[201-400] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 379: Bedeviled

Alven had no reason to respond to the demon. Why would he believe in the malignant demon's lies.

"Begone with you, demon! My faith in Apellix is the only aid I need to beat these rebels!"

Ves truly tired of those perfunctory displays of faith. The worst thing about them was that Alven wasn't hypocritical when he said those words.

"Your faith is doing well so far, has it? I'm sure you can outfaith your opponents, but what does that matter if your side is outnumbered by at least three-to-one?"

Short of an intervention by Apellix himself, the battle was as good as lost. Even a bystander like Ves could see that. He tried to broadcast his cold and brutal analysis of the situation to Alven.

The truth hurt much more than any threat spoken by a demon.

Ves showed Alven the dire state of the walls. He showed the pilot the dwindling number of defenders, the lack of reserves, and the excellent state of the attacking mechs.

"This can't be true!" Alven cried out. "The true Dominion never loses!"

If facts didn't work, perhaps another attack on his spirit worked better.

Ves invaded Alven's core and inflicted some mental damage. This caused Alven to lose control of his Firerunner, which almost caused it to hit a shell in the face!

"I'll keep doing this until you listen!"

Alven's resolve weakened a little. "What do I need to do?"

The Dominion pilot hated listening to a demon, even though it pretended to help. Still, if the Sunstar Dynasty summoned the demon themselves, then it probably wouldn't eat his soul.

The defense at the southwestern wall started to falter as fewer reinforcements came to shore them up. The rebel mechs had lost a fair amount of mechs in their offensive push, but they were on the verge of creating a breach.

Ves urged Alven to pull back his mech and head towards the nearest supply point. The Firerunner left the wall to the indignation of the loyalists officers, but neither Ves nor Alven cared for their opinions.

The Firerunner navigated the debris and craters until it arrived at the closest depot.

"Grab a fire hose. The grey one. That's the cryo projector."

With all the complicated materials being used these days, some of them easily caught fire. Bases genetally hosted different extinguishing solutions, one of which happened to be a cryo projector that drastically lowered the temperature of any material.

Cryo projectors weren't available in the galactic rim. Even in the heartland, cryo projectors still used up too much bulk to be used as an independent weapon system for mechs.

Besides, most mechs possessed strong resistance against frost due to the extreme environmental conditions they might be subjected to. This pretty much relegated these kinds of projectors solely for firefighting.

"Grab a hose and point it at an enemy shield formation."

Though Alven still held plenty of doubts, he did as he was asked and grabbed a projector. The hose automatically extended itself from a socket as Alven ran back towards the half-collapsed walls.

"Which setting should I use?"

"Use a concentrated stream. It will take a while for the temperature changes go set in. Aim for the middle of their shields."

Alven proceeded to approach the enemy lines and hosed down the thickest concentration of mechs.

The rebel pilots momentarily panicked before getting back their senses. Why would their shields be vulnerable to being frozen? It hadn't failed them so far.