The interstellar missiles fell like raindrops on the hulls of those Savage Beast Alliance starships,
bursting into fireball after fireball.
Hulls broke apart
and spread into a sea of fire, quite a spectacle.
And under the sea of fire and smoke, several of the Fierce Dragon civilization's interstellar stealth bombers were swallowed up in it.
"Could it be… we're really going to lose a few starships over this!" Fire Lydia clenched her fists, very unwilling to accept it.
"Ma'am. Don't worry. Look in the fleet roster: those few starships' signals are still there; they haven't turned gray!" The adjutant beside her pointed at the fleet roster column beside them.
On it every starship was marked; the moment a starship was destroyed, it would turn gray.
But at this very moment, the names of those interstellar stealth bombers were, without exception, still their original color, with no change at all.
That meant these interstellar stealth bombers were all still there!
Fire Lydia clenched her fists and looked into the fire and smoke.
A few breaths later,
several interstellar stealth bombers broke out of it.
"Wonderful! Not a single one lost!" the adjutant said excitedly.
Fire Lydia let out a long breath of relief too.
Good: she had not made a fool of herself.
"Fire Lydia, your fleet is to leave the battlefield at once. Leave the rest to the other fleets." Marshal Chu Xuan's voice sounded in the command channel.
"Yes!" Fire Lydia received the order.
The interstellar stealth bombers she led passed the other Fierce Dragon starships going the other way.
"The feeling when interstellar stealth bombers make a sneak attack is great. But the thrill is over far too fast. It's done in the blink of an eye. After that, all you can do is watch from the side. Still, it's hard to accept." Fire Lydia watched those Fierce Dragon interstellar warships racing to the battlefield, very resigned, and envious too.
"But you know what? That round of attack of ours just now destroyed a thousand enemy ships outright, including ten T4 interstellar warships. Besides that, it hurt nearly three thousand of the enemy's interstellar warships, doing damage of varying degrees, and destroyed some important combat positions. It's won much better room for our follow-on fleets' attack," the adjutant beside her reported the combat data excitedly.
Hearing these figures,
Fire Lydia shrugged helplessly: "All right, all right. Who told me to pick this road myself back then? When I saw the description of this interstellar stealth bomber, I was hooked right away. Sigh. I wonder whether the Fierce Dragon civilization can build T5-grade interstellar warships. If there were T5-grade interstellar warships, what would they be like?"
The adjutant beside her covered her face.
There was one bad thing about her captain: that fickle, eyeing-the-pot-while-eating-from-the-bowl character of hers.
She had only just taken the T4 Shadow-Demon-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bomber into its first battle, and the battle wasn't even over,
and she was already thinking about T5-grade interstellar warships.
The novelty really wore off too fast.
"Let's not sit idle either. Go resupply. Who knows, we may get another chance to show what we can do later." Fire Lydia recovered her spirits,
and at once began arranging the follow-on resupply operations:
complete resupply of interstellar missiles.
Afterward, there might still be a chance to fight.
As the saying goes,
fortune favors the prepared.
Then she would be the one who was prepared!
On the battlefield,
the interstellar missile ships' missile attacks and the heavy-artillery ships' barrage
had both opened an excellent gap for the Fierce Dragon starship groups.
The other Fierce Dragon interstellar warships charged onto the battlefield one after another, firing all out, pouring out their ship guns.
Thirty thousand interstellar warships besieged the ten-thousand-strong Savage Beast Alliance starship fleet guarding this place.
Originally, perhaps, the Savage Beast Alliance, with its considerable number of T4 interstellar warships and its T3 interstellar warships every one, might still have been able to put up a fight.
But under the Fierce Dragon fleets' one-two-three onslaught,
they had no room at all to strike back.
Savage Beast Alliance interstellar warship after interstellar warship was hit and destroyed, exploding and becoming wreckage and debris on this interstellar battlefield.
"No… no! This is impossible. What power are you? You dare attack our Savage Beast Alliance's fleet. How dare you!" the bear-headed commander roared in fury, cursing and demanding in the open channel.
But the attacking interstellar warships opposite gave no answer at all; his demands were like stones sinking into the sea.
And the hulls of these attackers' interstellar warships bore no insignia; there was no telling what power they were.
