Though the bots responded remarkably quickly by turning around, Ves was too close to let them have their way!
"DEATH!"
He utilized his raw power to grab and tear one of the ranged bots apart, only to get blocked by an energy shield.
"THAT WON'T STOP ME FOR LONG!"
Ves instinctively concentrated on his fist and caused it to gain transphasic attack properties.
It was a relatively crude and inefficient application, but it was not too difficult to pull it off. He wasn't even worried about tearing his own flesh.
Ves punched again, causing his fist to break through the relatively weak energy shield and almost pierce right through the chest of the relatively fragile machine!
He punched the other nearby battle bots as well, completely ending their threat before they could launch too many attacks.
Ves suddenly looked down at the rifles that they had dropped. They were not designed like ordinary mech rifles, but had been specially modified in several ways.
Even though Ves found it a lot more difficult to maintain the calm and highly analytical mind of a mech designer in his current physical state, his brain had not completely degenerated to the level of a simple brute.
"Let's see."
Ves picked up the transphasic gauss rifle and held it in a relatively unfamiliar grip.
Normal mech weapons were locked to their assigned machines, thereby preventing enemy mechs from taking advantage of them on the battlefield.
lightsΝοvel This was not the case right now. The mechers had deliberately kept these weapons unlocked to see how Ves could handle them in his current form.
He only received a shallow amount of firearms training, and he mostly stuck to using pistols as opposed to long rifles.
Bang!
Ves couldn't help but feel embarrassed when the first pull of the trigger resulted in a gauss round that missed one of the surviving ranged bots by over five meters!
However, he quickly decided to drop to his knees and take the time to aim his weapon properly.
Bang!
This time, he managed to land a solid hit!
The power of the transphasic gauss rifle was not only able to break the energy shield of his target, but also penetrate through its weak armor.
Even though his aim was still a little off, he easily managed to finish off the crippled machine with a follow-up attack.
Ves fired the weapon several times until he managed to eliminate the other remaining ranged bots.
That significantly reduced the pressure and made him feel a lot less restrained.
At this time, the melee bots had come enough to make it a lot less convenient to keep firing gauss rounds at the incoming machines.
Instead, Ves imitated his second daughter and held his gauss rifle like a club.
"COME!"
Ves clumsily tried to evade most of the incoming strikes while trying to break through the defenses of another mech.
However, he found out that his rifle made for a poorer weapon than his fist. It did not have any transphasic properties when utilized in this manner.
This prevented him from inflicting meaningful damage to the defensive bot that had placed itself at the front!
His spatial barrier clanged as the attacks of the other bots exerted a lot of damage to him. The transphasic sword especially stressed his defenses to the point where Ves had to exert his Kelsis organ more extensively in order to compensate.
Ves tossed aside his useless rifle and started to back off and prevent himself from getting surrounded.
However, the bots had already managed to enclose him from every side!
Ves did not think much further and activated all of the phasewater in his body to displace himself a short distance away!
CRACK!
He immediately emerged behind one of the melee bots. His fist quickly crashed through the energy shield and damaged the vulnerable rear of the machine in question!
A few more transphasic punches was enough to cripple the machine, but by this time several nearby bots had quickly turned around and slammed themselves against his spatial barrier!
"AH!"
The spatial barriers held, but Ves felt so uncomfortable that he couldn't help but back away before he endured more strain.
Ves tried to maneuver around to prevent the bots from ganging up on him, but his agility and movement speed were not as good as that of his adversaries, making this effort useless.
He could only win this bout if he went on the offensive!
Ves began to employ his other spatial abilities. He utilized his Maracos organ to bend the space in front of a mech.
When the machine entered the bent region of space, it suddenly went off course and stumbled to the side, but that was all that happened.
He frowned and tried to activate the same ability onto another machine. This caused him to encounter greater resistance. The bot showed a few signs of distress, but Ves failed to tear it apart from within.
Ves was not strong and skilled enough to pull off this feat!
Since that was the case, Ves stuck to what worked and steadily eliminated the remaining bots one by one by utilizing his strong defenses and his tricky ability to displace himself.
Though the exertion was not small, Ves quickly increased his proficiency in his innate teleportation ability.
Not only was he able to teleport short distances at smaller delays, but he also gained a bit more comprehension of phasewater and the properties of space.
Ves found that his affinity towards space had become much more pronounced. He felt as if he could quickly advance his instinctual understanding of phasewater theory as long as he kept exercising his various spatial abilities in this liberated state!
Crunch!
His transphasic fists grew stronger and more piercing as Ves gradually refined his application of his phase lord power.
By the time he managed to eliminate all of the bots aside from the one equipped like a transphasic knight mech, he was able to repeatedly bash the defenses of this powerful machine until it crumbled under his onslaught!
Ves started to breathe a little heavier. He had exhausted himself quite a bit, to the point where he was starting to grow really hungry.
It appeared that exercising his body and spatial abilities with his true body dramatically increased his energy consumption!
Fortunately, his massively oversized body also possessed enormous energy reserves, making it so that he could probably keep this up for a long time.
"We will give you five minutes to rest before we commence the next phase." Jovy announced.
Ves did not really feel the passage of time in his current state. Five minutes came and went so quickly that he jerked in surprise when an entirely different opponent entered the testing chamber.
A second-class hyper mech had appeared of a design that he did not recognize.
A bad feeling came over Ves. Though the materials and tech incorporated into the machine were not that much better, a real professional mech pilot was in control!
The battle bots of before had all been controlled by dumbed down AIs. There had been no need to make them good as the mechers only wanted to test Ves' raw combat performance.
This time was different. Putting Ves up against a real mech was a more comprehensive test that could truly showcase the differences between a phase lord and the most common weapon platform of humanity!
As a mech designer, Ves deeply appreciated the differences that a trained mech pilot could make. There was no way this second-class mech would be a pushover.