Even if the Black-God Third Commander did in the end pay some terrible price for this request of his now, the Black-God Second Commander would not feel the slightest stir.
Mind you, this Black-God Second Commander was known in the Devourer Civilization as the Iron Lady; she would not stir for anyone at all, let alone feel anything like sympathy.
All that mattered to her was how to carry out and complete combat tasks more efficiently; how many died in a combat task did not matter to her at all.
"Then we'll do it this way. Three minutes to prepare; in three minutes, each of us attacks." When the Black-God Second Commander had said this, she coldly closed the video call window.
The Black-God Third Commander was still wearing a smile on his face just then; he shrugged and said with a little laugh, "That Iron Lady really lives up to her name; not a flicker of feeling."
The deputy captain standing beside the Black-God Third Commander noticed just then that the Black-God Third Commander's hands were trembling; it was not fear, but excitement.
He knew his commander's nature well; in a way, the man was a madman too, a war madman.
To complete a combat task, to complete it more efficiently, he would choose extreme ways.
And only a battle on a field of this scale could bring some other look to his usual face, frozen like a palsied man's.
For he longed for battles like this; he did not fear death; perhaps he even had a strange taste of his own for putting himself in deadly surroundings in battle, chasing some peak of feeling.
That was also why, when the Black-God Sovereign gave out the combat tasks, he had specially found the Black-God Third Commander this partner, the Black-God Second Commander: because he knew that without a rope to tie him, this fellow the Black-God Third Commander might become a mad dog off its leash on the battlefield, and might even bite his own side.
It had happened before, in fighting against other interstellar civilizations' universes.
This mad dog had seen what he took for a chance in battle, and gone after it without hesitation.
Mind you, what he had taken for a chance then was to attack the enemy's rear defense line and strike directly at the enemy's leader.
That meant facing the risk that the nearly million interstellar warships on the frontal field would spot his move and turn on him, surround him, and put his legion fleet in grave danger;
and besides that, the legion fleet under that leader was fifty thousand interstellar warships strong.
And how many legion fleet ships did the Black-God Third Commander have to move then?
Nothing else: only the thirty thousand interstellar warships of his own Black-God Third Legion fleet.
That is, the chance as the Black-God Third Commander saw it was to destroy a leader guarded by fifty thousand enemy interstellar warships, right under the noses of a million enemy interstellar warships.
The enemy then, in the quality of its interstellar warships and the fighting power of its interstellar fleets, was not to be compared with these Owl Dragon legion fleets and Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships before them now,
but their numbers of interstellar warships were what they were; one slip and the Black-God Third Legion fleet might have been wiped out there to the last ship!
Even so, the Black-God Third Commander had done it, for as he saw it then, it was the most efficient way to end the battle!
And the result then was good: the Black-God Third Commander destroyed his target.
But the sudden action of the Black-God Third Commander and his Black-God Third Legion fleet had plunged the frontal field into chaos at once.
After all, the military moves of the Black-God Third Commander and the Black-God Third Legion fleet could be said to pull one hair and move the whole body; the other legion fleets could not fail to be thrown off.
The upshot was that, though the Black-God Third Commander had done outstandingly in the fighting, the Black-God Sovereign set his merits against his faults, and gave him no reward.
The fault, of course, was that he had not reported his plan of action and had acted without leave.
From then on, unless there was no other way, the Black-God Sovereign would not give the Black-God Third Commander a task to carry out alone; who knew how big a hole he might punch in things?
Hence the pairing of the Black-God Second Commander with him.
And now, having weighed the gains and losses, the Black-God Second Commander had to some degree given him what he wanted.
Now was the time for him to go mad.
The deputy captain beside him, thinking of what was about to happen, felt his scalp tingle; his commander really would go mad!
