Hearing the Flame Elf Queen's proposal,
the members of the High Council broke into talk.
But compared with before, a good many of them now began to weigh the Flame Elf Queen's proposal; quite a few even felt the demand was not very excessive, and could be granted.
That was enough to show that this battle of the Owl Dragon Legion's had indeed, to some degree, won these high elves over.
The Flame Elf Queen frowned, watching these high elves discuss it; her face showed no change of feeling.
But in her heart she loathed it utterly.
At this moment she even doubted whether the Sacred Elf Empire's present system was right.
She thought back on the system over in the Owl Dragon Empire, so very efficient.
Then she looked at this lot before her,
who could only let the moment for battle slip again and again.
"I wonder what the views of the several Elf Sovereigns are?" a high elf council member said, tossing the question to the other four Elf Sovereigns.
The Nightglow Elf King held to his earlier position; his gaze even turned cold and sinister as he said, "I don't deny the fighting power the Owl Dragon Empire has shown now. But turn it around and think. With fighting power of this degree, if we wipe out the Devourer Civilization, will the Owl Dragon Empire become our next enemy? Mind you, as far as I know, the Owl Dragon Empire has existed for nearly three years now, and it has spent almost the greater part of that time at war. Even if you look into the Owl Dragon Empire's forerunner, that Owl Dragon Lord, it's nothing but a history of war. Can we trust such a person not to become the next tyrant, after the Devourer Civilization's Three Sovereigns?"
The Nightglow Elf King's words were a stone that raised a thousand waves.
The warning in them was plain to everyone.
"I don't deny there's some sense in your worry. But in my own investigation of the Owl Dragon Empire, it has always fought back in self-defense and has never launched a war of invasion against any interstellar civilization! If any of you don't believe it, you can all look into it. It's no secret. And the most important matter right now is still the Devourer Civilization. Compared with a threat the Owl Dragon Empire might pose, isn't the danger of the Devourer Civilization, right in front of us, the one we should face squarely?" The Flame Elf Queen glared at the Nightglow Elf King.
Of all the Elf Sovereigns, this fellow was the one she could least abide.
Spiteful and petty.
Had it not been for the backing of the Nightglow tribe, he could never have become an Elf King.
"I think we should look at the larger picture. As Salaman said, the fighting power the Owl Dragon Empire has shown now is enough to prove they have the strength to stand against the Devourer Civilization. And we all know very well the threat the Devourer Civilization poses. This is a rare chance. I agree to sending a second wave of reinforcement fleets to the Owl Dragon Empire," the Bluewater Elf Queen said gently.
The Flame Elf Queen let out a breath, and turned her eyes to the two remaining Elf Kings.
Now it was up to these two.
Five Elf Sovereigns; the minority would yield to the majority.
So long as one of these two Elf Kings stood on her side, it would be enough!
"These interstellar warships of the Owl Dragon Empire's are very strong; the fighting power of a good many of them even exceeds that of our elf-line interstellar warships. And those ugly interstellar warships of the Devourer Civilization's can't compare with them at all. The T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought, the T6 Gluttony Demon King starship, the T6 Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship and the rest all have a level of technology beyond our reach. That's what has given them the strength to stand against the Devourer Civilization. And we ought to support them now."
Unexpectedly, the Emerald Elf King actually stepped forward in support at this point.
The Flame Elf Queen let out a breath.
She understood what the Emerald Elf King was thinking, too.
The Emerald Elf King came from a background as a scholar and scientist; his approach was rigorous and very cautious.
And this time the excellent fighting ability of those Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships had convinced him.
"Since Mansfield agrees as well, then my position doesn't matter. A majority of us Elf Sovereigns agree to send a second wave of reinforcement fleets to the Owl Dragon Empire's universe battlefield. Next it's up to the views of the members of the High Council." Seeing that three Elf Sovereigns already supported sending a second wave of reinforcement fleets, the Radiant Elf King had no need to state his own position.
He tossed the rest of the question straight to the High Council.
