Chapter 6372 Losing His Cool Ves was having the time of his life at the moment! The heat of combat completely fueled his bloodlust, causing him to 'pilot' his Devil Cat more aggressively than before! While his reckless fighting style caused his nanomachines to get depleted at a worrying rate, Ves did not care about the losses so long as he managed to kill his opponents! However, defeating them was easier said than done. All of the clawing and biting attacks only damaged the exterior of the arche phase lords. Their flesh was not as tough as their archeshells, but the softer tissues were still a lot more damage resistant than normal! Since the Devil Cat was lacking weapons that were powerful enough to defeat the arche phase lords in direct combat, Ves could only resort to using the nanomachine plagues to devour and wreck the arche phase lords from the inside! This was why his Devil Cat did not play coy and adopt a hit-and-run strategy. It was not only a waste of time, but also not aggressive enough for his liking! Transphasic laser beams, weakened spatial storms and the occasional bite or stomp from the surrounding arche phase lords tried their best to put down the Devil Cat, but the feline-shaped smart metal construct proved to be exceptionally stubborn! Ves did not let go and continued to inject more and more smart metal into the blood circulation system of his victim! His earlier attempts on another arche phase lord had already proven that these enemies were unable to clean up the nanomachine plagues faster than their replenishment rate. While it was theoretically possible to kill one of these lesse phase lords from the inside with a modest quantity of smart metal, the process would take far too long to produce immediate results. Speeding up this process became a priority. Fortunately, Ves also discovered that their ability to cleanse the nanomachine infection worsened when they were distracted or became more exhausted. The surrounding first-class multipurpose mechs played a useful role in making the situation worse for their enemies. Their attacks were not able to penetrate deeply into the bodies of the enemy phase lords, but they were definitely able to exhaust and break the concentration of their powerful alien adversaries! "Keep up the pressure!" Ves encouraged the mech pilots. "The more you pressure them on the outside, the more the nanomachine plagues can wreck them on the inside!" Ves and the surrounding first-class multipurpose mechs began to develop a tacit form of cooperation. The first-class multipurpose mechs would do their best to deflect attacks from Ves and buy him more time to do his thing. The powerful mechs also unleashed their arsenal towards the arche phase lords that had already become infected by the nanomachine plagues in order to hasten their deterioration. The first victim that had been infected with the help of the Oceancaller visibly weakened over time. He was under so much pain that not even the resilience granted by his phase lord physique could spare him from his suffering! His archeshell had endured the greatest amount of attacks and had cracked the most. The terrible damage to this vital alien organ generated a huge amount of pain. The agony generated by a huge amount of nanomachines eating away at his blood vessels, his muscle tissue and most importantly his phasewater organs made everything worse! The mech pilots quickly picked up on the weakness. "Hit this target when he is down! Do not give him a chance to recover! As long as we can lower their numbers, this fight will become much more manageable!" The mechs eased the pressure on the other arche phase lords in order to finish off the weakest enemy. This caused the other enemy phase lords to lose their composure and use their bodies to shield their brother from damage as much as possible. While their efforts were effective, it could not stop the inevitable decline of the infected arche phase lord! Ves did not care too much. He had become too consumed by his bloodlust and desire to kill that he went on to bite another arche phase lord before pumping lots of nanomachine plagues inside the body. He had already injected so much of them and incurred so many attacks that his smart metal raiment had become a lot skinnier than before. Ves did not have enough nanomachine plagues left to infect all 5 arche phase lords. The Devil Cat reluctantly retreated and broke up into lots of smaller smart metal cats. "Go! Replenish yourselves!" Ves floated in space without any form of protection other than his partially worn out spatial barrier. That was quite dangerous if not for the fact that the enemy fleet was on its last legs and the arche phase lords were too busy trying to shield each other than launch any attacks. Now that he had backed off from the immediate fight, Ves steadily managed to cool his heated mind. He began to reflect on what he had done. These arche lesser phase lords had thoroughly impressed him due to their ability to withstand a huge amount of punishment. Their decision-making did not impress Ves as much. They were far too passive and always fell back to defense whenever they encountered difficulties. Defense alone was not enough to win a battle. The arche phase lords probably fought well if they teamed up with the phase lords of other species, but if they fought in isolation, they could easily be reduced to target dummies. Not just regular target dummies. Valuable target dummies. Their defenses were unreal, and Ves could think of a lot of uses for their precious archeshells and phasewater organs! He became more and more greedy for their bodies. It would be great if he could capture their bodies in a relatively intact state. However, if Ves wanted to kill them quickly, then he had no other choice but to allow the malevolent nanomachine plagues to eat them from the inside. Ves did not want to make a mistake due to greed. He did not need to kill all 5 arche phase lords in order to claim victory in this battle. He just needed to survive, and he