One after another, War Wolf mechs were blasted into pieces in the smoke and fire, their pilots crying out in despair, futilely retaliating, only to be obliterated under the enemy's barrage.
They had once had their moments of heroism.
Before being shattered, one War Wolf mech fired three Sidewinder missiles at Tychus. These missiles were renowned for their cunning and agile evasion capabilities. Remarkably, one of them managed to penetrate through Tychus' web of defenses, striking his mech hard, sending him flying.
Although Tychus nonchalantly got back on his feet, he bitterly discovered that the Sidewinder had hit his cannon component, rendering it useless.
Reno walked over, examining it. "It's not too serious. One vacuum compression chamber is damaged. Claire, can you help?"
Claire rushed over, took out a chamber from her toolbox, and was about to install it on Tychus when Reno said, "Let me handle it."
He raised his hand, and the chamber flew automatically toward Tychus' damaged area, while the damaged chamber detached from Tychus' mech.
"You can use telekinesis through the mech?" Claire exclaimed in surprise.
"I couldn't before, but I just wanted to try... Stark did it on Earth," Reno replied.
However, both he and Claire knew very well that what Stark did and what Reno did were entirely different. While Stark manipulated flames on Earth, the flames themselves were emitted by the mech; he only controlled them.
Reno, on the other hand, continued to use telekinesis through the mech, a significant difference.
"But it's also quite draining," Reno said casually, retracting his hand.
"After we return, we'll need to check your body again," Claire chuckled.
"Enough talk, the fight isn't over yet." Tychus, with the new chamber installed, snorted. The multi-barreled cannon on his left arm roared back to life, unleashing another frenzy of bullets.
Advancing amidst the gunfire, the five-man mech squad swept aside everything blocking their path with brute force and ruthlessness.
When the last War Wolf mech was reduced to scrap metal, they stood in front of the gates of the research base, surrounded by debris. The only thing still resisting was the distant anti-aircraft guns, stubbornly engaging the skyships under system control.
"It seems to be over, doesn't it?" Wang Yile observed the base.
The gate was a bit small for the six-meter-tall mechs to enter directly, meaning everyone had to exit their mechs to go inside.
Just as he was about to come out, Reno suddenly said, "Wait a minute, wasn't there supposed to be some secret weapon? Why haven't we seen it?"
"Maybe it's just a rumor," Nora suggested.
Before Reno could respond, the ground suddenly trembled.
It was somewhat like an earthquake but quick and not very intense. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like something was crawling underground.
Reno remembered something and shouted, "Flight mode!"
Without time for further explanation, Reno jumped into the air, and the other four followed suit, switching their mechs to flight mode and ascending into the sky.
At the same time, dozens of dark objects shot out of the ground, spinning rapidly toward Reno and his team's mechs, emitting sharp arcs of light. Upon closer inspection, they were unmistakably mechanical spiders.
"It's Widowmakers!" Claire exclaimed.
The Widowmakers, more precisely known as Rippers, were mechanical spiders equipped with SHS-199 ion blades on their mechanical legs. They had jet ports in their abdomens, making them typical close-quarters combat machines. Once they got close to a target, they would use the jet ports to spin rapidly and cut continuously, launching a series of attacks.
The ion blades of Rippers were extremely destructive against energy shields. When attacking a target, they generated high-frequency oscillations, each strike equivalent to hundreds or thousands of consecutive hits, thus significantly depleting shield energy. Moreover, due to their fast and elusive movements, they were highly lethal to ordinary infantry. Besides being able to deal with mechs, they were also typical infantry killers, hence the name Widowmakers or Widows' Makers.
Because they were close-quarters machines, these Widowmakers' favorite tactic was to hide underground and launch a sudden attack when the troops approached.
The reason Reno hadn't thought of these guys was that Tianhe 4 was a rocky planet, covered with rocks rather than sand, which was not conducive to underground hiding. But he didn't expect the base to have excavated the underground near the research institute in advance.
To be honest, this was not a reasonable thing to do. Hollowing out a whole section of the ground just to bury some mechanical spiders seemed grandiose but was actually an investment greater than the return.
It was precisely because of this reason that Reno had overlooked it.
