Chapter 1408: Proof of strength
The commander of the elven fleet stared wide-eyed.
The elven adjutant beside him gasped: "This... they actually did it."
With just 100,000 interstellar warships...not only did they control the enemy's attack, but they actually...they even launched a counterattack!
After a brief moment of surprise, the commander of the Elf fleet looked at the interstellar war table and said in a deep voice, "This Admiral Qingman has made careful preparations."
First, rely on the firepower coverage of interstellar missiles to gradually separate the enemy's formation, especially from the enemy fleet in the middle and rear.
At the same time, they dispatched their own star cruisers and star battlecruisers for rapid assaults, infiltrating, dividing, and annihilating the enemy's vanguard fleet whose forward positions had been separated.
To compensate for the shortage of interstellar warships, interstellar fighters and interstellar drone swarms were specially arranged to provide fire support.
These interstellar fighters and interstellar drone swarms are all T5 and T6 level, and their combat capabilities are very reliable.
In addition, the starships and destroyers on the defensive line slowly advanced, eliminating the enemy's vanguard forces bit by bit on the front lines.
Every step of this looks like a risk.
But if successful, it would undoubtedly be a very sophisticated and excellent tactical approach!
"But... our main focus is on defense."
The JF-17 fleet appears to have gained an advantage by doing so.
They destroyed the enemy's vanguard, but it's important to know that the enemy had nearly five million interstellar warships.
The JF-17 fleet only numbers a few hundred thousand. No matter how powerful they are, how many can they eliminate?
The enemy's fleet will continue to charge forward, and the Xiaolong fleet has suffered considerable losses due to this offensive.
In this situation, they also have to withstand enemy attacks.
"This..." The elven lieutenant frowned.
The commander of the elven fleet shook his head, his eyes gleaming, and said, "You're looking at things too superficially."
What you just analyzed are indeed true facts.
But what you haven't seen is the change in the battlefield environment!
"Battlefield environment?" The elven lieutenant was taken aback.
He looked at the interstellar war sandbox and then at the live-streamed battlefield footage.
Suddenly he saw something and instantly realized: "It's those starship wreckage!"
"Because of our control, this battlefield is only this big."
Under this offensive, the JF-17 fleet annihilated a large number of the enemy's vanguard.
The wreckage of these vanguard interstellar warships would accumulate in the combat zone, though not enough to completely block the shipping lanes.
However, it will inevitably be severely affected by fleet-based offensive operations.
Offensive efficiency, offensive routes, and so on!
And do you want to clear away these starship wrecks blocking the combat zone?
If you don't clean it up, you'll have to go around it, and over time, more and more starship debris could accumulate into'space junk'.
If you don't go around it, then use ship-borne weapons to further destroy these starship wrecks blocking your way, reducing their size to a level that won't affect the starship's navigation.
Some energy-based weapons can also directly 'dissolve' it.
But this would inevitably weaken the firepower of the attacking fleet.
The commander of the elven fleet sounded excited, as if he had discovered a new continent: "In previous battles, there have been instances of starship wreckage appearing."
However, these were all fought at a constant pace, and the enemy could be gradually eliminated during subsequent battles, so they wouldn't have much impact on the battlefield.
It's like being in a pool, with water being poured in and then drained out at the same time.
But now General Qingman has poured a large basin of water directly into the pool, but the rate of water release remains unchanged, which will naturally cause the water in the pool to accumulate.
This led to the situation that would unfold on the battlefield.
General Qingman was thinking that they couldn't change the number of their own combat starships, nor could they change the number of the enemy's combat starships.
Then change the battlefield environment and control the number of enemy starships deployed to the battlefield in another way.
And that's how you achieve this effect.
It's not just that the Xiaolong series of interstellar warships are powerful, but also that the Xiaolong Legion fleet has extremely high combat skills from top to bottom!
It's really... really hard to believe that this is a legion-level combat coordination achieved in just twenty hours!
Just what kind of existence is this Dragon Empire?
At this moment, the high-ranking elven officers completely changed their perception of the Dragon Legion fleet.
