Lilith's lips moved, and she passed a string of words to Charlotte.
At once Charlotte looked at the elf woman opposite and said, "Since you say this Devourer Civilization is our enemy, then sharing intelligence on the enemy ought to be no problem, should it? The advanced technology this Devourer Civilization has, and the number of interstellar fleets they have now, and the system of government within the Devourer Civilization now. And the battle data from your past engagements with the Devourer Civilization, and the like."
Hearing what Charlotte asked this time, Gladys, the elf woman, frowned slightly.
"What? You say you bear us goodwill, and hope our two sides can ally. Now your ally only needs some intelligence on the enemy. That can't count as a secret of your Sacred Elf Empire, surely? If you won't even share this much information with us, then what is there to talk about in an alliance?" Charlotte shrugged.
Zhao Chen, in the video window beside her, could not help giving a thumbs-up; he had never noticed before that this great white cat had such a gift for acting.
Gladys, the elf woman, hesitated a moment, then said, "Very well; I can tell you some intelligence about the Devourer Civilization. I hope your side can feel our sincerity. To stand against the Devourer Civilization, cooperation between our two sides is the best choice."
With that,
Gladys, the elf woman, began to set out some information about the Devourer Civilization.
The Devourer Civilization was a civilization of many interstellar races; the Sacred Elf Empire in theory was a civilization of many races too, but of a one-high, many-low structure.
In the Devourer Civilization it was not so.
They had a super-vast racial structure.
But of it, the native races in truth made up only half.
For when the Devourer Civilization invaded other interstellar civilizations, they used a strategy of dividing from within.
It was very simple: they told every interstellar civilization, race or power within the other universe's civilization
that they, the Devourer Civilization, stood for Order, and were about to invade their universe.
If at this point they were willing to believe in Order, they could choose to join the Devourer Civilization, and move their whole race to the Devourer Civilization's universe.
That was also why the Devourer Civilization had been able to grow to its present terrifying extent in so short a time,
so that even the Sacred Elf Empire had to fear it somewhat, and look for allies.
"In every civilization's universe there are always a few traitors. These traitors not only betray their own homes, but turn the butcher's knife on their own allies. And it's because of this divide-and-rule tactic that the Devourer Civilization so often carries all before it when it invades other interstellar universes! For behind them, after all, stands Order." When she spoke of this, Gladys, the elf woman, ground her teeth.
"It seems there are people of this kind in your Sacred Elf Empire too?" Charlotte caught the information in the other's words.
Gladys, the elf woman, nodded and said angrily, "Yes. A very few cowardly, faint-hearted fellows have betrayed the Elf God. They've founded a Holy Church of Order, and what they worship is Order. They hold that joining Order is the right road for the evolution of a technological civilization. They make trouble and disorder all over our universe. Happily, for now it's all small-scale mischief, and no threat. But once the Devourer Civilization attacks, these Holy Churches of Order are bound to rise up in revolt, and then it will be a great trouble. Just as has happened before in those universes!"
Charlotte's expression changed a little, subtly.
This phenomenon had in truth always existed in the Owl Dragon Empire's universe too:
from the earliest Mechanical Divine Church, to the madmen who went on backing Order in secret afterward.
These tumors could never be cut out clean.
Even though Zhao Chen had made clearing out these hidden zealots who believed in Order a standing task of the Royal Embroidered-Uniform Guard,
still some Order zealots were often active.
For Order was now the most powerful existence among all known interstellar civilizations, after all.
Whatever the universe, whatever the interstellar civilization, whatever the interstellar race, there would always be some who worshiped strength.
They cared nothing for their own homes or their own people, nothing for any basic principles.
In their hearts, the strong were the only truth.
When the Owl Dragon Empire was strong, they would follow the Owl Dragon Empire.
And when another, stronger interstellar civilization appeared, they would naturally follow that one.
To remove this latent threat entirely, Order must be defeated on the open battlefield.
Otherwise this tumor could never be cleared away.
The Devourer Civilization had used exactly this frame of mind, and carried out this strategy of division.
"The Devourer Civilization is still at the stage of a sixth-grade technological civilization now. They have regular interstellar fleets of over eighty million ships. But because there are so many races, the fighting strength of these regular interstellar fleets is very uneven, some high, some low. So you shouldn't look only at how enormous their numbers are. In truth there's no little padding among them. Otherwise, had they truly such enormous military strength, the Devourer Civilization would long since have invaded our Sacred Elf Empire," Gladys, the elf woman, said.
Eighty million warships.
At that figure, not only Charlotte but Zhao Chen and Lilith too gave a start.
For mind, the Owl Dragon Empire now had barely two or three million warships.[1]
And this Devourer Civilization actually had eighty million warships, uneven in strength though they were.
But it was a sixth-grade technological civilization after all, and with so enormous an interstellar fleet, even using a 'sea of bugs' tactic, it would be a quite terrifying existence.
"And besides, Your Excellency the Marshal asked just now whether the Devourer Civilization has any top technology. Others I don't know of. But there is one that's their trump card," Gladys, the elf woman, said gravely.
Charlotte waited for what came next.
"Your side must surely know of the Pitch-Black Legion fleets."
"We've fought them," Charlotte said, hiding nothing.
It was no important news; and besides, in the Owl Dragon Empire's universe there were still those 'messes' the Pitch-Black Legion fleets had left behind, one after another.
"This technology that the Devourer[2] Civilization has, we call 'Pitch-Black Legion technology.' As the name says, the Devourer Civilization has the technology to make 'Pitch-Black Legion fleets.'"
The moment Gladys, the elf woman, said it, Zhao Chen and Lilith, on the far side of a communication, were greatly astonished.
To make Pitch-Black Legion fleets!
