Breaking Through

The commander of the vanguard understood that if this breakout failed, their besieged warships would be in grave danger.

At this moment, he made a crazy decision: abandon the defense against attacks from the other three directions, and let the troops break through to the rear without regard for losses, hoping to save as many as possible.

At this moment, the vanguard's formation consisted of the Telo Fleet, which was originally the Sharp Blade Division, bringing up the rear, with one fleet from each of the other two civilizations on each side, and the damaged but still fully operational warships in the middle.

Making this decision will inevitably result in heavy losses for the rearguard Telo Fleet, but in this situation, we must lead by example and work together to have any hope of survival.

Seeing that the Telo had taken on the most difficult task, the other two races had nothing to say. The three races quickly reached a consensus and began to launch a fierce attack in the direction they had come from.

Meanwhile, the warships on the outer edge of the fleet switched to remote control mode, and their personnel transferred to the inner warships in small boats.

The outer warships have been abandoned and will serve as defenses to fight to the last moment. Meanwhile, the damaged warships that were originally hiding in the center of the battle have also begun to move outwards after the personnel have been transferred.

With these abandoned warships providing cover, the Coalition Army forces' defenses were significantly strengthened. However, every advantage has its disadvantages; these warships were originally intended to block the Swarm's bombardment.

However, as these warships were destroyed one after another and lost their ability to actively adjust their angles, their wreckage began to obstruct the enemy's line of sight and firepower.

The Swarm's onslaught never ceased; in addition to their impressive long-range firepower, biological combat units also possessed formidable melee capabilities.

Therefore, the Swarm wants to close the distance between the two sides.

The Coalition Army forces, on the other hand, desired a battle in which both sides maintained a certain distance and exchanged artillery fire.

The starry sky is vast, offering immense space for maneuvering. If the force consists of only around ten thousand troops, their superior mobility will allow them to employ more flexible tactics and maintain distance with ease.

However, the combined forces of both sides have now reached nearly 100 million. In such a massive battlefield, with friendly forces and enemy forces on all sides, there is virtually no room for maneuver. It is extremely difficult to employ flexible tactics, not to mention that the main force of the Coalition Army is now surrounded by the Swarm, leaving them with no room for maneuver.

At this point, the Coalition Army vanguard was being squeezed from all sides by the Swarm forces. To maintain distance from the Swarm forces, they could only move inward. This caused their formation to become increasingly compact, with the distance between their warships, which was originally more than 10,000 kilometers, now compressed to less than 3,000 kilometers.

Their tight formation affected their firing angles, and with the wreckage of their own ships providing cover, it was only a matter of time before the Swarm got close.

The Coalition Army commanders, far outside the battle zone, and the central commanders, caught in the middle, were in a state of panic, but had no good solutions and could only watch as the Swarm continued to encroach on their battle formation.

The millions of warships gradually huddled together, their breakout momentum was halted, and the situation became increasingly unfavorable for the Coalition Army.

In the great battle in space, the passage of time was imperceptible; in fact, the two sides had been locked in fierce combat for nearly a month. During this time, reinforcements from the Swarm were continuously poured into the battlefield, and the Locke Mutual Aid Society also sent some fresh troops, but their numbers were limited and they could not play a crucial role.

Seeing that the rear army was struggling to cope with its own problems and that large-scale reinforcements were nowhere in sight, and looking at the Space Octopus that had already reached tens of thousands of kilometers away from the fleet, he gave the order to release the shipborne strategic Nuclear Bomb.

On some special warships, hidden launch silos opened, and huge barrel-shaped objects, belching white smoke, rose into the air and flew towards the Swarm.

Such high-yield shipborne Nuclear Bomb are actually deployed to varying degrees in the fleets of every race. They are inexpensive yet extremely powerful explosives that can be used in many situations, such as clearing obstacles and shunting waterways.

However, this is not the right time for them to make their appearance.

Because they are projectiles, have a physical form, are relatively large targets, and move at a relatively slow speed, it would be virtually impossible for them to reach the designated location and detonate amidst the sky filled with fiery red energy beams.

Therefore, the idea of attacking the Zerg with strategic Nuclear Bomb is absolutely wishful thinking.

However, the Coalition Army command had run out of good options; conventional methods were ineffective in breaking the deadlock, so they had to try unconventional approaches.

If Nuclear Bomb doesn't hit a warship directly, the direct damage is actually not significant. However, the concentrated detonation of large-scale, high-yield strategic Nuclear Bomb can create a wide-ranging geomagnetic storm, which can paralyze various instruments and interfere with radar and Fire Control System.

The Coalition Army hopes to use this massive EMP field to disrupt the Zerg forces and give Coalition Army a chance to regroup.

In his view, while the Nuclear Bomb explosion itself might not cause any harm to the Zerg, the intense radiation and magnetic storm it generates would certainly be more damaging to living organisms than to mechanical units.

In addition, their warships themselves had protection against this, so after taking all factors into consideration, he made this decision.

The void, which was originally only blue and red, suddenly exploded with a small sun, followed by a second, a third... until finally, countless small suns overlapped, isolating the two sides, and the dazzling spots of light rendered all Optical Observation ineffective.

The explosion occurred closer to the Coalition Army forces because Nuclear Bomb cannot penetrate the fire network, and the Coalition Army had to detonate them prematurely to avoid wasting them.

The result was quite good; the explosion did temporarily halt the Zerg's advance. The powerful light and heat radiation generated by the explosion prevented even the Space Octopus, which could convert radiation into survival energy, from getting close.

Moreover, the strong magnetic field created by the explosion caused some of their organs and tissues to become somewhat out of control, requiring temporary adjustment.

However, this explosion also had a significant impact on the Coalition Army. After such a fierce battle, there were almost no warships left completely undamaged. This also greatly reduced their defenses against the pervasive electromagnetic intrusion.

Many warships had their electrical systems and electronic equipment burned out. Some were lucky enough to have backup systems that allowed them to continue operating, while others were unlucky enough to have their backup systems destroyed and had no choice but to ground.

But at this point, the Coalition Army could no longer afford to worry about anything else. They chose to abandon the damaged warships and organize the remaining warships to break through to the rear with all their might.

As for the personnel on those warships, the intense magnetic storm outside made it impossible for them to even transfer by small boat. They could only silently watch their comrades gradually drift away, while they remained behind, awaiting their unknown fate.

While the nuclear explosion halted the Zerg's pursuit, the Coalition Army suffered heavy losses, with nearly half of their troops remaining behind.