"We are about to reach the target Starport. Starport scale—medium."
Changxi's clear voice rang out, and Qingyang, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them.
With a thought, the fleet immediately left the Dark Space current.
"Hm?"
Qingyang frowned. Dozens of light-seconds away, a colossal Starport three thousand kilometers in diameter stood amid the sea of stars.
However, the usual sight of countless ships coming and going was absent from the Starport.
A massive shield covered the entire Starport.
At the same time, several commercial planets that had been forcibly relocated here by the Starport had also raised enormous Planet Shields!
Guxue, who was teaching the Valen siblings about ship command, asked in confusion, "What happened?"
It had to be said that Guxue was an absolute academic genius in theory, equally proficient in starship command theory.
The Eternal Fleet did not pause and sailed directly toward the Starport.
No Alliance shield would obstruct a Starfleet, and likewise, a Starfleet would never betray humanity.
As long as someone truly resolved to betray humanity, the Starship Commander rules would revoke their Datafication. Their talents, star weapons, and all kinds of bonuses would immediately become invalid.
Therefore, betrayal did not exist within Starfleet. Once they betrayed humanity, they were no longer Starfleet.
After smoothly passing through the shield, everyone nearby was immediately drawn to the Eternal Fleet's luxurious configuration. Their gazes lingered briefly before moving away.
[Dear Commander, due to a recent large-scale attack on this Starport by star beasts—Firelight Rats—the Starport and some planetary operations have been temporarily closed.]
[The Alliance patrol fleet is on its way. Operations are expected to resume in three days. We once again apologize for the inconvenience caused.]
After receiving the message, Qingyang was somewhat puzzled.
Although star beasts were not Carbon-based Lifeforms, they still required vast resources to survive.
This Starport was a transportation hub. There was not even a single star system within dozens of light-years nearby, so how could it have suffered an attack by such a large group of star beasts?
He knew about Firelight Rats. They were social star beasts that reached Level 2 upon adulthood and generally measured four to five hundred meters long.
They possessed energy organs that could condense scorching red beams for attacks. Their groups numbered no fewer than a thousand, and they usually had Level 3 and Level 4 leaders.
Why had they left an environment like Star Lake and run onto a space route?
Squeak, squeak!
A dense, piercing noise suddenly filled his mind. Qingyang looked toward the fiery-red rats emerging from subspace outside the Starport and charging toward it, his expression helpless.
Why had humans evolved the ability to receive these high-frequency sounds from the universe?
Having them ring directly inside his head was really annoying.
His spiritual power spread through the surroundings, and the cacophony immediately vanished. Only then did Qingyang turn his attention to the battlefield.
Several thousand Firelight Rats were covered in scales, with crimson energy patterns flickering across their bodies. The leader at the front had even reached fifteen hundred meters in size!
A true colossal beast.
However, Qingyang had already seen the Divine Whale, so he was merely surprised rather than deeply shocked.
Several thousand densely packed crimson beams converged and blasted toward the Starport at once!
Violent explosions immediately spread through the surroundings, and even the Starport beneath its shield faintly trembled.
Clank, clank!
The sound of machinery echoed as triangular turrets rose from all across the Starport, unleashing successive flashes of various beam attacks.
The energy within the scales of the struck Firelight Rats immediately collapsed, and most of their bodies were blasted apart.
A single volley killed several hundred Firelight Rats.
"This is much stronger than the battlefield between those four civilizations in the first Dimensional World," Qingyang commented.
Whether it was the Firelight Rats' concentrated fire or the Starport's firepower, even the current Eternal Fleet could not withstand them head-on.
Just then, subspace fluctuations flashed again in other directions around the Starport.
Two Firelight Rat swarms of equal size surged out!
Qingyang and the others frowned. Three Firelight Rat swarms led by different leaders were attacking the same target?
Before Qingyang could ask, seven or eight more subspace fluctuations appeared.
Now Qingyang could no longer sit still. Something was definitely wrong!
[We ask the several Starfleets currently within the Starport to assist in its defense. You will be rewarded afterward.]
At that moment, an official Starport transmission reached the Taiyi.
More and more turrets continuously rose from throughout the Starport. There was even a Star Destroyer Class weapon.
However, such a high-powered weapon was not very useful right now. The Firelight Rats were simply too close.
Qingyang did not hesitate and immediately ordered the fleet to deploy once more.
Including the Eternal Truth Fleet, five Starfleets were currently stationed within this Starport.
