Caught Between Advance and Retreat

"Damn Human Civilization, despicable and shameless!"

After two more warships were destroyed by Positron Cannon, the captain of the flagship of the Fourth Fleet of the Kun-Tai Civilization roared in fury.

But she was helpless.

Retreat is not an option; if we retreat, we'll lose the chance to enter the Asteroid Belt again.

It would be possible to conduct long-range mutual attacks using asteroids, just like humans do, but doing so would violate the strategy devised by Pierce, the leader of the Kun-Tai Civilization.

So they could only forge ahead, but as they advanced, one warship after another was sunk by humans, and their previous tactics against the flagship of Human Civilization were completely ineffective.

After hitting the flagship of Human Civilization eight or nine more times, she felt that this tactic was the worst decision she had ever made.

Because it's impossible to penetrate it, not even to heat that kind of armor until it's red-hot.

Taking advantage of this opening, humanity sank seven more warships of the Kun-Tai Civilization, sinking one or two ships with just one or two shots.

When the news reached the flagship of the Kun-Tai Civilization, the entire Kun-Tai Civilization leadership fell silent, and Pierce's heart sank to the bottom.

It can't compete in firepower, mobility, or armor.

Pierce discovered that the only thing the Kun-Tai Civilization could surpass Human Civilization in was the number of Quake-Class Warship, a point she had correctly guessed.

But it was to no avail.

The Kun-Tai Civilization's Fourth Fleet twenty Quake-Class Warship was utterly overwhelmed by three human warships. Under the cover of the complex Asteroid Belt environment, the Kun-Tai Civilization to sink a single human Quake-Class Warship.

Pierce even thought that if humanity broke out of the Asteroid Belt, the Kun-Tai Civilization might not be able to win, because the Kun-Tai Civilization didn't have even a single cannon capable of destroying the Human Flagship.

At this moment, Pierce realized that he was truly at a loss.

The Third Fleet and Fourth Fleet that were spun off are now at a significant disadvantage, and it's unclear how long they can advance or how long they can hold out.

"The two formations had just entered the Asteroid Belt when they encountered two human blocking formations, one of which possessed a nearly invincible warship. This should not be a coincidence." Pierce's mind raced as he quickly devised a countermeasure.

Although she now understands that the Kun-Tai Civilization is at a disadvantage, she will not give up until the very last moment.

"If that invincible warship is the Human Flagship, then the humans must have seen through my tactical deployment. But how did they do it? Hmm."

Pierce couldn't figure it out, so she stopped thinking about it. The facts were already laid out before her, and thinking about it would be a waste of time. She murmured, "No matter what the reason for seeing through it, if the Fourth Fleet's guess is correct, that warship must be the human flagship. That means that the human forces have deployed their main force to intercept the Fourth Fleet."

So, is it a coincidence that the central army route I stopped on, along with the other route, happened to be undefended? Hmm, no wonder those two warships retreated directly into the Asteroid Belt, no wonder humanity has been doing everything in its power to intercept our probes!

Pierce thought about it more and more and more and she agreed. After a moment of contemplation, she asked, "What's the situation with the third and Fourth Fleet now?"

"Lord Pierce, the Third Fleet encountered five human Quake-Class Warship, along with several other secondary and smaller warships. Their tactics are similar to those encountered by the Fourth Fleet —disruptive annihilation warfare based on the asteroid! The Third Fleet has now penetrated the central Asteroid Belt, but due to frequent harassment and interception from the enemy, it has suffered heavy losses. To date, eleven warships have been sunk, while we have only sunk seven human smaller warships, eight secondary warships, and damaged only one Quake-Class Warship."

"The situation of the Fourth Fleet is even worse. Our main guns can't penetrate the Human Flagship at all, and we can't close the distance with it. If this continues, the Fourth Fleet probably won't last long."

"How long have the third and Fourth Fleet been engaged with the enemy?" Pierce asked in a deep voice.

"252 bastards, Lord Pierce."

This answer left Pierce somewhat bewildered. According to previous calculations, the warships' fuel reserves were sufficient for 533 hours of full-power combat, but they hadn't even reached half of that, and the third and fourth formations had already lost more than half of their fuel.

If this continues, we'll be sunk before we even run out of fuel.

After a moment of silence, Pierce suddenly shouted, "We can't wait any longer! My fleet and the Second Fleet, accelerate immediately! Top speed! Target: Gaseous Planet!"

"This Lord Pierce, now?" Mo Tuotuo to the side, paused for a moment.

"Not now? Are we going to wait for the main human force to return before going in?" Pierce said bluntly. She immediately connected the main fleet and the Second Fleet: "Pass on my order: all ships form a spherical formation and launch a surprise attack on the Giant Gaseous Planet! During the attack, ignore the human warships. If you cannot maintain your forward momentum to fight back, then charge forward!"

Retreat is not an option. If we retreat, all the efforts of the third and Fourth Fleet will have been in vain.

Pierce deduced that the main human sniping force must be either with the third or Fourth Fleet, or had been drawn there.

Although it's not what we expected, now is the best time for the central command to launch a surprise attack. Once we miss it, there will be no more opportunities.

"Lord Pierce, the human fleet that attacked my Residential Spaceship Cluster has entered the firing range of my remaining fleet, and my remaining fleet is currently conducting an interception operation!" At this critical moment, another report sounded in Pierce's auditory organs.

"Ignore them. As long as we can advance to the location of our human Residential Spaceship, they won't dare to attack us relentlessly. Besides, those small warships have no chance of breaking through the defensive perimeter of my Residential Spaceship fleet in a short time!" Pierce said firmly, "The survival of the Kun-Tai Civilization rests in our hands!"

If we launch a surprise attack on the Gaseous Planet and find Residential Spaceship Cluster, the Kun-Tai Civilization will survive; otherwise, it will perish! Gentlemen! Our fate rests on this moment! Charge with me!

"Rush!"

"Rush!"

"Rush!"

Replies echoed in the internal channel.

The next moment, the fifty warships of the Kun-Tai Civilization's central army and the twenty warships of the Second Fleet once again accelerated from their slow movement, and their formation began to change into a spherical shape.

The spherical formation is a good formation for surprise attacks under enemy harassment, and it is also a commonly used formation for close-quarters combat on space stations.

This formation will protect some of the warships inside, and when passing through enemy positions, the counter-fire can be carried out from all directions without leaving any gaps.

Of course, they don't just form a formation and charge straight ahead; that would be like being a target. During the charge, the warship formation will still make some lateral maneuvers to avoid potential pre-planned attacks.

In fact, the Kun-Tai Civilization had not made a definitive observation that the Human Civilization's Residential Spaceship was hiding behind the Gaseous Planet, but Pierce had no other choice but to launch a final surprise attack based on the speculation.