His shots weren’t having an ideal effect on his target, Slimy, but there was one benefit for Higan in regards to him blasting the hell out of the forest. As the Pater had been taking a direct route, albeit while zig-zagging, the Mech had been firing in a relatively straight line with an increasing number of rounds. What Higan found, and this was very much an unexpected but welcome consequence, was that the anti-material rounds were absolutely destroying the forest. Perhaps unsurprisingly rounds designed to punch holes in metal found the wood of trunks far easier targets, and had pretty much devastated them. Where the trees were still standing they were brittle, easily bowled over by the Mech. The effect was that Higan had essentially shot himself a straight path directly towards the Pater, and with a minute left until the creature was safe the Mech could finally unleash all its speed in a straight line.

The Mech picked up pace quickly, hitting a solid seventy miles per hour as it ran full pelt down the wood strewn path it had created for itself. He was firing rarely now, as the Computer announced he had reached half ammunition, it was time to close on his enemy. At double the speed of the Pater he’d be gaining on it by at least four hundred meters every thirty seconds, so if the creature took up to a minute to arrive to its lair he’d be right on its heels, and as the distance between them reduced… dodging the rounds of the Mech would grow exceedingly more difficult. He’d be firing sporadically at that point, one shot every five seconds or so, leaving him with thirty eight rounds roughly if the Pater arrived at its lair unscathed. However, that was still twelve more shots it had to avoid, with the distance and subsequently the travel time of each round reducing with every great stride of the A.S.P.