Drex was certainly a great noble of the Luman Kingdom; throughout the kingdom, there were no more than eight Ranger class Knight Titans in total.
And his family owned one, personally piloted by him, an Earl; you can imagine the status that conferred.
Therefore, he didn't want to risk his life needlessly.
As an Earl of the Luman Kingdom, after twenty years of accumulating wealth, the Drex family finally purchased a Ranger class Knight Titan six years ago. Since then, the path to sky-rocketing through the ranks of nobility was laid out before them.
Although they incurred a significant amount of debt to do so, and the King himself offered substantial support in purchasing the Knight Titan, which meant they had to fight firmly for the King.
But in reality, he still wasn't keen on gambling his life.
As long as he piloted this Ranger class Titan, the Drex family's Earl status was incredibly secure and even presented the opportunity to vie for higher titles, more land, and more vassals in the future.
Pay off the debts early, expand territory...
But if this Knight Titan was destroyed, then everything would be finished.
Although he couldn't refuse the summoning of the King and he truly believed in the grand vision painted by King Luman.
They would give their full support to one faction in the struggle within the Gu Family, an interstellar conglomerate, and should they succeed, massive benefits awaited.
However, most of these benefits belonged to the King himself.
King Luman would be able to seize this opportunity to gain significant profits and even lead the nation to become the strongest on Heijian Star, potentially even abolishing the King's Council to forever hold the governorship of Heijian Star in his own hands, thereby becoming King of the whole world.
And him? As a loyal follower of King Luman, he also rightfully expected his share of the spoils. A couple more Ranger Knights, a larger territory, more subjects... but that's about it.
If there was an opportunity to gain more, that would be great; but first, he had to secure what he already held.
To put it bluntly, even if King Luman succeeded in the end, and Drex's Knight Titan was damaged in the war, how much would the King remember their family's contribution?
Could that remembrance produce another Ranger Mecha?
That was contingent on the King's conscience.
And judging by what he knew of his own King, relying on his 'kindness and nostalgia' was unrealistic.
When the time came, King Luman's likely attitude would be: I could use that money to rebuild your family, but it would be better spent courting other powerful families still intact.
So what could the Drex family do then? Wouldn't they just have to swallow their broken teeth?
Not wanting to end up in that situation was what Drex thought; the pilot of the other Ranger Knight involved in this battle seemed to share a similar sentiment.
The two of them, understanding each other without speaking, made the same choice when they encountered difficulties. Explore stories on empire
Originally, they planned to withdraw and reload their rocket ammunition before using their range advantage to bombard the enemy from a distance and be done with it.
As long as they maintained the intensity of the military strike, they would have done their duty; after all, the cost of the rocket shells was reimbursed by the King.
A charge into the fray?
Let's see how it goes after the bombardment.
However, communication from His Majesty the King arrived.
The two were scolded mercilessly, and they received a royal command, demanding that they intercept the army that was retreating from the capital.
According to His Majesty, there was a 'VIP' within their ranks crucial to the success of their mission. They were to spare no expense in intercepting this force.
And then there was the veiled threat:
"This is the time for you to demonstrate your loyalty to the kingdom. If you fail, I swear by the name of Luman and the name of the King, you will pay the price!"
With those words, what else was there to say?
Drex had little faith in King Luman's promised compensation or rewards after the fact, but he believed that the punishment he mentioned would very likely be realized.
Reluctantly, no matter how much resentment or complaints he had, he had to take action together with the other Ranger Knight Titan operator.
The two of them, leading the army, operated with rare efficiency, successfully located the retreating Rage Owl Star army on the outskirts of town, and intercepted them.
This should have been an easy battle.
Overall, their estimation of the so-called 'Alliance' army was very high. The combat power of the regular soldiers was far superior to that of the Luman Kingdom's conscripts by several grades; hundreds of armored vehicles and eighteen Lion Tanks were formidable adversaries.
But he also believed that, under their two Knight Titans, those tanks and armored vehicles were all like lambs to the slaughter.
This was not an assault on an enemy's well-prepared fortifications that would be met with hundreds of guns at the ready. What they had to face were only tanks and armored vehicles, which posed a much smaller threat to Knight Titans in a field encounter.
Sitting in the cockpit of the Ranger Knight Mecha, Drex fired the rocket launchers in rapid succession.
The previously empty missile pods, not fully reloaded yet, combined with his colleague's, still amounted to thirteen rockets fired with precision, causing considerable damage.
Multiple troop carriers and armored vehicles were destroyed; with this one strike, the Alliance had already paid a substantial price.
Regrettably, two rockets aimed at the tanks veered off target and failed to take down the Lion Tanks.
But then, they set their sights on those big targets. Their high-velocity grenade launchers and laser cannons began firing furiously.
Under their onslaught, the Lion Tanks, serving as the spearhead of the charge, were destroyed, three falling within just a few minutes.
The Knight Titans kept firing while striding forward with giant steps, fiercely and overwhelmingly advancing towards the Alliance Army.
At the sides of the two Knight Titans, over eighty Sentinel Mechas and more than twenty thousand conscripts were charging along.
But the Alliance Army, despite suffering significant losses, showed no intention of retreating.
Their morale seemed hardly affected, and they proceeded to clash head-on with their adversaries.
The 'Lion Tanks', advancing in an assault formation, fired back fiercely.
Heavy machine guns, Reflector Laser Sub-Cannons, Magnetic Rail Main Guns... when it came to firepower, the Lion Tanks were equally formidable.
At least destroying the Sentinel Mechas near the Knight Titans wasn't a big problem.