In the instant the Red Demon Fourth Legion commander opened his eyes, he saw before him the scene of his own side's interstellar warships being blasted by gunfire in whole swathes.
And the spacing between one interstellar warship and the next was exceedingly close — nowhere near the standard interval!
"What has happened?" this commander demanded aloud.
"My lord… we… it seems we have met with a warp interception!" the adjutant said, gasping.
"A warp interception?" At hearing that phrase, this commander's face changed of a sudden.
He understood very well what a warp interception meant.
"Pass the order: all interstellar warships to enter combat state, open out the intervals between ships, raise star shields. Interstellar escorts are to intercept the enemy's attacks at any cost whatever, and win time for the fleet!" This commander made the best decision at the first instant.
And this order was conveyed at the same time to the commanders of the other nine Red Demon legions.
Among whom no few demon commanders were at a loss what to do, taken aback by this sudden turn.
This order was to them like a straw to catch at.
In the instant of handing down the order, a video window appeared before him.
It was the other commander of this military operation, the Red Demon Fifth Legion commander.
"The case is exceedingly bad now. The enemy's warp interceptors are highly advanced; in intercepting us they have at the same time gathered our interstellar warships' positions in close together — the interval between one interstellar warship and another is under a quarter of the standard distance! All of us crowded in here — we are so many living targets for the enemy's ship-guns! And by the word we have at present, those attacking us are precisely our own objective for this operation: the Owl Dragon Legion. There are near 25,000 interstellar warships gathered here!" the Red Demon Fifth Legion commander said gravely.
"The Owl Dragon Legion? Curse it! What in the world were those three legion commanders about? When we set out, did they not plainly say all was normal? Why should so many interstellar warships be here to ambush us! Let me not lay eyes on those three wretches, or I shall stuff my ship-guns up their backsides!" the Red Demon Fourth Legion commander said through his teeth.
The Red Demon Fifth Legion commander said, "Now is not the time to think how to fix the blame upon those three fellows. It is how to get free of the case before us. Should we handle this wrongly, we shall lose a great number of interstellar warships here. And by that time not one of us could answer for it to my lord Marshal!"
Though the two of them differed at times in their views, in the present case they both understood very well what was urgent.
"My mind is somewhat in disorder just now; tell me what you think we ought to do." The Red Demon Fourth Legion commander asked the other's opinion, knowing him to have been a most wary man all along.
The Red Demon Fifth Legion commander said, "The enemy came prepared; their interstellar fleets are upon every side of us. The one thing we can do now is break out. Break out by every means we can contrive. Put our two T5 interstellar warships to the front to open the road; the risk in it is very great, but it is the one way to lighten our fleet's losses. So long as we can break out and re-form our array in more open star-heaven, and then engage the enemy — we shall have our chance to strike back!"
To lead a breakout with two T5 interstellar warships was a hazardous thing.
But it had to be said, it was likewise the only way at present.
"Then let it be done as you say. Break out as soon as may be, cut the losses, and then order the counterstroke!" The Red Demon Fourth Legion commander clenched his fist and said viciously, "I mean to make these fellows who ambushed us pay the price in blood!"
"Do not be hasty; the breakout must not be too rushed. By the intelligence I had before, the enemy hold two trump cards. One is that T5-grade interstellar warship; the other is a special fleet made up wholly of interstellar missile ships. Let us wait until the enemy have played these two trumps, and break out then!"
Hearing the Red Demon Fifth Legion commander's words, the Fourth Legion commander knit his brows. "Wait for the enemy to attack first? Would that not mean bearing no small losses?"
"To bear a portion of the losses is a thing we can no longer alter. Only by breaking out and striking back after paying some losses can we, on the contrary, bring our losses down to the least!" the Fifth Legion commander said gravely.
The Red Demon Fourth Legion commander hesitated a moment, but agreed in the end to the other's plan.
And it was in this very moment that they saw interstellar missiles in vast numbers sweeping in to cover the position of their Demon Race interstellar fleet.
Three hundred thousand demon interstellar warships crowded within one district was beyond question the finest occasion for an interstellar-missile attack.
The Red Demon Fourth Legion commander watched his own side's interstellar warships bursting one after another; the Demon Race interstellar warships in the outer district had already sunk into one sea of fire, and everywhere could be seen the wreckage of bursting interstellar warships.
Some part of them had not even had time to raise their star shields.
And even with star shields raised, beneath a bombardment of interstellar missiles so dense as this, even a T4-grade interstellar warship could hardly hold out.
And should one of their own interstellar warships be unluckily struck and burst, then because the distance between ship and ship was so short, others would even feel the effect of it.
This one round of interstellar-missile output ran near 10 minutes!
The Red Demon Fourth Legion commander's eyeballs were all but starting from his head; the veins stood out upon him, as though he might burst at any moment.
The Red Demon Fifth Legion commander, by contrast, was a good deal calmer; he fixed his eyes upon those scenes like the end of the world.
And his estimate of the Owl Dragon Legion rose a flight of stairs within him.
From that one round of interstellar-missile bombardment alone, by the reports of the strike received, it was reckoned at first estimate that near 5 million interstellar missiles had fallen upon their own interstellar warships.
And among them had been found T4 interstellar missiles from a T4-grade interstellar missile ship besides.
To this moment, the casualty figure they had tallied reached 50,000 interstellar warships at the least!
And that was the number of interstellar warships fallen outright; the number damaged directly and indirectly stood level with it!
And had it not been that their T4 interstellar warships were many, and bore a portion of the enemy's fire, the losses would only have been greater still.
A bare beginning, and a sixth of their fighting strength was gone.
These two demon commanders had, by any estimate, never fought a campaign of this kind in all their lives.
And upon the other side, the Owl Dragon Legion's Commander Zhao Chen was of a complicated mind.
Near 100 billion star coins' worth of munitions flung out again.
And then a look at those interstellar warships of the enemy's blown to pieces.
What Zhao Chen felt now was pain and pleasure together.