The Mech Touch

The swordsmanship of the alien lightning warrior was good.

Ves did not understand swordsmanship as well as Ketis or even his second daughter, but he had witnessed enough excellent swordsman mechs in action to know that the four-armed alien was both skilled and dedicated in this discipline.

It was not even all that alien to be honest. There were only so many ways that a humanoid arm could swing a sharp and fairly long bladed weapon.

Despite the weird set of eyes and the inhuman pair of digitigrade legs, the four-armed swordsman made out of tribulation lightning fought in a surprisingly familiar fashion if Ves focused on its swordsmanship alone.

If that was the extent of the lightning warrior's combat capabilities, then Major Jankowski should readily be able to defeat his opponent!

After all, outside of high-ranking mech pilots such as Venerable Dise and General Ark Larkinson, the first-class mech pilots of the Red Association received the best overall training and enjoyed the most high-tech augmentations and facilities.

Though Major Jankowski's fighting routine was disturbingly standard and devoid of the extremes that characterized traditional swordsmanship styles, he did not fight in an overly rigid or mechanical way.

He adjusted his sword techniques based on the properties of his current mech frame as well as his personal preferences.

Right now, Major Jankowksi fought like an instructor that sought to suppress his more inexperienced sparring partner rather than for the killing blow right away.

It was rather clever of him to hold back as soon as he recognized that the lightning warrior was not as difficult or dangerous to deal with when confronted at close range.

The most important priority at the moment was to delay the next wave of attacks and to learn as much information as possible!

If they finished off this relatively weak lightning warrior right away, the Elemental Lord would not have enough intelligence or buffer time to put up a good fight against a more powerful lightning manifestation!

Right now, Ves and Major Jankowski became most fascinated by the 'physical' properties of their current adversary.

While the sword-wielding mech did not do its best to land any deadly blows against its opponents, the transphasic hyper sword struck the 'body' of the lightning warrior on occasion.

Despite the lightning manifestation's appearance, whenever it got struck by a sword attack, it did not respond with a violent or overwhelming discharge of tribulation lightning!

Instead, it only produced a moderate shock that the main body of the Elemental Lord could reluctantly tolerate.

Ves even grabbed hold of his improvised lightning rods so that he could resume the strengthening of his body.

"This alien lightning swordsman behaved somewhat similar to a physical body." Major Jankowski noted. "Every hit with a sword is met with physical feedback. It is not quite the same as hitting metal armor or organic flesh, but the resistance is close enough that it doesn't matter."

Ves made another important observation. "The shock feedback is growing over time. Compared to the initial shock when your sword first struck the lightning warrior, your last hit incurred a response that is 30 percent more powerful. Although the lightning warrior is losing its charge at a faster rate, the more you stall this duel, the more threat it poses over time."

This was bad news for them because they would only have a limited amount of time to figure out the rules and prepare for the following waves!

"I do not feel that my current opponent is a thinking or living alien being, but it is simulating an intelligent being close enough to adapt to my fighting style." Jankowski spoke. "It is becoming harder and harder to pull off the same feints. However, the skill level of this alien swordsman is too low to gain the upper hand."

That sounded a bit odd, but not completely out of expectation. It was yet another form of pressure against the target of this tribulation storm.

"How are you coping against its elemental attacks?"

"They're annoying, but my mech has been able to use the same defensive measures as last time to mitigate the damage."

The lightning warrior did not fight like a simple swordsman.

Even though its sword techniques were relatively basic, they actively sucked in the surrounding E energies and converted them into more powerful lightning attacks!

The lightning warrior was able to form lightning waves, lightning shields and lightning spears that occasionally caught Major Jankowski off-guard.

If not for the fact that the Elemental Lord was able to mitigate these strange elemental moves by boosting its defenses with metal and earth E energies, the mech frame would have sustained much more severe damage!

Both Ves and Major Jankowski grew more concerned about the lightning warriors that would show up in subsequent waves.

Whether the lightning tribulation would produce another four-armed swordsman or a completely different alien warrior, the ones that emerged in the later waves were bound to be a lot more challenging to defend against!

"Ah!"

"Meow!"

The regular contact between the Elemental Lord and the lightning swordsman provided the former with a regular and relatively controlled infusion of tribulation lightning, but that would not last long.

The gradual increase in shock feedback was already starting to approach dangerous levels!

This was even after the first brother and the third brother worked together to promote the defenses of the mech frame!

With the power of metal and earth turning the main body into a surprisingly resilient combat platform, it had been able to bear shock after shock without anything important getting fried!

"Unless the Elemental Lord can strengthen its defenses further, we need to wrap up this duel." Ves spoke. "Try and see if you can cripple the lightning warrior's limbs and organs."

The sword-wielding drone mech no longer held back as much and began to convey a lot more aggression!

Major Jankowski began to exert much more of his skill as a first-class mech pilot. The machine under his control expertly side-stepped the lightning warrior's slash and utilized its metal and earth-infused sword to amputate one of the four arms!

"It works!"

