all while she continued to monitor the situation from the cockpit of the Storm Sword. Several alerts suddenly sounded from one of her monitors. Outside, one of the luminous fire fey of a Fey Fianna mech randomly opened fire onto a nearby Stormblade Samurai! "My mech is hit by friendly fire!" "It's an accident! I thought we were being beset by aerial exobeasts!" "The Emperor Tree managed to compromise him somehow!" It happened again! Ketis initially held hope that her mech pilots would have been able to resist the Emperor Tree's insidious mind invasion, but one of them had already failed while they were still a fair distance away from their target. This did not bode well for the upcoming operation! "Initiating forced weapons lockdown." Ketis announced as she transmitted the encrypted command directly to the Fey Fianna. "Fall back, maintain your distance and clear up your mind. Sanctuaries and Pacifiers, please activate your glows." Lufa's peaceful aura soon settled over everyone's minds. The mech pilots not only calmed down, but also became more confident in their ability to resist the Emperor Tree's tampering. Yet just as everyone focused on the journey ahead, the Emperor Tree made another move! "We are detecting rising activity from the Emperor Tree! Its heat signature is growing!" "What is it doing?!" "It is concentrating more energy at the top!" "For what purpose?!" "Perhaps it is preparing to launch an energy attack!" The guess came fairly close to the truth, but it was not quite correct. Everyone soon found out what the Emperor Tree had in store when it began to shine a broad spotlight at the mechs approaching from a distance! Initially, the Larkinsons grew puzzled as the beam of light appeared to do little aside from lighting up the exterior of their mechs. However, incidents began to happen just a dozen seconds later. Crash! A Ferocious Piranha suddenly flew off-course and crashed into a nearby Bright Warrior mech! If not for the fact that the latter's energy shield resisted the force of the collision, the crash could have turned a bit uglier! "Bastard! Get your mind together!" Another accident occurred as all multiple luminous fire fey belonging to several drone mechs opened fire at random mechs, no matter whether they were in the front, sides or back! "The living fey are all compromised!" "Lock them down!" "Why isn't Lufa able to protect our minds?!" More and more friendly fire incidents occurred, making it clear that few of the precautionary measures stopped the Emperor Tree from messing with everyone's minds. Ketis quickly transmitted many different lockdown commands that forcibly restricted the weapons and the movement freedom of the compromised mechs. Neither the living mechs nor the mech pilots were able to exert control anymore. In order to make sure that the mechs did not turn into dummies, very simple AIs took over their basic control systems. The artificial intelligences might not be very clever, but they were so rigid that not even the Emperor Tree should be able to tamper with their operations! The emergency measure successfully prevented the mechs from doing more damage, but it also neutered the machines and rendered them useless. There was no reason to bring them along if they remained locked in their current states! "It's that light source! The Emperor Tree managed to find a way to amplify its ability to manipulate the minds of humans." "We can't block its influence! None of our energy shields or armor is able to prevent the light from worming into our heads somehow." Ketis formed an intuitive guess about how the Emperor Tree's latest move worked. "Descend." The mechs all lost altitude. The sight of the top of the Emperor Tree became blocked as the concentration of Solus Gas rapidly rose around the machines. No further incidents took place. When Ketis cautiously deactivated the lockdowns and returned control to the mech pilots, they did not attempt to attack any of their compatriots. "My guess is right. A high enough concentration of Solus Gas will shield your minds from the Emperor Tree's mind manipulation." The Larkinsons felt relieved now that they did not have to worry as much about getting compromised, but they did not dare to let down their guards. Ketis already began to doubt whether it was still wise to allow all of the standard mechs of the strike force to advance towards the Emperor Tree. Did Solus Gas truly interfere with the Emperor Tree's mind manipulation abilities, or was it clever enough to hold back and lull the humans in a false sense of security? Nobody knew the answer.