"Twenty hours to form three fleet groups? Isn't that too rushed a time?" The Flame Elf Queen heard Zhao Chen's dispositions.
She frowned and asked, somewhat worried.
She was a commander too, and knew very well that even a fleet group with warships enough needed preparation on many fronts before it could become truly an interstellar fleet group with fighting power enough; it was not that, having warships, you could simply haul them out and fight.
With one ship, or thirty, of course there was no problem; contact one another, and a fighting system could be formed.
But when the scale grew to three hundred, three thousand, thirty thousand, the difficulty rose exponentially.
If an interstellar fleet group had not completed its core framework, then even hauled onto the battlefield, it might very well, through problems on every front, be quite unable to carry out battle orders smoothly,
and turn into one great pot of porridge.
So, as the Flame Elf Queen saw it, twenty hours
to form three fleet groups was simply a task that could not be done.
"I know too that it sounds like a task that can't be done. But in our Owl Dragon Empire there's a complete combat system, and every one of our officers and soldiers is the fittest soldier the Owl Dragon Empire has! I believe they'll carry out the combat task I've given them within twenty hours. On that point I stake my standing as the Owl Dragon Emperor."
When he had finished, Zhao Chen looked at the Flame Elf Queen. "You needn't worry about that part. All I ask now is that your two Sacred Elf legion fleet groups go at once to support the two new battlefields, and hold those battlefields steady for twenty hours. After twenty hours, my fleet groups will reach the battlefields as promised and fight alongside!"
The Flame Elf Queen said in a deep voice, "Moving my two legion fleet groups is no problem. The task we came here for is to fight alongside you, and hold off the invasion of the Devourer Civilization's legion fleet groups together! Even without your fleets' reinforcement later, we'll hold our battle posts. Until… until certain conditions are touched."
The Flame Elf Queen's eyes darkened somewhat; likely she was thinking of those restricting conditions of the High Council.
"So there's no need for these twenty hours to be so rushed." The Flame Elf Queen looked at Zhao Chen.
"If that's so, then it's settled. The matter of the twenty hours, our Owl Dragon Empire's side will arrange." Zhao Chen said no more on the question.
Since the other did not believe it, there was nothing for it but to wait for the chance to set the facts before her eyes; then she would naturally be convinced.
"But I must warn you of one thing. The second wave of invading fleets the Devourer Civilization has sent this time may number more than the ten million warships for two battlefields. Rumor has it it's over ten million warships; how many exactly, our intelligence people are still finding out. Once there's the latest news, I'll tell you at once. But you must be ready for the worst. In the fighting of the past days, the commanders of the Devourer Civilization's invading fleets have likely realized how strong our fighting ability is. Above all the fighting ability of your Owl Dragon Empire legion fleet groups. It's made them take you more seriously, and so naturally they've sent more forces. So it can't be ruled out that they'll go on sending more forces later," the Flame Elf Queen said gravely.
Zhao Chen smiled slightly and said, "I won't hide it from Your Excellency the Elf Queen. In truth, on my side I made ready for the worst long ago. So the things you worry about don't count as things at all with me. In this campaign, from the very start, our Owl Dragon Empire has had no road back!"
"In truth, we're in the same boat to begin with," the Flame Elf Queen said.
After that, the two newly added battlefields
went into a state of war at once as well; because of the earlier plans, both of these battlefields went very smoothly.
First, the two Sacred Elf legion fleet groups entered the field.
Because of the cooperation before, and the combat experience of the three earlier Sacred Elf legion fleet groups besides, these two Sacred Elf legion fleet groups settled in very quickly.
And at the start, too, the Devourer Civilization's legion fleets grew only step by step.
Only by the fifteenth combat hour did these two new battlefields fill with five million of the Devourer Civilization's warships.
By then these two Sacred Elf legion fleet groups began to feel the pressure of the Devourer Civilization's invading legion fleets as well.
For here they had no Owl Dragon legion fleets to rotate the defense with.
Even if they split their own million warships in two and fought by rotation,
their fighting time far outstripped that of the Sacred Elf legion fleet groups on the other three battlefields.
And if one asked who, in all this, bore the greatest pressure,
it was beyond doubt Luoyang City's city lord, Dong Lan.
With one battlefield near the Luoyang System to begin with, Luoyang City had already been under no small pressure.
Now two battlefields close by had appeared outright.
It had beyond doubt put Luoyang City at a stroke on the edge of a cliff.
"City Lord, our Luoyang City is running wholly at its limit now. The two new star-system battlefields are sending evacuees to us without end; in settling people we still have room enough, but managing them needs staff enough too, and supplies for living, supplies of energy and so on; those figures rise fast every day. And then there's the coming and going of interstellar transport fleets; some interstellar transports carry battlefield supplies straight to our Luoyang City, where interstellar supply ships come off the battlefield, load up, and go back to the battlefield. Before, we had only to carry the logistics supply line for one star-system battlefield. And then the coming and going of these starships has blocked several of our main lanes; sailing efficiency has fallen at least 30%, and in future the lanes may even seize up altogether! Now we have to carry three star-system battlefields, and the fighting will only grow fiercer, and the needs higher. Our Luoyang City's work in this area could collapse at any moment!" The adjutant looked at City Lord Dong Lan with an anxious face; her face was lined with weariness too.
Since learning of the two new star-system battlefields, Luoyang City's senior managers had hardly rested properly at all in these ten-odd hours.
It was beyond doubt two great mountains pressing on their heads.
"The two new star-system battlefields are something no one wanted to see. But since it's happened, and happened around our Luoyang System, we naturally have to bear this responsibility. What was Luoyang City built here for? One reason was for times just like this. So however great the difficulties, we must hold on!"
