The elf fleet group commander watched with his eyes wide.
The elf adjutant beside him drew in a cold breath. "This… they actually did it. On a hundred thousand warships alone… they not only held the enemy's attack, they… they even launched a counterattack!"
After a brief astonishment, the elf fleet group commander looked at the interstellar war holo-table and said in a deep voice, "This General Qingman prepared carefully. First she used the blanketing fire of interstellar missiles to cut the enemy's formation apart step by step, above all to cut it off from the enemy legion fleets in the middle and rear. And at the same time she sent her own interstellar cruisers and interstellar battlecruisers in a quick assault, to cut through, split and wipe out the enemy's vanguard fleets cut off in the forward positions. To make up for the shortfall in the number of these warships, she even specially had interstellar fighters and interstellar drone swarms work with them in fire. These interstellar fighters and interstellar drone swarms are all of T5 and T6 grade, very reliable in fighting power. Besides that, the interstellar battleships and interstellar destroyers on the line push forward slowly, destroying the enemy's leading troops in the forward positions bit by bit. Every step of it looks like taking a risk. But if it can succeed, it's beyond doubt a very skilled, outstanding tactic!"
"But… we're mainly on the defensive. What the Owl Dragon legion fleets are doing looks to have won them an advantage now. They've destroyed the enemy's leading troops, but mind, the enemy has near five million warships. The Owl Dragon legion fleets are no more than a hundred thousand-odd; however well they fight, how many can they destroy? The enemy's legion fleets will still charge up wave after wave, and the Owl Dragon legion fleets, because of this round of attack, have worn themselves down no small amount. In such a state they still have to bear the enemy's attack. This……" The elf adjutant frowned.
The elf fleet group commander shook his head, his eyes flashing keenly, and said, "You're looking too shallowly. What you've just analyzed are all facts, true. But what you haven't seen is the change in the battlefield's environment!"
"The battlefield's environment?" The elf adjutant was taken aback.
He looked at the interstellar war holo-table, and at the real-time footage of the battlefield relayed to them.
Suddenly he saw something, and it dawned on him in an instant. "It's that starship wreckage!"
"Because of our control, this battlefield is only so big. And under this round of attack, the Owl Dragon legion fleets have destroyed a great many of the enemy's leading troops. And the wreckage of these leading troops' warships piles up in the zone of engagement; it won't block the lanes entirely, but a fleet sailing to attack is bound to be badly affected by it: in its efficiency of attack, its line of attack and so on! And this starship wreckage in the way in the zone of engagement: do you clear it or not? Don't clear it, and you have to go around, and over time more and more starship wreckage may pile up into 'space junk.' Don't go around, and you use your ships' weapons to smash this wreckage in front of you further, shrinking it until it won't hinder sailing. Some energy weapons can 'dissolve' it outright too. But that is bound to weaken the attacking fleet's fire."
The elf fleet group commander's voice was even somewhat excited, as though he had found a new continent. "In the fighting before, it's not that no starship wreckage appeared. But it appeared at a steady rate of fighting, and in the fighting after, the enemy could clear it up bit by bit, without much affecting the battlefield. It's like a pool: water pouring in on one side and draining out on the other. But now this General Qingman has poured in a whole great basin of water at once, while the draining goes on at the same speed, so naturally water piles up in the pool. And so comes the situation that will appear on the battlefield next. What General Qingman thought was this: the number of fighting ships on her side she can't change, and the number of the enemy's fighting ships she can't change either. So change the battlefield's environment, and control in another way the number of ships the enemy puts onto the battlefield. And to get such an effect, it's not only that Owl Dragon-line warships have strong fighting power; still more, it's because the Owl Dragon legion fleets, from top to bottom, have extremely high fighting discipline! Truly… it's truly hard to believe that a legion-grade combat coordination like this can be done by a force formed only twenty hours ago! What in the world is this Owl Dragon Empire!"
