Because the three Soul Altars had been destroyed, the fighting in Luoyang System No. 11
changed utterly in an instant.
First, the powerful attack of the Hell-Angel ace fleet group, the Emperor's Guard Fleet and the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought had dealt the enemy a wave of enormous casualties in a short time.
It had turned what had been a three-dimensional round battlefield, all at once, into a "concave" battlefield layout.
Had the Owl Dragon legion fleet groups and the Sacred Elf legion fleet groups still had the strength, they could well have used this chance to split the enemy's battlefield positions in Luoyang System No. 11 in two.
Unfortunately, accomplishing the combat task of destroying the three Soul Altars
had already wrung out what little fighting power the Owl Dragon legion fleet groups and the Sacred Elf legion fleet groups had left.
Even the T6 Hell-Angel Interstellar Dreadnought[1] had reached its limit; for lack of core energy, it could only withdraw to the second line.
For now, all they could do was hold this battlefield formation.
Luckily, the Devourer Civilization's invading fleets too had been knocked somewhat off balance by the Owl Dragon Legion's sudden surprise strike and its successful attack,
and for a while made no particular combat dispositions.
Even the intensity of their attacks had gone back to the earlier level.
Likely the way the battlefield had developed was beyond anything they had expected,
and for the moment they themselves did not know how to deal with it.
The Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship · the bridge
"This combat task has been accomplished successfully." Charlotte's hologram appeared before Zhao Chen, reporting the results of this operation.
Zhao Chen nodded, satisfied. "I saw it all; you did very well!"
Charlotte did not dwell much on the results of this combat task, but said gravely, "The situation on the Luoyang System No. 11 battlefield has greatly improved now. The enemy's three Soul Altars have been destroyed. The Pitch-Black Legion fleets that had condensed come to fewer than 10,000 ships now, and are no threat to speak of. In this round, with our many sides working together, we dealt the Devourer Civilization's invading fleets enormous losses. Not just our main line of attack: the other local battlefields, the feints, all fought to an astonishing twenty-to-one result as well! We set a record for enemy destroyed in a single hour. In a single hour over 200,000 enemy interstellar warships were destroyed, and in this phase of the attack, nearly 500,000 enemy interstellar warships in all. We paid for it with nearly 30,000 interstellar warships of our own lost, true. But the situation on the battlefield has, we can say, turned from danger to safety. The Hell-Angel ace fleet group has gone into its resupply phase too; according to Marshal Baixue's report, the Hell-Angel ace fleet group has chosen to go to Luoyang City to resupply. Because the fleet group is so large, resupplying here would easily overcrowd the logistics of the Luoyang System No. 11 battlefield. So the best choice is to return to Luoyang City. It has a stronger and more complete logistics and resupply setup."
Zhao Chen nodded. "Go with the best choice."
"By our calculations, the Hell-Angel ace fleet group's logistics and resupply will take at least twenty-four hours to complete," Charlotte said.
Zhao Chen nodded; so long a resupply had been within Zhao Chen's expectations all along.
After all, the scale of resupplying nearly 40,000 interstellar missile ships was truly terrifying.
Had the Owl Dragon Empire not long since worked out a mature procedure for the resupply of interstellar missile ships, cutting out a good deal of lost time,
and had it not been for the T6-grade interstellar transports and T6 interstellar supply ships working together, it would not have been a mere twenty-four hours.
It might have taken three to five times as long.
"Besides that, using the technical means the Sacred Elf Empire provided, we can indeed destroy those universe-space passages the Devourer Civilization has set up." Charlotte raised her hand and brought up a video window.
In it could be seen a window like a festering sore in the starry sky, healing bit by bit.
Zhao Chen watched the scene.
The Sacred Elf Empire had shared the relevant information about this ability of the Devourer Civilization's to travel across universes as well.
This too was a piece of near-seventh-grade-civilization black technology that Order had given the Devourer Civilization.
It could set up a space passage that lasted only a short time, but the passage's capacity was rather small, which was why several "rotten windows" appeared.
And this kind of space passage had one flaw: no soul-body could pass through it.
