Second Battle of the Asteroid Belt (VII)

Two new fleets joined the main battlefield.

Although these two fleets had very few warships, they were insignificant compared to the Fourth Fleet and the Oakes Empire fleets locked in fierce battle.

But the key was that, thanks to Liang Xingchen's deployment, the Oakes Empire fleets were now completely unable to maneuver freely and could only keep moving in circles.

Once the two fleets took their positions and deployed their formations, they bared their deadly fangs.

"Report, the fleets have completed deployment. The Oakes Empire fleets will enter our firing zone in one minute."

"Good. The moment they enter the firing zone, open fire immediately. Relay this order to the fleet on the other side as well!"

"Yes!"

After issuing the order, Lin Fan continued watching the virtual tactical display. Reinforcement Fleets A and B were currently positioned on the left and right sides of the Four Serpents Biting Their Tails formation. Thus, the Fourth Fleet and the Oakes Empire's four fleets would pass in turn before the two reinforcement fleets, fully exposing their flanks as they did so.

At that moment, the rear of the Fourth Fleet's five squadrons lay directly before the more than 2,400 warships under Lin Fan's command. Once they passed, the pursuing Oakes Empire fleets would appear behind them. That would be the moment for the reinforcement fleets to open fire.

One minute later.

"Open fire!"

Once the Fourth Fleet's main force had passed, Lin Fan decisively gave the order. More than 2,400 warships unleashed a frenzied barrage upon the flanks of the Oakes Empire fleets.

A fleet's flanks were where it took the most hits and were also its weakest point. Therefore, the warships under Lin Fan's command not only achieved a high hit rate, but also racked up impressive numbers of kills.

On the other side, the Oakes Empire's main fleet also entered Reinforcement Fleet B's firing range and suffered equally fierce attacks from the flank, taking grievous losses!

Ten minutes later, the two Oakes Empire fleets finally escaped the side firing zones, but the battle losses nearly drove Cody to despair.

"Commander, during that round of attacks, the main fleet lost 4,800 warships, while the detached fleet lost another 3,200. If this continues, we'll be finished after only three or four more rounds."

"Mm. We can only gamble. The next time we pass through those two fleets' firing zones, the entire fleet will turn immediately and charge directly toward the human reinforcement fleets. As long as we're fast enough to break into their formation, we can avoid having our flanks attacked by the human fleets behind us."

Cody was preparing to make a desperate gamble. If he did not, and they continued maintaining the Four Serpents Biting Their Tails formation for another three or four circuits, they would inevitably be annihilated, with no possibility of turning the tide.

But this gamble was extremely risky. If they failed to break into the opposing reinforcement fleets' formation in time, the human fleets behind them would seize the opportunity to catch their flanks.

That was no longer a matter of just over 2,000 warships, but nearly 10,000. Once their flanks were exposed to them, the entire fleet would be defeated in a very short time.

But did Cody have a choice? No, none at all. He could only gamble.

Ten minutes later, just as the two fleets were about to enter the human reinforcement fleets' firing zones once more, Cody gritted his teeth and gave the order.

"Maintain speed. Turn right in an arc and begin the assault. Target: human reinforcement fleets."

"Yes!"

The two fleets immediately began turning right, carving an arc through the void as they headed toward the two human reinforcement fleets.

"Report, the Oakes Empire fleets have begun turning. They likely intend to break into our formation to avoid taking fire on their flanks."

"Mm, just as expected. At a time like this, they would definitely try to gamble. But by turning this way, they don't have time to form a dedicated assault formation. They're still maintaining a line formation, so only the warships at their serpent heads can fire—less than ten percent of their total."

"Should we have all fleets close in toward the center to increase the formation's depth and prevent their assault?"

"No. If we do that, the number of our own warships able to fire will also be greatly reduced. Even if we stop their breakthrough, our losses will be severe."

"Then?"

"Adjust the fleet formation. Place 1,400 warships in the central formation, with 500 warships on each side, forming an inverted triangular arrangement. Create a three-directional crossfire net against the enemy's forward warships! Notify Fleet B of this tactic as well."

"Yes."

At that moment, the head of Cody's fleet had already swung around and aimed at the human reinforcement fleets.

"Commander, the human reinforcement fleets have changed formation!"

"Not good!"

Cody was alarmed as he watched the battlefield display.

The human reinforcement fleets had split directly into three groups. The largest group stood directly in front of his fleet, while the two smaller groups were positioned on either side, each angled twenty degrees toward him.

It was a deployment designed to maximize firepower. Clearly, the humans were not planning to deepen their formation to stop his breakthrough. Instead, they intended to use maximum crossfire to directly seal off his route of advance.

If the enemy had thickened their formation, Cody would not have worried. A thicker formation meant fewer warships could fire, and he would only need to lead his fleet straight through it.

But the enemy had not chosen to thicken their formation. Instead, they had arranged three-directional crossfire to block his route with the maximum firepower that 2,400 warships could unleash.

One had to know that they were not in a compact assault formation right now, but a line formation. Only around 500 warships at the front of the formation could fire simultaneously. How could they withstand the crossfire of 2,400 enemy warships?

Stop and form an assault formation before advancing? That was even more impossible. Speed was everything now. The moment they stopped, Liang Xingchen's nearly 10,000 warships would immediately clamp down on their flanks. That would be true disaster.

It seemed they could only charge through by force. Escape with however many ships they could, then rely on the terrain of the Asteroid Belt to put up layered resistance and buy time until Lord Adams's follow-up fleet arrived!

Having made up his mind, Cody immediately ordered the fleet to disregard casualties and launch a desperate assault.

Meanwhile, aboard the Fourth Fleet's flagship.

"Lin Fan really has a knack for this. If it were me, I might have simply thickened the formation and used a certain number of casualties to delay the enemy!"

Watching Lin Fan's change in formation, Liang Xingchen could not help sighing. This kid's tactics were always so imaginative, just like the move he had revealed during the graduation assessment, which had caused even him considerable trouble.

"Adjutant, set the front half of the fleet to heading 045 and move directly to bite into their right rear flank. Set the rear half to heading 020, then after advancing ten million kilometers, turn to heading 090 and clamp onto the enemy's tail. We'll coordinate with Lin Fan for a three-sided encirclement. Notify the First through Fifth Squadrons to do the same."

"Yes!"

Jiang Hai could not help admiring Lin Fan as well. The kid was only twenty years old, yet he had planned this entire great battle.

Once this battle was over, as long as he did not fall, his merits would probably allow him to rise directly to lieutenant general and command a squadron.