There were four T8 Fleets and one T7 Fleet. Aside from the Eternal Fleet, even the T8 Fleet with the fewest ships had more than forty warships.
Of course, they were all composed of standard- or mid-grade starships. That T7 Fleet did have a few high-grade ships.
There were more than three hundred starships in total, with half belonging to the T7 Fleet.
The pressure on the Starport immediately lessened as large numbers of Firelight Rats surrounded and attacked the five fleets.
Whoosh, whoosh!
The Taiyi's main cannon gathered light, and a silver beam instantly crossed several hundred thousand kilometers to strike a Level 4 Firelight Rat leader!
The explosion echoed. The Level 4 Firelight Rat let out a silent roar, its scales shattered across a large area as blood scattered everywhere.
"It survived that?"
A Level 4 star beast was equivalent to a human Tier 6 powerhouse. He had thought Tier 6 powerhouses were only so-so.
Who would have thought they were monsters capable of withstanding starship cannon fire?
The severely wounded Firelight Rat leader let out a silent furious howl, and a vast number of Firelight Rats seemed to receive an order as they rapidly closed in on the Eternal Fleet!
The eight warships immediately spread out. The secondary cannons of several cruisers finished charging at once, locked onto the densest areas of the Firelight Rat swarm, and began bombarding them.
One Firelight Rat after another was blasted into bloody pulp. As beams flashed, Firelight Rats were killed.
"Spatial fluctuations detected!"
"Small lifeforms detected entering the interiors of the Jianren, Xuanjia, and Changqu Cruisers via teleportation."
"Activating combat Mechanical Units. Dark Mantis Mechs on all ships activated!"
"Warning: small lifeforms possess Level 2 star beast energy levels. Tier 4."
Changxi's alarms sounded one after another. Aside from the two battleships with powerful spatial suppression, the remaining cruisers had all been infiltrated.
They jump-boarded straight onto me?!
Qingyang immediately looked at Guxing. "I'll leave it to you. Activate the Assault Units!"
"Yes, Commander!" the already assembled combat squads answered.
Guxing, Guxue, and the members of their squads were immediately Datafied with their star weapons, then sent to the various cruisers through spatial transmission.
They were accompanied by Shadow Blade Type 3 Mechs, each possessing Tier 5 combat power.
This time, they would be fighting separately. Even after being strengthened by the Divine Whale, not every member of Guxing's squad had reached Tier 4 combat power.
"Bombard them with saturated firepower! Fight while maneuvering!"
The Taiyi immediately carved out a drifting trail through space. Its eight secondary cannons trembled as beam after beam, each capable of killing a Level 3 star beast, bombarded the rat swarm at high frequency.
The other ships followed closely behind. For a time, the firepower unleashed by the eight warships completely surpassed that of the other three T8 Fleets!
Elsewhere.
Inside an Eternal Fleet cruiser.
Hundreds of ferocious figures charged through the broad corridor, with the control room door directly ahead of them!
Five Dark Mantis Mechs stood across the doorway, their particle machine cannons spinning madly.
Dense energy barrages poured forth, and more than a dozen alien-like creatures at the front instantly exploded.
However, the two damaged Dark Mantis Mechs behind the monster swarm clearly showed that these things were far from simple.
Mech fire scattered everywhere, and explosions completely covered the corridor's cross-section.
A shield-like glow flickered faintly across the walls, allowing these mechs and the combat machinery elsewhere to fire without restraint!
Boom!
One Alien Monster that seemed to be made of metal tore apart more than a dozen combat machines and charged straight at the mechs guarding the door.
There was no helping it. Since they could jump-board through armor and shields, even a closed door with a shield could not stop them.
If they could jump-board once, they could naturally do it a second time. Jumping through a door was much easier than jumping past shielded armor.
There were more than a dozen crew members inside.
Suddenly, just as that powerful monster tore apart a Dark Mantis Mech.
A mass of particles abruptly appeared, and the instant Guxing materialized, he kicked the monster.
The Alien Monster was sent flying dozens of meters back, its scarlet eyes fixed on Guxing.
Guxing, who had arrived alone on this cruiser, calmly looked at the several hundred monsters. The weakest among them were Tier 3, while the few leaders were high-tier Tier 4.
After an instant of silence, the monster swarm crazily rushed forward to surround and kill Guxing!
The next moment, black-and-white streams of light flashed, and one of Guxing's pupils turned white while the other turned black.
Boom!!!
Before you continue