The Malleby kept firing Magic Energy Cannons at the asteroid field ahead. The shattered asteroid fragments exploded outward, striking the battleships escorting it.
The battleships were left scarred all over by the impacts, a horrifying sight to behold.
The hull armor of the Dire Wolf battleship on the left had been torn open by three half-meter-wide gashes. Its pale blue Energy Shield flickered like a candle in the wind beneath the barrage of fragments, and every dimming of its light was accompanied by alarms sounding within the ship.
The Main Gun Mount of the Falcon on the right was pierced through by a fist-sized asteroid fragment. Scorching magic energy leaked out, burning sizzling blackened marks across the hull.
Several maintenance crew members in heavy protective suits lay beside the mount, trying to plug the breach with emergency modules. But another wave of fragment shockwaves flung them away, leaving only pleas for help crackling over the Communication Channel through static.
The Transport Ships at the rear had it even worse.
They were auxiliary vessels responsible for transporting supplies and captured slaves. Their Hull Armor was less than a third as thick as that of the battleships, and the few Close Defense Magic Energy Cannons they carried offered only feeble combat power.
Most of their combat personnel were logistics soldiers drafted in at the last minute, lacking any real combat experience.
At that moment, dozens of asteroid fragments rained down on the Transport Ship fleet like hail. The bridge glass of the foremost Transport Ship, Star Transit Three, was the first to be pierced. A football-sized fragment whistled into the control room, smashing the console and sending sparks flying everywhere.
The captain clutched his bleeding forehead and roared for the helmsman to change course, only to discover that the steering system had