"A year ago they didn't even have the quasi-T7 Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought. And now they not only have quasi-T7 Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts, they have a full fifteen of them. The Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire is the interstellar civilization the Great Existence specially reminded us to wipe out; we can't leave such a thing much more time. I don't deny it will be very hard for us to threaten the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's home universe again. That being so: right now the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's main fleets are all here, and the enemy's super-flagships are all here too. If we take this chance to destroy the enemy's interstellar fleets on a grand scale, then even if we can't annihilate these legion fleets of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, at least we'll destroy the enemy's interstellar warships on the battlefield most favorable to us. Why shouldn't we seize this chance? The more Owl Dragon interstellar warships we destroy now, the fewer we'll face on the battlefield in future. This is our chance!"
There was a note of urgency in the Black-God First Commander's voice.
"I'll think it over again." When the Black-God Sovereign had said this, he cut the call outright.
The moment he saw the video window go dark,
the Black-God First Commander lost control of himself; he grabbed something beside him and hurled it at a glass panel some way off.
Bang.
With a heavy crash, spiderweb cracks could be seen on the glass panel.
It frightened many on the bridge, but they dared not speak; they only kept their heads down and went on obediently with their own work.
Only the deputy captain quietly sent someone to replace and repair the broken glass.
Then he walked up to the Black-God First Commander and said carefully, "Um… our fleets are still attacking. But as things stand, trading attacks with the Owl Dragon legion fleets opposite is very bad for us. The Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships opposite are a good deal stronger than ours to begin with. The enemy has drawn up to attack too, and without enough advantage in forces on our side, the enemy's encirclement will only close step by step. In the end, we'll still be the ones to suffer."
The Black-God First Commander sat in his captain's chair and said nothing more; he laid his hand over his eyes, as if disappointed in something just then.
The deputy captain beside him dared say nothing more either.
If he said the wrong thing now, even the First of the five Black-God Commanders would kill him for it.
Suddenly a video window popped up.
On the other side was the Black-God Sovereign.
Seeing it, the deputy captain dropped to his knees at once.
The Black-God First Commander raised his head, somewhat surprised.
"I agree to your plan. Carry out what you just said."
The Black-God First Commander was delighted, and somewhat relieved too; at least things had not gone past saving with him.
"Then which one are we to carry out…"
Before the Black-God First Commander could ask,
the Black-God Sovereign spoke just then, his muffled voice sounding slowly over the comms channel.
"Carry out the third plan."
……
The Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship · the bridge
"As things stand now on our battlefield here, we've basically got the initiative. So far, in this stage on this battlefield, the enemy interstellar warships we've destroyed already number over two million. We'll reach the goal of three million destroyed in no more than ten hours," Secretary Lilith said beside him.
She paused, and leafing through another document from the secretary department in her hands, said, "Besides that, on the matter of logistics and supply: our rate of resupply has begun dropping step by step. The supplies still to come, as things stand, can keep us fighting three days at most. If we fight on past that, the strategic supplies we get each day will be 30% less than the day before."
Hearing what Lilith set out, Zhao Chen and Charlotte both fell silent for a moment.
They were fighting to their hearts' content on the front line, but for the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's logistics and strategic supplies it was beyond doubt a huge test.
After all, this was the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's first cross-universe war; it cost more than they had imagined, and for want of experience they had taken a good many wrong turns along the way.
They had paid a good deal of tuition for those wrong turns, though luckily none of it was very serious.
But it was enough to show that a cross-universe war was nothing like so easy as fighting within one universe.
Zhao Chen looked at Grand Marshal Charlotte. "We can't leave the strain on logistics out of account. Charlotte, we've destroyed two million enemy interstellar warships in this stage now. Destroying another million after this shouldn't be any problem. It's time we thought about when to pull out."
Withdrawal, and how to withdraw:
when to pull out, how to arrange the withdrawal, by what means to withdraw.
For a commander on the battlefield, these were in truth questions that had to be thought through.
A war is not so simple as only knowing how to attack and defend.
Retreat and withdrawal are an important part of it too; if you cannot withdraw properly, you may even come to grief at that stage.
