[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 99: Lit Up Your Sword

Ves clenched his fists as he looked downward at the stage where his Sword Dancer tried to fight against an aerial fortress. Even he was rendered helpless when facing one of Carter Gauge's impossibly advanced aerial mech.

The technology of that time shouldn't be able to support such incredible flight systems. Gauge must have spent quite a bit of time customizing the outdated wings and bring it up to the current generation.

Ordinarily, that might have led to his folly. After all, the more time he spent on the wings, the less time he could allocate on the armor and internals. Looking at the Pterodactyl's performance showed that the flying heavy mech did not lose out that much in other aspects. Its armor was especially resilient even after some hasty repairs.

Even the audience thought the match would end with no suspense and turned away to view more even matchups.

"I'm impressed Cadet Lovejoy hasn't lost his mech yet." One of the commentators noted when he switched his view. "Out of all of the Pterodactyl's opponents, he's already lasted the longest."

"That's because Lovejoy is paying more attention to dodging than thinking about hitting back. If he's trying to outlast the Pterodactyl in terms of energy consumption, then he's fooling himself. The heavy mech is packed with energy cells."

"The only chance he can squeeze a victory out of this narrow road is to get a lucky hit with his low-grade pistol."

With only about an estimated ten minutes left before the laser barrage cut through the medium mech's armor, the Sword Dancer had very little else to go on. Lovejoy scowled as he pulled out every trick in his bag in order to stay ahead of the suppressive laser fire from above.

From the frequency of the lasers, he judged the heavy mech had plenty of reserves. In contrast, his Sword Dancer had been designed for short-duration high-intensity combat. Even at a lower power setting, it still drained a significant portion of energy over time.

"I have to finish this quickly." Lovejoy concluded with difficulty.

He gave up on saving power and instead routed more of it towards feeding his pistol. The weapon beeped in alarm when it exceeded its recommended safety limit. Lovejoy had to dig through the settings and override all the safeties.

The weapon's programming estimated that the pistol had about three percent chance of blowing up with each shot. This probability increased in accordance with the amount of heat the weapon accumulated.

"I don't care if it will blow up in a couple of minutes!" He screamed at his pistol and ruthlessly tore down the last safety holding him back from firing high-powered beams.

The pistol whined audibly as it discharged the accumulated energy in a single eye-watering blast. The beam shot straight into the sky and burned a small gap in the heavy mech's wings.

That gap represented the first real sign of damage on the Pterodactyl. It gave Lovejoy hope, though the Pterodactyl also started to increase its speed and sway a little bit more. Both sides increased their power consumption in order to put a quick end to the match.

The broadcasters took notice of the increased intensity of their fight and put the battle on the main projection. Alongside the ongoing duel, the faces of the pilots and the mech designers were added to the sides.

"Look at the faces of Larkinson and Lovejoy! They are still clinging to the last shreds of hope. Can their Sword Dancer defeat the Pterodactyl in one of the most uneven clashes ever?"

"Our processors have analyzed the odds of Cadet Lovejoy managing to score a deadly blow. He only has a 2.3 percent chance in the best scenario!"

"It's safe to say that Carter Gauge has racked up another victory. There's no way the Sword Dancer's pistol can get past that heavy mech's armor."