These three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts before him were in truth three of the five Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts from before.
Their withdrawal then had been a sham.
In fact, these three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts had probably been hiding somewhere nearby out of sight, resting and resupplying,
waiting for just such a chance to strike by surprise.
"Then why didn't they tell us in time! By rights they should have been fighting over there more than half an hour ago. Why is this news only reaching me now!" the Troll Monarch said in a towering rage; veins could even be seen bulging on his fat face just then.
"Because… because the star system's star gate was hit by the Owl Dragon attackers' communications jamming and couldn't reach us directly. This message only got back because they sent several interstellar warships through the star gate to another star-gate system," a subordinate answered.
Communications jamming?
The Troll Monarch clenched his fists; it all seemed to have been planned long ago by the Owl Dragon commander opposite,
one link after another.
"Report: an emergency at our defensive positions. The three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts that have turned up again are attacking very fiercely, and from a single direction; because we hadn't adjusted our defensive positions, we weren't ready to defend against these three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts. Now they've torn a gap in our defenses and are attacking with everything they have, toward where our home planet and our flagship are. Judging by it, their aim must be to wreck our home planet and our flagship at one stroke!" another staff officer reported anxiously.
The Troll Monarch looked at the interstellar war holo-table; in not even a few minutes,
those three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts had actually broken through their defensive line and were charging straight at where they were.
Their aim could not have been plainer.
They meant to cut down their flagship first and destroy their home planet.
"Get me Black-God; send him a message. If he doesn't send reinforcements now, even as a ghost I won't let him go!" In that moment the Troll Monarch truly felt the danger of death.
It was the first time since joining the Great Order that he had felt himself face to face with death.
Since joining the Great Order, it had always been they who brought others the taste of death's coming.
He had probably never imagined himself that one day he would stand in that place.
"Yes!" His subordinate went at once to see to it.
In truth, the Troll Monarch was wronging the "Black-God Sovereign" in this.
The Black-God Sovereign's side "cared" a great deal about this battlefield; they could not stand by and watch the Troll Monarch's home planet and the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship fall just like that.
They too had been given a start by these three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts appearing so suddenly.
Once the aim of these three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts' attack had been seen,
the lookouts the Black-God Sovereign had placed around this battlefield sent the news back at once.
"What?" The Black-God Fifth Commander was greatly shaken when he heard the news.
He even sprang straight up from his captain's chair.
He still remembered the Black-God Sovereign's orders: the Troll Monarch's safety did not matter to them.
But the Troll Monarch's home planet and the Troll Monarch's flagship, the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship, which they already counted as theirs for the taking, must come to no harm.
"Pass on my order: prepare for space transport at once. Support the battlefield at the Troll Monarch's home planet!" the Black-God Fifth Commander said seriously.
"Lord Commander, we don't have many transport devices left," his adjutant reminded him.
"How many can we send?" the Black-God Fifth Commander asked.
"With the transport devices we have in hand now, we can send thirty thousand interstellar warships to the battlefield at most," the adjutant said.
The Black-God Fifth Commander nodded. "Thirty thousand interstellar warships is enough. Send our Black-God Fifth Legion's thirty thousand interstellar warships to the battlefield at once. As for the hundred thousand regular legion fleet ships, they can go in support as originally planned."
"Yes."
"How long will it take?" the Black-God Fifth Commander asked with some worry.
"About ten to fifteen minutes," his adjutant answered.
Ten to fifteen minutes?
The Black-God Fifth Commander knit his brows, but there was nothing he could say about it now.
That was simply how things stood; he could only pray that fellow the Troll Monarch had some of a Sovereign's ability,
and could not fail to hold even fifteen minutes.
Or he would end up punished before the Lord Black-God Sovereign for it.
"Fifteen minutes… shouldn't be a problem," the Black-God Fifth Commander said, comforting himself.
Ten minutes later
Above the Troll Monarch's home planet
Everywhere could be seen the wreckage of the interstellar warships of the Troll Monarch's legion fleet, the so-called elite fleets; several battle satellites and defense satellites had been turned into fireballs.
Some were even falling toward the home planet, drawn by its gravity.
Luckily, beyond this home planet's atmosphere was a layer of energy shield protecting it, holding off these things falling like meteorites, and sparing the cities and other important institutions and buildings on the planet's surface.
But chaos had begun on the home planet; after all, they could see the fireballs appearing one after another on the light-screen overhead.
The people of the home planet, looking at the burning sky, were filled with unspeakable fear, as if the end of the world had come.
But that was far from all.
For the Owl Dragon commander's task was to destroy this home planet!
So at this moment, a Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought hovering above the Troll Monarch's home planet turned all its main guns and secondary guns on this home planet.
The captain of this Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought looked coldly at this planet, with not the least sympathy or pity in her eyes.
As a starship captain, she would show no mercy at all; she would carry out every order her superiors gave without condition.
What was more, as far as she knew,
nearly everyone on the Troll Monarch's home planet was a noble of the Troll Monarch's faction, and they had reaped a great deal over the years from invading the universes of other interstellar civilizations.
