The T6 Shadow-Phantom-class Medium Interstellar Stealth Bomber No. 1 · the bridge
Zhao Waner looked at a huge holographic window before her, on which combat targets were marked one after another.
Such-and-such star port, such-and-such interstellar transport fleet, a grade-six Soul Altar, and so on.
And of these, a third had already turned black.
That meant those combat targets had all been destroyed.
The most conspicuous among them was none other than the "grade-six Soul Altar" at the very top.
It had beyond doubt been the highest-priority combat target.
"Report: five minutes have passed since we launched the attack. We've destroyed one grade-six Soul Altar, two grade-five Soul Altars and five grade-four Soul Altars. Also nearly 20,000 interstellar transports of every type, and 5,000 interstellar supply ships of every type. Two star ports destroyed. ……" The secretary-officer beside her was reporting the results.
For any other interstellar legion fleet, unless it was an interstellar missile ship fleet,
it would likely be hard to believe that these were combat objectives accomplished within five minutes!
And so far their own losses were still a very small number.
"The enemy has reacted and begun moving anti-stealth equipment on a large scale to attack and encircle our interstellar warships. The order has been passed down: besides destroying the original targets of the raid, destroy as much of the anti-stealth equipment and as many of the starships carrying it as are within your range of fire. At the same time, finish your combat tasks as fast as you can and pull out of the enemy's encirclement; do not stay to fight enemy ships." When the secretary-officer had finished, she looked at Marshal Zhao Waner.
These were all things Marshal Zhao Waner had stressed before.
Zhao Waner nodded, satisfied.
Then she said gravely, "How are the preparations for the second step of the plan?"
"Everything is ready; we can begin at any time." When the secretary-officer spoke of this second step of the plan, even her voice grew excited.
Few people knew of this second step of the plan; in the whole Owl Dragon Empire, so far, fewer than ten knew of it.
And before this military operation began, fewer than five had known of it.
That was enough to show how important this second step of the plan was.
"Pass it down. In five minutes, get ready to open the second step of the battle plan. Within these five minutes, two-thirds of the original combat targets must be destroyed," Marshal Zhao Waner said gravely.
"Understood."
The five minutes that followed
brought a frenzied counterattack from the Devourer Civilization's legion fleets.
The Shadow Hunter ace fleet group bore enormous pressure from it, and the number of its own interstellar warships lost rose sharply.
But the position they were in now meant the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group had to accomplish this combat task.
Before this combat task began,
Charlotte had told Zhao Waner a few things in person.
She told Zhao Waner that this operation might well be the one with the heaviest casualties the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group had ever suffered.
It might very well be wiped out entirely, not one in ten left.
That, of course, was the worst case.
And even in the best case, Charlotte told Zhao Waner, the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group's loss rate might reach 50%.
That meant that of the nearly 80,000 interstellar warships the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group had brought, 40,000 might be laid to rest in a foreign universe.
Before this, because of the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group's special way of fighting, it had never had losses even over 10%, let alone close to 50%.
But even knowing this, Marshal Zhao Waner had not been nervous in the least.
She had said it to Charlotte with her own lips then:
"I am an Imperial marshal of the Owl Dragon Empire, and I built the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group to fight for the Empire too. Whether it's an easy battle or a bitter one, they go forward without looking back. The Shadow Hunter ace fleet group is the Owl Dragon Empire's ace; it will appear without hesitation wherever the Empire needs it. Never mind 50% losses: even in a war they knew was certain death, they would have no complaint and no regret!"
Time passed bit by bit.
Marshal Zhao Waner watched with her own eyes as, one after another, the names of interstellar warships on the interstellar warship list turned gray.[1]
This was the enemy's home base, after all, with millions of enemy interstellar warships.
And the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group had only 80,000 interstellar warships, and spread out besides, deep within the enemy fleets' positions.
It was very easy for them to be surrounded by the enemy and then destroyed.
