Chapter 2683: Turnaround (2/2)

The Hexers did not even let the Auralis off! Even though all of her crew had been wiped out some time ago, the Fridaymen were already employing multiple methods to take the paralyzed fleet carrier out of the hands of their opponents.

As for the Cross Clan, their surviving mechs were already racing after the ships of the Praetor Clan and Planat Clan!

However, the chase was a bit more restrained here. Unlike the Fridaymen, the traitor clans still retained a considerable amount of strength.

Even when the surviving Crosser mechs from both the left and right side converged back together, they only roughly matched the amount of opposing mechs.

They needed to borrow the help of the surviving Glory Seeker mechs in order to enjoy a decisive numerical advantage, but the problem was that the Hexers weren't very interested in battling a desperate opponent!

Patriarch Reginald Cross — who had managed to return to the Hemmington Cross — made an urgent plea to Colonel Ariadne Wodin.

”We can't let them run!” His projection angrily shouted. ”We have suffered far too much at the hands of the Praetors and Planats. We must not let their ships crawl back to their nests. If we can't take all of their carriers, then we must at least destroy them. I will not stop chasing them until I have cornered Damira Planat!”

The expert pilot of the Erin Tear had managed to eject and return to her mothership as well. Just the thought of letting that woman flee from this battle alive made Reginald Cross very indignant!

”Patriarch, I understand your desire to take revenge, but there are still around 1000 enemy mechs left.” The colonel replied. ”While we outnumber them by more than two times, a battle against a cornered enemy will definitely produce further losses. It is difficult to tolerate further sacrifices when we have already accomplished our primary goal. We survived.”

”It's not enough! Don't think I haven't seen your mechs chasing after those deep strike fleet carriers as if they are your birthday presents.”

”The Fridaymen have essentially lost their ability to protect their ships. Aside from some bunker mechs and scattered ranged mechs, their ability to threaten us is nil. We do not have to make any sacrifices to overtake their carriers. It's a different story when it comes to your old enemies.”

”Then help us! As long as you can facilitate the capture or destruction of the Soaring Eagle, the Vindicator 35 and the Palmis Crislin, I won't demand reparations for most of the damage we have incurred. We have lost a lot of good Crosser mech pilots from this battle. We have also lost Venerable Banner Cross.”

Both of them briefly fell silent at this mention.

The Golden Skull Alliance hadn't actually lost a lot of expert pilots. The ones who lost their mechs successfully ejected from their broken machines and safely returned to their motherships.

However, Venerable Banner Cross never had the chance to do so when the Jeanne D'Arc stabbed its sword straight through the Leskin's cockpit.

This was an incredibly painful loss to the Cross Clan. The most troublesome aspect was that Venerable Banner Cross sacrificed his life to block the Fridayman expert mechs.

Colonel Ariadne Wodin knew that she could not act rashly at this time. The Cross Clan certainly needed to be compensated for the losses they suffered while fighting opponents who were only enemies by association.

She quickly pulled in Ves into the conversation. His projection appeared quickly.

After briefly filling him in on the situation, Ves briefly frowned until the commanding officer of the Glory Seeker asked some very relevant questions.

”How many artillery mechs do you have left? What are their conditions? How many hours do they have left before they are spent?”

Her questions reminded Ves of the greatest performers of the Larkinson Clan in this battle.

While his prime mechs and his battle formations arguably stole the show, as far as he was concerned, the battle would have never ended up as good if not for his Transcendent Punishers!

Ves quickly used his implants to access the most current status update.

”We have around 160 Transcendent Punishers. Most of them are tired but can still fire their weapons continuously at low intensity. As the designers of this heavy artillery mech, I can assure you that they will be able hold on for several hours. They are not made of glass. Several dozen of Transcendent Punishers have suffered varying degrees of damage, so their combat effectiveness is not as good. There are also a handful of artillery mechs that were previously taken out of action. Our mech technicians are working as hard as possible to restore their combat ability.”

160 artillery mechs!

Perhaps that did not sound like much when the battle started off with 16,000 mechs, but now that the number of enemy threats dipped below 1000 combat effective mechs, this was a priceless advance, especially when it came to ranged combat!

If that wasn't enough, the Glory Seekers and Crossers also retained a considerable amount of bunker mechs! Even though their heavy artillery mechs weren't as flashy as the Larkinson Clan's Transcendent Punishers, they were still a force to be reckoned with at this stage of the engagement!

Of course, the same went for the enemy. Their artillery mechs were still covering for the retreat of their fleet.

Even so, both Ariadne and Reginald looked ecstatic! As long as the Larkinson Clan pitched in their artillery mechs, their side could easily crush the remaining enemy bunker mechs!

”If this is the case, the remaining enemy mechs will not be a problem.” She confidently stated. ”We still have a significant amount of artillery mechs at our disposal. We don't need to assault the enemy remnants directly. We can just maintain a safe distance while bombarding the propulsion systems of the enemy carriers. Since the vessels are currently trying to run away from us, their main thrusters are in our sights. Even at three times the distance, our artillery mechs can still cripple their legs. Once we have accomplished that, we can suppress or demolish their surviving mechs with continuous bombardment.”

The three suited and armored figures quickly hashed out a plan.

While the Larkinsons and Glory Seekers still prioritized immobilizing the fleet carriers of the Friday Coalition, they promised to lend their strength to cripple as many starships of the traitor clans as possible.

Patriarch Reginald was not content with forcing the three fleet carriers of the two clans to stay. He wanted to immobilize the 50-odd combat carriers that the Praetor Clan and Planat Clan had brought as well.

As long as at least one of the combat carriers was able to escape the star system, then there was a good chance that Venerable Damira Planat and Venerable Albert Praetor would escape from the vengeful patriarch's grasp!

The Cross Clan did not want to let either of them crawl back to their respective clans! Weakening his old enemies by depriving them of their valuable expert pilots would hurt more than robbing them of their carrier vessels.

This was especially the case for Venerable Damira Planat! As a high-tier expert pilot, she was effectively an ace pilot candidate, someone who was able to revive her clan as long as she managed to advance.

There was no way that Reginald was willing to let this happen!

”Do not let any enemy escape!”