The Fast Attack Mecha activated their jump packs and flew over the defenders, landing with the First Battalion's force facing the former town while the other four Battalion's Mecha began to flood the mine entrances with Fusion Flames.
The effect was immediately effective and incredibly brutal. Even from his current distance of eight kilometers away, Max could hear the Klem shrieking from underground as they struggled to stay alive and find a way out of the tomb that they found themselves inside.
[Thermal Scans detect another exit point at two kilometers east. The shaft stops just short of the surface, most likely a Klem-created emergency exit. Fifth Battalion is heading there now.] Colonel Klinger reported, a hint of joy in his voice, that he was the first to find it and claim the new target for themselves.
The Thunder Guns blasted the cap off of the nearly finished tunnel as the Fast Attack units arrived, wiping out the Klem who tried to escape to the surface with their Disintegrators before filling the shaft with Fusion Flames.
This time their attack didn't go unanswered, and Max saw that they had pulled a number of wandering Klem to their position with the Thunder Guns, which could be heard for dozens of kilometers around them.
[We have incoming from every direction. Outer flanks, take defense. Core positions continue on target. We will keep moving through the target, and then I will use Cleansing Light to collapse the mine after the Flamers have finished with it. Just in case there were some safe zones.] Max ordered.
Realistically, he could take care of this minor target entirely on his own, but keeping the entire Regiment together was the best call in case of a counterattack. If that mine had been full of fully grown Shredders, they would have needed Cleansing Light to deal with the influx of Giant Klem, despite the low population of detected defenders.
[Time for the fun stuff, Commander. Terminus detects a group of ten Behemoths heading for your position from the next location along your route. It looks like they couldn't wait to play.] Nico reported, highlighting them on the map.
Melting a mine full of eggs was a pretty sure way to draw every Klem in the area to their position, so Max wasn't surprised to see the incoming Behemoths before they had even fully reached the target.
[I will move forward to deal with the Behemoths before they get the Regiment in range. Continue with the plan.] Max decided.
The Behemoths were very obviously freshly hatched, still showing the glistening shell remains on their bodies that they hadn't had the chance to absorb yet. The Klem had picked them, or modified them, specifically to deal with the Regiment, and each of them had both a tail that fired chitin spikes and two giant arms with crushing pincers.
If they got close to the Regiment, they could cause dozens of casualties in only a few seconds.
Max began to close with them, unafraid of the spikes and wanting to get a good shot with the Disruptors without going too far in the air and attracting even more attention to their location.
The spikes weren't their only defense, though, and the ten Behemoths all unleashed energy blasts on par with an Ion Bombard Cannon at the same time, forcing Max to dodge to avoid taking heavy damage.
That was another new attack for them. Energy attacks weren't unheard of for the Klem, but they usually took a form more like lightning and not this controlled burst. The Klem of this world were definitely learning new things that he really didn't want them to know.
Max retaliated with his Disruptors, taking out two of the Behemoths in an instant before being forced to dodge again as a wave of spikes and energy balls was sent his way in return.
If it wasn't for his increased cognitive speed, there was no way that he would be able to dodge that, and Cleansing Light would have just taken two direct hits from a group with the firepower of a half dozen Phalanx Class Mecha.
It didn't make any sense. They weren't near the border. This wasn't a strategic target or rich in biomass for them to reproduce. There was no reason for so many Behemoths to be staged in the middle of nowhere.
Not knowing was really getting on Max's nerves, and he could feel the frustration beginning to affect his movements, making his controls a bit more harsh and jerky than intended.
Realizing that he was making a mistake by overthinking with his increased mental capacity, Max instead focused on tactics to deal with just the Klem in front of him.
There was no terrain to hide behind. Both Cleansing Light and the Klem were far too large for the small hills in the area, so it was going to come down to a slugfest. He was more agile, so he should be able to dodge most of the incoming fire, while the Behemoths were heavily armored, forcing him to concentrate all three Disruptors from one arm to ensure their destruction.
Every shot left an enormous crater at their location, as the ground they stood on had no such resistance, but there was nothing else he could do. A single beam wasn't enough to guarantee a kill, and his sensors couldn't tell him if two would do the job, so Max was staying with what he knew worked.
Two more beams flashed out from his arms, disintegrating two more Behemoths, and another wave of fire came in.
This time it wasn't directed just at Cleansing Light but at his likely escape routes as well. Max dodged and moved into the air, avoiding the majority of the attacks, taking only a few spikes and one energy blast on his shields. The barrier held, but the blast was enough to visibly drop the effectiveness of the outer layer.
A full barrage of all twelve remaining energy blasts might actually be enough to drop his shield to critical levels, leaving him vulnerable to another spread shot, so Max knew he still had to keep dodging instead of standing and firing.
The next volley from Cleansing Light dropped two more Behemoths, and Max breathed a sigh of relief. The odds were back in his favor. Even if he made a gross miscalculation, he should be fine taking what they could put out for the few minutes they would survive.
