And these were the star gates of the network that Charlotte's plan meant to wreck.
Lilith looked these star gates over carefully.
Compared with Charlotte, Lilith did not know much about war, but in interstellar travel and interstellar trade she was not the least bit behind.
And she had been in charge of the Owl Dragon interstellar legion fleets' logistics and supply all these years besides.
So when Lilith saw this map of attacks on the enemy universe's star-gate network, she could see where the key to it lay.
These star gates did not look very important, but once they were wrecked,
they would do very serious harm to the whole Devourer Civilization's star-gate network.
It was like a few unimportant points that, once joined together, took on a weight out of all proportion.
These small and medium star gates that looked unimportant were just like that.
Any single one of them, even several of them, being wrecked did not matter.
But once all of them were wrecked, it would be a catastrophe for the Devourer Civilization's star-gate network.
It would do great harm to the Devourer Civilization's interstellar travel.
Just think: after the war, wouldn't the Devourer Civilization have to move some interstellar legion fleets back to where they had been? Without the convenience of the star-gate network, a trip that had taken only a few hours on the way there
might now, for a stretch of the way home, have to rely on its own warp.
Worse still, some damaged interstellar warships that could not travel by warp had been able to reach their destinations quickly by star gate.
But now, unable to use star gates and unable to travel by warp, they could only spend more effort to get it done.
That added not only time but a great deal of cost behind the scenes too.
And that was only part of the harm.
Again, after this campaign ended, having lost so many interstellar warships, wouldn't the Devourer Civilization have to build interstellar warships on a grand scale to make up the shortfall?
And building interstellar warships was no simple matter.
First you needed raw materials, then the raw materials had to be carried to starship factories to be built; some starship factories might only produce parts, which then had to be carried to the final assembly factories to be put together.
So the whole process needed the star-gate travel network.
And now what might have taken only three days of travel would take ten days or half a month to transport.
And repairing this star-gate network was no simple thing.
Mind you, for the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, building a star gate took three to five months; for the Devourer Civilization it might take a year or even several years.
And that was the result Grand Marshal Charlotte wanted:
to make the Devourer Civilization opposite spend more time on this, so that they could not get their fighting strength back in a short time.
And when next the Owl Dragon legion fleets launched the great decisive war against the Devourer Civilization, the gap between the two sides' fighting power would not be so wide.
One side waxed as the other waned.
For the Owl Dragon legion fleets' fighting power, it was an unseen boost.
With the smallest outlay, it could win the greatest return.
"Then what about the situation on our battlefield here? Are we really going to fight the legion fleets under the Black-God Sovereign opposite to the death here?" Lilith said with some worry.
Whatever else, the wrecking of that star-gate network was for later.
What mattered most now was the situation on the battlefield before them.
If they lost the fighting on this main battlefield,
then whatever they said afterward would be empty talk, of no use at all.
Charlotte opened the interstellar war holo-table before her and said, "The idea before was to destroy the last of three million enemy interstellar warships here; destroying or crippling the enemy's super-flagship, that Drought-Fiend Ghost-King, would have been acceptable too. But now, with the Black-God Sovereign stepping in directly with armed force, our battle plan from here on has to change somewhat. First, we look very imposing now, with over five hundred thousand interstellar warships on the battlefield and ten million hive-race ships holding the line besides. But you have to know our interstellar warships' fighting time is limited; after all, our logistics problem is there for all to see. Once our logistics are used up, it won't matter how many interstellar warships we have. Without enough strategic resources, our interstellar warships can't fight as they should on the battlefield at all, and could even take terrible casualties. That would be far from worth it for us. So my thinking now is to drag out the fighting and tie down the enemy's interstellar warships as long as we can. You saw just now that when the Hive Princess's Owl Dragon hive-race fleet group appeared here, His Majesty didn't order an attack at once, but had them build a battle position here, all to frighten the enemy, so that the Devourer Civilization's Black-God Sovereign opposite wouldn't dare move against us for a while. And our final aim is to force the Black-God Sovereign opposite to stand by and watch our legion fleets withdraw safely back to the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's universe."