That was also why the Pitch-Black Legion fleets under Order could not use this means to invade the Owl Dragon Empire's universe, and Order had to go to great lengths to have its other kinds of minions invade the Owl Dragon Empire's universe.
And the Sacred Elf Empire had provided the means to break this kind of space passage too.
There was basically no difficulty to it; anyone who had mastered T5-grade space technology could deal with it easily; the one requirement was to get close to the space window's position.
And in the fighting before, the Owl Dragon legion fleet groups had already got close to some of these rotten windows and carried out some tests in destroying them.
And the result was as they saw before them: it had been done successfully.
"So long as we can do it, that's enough. Don't destroy them all for now; we don't want to affect our later battle plans." When Zhao Chen had said this, he looked at Charlotte.
Charlotte nodded, understanding without a word.
"Our battle plan has succeeded for now, true, and wrecked the Devourer Civilization's plan of attack this time. But the Devourer Civilization will never give up because of this. We have to be ready to meet their next round of attack," Zhao Chen said.
Charlotte's expression was somewhat grave; she said frankly, "To be honest: as things stand with our Owl Dragon legion fleet groups now, if the Devourer Civilization comes at us with a few more rounds of offensive like this, we simply won't hold. They can still send 10 million, 20 million, even 30 million more interstellar warships to our battlefields. And Soul Altars in numbers we don't even know. And us? We've now committed nearly all our armed forces; the newly built interstellar warships are barely enough to cover the losses on the front-line battlefields, and that's the limit. We can't draw out any more fighting power to spare. And as we use interstellar missiles more and more often from here on, the pressure on our logistics and resupply will grow and grow too. As Lilith said before, with fighting as intense as it is now, we…… can't hold out long. Once we lose the trump card of interstellar missiles, our position on the battlefield will quickly turn into a rout!"
Zhao Chen's expression was somber; he knew all this very well himself.
Between the Owl Dragon Empire and the Devourer Civilization lay a gulf that, for now, could not be crossed.
Had there not been the support of five Sacred Elf legion fleet groups before this war broke out, the pressure on the Owl Dragon Empire might well be greater now, and things would have grown far worse.
After all, by all accounts they were a terrifying power with over 80 million interstellar warships.
So far they had sent less than half their military fighting strength.
Even so, the Owl Dragon Empire was already giving everything it had.
So one could imagine at what edge of a cliff the Owl Dragon Empire now stood.
"I hope how we've done this time makes certain people see what they ought to do," Zhao Chen muttered.
Charlotte understood what Zhao Chen was talking about too; it was not a thing someone in her role as Imperial Grand Marshal could change; all she could do was make their showing on the battlefield a little better.
"Whatever happens, what matters most now is to do our own part well." Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte.
Charlotte nodded. "I understand."
"That piece of ours we've put on the board has gone out. When it moves is up to your arrangements. When the time comes, you needn't wait for my order; you can command it at any time." Zhao Chen gave Charlotte very great authority.
Charlotte nodded.
……
The Sacred Elf Empire · the High Council
Because the universe star gate linking the Owl Dragon Empire and the Sacred Elf Empire had been completed,
this time the Flame Elf Queen had simply come back in person to the Moon-God Planet in the Sacred Elf Empire's Sacred Tree System!
She stood in person in the High Council's council chamber.
After a series of battlefield videos and figures had been played,
the Flame Elf Queen looked around at the council members all about the High Council, and then at the four Elf Sovereigns seated on their thrones on the other side.