"Pass on my order: draw the legion fleet nearby that's in the best fighting condition, and have it attack ahead of us. Give them an order on pain of death: break through at full speed; not one interstellar warship is to slacken. No retreat; only attack! If a single interstellar warship holds back the attack, our Black-God Third Legion fleet will destroy it outright! But if they help our Black-God Third Legion fleet complete this combat task, then every captain is promoted one grade, the bridge officers and officers of every department two grades, and the petty officers below them three grades at least!"
Hearing the Black-God Third Commander's arrangements, the deputy captain understood what they were for.
He was making another legion fleet charge ahead as a suicide squad, drawing more of the Owl Dragon legion fleets' fire opposite, to win more fighting time and fighting room for the Black-God Third Legion fleet behind!
Ordinarily, naturally, no legion fleet would be willing to do such a thing; a combat task like this, and against the Owl Dragon legion fleets at that, was very nearly certain death.
But unfortunately for them, the Black-God Third Legion fleet behind was watching them fight, and the Black-God Third Commander himself held the power to put men to death on the battlefield.
It was a power the Black-God Sovereign had given the five Black-God Commanders.
And now the Black-God Third Commander was using this power of his.
But at the same time, to rouse this legion fleet's fighting power, the Black-God Third Commander had offered rewards too; he was a war madman, but that did not mean he was a fool.
He knew very well that to make troops fight as they should, you could not give only punishment; you also had to tell them what they would get if they completed the combat task.
Only rewards like that could rouse an army's fighting power.
"Yes!" The deputy captain passed this order on at once, and very soon found a fitting regular legion fleet; at full strength it was fifty thousand interstellar warships, and it still had over forty-five thousand, the legion fleet with its fighting power best preserved at present.
The Black-God Third Commander also began passing orders to the legion fleets under him just then; he looked at the command channel windows one after another.
These were the corps commanders of every corps fleet under his thirty-thousand-ship Black-God legion fleet.
"The combat task is simple: attack! We'll meet every means the enemy, the Owl Dragon legion fleets, can find to stop us; we've all seen the fighting power of the Owl Dragon legion fleets and their interstellar warships. It's a very hard combat task, but it's one we must complete. In a moment, once the task begins, every corps fleet lines up abreast and attacks; there are no feints; every one of you is the main force. I'll say the ugly part now, up front. If in this attack anyone dares drag their feet, if any corps fleet drags its feet and falls to the very back, then even if you're lucky enough to survive in the end, you'll be punished. You should know there's no court-martial with me, because my word is the court-martial, and my punishment is military law! And for the corps fleet that falls to the very back in this battle, if its showing displeases me, that corps fleet's commander and deputy commander will all take their punishment and die, and your families behind you will be punished along with you. Every officer below that will be reduced to slavery. Every soldier at the bottom will be sent to the harshest mining planet to dig ore for the rest of their lives, until they die. These punishments will reach your households and families behind you too. So think it over carefully!"
As he said all this, the Black-God Third Commander's face wore a hideous look.
The corps fleet commanders and deputy commanders present dared not say a word; they all knew their commander's temper very well, for he really would do it.
Nearly every time a battle ended, it was not the end for them; each time a batch of those who had done badly would be called out by name by the Black-God Third Commander.
For those people, dying on the battlefield might well have been the luckiest thing.
For with the Black-God Third Commander it was no ordinary punishment; it was torture!
Hardly anyone could stand the Black-God Third Commander's instruments of torture; of those who went through them, about half had already gone mad.
That was why, for those people, once they knew they were to be punished, death was in fact a mercy.
But to keep that from happening, the Black-God Third Commander had laid down one more thing: anyone who learned they were to be punished and killed themselves would have their kin and family behind them bear it all!
But to return to the matter!
"Is that all clear!" The Black-God Third Commander's gaze swept over everyone.
"Clear!"
"Rest assured, Lord Commander; we guarantee the task will be done!"
"Attack! In our corps fleet's dictionary there's only one word: attack!"
Seeing his subordinates in such "high spirits", the Black-God Third Commander was naturally very satisfied.
Next, naturally, came the attack as planned!
It must be said that under the Black-God Third Commander's high-pressure fighting policy, these interstellar warships' fighting power did rise a great deal.