In this moment, among these senior elf officers, their thinking about these Owl Dragon legion fleets was wholly renewed.
They could not help being convinced.
Apart from the number of fleets, in starship quality, in soldiers' discipline, in legion command, they had lost on every count!
Lost utterly!
The five hours soon passed.
In these five hours the changes on the battlefield were indeed just as they had thought.
The great piles of starship wreckage greatly weakened the efficiency of the Devourer Civilization's invading fleets' attack.
The line handed over to the Owl Dragon Eighth Legion Fleet Group had not only lost no ground at all, but had even pushed forward some distance.
A result past belief.
"Report: the Owl Dragon Eighth Legion Fleet Group's side asks to rotate with us," the elf adjutant reported.
"Good; go by the rotation plan drawn up before. Have the first echelon rotate in first, fighting time five hours," the elf fleet group commander said.
"Yes," the elf adjutant answered.
When he had given these orders, he came back to the commander's side.
"For the five hours before, have their losses and enemy destroyed been counted?" the elf fleet group commander could not help asking.
The elf adjutant at once called up the figures concerned.
They kept records of the Owl Dragon legion fleet groups' combat figures.
"In the past five hours, this Owl Dragon Eighth Legion Fleet Group fully carried out its original combat task. It destroyed sixty thousand enemy warships, and lost fewer than five thousand warships of its own. The battle consumption can't be counted, but both interstellar missile ship corps fleets they brought took part in the fighting," the elf adjutant answered.
A loss ratio of over ten to one!
It was much like the figures of the Owl Dragon legion fleet groups on the other battlefields, true.
But the thing to know was this:
the Owl Dragon legion fleet groups on the other battlefields were at full strength, five hundred thousand warships, and here there were only a hundred thousand warships.
Their own number of warships differed fivefold,
while the enemy's number had not changed at all.
And the one variable in all this was the two corps fleets from the Hell-Angel ace fleet group, thrown into battle on the field for the first time!
"So this is the strategic role of interstellar missile ships on a battlefield!" the elf fleet group commander could not help exclaiming.
He could not help wondering what results he might get if he had interstellar missile ships like these.
He fell silent.
In the fighting after,
the situation on this battlefield could be said to have been effectively brought under control; the pressure from the enemy's legion fleets was still no small thing.
But at least, with the Owl Dragon Eighth Legion Fleet Group's help, this Sacred Elf legion fleet group had a chance to catch its breath,
and, using the rotation tactic more and more practiced, kept the line from falling back too fast.
……
The Owl Dragon Empire's defensive war · hour 150
The T6 Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship · the bridge
"As of now, the situation on the two new battlefields has been steadied for the time being; there'll be no collapse along the whole line. But by our staff departments' projection, once our warship losses reach a certain point, the pressure on the lines will rise greatly. That point is projected to come around the three hundredth hour of the war," Lilith reported the latest state of the war, looking at Zhao Chen.
"Three hundred hours……" Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes.
Three hundred hours was near two weeks of war.
It was still no small way short of the month he had agreed privately with the Flame Elf Queen to win.
Charlotte's hologram beside them called up a string of figures.
"After three hundred hours, the situation of our Owl Dragon legion fleets: we estimate near a million warships lost in all. That comes to a loss rate of 30% of the total Owl Dragon legion fleets we've put onto the battlefields. And as the interstellar missiles we supply gradually dwindle, and the warships grow fewer, and with the long fighting and other factors besides, the average loss will rise. After that, lines will begin to collapse one after another, like a dam bursting. And in the next three hundred combat hours, it won't be simply a matter of losing a million warships."
As things stood with the Owl Dragon Empire now, facing the powerful Devourer Civilization, fighting on at this rate would only get worse and worse.
"But I don't think it should be reckoned so simply. For the enemy has losses too; reckoning by this estimate, after three hundred hours of fighting, the enemy we destroy will come to at least ten million warships. And that's only the enemy destroyed by our Owl Dragon legion fleets' part," Lilith put in.