She said in a deep voice, "This is the fighting that took place ten hours ago in Luoyang System No. 11 in the Owl Dragon Empire's universe. In this small star system the Devourer Civilization threw in nearly 5 million interstellar warships and three grade-five Soul Altars, and launched the strongest round of attack in history. But under an attack of just that intensity, the Owl Dragon Empire's supreme commanders, and the Owl Dragon Emperor in person, came onto the battlefield and organized a stirring operation. Relying on the fire support of an interstellar missile ship fleet group, the assault of the Emperor's Guard Fleet, and the cooperation of our Sacred Elf Thirtieth Legion Fleet Group, in the end, under the attack of the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought's super bow gun, they wiped out their three grade-five Soul Altars at a stroke! You all know that before this, the Devourer Civilization's Soul Altars were their ace; they were the death knell they sounded for every interstellar civilization's universe they invaded. From first to last, no interstellar civilization's armed forces had ever destroyed even one Soul Altar. Not one! But now the Owl Dragon Empire has destroyed three at a stroke. That's enough to show the Owl Dragon Empire's fighting ability. They're the finest of allies. With their support, we can fully seize this chance to wipe out the Devourer Civilization. Seeing a war going like this, I don't understand what you still have to hesitate over. Must we wait until the Devourer Civilization's invading fleets have broken into our Sacred Elf Empire before we regret it! Search your own hearts: if a battlefield like this took place within our Sacred Elf Empire's borders, three Soul Altars, 5 million interstellar warships, how sure are we that we could withstand an attack from the Devourer Civilization on that scale!" The Flame Elf Queen's voice grew louder and louder; she fixed her gaze on every person present.
But not one person answered her question.
For they knew very well that their Sacred Elf legion fleet groups could not do it at all.
They were proud, but that did not mean they were truly foolish.
In private they had run all manner of combat simulations too.
So they knew very well how strong the Devourer Civilization was.
Perhaps it was also their knowledge of the Devourer Civilization that had, without their noticing, made them fear its existence, so that they dared not even do the most basic thing and draw the sword!
Hence the situation now, which left the Flame Elf Queen seething.
"Now, the Owl Dragon Empire's legion fleet groups are still fighting. And next, barring accidents, an enraged Devourer Civilization will send more interstellar warships to invade the Owl Dragon Empire. Perhaps 10 million, perhaps 20 million, perhaps even 30 million. The Owl Dragon Empire is strong, to be sure, but they've reached a limit now. If we go on standing by with our hands in our sleeves, or even, by those terms you agreed on before, pull back our legion fleet groups when those limits are reached, then the Owl Dragon Empire is bound to be destroyed! And the Devourer Civilization's next target will be us!" The Flame Elf Queen glared at everyone present.
She paused.
The Flame Elf Queen's voice rang out again, dark and heavy. "If I were that Owl Dragon Emperor, facing a situation like that, what do you think I would do? I would be enraged. I would hate. I wouldn't hate the Devourer Civilization, because they're simply the enemy. I'd hate you; I'd hate the Sacred Elf Empire; I'd hate that I had ever allied with a pack of ignorant fools. And knowing full well that defeat was certain, I would launch an attack on the Sacred Elf Empire."
"They wouldn't dare!" a high elf stood up and shouted.
"Since their own homeland is bound to be destroyed anyway, what wouldn't they dare! Or are you gambling? Then I ask you: if things really came to that, and the Owl Dragon Empire's legion fleet groups turned their guns on us, or even attacked straight into our Sacred Elf Empire, what would we be facing then? Even if we destroyed them in the end, what casualties would those terrifying interstellar warships of the Owl Dragon Empire inflict on us!"
Hearing the Flame Elf Queen say this,
the high elves present seemed to see such a picture before them.
It had to be said that the Owl Dragon interstellar warships in the battlefield videos just played had truly shaken them.
Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships were very powerful.
Above all the fire of that Hell-Angel ace fleet group, as though it would set a whole universe ablaze.
And that T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought!
That one interstellar warship's power was no less than that of a corps fleet.
If this interstellar warship threatened the Sacred Elf Empire, it would beyond doubt be a dagger that might be plunged into the Sacred Elf Empire at any moment.
Besides that, there was the Owl Dragon Empire's other military strength, to be feared.
"I'm not asking for much. Allow me to take my own legion fleet group now, and give me five more Sacred Elf legion fleet groups as well, to support the Owl Dragon Empire's battlefield," the Flame Elf Queen put forward her demand.
She did not ask for too much, for she knew these people's tempers very well.
The more she asked for, the more this lot would agonize.
And the Owl Dragon Empire's battlefield could not wait!