Ahead lay a region filled with planetary debris and shattered planets, where hundreds of streamlined warships roamed.
They were roughly a thousand meters long, with simple external structures and an overall silver-white color scheme.
Their hulls had no windows or external observation systems, and their surfaces were covered in energy circuits.
Most importantly, despite being only a thousand meters long, they carried considerable firepower. Clearly, aside from essential equipment, no space had been reserved inside.
Other than warships belonging to the Alliance's mechanical legions, only Mecha warships met these criteria.
The star map marked them in red, clearly identifying them as hostile units.
"Lost Mecha that drifted out of Exotic Space?" Qingyang muttered.
Unlike Dimensional Worlds located beyond the Great Universe, Exotic Space was an interlayer formed by collisions between the Great Universe's various High-dimensional Streams and the Material Dimension.
It possessed the foundation for material existence while also containing all kinds of High-dimensional Energy and special particles.
Most contained no life or threats. Only a small portion, for various reasons, gave rise to special groups such as Lost Mecha and exotic species.
Exotic Space would not capture lifeforms with will and high intelligence, so these entities were generally born from Mecha and primitive planets swallowed by Exotic Space.
They differed from the Mecha born within the Great Universe from technologies left behind by fallen Powerful Civilizations.
The Mecha of Exotic Space were more dangerous because they had been exposed to the higher Energy Particles of their respective Exotic Spaces for long periods.
As a result, at the same technological level, their combat power far surpassed that of external Mecha, and the special materials they possessed could greatly enhance technological strength.
Every Lost Mecha group that appeared in Exotic Space was extremely dangerous.
However, Lost Mecha were ultimately not the mainstream among Mecha. Compared to their limited numbers and slightly higher quality—
The Mechanical Civilization outside, endlessly pouring forth like the Void Zerg, posed a far greater threat to the Alliance.
A group and a civilization were two entirely different concepts.
Qingyang directly cast a scan at the distant Mecha.
[Level 3 Lost Mecha—originated from the Skatu Mecha Civilization (disconnected from the Skatu core server)] [Scale: 738 basic Mecha ships, 54 medium Mecha ships, 5 mineral refining ships, 1 Planet Disintegrator] [Energy level: basic ship composite energy level (800), medium ship composite energy level (2k)]
A Planet Disintegrator?
It directly shattered planets to obtain their resources. That really was the Mecha way.
Qingyang curled his lip. These Mecha warships posed little threat to the Eternal Fleet. Most attacks from those basic Mecha ships could not even reach the Joint Shield's minimum damage threshold.
"Deploy a signal-blocking field. Don't let the Lost Mecha notify their main force!"
"Taiyi will take the vanguard position. Chichen Type ships will hold the center. Huiyue Type Battleships, move to the rear of the fleet."
After saying that, Qingyang checked the time. "In five seconds, the entire fleet will jump into the center of the Mecha fleet! Prioritize the medium Mecha ships!"
"Understood!"
Changxi, who was controlling the flagship and three battleships, along with the cruiser brain-control operators, answered simultaneously.
Spatial Ripples without any aftershock scattered outward as the entire Eternal Fleet vanished in an instant.
When it reappeared, it was already in the middle of nearly a thousand Mecha ships!
The instant the Eternal Fleet appeared, the nearest several hundred Mecha ships immediately swung their cannons around, releasing vast quantities of special particles.
They completely enveloped the Eternal Fleet!
[The enemy has deployed spatial interference particles. Subspace travel is temporarily disabled.] [The enemy is blocking communications. Star Network has neutralized the interference.]
Boom!
Qingyang ignored the notifications. Just as the hundreds of Mecha ships were about to finish charging, the Eternal Fleet's twenty warships launched the first attack!
Massive beams howled out, violently striking dozens of Mecha warships at the very front.
A pale blue shield emerged around these thousand-meter steel constructs, but it shattered after only two seconds.
The beams easily tore through the armor and hulls of those warships, while explosions and balls of light rose one after another through space.