They have no choice but to accept it.
Apart from the number of fleets, they lost in every aspect, including the quality of starships, the quality of soldiers, and the command of legions!
They lost completely!
Five hours passed quickly.
In those five hours, the changes on the battlefield were exactly as they had predicted.
The large accumulation of starship wreckage greatly reduced the offensive efficiency of the Devouring Civilization's invading fleet.
This meant that the defense line previously handed over to the Eighth Fleet Group of the JF-17 not only suffered no losses, but even advanced a little further.
Incredible results.
"Report, the Eighth Fleet Group of the Wyvern requests a rotation with us," the Elf adjutant reported.
"Okay, proceed with the rotation plan that was established earlier."
"Let the first echelon rotate first; the battle will last five hours," said the commander of the Elf fleet.
"Yes," the elven lieutenant replied.
After giving these orders, he returned to the commander's side.
"Have you compiled statistics on their casualties and enemy kills over the past five hours?" the Elf fleet commander couldn't help but ask.
The elven lieutenant immediately retrieved the relevant data.
They keep records of the combat data of the JF-17 fleet.
"In the past five hours."
The JF-17 Eighth Legion Fleet Group successfully completed its original combat mission.
They annihilated 60,000 enemy interstellar warships while losing less than 5,000 of their own.
"Combat casualties are impossible to quantify, but both of the interstellar missile fleets they brought participated in the battle," the elven adjutant replied.
The casualty ratio exceeded ten to one!
This is similar to the data of other battlefield Xiaolong Legion fleet groups.
But what you should know is...
The Dragon Legion fleet in other battlefields has a full complement of 500,000 interstellar warships, but here there are only 100,000 interstellar warships.
Our side has five times more starships!
The number of enemies remained completely unchanged.
The only variable in this is the two legion fleets from the Hells Angels Ace Fleet, which are being deployed to the battlefield for the first time!
"This is the strategic role of interstellar missile ships on the battlefield!" the Elf fleet commander couldn't help but exclaim.
He couldn't help but wonder what kind of results he could achieve if he possessed so many interstellar missile ships!
He fell silent.
In the subsequent battles.
The situation on this battlefield has been effectively controlled, although the pressure from the enemy fleet remains considerable.
But at least with the help of the Eighth Legion Fleet Group of the Falcon Dragon, this Holy Elf Legion Fleet Group had a chance to catch its breath.
By adopting an increasingly familiar rotation tactic, the defensive line is not forced to retreat too quickly.
...
The 150th hour of the defense of the Dragon Empire.
T6 Dragon Emperor Starship - Bridge
"So far, the situation on the two new battlefields has been temporarily stabilized, and there will be no complete collapse."
However, according to the results of our staff's simulations.
When our starships suffer losses to a certain extent, the pressure on the defensive line will increase significantly.
"This is predicted to occur around the 300th hour of the war." Lilith looked at Zhao Chen, reporting the latest battle situation.
“Three hundred hours...” Zhao Chen squinted.
Three hundred hours is roughly two weeks of war.
There is still a considerable gap between the agreed-upon one-month timeframe and the timeframe agreed upon with the Flame Elf King in their previous private collaboration.
Charlotte's holographic image was displayed nearby, bringing up a series of data.
"The situation of our JF-17 fleet three hundred hours later."
The estimated total loss is nearly one million interstellar warships.
This represents 30% of the total combat losses of all the JF-17 fleets we have deployed to the battlefield.
However, this will be accompanied by a gradual reduction in the supply of interstellar missiles and interstellar warships, as well as prolonged combat operations.
This will increase average battle losses.
Next, various fronts will collapse one after another, just like a dam breaking.
In the next three hundred hours of combat, the losses will be far more complex than simply the loss of a million starships.
Given the current situation of the Dragon Empire, facing the powerful Devouring Civilization, continuing the fight in this manner will only make things worse.
"But I don't think it should be calculated so simply."
Because the enemy will also suffer losses, according to this estimate.
After 300 hours of fighting, we annihilated at least ten million enemy interstellar warships.
