[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 25: Wartorn Instance

The noise of battle echoed all around her as missiles kept raining down in salvos. Only now the blue team started to employ countermeasures. The medium mechs kept zigzagging while the heavies used their prodigious firepower to strike the missiles down.

Melinda and Janet skillfully navigated forward. They dipped in the many craters to spoil line of sight and hide behind cover in case snipers aimed at them. Though not high-powered weapons aimed at them, they received sporadic rifle fire from their entrenched opponents. Melinda resolutely shielded Janet from incoming fire with her shield.

"Their team's light mechs must be engaging the enemy scouts by now." Melinda noted as the missile fire stopped landing with unerring accuracy. Spoiled by their ECMs, the deadly payloads sprayed down in a wider spread, damaging many mechs but not to the point of wrecking them completely.

"What are Jaxon and his flyers up to?" Janet whined as she felt useless trudging behind Melinda's shield. Her cannon mech had no chance of firing back against an enemy hiding behind makeshift trenches.

"We're dueling their fliers. Don't bother us." The highest ranked player in their team spoke before shutting off his comms.

"Janet, you're too vulnerable if you go any further. Stay here and provide support, okay?"

As a trained pilot, she recognized her circumstances, so she nodded without a word.

Melinda already scanned the sight in front of her. "Open terrain. Trenches. A lot of ordnance thrown in our way. I don't think they want us close."

"No shit Melly. The only thing I can do is huddle behind a crater hoping they don't send arcing missiles at me. I really picked the wrong mech for this battle."

A heavy knight bumped next to Melinda, his shield outweighing even her own. "Hey, what's the plan?"

"We charge forward. Once we get in their midst, we can turn this situation around. At the very least we won't be in a one-sided slugfest."

"You heard her lads, follow us!" The knight-type mech yelled as he raised his hammer in the sky and lumbered forward.

Melinda overtook the heavy mech and kept her shield squarely in front. She checked her sensors to see if their team came with them, and when she saw they only kept plodding behind craters, she grew agitated. They were close enough for their rifles to deal a lot of damage. She clanged her mace against her shield so hard it almost dented the edge of the giant slab.

"Step on it! Keep running and don't stop until you get in their faces!"

Though she was just one mech of many on the field, somehow her eye-catching form seemed to attract more gazes than normal. Her red crest that made her appear as a valiant warrior inspired others to follow along. Most of them were veterans or expert players after all, so they knew how bad they had fallen into the enemy's kill zone. They put down their apprehensions and followed after the shield bearers at the front.

Perhaps recognizing that Melinda's mech led them forward, the enemy fire started to slant towards her position. She utilized her mobility as best she could, trying to weave to the sides in order to throw off their aim. Nevertheless, she wasn't as nimble as a light mech, so quite a few cannon shells and laser beams impacted her gigantic shield. One large-caliber cannon round even blasted the right corner of her shield into pieces, almost throwing her off-balance.

"Get on your feet!" The heavy knight player yelled as he interposed in front of her, taking the brunt of the volleys while she regained her balance.

"My shield can still take much more." She pushed past his trudging form and sprinted faster. "We're halfway. Just a bit more and we can pound their faces."