The Blood-Eclipse Civilization's three biological warships halted roughly eight hundred thousand kilometers due north of the Node Defense Line, arranged in a loose triangle.
The Giant Serpent Warship held the foremost position, with the Rotten-Flesh Behemoth and Oracle-Bone Behemoth flanking it. Behind them stretched a dense swarm of smaller biological ships, rising and falling slowly through space like a dark crimson tide.
Three figures hovered directly in front of the fleet.
The tall, blood-scaled figure spoke first. His voice bypassed the spirit energy vibrations around him and sounded directly in the other two's minds, his tone openly contemptuous.
"It's just an outlying node. The strongest defender is only Eighth Rank. Sending all three of us for a job like this-the elders are being far too cautious."
The stocky, four-armed figure gave a muffled chuckle, folding all four arms across his chest. "Caution isn't a bad thing. Flying all this way, we've seen how troublesome Heavenly Pivot's spatial lockdown really is."
"Without jumps, even these eight hundred thousand kilometers will take the fleet a good while to crawl across. If we hadn't hidden along a sublight route ahead of time, we'd have struggled even to get close."
"Once we're close, it's over," the lean Bone-Armored One said flatly.
"With three Eighth Rank fighters here, do we really need to wait for the rear forces? Push straight through, tear that node apart, then find the next one. These little outlying cities won't take much time."
The tall, blood-scaled figure did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned his face, marked by three fissure-like slits, toward the distant Tianshu Main Defense Line.
Even from 2.2 light-years away, the main defense line's glow still faintly reflected off his scales, like a layer of frost that would not wash away.
The stocky figure spoke again, his