The High Council was in name the Sacred Elf Empire's center of government, but it was no more than a reflection of the five Elf Sovereigns' thinking.
Since a majority of the Elf Sovereigns agreed, they would basically agree as well.
What remained was only to discuss how many reinforcement fleets to send.
After several hours, the deliberations finally reached a result.
The Flame Elf Queen, though somewhat unsatisfied, went back with something gained, at least.
By the result the Elf Sovereigns and the High Council had worked out,
five Sacred Elf legion fleet groups would be sent this time to support the Owl Dragon Empire's battlefield, but the Flame Elf Queen's request to send her own legion fleet group was rejected.
The Flame Elf Queen was somewhat angry at this, but the others would not give an inch on the point, alas.
Considering how short time was,
the Flame Elf Queen could only give it up, unwilling as she was.
In the end she brought five Sacred Elf legion fleet groups to support the Owl Dragon Empire's battlefield.
……
The T6 Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship · the bridge
"Your Excellency the Emperor, this time I've brought five Sacred Elf legion fleet groups. We'll cooperate with your country's military operations." The Flame Elf Queen smiled at the Owl Dragon Emperor before her.
"Still limits, same as before?" Zhao Chen teased with a smile.
The Flame Elf Queen shrugged helplessly. "On paper there are no limits, but that lot will certainly be watching all the time. Once the results and the losses are out of proportion, or the losses are too heavy, they may step in at any moment and pull these Sacred Elf legion fleet groups out."
Zhao Chen nodded in understanding.
"Marshal Charlotte, whatever combat tasks there are now, you can assign them directly." The Flame Elf Queen looked straight at Charlotte; she trusted this Imperial Grand Marshal completely now, and even respected her,
believing her ability to be wholly above her own.
Charlotte nodded and, without standing on ceremony, said directly, "Then I'll trouble you to have these five new legion fleet groups support the five battlefields, one each, and rotate out your country's original five legion fleet groups for a full rest and refit for a while."
The Flame Elf Queen did not ask why only her own legion fleet groups were being rotated out for a full rest and refit.
For the fighting caliber of the Owl Dragon Empire's legion fleet groups was far higher than theirs; in the middle of the fighting they tried every means to refit their own interstellar warships, cutting down the time spent on it.
By comparison, the Sacred Elf legion fleet groups fell far short.
As the fighting went on, their fighting condition kept on declining.
If they went on fighting like this, even if their interstellar warship losses were not great, their fighting condition would suffer enormously.
"In this time, has the Devourer Civilization made any moves?" the Flame Elf Queen asked with concern.
Because she had gone back to the Sacred Elf Empire in person, and then hurried back with five Sacred Elf legion fleet groups, it had taken over two days in all.
So she was very concerned about what was happening on the battlefield now.
"Since that last battle, the enemy's offensive has eased a great deal; they're just keeping up low-frequency combat contact. Daily losses have even reached their lowest since the war broke out. But we can't let our guard down; this is likely the calm before the storm. Since the Devourer Civilization hasn't chosen to withdraw, it means they have a next battle plan," Charlotte said gravely.
The Flame Elf Queen nodded in agreement. "Once the Devourer Civilization has its eye on an interstellar civilization's universe, it won't let it go easily. They've poured so many resources into your Owl Dragon Empire's universe; if they pulled out now and then wanted to prepare the next phase of attack, it might take six months to a year of preparation. So they won't give up! And Order is watching them too. If they do badly, Order will punish them as well."
"On that point, I'd like to ask you something. Do you think the Devourer Civilization might launch a total war on our Owl Dragon Empire's universe? That is, throw every interstellar warship they have onto the Owl Dragon Empire's universe battlefield!" Charlotte asked.
The Flame Elf Queen shook her head outright.
