The flagship had been attacked; the comm-command system was cut off.
The legion commanders' fate, life or death, hung unknown — and this was, beyond doubt, an enormous blow to the whole Black Wolf fleet.
And now, that interstellar warship, for all the world like a red demon, of all things raised its speed once more, and came charging straight into their fleet's position.
This left the captains of those Black Wolf interstellar warships stunned; one after another they at once handed down orders to open fire on the charging red demon!
But because its speed was truly too swift, a great many of the weapons simply couldn't take aim.
This left no small number of the captains all the more thrown into confusion, hands and feet at a loss.
And this, too, led to their failing, in the first instant, to take notice of the 75,000 interstellar missiles then in transit.
"This is bad! A round of interstellar missiles is charging at us. Quick — throw up a defensive interception firepower net!" At last a few Black Wolf captains came to their senses.
But, thrown into an utter shambles of formation by the T4 Vermilion Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser's ferocious charge, they simply couldn't organize any effective interception.
They could only look on, wide-eyed and helpless, as swath upon swath of interstellar missiles struck their targets!
Gazed upon from afar, it was as though, beginning from one direction, this stretch of the star-firmament were being kindled alight, slowly and steadily.
And within this kindled stretch of the star-firmament, one crimson-red interstellar warship sailed at the very forefront, at exceedingly swift speed, with a ball of flame behind it that seemed to give chase.
In the end, before the last of the interstellar missiles struck their targets and exploded, this crimson-red interstellar warship had passed clean through the whole of the enemy fleet's position.
No small number of the crew aboard the T4 Vermilion Bird were, at this moment, frightened into a cold sweat.
For one must bear in mind that, just then, they had, in effect, been chased along by their own friendly ships' interstellar missiles — and had they been the least bit slower, their own starship, in all likelihood, would have been struck by the interstellar missiles too.
Having crossed the whole of the burning star-firmament, the T4 Vermilion Bird had not the slightest intent of turning its head about — for all the world like those protagonists in tales of legend, who never look back at an explosion.
The fact was, in truth, that it wasn't that the T4 Vermilion Bird didn't want to turn its head.
It was that its speed was too swift; it simply couldn't come about for the moment.
But this no longer mattered.
Under these two rounds of attack, those so-called elite Black Wolf interstellar warships were, by now, next to none — and what remnants were left over were no more than a handful of routed stragglers.
In Charlotte's combat deployment, there was, besides, work assigned to the mopping-up.
And that fell to the "leisurely, belatedly arriving" T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruisers; they took on the mop-up work, entering the region that had undergone the interstellar-missile baptism, and reaping down the remaining T3 Black Wolf interstellar warships one by one.
And at this point, a prompt-tone, too, reached Zhao Chen's mind.
Quarterly Mission — The T4 Vermilion Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser's Maiden Battle
Mission: Using the T4 Vermilion Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser, annihilate one T4 interstellar warship and thirty T3 interstellar warships.
Reward: 100,000 system points; 50 task points.
Mission complete — the reward may be claimed.
Claim!
Before — System points: 350,000
Before — task points: 260
Gained — System points: 100,000
Gained — task points: 50
After — System points: 450,000
After — task points: 310
Zhao Chen was thoroughly content; these Black Wolf tribe fleets could be reckoned to have completed their "work," too.
A video window appeared; on the far side was the wolf-girl Baixue, somewhat nervous, a flush of red upon her cheeks.
"Lord Commander! You're all right, aren't you?" The wolf-girl Baixue asked after their situation the very first thing.
For, after all, the interstellar-missile landing-points she'd set just now had been squarely along the T4 Vermilion Bird's unavoidable path.
Were an onlooker to see it, it would have looked, for all the world, like firing straight at one's own flagship.
Had this order not been one Zhao Chen sent directly to the wolf-girl Baixue, she, in all likelihood, would not have dared carry it out.
Using one's own interstellar missile ship to open fire along one's own commander's flagship route — she'd not have dared so much as think it!
"It's fine — we're quite safe," Zhao Chen said.
The wolf-girl Baixue patted her own chest and let out a breath of relief.
"Good, good. If I'd gone and blown up our fleet's very first T4 interstellar warship, then…"
"There now, no need to fret over so much. This was the tactical plan Charlotte laid out; I trust her — and at the same time, I trust you too." Zhao Chen soothed her.
"Next, you go on making ready to take on the interstellar supply ships' missile resupply. Look sharp about the time — we can still fight another round."
"Another round? But by the look of it the enemy hasn't many interstellar warships left, has it?" The wolf-girl Baixue was puzzled.
With this round of interstellar-missile bombardment, which had destroyed the Black Wolf elite fleet, the number of Black Wolf interstellar warships remaining across the whole battlefield was, by now, under 2,000.
And the great majority of them were, moreover, T2-grade interstellar warships.
In half an hour at the most, these T2 Black Wolf interstellar warships would follow in their friendly ships' footsteps.
To deal with these, there was truly no need to go on using costly interstellar missiles.
"When I tell you to do it, you do it; in a while I'll tell you who to blow up," Zhao Chen said.
"Yes."
The wolf-girl Baixue ended the comm.
She fixed her gaze on that T4 Vermilion Bird captured by the deep-space telescope, and called back to mind the moment, just now, when she'd given the order to open fire along the Commander's flagship route.
For some reason she couldn't name, she'd had, of all things, a strange sense of excitement.
Thinking of her own interstellar missiles coming down toward the Commander — that feeling, at once tense and thrilling…
The wolf-girl Baixue bit lightly at her red lips, her gaze gone hazy and far-off… wondering whether there'd ever be such a chance again…
…
Zhao Chen rubbed at the tip of his nose; for some reason he felt his nose gone a little itchy — he wanted to sneeze.
"Report — we've received word from the White Tiger tribe's side. All the White Tiger tribespeople have finished boarding ahead of schedule; they're ready to set out and return at any moment!" Lilith reported at his side.
"Everything that needed doing is done; the mopping-up is at an end. We can go home." Zhao Chen gave a lazy stretch.
The first expedition campaign was thus at an end.
There was, still, a trace of a reluctant-to-part feeling to it.
Only, regrettably, the strategic materials carried along this time weren't enough — were the fighting to go on, then however strong the Owl Dragon Legion's interstellar warships might be, there'd be no avoiding the plight of exhausted munitions and energy.
Zhao Chen took notice that Charlotte was, at this moment, watching, with a complex gaze, the last slaughter of the Black Wolf tribe's interstellar warships still going forward before her.
"What is it? Out of sorts?" Zhao Chen walked to Charlotte's side.
Charlotte folded her two hands and hugged her own arms, and murmured low, "It's only that all this feels for all the world like a dream. Two years ago, aboard that interstellar warship of mine, I watched my fleet destroyed by them — listening to my subordinates report to me the news of friendly ship after friendly ship falling… And now, all of this has changed. It makes me… feel it's all very unreal."
Zhao Chen raised a hand and gave Charlotte's cheek a pinch.
Charlotte felt a faint sting of pain, and looked at her Commander.
"Feel real now?" Zhao Chen said in a bantering tone.
Charlotte let out a pff of a laugh.
"Don't forget — in a while, we have still a great surprise to leave the Black Wolf tribe." Zhao Chen pointed at that home star of the Black Wolf tribe.
"Let us light up that planet, to proclaim the beginning of your revenge!"