And often a scene like this played out:
a T5 Netherworld-Wolf-King-class Medium Interstellar Stealth Bomber would give away its position, and even in its last moments it would throw as many of its interstellar torpedoes, interstellar bombs and interstellar missiles as it could at those combat targets.
It paid no heed whatever to the combat-type interstellar warships besieging it all around, which were not combat targets.
It was as though, in this moment, it saw only those mission targets.
Even knowing full well that it was about to be destroyed, it had to complete as much of its combat task as it could.
And because of this, the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group's interstellar warships were being destroyed almost every minute.
In the end, when the clock reached the tenth minute of the fighting,
before Zhao Waner's eyes, the number of interstellar warships her own fleet group had lost came to nearly 10,000.
That looked like a loss rate of under 15%.
But at the same time, on the list, the names of some starships could clearly be seen that had not gone black but had turned gray.
That meant the captains of those interstellar warships had reported on their own that the ship had been caught fast by the enemy, with no chance of escape; no support was needed; the ship would fight to the bitter end.
And these gray interstellar warship names numbered nearly 5,000.
These interstellar warships had basically already gone onto the death list.
So the loss rate could be said to be close to 20% already.
And so far this combat task was far from over.
"Begin the second step of the plan." Marshal Zhao Waner glanced at the time and gave the order solemnly.
"Yes!"
Then the battlefield began to change.
The interstellar stealth bombers that had been scattered everywhere now began heading toward the universe-space fold-jump points the Devourer Civilization had made,
as though they meant to escape that way!
"Lord Sovereign. These interstellar stealth bombers of the Owl Dragon Empire's are trying to escape now; they must mean to go back to the Owl Dragon Empire's universe through our universe-space fold-jump points," the subordinate officer said, looking at the Troll Monarch.
The Troll Monarch said with a cold laugh, "Heh heh heh, they want to escape under our very noses, using our own things?"
Then fury came over his face: "Does this lot of the Owl Dragon Empire's take us for idiots? Destroy their interstellar warships for me. Whatever happens, don't let a single one get back to their universe. They must pay for everything they've done!"
The Troll Monarch was now extremely angry.
For one thing, there were the important military installations these interstellar stealth bombers of the Owl Dragon Empire's had destroyed so far.
They sounded like nothing but non-combat equipment, but their loss would have an enormous effect on this war of invasion against the Owl Dragon Empire's universe.
The Troll Monarch could just imagine how the other two Sovereigns would berate him when he saw them later.
And his own prestige would hit rock bottom in the Devourer Civilization because of this battle.
If the Great Existence then blamed him for this too, his present standing would be enormously affected!
At the thought, he was angry and afraid at the same time.
He had to do something, or after this war, even if he did not die, he would at least lose a layer of skin.
At the very least, he would wipe out this ace fleet group of the Owl Dragon Empire's here, to the last ship!
Because the Devourer Civilization's legion fleets blocked them, the interstellar stealth bombers of the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group simply could not advance toward those universe-space fold-jump points.
Every step was very hard!
And the casualties paid for it were very heavy too.
This puzzled the commanders of the Devourer Civilization's interstellar fleets.
This was plainly not a good battle plan.
Rather than attacking toward those universe-space fold-jump points, breaking out toward the periphery would have had a better chance.
And besides, on the far side of the universe-space fold-jump points there were some millions of Devourer Civilization interstellar warships.
So this was nothing but a dead end.
Just as everyone thought this ace fleet group from the Owl Dragon Empire was walking step by step toward its destruction,
something unexpected happened.
"Report: a body of interstellar hive-race has poured out of universe-space fold-jump point No. 3! It's attacking our interstellar warships!" The sudden news left the Troll Monarch somewhat dazed.
He frowned and said, puzzled, "Interstellar hive-race? I did hear before that the Owl Dragon Empire seemed to control a body of interstellar hive-race, but how could that hive-race come through our universe-space fold-jump point and appear here?"