She explained, "That's something those three Sovereigns won't do. They have to make sure at all times that their own domains stay stable and unaffected. Mind you, they have no few enemies! True, within the known range we've explored, there are no other universes besides the Sacred Elf Empire's universe and the Owl Dragon Empire's universe. But in the places farther than we've explored, who knows whether there are other powers? According to the undercover agents we've planted inside the Devourer Civilization, the Devourer Civilization has technological equipment with an exploration range far beyond ours, and in the past year it was even upgraded once, tripling its exploration range outright. So in our eyes there are only our three universes in this expanse of space. But in the Devourer Civilization's eyes there may be more universes still, and those other universes may also know about the Devourer Civilization and the war we're fighting. In that situation, the Devourer Civilization can never, ever leave its own home base empty. And besides, in the Devourer Civilization's home universe, do you think everyone truly accepts the three Sovereigns?"
Charlotte's eyes lit up. "The Devourer Civilization isn't very stable inside?"
"Naturally. The Devourer Civilization's original racial makeup was in fact not even half of what it is now. Nearly half of its races and civilizations now are kingdoms, interstellar races and the like that chose to go over to the Devourer Civilization when they were invaded. Can you be sure these people won't turn and bite the three Sovereigns the moment they have the chance? The three Sovereigns are no fools either; they naturally know what their underlings are thinking. At the same time, our Sacred Elf Empire still has a good many legion fleet groups not yet put onto the battlefield; if we learned the Devourer Civilization's universe was empty inside, we could well take the chance to strike. And within our Sacred Elf Empire, the interstellar civilizations that fled into our universe before won't let such a chance slip either. Their military strength isn't great, true, but breaking into an emptied-out Devourer Civilization and making some trouble for them is no problem at all. Under these potential threats, the Devourer Civilization can't possibly send all its military strength onto the Owl Dragon Empire's universe battlefield. That's also why, in the first phase of the war, only 15 million Devourer Civilization interstellar warships appeared on the Owl Dragon Empire's universe battlefield. Counting the second time, it barely reached the order of 30 million. And mind you, the Devourer Civilization's publicly declared armed forces alone come to 80 million interstellar warships. We all know very well that what's made public is usually only a part, with some always hidden away. So we can fully assume that they in fact have over 100 million interstellar warships!"
Hearing the Flame Elf Queen's analysis, everyone thought it made a great deal of sense.
Then Charlotte asked, "Then how many military fleets do you think the Devourer Civilization will send to our Owl Dragon Empire's universe battlefield at most?"
The Flame Elf Queen held up five fingers without the least hesitation.
"50 million interstellar warships. That's a warning level. Once the forces the Devourer Civilization puts onto the Owl Dragon Empire's universe battlefield go over 50 million interstellar warships, someone will set their sights on the Devourer Civilization. According to our investigations, in every phase of external war so far, the interstellar warships the Devourer Civilization has sent out have never exceeded 70% of the interstellar warships it has! And the figure they've made public is 80 million, which comes to just that number, 50 million."[1]
50 million interstellar warships.
They had already committed 30 million interstellar warships.
That is to say, the Owl Dragon Empire might yet have to bear the threat of another 20 million Devourer Civilization interstellar warships in the future.
"Things don't look hopeful for us right now, true. But turn it around and think. The Owl Dragon Empire actually has a chance of winning. This may not sound pleasant. But right now the Owl Dragon Empire is a swamp to the Devourer Civilization; the more of the Devourer Civilization's interstellar fleets sink into this swamp, the more enemies around it will set their sights on the Devourer Civilization. In the end, when a certain limit is reached, these wolves will tear into the Devourer Civilization and divide it up among themselves. Our Sacred Elf Empire included," the Flame Elf Queen finished.
Zhao Chen nodded; he understood what the Flame Elf Queen meant.
To put it bluntly, it was bait.
The Owl Dragon Empire was the bait to lure the Devourer Civilization.
"And besides, I'll find a way later to get the High Council to agree to send more reinforcements. At least a third wave can still be drawn: 5 million Sacred Elf interstellar warships to the Owl Dragon Empire's battlefield. And that legion fleet group of mine. That legion fleet group of mine may not match the ace fleet groups in your hands, Your Excellency the Emperor. But at equal numbers it can still go a round or two with your Imperial legion fleet groups," the Flame Elf Queen said with a smile.