Yep. No matter how many times I look at it, it still seems wrong.
Spurred on by the mechanic’s warm encouragement to look up so he could explain the mech, I lifted my head.
There it was—my own personal mech, its huge hybrid form standing front and center. It hadn’t moved, of course; that wasn’t the issue. The problem was the thing itself. It was wrong.
But before I get into why it was wrong, let me give you a quick rundown of how these things are usually categorized.
I’ve already covered their official name and the materials they’re made from, so I’ll go straight to the types.
There were two main categories of mech.
The first was the standard humanoid model. In Japan, these were called Kusanagi-type units. Here in Japan, they were generally built using the corpses of monsters like ox-headed Gozuki and horse-headed Mezuki, while in the West, they used giants like Minotaurs and Gigantes.
What set this type apart was their ability to mimic human movements.
They could dual-wield swords, carry shields, and even mount heavy weaponry. Naturally, the more skilled the pilot, the more effective they were in combat. Folks who had trained in martial arts from a young age or had experience with firearms tended to prefer these.
The second were beast-like mechs, also known as Yatsufusa types here.
As the name implied, these units took the shapes of animals. They were usually quadrupedal, which meant they were lower to the ground compared with the standard humanoid types.
Beast-like mechs were built from the remains of monsters that had mutated from large creatures like tigers, bears, or wolves.
Their main advantages were their excellent stability and traversal capability thanks to their lower center of gravity and four-legged form. They weren’t as flexible when it came to gear, but they often had built-in fangs and claws, and you could mount cannons on their backs or shoulders. This made them ideal for sniper positions that standard models couldn’t reach, giving them an edge in terms of firepower.
Plus, since they were lower to the ground and built from more agile monsters, they were better at evading enemies. They weren’t as strong defensively, sure, but they more than made up for it in terms of maneuverability.
That said, beast-like mechs were bulkier, and their cannons got in the way, so running several of them in a close formation was tough. It wasn’t impossible to coordinate them like a real wolf pack, but it took a lot of training. Still, it was easier than learning martial arts from scratch, so pilots without much skill in hand-to-hand fighting often preferred them.
To sum it all up, standard human-type mechs were versatile and durable, and with the right training, they could be operated in groups. They were used in the main forces or advance deployments and could also handle tasks like construction or camp setup. Beast types, on the other hand, shone in solo missions—reconnaissance, harrying enemy forces, sniping, and the like. They were also handy in situations where signal interference might become a problem, since they could relay orders independently, so they were mostly found in scouting and vanguard units.
That was it as far as basic knowledge went. Anything further got into specialized knowledge that only mattered once you were assigned a personal unit, so I hadn’t bothered studying that far.
Once you understood the differences between the two types, one question would naturally come to mind looking at the mech in front of me: What on earth was the idea behind this thing?
The upper half was a standard humanoid torso, so it could no doubt wield weapons and armor like a person. That much was clear. But anyone with even a shred of martial arts experience knew that it was the lower body that was most important in a fight—and the lower body was straight out of a beast type, all muscle and graceful quadrupedal motion.
There’s no way I can use any of the techniques I’ve learned in that.
Any attempt to apply my martial arts know-how in that thing would only slow me down.
After all, I was human.
Let’s say I tried to figure out how to use the legs. Beast-like mechs were known for their fluid, agile motion, but the humanoid torso would get in the way of that. Like I said earlier, beast types relied on being low to the ground—around two to three meters—to make those movements work.
The unit in front of me, however, had a three-meter-tall beast-type lower body combined with a three-meter-tall humanoid upper body. That put its height in the same range as a standard type.
Worse, while standard types could crawl or crouch if needed, this thing wouldn’t even be able to bend its torso. It had been fixed to the legs, giving the mech limited flexibility.
Essentially, it seemed like they’d thrown out nearly every advantage offered by beast-like mechs. This hybrid unit was like someone had taken the worst parts of both types and mashed them together.
At least, that was how it looked to the untrained eye.
I, on the other hand, could see the potential.
“This thing’s built to combine quadrupedal mobility with the weapon loadout of a standard type, right?” I asked the mechanic.
“Oh? You picked up on that?”
“Yeah. I’m guessing it’s even heavier than a standard type? The legs would have to be reinforced to handle the extra weight.”
“Heh. Nailed it.”
“Nailed it”? Why are you acting like that’s normal?
“So the idea is to use this to snipe from long range with heavy artillery, which is too much for either a standard or beast type to handle?”
“That’s right.”
I knew it. Honestly, that was the only thing that made sense.
Standard types couldn’t handle big guns because their legs were already busy supporting all that upper-body weight, and they would be left vulnerable by the recoil. Beast types were even worse. They were lighter, so if you strapped a cannon on one, the recoil would completely throw your aim off.
This hybrid must have been designed to solve that problem—to take down monsters that neither of the other types could handle and use heavy weapons with extreme precision.
On top of that, unlike tanks or battleships that had fixed weapon systems, its magicite core let you swap out armaments mid-battle. That gave it real versatility that wasn’t just limited to sniping or cannon fire.
I could grasp the general concept. It would be difficult to pilot, no doubt about it, but it filled a niche. If you could operate it properly, it could serve a real purpose.
“If”…
That was the crux of the matter.