"I think things will be far worse than you imagine," said another hologram, invited to the discussion.
The Flame Elf Queen, beside them, folded her arms and said, "It's true your figures don't include our Sacred Elf legion fleet groups' combat figures. But don't forget: so far the Devourer Civilization still hasn't used a trump card it holds. The Soul Altar, that gathers soul power to forge Pitch-Black Legion fleets. They still haven't played that trump card at all. By how they've invaded other interstellar universes in the past, what sets off their using a Soul Altar is no more than a few cases. Either they crush a great many enemy fleets in a short time, and use the enemy's soul energy to forge a Soul Altar. That one we needn't consider. The other case is when the Devourer Civilization's first invading fleets sent to the battlefield lose over 30% themselves; then they'll use a Soul Altar. This time the case is rather special. Midway they sent some more legion fleets. But in number it's roughly at the threshold of ten million. So when the war truly reaches the pass of three hundred combat hours, the Devourer Civilization will very likely use a Soul Altar. When that time comes, our pressure will rise sharply!"
The several of them fell silent.
The Soul Altar.
The word had long since grown as familiar to them this while as it could be.
But because it had not yet appeared on the battlefield,
it felt as though the Devourer Civilization had hung a blade over the Owl Dragon Empire's head, liable to fall at any moment.
That too was why the Owl Dragon Empire's side held back its own hole cards so long.
The several flagships had never been thrown wholly into the battlefields; they had only given fire support over small areas on the battlefield,
all so that when the enemy showed its trump card, they would have hole cards of their own to meet it.
"But after saying all this, have we any way to break the deadlock?" Lilith shrugged helplessly.
No.
The Owl Dragon Empire had only those hole cards in hand, and everyone knew it.
Play them now, and afterward there would be no way to meet the Devourer Civilization's next moves.
Zhao Chen looked at the Flame Elf Queen.
The Flame Elf Queen shook her head helplessly and said, "As things stand, I've contacted the High Council too. But their attitude is very firm: they still need to watch the Owl Dragon Empire's battlefield further, and won't send more reinforcements for now. When I even asked only to bring over my own elf legion fleet group, I was refused. The latest word I have: my elf legion fleet group's station is being watched twenty-four hours a day by people sent by the High Council. The Water Dragon Gates, that strategic equipment, have come under strict control too. Without authorization I can't possibly bring my legion fleet group over from the other universe."
"For an Elf Queen, you're pretty spineless," Charlotte said, giving her verdict easily and carelessly.
The Flame Elf Queen shrugged, and did not mind Charlotte's verdict either.
In this time together, the Flame Elf Queen had come to know the Owl Dragon Empire's military leaders a good deal better.
She had had a great deal of dealing with Charlotte, the Imperial Grand Marshal too, and found her a commander of very good character.
"Since there's no way for any of us, then we can only take one step and see the next. When the Devourer Civilization makes its move, we'll meet it move for move," Zhao Chen said with a shrug.
"Then I'm going back to rest. I haven't slept for thirty hours; while things are calm now, I'll get some sleep." Charlotte yawned and hung up the communication outright.
The Flame Elf Queen looked at Zhao Chen in surprise. "So casual?"
Zhao Chen laughed helplessly. "Since we can't think of a solution now, rather than sit here wasting ourselves, better to rest more and meet the difficulties ahead in the best frame of mind."
The Flame Elf Queen looked at Zhao Chen suspiciously; in this time together she had got something of a feel for Zhao Chen's character and likes.
She narrowed her eyes and said, "You must have some hole card you haven't told me about!"
Zhao Chen smiled and said nothing.
"Come on; I thought we were comrades with nothing between us. How can you still have secrets you haven't told me!" The Flame Elf Queen pouted.
Zhao Chen laughed lightly and said, "We're comrades with nothing between us, but comrades with nothing between them still have secrets. But rest easy: this secret won't harm you, my comrade with nothing between us!"