Zhao Chen frowned over the front-line battle report sent back from the Judgment Angel star system.
"Do the undead fleets have a main axis of attack?" Zhao Chen asked.
Lilith shook her head. "So far there is no word of a main axis for the undead fleets; there are great numbers of undead legion fleets in every direction. The total is estimated at over 1,000,000 undead interstellar warships. And among them we have also detected several grade-six energy fluctuations!"
Charlotte, at his side, knit her brows. A million undead interstellar warships might still be within what could be borne.
But what did several grade-six energy fluctuations mean?
They meant that T6-grade undead starships or undead life-forms had already appeared among the undead armies.
And the nature of the undead armies meant that they, too, took the elite road, wholly unlike the Order hive-race.
So Charlotte dared not take these 'mere' million undead interstellar warships lightly in the least.
Had it been only that million-strong undead interstellar army, the defense lines the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire had now set up around the Judgment Angel star system could have held it off entirely.
But if T6-grade combat units had appeared in the undead armies, it was another matter altogether.
With these T6-grade undead units present, they might become the diamond drill that bored through the Owl Dragon defense line.
The defensive positions as they stood could never hold back the undead legion fleets as they were now.
It looked to be a very bad situation.
Yet not a trace of worry could be seen on Zhao Chen's or Charlotte's faces.
"Then, as the original battle plan has it: I will take charge of the undead defense line. You stay and hold here." Zhao Chen spoke first, looking at Charlotte.
Charlotte frowned slightly and said, "There is no need for you to go in person; you could send…"
"As things are now, every main battlefield needs a backbone present. This place needs you. Then I ought to be on the undead battlefield. At a time like this, whether outside or within, no problem of any kind can be allowed," Zhao Chen said gravely.
The chief reason Charlotte did not want Zhao Chen to go to the undead battlefield in person was her worry for his safety.
After all, compared with the Order hive-race, the undead armies now held far too much that was unknown.
Though they had long since prepared contingency plans for this offensive of the undead armies,
no one knew how things would go once the war truly began; there was always some chance of the unexpected.
Zhao Chen raised his hand and stroked Charlotte's head. "You are carrying a child, and still you are here in person, commanding the battle from the field. As the Empire's Emperor, am I to have not even that much courage? There now. This place is yours; the undead are mine."
"Then the Rakshasa-Hades…"
Before Charlotte could finish, Zhao Chen cut her off.
Zhao Chen laid a finger against Charlotte's lips. "The Rakshasa-Hades is your flagship now, and the flagship of the Reverse Scale ace fleet group as well. This starship being here is also a symbol, a banner of faith. Besides. I cannot be at your side to protect you. I can only rely on it. Protect you, and our children."
Zhao Chen looked tenderly at Charlotte's slightly rounded belly.
"Your due date is drawing nearer and nearer. Remember to take care of yourself. If anything should happen to you, just see how I deal with you when I get back." Zhao Chen gave Charlotte a pat on the backside.
It brought a flush to Charlotte's cheeks, and she said in a low voice, "What are you doing… this is the bridge; there are people watching."
"Never mind me, carry on. Carry on. Pretend I'm not here."
On the far side of the video window, Lilith watched them with the look of a neglected wife.
"Then I will set out this very day. Lilith, you go on overseeing both battlefields, and keeping every logistics transport route running steadily," Zhao Chen instructed.
"Yes."
After that,
Zhao Chen left the Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought, took a shuttle to the Owl Dragon Emperor's Guard Fleet, passed through the Star Gate, and set out for the other battlefield.
……
Undead War-Zone No. 1.
Since the stellar explosion in the Judgment Angel star system, the ring of star systems around it, the Judgment Angel star system included, had been known collectively as Undead War-Zone No. 1.
Owl Dragon Second Fleet Group · flagship bridge.
Chu Xuan fixed her eyes on the front-line reports coming back from every direction before her.
All of them concerned the movements of the undead legion fleets.
"Marshal, His Majesty the Emperor's meeting." Just then the secretary officer beside her reminded her.
Chu Xuan glanced at the notice.
She nodded, then entered the code of the holographic network conference room.
She sat in her captain's chair, and her eyes closed and opened.
Before her was a wholly new meeting room.
His Majesty the Emperor Zhao Chen was already seated at the head.
She, the fleet group's marshal, was of all people the last to arrive.
Besides them there were the three legion commanders under her.
The Owl Dragon Second Fleet Group's Second Legion commander, Zhao Ruyue; the Third Legion commander, Ye Xiaotong; and the Fourth Legion commander, Midai.
And one more, of rather special standing.
The commander of the Holy Dragon Angel Legion, the angel Tilia.
"Your Majesty the Emperor." The five of them saluted Zhao Chen together.
"This is the battlefield; there is no need for such formalities. Straight to business. Where are the undead legion fleets now the greatest threat to a defense line?" Zhao Chen asked directly.
Marshal Chu Xuan shook her head. "By the front-line intelligence we have gathered so far, outside nearly every defense line the numbers of the undead legions, and their distance from the line, are much of a muchness. There is no telling at all which is their main target."
"Could it be that the undead legions are preparing an all-out attack? That in fact every defense line is a main axis!" Commander Midai ventured at the side.
Zhao Ruyue at once shook her head, her gaze sharp. "Impossible! By our records of engagements with the undead legion fleets, though their numbers have grown a good deal now, they are still wholly unlike the interstellar hive-race with its skill at the sea-of-bugs tactic. The forces of the undead legion fleets are nowhere near enough to sustain an all-out attack. If they have the least strategic thinking, that would be a move of very poor return. But their single-unit advantage is very strong; some special undead creatures even surpass our comparable interstellar warships of the same grade in single combat. On that advantage, their best means of attack is to feint along many lines, then choose one target for the main attack. Tear open the line on the main axis in the shortest time, then spread out in an umbrella-shaped advance and tear our whole defense line apart. Breaking the whole through a single point! That is their best means of attack!"
Zhao Ruyue's analysis was very reasonable.
Marshal Chu Xuan agreed as well. "I have analyzed the undead legions; I think Commander Zhao Ruyue's view is very sound."