War Core, Book4: The Guardian by Dean Henegar

Author:Dean Henegar [Henegar, Dean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 21

More and more of the monster mech emerged from the sea as it approached the beach. Its body looked similar to a seal—if a seal had a maw filled with teeth for a head and a score of giant tentacles that fired beams of energy. The rows of teeth constantly moved around inside the mouth, and any mech that it bit would be torn up like it was in a giant garbage disposal. The Kraken’s body looked heavily armored, and Hugh couldn’t see any obvious weak spots. The metal alloy it was built from was tinted green and blue to match the sea, though given its bulk, Hugh didn’t think that camouflage was its strong suit.

Unlike the fish men earlier, the Kraken was ungainly on land, and it moved slowly by pulling itself with its flippers. Hugh was fine with its slow pace; every second it gave him was more time to build up his forces. The garrison mechs were responding, clustering at the south wall, which was still damaged from the fish men they had just fought off. A pair of air mechs were still in the fight, and both of those began to attack the approaching Kraken.

The Kraken whipped its tentacles in a fury as the fighters dove in with guns blazing. Beams flashed in all directions, but none managed to hit the fighters. A second and then a third gun pass was made before one of the air mechs was finally hit by a random shot. The surviving fighter kept up the pressure, and while the damage it was dealing was negligible, the Kraken had slowed its advance to try and deal with the air attack.

In his earlier campaigns, Hugh had usually been able to accomplish what he wanted with mostly ground forces. With such a powerful enemy vulnerable to a single type of mech, he would have to make sure his force composition was more well-rounded and not too specialized. Sea, air, and land units were going to have to be built and upgraded. It would be a bigger drain on his resources, but it would be necessary this time.

With a boom, the 75mm gun on the main battle mech went into action. The shell connected with one of the flailing tentacles, blasting it from the Kraken. The .50-caliber rounds from the air mech had melted into the armor but hadn’t penetrated yet, but with the main battle mech in the fight, Hugh had some firepower that could put a hurt on that monster. A quick check revealed that might not be his only option to reach and hurt the Kraken. His missile launcher had finally replaced one of the missiles he had expended earlier.

Given the Kraken’s slow pace, Hugh had little trouble calculating the aim point for the missile. With a whoosh, the missile left the launcher and flew toward the Kraken. It seemed to notice, and the firing rate of its tentacle beams increased. Hugh got lucky and none of the beams connected with the incoming missile.

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