Interception

"Phew!" Dialo breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Although the losses were heavy—forty percent of the fleet was wiped out—as long as they reached the rendezvous point, they could regroup and then proceed with a more cautious approach...

Dialo spent a long time thinking about "taking it easy and steady," but he still couldn't figure out how to turn the tide.

He still had some information about the Zerg. The Laze Planet Base was established the earliest, but it had few resources. The Stellar Near-Orbit Base had the richest resources, but they were established too late. Therefore, the Chuyun Planet Base was the Zerg base with the largest troop deployment and the strongest fixed defense facilities in the Riken Star System.

His original plan was to annihilate the Chuyun Planet Base with unparalleled might, then confront the Stellar Near-Orbit Base, and on the way back, subjugate the Riken Race, then cripple the Laze Planet Base. Finally, he would reveal his identity, leaving the Zerg with a bitter pill to swallow, demonstrating the prestige of an "old-brand power," and ideally, getting the Zerg to divulge something of value.

But reality changed too quickly. Who knew that the Zerg had hidden so many troops on the other side of the planet in front of his fleet? This prevented "Flaming Red Lips" from achieving his goal. It also simplified his plan to annihilate the Chuyun Planet Base, subjugate the Riken Race, and reveal his identity when the Zerg reinforcements arrived.

Reality, it seems, was on his side. It just slapped his left cheek, and now it's going to slap his right cheek too, just to make sure his face isn't asymmetrical...

He's now in a difficult position. By the time he's finished resting, the Zerg reinforcements will have arrived. Moreover, some of the fleet's information has been leaked, making it harder to achieve a surprise attack.

If he reveals his identity now, what will the Riken Race think of him? What will the Zerg think of him? What will his family think of him? What will his fellow civilizations think of him? As the third prince, won't he have any dignity left?

Thinking of this, Dialo's eyes gradually hardened, and suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed in his mind.

The front of the Chuyun Planet Zerg base is now occupied by a few infirm and disabled soldiers, while the rear is filled with stationary Electromagnetic Cannon. If the fleet were to turn around now and engage the remaining weak and disabled in a direct confrontation, wouldn't the remaining Electromagnetic Cannon be nothing more than targets in the face of the repulsive field?

Could this be the key to breaking the deadlock? If we can destroy this Zerg base and then quickly subdue the Riken Race, everything can still be salvaged.

But now, because of the delay, we only have a dozen or so warships left. The other warships have already left, and the faster ones have probably reached the rendezvous point. Should we send them back now?

Hesitation only leads to more trouble! The situation can't get any worse now, so we have no choice but to take a gamble.

Dialo's eyes narrowed, and he made up his mind. Just as he was about to give the order, Aslite exclaimed, "Ah!!!???"

His voice betrayed panic and a hint of fear.

Dialo quickly looked up and saw a colossal structure, resembling a satellite, slowly emerging from the direction of the Chuyun Planet Base on the large screen in front of him.

However, its exposed purplish-gray fleshy tissue clearly indicates that it is not a natural satellite. Because of the distance, it was not obscured by the spotlight of Tactical Nuclear Bomb and is now clearly visible on the large screen.

Aslite knew what it was, and Dialo knew what it was too; it was a Zerg orbital Megastructure, a large electromagnetic launcher.

The data shows that the Zerg built two such Megastructure at the Chuyun Planet Base. One of them was damaged at the very beginning of the battle, and the other had remained hidden, apparently on the far side of the planet. The Zerg hadn't noticed it earlier because they were too close to the planet and the visibility was limited; now that they were further away, it was naturally exposed.

Thinking of this, Dialo slapped Aslite hard to bring her back to her senses. This thing was just a catapult, like an airport; it had no offensive power and wasn't anything to be afraid of.

This thing is really huge, it must be over 200 kilometers long. I don't know how the Zerg built it, even the Duoqi Race don't have this kind of technology.

Dialo's eyes burned with determination, further solidifying his resolve to pull off this heist. The Zerg reinforcements would take some time to arrive. And even when they did, they would only be scattered troops; it would take at least several days for a large-scale reinforcement to arrive.

If he can break through the Chuyun Planet Base during this period, then this Megastructure will be his for the taking. If he can find something of value on it, he can recover everything he lost before.

It's important to know that even within the Alliance, only a few established powers possess this kind of Megastructure technology; it's a symbol of status and strength.

"Your Highness, the Zerg Megastructure is showing signs of energy reaction!" Aslite exclaimed.

Even without her reminder, Dialo could see the blue arcs of Electric Arc flashing on the Megastructure, clearly visible. This was a sign of the Zerg creations accumulating energy, and it was very easy to recognize.

--

"Let them see the traditional skills of our Swarm, fire!" Sarah commanded, and blue Electric Arc spread throughout the Megastructure, spewing out a massive object.

Dialo's dozen or so warships had just begun to accelerate, and it would take some time to reach their top speed, while the units launched from the Zerg Megastructure reached their top speed immediately upon leaving the barrel.

Although the Duoqi Race warships were much faster, they lost at this moment.

--

"Intercept!" Seeing a dark shadow flying towards the warship, Dialo knew even with his toes that it couldn't be anything good, so he decided to shoot it down first, regardless of anything else.

Unfortunately, the warship's current rear-facing position is quite awkward. This large frigate, the Doria, has more than ten main guns, but only four of them have firing angles.

However, the dozen or so warships, with more than twenty main guns capable of firing, sent sparse red beams flying toward the dark figure, a far cry from the overwhelming display just moments before.

But at this point there was only one target, and receiving more than twenty energy beams was already considered a high-level treatment.

The shadowy figure, a hundred meters in diameter, is actually a 300-meter-long Mature Form Space Octopus curled up. They are essentially molluscs, and curling themselves into a ball is just a basic operation.

These large adult Mature Form carry turret modules of considerable size, capable of threatening targets hundreds of thousands of kilometers away. However, because they lack Atomic Furnace within their bodies, their sustained combat capability is extremely poor.

Therefore, after completing several rounds of firing and consuming most of their stored energy, they returned underground to recharge. Although the Duoqi Race's Nuclear Bomb destroyed the Swarm's surface facilities, these low-yield Tactical Nuclear Bomb could not penetrate very far underground. Digging burrows was what the Swarm, or rather the Swarm Overlord, was best at.

Therefore, after the Ancient Class beings were reduced to the old, weak, sick, and disabled, many of these large-sized adult Mature Form remained, which came in handy at this time.

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