Hearing Grand Marshal Charlotte's plan, even Lilith felt it was somewhat past belief.
She said in surprise, "We and the Devourer Civilization are at the point where it's you or me now. We've attacked so many of their important star systems one after another, and wrecked two of their super-flagships. How could they stand by and watch us withdraw safely without doing anything at all?"
Faced with Lilith's question,
Charlotte smiled slightly again, and said, "If we thought about it in the usual way, it would be so. But in fact we have to look at the rules the person involved acts by. So we need to put ourselves in the thinking of the Black-God Sovereign opposite, and see how the Black-God Sovereign opposite would handle this. And after several simulations, His Majesty and I first settled a few points. By our intelligence, the Black-God Sovereign is very likely to use this chance, our attack, to swallow up the other two Sovereigns' forces and make the Devourer Civilization a place with only one Sovereign. So he's sure not to rush into a great decisive battle with us now, unless he's fully sure of it. Before the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet group appeared, the Black-God Sovereign might have had thoughts of revenge on us. But with ten million hive-race ships sitting there now, do you think the Black-God Sovereign opposite would still dare take the risk? He could perfectly well wait until we've left, then bring the forces of the Devourer Civilization's other two Sovereigns together, take some time to digest them, and gain full control of the whole Devourer Civilization. By then he'd be the Devourer Civilization's only Sovereign. Then spend a little time rebuilding his military strength, and launch his revenge attack on us. Wouldn't that be better for him?"
Hearing Grand Marshal Charlotte's guess at the Black-God Sovereign's thinking, at first hearing Lilith had to admit it made a good deal of sense.
By what they had learned of the Black-God Sovereign from intelligence so far, the Black-God Sovereign was rather careful and cautious by nature.
If things really stood so, the Black-God Sovereign might well swallow his anger for now, and wait until he had put the other two Sovereigns' forces in order before regrouping and declaring war on the Owl Dragon legion fleets.
"But there's one problem in between. We mustn't let the Black-God Sovereign opposite see the slightest chance. Like before, for instance, making the Black-God Sovereign opposite think he has the advantage in forces and can destroy our legion fleets. The Black-God Sovereign opposite is very careful and cautious, but he's no fool either; he won't stand by and not strike when such a chance lies before him. That's why you see the Black-God Sovereign opposite only slowing his attack now, not stopping the fighting at once. He's watching; he's thinking whether to keep attacking next," Zhao Chen added beside her.
Lilith understood the meaning at once.
Now it was two gamblers at one gaming table, both sides adding chips over and over, waiting to see whether one side's chips would crush the other's entirely.
Short of being fully sure, neither gambler would go all in.
Time passed bit by bit.
Both sides fell into a strange "quiet".
And at this point the Black-God Sovereign and the Owl Dragon Emperor seemed to have reached a silent understanding: the Black-God Sovereign did not throw the five hundred thousand-odd interstellar warships under him, the two Black-God Commanders' legion fleets and his own guard fleet onto the battlefield,
and the Owl Dragon Emperor on the other side did not throw the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet group straight onto the battlefield either.
Instead, like onlookers, they went on watching the two sides' original legion fleets fight it out on the battlefield.
On the Owl Dragon legion fleets' side, naturally, there was no objection; whatever the Owl Dragon Emperor above them ordered, they would carry out without condition.
But on the Devourer Civilization legion fleets' side things were not so peaceful.
Above all with the Drought-Fiend Sovereign, still in the thick of the fighting.
He was jumping about in a towering rage now.
In these several hours he kept pressing the Black-God Sovereign to throw his legion fleets into the fighting and support the battlefield.
At first the Black-God Sovereign would still get in touch with the Drought-Fiend Sovereign and tell him his plans and why he had not committed his troops.
And he promised that the moment the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet group opposite joined the fighting, all his legion fleets would join the fighting too.
He was guarding against the Owl Dragon legion fleets opposite!
To such an excuse the Drought-Fiend Sovereign could naturally not agree.
After all, things on his side were hanging by a thread.