"This only represents the number of enemies killed by our Falcon Dragon Legion fleet," Lilith interjected.
“I think the situation is far worse than you imagine.” Another holographic figure invited to the discussion.
The Flame Elf King, standing beside him with his arms crossed, said, "Although your data does not include the combat data of our Holy Elf Legion fleet."
But at the same time, don't forget.
So far, the Devouring Civilization still has one trump card they haven't used.
A soul altar that can collect soul power to create a dark legion fleet.
They haven't used this trump card yet.
Based on their past incursions into other interstellar universes, the conditions that triggered their use of the Soul Altar were established.
There are only a few possibilities.
Alternatively, they could defeat a large number of enemy fleets in a short period of time and use the enemy's soul energy to forge a soul altar.
We don't need to consider that.
Another scenario is when their first wave of the Devouring Civilization Invading Fleet, which was dispatched to the battlefield, suffered losses exceeding 30%.
They would then use the altar of souls.
This time the situation is rather special.
They dispatched additional legionary fleets en route.
However, in terms of quantity, it is roughly the critical value of ten million ships.
Therefore, when the war actually reached the 300-hour mark...
The process of devouring a civilization will most likely involve using the Soul Altar.
"At that time, our pressure will increase dramatically!"
Everyone fell silent.
Altar of Souls.
They were already extremely familiar with this word during this period of time.
However, it has not yet appeared on the battlefield.
The feeling was as if the Devouring Civilization had hung a knife over the head of the Dragon Empire, ready to fall at any moment.
This is also why the Dragon Empire has been slow to reveal its trump cards.
The flagships never committed themselves fully to the battlefield, only providing limited fire support.
The purpose is to ensure that when the enemy reveals their trump card, they also have a countermeasure.
"But you've said so much."
"Do we have any way to break this deadlock?" Lilith shrugged helplessly.
No.
Everyone knows what cards the Dragon Empire has up its sleeve.
If this happens now, there will be no way to deal with the next moves from the Devouring Civilization.
Zhao Chen looked at the Flame Elf King.
The Flame Elf King shook his head helplessly and said, "Given the current situation, I have also contacted the High Council."
However, their attitude was firm: they still needed to further observe the battlefield of the Dragon Empire and would not send reinforcements for the time being.
Even my request to simply deploy my own private elven legion fleet was refused.
The latest news I received.
My elven legion's fleet base is now under 24-hour surveillance by personnel dispatched by the High Council.
The water gate, a strategic piece of equipment, was also subject to strict control.
Without authorization, I simply couldn't have transferred my legion's fleet from another universe.
"You, an elven king, are quite pathetic as a ruler," Charlotte commented casually.
The Flame Elf King shrugged, not minding Charlotte's assessment.
During this time together, the Flame Elf King and the high-ranking military officers of the Dragon Empire became quite familiar with each other.
He also had a lot of contact with Charlotte, the Imperial Grand Marshal, and was a commander with a very good personality.
"Since there's no other way."
Then we can only take it one step at a time.
"We'll deal with whatever comes our way when the Devouring Civilization makes its move," Zhao Chen said with a shrug.
"Then I'll go back and rest."
"I haven't slept for thirty hours. I'll take a nap now that the situation is calm." Charlotte yawned and hung up the call.
The Flame Elf King looked at Zhao Chen in surprise: "So casual?"
Zhao Chen smiled helplessly and said, "Since we can't think of a solution right now, instead of wasting time here, we might as well rest more and face the difficulties ahead with the best mental state."
The Flame Elf Queen looked at Zhao Chen suspiciously. Over the course of their time together, she had gotten a feel for Zhao Chen's personality and preferences.
She squinted and said, "You must have some trump card you haven't told me yet!"
Zhao Chen smiled without saying a word.
"Please, I thought we were inseparable comrades-in-arms."
"How come you still have secrets you haven't told me!" the Flame Elf King pouted.
Zhao Chen chuckled and said, "We are close comrades-in-arms, but even close comrades-in-arms can have secrets."
But rest assured, this secret won't harm you, my closest comrade-in-arms!