Beneath every splendid city lay a blood debt owed to other interstellar civilizations!
On the planet, every city and ground military base had entered the last stage of defense too.
Antiaircraft guns extended one after another, aimed at the huge golden interstellar warship in the burning sky.
It was like a golden god judging the demons of this planet.
Hell was about to come down on their own heads.
"Prepare for orbital bombardment. One minute. Orbital bombardment of the entire surface of this planet," the captain ordered coldly.
At this moment, every gun on the hull of this Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought shone with the light of slaughter.
Countless pillars of light fell toward this planet's surface like heaven's punishment!
At the same time, elsewhere,
No. 6, led by Major General Tabitha the angel, was squared off against the enemy Troll Monarch's flagship, the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship!
The two were very close.
With the naked eye alone one could almost see some details of the other's starship.
And now every gun and weapon on either side that could reach the enemy was attacking the enemy's interstellar warship at any cost.
Points of starlight could be seen appearing on both sides' star shields where attacks struck, and in the space between the two sides' starships, a great many fireballs burst.
These fireballs came from each side's attacks being intercepted by the other and exploding.
The dust and smoke of these explosions even formed a dust zone between the two interstellar warships, like a gray wall standing between them.
Besides that, on the flanks of these two interstellar warships' fight, the interstellar interceptors and interstellar drone swarms sent out by the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought were harrying the enemy Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship from the flanks.
With the interstellar drone swarms' edge in air combat, nearly all interstellar air superiority in this area was firmly in the Owl Dragon side's hands.
And the interstellar interceptors were like annoying flies too, harrying the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship without pause.
Besides that, the interstellar warships of the Troll Monarch's legion fleet around them were naturally sparing no effort to support the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship.
After all, on their command channels now, the combat task of highest priority was the one the Troll Monarch had given in person: intercept at any cost any enemy interstellar warship trying to attack or threaten the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship.
But against these interstellar warships of the Troll Monarch's legion fleet trying to come in support, the remaining Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought in this surprise decapitation task took on the combat task of dealing with these Troll legion interstellar warships.
With this one Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought standing in the way, its own guns and the fighting power of its interstellar interceptors and interstellar drone swarms were enough to take a great deal of the pressure off the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts on the other two fronts, over a certain area,
so that they could put their whole minds to completing their combat tasks.
At last one front broke through first.
The Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship's star shield was the first to be torn apart.
In theory, by the calculations of the departments concerned on the Owl Dragon legion fleets' side, the star-shield defense of this quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship should have been a good deal higher than the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought's.
What was more, Major General Tabitha the angel's Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought had been through the earlier fighting, and though it had had a little time to rest and resupply in between,
that had not got its star shield back to its best.
Yet in this fight, of all things, it was the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship opposite that could not hold out first.
Under the attacks of the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought No. 6, it was the first to give way.
That meant the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship's hull armor would face the onslaught of the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought No. 6 directly.
At first, the close-in fire on the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship was still doing everything it could to intercept the fire coming from the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought No. 6 opposite.
But unfortunately the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought No. 6 opposite, seeing the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship's star shield broken, was like a shark scenting blood.
Its attacks grew a great deal stronger at once.
And the attacks that got through were nearly all aimed at the close-in weapons on the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship.
To leave a prey unable to fight back, the first step, naturally, is to pull its teeth.
For this, the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought No. 6 even sent a batch of interstellar drone swarms on suicide attacks, all to destroy the defensive weapons on this Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship's hull as fast as possible.
It did have some effect, too.
As the defensive fire weakened,
the heavy interstellar marines on the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought No. 6 had made ready for battle as well, and team after team of heavy interstellar marines boarded the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship's enormous hull on rocket thrusters,
and began a boarding action of their own.
More and more flames and thick smoke appeared on the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship's hull armor; it meant this great beast was being swallowed bit by bit by the fires of hell.
"How much time do we have left?" Major General Tabitha the angel asked gravely.
The deputy captain beside her answered at once, "Three minutes thirty seconds left."
"It's not enough time." Major General Tabitha the angel looked at the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship opposite.
The enemy ship's hull was simply too big, and it used the technology of a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship.
So it was very hard to destroy such a super-giant ship completely in a short time.
Three and a half minutes was nowhere near enough.
"Since there's no way to destroy it completely, carry out the backup plan. Above all remember this: when the time is up, whatever the result, we must withdraw at once!" Major General Tabitha the angel said firmly.
For she had just received intelligence from the Phantom Scouts.
The Black-God Sovereign's legion fleets were on the move, and the timing matched exactly when they had launched their surprise attack.
They were plainly coming for them.
The eight Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts here were a very important military force in the Owl Dragon legion fleets now.
So they had to be kept whole as far as possible, and all brought home!
If they lingered here too long, some of the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts might get tangled up with the enemy and be destroyed or badly damaged.
That was something she would not allow to happen!
"Yes," the deputy captain said seriously.
