Zhao Chen looked back and forth between the footage of two battlefields:
chiefly Battlefield No. 3, in the charge of the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship, and Battlefield No. 4, in the charge of the T6 Gluttony Demon King starship.
On these two battlefields, because of the particular nature of the flagships sent in support, the targets were not being destroyed the fastest.
On the other battlefields the ten quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships had all been destroyed already.
Even Battlefield No. 5's quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships had been destroyed by the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet's unending stream.
The fighting on Battlefields No. 3 and No. 4 went on still,
but in two utterly different styles of battle.
The T6 Gluttony Demon King starship's 'black hole' had spread out fully now, and every pitch-black interstellar warship within its reach was like prey caught in a spider's web,
with no chance at all of breaking free.
They could only watch helplessly, bit by bit, as the enormous pull tore their own hulls to pieces and dragged them into those golden fissures.
Five quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships had already come to nothing.
On the other battlefield,
the ten T7[1] pitch-black interstellar warships facing the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship were learning as well what the neighboring Battlefield No. 5 had felt like, facing the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet and its bug-sea tactic.
What the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship had launched,
tens of millions of flying combat units, like swarm upon swarm of locusts, was attacking the quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships.
The T6 Ghoul Dragons, relying on qualities like those of a 'heavy interstellar fighter,' held the very front and took on the main attack.
The T6 Dread Banshees, making use of the agility and speed of light craft, harried the enemy around the T6 Ghoul Dragons.
It was only a pity the enemy this time was pitch-black interstellar warships.
Had it been ordinary warships, the kind with star-shields,
the T6 Dread Banshees had an ability made to deal extra damage to energy star-shields.
Still, that hardly mattered.
The entrance of the T6 Lich Kings was the main event.
Its role was the heavy interstellar bomber.
As the name says, that means firepower above all.
But what they dropped were not solid bombs, but a kind of chain energy round: as the name says, a kind of energy shell that could bounce between enemies to deal damage over an area.
At this moment countless golden 'chain lightnings' could be seen bouncing among those pitch-black interstellar warships.
Singled out for their attentions, naturally, were the quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships.
Under the fierce onslaught of these flying combat units, several quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships had already begun to show their hulls 'splitting apart,'
and, able to hold out no longer, came to nothing.
And at the same time, the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship, to the rear, was sending the three kinds of flying combat units it produced and bred onto the battlefield in an unending stream.
"By the look of it, the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship ought to finish this fight before the T6 Gluttony Demon King starship over there," Zhao Chen muttered.
"I never thought the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship's battlefield would show such strong dominance," Secretary-Officer Lilith remarked beside him.
Though its fighting had run somewhat longer than on the other battlefields,
its own losses were the smallest, and so Secretary-Officer Lilith gave it the word 'dominance.'
"Have you noticed? This T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship actually hides another great fighting quality, one that puts it at the very top of the carrier starship type," Zhao Chen said with a faint smile.
Secretary-Officer Lilith was taken aback for a moment, and then it came to her. "Sustained combat capability!"
Zhao Chen nodded, looking at a quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warship in the footage.
"Other carrier starships' shipborne craft, after fighting for a while, use up the ammunition they carry and their flying energy, and have to go back to the hangar to resupply. That makes the carrier starship's usual multi-echelon mode of fighting. But a biological warship of the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship's type carries only biological flying combat units. The 'energy' they need to fly is their own energy, or, say, what for us would be stamina. In theory, a flying combat unit like the T6 Ghoul Dragon could fight several hours in one sortie without ever tiring. As for the attacks they fire, those are all bio-energy they produce themselves. Their own body structure stores that energy, and in battle they fire it out. That kind does come under some limits. A T6 Ghoul Dragon, in a high-load combat environment, can keep up only fifteen minutes of fighting on the combat energy stored in its body. After that, to attack again, it has to wait for the combat energy in its body to recover. Or else go back into the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship for a kind of outside resupply. But in practice there are seldom such long spells of high-load fighting. In an ordinary mode of fighting, a T6 Ghoul Dragon can keep fighting for at least two hours. It's just like our running: if we slow our pace, the body's stamina gradually comes back, and once it's back to a certain point, we speed up again. And because these are expendable combat units, in real fighting the number of combat units that truly go back into the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship to resupply will be under a tenth of the number sent out."
Hearing Zhao Chen's assessment,
Secretary-Officer Lilith at once gave the summing-up. "That way the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship can keep its fighting ability at its peak. And the combat units it keeps breeding and raising can keep joining the battlefield without end! This… for command of the field in a single round of battle, the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship can be called the first among all warships!"
Zhao Chen nodded.
In the fighting that followed,
though it took rather a long time, the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship and the T6 Gluttony Demon King starship finished their combat missions one after the other,
each fully destroying its ten target quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships within the hour's fighting time.
"Have the combat figures for each flagship been totaled? Those two above all." Zhao Chen looked at this round of the 'decapitation plan,' over for the moment.
Secretary-Officer Lilith called up three data panels,
which recorded the combat figures of the three flagships.
The T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought naturally needed no telling; it was the flagship Zhao Chen knew best.
It was also the flagship that finished its fight fastest.
"The T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought destroyed ten quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships in the shortest time. Its own hull took no damage, and no other warship assisted it. But its star-shield energy value is down to 34%, and its starship core energy to 31%."
Having heard Lilith out, Zhao Chen nodded slightly.
That was the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought's way of fighting: a swift fight and a swift end, a very sharp knife.
"The T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship had a squadron of interstellar escorts guarding it. In the course of the fighting, 39 of the escorts guarding it were destroyed by enemy warships. To destroy the enemy's quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships, the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship lost 70 million flying combat units of its own."
