The T4 Gorgon-class Heavy Interstellar Heavy-Artillery Ship's attack was the first to strike the Sacred Lancer Legion's warships.
But the Sacred Lancer fleets being fleets fitted out with T3-grade warships, every ship had a single-face star-shield for defense, and at the fleet's front the interstellar escorts carried the work of defense.
When he first saw the other side's attack coming in, this Sacred Lancer commander had not yet grasped the gravity of the thing.
Not until he saw the star-shields of those escorts at the front of his own Sacred Lancer formation shattered, and the escorts themselves destroyed outright—
did he grasp how grave it was.
"Damn it! That is a T4-grade interstellar gunship!" the Sacred Lancer commander cried out in astonishment.
One salvo of 400 Gorgon-type particle-energy heavy-cannons destroyed near 100 Sacred Lancer warships outright.
With which result Zhao Chen was well enough satisfied.
"Report. The T4 Gorgon-class Heavy Interstellar Heavy-Artillery Ship's first round of attack is complete; every main gun is entering the reset and charge phase, and the next round is estimated at 100 seconds from now."
In a video window beside him, the captain of the T4 Gorgon reported it.
An interval of only 100 seconds between rounds!
Saint Cana, hearing that figure beside him, went blank in the face.
She had seen with her own eyes the terrifying fighting power of this thing called the T4 Gorgon-class Heavy Interstellar Heavy-Artillery Ship.
Going by the result of that one round alone, and leaving every other factor aside—
this one T4 Gorgon needed only 20 spans of 100 seconds to destroy every enemy ship opposite!
Saint Cana felt as though her throat had been taken in a giant's grip, and could get no sound out.
She dared not imagine what would have become of her Sacred Angel Legion had this warship class appeared at the time of that earlier Sacred-War Duel.
Zhao Chen let his eyes slide over Saint Cana's astonished expression and laughed inwardly. The girl did not yet know that the T4 Gorgon's mode of attack had a further setting — an 'overload combat state'.
Which is to say, forcing up the weapons' energy supply, greatly shortening that 100-second charge time — though it carried a certain risk, and would greatly shorten the service life of the equipment concerned.
Still, a card kept at the bottom of the box like that was of considerable use on certain important fields.
After this round of the T4 Gorgon's attack ended, there came the interstellar missile attack of those 10 T3 Judicator-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ships.
There were only 10 Judicators, granted — but perhaps owing to the harm the T4 Gorgon had already done the enemy fleet, this wave of 250,000 missiles in salvo met an exceedingly low rate of interception.
And achieved the finest effect an attack could have.
Wherever Saint Cana's eye fell, she could see the scene of Sacred Lancer warships struck, bursting, breaking apart.
This one pre-emptive missile bombardment alone destroyed 500 warships outright at the least, and crippled or damaged above 300 more to varying degrees.
One might put it thus: in less than a minute from the opening of battle, the Sacred Lancer Legion's fighting strength was cut clean through at the waist!
And that with the combat-type warships of every line on Zhao Chen's side not yet brought into play at all.
"Xue Xiaoxiao." Zhao Chen called the name of the Xue Xiaoxiao in front of him, carelessly.
"Understood." Xue Xiaoxiao pressed the fleet command network in her excitement. "Every combat-type warship excepting the missile ships, the gunship, and the five T4 Paladins on escort duty — charge with me!"
This T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Battleship went foremost of all, at the very front.
And close behind her came 15 T4 Paladin-class Heavy Interstellar Missile-Escorts, one T4 Tyrant-class Heavy Interstellar Missile-Battlecruiser, four T4 Vermilion Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruisers, and five T4 Skeleton-King-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Destroyers.
Fewer than 30 warships all told — yet they made up a fleet combat formation in miniature.
"Quickly! Quickly! Take the interval in the enemy fleet's attack and mount a counter-attack!" The Sacred Lancer commander was sunk in dread at this hour.
He had not in the least imagined the enemy's long-range attack would be so terrifying in strength, that in the space of a single minute it should destroy near half his own fighting power.
And the one course open to him now was to destroy those few dozen warships in front of him, close the fighting distance, and at last annihilate those cursed missile ships and that gunship.
But that interstellar fleet, which did not even come up to the establishment of a small fleet, went through the Sacred Lancer Legion's body like a knight's lance driven clean through it!
The Sacred Lancer commander watched this scene played out in terror, and had no means of doing anything about it.
However the remaining thousand-odd Sacred Lancer warships attacked—
that was an all-T4 fleet, every hull with its all-around star-shield raised, and with the T4 Paladin-class escorts in attendance intercepting the enemy's attacks besides.
Those Sacred Lancer attacks were no more than points and specks of light falling upon shields, and could do no harm of any substance.
Whereas of these few dozen warships, every attack could destroy a Sacred Lancer warship.
And above all that battleship charging at the very front!
When those terrifying great guns fired—
one T4 Sacred-Lucent-class Light Interstellar Cruiser locked as their target had its all-around star-shield raised, true.
But under the terrifying beam loosed from the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's bow cannon, its shield dimmed at a rate the eye could follow, and then broke to pieces.
And that terrifying beam drove clean through the T4 Sacred-Lucent's hull, and the light of the blast was dazzling past all bearing.
And drew, at the same time, the very shape of the dread within the Sacred Lancer Legion's senior commanders.
"This… this…" The Sacred Lancer commander went stumbling backward.
It was fortunate that his flagship lay at the center of the legion's formation, within its protection.
Or else that attack… there was no saying whether his flagship could have stopped it at all.
Too terrifying!
Those warships opposite were truly too terrifying.
Monsters! They were all of them monsters.
10 minutes went by…
Through those 10 minutes Saint Cana stood there like a statue, and the look on her face did not change either, holding to that same astonishment and disbelief.
She saw with her own eyes how the Sacred Lancer Legion's warships were destroyed, one after another.
She saw with her own eyes how this combat fleet of fewer than 30 warships carried out its slaughter, going as though through a land without a soul in it.
Through those 10 minutes, the Owl Dragon fleet's fighting was a simple business.
After the missile ships' first round of fire, they began taking on resupply from the interstellar supply ships.
While that T4 Gorgon-class Heavy Interstellar Heavy-Artillery Ship laid a covering bombardment upon one area every 100 seconds.
And that combat squad she stood with went among the Sacred Lancer Legion's warships slaughtering, like a god of war.
10 minutes' time…
And of the Sacred Lancer Legion's 2,000-odd warships, fewer than 600 now remained.
While of Zhao Chen's fleet, not one ship had been lost!
Saint Cana turned her head and looked at that man seated in the captain's chair; and in this moment she felt that this man was like some deity, looking down upon this battle from above.