"Record the shapes of these interstellar warships. Send this information out. Tell the other commanders what's happened here. These hateful attackers must be made to pay!" The bear-headed commander had already prepared for the worst.
But he had no thought at all of giving up the fight either.
"Fight to the death for me. Hold these enemy ships. I've already sent out word that we're under attack. The other fleets are sure to come to our support when they get the news. Our Savage Beast Alliance will send fleets to support us from inside as well. Even if these starships of ours are to be buried here today, these fellows will be made to pay!"
The bear-headed commander's eyes were bloodshot: "To the death!"
At the same time,
the bear-headed commander's call for help truly had gone out.
The other two fleets in this system both got the message.
But the Savage Beast Alliance fleet at the front could not get free at all.
It was already locked in fierce battle with the hive-race fleet.
If it forced its way out of the fighting at this juncture,
never mind that the planetary territory taken over this period would be handed back for nothing,
the retreat alone would cost no small losses.
At the same time, in the not-too-distant future, the starship wrecks they left behind would nourish a still more powerful hive-race fleet.
This was what was most to be avoided in fighting the hive-race: on no account leave the hive-race any food to grow stronger on.
If they did, then the next time the Savage Beast Alliance's fleets came here to fight,
the price to be paid would be greater and heavier.
"Support them? Or keep fighting?" The lion-headed commander, as front-line commander, clenched his fists; it was truly a very hard choice to make. "Bastards, who on earth is it? Who dares hunt down our Savage Beast Alliance's fleet? Damn them! Damn them! Damn them!"
"Lion."
A video window appeared in the comm channel.
On the other side was the tiger-headed commander, guarding the rear.
"I've received Old Bear's call for help too. You look after the front-line fighting first. This system is crucial to our Savage Beast Alliance. It must not be held up for anything. I'll lead the fleet under me to support him. Our Savage Beast Alliance's side has received the call for help too and is sending fleets over. Rest assured. I'll destroy every last one of those attackers' interstellar warships and make them pay for what they've done!"
Hearing what the tiger-headed commander said,
the lion-headed commander nodded and took a deep breath: "Then I'll leave the rear to you."
"Mm."
The communication ended.
The lion-headed commander looked at the battle holo-table before him, at those ugly bugs.
His eyes were full of fury and killing intent.
"Since I can't go back and kill those attackers myself, then I'll take it out on you stinking bugs. Pass on my order: in this airspace, not a single bug is to get away. Clear them out completely, all of them!"
"Yes!"
——————
The tiger-headed commander led ten thousand interstellar warships rushing to the battlefield that had called for help.
At the same time, tens of thousands of Savage Beast Alliance fleet ships broke through space
and appeared in this system.
But when they arrived at the battlefield one close on the heels of the other,
all they saw was the wreckage of ten thousand destroyed Savage Beast Alliance interstellar warships.
Everywhere was starship wreckage and debris, and destroyed interstellar fortresses.
That largest starport was nothing but ruined walls!
"Hateful! How could it be this fast? Spread out all the starships for me; search for me. Find where the attackers' fleet has gone, without fail!" the tiger-headed commander roared through gritted teeth.
Interstellar reconnaissance ships were at once spread out and began searching the surroundings for where the attackers' fleet had gone.
But it could not be found at all.
Even among this starship wreckage,
there was not a single fragment of wreckage with the marked features of other types of starship.
It could be seen that those attackers had done a very clean job,
unwilling to leave them any clue.
"Report! We've found the black box of the bear-headed commander's flagship. It can be confirmed: the bear-headed commander has fallen!" a subordinate said carefully.
The veins on the tiger-headed commander's head throbbed; he roared so that the whole bridge could hear his furious bellowing.
"How dare you! How dare you! How dare you! Investigate for me, investigate for me. Whatever price it takes, find out for me who did it. Who on earth attacked our fleet? Hateful. Ten thousand interstellar warships. And a corps commander besides. I swear I'll make these attackers pay!"
In the Savage Beast Alliance now, there were only twenty Savage Beast corps in all, and twenty corps commanders.
To lose one of them was a loss such as the Savage Beast Alliance had never suffered.
A whole corps lost with its entire establishment: that had never happened since the Savage Beast Alliance was founded.