In the history of interstellar war, there had been famous commanders who made mistakes at the stage of withdrawal and came to grief, even suffered utter defeat.
Grand Marshal Charlotte was silent a moment, then said slowly, "I've already thought this through. Our battlefield here goes on for seven more hours at most. After seven hours, whatever the situation on the battlefield, and whether or not we've destroyed our target number of interstellar warships, every interstellar warship here must pull out. I'll have one legion fleet cover the other legion fleets' withdrawal. Before we pull out, I've had the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group complete a round of resupply, so when we withdraw, Zhao Waner's Shadow Hunter ace fleet group will use its interstellar warships to give covering fire. Besides that, we've prepared a batch of interstellar missiles and interstellar heavy-artillery ships, and a batch of interstellar drone swarms. They can all win us time and room to withdraw when we pull out, so we can complete the withdrawal smoothly. As for the other six star-system battlefields, they'll withdraw at the same time as us. If anything goes wrong in between, I've also kept two Owl Dragon legion fleets, nearly a hundred thousand interstellar warships, in reserve to deal with emergencies, to make sure the whole withdrawal plan goes smoothly."
Grand Marshal Charlotte said it with a grave look.
And Zhao Chen was very satisfied with Charlotte's answer.
Leaving these things to Charlotte, he really could feel a great deal easier.
"Mm, I can rest easy with you in charge of all this. But don't take all the pressure on yourself either; if you run into any problem then, tell me. This Majesty the Emperor is more often a mascot, but I'm not entirely for show," Zhao Chen said with a grin just then, his words easing the mood a little.
Grand Marshal Charlotte smiled slightly and stretched. "Once this campaign is over, I'm going to have a good rest, and spend time with our children. It's been less than a month, but my time in this universe feels like every day lasts a year. Not being able to live in the same universe as our children, not even being able to call them every day; it's truly hard to bear."
For with present technology, the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire still could not manage real-time communication across universes.
Naturally they could not manage, as they had in the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire before, to have a video call every day with the children staying in the Owl Dragon Star System.
Zhao Chen sighed; in this he truly owed his wives and children far too much.
After this campaign ended, perhaps they would have a stretch of time to rest.
At least for a while, the Devourer Civilization would be in no shape to jump about in front of him again.
The pity was that there was no way to use this chance to put the Devourer Civilization down once and for all.
With the Holy Elf Empire's help, there might really have been such a chance.
But that lot in the Holy Elf Empire were far too shortsighted; the only one on the same wavelength as him was the Flame Elf Queen alone.
But the Holy Elf Empire was not like his own Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire; it was not a house where his word alone was law.
If only the Holy Elf Empire answered to the Flame Elf Queen alone.
This thought in Zhao Chen's head had not come to him just now; he had had it before.
Even Secretary Lilith had raised it in private:
to back the Flame Elf Queen to become the Holy Elf Empire's mightiest elf ruler, even its only one.
That way their Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire would have the Holy Elf Empire's full help.
In a situation like now, their Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire would not be fighting alone here.
But it was only a thought.
As the Flame Elf Queen's "old friend", Zhao Chen in truth knew the Flame Elf Queen's temper very well.
If the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire really meddled in private with the Holy Elf Empire's government, Zhao Chen did not doubt in the least that the Flame Elf Queen was sure to turn on him.
Everyone has a line they will not cross.
And the Holy Elf Empire's government was the Flame Elf Queen's line.
She could allow the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire to sell its goods in the Holy Elf Empire, to get some things or information it wanted in the Holy Elf Empire by means of trade, or even to plant some spies and hidden watchers and the like.
The Holy Elf Empire did all the same things to the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire too, only perhaps not so effectively as the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire did.
Or again, Zhao Chen had always said that he was interested in the Holy Elf Empire's top technology, even that World Tree.
Zhao Chen had never hidden any of this.
Nor had the Flame Elf Queen shown any dislike of it, for the hunger for top technology is something nearly everyone has.
The people who said they did not want it while wanting it at heart
were the ones the Flame Elf Queen disliked.