The regular legion fleet charging at the front attacked very fiercely, caring nothing even for the Owl Dragon legion fleets' T6-grade interstellar warships opposite.
Of course, a very few exceptions were bound to happen.
And whenever such a "straggling" interstellar warship appeared, whether through its own fault or some outside cause, it was attacked by the Black-God Third Legion fleet behind, almost without exception.
After that happened, the interstellar warships of this regular legion fleet naturally charged ahead obediently.
At least if they died on the charge, it would count as merit.
But being destroyed by the Black-God Third Legion's fleet was another matter altogether,
and not worth it at all.
So, naturally, this regular legion fleet's fighting power rose further.
And it did achieve the Black-God Third Commander's first aim; the attack went fairly smoothly at first.
A bulge appeared in the original encirclement: the gap the Black-God Third Legion fleet was about to tear open.
But the Owl Dragon legion fleets and Grand Marshal Charlotte were not just for show either.
They very soon made new dispositions on the battlefield.
And just as the Black-God Third Commander had foreseen, in his direction of attack he was indeed more exposed to the Owl Dragon legion fleets' attacks.
Grand Marshal Charlotte had now specially brought over a Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought to deal with this Black-God Third Legion fleet!
Mind you, this was a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship.
The Black-God Third Legion fleet was organized as an elite fleet too, made up entirely of T6- and T5-grade interstellar warships,
but however many T6-grade interstellar warships there were, set against a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship opposite, the gap was still great!
Such a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship standing in the way was, to the Black-God Third Legion fleet, like a god.
But the Black-God Third Commander showed no worry at all at this; rather, some excitement could be seen in his eyes.
The deputy captain beside him could even feel a madness coming off his commander that seemed about to take solid form.
"So this is a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship… This firepower loadout… this hull strength… truly worthy of the interstellar warship that held down the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship and the Drought-Fiend Ghost-King on the frontal field. In firepower, probably only our Black-God could match it."
The Black-God Third Commander had even begun to analyze the quasi-T7 Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought opposite just then!
He rubbed his chin with his hand, madness in his eyes. "To destroy a quasi-T7 Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought like this, either you have an interstellar warship of the same grade, but that's no small matter; in our Devourer Civilization there are only three. The other way is to move enough interstellar warships to form an encirclement, then wear this enemy interstellar warship down bit by bit, and destroy it in the end! But that way has its drawbacks too: the captain of this Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought opposite is no fool; she won't keep slugging it out with her opponent knowing the enemy means to surround her, unless she has some special combat task to carry out. And a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship like this is very fast besides; forming an encirclement wouldn't be easy to pull off either. That leaves only one way: form a suicide fleet of fast interstellar cruisers, and use their own hulls as shells to ram the enemy ship directly. Best of all, pack the hulls full of every kind of high-powered explosive; that way, when they blow themselves up, it'll have the best effect!"
To the deputy captain beside him, the Black-God Third Commander's murmuring made every hair on his body stand on end.
His commander really did come up with some terrifying ideas.
"Ahem… my lord, what do we do now? On the breakout route across the frontal field, the Owl Dragon legion fleets have moved a good many interstellar warships to block us, among them a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship, and an astonishing number of T6-grade interstellar warships besides," the deputy captain asked beside him.
Only then did the Black-God Third Commander come back to himself; he narrowed his eyes, looked at the interstellar war holo-table before him, and said calmly, "What else can we do? Just carry on with the combat task we gave before. All we need to do is attack. However many enemy interstellar warships are ahead, never mind one enemy quasi-T7 Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought in the way; even if there were two, three, five, we couldn't retreat; we have only one choice now, and that's to attack. Pass on my order again: every part of the fleet, remember what I said: attack is our only choice. If anyone dares fall apart now, or harbors any thought of cowardice, then don't blame my guns for showing no mercy. Weigh it up for yourselves too: what will become of your kin and the families behind you once you've dragged them down with you! Rather than become sinners in the eyes of your families and kin, play your last part on the battlefield. At least that way your kin and families won't be dragged down by you; they may even admire you for it."
