The Mech Touch novel Chapter 5474

Chapter 5474 Omnivorous Mechs

Bang!

A round launched from the muzzle of the dark red rifle and rapidly crossed the distance to a tree hole where a scaled lizard-like creature made its nest.

Despite the alien lizard's diminutive body and lack of ferocity, its species possessed excellent instincts and reflexes. _{freewebnoveℓ.com}

The hunters who entered the Hanlin #6 Hunting Ground in the past rarely managed to hunt these sensitive and speedy lizards down.

This was because they could always sense a threat in time for them to dodge and move out of the way!

Their ability to evade attacks might not be as good as light mech specialists, but it was more than enough to avoid the vast majority of attacks launched by the casual and immature hunters that frequented this hunting ground.

While the alien lizard had already tensed its limbs in order to jump away in an instant, the creature suddenly froze in place!

Its reptilian eyes dilated and its scaled body shook in fear.

The reason for that was because the bullet that was heading straight towards its body happened to carry an additional passenger!

Maaaaaaw!

Just like the Valkyrie Redeemers that initiated their charges against their foes, Yaika was able to project her death power in a narrow cone in front.

Even though the black spiritual cat was much weaker than Helena, Yaika's aura of death was not a force that a small reptilian exobeast could resist!

Plop.

The bullet fired by the rifle was not that powerful, so the lizard did not explode on the spot. The projectile merely passed through the forehead of the creature and accurately struck the brain, thereby killing it instantly.

"That is how it is done." Andraste spoke with satisfaction even as she maintained her vigilance. "Did you see that, big sis? You should take a shot at the next creature we come across. I will even help you correct your aim this time so that you won't miss your shot!"

"Ah, that is okay, little sis. I can manage on my own. I know how to shoot."

"Yeah, sure." Andraste dismissively said.

"Maaaaaw!"

Yaika meanwhile returned triumphantly. The juvenile companion spirit had just participated in the act of taking the life of another creature in the most direct fashion possible.

As an entity that had managed to activate the seed of death embedded within her spirituality, Yaika managed to harvest a lot of new insights on life and death.

The black spiritual cat had grown excited because of these gains. Even if she and her principal were still too young to comprehend a lot of deep and profound concepts, just touching the surface of them was enough to influence the direction of Yaika's subsequent growth!

Andraste had spent so many hours on training her weapon skills that she never really thought about what would happen if she utilized her arms on the field.

It couldn't be helped. Despite her tremendous combat skills, no one in the Larkinson Clan ever thought about sending her off to battle!

At most, Andraste only got a taste of what it was like by killing virtual opponents in virtual combat scenarios, but only sparingly as it was not good for a child of her age to indulge in such a bloody spectacle.

Her father did her a favor by bringing her to a hunting ground where she could finally experience what it was like to take away the life of another organism.

Though the small lizard was not comparable to a human or one of the formidable aliens of the Red Ocean, her first true kill still had a notable impact on Andraste!

"Lucky, can you retrieve that lizard? I want to take a closer look."

"Meow."

The gem cat dashed forward and returned a short moment later with the bleeding lizard carcass between his teeth.

"Meow!"

Lucky hurriedly deposed the lizard carcass in front of Andraste. The cat certainly did not enjoy putting four-tasting organic matter close to his maw.

"Thank you, Lucky."

Andraste and Yaika studied the dead lizard in further detail. The smell was awful, but the breathing mask fortunately filtered out the worst of it. The bullet hole in the center of the forehead looked a bit odd.

It leaked out less alien blood than it should, and there was a dark and ominous air to it. Yaika's energy still lingered on this wound, causing the surrounding organic tissue to necrotize a lot sooner than it should.

"Do not underestimate your living mechs! I am sure they can keep themselves under control. Even if they go bad, so what? They are still under the control of their owners and mech pilots. There are enough restrictions that can prevent them from doing any damage. If you ask me, just accept the reality that there will always be bad apples among every batch. If you are truly worried about the risk that these deviating mechs may cause harm, you can task your design spirits to monitor and report them. That should help with correcting them before they slide any further."

That made a lot of sense. Ves slowly eased the conflict within his mind. Though he still couldn't get rid of his discomfort at the idea, this potential upgrade was too beneficial for him to dismiss. He felt obliged to implement it in all of his living mechs.

Bang!

"Oh, look! Andraste has killed her fifth exobeast." Helena smiled. "Given how enthused she looks, you should rein her in before she depopulates this entire forest."

Ves did not look too worried. "She will run out of bullets long before that happens."

He still stepped forward in order to guide and supervise his children.

While Andraste did not need any instructions, Ves spent a bit of time on helping his oldest and youngest children complete their first kills.

Aurelia looked squeamish as Lucky returned with a mottled ground-digging insect.

The alien insect looked disgusting, which made it a lot bearable for her to shoot it with her rifle. A look of distaste appeared on her face and Lucky eagerly dropped and distanced himself from the foul creature.

Two wounds caused the dead insect to leak strange green blood. Aurelia had been forced to fire two shots because her first one wasn't lethal enough.

Unlike the kills made by Andraste, the bullet holes of this insect looked a little cleaner and neater than normal.

Mana's attachment to the bullet did seem to carry special lethality, but Aurelia noticed that the insect moved a lot slower than before.

"Good job, honey." Ves proudly smiled as he stepped closer. "How do you feel about your first kill?"

"It... was not as bad as I thought." The girl spoke. "This exoinsect is too ugly. I did the cosmos a favor by getting rid of it. Ugly beasts do not deserve to exist."

Ves awkwardly coughed. "That is a bit too extreme, Aurelia. Beauty is subjective. There are many possible reasons why you want to kill others, but you should never use this standard to make this determination. There are much more practical and rational reasons for you to get rid of others."

"Can you expand on that, papa?"

"Sure..."