So the Flame Elf Queen felt no dislike at all for Zhao Chen; she rather liked his frank nature.
It was also one reason the two sides had dealt with each other so comfortably up to now.
But if Zhao Chen meddled directly with the Holy Elf Empire's highest power and persecuted other elf rulers, even an elf ruler the Flame Elf Queen did not like,
that was not something the Flame Elf Queen could allow either.
She would certainly turn from friend to enemy then.
So unless something special happened, Zhao Chen would never meddle on his own with the Holy Elf Empire's ruling ranks.
For one thing, it would lose the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire an ally; not a very reliable ally, but so long as it was there, having it was better than not.
For another, Zhao Chen truly thought of the Flame Elf Queen as his friend, and did not want to lose this friend over such things.
That was what Zhao Chen really thought.
Zhao Chen truly both loved and hated this ally, the Holy Elf Empire.
Truly a weakling no one could prop up.
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Abnormal spatial fluctuation! Abnormal spatial fluctuation!"
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Abnormal spatial fluctuation! Abnormal spatial fluctuation!"
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Abnormal spatial fluctuation! Abnormal spatial fluctuation!"
Suddenly alarms sounded on the bridge.
Surprise showed on the faces of Zhao Chen and Lilith both.
Grand Marshal Charlotte, on the other side of the video window, looked at once at the star map and the interstellar war holo-table.
Zhao Chen looked at the radar star map just then too.
At one place far off on the battlefield, several glowing points had appeared: the positions where abnormal spatial fluctuations had appeared.
"These several abnormal spatial fluctuations are about five minutes' sailing from our battlefield before they'd come within firing range," Lilith said beside him, at once beginning to supply some important battlefield data.
Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, "It seems the Black-God Commanders opposite have lost their patience, and mean to bring out everything they've kept at the bottom of the chest."
With the war at this stage, the technological means or interstellar warships that could send legion fleets in bulk were very scarce strategic assets for both the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire and the Devourer Civilization.
At this stage, truly, every one used was one fewer.
So in the later part of the war, to travel, both sides used warp and star-gate routes.
Had the Owl Dragon interstellar legion fleets not had the Southern Heaven Gate as a trump card in hand, Grand Marshal Charlotte might not have managed the situation on this battlefield now.
"Pass the word down: every legion fleet on every front, keep up the fighting and be ready for any change that may happen on the battlefield."
"Order the temporary base at the Southern Heaven Gate: every interstellar warship still resting and refitting is to set out at once and come here!"
Grand Marshal Charlotte gave new battle orders at once, and moved every battlefield resource she could.
It could be seen that she took the situation now very seriously.
This was probably the trump card the Devourer Civilization had brought out at this stage; it was sure to be no small thing.
It might even change the whole course of the battlefield outright.
Very soon, at those points of abnormal spatial fluctuation, interstellar warships came through one after another.
These interstellar warships were, naturally, all the Devourer Civilization's.
Thirty thousand… fifty thousand… a hundred thousand… three hundred thousand…
The number kept growing.
Legion fleet after legion fleet came swarming in.
As the number of these Devourer Civilization legion fleets opposite grew, the pressure over the Owl Dragon legion fleets' heads grew greatly too.
After all, on this battlefield now, a big reason their Owl Dragon interstellar legion fleets had the upper hand, and were beating down the Devourer Civilization's interstellar legion fleets opposite,
was that the Owl Dragon interstellar legion fleets had the edge in the fleets' overall fighting power.
The Devourer Civilization looked to have the advantage in numbers of interstellar warships, but counting the interstellar warships the Owl Dragon legion fleets had now put in here, and figuring in the two sides' interstellar warships' fighting power, the ratio of fighting power was only about five to one.
What did that mean?
Mind you, on the Devourer Civilization's side it was now accepted by all that against the Owl Dragon legion fleets they needed a ratio in numbers of at least ten to one to stand a chance.
And now the Devourer Civilization's growing interstellar legion fleets were, beyond doubt, adding weight bit by bit to the scales of the war.