"The T6 Gluttony Demon King starship, working with the Owl Dragon Empire's Fourth Legion Fleet Group, destroyed ten quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships. Star-shield energy value, 26% remaining. Starship core energy, 75% remaining. That 75% of core energy is after the energy absorption was complete. By the records of its captain, Chitong, this use of 'Gluttony Demon King mode' is estimated to have spent near 40% of its energy."
Having heard the combat figures for the two flagships,
Zhao Chen was quite well content.
True, all three flagships had been worn down a good deal.
But after all, what they had faced was ten of the enemy's quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships on each battlefield.
To finish the combat missions at so small a cost could already be counted a full success.
At this point a video window popped up.
Opposite was the Emperor's Guard Fleet's deputy fleet commander, Xiong Lulu.
Excitement not yet faded was still in this Panda-Girl's eyes.
"Reporting to Your Majesty. The combat mission you gave, the Emperor's Guard Fleet has carried out in full."
Xiong Lulu's very voice carried an air of pride.
"Go on, then. How did it go?" Zhao Chen looked at this Panda-Girl of great potential.
Xiong Lulu at once gave her report. "In this combat mission, the Emperor's Guard Fleet sent out 2,000 warships, fighting together with the Owl Dragon Empire's First Legion Fleet Group. Over forty-nine minutes, we wiped out the enemy's ten quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships and a number of pitch-black interstellar warships of T6 grade and below; if a count is needed, the relevant data can be called up afterward. On our side, six T6 warships fell, five T6 warships were damaged in varying degree, and the rest of the T6 warships are in good condition and can fight on. T5 warships lost… 123, with 73 damaged in varying degree and out of the fight."
Reading out the number of T5 warships lost, Xiong Lulu paused a moment; by the look of it, she herself did not much like the figure.
"Well done." Zhao Chen gave his praise straight off, without preamble.
Xiong Lulu looked at His Majesty with shining eyes.
"Though what you led was an elite fleet, 2,000 warships of the Emperor's Guard Fleet, in fact the T6 warships in your hand came to no more than thirty-odd. And what you had to face was ten quasi-T7 warships. To fight to such a result is enough," Zhao Chen praised her, not in the least sparing.
"Thank you for Your Majesty's praise. This humble general has still done far from enough!" Xiong Lulu's voice was full of excitement now.
"All right. This battle is over, but this campaign is not. Take your Emperor's Guard Fleet out of the line now and rest and refit at once. The enemy may have more hole cards to come. You and the Emperor's Guard Fleet may well have some hard fights still ahead," Zhao Chen said gravely.
"Let Your Majesty rest easy. The Emperor's Guard Fleet stands ready at any moment to fight for Your Majesty!" Xiong Lulu gave a military salute, and went at once to see to the fleet's rest and refit.
Another round of fighting was over completely.
Zhao Chen let out a long breath of relief.
"Ten minutes left until the hour's interval between battles," Lilith said beside him, her face grave.
By how the rounds before had gone,
every hour another batch of a million pitch-black interstellar warships would come, and the number of quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships would double as well.
That being so,
the next wave might be twenty quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships.
The pressure of it was no small thing.
"How many of the Pitch-Black Legion fleets are left on each battlefield now?" Zhao Chen asked in a deep voice.
"Battlefield No. 1: in ten minutes, an estimated 900,000 pitch-black interstellar warships of the Pitch-Black Legion fleet remaining. For there's no flagship holding the line on this battlefield. Battlefield No. 2: in ten minutes, an estimated 800,000 pitch-black interstellar warships of the Pitch-Black Legion fleet remaining. Battlefield No. 3: an estimated 750,000 pitch-black interstellar warships remaining. Battlefield No. 4: an estimated 650,000 pitch-black interstellar warships remaining. Battlefield No. 5: an estimated 550,000 pitch-black interstellar warships remaining."
Zhao Chen frowned slightly.
He looked at the five battlefield locations on the interstellar war holo-table.
"Which is to say that right now, in our universe, 3.6 million[2] pitch-black interstellar warships in all are locked in hard fighting with us!"
Secretary-Officer Lilith said beside him, "Yes. Before this, we had already destroyed at least 40 million pitch-black interstellar warships. Among them 70 quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships!"
She paused.
Secretary-Officer Lilith said gravely, "And that's without counting what we've spent in interstellar missiles. Were it any other interstellar power, even the Angel Race at the height of its power, with its interstellar fleets expanded to 10 million ships, the situation at this point would likely be hardly any better than ours; some theaters might even have fallen long since."
Zhao Chen nodded; this was not Granny Wang praising her own melons.
Without the Owl Dragon legion fleets, and this overwhelmingly strong fire support,
the unbroken supply of interstellar missiles, and the blanketing fire of those interstellar gunships,
then at the terrifying rate at which the Pitch-Black Legion fleets came in relief, batch after batch,
the Angel Race's interstellar legions would have collapsed long ago.
Even now,
the Owl Dragon Empire's fleet groups had already reached their limit.
The next round would be a great trial for Zhao Chen, for the Owl Dragon Empire, and for the Owl Dragon Empire's fleet groups:
thirty[3] quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships.
"This black rain has been falling rather a while." Zhao Chen looked at those pitch-black interstellar warships in the footage, and at that huge blot of 'ink.'
"However hard the rain, so long as we hold up an umbrella and walk on through, there's bright sunshine on the other side," Secretary-Officer Lilith said gravely beside him.
The corner of Zhao Chen's mouth lifted slightly.
"You're right. I'll be damned if I believe this black cloud of Order's can cover the sky over my Owl Dragon Empire!" Zhao Chen stared at that stretch of 'ink,'
as though he saw the enemy playing against him across the board.
"If it's war, then war! I'm not afraid of you!"