The Crossfire

"Send out all your fighters! Stop them!" Although we don't know what the Swarm is planning, stopping them is definitely the right thing to do, no matter what the enemy wants to do.

He seemed to have forgotten that if they hadn't meticulously prevented the Swarm army from "escaping," this Swarm drama wouldn't have been possible.

However, his decision this time was correct; at least when it came to spreading the Creep, the Swarm didn't have any ulterior motives.

At this time, both the Second Fleet's Novaru and the Third Fleet 'Arther realized the urgency of the situation.

The Riken Race warships cannot take off and land freely on the planet's surface; they can only gradually dock in outer orbit.

The steel behemoth, over a kilometer tall, slowly opened its hangar doors on both sides, and fighter jets flew out one after another. They circled briefly outside, waiting for the formation to assemble before heading towards the surface of Laze Planet.

The Riken Race fighter jet formation remained the same as before, consisting of one manned fighter jet and nine Drone wingmen forming an attack formation.

Three fleets, more than two thousand warships, each carrying more than ten combat formations, totaling more than 200,000 aircraft, swarmed towards Laze Planet.

It's a pity there's no air in space; otherwise, the sheer number of aircraft and the powerful roar of their engines would be truly awe-inspiring.

On the surface of Laze Planet, the yellowish-brown planetary surface is so striking and jarring against the purplish-gray.

Although the growth rate of the Creep had already shocked the Riken Race, due to its short development time, it was mainly concentrated around the former land-based artillery base.

When the Riken Race's warplanes arrived, there were nearly 100,000 Ground-Based Artillery. At this time, less than 50% of them were intact, and they were decreasing at an extremely rapid rate.

Although they were still trying their best to defend themselves, attempting to adjust their angle and attack the Swarm troops.

However, hitting the agile Space Octopus amidst a dense barrage of fire is quite difficult; you might even accidentally injure your own troops instead of the enemy.

Dense beams of red energy rained down from the sky; the Swarm had long since spotted these locust-like fighters. The Space Octopus immediately began to dodge, but the Strain, already transformed into Creep, were no longer able to escape the attack.

The purplish-gray Creep was blasted apart, and the broken fleshy tissue scattered everywhere. At the same time, the areas hit by the artillery fire were even directly charred and carbonized.

After a round of fire, charred patches appeared in the purplish-gray area.

However, the vitality of the Creep completely exceeded the imagination of the Riken Race.

Because they needed to maintain a safe distance from the Space Octopus, the fighter jet formation climbed back up after a round of firing. But in the short time it took them to circle and adjust their firing angle, the charred area quickly shrank and was covered again with purplish-gray.

The Strain crucial to the Creep have long been transferred underground; only the body tissues that store nutrients and absorb radiation energy are exposed.

As long as these substances are not completely evaporated, even if they are burned into charcoal, some of them can still be recovered, although the recovery rate is low.

"No, our attack doesn't seem to be working!" a captain exclaimed.

"Keep attacking! I don't believe they can regenerate indefinitely, given the law of conservation of energy!" Hamis shouted.

Unfortunately, they had no idea what the Swarm's energy source was; the roots of the Creep had already penetrated the ground, allowing it to draw nutrients from the earth.

Broken body tissues, steel artifacts, and even the heat emitted after an energy beam explosion can all become nutrients for the Creep.

After the fighter jets changed direction, they unleashed another round of firepower.

Furthermore, the Riken Race fleet had already docked in orbit one after another. The warships that had completed their docking turned their main guns around, and the range of the main guns allowed them to provide fire support to the planet's surface from their outer orbit.

Laze Planet has no atmosphere, so the main cannon's power is almost completely reduced.

After the third round of fire, the fighter jets climbed up and cleared their field of vision, before a thicker beam of energy descended from the sky.

The dazzling fireworks exploded and quickly faded, leaving the still-healing purplish-gray patches severely damaged once more. The Riken Race gave them no chance to recover, followed by several more rounds of artillery fire.

Unfortunately, the purplish-gray patches are extremely resilient; despite suffering such a blow, they stubbornly try to recover their integrity.

Moreover, they continue to spread to the outer areas, and the remaining 50% of the Ground-Based Artillery has been reduced by another 10% in this short period of time.

Meanwhile, the Creep corroded the Ground-Based Artillery, causing it to absorb a large amount of metal elements. The Electromagnetic Cannon, which had previously been rendered useless due to a lack of materials, was able to fire again after being replenished.

Just now, because they were docking with the Creep, many of the Ancient Class were also within the range of the barrage of fire. The fighter jets' firepower had little effect on them, but they did not expect the main guns of the warships to suddenly open fire. Unable to dodge in time, many of them were blown up.

However, there were still more than three thousand Ancient Class Electromagnetic Cannon unleashing firepower at the Riken Race fleet in orbit.

The Riken Race warships, having successfully aligned themselves, were unable to adjust their positions as quickly as before, and suffered heavy losses in this round of shelling, with twenty warships eventually withdrawing from the battle.

Fortunately, the Ancient Class Swarm, having just replenished their metal elements, will find it difficult to increase their speed in a short time, putting them at a greater disadvantage against the rapid energy beam attacks.

Amidst the clash of artillery fire, Electromagnetic Cannon and energy beams clashed, and with both sides having reduced their evasive time, the brutality of the war increased several times over.

"Captain! We've detected a shell that will hit us in five minutes!" a crew member shouted.

"Damn it, do I have to say everything? Get out of the way!" the captain shouted. In a short time, the intensity of the battle continued to escalate, and their nerves were pushed to the limit.

"Captain! We can't get out of the way! Chuangang 223 is blocking our escape route!" a crew member shouted.

"Damn it!" the captain cursed. The Chuangang 223 warship had just been hit right next to them. The damage was to the No. 1 main engine on the side and rear. The warship, having lost most of its power, became a target. It was then hit by several more shells. Although it had not completely disintegrated, it had lost its ability to move.

Their inability to move was one thing, but they were blocking the path of the following warships, which is why the captain shouted angrily.

The captain pushed aside the crew members in front of the instruments, glanced at the ballistic chart, and saw that his beloved ship was about to be hit in less than three minutes. The captain cursed again, but his brain was racing.

A moment later, he roared, "Go all out on engines 5, 6, 11, and 15! Use our frontal Reactive Armor to take this hit head-on!"

Engines 5 and 6 are auxiliary engines located on the left rear of the warship, used to adjust the ship's angle, while engines 11 and 15 are located at the bottom rear of the warship. By operating in this way, the stern of the warship will rise and move to the right, aligning the front of the warship with the direction of Laze Planet, thus concealing its relatively vulnerable underside.