Not that no reinforcements at all joined the fighting, though.
The Drought-Fiend Sovereign did still have some legion fleets in the surrounding star systems, and he was naturally doing everything he could to bring them over now.
So some legion fleets could still be seen "arriving late" and joining the battlefield.
And on the other side, the Owl Dragon legion fleets were not without reinforcements either; some legion fleets came in support as well,
such as the ten Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts, arriving late!
These ten Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts came late, but quasi-T7-grade interstellar warships carried great weight on the battlefield.
Once these ten Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts appeared on the battlefield, they lined up abreast, and the battle line they formed did not give an inch before the attacks of the Devourer Civilization's interstellar legion fleets opposite.
Once these ten Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts had taken their stand in this position, they were like ten sea-calming pillars.
Besides that, Owl Dragon legion fleets withdrawn from other star-system battlefields joined this battlefield after a brief rest and refit.
So the fighting still going on here stayed in a strange balance the whole time,
with the Black-God Sovereign's other legion fleets and the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet group looking on from the side,
which put the whole star-system battlefield into a strange mood.
The Black-God · the bridge
The Black-God Sovereign stared at the interstellar war holo-table before him, his look very ill.
For he had never thought the Owl Dragon legion fleets' commander opposite could keep so calm.
And as this had gone on until now, some of his senior commanders and commanders of rank naturally had no small objections.
The Black-God Fifth Commander, for one, had asked several times to fight, wanting to join the fighting.
And some thought this a chance, a chance to rout the Owl Dragon legion fleets opposite,
rather than stand by and watch here.
"My lord, we can all understand your caution. But this really is a chance. And we're not out of chips. Don't forget, we still have a grade-six Soul Altar!"
At the words "grade-six Soul Altar", the several commanders and senior officers who had asked to fight and argued for battle all looked excited.
That's right!
It was their trump card.
Grade six and grade five differed by only one word, but what a grade-six Soul Altar could do on the battlefield was worlds apart.
For a grade-six Soul Altar could summon grade-six and even quasi-T7-grade pitch-black interstellar warships.
That would raise their fighting power enormously.
But mind you, a grade-six Soul Altar was also extremely important to the Devourer Civilization.
In the first campaign against the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, they had lost a grade-six Soul Altar.
If they brought out a grade-six Soul Altar again now, and anything went wrong,
even the Black-God Sovereign would find it hard to answer to the Great Existence.
But with the situation as it was now, and his subordinates asking to fight over and over,
the Black-God Sovereign hardened his heart, and still decisively ordered all the Soul Altars brought over.
At this order, jump channels appeared one after another behind the Black-God Sovereign's legion fleets' position.
Soul Altar after Soul Altar appeared.
So many of them, so densely packed,
it was probably something never seen before.
Because Soul Altars affected one another within a certain range, some low-grade Soul Altars even lost the chance to appear on the forward battlefield, and were squeezed to the back.
But whatever the case, with so many Soul Altars here, it was a truly terrifying display.
But it also brought a problem: a shortage of soul power.
After all, the energy these Soul Altars used to summon pitch-black interstellar warships was the soul power within a certain range.
At this point there was not enough to supply them.
But the Black-God Sovereign and the others had naturally prepared for this long before.
Just then transport ships could be seen appearing on this battlefield one after another; these transport ships looked rather out of place amid the mood of this battlefield.
And the purpose of these transport ships was to supply soul power to the Soul Altars.
As the words suggest, these transport ships were full of slaves, who would be put to death on the spot here by every kind of means.
And once they died, the fresh soul energy born of them would naturally become the Soul Altars' power.
This was the plan the Black-God Sovereign and the others had prepared long before.
At this moment, those Soul Altars were all working without a pause.
There were more and more pitch-black interstellar warships, more and more.
Under the grade-six Soul Altar's working, quite a few T6-grade pitch-black interstellar warships had even appeared already.
And so the scales of the war between the Black-God Sovereign and the Owl Dragon Emperor were shifting at an astonishing speed.
And just then,
a video call appeared before the Black-God Sovereign.
