Things Were Looking Up

If Dialo had immediately created distance after his two successful "Flaming Red Lips" attacks, and used the cleared Chuyun Planet's frontal cover to concentrate firepower on annihilating the emerging Zerg from the rear, he wouldn't be in his current predicament.

He trusted the intelligence provided by the Suzerain too much, never expecting that the Swarm's Energy Cannon technology had developed to an extremely high level. Once he got hooked, it led to a series of chain reactions.

However, it seems he can't be blamed. In his memory, the Suzerain was incredibly powerful and incapable of making mistakes, unless someone was deliberately trying to harm him.

Although he is the third prince of the Duoqi Race, if he were in the imperial city's PK arena, he might have caught the Suzerain's attention, since he has the potential to become the crown prince. But having given up the competition and come out to run wild, he should just be an insignificant nobody in the Suzerain's eyes. It's impossible that he would be targeted in such a gourmet manner.

Was that targeting the Duoqi Race? Even if all two thousand-plus warships were wiped out here, although it could be considered a heavy loss, it would only be a heavy loss, far from crippling them.

At such a critical moment, Dialo wasn't thinking about how to escape; instead, his mind was filled with these strange thoughts. Perhaps subconsciously, he believed that revealing his identity and purpose would guarantee his safety, so his sense of crisis wasn't strong. Instead, he was more puzzled by the Suzerain's motives.

"Boom!" The warship shook violently again; the fourth Mature Form had arrived. The already damaged Doria's interior lights flickered a few times before suddenly going out.

However, before Duoqi's crew could even scream, power was restored, and the cabin was lit again. But this was already a very bad situation; the backup power lines had been activated, indicating that the damage to the warship was more severe than initially thought.

"Your Highness, what should we do?" Aslite asked anxiously, seeing Dialo deep in thought for a long time without making a move.

"All warships, launch all Drone! Have the Qishaya, DX12475, DX12490, and DX12497 approach!"

Dialo couldn't just sit and wait to die; he had to make a final stand. Suppressing the Zerg was now impossible. But even if he revealed his identity, the effects would be completely different depending on whether he revealed it voluntarily while free or was forced to do so after being captured.

He had just ordered all the warships that had already evacuated to return. If they could hold out for a while longer until the main force arrived, he could still take the initiative. But before that, the severely damaged Doria had to be evacuated first.

Dialo's plan was to first use Drone to distract the Zerg Octopus Monster, and then take advantage of the chaos to move away. To provide cover, he not only had the Qishaya come closer, but also brought over three ordinary numbered warships.

Upon receiving the order, the four warships, disregarding the rampaging Space Octopus aboard the Doria, swarmed around it.

"Boom!" Another violent tremor followed as the fifth Mature Form crashed into the Doria, bringing the total number of 300-meter-class Mature Form to four, completely surrounding the Doria.

Almost all of the Doria's exposed parts have been cleared away; apart from the conning tower, which is over 200 meters high, the Doria has been almost shredded into a stick.

Meanwhile, the command tower was already entangled by two 300-meter- Mature Form, who were using the Rowan's Combat Technique: Radish Pulling to try and pull the 100-meter-tall tower off the warship.

However, this thing was far more sturdy than expected. The two Mature Form were crackling with electricity, and some parts of the command tower had been crushed, but they were still stubbornly connected to the warship.

After struggling for half a day without success, the two Mature Form angrily swung their two-hundred-meter-long, thick tentacles and smashed them wildly at the command tower. The violent tremors caused the Duoqi Race inside to bleed from their mouths and noses, and many even fainted.

However, Dialo, who was originally inside, had already left the command tower by high-speed elevator and was now heading to the Landing Pad under the protection of the Guard Team.

"Have the Drone clear out the small octopuses outside the cabin! Stop the sixth Octopus Monster missile!"

While the defenses of smaller Mature Form and Larval Form are much weaker, the Drone's weapons are also much smaller, so the damage they cause is not high. However, the Drone have an overwhelming numerical advantage, and with the combined firepower of artillery and the close-in weaponry of the surrounding warships, the smaller Mature Form and Larval Form are still being decimated at a slow pace.

But this was a race against time. Some Larval Form had already crawled into the warship through the breach at the stern of the Doria and were wreaking havoc. Faced with this situation, the Duoqi Race were not much better than the Riken Race. They also lacked experience in dealing with seven- or eight-meter-long, not only violent but also exceptionally agile soft-bodied creatures in narrow passages.

Therefore, every second that wasted increased the threat to Dialo's life.

Faced with this situation, the Duoqi Race also became ruthless, and their Drone began suicide attacks.

The two Drone formations performed a Thomas Flair in the air, gaining speed before crashing headlong into the Space Octopus.

This direct physical impact is more damaging to the Space Octopus than an energy attack. Biological Armor can improve its resistance to energy attacks through optimized cell combinations, but improving physical resistance usually requires thickening the armor.

However, most of the enemies the Swarm currently faces are energy-based, while physical attacks can usually be avoided through skillful movement.

Between defense and speed, Rowan chose the latter this time. Speed is crucial in interstellar warfare; without speed, even the strongest defense makes you a sitting duck. Moreover, increasing defense would not only make the Space Octopus more cumbersome, increasing its burden and energy consumption, but also increase production costs and slow down its development.

Considering all these factors, simply increasing physical defense is currently not cost-effective.

However, every gain has its loss; Biological Armor cannot handle all situations. Under the relentless suicidal attacks of the Drone, the number of Space Octopus rapidly decreased. But the Drone also suffered heavy losses. Due to the nature of Space Octopus, even a ten-meter-long Larval Form can withstand the impact of at least three Drone before becoming incapacitated. Mature Form can withstand even more impacts.

In normal circumstances, the Swarm would always profit from such a battle-for-damage exchange, even a one-for-one exchange. But this was a different story; the Swarm was unusually outnumbered.

Meanwhile, the sixth 300-meter-class Mature Form that came to provide support was also blocked on its way by a suicide Drone. This kind of suicide collision is much more effective than the explosive Energy Cannon, and its hit rate is extremely high.

Dialo looked at the constantly updated intelligence and breathed a sigh of relief; everything seemed to be getting better.

Thank you for the 1600 Qidian coins reward from Pili Zhutian, and thank you for the 100 Qidian coins reward from Book Guest Good Brother.