The combination of Drone Fighters and Mecha fire was driving back the Klem lines, with the insects fleeing back to the relative safety of the ruins to get away from the drones.

[All Units spread out and advance. Maintain your spacing and close in on the city. If the Klem force continues to fall back, we will take and hold the outer city area.] Max ordered, then changed all his screens to show a composite aerial view compiled by the Drones.historical

That would let everyone in the Regiment use his firing solutions, thanks to [Unified Force], while Max himself took a much-needed breather. Fighting in the air was much more taxing than fighting from a stationary position on the ground, after all.

He just needed to remain awake so that the Regiment could continue to gain the advantage of his Targeting Functions, which were making quick work of the Klem Shredders and Tyrants, which further demoralized the remaining warriors, who relied on the heavier carapace chitin of their large kin to get close to the Mecha.

[Third Battalion, watch your left flank, I have tagged a large group of Warriors trying to sneak up on you. Fourth Battalion, hold fast, you have a wave of Warriors coming straight for you, and your lines are getting spread out.]

The warriors were counterattacking in full force, tens of thousands of bodies rushing through the cities, so densely packed that they appeared to be charging over top of their own kin to try to be first to the enemy.

Max could see that the Fusion Flamers weren't going to be enough to fend off this wave, which wasn't just following the streets but charging over and through the ruins of the buildings that used to make up the city, so he took to the air again, intending to thin the charges with a wide Disruptor beam.

The Klem army was ready for that and began firing at him with Tyrants and a new group of Behemoths the moment that he came into sight above the horizon.

It did reduce the attacks on the Regiment a little, but their primary concern wasn't the heaviest of Klem attackers, but the fact that the warriors outnumbered them a hundred to one and had the advantage of cover.

Max dodged the incoming attacks and began sweeping the area with his Disruptors set on maximum dispersion while circling the city to relieve every Battalion in turn. The effect was good but not as complete as he had expected. The Klem warriors didn't just look like they were climbing over their comrades, they really were, and the bodies of the upper level shielded the lower level from his disruptors, letting the Klem Warriors surge toward the Mecha lines while Max was forced to move along and render aid to the rest of his forces evenly so that none of them was overwhelmed.

Fusion Fires lit up the suburbs, turning the weaker building materials of residential areas to ash and stopping the Klem attack in its tracks for a moment until it could build up enough of a pile of intact bodies to force its way into melee.

[Fifth Battalion, as we discussed. Ten Meters back and continue firing.] Colonel Klinger ordered a moment before the other Battalions did the same.

He was the last that Max had to relieve, so the swarm was heaviest at his position, piled up thickly and already defended by an impressive pile of corpses.

If it weren't for the fact that the Klem would Cannibalize their dead to provide biomass for the next wave, Max would be stunned at their ability even to maintain their force with this sort of tactic. Still, he had to admit that against the overwhelming firepower of the Mecha, it was incredibly effective.

His Disruptors made a double pass over the line in front of the Fifth Battalion, thinning the Klem ranks and vaporizing a large portion of the corpses that they had piled up for their attack.

[Shields to the front. They are getting ready to push.] The Battalion Commanders ordered, and the Line Mecha made a wall of interlocking shields nearly as tall as their Mecha while the Fast Attack Mecha backed them up to make a wall of fire that should vaporize the wall that the Klem tide was going to shove along in front of them before it could reach the lines.

Max spun on the spot, using more concentrated Disruptor beams and his defensive Lasers to tear gaps in the Klem barriers all through the city, unfortunately destroying even more buildings. There likely wasn't much evidence to be found here, but they had advanced past a large portion of the suburbs with minimal resistance, so he would have scouts search those buildings that hadn't taken much damage for evidence of what happened when the Klem first arrived here.

That left him stationary in the air, and he took a furious wave of attacks from the Klem heavy attackers, but his shields were holding up well enough for the moment.

It was beginning to look like a wholesale victory for the Regiment when a thunderous noise filled the air. A ten-meter-wide swathe of the city collapsed, making a ring of lowered ground a hundred meters in front of the Mecha lines, from which a furious wave of attackers poured forth.

These were undeniable Klem, with four arms and chitinous spikes on the lower arms, but they also had hands on the upper arms and a bipedal stance, which let them utilize the remnants of what appeared to be the human defenders' equipment.

They were all wearing pants, and some had either a shirt or body armor on, while others had a chitinous shell on their torso, but the most important part was that they were all carrying infantry weapons.

Nico's voice filled the airwaves a half second later.

[I have good news and bad news, Commander. The good news is that those things are full-blooded Klem and not made from humans, just in their image.]

[And the bad news]

[They know how to use the Plasma Rifles]