Chapter 2789 - Dragonscale Warrior (1/2)

Trip Oxxon and Zenon Dia Bavros possessed a lot more similarities than the last pairing.

They were both young.

They were both elite graduates.

They both specialized in piloting knight mechs.

They both minored in piloting classical mechs.

It was like pitting them against mirrors of each other. Of course, this was just the first impression. Ves was sure that he’d be able to witness their individual differences soon enough.

The arena operators did not delay too long. After providing the audience with a brief introduction of the mechs and mech pilots, the match soon commenced!

”They’re colliding against each other!”

This time, both mech pilots had no intentions of stalling the fight. Both Oxxon and Bavros drove their mechs towards each other while pressing their entire frames against their enormous tower shields.

Boom!

Ves could practically feel the air ripple as a thunderous collision took place! The two mechs bounced back after suffering various degrees of damage from their reckless collision. He wasn’t sure what the point of it was, but the two mechs immediately closed in on each other before hacking at each other’s shields with their one-handed swords.

Sparks flew and sharp noises sounded out as the two knight mechs hacked their swords and bumped their shields against each other without any interruption.

Knowledgeable mech insiders and mech fanatics knew that this was just the start. When two defensive mechs were pitted against each other, it was virtually impossible for one of them to achieve a decisive victory in the first couple of minutes!

Instead, the mechs had to outlast their opposition. The way to do so was to steadily chip away at the defenses of the enemy while not wasting too much energy and other resources in the process.

”That Dragonscale Warrior mech looks quite different.” Raella noted. ”Its exterior is made out of lots of relatively small scales. I don’t know what that means in terms of defense, but the biomech is definitely more agile and flexible than our Bright Warrior!”

This was true. The Dragonscale Warrior probably gained its name from the rippling scales that were able to resist and deflect the probing attacks that made it through its guard!

Gloriana shook her head in disapproval. ”Classical mechs can adopt this armor scheme as well. It’s just that it isn’t worth it most of the time. The solidity of a single bigger plate is hard to match when you replace it with several smaller scales. The fact that they have to be mounted in a particular way to allow for additional range of motion introduces weaknesses that make it easier to break through them. They also offer less defense against blunt force trauma since they are comparable to a tough hide rather than armor.”

Ves agreed with her assessment as well, but he was sure that the Dragonscale Warrior had something special in store. Otherwise, it didn’t make much sense to design it as a commercial mech.

Several minutes went by. The excitement level from the crowd had dimmed once they observed how slowly the mechs incurred damage.

Many sword strikes deflected off the curved shield or bounced off the armor of the mechs. The offensive power of the mechs was relatively low, especially when pitted against the defenses of another knight mech!

”Man, whose idea was it to pit two knigh mechs against each other?”

”The first match was much more exciting.”

”Can we refund our ticket?”

Some viewers even started to yawn! Despite the youth of the two mech pilots, neither of them attempted to pull off any flashy moves. It was as if their minds had just blanked out, regressing them into more primitive versions of themselves who only knew how to hack and slash!

Only the mech insiders knew better. Knight mechs weren’t designed to pull off brilliant maneuvers in the first place. They were built to slug it out like this. Before either mech pilot could put their talents to use, they had to change the circ.u.mstances and do their best to expose a new weak point in the opposing mechs.

The differences between the two sides soon became evident.

”It’s just as I expected. The Dragonscale Warrior is less durable.” Gloriana concluded. ”Just look at the gap in its arm. It only took two slashes to wear away a portion of the scales.”

The Bright Warrior became more aggressive as a response. Pilot Oxxon began to exhibit some of the restlessness of his youth. The sword wielded by his mech attempted to attack this weak point many times!

Of course, Pilot Bavros was well aware of the danger. The Dragonscale Warrior positioned itself so that its shield blocked every attack directed against the exposed limb. Its bone surface gained more and more cracks and ch.i.p.s. Even if the Bright Warrior was unable to break it in a couple of blows, continued attacks on the same sections steadily caused the bone shield to be dismantled!

While the Bright Warrior’s metal tower shield incurred similar damage, Bavros was currently on the backfoot of this ongoing clash. The Dragonscale Warrior would definitely fold first at this rate!

Ves did not expect his mech to gain the upper hand so quickly. It was not that good of a knight mech considering that it was based off a modular mech platform. Yet its simple, beginner-friendly design characteristics allowed Trip Oxxon to learn the ins and outs of his mech remarkably quickly!

In contrast, the Dragonscale Warrior deviated substantially from other ordinary knight mechs. Its abnormal armor scheme and added flexibility increased its learning curve and forced Zenon Dia Bavros to spend more time on how to leverage these properties to the best effect!

While the mech pilot of the organic mech slowly began to pull off more extreme moves, it was still difficult to reverse the situation in a short amount of time!

Growing impatient with the lack of progress, Oxxon decided to take a risk. His Bright Warrior kicked out against the lower side of the Dragonscale Warrior’s shield. This caused the solid bone object to tilt.

A sword instantly threaded through a gap in the defense and impacted the c.h.e.s.t of the Dragonscale Warrior!

Even though the scales were thicker and sturdier at this section, the stab still caused a few of them to scatter!