Standing in the command cabin of the Tengshe, Lin Zhichen remained unmoved as particle light spears skimmed past the hull. Accelerating under its gravity drive, the entire warship became a winding streak of light, dodging one deadly threat after another in space.
"Whoosh, whoosh~"
But just then, as the distance closed, even more electromagnetic cannon shells—and particle light spears—swept toward them, laying a net across space.
"Zzz!"
The Tengshe's fully charged large electromagnetic coil cannon fired. A soccer-ball-sized projectile shot out at sublight speed. Dozens of seconds later, it easily pierced the electromagnetic deflection shield and precisely struck a main gun. At once, the particle light spears sweeping back and forth through space went dark, leaving a huge gap in the tightly woven net.
The Tengshe easily evaded the encirclement of the Light Net. As its large cannons charged, it dodged the enemy turrets' fire and closed in on the Pirate Base.
The closer they got to Dakan I, the more deeply Lin Zhichen furrowed his brow. He sensed that the density of attacks on the Tengshe was rising rapidly as they approached. In the short distance of one light-second, it had increased more than tenfold. Even with his abilities, he felt a trace of pressure now.
"One light-second!"
A mere 300,000 kilometers was insignificant on a cosmic scale, but at that moment, it was an impassable chasm.
With the Pirate Base's radar support, the pirate bases scattered across the orbits of Dakan I and Dakan Ia had now opened fire with everything they had, targeting the Tengshe's region of space under the radar's guidance.
At such a great distance, even with the base's radar and the computing power of its light brains, their accuracy remained low. Under normal circumstances, half a light-second was the ideal combat distance.
But clearly, the Tengshe's formidable maneuverability and long-range precision fire had unsettled the pirate NPCs inside the base. So they had responded with long-range fire of their own, hoping at the very least to limit their enemy's exceptional mobility.
"Just as I thought. Taking on a base or fortress head-on with a fleet is usually a losing proposition." Lin Zhichen exhaled and swiftly turned the Tengshe around, accelerating into retreat.
Behind them, the Pirate Base was like a hive that had been struck. Huge numbers of starships were taking off one after another, pursuing the Tengshe in the direction it had fled.
The goal of luring the enemy out had been achieved!
"According to the information on StarNet, the Pirate Butcher battleship's radar detection range is around three light-seconds. With the AllSpark's support, an aircraft carrier's detection range is about 6.5 light-seconds. That's enough."
While considering the tactics ahead, Lin Zhichen provoked the pursuing pirate fleet. Beams and electromagnetic projectiles sliced through space, grazing the Tengshe on all sides.
"It's time to test the power of the Spacetime Shockwave!"
On the ship's radar, countless red dots were in hot pursuit. They were the enraged pirates coming after them.
The Tengshe traced an arc through space, nimbly dodging the many beams and electromagnetic projectiles. It streaked through the darkness like a meteor, then, one second later, suddenly appeared just 100,000 kilometers from the pirate fleet—one-third of a light-second away!
"Vmmm!"
The accumulated psionic energy burst forth. A powerful shockwave rapidly expanded in a cone. In that instant, intense gravity condensed into something almost tangible, warping the previously placid spacetime!
Under the shockwave's influence, both the incoming electromagnetic projectiles and the particle light spears shooting toward them were twisted by spacetime.
The hard electromagnetic projectiles, forged from alloy, were torn apart by the warped spacetime and reduced to fine dust. The concentrated particle light spears were twisted as well. Their straight beams rapidly fractured into countless tiny rays that scattered again and again until the darkness swallowed them.
Meanwhile, the calm of space was suddenly like a wave rising from the sea, roaring toward the pirate fleet!
The cone-shaped Spacetime Shockwave rapidly spread, soon covering a vast area of space. The starships caught in it, from the weak Pirate Raiders to the heavily armored Pirate Butcher battleships, were all like ships caught in a tidal wave, acting out a nightmarish apocalypse amid the storm.
The most fragile Pirate Raiders and Pirate Gunboats were first. Their Energy Shields and thin hulls were torn apart, and they broke up and exploded on the spot.
The Pirate Pursuit Cruisers fared somewhat better. Their sturdy armor held, but the shockwave wreaked havoc on their electronic equipment, causing it to explode. Their twisted hulls barely remained intact, avoiding an immediate breakup into parts.
The toughest of them, the Pirate Butcher battleships, were least affected by the shockwave. Their thick outer armor was torn and warped, but not completely destroyed. Their greatest losses were the point-defense cannons and other exposed weapons that had been wrecked.
Of course, one unlucky Pirate Butcher was sent tumbling by the shockwave and slammed directly into a Pirate Pursuer. Both warships suffered heavy damage—an outcome no one had expected.
"As expected, it's an area attack!" Lin Zhichen was thoroughly satisfied with the result. That single Spacetime Shockwave had taken out more than a hundred pirate vessels and heavily damaged over twenty, nearly clearing a small patch of space.
After the cooldown, the Tengshe turned and fled. The attack had tested the Spacetime Shockwave's power and limitations: it worked best against frigates and destroyers, tearing their hulls apart outright. It was less effective against cruisers, but even a hit would leave them disabled at best.
Against heavily armored battleships, however, its effect was average. The Pirate Butchers that had been attacked had basically retained their full combat power.
The Spacetime Shockwave's maximum range was only 1.5 light-seconds. At that distance, though, it might not even be able to destroy a Space Fighter. Its ideal range was within half a light-second, where the shockwave's power could be brought fully to bear and its area of effect was broad enough.
"Worthy of a Psionic Combat Skill. This is a divine skill for clearing out NPC Fleets!"
After calculating the Spacetime Shockwave's effects, Lin Zhichen was delighted.
