Looking at these interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships drawn up ready for battle,
the secretary-officer laughed and swore, "This lot, they mean to stop us? On the strength of these few interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships of theirs? That's truly killing me!"
Before he had finished, the corps fleet commander rapped him on the head.
The corps fleet commander said gravely, "Remember what I told you: don't drop your guard in the least against any starship from the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, even if all that appears before you is a single enemy interstellar transport!"
At his superior's grave words,
the secretary-officer felt more contempt than anything inside; he thought more now that his commander had come to fear the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire because of the earlier campaign,
so much that he was beginning to fear even these interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships.
These were nothing but interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships; could they really stir up a splash?
What a joke……
The thought had not yet left his head
when the interstellar warships at the very front of their corps fleet suddenly exploded, one fireball after another appearing.
"Report! Interstellar mines found; three of our interstellar warships have been destroyed outright, and a dozen-odd interstellar warships have had their star shields and hulls damaged to varying degrees," a subordinate's report came over the bridge.
The secretary-officer simply froze where he stood.
He had never imagined he would be slapped in the face right at the start.
"How many times have I told you: don't drop your guard. Send interstellar destroyers ahead at once to sweep these interstellar mines and make sure our fleet can pass. Remember! Once we're within range of attack, at any cost, open fire with everything and destroy the interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships opposite!" the corps fleet commander ordered gravely.
And so, because of these interstellar mines laid beforehand, the Devourer Civilization corps fleet's advance was greatly slowed.
And these interstellar mines had naturally been laid beforehand by the Phantom Scout company, with built-in stealth.
They could catch the enemy off guard, true, but they could also slow the enemy's attack,
and win time for their own main fleets to arrive.
That alone was enough!
The interstellar mines could not hold them up long.
The Devourer Civilization corps fleet cleared a route and gradually closed the distance to these thirty interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships.
"Report: the enemy's thirty interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships are now within range of our starships' attack. By the original orders, we'll attack at once," the secretary-officer said.
At this moment, every gun on their interstellar warships was aimed at the thirty interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships opposite.
Their manner and bearing were as though what they faced were not interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships at all, but legion fleets from the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire.
"Fire! Destroy them!" the corps fleet commander said loudly, urgency in his voice.
Fighting interstellar warships from the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, even if only some interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships, the longer it dragged on, the more uneasy he felt.
Now all he wanted was to destroy the Owl Dragon interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships opposite in the shortest time.
Very soon these Devourer Civilization interstellar warships opened fire.
The guns of the Devourer Civilization interstellar destroyers at the very front fired shell after shell at the thirty interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships opposite.
Because these thirty interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships were not moving, aiming at them was a good deal easier.
Shells by the tens of thousands and other attacks besides poured down in that moment onto the star shields of these thirty interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships.
Rainbow ripples appeared on those star shields.
Beautiful as it looked, it was full of danger.
The moment a star shield was shattered, these interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships from the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire would be drowned outright in the enemy's attacks, with no chance at all to strike back.
"Yes! Just like that. Attack! Attack! Destroy every starship from the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire!" the corps fleet commander roared somewhat hysterically.
The secretary-officer beside him even saw savagery in his eyes.
That surprised him greatly; he suspected his commander had most likely come away with some lasting scar from the earlier campaign against the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire,
to feel like this at the sight of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's interstellar warships; and now that he had at last come upon a few soft persimmons,
he naturally needed to vent his fury on them.
Time passed bit by bit.
The star-shield energy of the thirty interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships naturally began running low.
But just then, something changed.
Suddenly!
Around the three thousand ships of the Devourer Civilization corps fleet, tens of thousands of hive-race combat units appeared out of thin air.
These hive-race combat units threw themselves madly at the star shields of the Devourer Civilization corps fleet's interstellar warships, wearing down these interstellar warships' star shields with their own bodies and attacks.
Once a star shield was worn away, next it would be these interstellar warships' hull armor facing these mad hive-race combat units head-on.
"It's the hive-race! The interstellar hive-race!" the secretary-officer cried out.
"Damn it, where did these interstellar hive-race swarms come from?" The corps fleet commander was astonished.