The hundreds of Mecha warships behind them successfully launched their bombardment. Rapidly flickering beams blasted toward the Eternal Fleet from every direction.
Qingyang's immense mental power remained linked to the star map at all times. "03 Jianren, 05 Jianren, 02 Changqu, Instant Jump to coordinates ×××! 04 Jianren cruiser and."
In an instant, the twenty warships jumped in succession in different directions.
Eighty percent of the attacks grazed the edges of the ships and blasted toward the opposite side. Quite a few Mecha warships were struck by their own fire.
Their shields trembled violently, and sparks could vaguely be seen spilling from those Mecha warships.
Qingyang's mental power remained connected to the star map, "observing" the entire battlefield.
"Taiyi, Yuansha charging, target. 01 Chichen, 02 Chichen, target."
The commands were issued simultaneously through mental power. Bombardments from tricky angles actually slipped through the gaps between basic Mecha ships, perfectly striking the medium ships concealed among large numbers of basic Mecha ships!
At least one-third of the medium Mecha ships were hit in a single strike.
[Assessment: Target possesses precision strike capabilities. Adjusting combat orders.] [Close-quarters combat.]
Hundreds of Mecha ships immediately charged toward the Eternal Fleet, which was continuously bombarding them, attempting to split the Starfleet warships apart.
They wanted to prevent the Eternal Fleet from forming fleet firepower.
Qingyang raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Dogfighting?"
It had to be said that every Mecha command system was formidable.
Unfortunately, dogfighting might have worked against conventional fleets under these circumstances, but it was useless against a Starfleet.
After all, any slightly elite Starfleet came equipped with starship-grade weapons like Joint Shields as standard.
Qingyang deliberately separated the ships. In reality, several battleships and Taiyi were actively closing in on the remaining two-thirds of the medium Mecha ships.
As round after round of bombardment thundered out, more than fifty medium Mecha ships were blasted apart in succession.
Even after the Mecha system reacted and made adjustments, this Lost Mecha Fleet was already beyond saving.
Against a Starfleet with a certain degree of damage immunity, low-quality area-attack tactics were completely useless.
From beginning to end, only the medium Mecha warships had engaged the Eternal Fleet in space combat. The basic Mecha ships had little use beyond absorbing damage.
As time passed, the last basic Mecha warship detonated.
From the start of the battle to its end, only a little over an hour had passed, and hundreds of Mecha warships had been completely destroyed.
For fleet battles that often lasted more than ten hours or even several days, a little over an hour was exceptionally fast.
Qingyang withdrew the mental power linked to the star map, feeling slight discomfort in his mind.
After casually downing a mouthful of Mental Potion, Qingyang finally spoke. "Search the five mineral ships and the Planet Disintegrator's auxiliary storage."
Two cruisers immediately departed from the fleet, releasing hundreds of engineering machines to begin surveying the area.
"Brother Qingyang's command style has changed so much." Seeing that Qingyang had finished commanding, Guxue could not help but sigh.
At the beginning, whenever they encountered enemies, he seemed to just charge head-on.
Qingyang smiled. "It's thanks to Magic Sea Academy's virtual observation. Those command records are very valuable for learning."
It had to be said that virtual observation was indeed extremely useful. For example, this precise data-stream method specialized for commanding small fleets was something Qingyang had learned from a commander.
It did not involve much wisdom or technique, but it required powerful mental strength and battlefield data analysis to support it.
It was a talent-based technique.
"If the enemy force is too large, I wouldn't recommend commanding like that. Running your Mental Threshold at full capacity isn't a good thing."
Changxi's soft laughter rang out. Her pale golden eyes, as always, held a trace of gentleness.
She then extended her jade-like hand and placed it atop Qingyang's head. His slightly sluggish mental state rapidly recovered.
Only after confirming that Qingyang had fully recovered did Changxi remove her hand.
"Also, we found 340 units of Moro Metal. The Moro Metal in this region has more or less been exhausted."
Hearing Changxi's words, Qingyang remained puzzled.
"Do Mecha have any use for Moro Metal?"
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