Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System

There was something very wrong with this world. Advanced Behemoths learning tactics to deal with their most modern weapons was not a regular occurrence in a newly colonized Klem world. If anything, it felt more like they had invaded a Klem core world, despite its location right at the edge of human territory.

There was a chance that this was a new tactic by the species, testing their capabilities and the effectiveness of sending more than the same expeditionary fleets to settle new worlds.

It was about to become a nightmare for his forces, though. If Cleansing Light was having issues killing the creatures quickly, they were going to devastate the regular units, who weren't as capable in close combat as he was.

They would have to send multiple Crusader Class units to deal with a creature like this or focus the main weapons of their Super Heavy units on it until it was dead, taking a significant amount of their firepower away from the rest of the battle.

Max considered his options and decided that it would be best to engage both Behemoths at once so his unit wasn't one of many who were going to struggle with the new type of Klem. Cleansing Light was more than capable of defeating these creatures without taking any significant damage, but it wouldn't be particularly quick by Max's standards.

He spared a moment's thought for Nico to see if she was in the same situation and found that a Hunter team had joined Shattered Pride, and their blades had become a deadly blender, mincing and chopping everything that came near them.

The main battle wasn't going any better on her side, but when it came to these particular Klem, it was clear that they held the upper hand.

That was when it dawned on Max. These Klem weren't designed to counter him in particular. They were designed to counter the Cygnus and Kepler Mecha that the Klem had most commonly faced in the past.

None of the standard pattern Mecha Regiments would stand a chance against this force using the last generation's technology. They could block the worst of the incoming attacks, and they would tear the Mecha apart in close combat.

It wasn't much of a relief to know that they were still one step ahead, though. Two-on-one, Max was going to have to be careful not to get hit hard enough to strip away layers of his shield.

He briefly considered flying up and combining the Disruptors for a heavier attack, but it would cause major damage to the area, and the residual energy and fallout wouldn't be good for the colonists who were right behind him.

So, he waited for them to engage him, one moving to each side, as Max shuffled to keep them in position as he looked for an opening to attack.

The first to make a mistake was the Behemoth on his left, which stepped on a shallow tunnel, and instantly dropped five meters, putting it off balance and opening it up for a strike to the joint where its head met the locust-like body.

Max twirled and went to strike when enormous wings opened on its back and threw the Behemoth away from his blade, escaping with only a minor wound.

That wasn't in his calculations. Something that size couldn't possibly fly. Or at least he certainly hoped that it couldn't fly. A forty-meter-tall locust that could fly over defences wasn't exactly something that most human cities were prepared to deal with.

The escape move left the creature's underside open, and Max pressed ahead, focusing three Disruptors together to blast a hole in its chest, which was partially blocked by a spray of what appeared to be plasma fire from the other Behemoth.

The escaping bug was gravely wounded, but before Max could finish it off, he had to turn to parry an incoming flurry of strikes from the serrated front legs of the uninjured partner.

Cleansing Light was the faster of the two by a fair margin, but with one blade and a shield against the two fast-moving legs, Max was only pushing the creature back at first, trying to get into position to finish off the wounded Behemoth before it could heal or escape.

He saw his chance as his opponent charged, and instead of parrying, he tilted his shield forward and let the force of the strike throw him upward, so he could roll across the Behemoth's back and level his Disruptors at the fallen partner, vaporizing its head and leaving him on equal terms with his opponent.

It shrieked in rage as the massive locust died and coated Cleansing Light in plasma fire, causing his shield warnings to light up as the heat stripped away his power output.

Max charged forward out of the attack, aiming for the creature's open mouth. If he could damage the delivery mechanism, he could stop it from igniting that spray and setting him on fire again. But that wasn't happening today. The Behemoth snapped its mandibles together to defend, and his blade only shattered one before a mighty kick drove him away again.

The limitations of the Behemoth were becoming clear now. It was incredibly fast, but only for a short time, and it was already starting to slow down as it ran out of energy. If the Mecha could hold it off for even a few minutes, the creature would exhaust itself, and they could easily finish it off.

Max took advantage of that, circling the side of the creature to attack its more vulnerable hind legs. It couldn't turn fast enough to keep up and lost a limb to his attack before opening its wings to hop away and trying to stomp him to death with its front legs again.

Max stood his ground, letting Cleansing Light take the strike to the shield in its left hand, and then pushed the Behemoth upward, sending a Disruptor blast to the bottom of its head and killing the mighty Klem Behemoth in an instant.

For a second, there was nothing around him, and the battle seemed to pause, with the explosions and the drumming of the Thunder Guns all blurring into one moment of white noise, and then his senses cleared again as the adrenaline surge levelled out, and Max turned to face the rest of the Klem tide.

He knew how to deal with their leaders now, and they could get the colony behind the Mecha lines within the hour, so they could evacuate the civilians and really start to go all out.