There was menace in the Black-God Third Commander's words, but they also told the plain truth.
With such a blade hanging over their heads, they dared not entertain any little thoughts; they could only become brave fighting soldiers.
The Black-God Third Commander took a moment just then to glance at the Black-God Second Commander's battlefield nearby.
Compared with their Black-God Third Legion fleet, the Black-God Second Legion fleet was under less pressure.
But only by comparison; after all, the Owl Dragon legion fleets opposite had seen through their intent and would not let them go on smoothly.
So the Black-God Second Legion fleet was under great pressure too.
At least ten thousand Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships had gathered in the direction of their breakout, and more kept coming.
Grand Marshal Charlotte could naturally not let them break through her encirclement so easily.
After all, Grand Marshal Charlotte and the Owl Dragon legion fleets still needed this bait to draw in the Devourer Civilization interstellar warships hurrying here wave upon wave.
And at this very moment, the interstellar warships that had come in support to this battlefield, all told, had reached three million; leaving out those destroyed on the battlefield,
there were still nearly two million interstellar warships now!
That is, under Grand Marshal Charlotte's tactical dispositions, a million interstellar warships opposite had been destroyed.
A third of the goal had been reached!
And it was just then that Grand Marshal Charlotte and Zhao Chen, the Owl Dragon Emperor, received the latest intelligence sent back by the Phantom Scouts.
"Report: according to the intelligence we've scouted here, a large army-group fleet of a million interstellar warships is on its way, expected to reach the battlefield in half an hour!"
Hearing the news sent back by the Phantom Scouts' commander,
the faces of Zhao Chen and Charlotte changed slightly, but neither looked worried.
They only looked at the interstellar war holo-table.
Thanks to the Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship's system, the moment this intelligence came in, this million-ship legion fleet about to appear was marked on the interstellar war holo-table.
To tell the truth,
a million interstellar warships was not really many.
But a million interstellar warships appearing all at once, if they were let into the battlefield as it stood without being held in check, were bound to have no small effect on the course of the battle.
Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte; he had already handed command of the battlefield to Charlotte, and though he was the Owl Dragon Emperor here,
he still chose to trust Grand Marshal Charlotte opposite without condition.
Having handed over the power, he naturally obeyed Grand Marshal Charlotte's arrangements on the battlefield entirely.
"Half an hour, a million interstellar warships, and arriving together at that." Grand Marshal Charlotte studied the interstellar war holo-table closely, then murmured, "To deal with these million interstellar warships opposite, if it were only to hold them in check, a tenth of the number would do. But that wouldn't fit our purpose in fighting this battle. Since the enemy is sending a million more interstellar warships, why not eat a fine meal served right to our mouths? Assign two hundred thousand interstellar warships to these million enemy interstellar warships. Not to intercept them, not to face them off: to annihilate all million of them. In the shortest possible time, with the finest possible results, annihilate these million enemy interstellar warships. This combat task is very hard. Which of you is willing to take it on?"
When Marshal Charlotte had said this, she looked at the video windows on the command channel before her.
By now several Imperial Marshals had gathered on this battlefield.
For so hard a task, these Imperial Marshals naturally did not hold back; each one asked to fight.
In the end, Charlotte's gaze settled on Medusa.
"Medusa. As it happens, the Owl Dragon Third Legion Fleet Group under you now has five legion fleets, over two hundred thousand interstellar warships, on standby at the moment. This combat task is yours. Any problem?" Grand Marshal Charlotte looked at Marshal Medusa opposite.
Marshal Medusa said without ceremony, "Rest assured, Grand Marshal and Your Majesty; our Owl Dragon Third Legion Fleet Group guarantees this combat task will be done. The enemy's million interstellar warships: fifteen combat hours at most, and we guarantee every one of them annihilated!"
Charlotte nodded, then looked at the state of the battlefield before her.