The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7173

Chapter 7173: Subtle Influence

Though the Ascended Giant needed to rest his overstrained body, he only needed a short time to allow his unnaturally strong constitution return to a more tolerable state.

The Unshakeable King wasted no further time and began to charge forward, intent on fishing the job!

Yet just as he was halfway to closing the distance, an accident occurred!

A handful of the servos on his legs unexpectedly malfunctioned, causing the Unshakeable King’s rhythm to become interrupted!

Though he could still power through this unexpected event, the momentary break in momentum caused him to halt.

"What... did you do, foul human?"

Blinky grinned like a cat that got the canary. "I did nothing. You are solely responsible for your own misuse of your equipment. Did you ever bother to read the manual of your raiment? This thing was never designed to facilitate such violent motions! The developers of your raiment built it like a tank with the expectation that you would fight like one. Your attempt to mimic a charging beast has clearly exceeded the tolerances of your armor, causing it to wear down at an accelerated rate, especially when you burst into motion with extreme force."

The Unshakeable King had been so adamant about keeping his new capabilities secret that he had neglected to test them thoroughly enough!

This clearly proved the Ascended Giants had become so authoritarian that they had neglected the sensible advice and recommendations of their staff officers.

Just because the Ascended Giants assumed they were gods did not mean they were infallible.

They could still be wrong because they clearly did not possess a lot of expertise in many fields, most notably a technical understanding of their raiments.

Servos and motors were not necessary in most light raiments as the physical prowess of an Ascended Giant was more than sufficient to maneuver with so much mass attached to their bodies.

The same could not be said for the kind of heavy raiment that clad the Unshakeable King’s form.

While it was outdated, it was truly a good example of robust engineering. Its developers had configured it with the expectation that the Unshakeable King would carry forth the Ur-Titan tradition of being defensive bulwarks.

Enhancing mobility was therefore an afterthought, but in order to make sure that the phase lord could carry all of his bulk around without growing too sluggish, the raiment still contained a number of servos, just like heavy combat armor.

Of course, it could still be argued whether these servos were necessary considering that phase lords were still considerably stronger even accounting for their exaggerated sizes.

Blinky continued to grin as Ves criticized the meathead even further. "We allowed you to wail on us not just because you were doing a good job at abusing your own raiment, but also so we could take the measure of you. We know how fast you can move. We know how much force you can put behind your weapon swings. I have already calculated the force amplification of your Impact Hammer mechanisms. I know how this tech works. I understand its strengths... as well as its weaknesses."

The Unshakeable King did not move.

The more he listened, the more he frowned.

There was a part of him that urged him to disregard the alarms transmitted by his raiment and continue to charge forward. A true Ascending Giant did not need to rely on armor in order to defeat his opponents! He would purge his heavy combat armor if that would help him close the distance faster!

Yet just as this insane idea could take root, the Unshakeable King’s discipline reasserted itself and squashed it into pieces!

This was not a sound strategy! To discard the enormous defensive advantage of his raiment was a completely uncharacteristic notion. He would never come up with such an idea during normal times!

It was at this point that the Unshakeable King realized that something greater was amiss.

When he forced himself to reflect on his recent words and actions, he realized that he had comported himself in a completely different manner than he should. The strategos broke his own rules and answered too readily to his adversary’s provocations.

Even now, the Unshakeable King’s had to resist several tempting but ultimately stupid ideas to go on the attack.

One of them even called for throwing one of his hammers at the Dark Apostle!

"You dishonorable cur." The Unshakeable King pinned his opponent with an accusing stare. "You did this to me. There is something about your presence that is quietly forcing me to lower myself to your level. What foul human sorcery have you cast on me that is responsible for clouding my judgment?"

"Do you think I would be stupid enough to give you the answer?" Blinky huffed and swished his black-tipped tail. "We did nothing aside from exposing your true self that is hidden behind your stoic mask. If you were truly as noble and exemplary as your public persona suggested, then you would have shown such an ugly face to your fellow Ascended Giants."

Only Ves and the Dark Apostle knew that the reason why the Unshakeable King behaved with fewer scruples and inhibitions than before was due to the Corrupting Orb.

Ves had not wasted the recent golden lottery ticket prize. He had thought about how he could put it to good use in the upcoming duels. There was no time to develop anything fancy, so he simply decided to create a hidden slot inside all of the raiments that just happened to accommodate the new artifact.

By surrounding it with darkness hypers and channeling more darkness energy into it, the Corrupting Orb strengthened its capacity to corrupt the minds and spirits of anyone that came in close proximity.

Ves and the Dark Apostle were virtually immune to the orb’s insidious influence, but the same could not be said for others!

The Unshakeable King’s mentality, discipline and phase lord endowments may have granted him much more resistance than most, but one of the dangerous aspects about the Corrupting Orb was that it exploit any chink in the armor.

Even the greatest of heroes possessed one weakness or another. The Corrupting Orb played in on that, ignoring what others were good at in favor of preying on their weakness.

Although the Unshakeable King was not an ordinary figure, his mind and spirit were still relatively weak compared to his undaunted true body.

"I see you have decided to get serious now, Larkinson. Come join me in orbit. Let us end this fight in space. That is the true arena of our kind."

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