A Lapse

"Lock onto Zerg units that can still move and shoot them first!"

As the Duoqi Fleet continued to rotate and retreat away from Chuyun Planet, fewer and fewer of the many Ancient Class, which had become fixed defensive structures, still had firing angles.

Fortunately, they finally unleashed a burst of fire, forcibly increasing the firing rate at the cost of severely damaging or even destroying the cells that construct the cannon, thus creating a small burst of fire.

Since the start of the war, the Duoqi Fleet has left behind more than 800 warships on this main battlefield, of which more than 300 were completely destroyed, and the rest were incapacitated and unable to move with the fleet.

From the moment the battle damage began, the Duoqi Fleet only rescued some of its own kind at the very beginning. After the fleet began to move, small ships and escape pods that flew out of the damaged warships headed toward the Riken Race Binary Star Defense Line.

Dialo had cleared out part of the Drone hangar to accommodate these large drones, as he was going to bring along the "Flaming Red Lips" as a so-called "Greeting Gift." Even so, the number of Drone was still considerable, with each warship carrying approximately 500.

The Duoqi Race Drone are generally oval and flat, similar in shape to the first-generation Aquatic Army Fermented Bean Beetle of the Swarm, only much larger, reaching 5 meters in length, over 3 meters in width, and 2 meters in thickness. They are usually arranged like a row of USB drives, neatly inserted into a special shelf inside the ship's cabin, saving a lot of space.

This is why they can still maintain a fleet of over 500 aircraft even after their cabins were taken over by the "Flaming Red Lips".

These Drone are primarily used for penetration and harassment. They have two hidden Energy Cannon on each side of their fuselage, but the caliber is very small and can hardly cause any effective damage to the Reactive Armor of warships. However, because of their small size, they can sneak into gaps to destroy other facilities, such as the external structure of radar, main guns, secondary guns, etc. They can even sneak into enemy warships when their cabins are open to carry out sabotage.

However, they weren't deployed immediately when dealing with the Swarm. Dialo had done his homework and knew that the Swarm consisted entirely of melee fighters, making these Drone virtually useless. Deploying them right away would only increase casualties and serve no other purpose.

But aside from warships that were directly destroyed, most of the Drone on those warships that were abandoned due to loss of mobility were still intact. These Drone couldn't be discarded before the warships initiated their self-destruct mechanism.

These Drone might still be useful later, so it's impossible to transfer them to the Riken Race. That's why this scene appeared on the battlefield.

Two groups of things flew out of the damaged Duoqi Race warship: various vehicles flew towards the Binary Star Defense Line, while the Drone swarm flew towards the main fleet and entered the hangar. Just now, "Flaming Red Lips" had been shot out, and there was now space in the hangar.

As the Duoqi Race lost more and more warships, the scale of the two airships also grew larger and larger, eventually developing into something that could only be described as a vast and imposing force.

The Riken Race certainly has plenty of space, but the capital ships don't have much room in their engine rooms. Moreover, there have been cases where warships that had just housed some Drone were subsequently destroyed, making the bloated engine rooms even more difficult to evacuate.

Therefore, the Drone that were later withdrawn were no longer allowed to enter the cabins, but instead concentrated behind the fleet to take cover. These Drone, which were designed as expendable supplies, had almost no protective armor and were not even qualified to act as shields against the highly penetrating main guns. Otherwise, Dialo would have released them to take the hits long ago.

After two more rounds of exchange of fire, the Duoqi Race abandoned over fifty more warships and finally managed to shake off most of the immobilized Ancient Class. Only a little over two thousand Ancient Class remained, adjusting their positions on the track as they rotated, moving along with them.

However, these Ancient Class no longer posed a significant threat. The entire Duoqi Race fleet still had over 1,300 warships, dozens of times larger than the 2,000 Ancient Class ships, and several times more powerful main guns. Destroying them would be a piece of cake.

The Ancient Class beings seemed to understand their fate and began operating their weapon systems at overload, striving to launch as many attacks as possible in the remaining time.

"Phew! Free fire, take them out quickly! Drone, start entering the cabin, hurry up!" Dialo finally breathed a sigh of relief. This reckless advance had resulted in heavy losses. However, as long as he could break through, he would have a chance to turn the tide. At worst, he could ask the Empire for help. In any case, he had no intention of vying for the throne. He would most likely be relieved of his military command and become a prince with no real power when he returned, so he didn't care about military merits anymore.

"Yes, Your Highness."

This was an unequal battle, easily discernible from the sheer number of energy beams on both sides in space. The Duoqi Fleet possessed firepower several times greater than the Swarm.

The number of Ancient Class still capable of firing is rapidly decreasing, and it is about to drop below a thousand. Moreover, they have only managed to destroy fewer than ten Duoqi warships, a very poor result.

This is because the reduced firepower density means that if a single salvo fails to destroy the warship, the Duoqi warship can calmly adjust its position and continuously switch between different parts of its Reactive Armor to withstand the next round of bombardment.

"Change course, warm up the main engines, deploy the Repulsion Field, ignore the remaining bugs, let's retreat!" Although victory was imminent, Dialo suddenly had a bad feeling, as if he had forgotten something.

It's crucial, but I just can't remember it.

Just to be on the safe side, it's best to retreat first. Even if these fewer than a thousand Ancient Class were left behind, they wouldn't have a significant impact on the overall course of the battle.

"Beep beep beep beep~" A piercing alarm suddenly came from one of the instruments.

"What happened?" Dialo asked hurriedly.

The information quickly reached Aslite: "Your Highness, an energy convergence phenomenon has been detected on Chuyun Planet. According to the analysis of the data, it's Electromagnetic Cannon from the Zerg!"

"Damn it! No need to maintain formation anymore, spread out, don't block the shipping lanes, everyone evacuate, 157 direction, 50 million kilometers away!"

Dialo finally remembered the question he had forgotten.

The Zerg's land-based defense system on the front of Chuyun Planet was annihilated by "Flaming Red Lips," but the Zerg's defense facilities were spread all over the globe. They escaped the firing angle of the Ancient Class ships on the front, but ended up running right into the attack range of the Ground-Based Artillery on the back of the planet.

Although their Repulsion Field perfectly counters Electromagnetic Cannon, the warship's current posture is incorrect; it has turned its head halfway around, Repulsion Field cannot defend this side and rear, unless Dialo orders it to turn its head back.

Dialo was so frustrated he wanted to bang his head against the wall. If he had known this would happen, he would have been better off having withstood the firepower of those remaining soldiers and escaped earlier. The situation would have been better than it is now.