Under the near-billion-worth of interstellar missiles' 10 straight minutes of a wild storm of bombardment, these 10,000 Warhammer interstellar warships were for all the world like a fleet of ships ravaged by a tempest upon the surface of the sea. Within this terrifying driving storm, warship after warship was torn to shreds, and "sank into the deep."
The Black Wolf commander's flagship bridge was, at this moment, a scene of utter chaos, one piece of bad news after another coming without cease to his ears. Even the T3-grade interstellar warships that had, in the past, been so exceedingly precious and rarely lost — now, every single minute, there came the news of a T3 interstellar warship being struck and falling.
The Black Wolf commander felt as though his very heart were dripping blood.
As for the interstellar fleets of the other two, the Mole Tribe — their panic-stricken pleas for aid came without cease, but they'd already been blocked out by the Black Wolf commander; he'd merely handed down the basic combat orders. Right now the situation of his own interstellar legion was one great mess; how could he have the leisure to care about others' losses!
"Reporting — our interstellar warships simply cannot build up an effective combat formation. The enemy's attacks come without cease! The number of interstellar missiles is truly too great. By preliminary estimate, up to now our interstellar fleet has borne, at the least, upward of 50,000 T3-grade interstellar missiles of bombardment. Originally, had we spread out into a combat formation, our defensive systems could have intercepted at least 50% of the interstellar missiles. But after we were warp-intercepted, the enemy gave us no chance whatsoever, launching the attack directly. Indeed, some interstellar warships' crew hadn't even returned to their own combat posts before the interstellar warship was destroyed by the enemy's interstellar missiles!" the adjutant said at the Black Wolf commander's side.
"Do I not know these situations! What use is there in saying all this now! Hand down the order to all interstellar warships — they must hold on, without fail. So long as we hold out to the end of the enemy's interstellar-missile attack, then that is our chance to counterattack!" the Black Wolf commander said through gritted teeth.
"Yes…" the adjutant said helplessly.
"Reporting — the density of the enemy's interstellar-missile attack is dropping! It seems about to end!" a crew member who'd been attending all along to the enemy's attack reported with delighted surprise.
"Very good! Make ready to reconstruct the combat formation — and mind you, on no account panic! So long as we fight steady and strike sure, the enemy has only a paltry under-500 interstellar warships. We can, without fail, reverse the situation!" the Black Wolf commander spoke words to hearten his people.
Next, the number of interstellar missiles the enemy sent over did indeed lessen by 90%. In this instant, it was for all the world as though the tempest upon the great sea were about to part its clouds and see the sun.
But two golden beams of light suddenly bored through the Warhammer interstellar fleet's already-chaotic formation.
"Reporting — the Mole First Legion Fleet's flagship has been destroyed!"
"Reporting — the Mole Second Legion Fleet's flagship has been destroyed!"
"Reporting — the command systems of the Mole Tribe's two legion fleets are paralyzed!"
The news that came out of nowhere left the Black Wolf commander dumbfounded.
"What?" The Black Wolf commander could scarcely believe it. Though the Mole Tribe's interstellar fleet was no match for his own Black Wolf Tribe's legion fleet — their flagships were, all the same, T3 War Elephant-class Heavy Interstellar Battleships! And those were, moreover, ones their Black Wolf Tribe, acting as middleman, had helped the Mole Tribe procure through their own channels! How could they possibly have been destroyed all at once, out of nowhere?
"Reporting — we've detected two enemy fleets unfolding an assault from our two flanks, all of them T3 interstellar warships! Composed of T3 interstellar battleships and T3 interstellar battlecruisers! There's no model information on the enemy ships! The two flagship T3 War Elephants destroyed just now were struck and destroyed by those two unknown-model T3 interstellar battleships' bow cannons!" As the adjutant spoke, he called up two pieces of battlefield footage. It was, precisely, the scene of those two Mole Tribe flagships being destroyed just now.
One T3 War Elephant-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship was struck on its hull, from the right side, by a golden beam — whereupon the hull armor was, in near enough the blink of an eye, bored clean through. Afterward, the golden beam shot out from the left-side hull armor, its residual force striking, besides, several adjacent T2 interstellar warships. The other T3 War Elephant was more grievous still: struck by the golden beam at the ship's stern — and though that Mole Tribe captain had adjusted the star shield to the stern position in time, the golden beam, striking upon the star shield, merely paused for the space of a single blink, then directly tore the star shield to shreds, boring from stern through to bow! And what came in the wake of it was a large-scale sympathetic detonation of the whole T3 War Elephant.
And the chief culprits of these two attacks were, precisely, those two unknown-model T3 interstellar battleships.
"This is… just where did these interstellar battleships come from!" The Black Wolf commander's pupils dilated; he could scarcely believe it. In his starship database there was simply no intelligence or news of any kind on this class of interstellar battleship. If, in the cosmos, so powerful a class of interstellar battleship had appeared, then within the Galactic Alliance its fearsome name would surely have spread far and wide!
But—!
Now it wasn't only this class of T3 interstellar battleship; even that class of T3 interstellar battlecruiser had, too, displayed a terrifying combat power. The offensive they formed together with the T3 interstellar battleships was for all the world like two keen swords, tearing open the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth fleet's formation! Splitting the Warhammer interstellar fleet, which had just borne the baptism of the interstellar missiles, in two — no, into three!
At the same time, a crimson-red "skyline" appeared off in the distance. That was the swarm of interstellar fighters and interstellar drones.
Warhammer's war-style took heavy armor and heavy ships as its mainstay; they favored interstellar warships of the interstellar-battleship type, and had, basically, not too much research on carrier starships. And so they very rarely equipped dedicated carrier starships; at the most, they'd merely purchase some carrier starships from outside. In the eyes of Warhammer's commanders, a carrier starship — that sort of thing that only dared cower in the rear releasing its little planes — had none of a Warhammer warrior's fighting spirit and presence whatsoever! A true interstellar war ought to be giant ships and giant guns blasting away at each other to the heart's content!
And so, from the very instant this batch of crimson-red interstellar fighters and interstellar drones appeared, interstellar air-superiority was firmly grasped by the Owl Dragon Legion. Normally speaking, had the Warhammer interstellar fleet spread out into a combat formation and built up a reasonable anti-air-artillery-fire system, then it indeed wouldn't much fear the harassment of interstellar fighters. But the problem was that now their formation was one great mess! There were only sparse, scattered anti-air-artillery-fire positions. And this led the interstellar fighters and interstellar drones to attack some of the interstellar warships utterly without scruple.
"Reporting, Commander — the enemy's interstellar fighters are launching a ferocious assault upon our interstellar fleet, and have caused enormous losses!"
The Black Wolf commander was enraged beyond measure, but he had no means to do anything about it.
"Reporting — we've detected a batch of interstellar frigates about to enter the field! Suspected to be about to launch a general assault upon our interstellar fleet from the front!"
The Black Wolf commander's expression was for all the world like one who'd eaten a mouthful of shit.
Interstellar missile ships and interstellar battleships, all right, so be it. The interstellar fighters, he'd endured them too. But now, you — a mere interstellar frigate — would climb up on his head and take a dump on it as well? This was surely bullying carried too far!
"Since we can't hold firm, then find one direction and launch an assault; break out of the encirclement and reform the formation! Charge straight toward those interstellar frigates' direction!" the Black Wolf commander handed down the order!