Danika stared out at the battle without doing anything. Portions of the village wall looked damaged and partially melted, so she assumed that the mecha-like figures had some sort of flame attack, although she didn't see any currently firing.
A particularly energetic member of Justin's guild, EmeraldHearts, shouted "Flip flip flip!" He put actions to his words and used a series of backflips to approach a particularly sturdy mecha. As his heels hit the 'face' of the battle armor a loud crack, like a lightning strike, cut through the air. To Danika's amazement, the suit of armor cracked like an egg.
The dwarven occupant looked utterly shocked as a piece fell away, revealing his face. But when FLIPS FOR DAYS flipped again, the dwarf blocked the next blow and retreated. Two undamaged battle armors closed the gap, but an arrow streaked between them as SaltySiamese took advantage of the opportunity.
Danika turned to ask Justin something like, 'Why haven't you just melted them all?' but her Analyze Target skill showed her how low his energy levels were. Another glance at the battle ground beyond the walls showed small craters that were still smoking, and even a few small fires, but the mechanical battle suits didn't appear to have anything worse than a few singe marks.
FLIPS bounced away and then flipped towards an armored suit that had been left unguarded on its left side by the flex of the front line of attackers. "That guy is uh… pretty unusual," Danika commented as she zipped downward.
Justin shot her a sharp look. His mouth had already been compressed into a flat line, but at her words he spat, "Don't judge people that you don't know anything about! He can't walk without mechanical assistance in real life. Just let him be extravagant."
He rubbed his face and glared at the battle again. A moment later he used her method of flinging a light cantrip out with a second spell attached. Danika watched as the little light passed through the glass wall and hit one of the battle armors in the knee. The large metal figure fell out of step as the suits on either side of it pressed forward.
The sharp words that she'd almost returned to him dissolved, and she used her Restore prayer. She wasn't sure how high the cost was going to be when his health seemed to be pretty full, and only his energy was depleted, and was pleasantly surprised when she only lost about 50 Karma despite the fact that his level had increased to 247 and he was now a Genius rank character like Logical Heart.
Justin gazed up at her with a slightly dazed expression, and she found that she couldn't help but make a mild retort after all. "You know, you also judge people without knowing anything. I can't walk in real life either."
SaltySiamese shouted from her position on the wall, "Terri needs assistance!"
Danika turned away from Justin and zipped over the wall toward the armored paladin who rode Ranma. He was still playing his horse character almost a year later. Terri's health was lower than her energy, but she wasn't in immediate danger so Danika focused on the armored figures that had the two of them pinned. She corrected herself a moment later, the six of them pinned.
Terri and Ranma were working in sync to block the attacks of the heavy armored figures, while four other characters played supporting roles. Two of them were using mid ranged attacks, and the other two seemed to be either healing or casting buffs on the pair.
The cute-loving girl gave off an entirely different impression of herself in a battle field. This was where her character's robust Valkyrie-like stature showed its true purpose. Her protective and defensive skills were top notch, and her own attacks were nearly as powerful as the ones she was receiving from the battle armored dwarves.
Danika triggered ZipZing's invisibility and zipped forward. She wasn't as skilled at flying on her tablet, which used almost the same interface as her phone, and ZipZing smacked into the armor. It didn't matter though, she simply cast her featherweight spell on the elaborately decorated metal that now filled her view, and then used the Random Teleport that she'd learned from Aishin.
Terri's next attack hit with her usual overbearing force and this time the mecha-like figure was blown half a dozen meters away from her. Her face showed her shock, but her equine partner danced neatly out of range of the next armor's attack, and then stepped into the perfect position for Terri to slam her shield into place in front of their healer.
Justin now hovered in the air above the village, on his slowly sinking magic carpet, and a small condensed fireball that glowed blue-white streaked toward the fallen battle armor. For a second Danika wondered why he didn't use that on one of the other figures that Terri was holding back, and then the fireball hit.
It didn't shoot through the armor like a bullet, it smacked into it and stuck with a splash of almost violet flame. Heat radiated from it like a small sun and anything that could still burn within two meters of it burst into flame, and as the fireball shrank the armor around it began to melt. The helm of the figure quivered and bulged, but it couldn't seem to open properly.
The mage was powerful, but he was obviously almost as dangerous to friend as to foe if he was careless. He was not careless, and even though they seemed to clash over something every time they met, Danika actually trusted his judgement.
She turned and zipped over Terri's shoulder, letting the paladin get a glimpse of her sparkling wings before she renewed her invisibility and targeted the next suit of battle armor.
Terri grinned fiercely, and her next blow used the skill that she'd once used to blast a tree stump out of the ground. The armor's occupant had seen her blow back the other one, and he (or she) was both prepared and very skilled. The enormous armored suit actually landed on its feet.
The occupant may have been surprised by their own success, and an unfortunate second passed before it started to move again. Justin's next fireball wasn't charged up to more than a bright red, but he sent it streaking toward the suit's head. The direct hit didn't seem to do more than burn against the surface, but a moment later SaltySiamese sent a half dozen arrows, one after the other, streaking into the heart of the fire.
Danika didn't think that adding a bit of wood into the fireball would do much to increase its effectiveness, but she discovered that she had misjudged the purpose. Each arrow was actually driving the fireball a little deeper into the armor, and the last one pushed it all the way inside.
With only one opponent left in close range, Terri and her supporters took it down. They had to break the suit open and attack the occupant directly in order to finish it off, but they succeeded.
Danika guided ZipZing back to the safety of the village wall before stopping to survey the battlefield for another good place to assist someone. The armored suits were obviously constructed after the steampunk expansion with the new materials. There had to be a limited number of them.