"Reporting — a great quantity of interstellar missiles is exploding amid the enemy fleet-group!"
"Reporting — the enemy interstellar warships, under this wave of interstellar-missile bombardment, have already lost a number breaking past 100!"
"Reporting — the enemy fleet's losses are still climbing! 300! 500…"
All the female officers on the whole bridge were dumbfounded; they'd never for a moment imagined this scene before them — interstellar missiles by the tens of thousands, striking the enemy ships one after another, and "setting them alight."
Within Qin Xiaolei's pupils was mirrored the red that the explosions had dyed the void; for a long, long while she said nothing.
Zhao Ruyue, after a brief spell of stunned blankness, at once handed down an order.
"Draw in all our interstellar warships — take a defensive formation as our main line! But make ready to break out once again at any moment!" She still hadn't grasped just what exactly this situation was; first she had to watch quietly and see how it developed.
The Princess's royal fleet's interstellar warships began to gather themselves in.
Zhao Ruyue's two eyes stared fixedly at the stir of movement upon the interstellar battlefield — the direction from which those interstellar missiles had been launched above all.
For some reason, she had a feeling — a wondrous, curious feeling.
Under the awe and shock of the interstellar-missile bombardment, the Third Prince Qin Hu's interstellar legion, at this point, likewise came to its senses, and began to spread out into a defensive posture against this wave of suddenly appearing enemy.
And it was just at this point that an interstellar fleet came slowly sailing out from the deep, remote cosmos in the distance.
Uniform, one and all, pitch-black interstellar warships — an existence for all the world like dark rangers.
At the very front were 100 T3-grade interstellar frigates, three huge pitch-black ramming horns towering at the front of each interstellar warship, for all the world like charging lancers.
Following close behind was a class of T3-grade interstellar battlecruiser.
Zhao Ruyue stared at this class of interstellar warship, her brows knitting slightly; for some reason she found this class of interstellar warship somehow, inexplicably, familiar to the eye.
And around this class of T3 interstellar battlecruiser were, besides, two huge interstellar warships.
T3-grade interstellar battleships!
Their huge hulls left one not daring to harbor any thought of taking these steel behemoths the least bit lightly.
In the position further back were the T3-grade interstellar missile ships that had just launched the attack, along with a huge T3-grade carrier starship.
And there were, besides, some scattered, sundry auxiliary-type interstellar warships and T2-grade interstellar warships.
The total came to around 300 interstellar warships.
And over half of them were T3-grade interstellar warships.
This was an interstellar fleet not large in scale, but of an astonishing combat power — an elite one!
Suddenly!
The interstellar warships along the whole fleet's forward front-line abruptly accelerated, for all the world like an umbrella flung suddenly open.
And as they accelerated, they launched an assault upon Qin Hu's interstellar warships barring the way before them.
Though Qin Hu's interstellar warships were putting up a defense against the assault, they were, at bottom, no match for this mysterious interstellar fleet — retreating step by step, defeat after defeat, the number of interstellar warships lost climbing ceaselessly as well.
Some, perhaps, might wonder.
Didn't Qin Hu have close to 10,000 interstellar warships?
How was he being beaten into a step-by-step retreat by a paltry under-500 interstellar warships?
For this, one had to speak of the whole battlefield situation just now.
Qin Hu did have close to 10,000 interstellar warships — but one must know, before this, what had these interstellar warships been busy doing?
Fighting an encirclement-annihilation battle!
Surrounding the Princess's royal fleet from all four sides and eight directions.
And at this moment, this interstellar fleet that had suddenly charged onto the scene was launching its assault from a single direction — and in this direction, Qin Hu's interstellar warships numbered only a fifth of his total!
2,000 interstellar warships.
And before this, these 2,000 interstellar warships had already borne one round of interstellar-missile attack, their losses no small thing.
And so, just now, they simply couldn't withstand this elite fleet's charge.
T4 Boreas-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship · bridge.
Seeing that his own side's interstellar warships were, in a situation of numerical advantage, of all things being beaten into a step-by-step retreat — this left Qin Hu somewhat enraged.
Qin Hu sprang to his feet and demanded, "What in the world is this? Where did this fleet spring up out of! And what in the world are these interstellar warships! The intelligence! Where's the intelligence!"
"Reporting — this interstellar fleet has no hull crest of any kind; there's no knowing which force's interstellar fleet it is. And these interstellar warships are very strange too — comparatively little information; we're searching the starship database for them," the adjutant answered timidly.
"Useless trash." Qin Hu directly kicked this adjutant flying with one foot.
He raised a hand and unfolded the whole interstellar holo-table; his finger tapping swiftly upon it, his mouth all the while handing down orders without cease.
"Allocate 3,000 interstellar warships to stop this unknown interstellar fleet from approaching the Princess's royal fleet! And, at the same time, concentrate all the remaining interstellar warships in a hard assault upon the Princess's royal fleet's flagship. There's no time to go squandering on this pack of women; if we can't take her alive, then just destroy that woman Qin Xiaolei's command ship outright!"
Originally, Qin Hu had been thinking to take his time about it, toying with this younger sister of his for all the world like a cat with a mouse.
But now, this suddenly appearing attacker had shattered every one of his plans, and he could only first accomplish the primary aim of his task!
To kill this woman, Qin Xiaolei!
"Yes!"
Qin Hu's orders were conveyed down the line.
His interstellar legion soon set itself in motion.
The Princess's royal fleet's side met with a terrifying assault, and the already-crippled interstellar warships began, one after another, to fall.
The situation took a sharp turn for the worse.
But look again to the other side, and it was an utterly different scene.
What had been thought able to check the speed of the attacker fleet's assault was found to be of no use whatsoever.
Those hundred "unremarkable" T3-grade interstellar frigates were now the most dazzling existence upon the whole battlefield.
They were for all the world like charging interstellar steel knights, pulverizing, easily and effortlessly, any enemy that barred the path of their assault.
A T2-grade interstellar warship — never mind what ship-type it was — basically fell to pieces on a single ram.
And of the remaining T3 interstellar warships, the overwhelming majority couldn't withstand a few collisions either.
At the same time, this T3 interstellar frigate's star shield and hull-armor strength, whether the one or the other, were both exceedingly terrifying.
The captains of the interstellar warships that crossed swords with them had, by all estimates, never in all their lives seen an interstellar frigate this beating-resistant; they were near to doubting their own lives.
The few T3 Dragon-Croc-class Medium Interstellar Battleships and T3 Flame Lion King-class Heavy Interstellar Battlecruisers that posed a threat to this class of T3 interstellar frigate were, moreover, given "priority care" by the enemy ships.
The enemy's interstellar-battleship gunfire was ferocious — its bow cannon above all!
That single shot's golden beam could directly destroy a T3 Dragon-Croc-class Medium Interstellar Battleship!
Who could imagine this was, of all things, merely a T3-grade interstellar battleship?
Say it was a T4, and by all estimates there'd even be those who'd believe it.
The one thing about it that didn't measure up was, by all estimates, only its hull size.
"Reporting — the enemy fleet's assault upon our fleet is intensifying! Our fleet's defense is under threat!" a female officer reported to Zhao Ruyue.
"Hold to the death! Whatever it takes, we hold to the death!" Zhao Ruyue held on through gritted teeth.
And it was just at this point that a video window, of all things, directly appeared before Zhao Ruyue's eyes.
One that had appeared, uninvited and unpermitted.
Opposite was, plain to see, a white-furred woman officer.
The woman officer placed a hand over her chest and made a military salute.
"We come, by order, to escort the eldest miss home!"