The lightning warrior simulated a pain response and reeled away as it lost its other greater arm!

The crippling injury continued to debilitate the lightning warrior, making it easier for Major Jankowski to dominate the fight and cut off other body parts.

"Cutting off the legs does not do anything aside from giving it more pain." Jankowski frowned. "The lightning manifestation does not need to support itself on the ground, so its legs are completely redundant."

By the time the lightning warrior had lost all 6 of its alien limbs, it had lost a lot of charge, causing it to exude a lot less pressure than at the beginning.

An alarm suddenly sounded in the cockpit!

"The emissions of the lightning warrior are soaring! It is going to blow!"

Major Jankowski had already pulled back his Elemental Lord as soon as he sensed a dangerous reaction from his much-reduced opponent.

CRACKLE!

The drone mech and all of the fey had managed to retreat quickly enough to avoid much of the power of the electrical explosion!

The 28th wave had been solved!

"8 more waves to go." Ves remarked with a frown. "I am not sure how the next ones will be stronger, but I think it is likely that the skill and the energy manipulation of the subsequent lightning manifestations will become progressively stronger. You cannot rely on your swordsmanship alone. You need to make the most out of the advantages of the Elemental Lord. Its name is not a decoration."

The RA mech officer nodded in understanding.

Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!

After a short delay, the 29th wave had finally begun.

Ves let out a breath in relief when he saw that the storm clouds had produced another four-armored lightning warrior.

This particular manifestation looked almost identical from the last one, though it was slightly larger and possessed a distinctly more battle-tested aura.

"I do not think we are dealing with an inexperienced swordsman anymore."

As the new lightning warrior descended from the skies, Major Jankowski did not want to take the risk and allow his new adversary to release a devastating ranged attack.

The Elemental Lord fearlessly charged forward! Its earlier victory enhanced its momentum. Its confident demeanor also became a bit more prominent as the five brothers had made good use of the previous delay to sort out new and better ways to combine their elemental powers.

The defenses of the Elemental Lord grew substantially more powerful than before as the first brother, the third brother and the fourth brother teamed up to combine three elements at once!

For whatever reason, fire promoted earth, though Ves had little understanding of the logic behind such a relationship.

Nonetheless, it provided a crucial link that allowed the earth fey to feed substantially more earth E energy into the main body, thereby strengthening its metallic defenses to a higher level!

Though Ves was vaguely aware that metal was supposed to be weak against the lightning element, there was no time to figure out a more sophisticated way to strengthen the main body's ability to resist damage.

Any reinforcement was better than nothing!

When the Elemental Lord was about to launch a sweeping sword strike designed to cripple one of the four-armed alien's limbs right away, the new lightning warrior did not stupidly stand around.

Instead, the alien bent down and leapt forward by making use of invisible footing!

As the three-eyed alien thrust out with the tip of its sword, two different elements sparked from the extending blade, producing a crackling and fiery mix of energies that mixed so explosively with each other that it conveyed an acute threat towards the Elemental Lord!

"Evade!"

CRACKLE-BOOOM!

A spear of thunderfire extended straight from the length of the blade and extended forward by more than 150 meters!

Though the continuous discharge of fiery electrical explosions ultimately did nothing but hit empty air, the Elemental Lord had come close to getting struck by an attack that might have been strong enough to overwhelm its reinforced defenses!

"Damnit, this second lightning warrior is much more threatening than the first one!"

If this second lightning warrior was similar to the first one, then the Elemental Lord could not give its adversary enough room to perform any big moves!

Major Jankowski developed a lot more fear and respect towards his current opponent, but that did not stop him from urging the Elemental Lord to move close and lock blades with the thunderfire swordsman!

"MEOOOW!"

"AHHHl That's hot!"

When the Elemental Lord's sword made contact with the opposing weapon, a combination of tribulation lighting as well as tribulation fire somehow channeled into the mech!

Ves was surprised that the tribulation no longer stuck to a single element this time!

This did not bode well for the subsequent waves as the lightning tribulation could pressure the Elemental Lord in much more diverse ways.

One of the negative consequences to getting exposed to different elements was that they introduced brand new ways to damage his new mech.

Ves quickly studied the condition of the main body and noticed that it had not only incurred minor heat damage, but also came a little closer to reaching its maximum heat capacity.

If the Elemental Lord was unable to counteract this heat buildup, then its internals would get cooked sooner or later!

"The second brother has to figure out a way to counteract the tribulation fire and reduce the heat level of the mech frame." Ves advised.

"He is already working on it, but these fire energies are too strong, especially if they are mixed up with powerful lightning energies."

"We can either find a way to simultaneously deal with both, or you should take down this opponent as soon as possible."

It was better in the long run if the five brothers were able to combine their elements in a way that reduced the threat of thunderfire, but the hostile manifestation was not as easy to contain as before!

"I hate to say it, sir, but this thunderfire warrior is much more skilled with his blade! I have yet to land a single damaging blow onto his body."

Major Jankowski's skill with the sword had already been stretched to the limit, and this was just the second lightning manifestation to descend from the skies!