The Owl Dragon legion fleets had defeated the Pitch-Black Legion fleets several times, true.
But everyone knew very well where the Pitch-Black Legion fleets' strength lay.
They were spirit-body warships; even when destroyed, they could go back to Order's side and be revived.
If the Devourer Civilization had this technology, the threat grade would rise greatly.
"In truth one can't call it the Pitch-Black Legion fleets of Order's kind. It hasn't reached that grade. Put simply, it's only a technology of the sixth-grade technological civilization level. Its effect is smaller, but against most sixth-grade technological civilizations it's still a great advantage. What it does, in particular, is this. In one area of the battlefield they set down a technological structure called a 'Soul Altar.' When the Devourer Civilization's interstellar fleets are destroyed on the battlefield, this 'Soul Altar' gathers back the souls of these Order believers, and within the 'Soul Altar,' by a technological power past describing, brings back the warships they had before, reborn in the form of Pitch-Black Legion fleets! And at the same time, by our observation, it's not only the souls of Order's believers. On the battlefield they can even draw in the souls of the other side's warship dead, those that die carrying fear, and grow stronger by them. So on the battlefields of those universes the Devourer Civilization invaded, a scene like this often appears. The Devourer Civilization will 'sacrifice' a batch of its interstellar fleets; yes, the word is 'sacrifice'; in our words it's really a vanguard fleet. And this batch of 'sacrificed' Devourer interstellar fleets, after fierce fighting with the enemy, are quickly revived in the form of Pitch-Black Legion fleets, and appear on the battlefield again. That's as good as facing the same enemy twice. And the enemy you face the second time is even more fearless of death, and even stronger. Under this other kind of wheel-war, the interstellar civilizations of the invaded universes very often could hardly resist," Gladys, the elf woman, said with a sigh.
"And the Pitch-Black Legion fleets destroyed a second time? Are they revived again as well? And that technological device called the 'Soul Altar': does it have limits, such as the size of fleet it revives, or the range it can affect? And if a decapitation tactic is used, is attacking the 'Soul Altar' directly effective!" Charlotte, as the Owl Dragon Empire's supreme marshal,
at once thought of a whole series of battlefield questions about this 'Soul Altar.'
Gladys, the elf woman, glanced at Charlotte and cleared up each of her doubts for her in turn. "They can. Destroyed Pitch-Black Legion fleets can be revived again, but in smaller numbers, because the original soul strength has been used up. It's as if, having taken in ten points of soul strength to make Pitch-Black Legion fleets, after a round of losses only seven points of soul strength are left, and only seven points' worth of Pitch-Black Legion fleet can be made. Fight another round, and maybe only five points are left, weakening by degrees."
When she had answered Charlotte's first question, Gladys, the elf woman, went on, "As for the 'Soul Altar,' our Empire's researchers have been studying it all along too. The Pitch-Black Legion fleets it revives do indeed have limits. Soul Altars are divided into Soul Altars of different grades. So far there are six grades in all, from small to large, matching exactly the six grades of technology. As the name says, a grade-six Soul Altar can revive warships up to the highest grade, T6. And it revives Pitch-Black Legion fleets in greater numbers, and more efficiently too. By the records we have now, on one great battlefield once, the Devourer Civilization put in a grade-five Soul Altar and then sent five million warships to attack. After that, every day this Soul Altar could revive at least two hundred thousand Pitch-Black Legion warships. You're a marshal; you must know very well what a change it makes to a battlefield of this grade when one side can add two hundred thousand warships a day."
Charlotte's face was somewhat low.
She knew this very well.
It was not simply one side adding two hundred thousand warships.
The chain reaction it set off would break the balance of the battlefield completely.
And it was not two hundred thousand warships added in one day only, but every day.
At the thought that the Owl Dragon legion fleets might one day face an enemy of this grade, Charlotte's heart felt as heavy as though a mountain pressed on it.
"As for the range this Soul Altar can reach: generally, one interstellar battlefield is no problem at all. As for the decapitation tactic you speak of, the fleets of those invaded universes' interstellar civilizations naturally tried it too. But they all failed. First, the Devourer Civilization guards against that move of yours too, and often sends enough interstellar fleets on the battlefield to protect the Soul Altar. Besides, the Soul Altar itself has the power to protect itself. The soul power it draws in can not only revive Pitch-Black Legion fleets, but form a black curtain of light as well, protecting the Soul Altar like a star-shield. Unless one has extremely powerful firepower, it's very hard to destroy a Soul Altar. At least so far, in the recorded history of the Devourer Civilization's wars, not a single Soul Altar has ever been destroyed. Very often its appearance means the end of that battlefield."
"Then is there no other countermeasure?" Charlotte asked.
"At present, the few means that can be used are these. Once a Soul Altar appears on a battlefield, choose to withdraw at once. For a Soul Altar itself can't move. Once started, to move it again it has to be shut down, and then escorted to the next battle site by interstellar transports made ready for it. Besides that, the Devourer Civilization doesn't in truth have many of these Soul Altars. By 'not many' I mean high-grade Soul Altars. Though the Devourer Civilization doesn't make low-grade Soul Altars any more either; they're all at least T4 grade now. And it's rumored they already have at least three T6-grade Soul Altars, and are even developing a quasi-T7-grade Soul Altar now. That is their trump card," Gladys, the elf woman, said gravely.
Charlotte noted this Soul Altar in her mind.
Once this exchange was over, she would have her staff departments discuss countermeasures against this Soul Altar,
to make ready for a war that might break out in future against this technology of the Devourer Civilization's.
"Then may I ask: since you know the Devourer Civilization will invade our universe, when will it happen? Or say, how long until their interstellar fleets appear in our universe?" Charlotte asked again.
"No more than three months."