Fortunately, when the Widowmakers emerged from the ground, their slight vibrations breaking through the rock layers alerted Reno, and everyone escaped in time.
"Damn it!" Tychus roared in anger.
His leap slowed for a moment, still struck by a Widowmaker's ion blade, just one strike causing his energy shield to drop by eighteen percent.
The mech stabilized in the air, its heavy cannon aimed at the Widowmaker below.
"Fire!" Tychus bellowed loudly as the mech's cannon began to roar.
Against such close-range threats, onboard heavy cannons were the best choice.
Nearly a hundred mechanical spiders charged up simultaneously. These close combat machines were fast, elusive, and unpredictable, not to mention their considerable numbers. Even with Tychus' firepower, they couldn't be suppressed.
"Retreat quickly!" Tychus shouted.
In just a moment, at least three Widowmakers broke through his firepower net, striking him fiercely. Although he managed to blast them off immediately, the energy shield of his mech rapidly plummeted, soon reaching critical levels.
Then another Widowmaker rushed up, its high-frequency ion blade cutting across Tychus' mech. With a resounding bang, Tychus' energy shield shattered completely.
"They're too fast!" Nora shouted as well.
It wasn't just Tychus who was in trouble; Nora, Wang Yile, Claire, and Reno's mechs were all in jeopardy. They were no longer relying on energy shields but the sheer hardness of their mechs to resist. However, the Widowmakers' ion blades kept striking down, threatening to break through the thick outer shell and expose the vulnerable core.
Vulnerable?
Perhaps not.
Reno watched coldly as wave after wave of mechanical spiders rushed towards them, witnessing these cold, hard, powerful, merciless, and terrifying machines!
And then, he suddenly let go.
Stopped defending, allowing those mechanical spiders to tear at his mech.
"Reno, what are you doing?" Claire screamed.
"Gather all firepower, prepare to attack!" Reno replied.
Hearing this, everyone understood what Reno intended to do.
He wanted to hold them with telekinesis because the consumption within the mech was too high, so he needed to leave the mech to use it.
But there were too many spiders, and he couldn't do it. Moreover, in that situation, he himself would be in danger of being taken out by a stray shot at any moment due to being too close to the spiders.
"No, Reno, you can't do that!" Claire shouted.
"We can only do this!" Reno replied. "Be prepared, we are warriors, we only execute, no hesitation!"
These words left everyone speechless. Inside the transport ship, Camilla, Nava, Virus, Modi, Marsha also stared blankly at the scene.
But Reno's eyes flickered with a fierce fighting spirit.
A large number of mechanical spiders, due to the weakened firepower on this side, swarmed up, crazily clawing at the mechs.
Finally, a mechanical spider's ion blade sliced open the mech's cockpit door, revealing Reno inside.
Just as the ion blade was about to strike down, Reno suddenly stared.
As if time stood still, all the converging mechanical spiders froze in place simultaneously.
"Fire!!!" Reno shouted.
"Roar!" Tychus screamed frantically, never letting go of the trigger, pouring out all the bullets, shells, missiles, and lasers. With him were Claire, Nora, and Wang Yile, all pouring out firepower.
Until the continuous clicks, accompanied by the monotonous sound of laser emissions, everyone realized that they had exhausted all their ammunition, and only the laser emitter could still be used.
The battlefield was in chaos, with the wreckage of mechanical spiders and broken mechs scattered everywhere.
"Reno!" Seeing this scene, all four of them shouted simultaneously, rushing towards the mech.
They pulled apart a mechanical spider that was stuck in the mech and saw Reno inside the cockpit.
He had been hit by three shots, and his abdomen had been stabbed by an ion blade.
But he was still alive.
He lay in a pool of blood, looking at everyone, a faint smile on his face.
"Well done," he said.
Seeing Reno's appearance, Nora burst into tears of joy. At that moment, she forgot her oath and came out of the mech, embracing Reno's neck and crying bitterly.
Seeing this scene, Claire's heart softened, but she said nothing, just came out as well, grabbing Reno's arm silently and treating him.
The two sisters, one hooking his neck, the other grabbing his arm, Tychus and Wang Yile saw it and took a few steps back at the same time, then turned around, no longer looking at what was happening behind them.