City Lord Dong Lan said earnestly, "As for the problems that have come up now, we need only solve them one by one. First, settling people within Luoyang City: first, in numbers we can hold them all; what we lack is only managers. For that, draft them from elsewhere. Next is lane management. Loading and unloading at Luoyang City has now reached a limit. Then we can build several temporary interstellar wharves on Luoyang City's outer rim, and do the transfer work between interstellar transports and interstellar supply ships there. That way Luoyang City's pressure can be shared. …………"
City Lord Dong Lan put forward her own solutions to some other problems great and small, and very soon one thorny trouble after another, dealt with step by step, was a problem no longer.
Luoyang City went on running; it looked under enormous pressure, but every front of its work ran normally.
At least the three star-system battlefields noticed no change behind them at all.
Luoyang System No. 11
"Report: the enemy's attacks keep increasing. Our lines everywhere are under enormous pressure, and warship losses are rising step by step!"
"Report: the enemy has torn a gap in line section 0711; fleets nearby are being drawn off urgently to fill it!"
"Report: one of our corps fleets has been entangled by the enemy, who's trying to surround it; that corps fleet asks for support."
Report after report came to the flagship commander of the Sacred Elf Thirteenth[1] Legion Fleet Group.
The situation before him had already left this elf fleet group commander at his wits' end.
"Damn it, who'd have thought these Devourer Civilization invading fleets would be so hard to deal with!" The elf fleet group commander looked at the lines before him, calling for help without pause.
Set against the defensive depth of the three earlier star-system battlefields,
one would find that in under twenty hours the battlefield area in this Luoyang System No. 11 had grown even larger than any one of the other three star-system battlefields.
Before, he had not joined the fighting, only received the battlefield intelligence from every battlefield.
Looking only at the battlefield information, he had thought it an ordinary battlefield contest; perhaps some pressure, but not much.
But when he received the Flame Elf Queen's order and brought his Sacred Elf Thirtieth Legion Fleet Group to this Luoyang System No. 11, to face the Devourer Civilization's invading fleet head-on,
only then had he truly felt what was terrifying about the enemy on this battlefield.
These less than twenty hours of fighting alone had left him feeling pressed till he could hardly breathe.
And on the other three battlefields they had already fought over a hundred hours!
"So far, how much have we lost?" the elf fleet group commander asked.
"So far our Sacred Elf Thirtieth Legion Fleet Group has lost over sixty thousand warships in all! And by the figures, the number of warships lost each hour is still rising. If we get no support, we can hold out at most less than two hundred combat hours before we're wiped out entirely," the adjutant reported.
A million warships, able to hold out only two hundred combat hours.
And that with the enemy getting no reinforcements.
Whether his own side would get reinforcements, he did not know.
But the enemy most likely did.
For so far, however many enemy warships they destroyed, a matching number of warships would fill the gap from those damned rotten holes.
So their losses on the battlefield could only grow larger and larger.
Suddenly!
This elf legion commander thought of a piece of news he had learned when he received his orders before.
The Flame Elf Queen had told it directly to him and the other Sacred Elf legion fleet group commander.
The Owl Dragon Emperor's side had stated that on these two new battlefields, their two Sacred Elf legion fleet groups need hold out only twenty hours.
Then the Owl Dragon legion fleets' support would arrive.
But she had not said in detail what the support was.
For the Flame Elf Queen had said at the time that for the Owl Dragon Empire, drawing off support at such a time was a very, very great matter, and within twenty hours besides.
So the Flame Elf Queen had said only that one sentence, but told them not to take it to heart,
and to be ready to fight a hard battle on the battlefield.
At the time he had indeed not thought much of it, nor thought this battle would be so hard to fight.
So now he began to pin his hope on this.
"How much time has passed since we joined the fighting?" the elf fleet group commander asked his adjutant.
The adjutant answered, "As of now, sixteen hours."
Sixteen hours: that meant four hours until twenty.
Surely holding out four more hours should be no great problem.
That was this elf fleet group commander's thought at this moment; but in the four hours that followed, he came to know clearly what it meant for seconds to pass like years.
At the same time the enemy's powerful attack drove their losses on the battlefield straight to a peak: ten thousand warships lost in a single hour!
It was beyond doubt the heaviest casualty figure the Sacred Elf legion fleet groups had yet suffered on the Owl Dragon Empire's battlefields.
And the twenty hours were about to run out.
But there was no word of any kind from the Owl Dragon Empire's side.
It left this elf fleet group commander very disappointed.
At this moment the Sacred Elf Thirtieth Legion Fleet Group's loss rate had already reached 10%!
It even exceeded the loss rates of those three Sacred Elf legion fleet groups that had joined the fighting before them.
At that very moment
a communication window popped up.
It came from the Owl Dragon Empire's side.
The prompt read: from General Qingman, commander of the Owl Dragon Eighth Legion Fleet Group.
The Owl Dragon Eighth Legion Fleet Group?
But as he knew it before, the Owl Dragon Empire's Imperial fleet groups now numbered only six.
Where had an Eighth come from?
Full of doubt, he accepted the video call.
At this point a video window opened, and from the other side came a snake-folk officer's voice.
"Hello; I am General Qingman, commander of the Owl Dragon Eighth Legion Fleet Group. I've been ordered to support the Luoyang System No. 11 battlefield. In twenty minutes my legion fleet will reach the battlefield area. After that we'll take over the battlefield. We'll still use the rotation tactic. You have five hours to rest and refit. After five hours, your side rotates in again. Any problem?"