With this skill, the Tengshe's combat power had soared. From now on, unless it faced battleships, it could sweep away ordinary warships by the dozens!
The Tengshe, now 350 meters long, was like a nimble serpent in space, winding and circling as it deftly evaded most of the incoming fire.
Once the skill's cooldown ended, Lin Zhichen swiftly turned the ship around and used Sublight Assault to rush to within half a light-second of the pirate fleet, unleashing another Spacetime Shockwave.
The highly condensed Gravity Beam swept through like a tornado, leaving devastation in its wake. Anything caught in it was destroyed immediately, with only battleships able to escape.
In the dark expanse of space, fireballs flashed and vanished, while fragments of shattered hulls hurtled wildly through the void. The once-massive pirate fleet had suffered catastrophic losses before the battle had even begun.
After more than ten minutes of repeatedly unleashing Spacetime Shockwaves and destroying over a thousand pirate warships, the Tengshe finally reached a distance of 6.5 light-seconds from the Meteor Fleet, fighting as it retreated, and reestablished contact with its allies.
They didn't continue engaging the enemy ships. After taking repeated heavy blows, the remaining pirates had adopted a new countermeasure: each ship kept hundreds of kilometers apart, spreading out across space. This greatly reduced the shockwaves' effectiveness.
Once he quickly rejoined the fleet, Lin Zhichen activated Mind Resonance again. A thousand minds became one, and three hundred warships became its arms.
"Zzz!"
Electromagnetic projectiles shot out. Streaks of fiery red light flashed through space, wave after wave of attacks surging toward the approaching pirate fleet in the distance.
With the gunners' skills and the AllSpark's support, even the fleet's weakest small turrets delivered firepower approaching that of large turrets, making them quite effective against enemy ships.
The only problem was that the two fleets were so far apart that the Meteor Fleet's accuracy barely reached 20 percent.
The battered pirate fleet pursued them in a fury, even though it had lost sight of its enemy.
By now, after being "swept" by the Spacetime Shockwaves, only heavily armored vessels such as Pirate Butchers and Pirate Pursuit Cruisers remained in space. The "squishy" Pirate Gunboats and Raiders had all but disappeared.
"Boom!"
The first casualty appeared: a Pirate Pursuit Cruiser that had been damaged by a shockwave was struck by several electromagnetic shells in succession and exploded.
Then came a second, then a third. One after another, balls of light flared in space. The process was slow compared with the Spacetime Shockwaves, but the enemy ships' radar blips kept disappearing, one after another.
The Meteor Fleet could track the pirate fleet's condition, and the pirates knew their own situation even better. They had set out with more than 1,200 pirate ships, yet in less than half an hour of battle, most of them had already been wiped out.
There was also an unseen enemy lying in wait. After being hit again and again, the pirates finally emerged from their fury and began to feel afraid.
This unfamiliar enemy had made them lose all hope of victory.
If they had been in small ships like Pirate Raiders or Gunboats, with only a few crew members and opinions easy to unify, some might already have deserted.
But cruisers and battleships carried dozens, sometimes nearly a hundred people, making it difficult to reach a unanimous decision. Even though they were afraid, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and push forward. Yet it was obvious that the pirate fleet was slowing down—and growing slower still.
The Meteor Fleet continued to advance. Its formation was orderly, its volleys flawless, one round after another, as if they would never end.
Lin Zhichen focused his attention on the seven Transformers, those Silicon-based lifeforms now serving in the fleet.
Transformers HWJ Intelligent Mechanical Body, Red Size: 121.5 meters tall, 112,500 tons Profession: Soldier (Advanced) Talents: 1: Transform, Yellow: Freely switch between humanoid, fortress, and battleship forms - Kong Transformation, Yellow: Absorb higher-quality alloys to strengthen own Hull Value and armor, up to the limit of a frigate-class body - Rapid Fire, Light Red: Weapon firing rate +13% Skills: 1: Shooting, Red, Advanced 0.16%: Weapon hit rate +18%, shooting damage +18% 2: Rapid Fire, Light Red, Intermediate 10.21%: Weapon firing rate +13% Hull Value: 465 Armor: 15 Shield: 200 Shield Recharge Rate: 5% Damage: 8.13 Speed: 210 Evasion: 50% Evaluation: Good grief, the hunk of metal has come to life!
"This kind of lifeform with a special form does indeed improve its skills rather slowly. 001 is the Transformer that's been with me the longest. In more than half a year, it's been through fewer than a hundred battles—though still dozens—and its skill level is only Advanced." Lin Zhichen shook his head.
But it was still growing. And with the Superalloy Li Heng had provided, the Transformers' armor defense had reached 15 points. At least on land battlefields, they were practically indestructible lumps of metal.
There was a problem, though. After transforming into Transformers, they no longer needed NPC Crew to pilot them, since they were Silicon-based lifeforms. Without the bonuses from crew skills, their combat power in space battles had fallen considerably.
In the long run, however, once they matured, their individual combat power would far surpass what they had at the beginning.
Lin Zhichen was thinking about the future, but the battle before him showed no sign of stopping. Under the Meteor Fleet's continuous electromagnetic cannon volleys, more and more pirate ships were destroyed.
Unable to do anything but take hits, the pirate NPCs' morale plummeted. Although Pirate Pursuit Cruisers and Pirate Butchers could withstand far more damage than Raiders, they too had their limits.
At last, the first deserter appeared.
A chain reaction followed, with a second and then a third fleeing in turn. The battle shifted into a rout. The aircraft carrier's squadrons, which had served as reconnaissance aircraft until now, took off and pursued the fleeing pirate ships.
The Meteor Fleet changed tactics once more. Its previously slow advance gradually picked up speed. It also shifted its targets from the nearest pirate ships to the farthest ones, aiming to annihilate every enemy vessel.
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