"Report: the enemy's reinforcements opposite have come to five hundred thousand interstellar warships so far. And by our observation, these five hundred thousand interstellar warships have all seen no wear from the war; every interstellar warship is in top fighting condition," Secretary Lilith said gravely beside him.
Zhao Chen smiled coldly and said, "It seems these reinforcing interstellar warships must be the legion fleets the Black-God Sovereign kept at the bottom of the chest. Our surrounding a point to strike the relief here has really got this Black-God Sovereign angry."
Grand Marshal Charlotte watched those interstellar warships still pouring out and said in a low voice, "It's far from over. By our earlier calculations, the Black-God Sovereign still has at least ten million-odd interstellar warships not yet put into the fight. If the Black-God Sovereign really means to fight us until the fish dies or the net breaks, the number of interstellar warships will grow still more."
"Then I'd guess those interstellar warships are all on their way. After all, tens of millions of interstellar warships: even the Devourer Civilization, with its great house and great holdings, can't have that many technological means left for sending fleets across space," Zhao Chen said mildly, rubbing his chin with his hand.
Charlotte agreed on this too.
Lilith had received a piece of latest news as well, from the Phantom Scout ace fleet group.
"Latest word from the Phantom Scouts: great numbers of legion fleets are moving all over the Black-God Sovereign's territory. Nearly five million interstellar warships are expected to be on their way here!" Lilith reported nervously.
Zhao Chen knit his brows slightly.
Interstellar warships still kept growing here, and on the other side five million interstellar warships were on their way.
"By our calculations, of these five million interstellar warships, whatever means they use, only two million can reach our battlefield here within ten hours; the remaining three million will reach the battlefield within seventy-two hours at the latest," Lilith added.
Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte, waiting for what Charlotte would arrange next.
Grand Marshal Charlotte studied the interstellar war holo-table before her closely, as if at this moment she were a god who could look down on every corner of the whole battlefield,
including the interstellar fleets the Devourer Civilization opposite was sending from every quarter.
"The enemy means to win back their position here. The other side is doing two things at once. On one hand, they're using the few devices left for sending fleets across space to send a batch of interstellar warships straight here to join the battlefield; not to turn things around outright, but at least to keep things on the battlefield from going too badly, like the three Black-God legion fleets we're besieging now. At the same time, they're speeding up the reinforcement fleets coming from other directions, and making them larger. Five million interstellar warships. That's probably about half the legion fleets the Black-God Sovereign can move now; moving any more interstellar fleets would put the important star systems under the Black-God Sovereign at grave risk."
Just as Charlotte was saying this,
more changes came on the battlefield.
One familiar structure after another appeared before Zhao Chen, Charlotte and Lilith.
Through the video window though it was, Zhao Chen and the others knew these things at a glance:
Soul Altars!
"It seems the Black-God Sovereign really is angry. He's even brought out these, and he has hardly any left. We've already destroyed so many that the Black-God Sovereign must be smarting for a good while. Bringing them out on the battlefield now shows how determined he is," Lilith muttered.
Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes; he had a foreboding in his heart just then, and said, "This isn't over yet; the Black-God Sovereign may have still more to bring out."
"Still more?" While Lilith was puzzling over it,
the scene in the video window before her very soon answered her puzzle.
For she saw special interstellar fleets appearing one after another.
"The Black-God Fourth Legion fleet and the Black-God Fifth Legion fleet!" Lilith was no battlefield commander, but she knew rather a lot about the important information in this campaign.
When she saw the fleet blazons on these interstellar warships, she knew where these interstellar warships had come from:
the two of the five Black-God Commanders' legion fleets that had still been missing!
The Black-God Fourth Legion fleet and the Black-God Fifth Legion fleet.
"Wasn't there word before that the Black-God Fifth Legion fleet had taken over the Troll Monarch's star system and was garrisoned there? And the Black-God Fourth Legion fleet was garrisoned at the Black-God Sovereign's home base. All along, in every situation, one of the five Black-God Commanders' legion fleets would always stay garrisoned in the Black-God Star System. Now all five Black-God legion fleets are here." Lilith was greatly astonished, and could hardly believe it.