The 8,000,000-strong Owl Dragon hive-race fleet went on the attack.
The Order hive-race across the way was still the more numerous.
Yet somehow it was the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet that now held the advantage.
It could be seen that the unit types on the two sides were much alike, but their fighting power differed by no small margin.
A hive-race combat unit of the same type and the same grade, the Owl Dragon hive-race's was plainly the stronger.
And in the fighting as a whole,
the Order hive-race used the sea-of-bugs tactic as ever, surging up swarm after swarm.
But the Owl Dragon hive-race was different.
It was, of all things, using tactics.
The simplest was for every three hundred Hive Motherships and their hive-race combat units to form a group and attack the enemy together.
Even though, grade for grade, their own hive-race combat units were plainly stronger than the other side's.
These Owl Dragon hive-race combat units kept to one principle all the same.
Gang up whenever possible; never fight one on one!
And when one team finished its fight, it did not attack again at once, but stayed where it was.
Then a second-echelon combat squad would take over the attack.
When the second-echelon squad had destroyed its opponents, the squad that had been resting would take up the attack again in the best of condition.
By this stepped way of fighting, they could gain a tremendous advantage.
And if the enemy produced a very strong combat unit, the Owl Dragon hive-race facing it would retreat!
That's right!
Retreat.
A word that had perhaps never appeared in the interstellar hive-race's dictionary.
These Owl Dragon hive-race were putting it to use.
Theirs was no true retreat; they retreated to draw this strong enemy force into their encirclement.
Suppose a battlefield that ran in a straight line, and a stronger opponent appeared at one point.
Their own hive-race combat units at that point would fall back, forming a 'U-shaped' pocket.
Then the Order hive-race across the way would press the attack of its own accord, and that stretch of it would enter the pocket.
And they would set the size of the pocket by the strength of the enemy.
The moment the front of the enemy was inside the pocket, the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet would pull it shut without hesitation, and at the same time the Owl Dragon hive-race fleets around the pocket would fall on it all together!
That way, several times the strength would be brought to bear on destroying the enemy hive fleet in that area.
However strong the enemy's Hive Motherships were, they were no match for Owl Dragon hive-race fleets several times their number.
At this moment the mermaid commander Haina, in the fortress, watched how the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet performed on the battlefield.
She was somewhat dumbstruck.
The adjutant beside her put her thought into words in wonder: "These… are they truly hive-race? Knowing tactics this skillful! If… if it weren't for how they look, I'd have taken them for some newly raised Owl Dragon fleet!"
To call them an Owl Dragon fleet was perhaps an exaggeration.
They used tactics, true, but many of the details looked very stiff, as though an ancient automaton were copying human movements.
Even so, with these abilities they could already gain the upper hand in their clashes with the enemy.
"Who would have thought this Commander Hive Princess could train this hive-race to such a degree? It goes wholly beyond how we had always thought of the interstellar hive-race," Commander Haina said, holding back none of her praise.
For all of it was the truth.
With the help of these Owl Dragon hive-race fleets, their fortress had now turned wholly from danger to safety.
Defense, at least, was no problem.
Just as they let themselves relax,
the Star Gate raised by the starship Southern Heaven Gate suddenly began to run fast.
Interstellar warships shot out one after another like comets and appeared in this stretch of airspace.
Ten…
A hundred…
A thousand…
So fast, and so many.
And every one of them an Owl Dragon-series interstellar warship.
"Look! Can those be our reinforcements too?" The adjutant pointed excitedly toward the Star Gate, at the Owl Dragon-series interstellar warships appearing in an unbroken stream.
Commander Haina, too, looked astonished.
Could it be that the reinforcements spoken of in the earlier message.
Meant not only the Hive Princess's Owl Dragon hive-race fleet, but interstellar fleets from the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire as well?
At the thought, Commander Haina was excited beyond words.
For interstellar fleets of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire to appear at this time,
on the one hand would greatly ease the pressure on the fortress.
On the other, it revealed an important piece of news.
That the troubles within the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire might already be mostly settled.
Only so would His Majesty the Emperor and the Grand Marshal have the strength to spare to come to their aid!
Sure enough.
Just then an Owl Dragon fleet appeared at the most conspicuous spot.
No!
It should not be said it appeared at the most conspicuous spot.
Rather, it was their very presence that made that spot the most conspicuous.
For these Owl Dragon-series interstellar warships wore a wholly different livery.
The livery of the Emperor's Guard Fleet.
And the Emperor's Guard Fleet appearing here meant His Majesty the Emperor had come in person!
Commander Haina's heart could not help leaping.
She was a mermaid, but joining the Owl Dragon legions' system this while had perhaps rubbed off on her.
Or perhaps it was the pull His Majesty the Emperor himself had always had.
She, too, revered His Majesty the Emperor from the bottom of her heart!
A video window popped up just then.
On the other side was His Majesty the Emperor, seated on his throne.
Commander Haina at once stood straight and saluted. "Haina, supreme commander of Angel City Fortress Number One on the Angel Line, pays her respects to Your Majesty the Emperor!"
The adjutant beside her hurried to call out too, her eyes full of excitement.
"Haina. We have seen your command here at the fortress. You have not failed the Grand Marshal's trust in you. You are worthy of the Owl Dragon uniform you wear." Zhao Chen looked at this mermaid commander before him and held back none of his praise.
It was praise from the heart.
For he had watched the Angel City Fortress's defensive command over this period.
He had even run several simulated battles himself.
But nearly every time, the result was that the Angel City Fortress fell early.
He could come nowhere near what Commander Haina had done.
Even the other marshals and commanders said outright.
That in defensive warfare they counted themselves Commander Haina's inferiors.
She was a master tactician of the defensive battle.
She could put the few pieces and resources in her hand to the most fitting use, and make what might have been one share of strength do the work of two.
That was the excellence of a defensive commander.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. It is only what we ought to do!" Commander Haina answered, but her eyes had already reddened.
No one knew the pressure she had borne here these past days!
Now, to have such a word of recognition, that was enough!