And the sender was marked: the Owl Dragon Emperor.
At the sight of this unexpected call request, the Black-God Sovereign and everyone who saw it fell briefly still.
They were all greatly surprised that the Owl Dragon Emperor opposite would contact their Black-God Sovereign directly now.
The move was simply too astonishing.
Everyone's eyes fell on the Black-God Sovereign just then.
The Black-God Sovereign hesitated a moment, and naturally chose to connect.
After all, in such a case, if you did not connect,
it would make you, the Black-God Sovereign, look rather small, wouldn't it? The Owl Dragon Emperor contacts you, and you don't even dare take his call?
Besides, the Black-God Sovereign was curious what the Owl Dragon Emperor opposite had in mind in contacting him,
and what he meant to say.
When the video window opened, after a moment of darkness, a figure sitting on a throne appeared on the other side.
It was a male of a humanoid race.
There was no need to think who he was:
the Owl Dragon Emperor, Zhao Chen.
It was the first time the two had met, but everyone knew they were already as familiar with every particular of each other as could be.
"Black-God Sovereign, I trust you've been well. We must be the most familiar of strangers by now. I suppose there's no need for introductions?" Zhao Chen looked at the Black-God Sovereign opposite with an easy face, as if it were idle chat between acquaintances.
The Black-God Sovereign's muffled voice sounded: "Owl Dragon Emperor, what do you want?"
"Nothing much; there are just some things I'd like to talk over with Your Excellency the Black-God Sovereign," Zhao Chen said with a smile.
"Talk over? What is there for us to talk over besides our guns?" the Black-God Sovereign said with scorn.
But because of the armored helmet, Zhao Chen could not see what his expression really was.
"Of course there's something to talk about. For example: how about we end this war now? Each of us goes back to his own home and his own mother," Zhao Chen said lightly, something the other side could hardly believe.
Just then the Black-God Sovereign actually laughed. "As things stand now, you still want to end the fighting just like this? If it's letting me destroy your legion fleets and wreck your starship, that we can discuss."
Zhao Chen still wore a smile on his face just then, but his tone had changed somewhat; he said, "Is the Black-God Sovereign so confident he can destroy our Owl Dragon legion fleets? Aren't you worried that the ones destroyed here will be the legion fleets under you? What I'm talking to you about now is for your own good, Black-God Sovereign."
"Ha ha ha ha. A joke. Can't you see the situation on the battlefield now? My military strength has the advantage now; even with your Owl Dragon hive-race fleets, I need only say the word and you and your legion fleets will be smashed to pieces."
Zhao Chen still wore his smile, as if he cared nothing for the threat in the other's words, and went on, "You have the advantage? Really? I wonder where Your Excellency sees that. I won't deny that, by the legion fleets on show, your strength looks greater right now. But can you be sure I have no cards left in my hand?"
The Black-God Sovereign fell silent just then; beneath his helmet his eyes were fixed on the Owl Dragon Emperor on the other side of the video window.
He seemed to be weighing how much of what the Owl Dragon Emperor had just said could be believed.
"Never mind anything else. Take the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet group set before you now: there are only ten million ships of it now. But how many hive-race interstellar warships we sent out the last time we fought, I needn't say more, need I? Do you really think these are all the hive-race fleets I have? Or would Your Excellency like to gamble on it?" Zhao Chen looked at the Black-God Sovereign opposite with a smile.
In that moment, these two who held the highest power on their two sides seemed, though a video window lay between them, to be sitting face to face.
Everyone looking on held their breath and dared not make the slightest sound.
"Heh, heh, heh. Is all your Owl Dragon legion fleets have left now a glib tongue? If you have the nerve, bring out all your legion fleets and let's have a contest, instead of just flapping your lips at this point. If that's how it is, we've nothing more to say," the Black-God Sovereign said rather impatiently.
But anyone listening closely to the Black-God Sovereign's voice would have found it had lost the confidence it had before.
"Don't be in such a hurry. Since our Black-God Sovereign won't believe it, let's give our Black-God Sovereign a good look." Zhao Chen smiled and snapped his fingers.