Major General Tabitha the angel glanced at a combat model display beside her, which showed the damage on the hull surface of the enemy's Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship now.
Red areas and yellow areas could be seen on it.
The red areas were few, but the yellow areas already covered 10% of this super-giant ship's hull, and that 10% was nearly all this super-flagship's important positions.
What was more, these yellow areas had begun to seep into the hull's interior.
The pity was that time was short.
They could not destroy this super-giant ship outright.
Major General Tabitha the angel glanced over it, then looked elsewhere,
at the other battlefield:
the attack on the Troll Monarch's home planet.
At this moment, the sky dome protecting this home planet of the Troll Monarch's had begun to show cracks; it was the sign that this sky-dome shield was about to give out.
Sure enough,
after a dozen-odd more seconds, the energy supply system of the sky dome around this home planet of the Troll Monarch's ran out of energy and shut down.
The huge sky dome vanished in an instant.
And this home planet of the Troll Monarch's lay utterly exposed before that Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought.
That Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought would naturally not let so good a chance slip; every beam it had fell toward the surface.
At this very moment, the capital city of the Troll Monarch's home planet:
this was where the Troll Monarch most liked to spend his leisure, the most luxurious city on this planet, even in the whole of the Troll Monarch's interstellar territory.
Hundreds of millions of people lived here.
Most of them had fled to the shelters by now; the city's streets showed scenes of chaos, with interstellar flying cars and other vehicles scattered about.
Robot police were taking over the city's security.
"Warning! Warning! Warning! The home planet has entered a state of war; everyone, leave the streets at once and go into the nearest underground shelter!"
"Warning! Warning! Warning! The home planet has entered a state of war; everyone, leave the streets at once and go into the nearest underground shelter!"
"Warning! Warning! Warning! The home planet has entered a state of war; everyone, leave the streets at once and go into the nearest underground shelter!"
All through the city, this mechanical warning could be heard.
And on the displays everywhere along the streets, flashing red lettering could be seen: war warnings, every one.
And atop some buildings were extendable defense turrets, the city's last defense.
But all of it crumbled in a single instant.
A huge golden beam came down from the sky, and in only an instant it set this city alight.
The capital, prosperous and splendid a moment before, was the next second a ruin of broken walls.
This was the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought's strongest weapon, the super-bio plasma pulse-cannon prow main gun.
Because it used bio-plasma technology, it was corrosive to some degree too.
So many traces of corrosion could be seen in the broken walls of the ruined buildings.
The ruin of this capital city was only the tip of the iceberg on this home planet.
On the bridge of the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought overhead, the captain had detailed material on the Troll Monarch's home planet before her.
In the planet's holographic projection, some marked positions could be seen.
Their Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought's attack was naturally not without purpose; what they were after was not to wreck this planet, but to destroy the Devourer Civilization's important facilities and institutions on it.
"Report: 60% of all destruction targets completed," the deputy captain said beside her.
"We have a minute and a half left. We must finish all our strike targets within the time!" the captain reminded her seriously.
"Yes."
The Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought No. 6 · the bridge
Major General Tabitha the angel did not pay much attention to her own warship's combat task; she had handed all that to her deputy captain.
After all, she was now not only captain of this Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought, but commander of the operation on this battlefield as well.
"One minute left. All Golden Scarab captains, listen well. This is Tabitha, commander of this battle. In one minute, whatever the state of the fighting, the three Golden Scarabs carrying out the surprise attack must break off at once. The five Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts on the outer ring will cover the withdrawal. When the eight Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts have gathered together, we'll decide which way to break out by how things stand then. Remember! When the time is up, our task is to withdraw. Do not linger in the fight!" Major General Tabitha the angel reminded them gravely.
"No. 8, received!"
"No. 14, received."
A string of voices rang out on the command channel.
The last minute looked short, but in truth it was long.
Just then the Phantom Scout reconnaissance fleet on the outer edge of the battlefield, standing "lookout", sent word too.
"Attention! Signs of enemy interstellar warships arriving by space jump found at coordinates ** on one side of the battlefield. Possibly from the Black-God Sovereign's legion fleets."
"Received." Major General Tabitha the angel received the news without alarm.
After all, she had known long before that the enemy's reinforcements would come; it was only a little off in the timing.
At least this timing was something they could fully accept now.
Major General Tabitha the angel marked where this enemy reinforcement fleet was arriving on the interstellar war holo-table.
Then she looked at her staff department: "Work out the best withdrawal route at once!"
"Yes!"
"This is No. 11; No. 11 is carrying out its withdrawal."
Just then a voice came over the command channel, from No. 11.
No. 11 was the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought attacking the Troll Monarch's home planet.
"Received. No. 11, join up with me and No. 15 first; the three of us will break out first to join the five Golden Scarabs outside, then withdraw!" Major General Tabitha the angel ordered.
"Yes."
Major General Tabitha the angel looked at the Troll Monarch's home planet.
In not even a few minutes,
what had been a prosperous, beautiful planet was now like hell.