The subordinate officer thought a moment, and answered carefully, "This…… the only explanation that makes sense is that the battlefield on the far side of universe-space fold-jump point No. 3…… is already under the Owl Dragon Empire's control."
Hearing this,
the Troll Monarch at once barked, "Impossible! On the far side of every battlefield we have at least 5 million interstellar warships. How could the enemy take control of any battlefield in so short a time? Impossible!"
Mind you, it had been only a dozen-odd minutes from first to last.
In so short a time, how could……
Suddenly the Troll Monarch seemed to think of something.
"The Owl Dragon Empire's Hell-Angel ace fleet group!" The Troll Monarch's expression was somewhat grave; his whole fat face screwed up like a meat bun.
"Perhaps…… perhaps so. When that grade-five Soul Altar was destroyed before, in that battle, the fire of the enemy's Hell-Angel ace fleet group brought our universe-space fold-jump point within the enemy's range of fire for a while. So…… the enemy has the ability to fight its way to our universe-space fold-jump points in a short time," the subordinate officer said, analyzing it.
The Troll Monarch looked at the interstellar hive-race swarms pouring out of that universe-space fold-jump point in the picture window.
His brows soon smoothed out.
"The enemy has only one Hell-Angel ace fleet group; at most it can hold the universe-space fold-jump point of one battlefield for a while. And their Shadow Hunter ace fleet group is spread across several battlefields. Even if……" The Troll Monarch gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice, "Even if we can't wipe out the Hell-Angel ace fleet group entirely, we can at least maul it badly! As for those interstellar hive-race swarms, they're nothing to fear. The interstellar hive-race is nothing but the bug-sea tactic; I heard before that the Owl Dragon Empire has only a few tens of millions of interstellar hive-race at most. Even if it were a hundred million, they couldn't stir up much of a storm against us."
Hearing the Troll Monarch's words, the subordinate officer nodded; he was somewhat worried at heart, but that was indeed how things stood.
"So this is the Devourer Civilization's universe? The minions under Order." A huge Hive Mothership appeared in this universe.
Its enormous form surpassed even the most conspicuous thing opposite, that T6 Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship!
For it truly was enormous, like a planet, but its outside was all brown matter.
It was hard to believe this was a living creature.
And this was a T6-grade Hive Mothership,
the Hive Princess's own ship!
The Hive Princess stood at its bow at this moment, looking at the battlefield before her, her expression calm.
She glanced around.
"Hive Princess, these are the coordinates of my several fleets." A voice sounded at the Hive Princess's ear.
"Sister Waner, received." The Hive Princess smiled slightly.
Then she gave the order calmly: "Begin laying out the 'worm-ways.'"
Then several special hive-race units began to move at positions set some distance apart.
And very soon,
on the other battlefields, cracks began to appear in the space within the battlefields, as though torn open by some creature.
Then countless interstellar hive-race swarms poured out!
"It's bad! Interstellar hive-race swarms are appearing on several battlefields one after another. The enemy…… the enemy has set up worm-way jump points!" The subordinate officer noticed this turn and said in alarm.
"Worm-way jump points? But why could this interstellar hive-race build worm-way jump points so fast? How is this possible……" The Troll Monarch's face was all astonishment.
He knew something of the interstellar hive-race too.
He naturally knew that among the interstellar hive-race there was a T5-grade hive unit, the "interstellar web-way worm."
But as far as he knew, this "interstellar web-way worm" took some time to set up a worm-way jump point.
Yet now this interstellar hive-race had built several "worm-way jump points" almost in the blink of an eye; the efficiency had risen several hundredfold.
"Lord Sovereign, it's bad. The enemy's interstellar hive-race swarms already number over ten million, and…… and these swarms' Hive Motherships and hive combat units fight completely unlike the ordinary interstellar hive-race in our files. Their fighting ability is a good deal higher, and they even have tactical coordination," the subordinate officer said, somewhat panicked.
Interstellar hive-race swarms with tactical coordination?
The Troll Monarch's face was very ugly at this moment, as sick as if he had eaten dung!