Then he thought of something, and said at once, "Quick! Quick, fire stealth-jamming shells!"
"Yes!" The secretary-officer gave the order at once.
Then dozens of interstellar escorts fired a special kind of shell all around.
This shell's explosion had no very visible effect, but its work was unseen.
Given that the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire valued starship stealth technology highly,
with an ace fleet group of interstellar stealth bombers of its own,
the Devourer Civilization had been improving its own weapons and equipment since the first campaign, and one weapon it had fitted in great numbers
was this stealth-jamming shell, which once fired could break most stealth abilities within a certain range.
And the reason this weapon was fired here
was that the corps fleet commander suspected the sudden appearance of these interstellar hive-race swarms might well have to do with stealth technology!
And in fact it was so.
Once this anti-stealth weapon was fired,
they found to their astonishment that great numbers of hive-race combat units were gradually appearing on both flanks of their corps fleet.
And further off, hive motherships appeared too!
And they were no strangers to these interstellar hive-race swarms either.
"It's the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's interstellar hive-race. Damn it, the clearing-up and encirclement before didn't clear them all out!" the secretary-officer swore.
"Perhaps they were made ready for just this moment," the corps fleet commander said with a black face.
In the first campaign before, in the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's strike back at the Devourer Civilization's home universe, great numbers of Owl Dragon interstellar hive-race had taken part.
And after that operational plan ended,
apart from a few main hive motherships that withdrew to the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, the rest of the Owl Dragon hive-race fleets had chosen to scatter and harry every part of the Devourer Civilization's universe.
In the first few months they had indeed given the Devourer Civilization no little trouble.
But with large-scale clearing-up and encirclement, in the last three months the Owl Dragon hive-race fleets had basically vanished without a trace.
Who would have thought they would turn up here now?
This was surely no coincidence; it must have been prepared by the enemy beforehand.
In the encirclement and clearing-up back then, some of these Owl Dragon hive-race fleets had quietly gone into hiding, waiting for this stage to fight alongside the Owl Dragon interstellar legion fleets.
"Report: there are about three thousand hive motherships around us. The highest grade among them is a grade-five hive mothership!"
Hearing his subordinate's report
let the corps fleet commander breathe a little easier.
At equal numbers, their Devourer Civilization corps fleet still had a great advantage over the interstellar hive-race.
These interstellar hive-race swarms from the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire were a good deal stronger than the interstellar hive-race usually seen, but that still could not change the gap in fighting power, unit for unit.
"Pass on my order: fleet, don't panic; take up battle formation. First destroy these Owl Dragon hive-race fleets; just bring out the skill we used before in hunting down and clearing out these Owl Dragon hive-race fleets!" The corps fleet commander began making his battle dispositions now.
But very soon he noticed something not quite right too:
these Owl Dragon interstellar hive-race seemed more to be playing for time, protecting the thirty interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships over there!
"Just how does the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire do it? To get these interstellar hive-race swarms to work with them so." The corps fleet commander had seen such a scene long before.
But seeing it again now, he still found it unbelievable, beyond understanding.
After all, as ordinary people understood it, the interstellar hive-race had always been called a race of war; where they appeared, disaster and destruction came with them.
In theory, they were just as notorious as their own Devourer Civilization.
Yet once the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire brought out these interstellar hive-race swarms, that judgment seemed to have changed somehow.
At least up to now, no one in the Devourer Civilization could explain it,
could explain why these interstellar hive-race swarms fought alongside the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire in such perfect accord.
Because of these Owl Dragon hive-race fleets' delaying, it became impossible for this Devourer Civilization corps fleet to wipe out the thirty interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships opposite quickly.
"These damned bugs, they just keep coming." The secretary-officer swung his fists angrily at the air.
These bugs were annoying enough to begin with; now they were even playing tactics with you, which gave all the more the feeling of punching cotton.
"Things are going to go badly from here." The uneasy feeling in the corps fleet commander's heart was growing stronger and stronger now.
He said in a low voice, "Send how things stand with us here to our superiors. Ask when the reinforcing legion fleets can arrive, and whether, if anything happens, we're allowed to withdraw first."
"Yes." The secretary-officer began passing on their thinking.