After this,
the matter alarmed the Savage Beast Alliance's leadership, who began a strict investigation.
At the same time the other Trial civilization powers came to learn of it one after another too, and some were even caught up in it.
Wherever there was a border with the Savage Beast Alliance, the smell of gunpowder was very strong.
And at this juncture, so long as it was not too outrageous,
none of the other Trial civilizations would anger the Savage Beast Alliance at this time.
That warlike lot might do who knew what kind of crazy thing.
At the same time, everyone was curious too about who on earth had done it.
And besides, they were glad at heart.
For losing a corps, ten thousand interstellar warships,
might not break the Savage Beast Alliance's bones, but it would at least slow down the Savage Beast Alliance's development,
at least pushing back the Savage Beast Alliance's three-year plan, as guessed before, by a few months.
And of the very few who knew the truth of it all,
the leadership of the Far Shore of Deep Space could be said to be thoroughly startled.
"What? They really did it? In a single day, they hunted down a Savage Beast Alliance corps, killing a corps commander and ten thousand interstellar warships!"
In the conference room, one civilization leader said in disbelief.
"This news has been verified from many sides; it isn't false. It seems we've really found a tremendous Trial civilization this time." Another civilization leader looked at the Korgi civilization's President, sitting at one side of the round table.
The one now in charge of contact with this Fierce Dragon civilization was this Korgi civilization's President.
The Korgi civilization's President rubbed his temples and said somewhat helplessly, "This looks like a good thing. But it's a lot of trouble too. We never imagined before that this Fierce Dragon civilization was so strong. Half a year ago they had only thirty thousand interstellar warships. Now they've sent thirty thousand interstellar warships outright to hunt down a ten-thousand-ship corps of the Savage Beast Alliance. Who knows how many interstellar warships they have now? Tell me: might we be letting the wolf into the house?"
"I don't see it that way. The Trial of the Gods will only ever have one victor. If the Fierce Dragon civilization hadn't appeared, our three civilizations would have had almost no chance at all in this Trial of the Gods. We could only have run as also-rans for the Savage Beast Alliance and the Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society. But now that we're cooperating with the Fierce Dragon civilization, we have a chance at a seat at the table. Even if the Fierce Dragon civilization is a wolf, at least for now it's a wolf biting others. As for what comes later, we'll deal with it later. Or put it this way: do we have any other choice now?"
Hearing this,
the three civilization leaders exchanged looks; they truly had no other choice.
Even knowing full well that the Fierce Dragon civilization was a viper, a vicious wolf,
in such circumstances as these, they could only rely on the Fierce Dragon civilization now.
There was no other choice.
"The Fierce Dragon civilization has won us more time. Rather than worry about all this and that, we'd do better to speed up our own development. To forge iron, you must be hard yourself."
"Mm."
"President Korgi. The contact with the Fierce Dragon civilization is entirely in your hands. If there's anything important, let us know!"
"Hey, don't you think you can just dust yourselves off and walk away. Don't forget the agreement we made with the Fierce Dragon civilization before. This time they annihilated ten thousand of the Savage Beast Alliance's interstellar warships. By the agreement, we have to pay the bounty. You both have shares in this bounty. I'm paying only a third. The other two-thirds, don't you two fellows think you can welsh on it."
Hearing this, those two civilization leaders exchanged a look and laughed helplessly.
On the other side,
the Fierce Dragon fleets, having completed their combat mission, returned home safely.
"In this campaign, we attacked a corps fleet of the Savage Beast Alliance and killed ten thousand interstellar warships, including five hundred T4 interstellar warships. And the interstellar warships we lost in this battle were only under a thousand, and of T4 interstellar warships only thirteen were lost. The battle report is excellent!" Zhao Chen looked at Marshal Chu Xuan before him. "Though we used our Fierce Dragon-made interstellar warships, and the interstellar warships' fighting strength is certainly great, the crews' ability can't be overlooked either. In this campaign, a good many of the crew were even taking part in a real interstellar war for the first time. The great majority were even fighting with T3 or T4 interstellar warships for the first time. That they could still put up a record like this in such circumstances is proof enough that our crew training system has been done very well. In the future our interstellar warships will all have more and better crews to handle them!"