was well on his way of ensuring that outcome. So long as the lesser phase lords could be beaten to the point that they decided to cut and run, he and the surviving first-class multipurpose mechs could direct their full attention at containing the enemy greater phase lords! Ves did not forget that his enemies could still prevail so long as the greater phase lords managed to defeat the Dark Zephyr and deal with the overwhelming firepower wearing down their defenses. Every contribution helped. First-class multipurpose mechs might not be strong enough to defeat the greater phase lords by themselves, but they could still support the units that possessed the strength to scare them away. Ves briefly frowned. "Strange. Why is my thinking so much clearer than before?" He reflected on his thoughts and behavior in the past few minutes and discovered a disturbing pattern. As long as he entered the heat of battle, his head became hot and filled with stupid thoughts! Ves expected better of himself. He was a mech designer, not a grunt. Even if actual combat excited him a lot more than he expected, he shouldn't have lost his cool so quickly! He tried to figure out what was responsible for his extreme mood shifts. Was it truly because of his Larkinson blood, or was it because his darkness domain worsened his negative desires? Either or both could be the cause. Another potential culprit was the physiological changes of becoming a phase lord. When he unfolded his true body, it became far too easy for him to think of himself as greater and superior to the vast majority of humans and other sentient organisms in the Red Ocean. It was very hard for people to take smaller organisms such as cats or insects seriously. The size disparity alone activated age-old instincts and chemical reactions that made it far too easy for Ves to develop an inflated sense of confidence. Whatever the Ves needed to be nore aware of how much he put himself when he entered the fray. peri As Ves waited for the nanomachine plagues injected in 3 of the 5 arche lesser phase lords. They were weakening a lot faster than others, causing their threat level to drop compared to their healthier brothers. The first-class multipurpose mechs behaved like sharks smelling blood and intensified their attacks on the weakened enemies! In the end, the weakest and most aggrieved arche phase lord uttered a final silent cry before his cracked and broken archeshell dimmed entirely. "The lesser phase lord has ceased all conscious activity!" "The body temperature of the unresponsive phase lord is dropping at an increasing rate. No discernable brain activity has been detected. His exterior is spilling phasewater-infused blood without any sign of regenerating the wounds." "He's... he's dead!" The arche phase lord had either entered into a form of suspended animation or died outright! Ves clearly suspected the latter because he could feel the humongous spread of malicious nanomachine plagues inside the deceased enemy's body! The nanomachine plagues had spread everywhere. They did not even spare the most precious brain! The dangerous plagues did not cease their activity after their victim had died. They devoured the organic tissue they came into contact with even faster now that all conscious resistance had ceased! "Stop! Recall!" The arche phase lord carcass had become his spoils! He could not allow the nanomachine plagues to break the dead body down any further! After transmitting the recall command, the vastly expanded nanomachine plagues withdrew from the body, causing it to visibly deflate, and return to Ves like a colony of eager kittens! More malevolence than ever surrounded him and desired to form into his Devil Cat raiment! "No." Ves denied the nanomachines. "Spread and devour." The remaining arche phase lords became a lot more spooked when they saw the nanomachine plagues that felled one of their brothers heading in their direction! They all incurred so many wounds that was no longer necessary for the Devil Cat to bite into their own flesh! The horrifying effectiveness of these nanomachine plagues had made such a strong impression on the alien enemies that they finally lost their nerve! "They are running away!" "Their body temperatures have risen explosively! The arche phase lords are burning their own phasewater to forcibly increase their warp factor." "The nanomachine plagues are not fast enough to catch up to them at this rate!" "Split up! One unit stays behind to guard the professor, the other unit must continue to chase. Major Jankowski instructed. "Keep exerting pressure on the two remaining infected arche phase lords. They are already falling behind due to the deterioration of their organs. Let us make sure to finish the job and prevent them from making a comeback." Ves became bemused as the fight continued without his direct involvement. Now that he had managed to beat the arche lesser phase lords until they lost their courage, Ves no longer became interested in fighting them any further. The earlier infections along with the relentless harassment of the first-class multipurpose mechs should be enough to fell at least 2 more lesser phase lords. Though Ves just sent out a large quantity of nanomachine plagues, he was still able to reform the Devil Cat raiment by recalling the ones he sent on a scavenging run earlier. Once he regained his protective shell, he began to shift his attention to the most important fight. Victory and defeat would ultimately be decided by the outcome of the fight against the two greater phase lords. By now, the Dark Zephyr and helpers had done a good job at wearing down the Arena Lord of Ya'gwasa. His large raiment turned into tatters while his precious blood leaked from hundreds of small wounds. Even so, the Arena Lord's fighting spirit had somehow become stronger than ever! Not only did he become even more obsessed with trying to land a solid hit against the Dark Zephyr, but he was also maneuvering through space even faster than before! "How is this possible?!"