The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7188

Chapter 7188 An Alternate Proposition

Two down, two to go.

Ves and the Dark Apostle both had many reasons to feel happy.

They had won two matches in a convincing if not entirely respectable fashion. Though people could quibble about the means that the challenger employed to achieve his victories, the fact that he won at all could not be disputed.

The Ascended Giants should definitely gain a better impression of their possible new leader.

The Dark Apostle had decisively proven that his performance in the first duel was not a fluke.

He had just shown them all that he was able to handle the most offense-oriented Ascended Giant without suffering too many setbacks.

So far, the leadership candidate showed that he possessed the strength to keep up with the best of their kind. That was already a good sign, especially since they knew that the Dark Apostle was not supposed to be good at fighting in the first place.

Few if any of the Ascended Giants bothered to think why a mech designer was able to fight so well with a spear. Perhaps they chalked it up to growing up among mech pilots or choosing to learn fighting skills ever since he became a phase lord.

Whatever the case, the Ascended Giants cared a lot more about being represented by a leader who possessed the strength to suppress his own kind.

It would also be nice if he happened to be a renowned innovator who developed good relations with the major powers of red humanity.

The Dark Apostle therefore presented a compelling package to these Ascended Giants. While he may sound a little too pro-red humanity for their tastes, they could still tolerate his leadership as long as he sought to put their own race first.

As the Dark Apostle returned to the recovery area, the doctors did not have to work as hard to treat his injuries. The Fiery Axe hadn't been able to last long enough to inflict deeper and more serious wounds. The shallow cuts and burns made by her Fiery Axe could easily be treated with giant-sized editions of proven human treatments.

What was more important was for Ves to replenish his energy and other reserves. He had exerted himself quite a bit during the last two matches, so he drank a standard cargo container's worth of diluted phasewater and took a bite out of a giant-sized nutrient bar.

Yes, the Red Collective already developed special nutrient bars and nutrient packs for human phase lords.

They were surprisingly filling and appetizing. The Dark Apostle could somehow feel his belly at work. He had confidence that he could return to peak condition as soon as he was able to fully digest this nutrient supplement.

Near the end of the recovery period, the Dark Apostle adorned his next set of equipment.

Against an Ascended Giant who earned his fame for being good at throwing harpoons, it sounded prudent to enter the dueling ground with a heavy defensive loadout this time.

The combination of a heavy oval shield that was able to cover the head and torso and a serviceable raiment that provided stronger protection at the front should be able to deal with the threat.

Of course, neither Ves nor the Dark Apostle thought the Divine Harpoon was that simple to counter.

He wouldn't have been able to become the strategos of the Faceless Giant Phalanx if that was the case.

The Dark Apostle's exploding spear trick was already strong enough to become known as his signature move as a phase lord.

This implied that the Divine Harpoon's throwing ability might be comparable in power.

That introduced a completely different dynamic in the third fight. The Dark Apostle could not afford to start the next fight assuming that he would get an easy ride.

Of course, just because the Dark Apostle currently enjoyed a lot of frontal protection did not mean his attack ability was weak.

Just before the bots handed over the shortened spear, Blinky commanded them to pause.

"What are you doing?"

"Arming you with the Dark Fang seems inadequate to me. We still have the Dark Tooth left over from the previous duel. Sure, it has gotten banged up, but it still works… mostly."

"Are you suggesting that we enter the dueling ground with two spears instead of one? That will cut into our mass allowance."

"Know, but we can still shave a bit of weight here and there. After witnessing the previous two duels, I have learned that it is better to stack lots of armor in places that need defending and much less protection in places that are less critical. Right now, there are armor sections that fall in between. In hindsight, I think it is better to slim them down as they do not offer worthwhile enough protection as strong enough attacks can always go through."

"Will that be enough?"

"Probably not, but you don't need to bring along the complete Dark Tooth. It is a good thing that I designed it in a segmented configuration, so it will be easy for us to shorten it to a more compact size."

Since the Dark Apostle spawned from Ves' true body, he had a pretty good understanding of what the mech designer was thinking.

"You want to give me an extra throwing option. Since I did not throw the Dark Tooth in the end, I may as well do it in the next duel. This way, I won't be forced to remain passive."

Blinky nodded.

"Yes, but in order to make it all fit within our mass budget, I need to slim down both the Dark Tooth and the Dark Bulwark. Hold on for a moment. I need to tell these technicians to make a few last-minute modifications."

Time was short, but Ves had long noticed that the techs had access to excellent equipment.

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