"How goes the fighting on the Hive Princess's side?" Zhao Chen asked outright; he was looking into the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet's battle himself.
Commander Haina laid out, point by point, the battle Commander Hive Princess was fighting at the head of the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet.
"Now, under Commander Hive Princess's lead, the defensive sectors our fortress had given up are all back under our control. And we are even gaining the upper hand over the enemy!"
Zhao Chen nodded, satisfied.
"Your Majesty, is there some plan for us next?" Commander Haina asked.
Zhao Chen smiled faintly and said calmly, "There is a plan. Counterattack."
Counterattack?
Commander Haina was taken aback.
"Our northern hive line has borne one offensive after another from the Order hive-race. It is time our turn came to strike back. After all, our custom is to return courtesy for courtesy, not to swallow our anger forever." Zhao Chen's eyes were like a hawk's.
It was as though an evil dragon had opened its eyes.
On hearing "counterattack," Commander Haina did not agree at once; by rights, as the fortress commander who had borne the Order hive-race's attacks all along, she ought to have been all the gladder to see a counterattack.
It would have let her vent her pent-up anger.
Yet she frowned slightly, as though somewhat hesitant.
"Have you some worry?" Zhao Chen saw the look on Commander Haina's face, and asked.
Commander Haina said outright, "I think now may not be the time for us to counterattack. I do not know how things stand within the Empire now. But the Owl Dragon fleet groups have most likely only just finished fighting, and none of them is at its best. And the Order hive-race across from us has so far committed a hundred million to the battlefield. We have destroyed the greater part of them so far. But no one knows whether there are other hive fleets in the two Hive Nests across the way. If we counterattack now, we may suffer tremendous losses."
There was sense in what Commander Haina said.
But it came more from her not knowing the strength the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire and the Owl Dragon fleet groups now had.
That was why she thought so cautiously.
"No need to worry. We have strength enough to counterattack," Zhao Chen said frankly.
Hearing His Majesty so firm, Commander Haina said nothing more.
"But we still need to wait a while. The Star Gate's delivery capacity is limited. This time we have mustered two fleet groups, close to 300,000 interstellar warships in all, to come straight here to the fortress and attack the two Hive Nests. Assembling them will take some time yet. And once we have assembled, we will launch the counterattack. The time is expected to be within three days. And while we carry out the counterattack plan, you are needed to hold our rear and keep the logistics supply routes steady."
Zhao Chen paused, then went on: "So far, on the northern hive line, there are still at least 20,000,000 Order hive fleets fighting. If we attack their home base directly, no one knows whether they will choose to pull back and strike at us.[1] If that truly happens, your fortress will be needed to fend off the Order hive-race withdrawing from that direction. So your task is far from over."
Having heard Zhao Chen's arrangements, Commander Haina nodded and promised, "Rest assured, Your Majesty. Our fortress will make sure it stays in our control throughout!"
Having settled matters with Haina, the fortress commander,
Zhao Chen got in touch with the Hive Princess.
"Brother!" Seeing Zhao Chen contact her himself, the Hive Princess greeted him gladly; then something seemed to occur to her.
She at once stood straight and saluted. "Your Majesty the Emperor, what are your instructions?"
Where had the lass picked this up now?
But it had to be said that the Hive Princess had given a great deal for the Owl Dragon in this war.
And a great part of why the Owl Dragon hive-race had grown so fast to eight million was this war too: the carcasses of the Order hive-race could serve as food for the Owl Dragon hive-race.
Besides that, do not forget there was another battlefield.
Undead creatures!
Zhao Chen had tried letting the carcasses of undead creatures destroyed on the battlefield serve as food for the Owl Dragon hive-race.
Who would have thought it would actually work!
And there had been an unexpected gain besides.
Some time before, Zhao Chen had found by chance that his own blood helped the Hive Princess, and he would give the Hive Princess some of his blood at regular times.
And the Hive Princess took Zhao Chen's blood as a sort of daily dessert.
Boosted by Zhao Chen's blood, the Owl Dragon hive-race bred afterward had gained enormously in fighting power, which was why on the battlefield they had come to surpass the Order hive-race across the way.
Their breeding capacity, their growth and the like had risen too.
And some special Owl Dragon hive-race units had arisen as well.
"How are the new hive-race units working out?" Zhao Chen asked.
Hearing Zhao Chen's question,
the Hive Princess said at once, excitedly, "Truly, they couldn't be better! The T5 Chaos Fiend-Bug's ability is just wonderful. It's even better than those hive-race units before that could transport through space. The T5 Chaos Fiend-Bug can set up a Chaos Bug-Burrow, and the Chaos Bug-Burrow can last a long time, and it can deliver a huge amount, over a long distance too."
Zhao Chen listened to the Hive Princess's account; it was as though she were telling of children she had raised herself, her face all boundless pride.
That was how the Hive Princess's eight million Owl Dragon hive-race could be delivered to the battlefield in so short a time.
"And have you used that one?" Zhao Chen asked further.
"Not yet. It's rather special, after all, so…" The Hive Princess's look was somewhat odd.
Zhao Chen said, "No matter; use it boldly. If anything unexpected happens, we will be your backstop. And your flagship, the T6 Taotie-class Hive Mothership, needs combat experience too; find a chance to try it out."
The Hive Princess nodded hard.
After that, Zhao Chen saw on the video feed a huge opening bloom in the belly of the T6 Taotie-class Hive Mothership the Hive Princess was aboard,
like an interstellar bomber readying its attack.
Within that opening could be seen strange-shaped hive-race creatures, one after another, a kind of hive-race creature never seen before.
But Zhao Chen knew about them.
T5 Bio-Infection Bugs.
As the name says, this was a hive-race unit with the power of infection.
When it bit into a living body, it would inject a biochemical toxin that infected the other and made it a puppet of its own side.
And this means was, of all things, best suited to use against the hive-race.
And the reason this T5 Bio-Infection Bug could be bred at all was thanks to the genes of the undead creatures,
which let the Hive Princess, by a lucky chance, breed them!