The Alliance Fleet Was Too Numerous

Stars could not be judged by the same standard.

A main-sequence star like the Sun in the Solar System, with a diameter of 1.392 million kilometers and a total mass 330,000 times that of Earth, was merely a grain of sand before some of the universe's supergiant stars.

The difference in volume between them could reach several billion times!

Baron Star was precisely such a supermassive star. Its immense reserves of matter held unparalleled appeal for both the Galactic Alliance and the Babel Swarm, which had now completed its psionic technological revolution.

Whether developing technology or expanding their war units, both sides could not do without matter.

After swiftly destroying the clusters of war machines the Galactic Alliance had stationed around Baron Star to extract stellar matter, more and more planetary organisms dropped out of faster-than-light travel and appeared near Baron Star.

"Quick! Move faster! Lock down the starfield within a one-light-year radius centered on Baron Star! Lu Shang said the Swarm must seize this star!"

"Group One, spread out evenly. Extract stellar matter to hatch more of our kind, and use the Scout Nebula to envelop Baron Star and establish the first defensive line!"

"Group Two will engage, patrol, and destroy any enemy units that appear near Baron Star!"

"Group Three will handle faster-than-light interference. We cannot let the enemy fleet use faster-than-light travel to jump near Baron Star!"

The commands of the main brain echoed through the Swarm network. The planetary organisms, divided into three groups, carried out their orders in an orderly fashion.

Group One had the greatest numbers and was assembled first. Large numbers of planetary organisms appeared three astronomical units from Baron Star, orbiting around it.

Because stellar orbits had different circumferences at different latitudes, even though these planetary organisms all orbited at the same speed, those closer to the equator appeared to move more slowly, while those orbiting closer to the star's polar magnetic fields appeared to move faster.

The scout organisms carried by the planetary organisms wrapped around the entire star. Yet Baron Star itself was simply too bright; even with the Scout Nebula enveloping it, its brightness was not reduced by even one ten-thousandth.

From time to time, metal fragments entered the Scout Nebula's range. They were the wreckage of the war machine clusters the Galactic Alliance had previously deployed near Baron Star to mine stellar matter.

The planetary organisms were on maximum alert. No matter what entered the Scout Nebula, as long as it was neither connected to the psionic network nor a mass entity scattered from the star, they would use psionic power to alter its trajectory and fling it away the instant it intruded into the Scout Nebula.

Group Two was the busiest batch. They were the planetary organisms left over after Group One had completed its deployment.

Since black hole-induced strikes were forbidden near Baron Star, their Scout Nebulas were half the diameter of those of the other planetary organisms. The remaining space was filled with countless space meteoroids the size of human fists.

The planetary organisms of Group Two had to intercept every mass entity that was not a Swarm unit. But because they were the leftover planetary organisms and their numbers were limited, they had no choice but to run themselves ragged intercepting the Galactic Alliance fleets that constantly appeared near Baron Star.

This situation continued until Group Three arrived.

After Group Three appeared, the faster-than-light blockade zone continuously expanded. From one light-second, to one light-minute, to one light-hour, until eventually faster-than-light travel could no longer be used anywhere within a one-light-year radius. By advancing steadily, they gradually shifted the battlefield away from Baron Star and into relatively safe open space.

Although this expanded the combat range of Group Two's planetary organisms, it effectively prevented the Galactic Alliance fleet from launching black hole-induced strikes against Baron Star.

Seeing that although the Galactic Alliance fleet was still attacking relentlessly, it could no longer threaten Baron Star's safety, the main brain contacted Lu Shang.

"Lu Shang, Baron Star has been secured."

Lu Shang looked over the battle still raging and asked, "Kasha, isn't the fighting on your side still not over?"

Main Brain Kasha replied confidently, "Heh heh heh, the outcome has already been decided. The Swarm has finished deploying around Baron Star. Unless the Galactic Alliance has some newer method, sending more fleets here will be meaningless."

"Baron Star's material resources are incredibly abundant. If the Swarm can consume all this matter, this long interstellar war can end."

Baron Star possessed an unimaginably terrifying quantity of matter, enough for the Swarm to create countless armies and steamroll the entire galaxy in one go.

In the past, although Baron Star was massive, it had been useless to the Swarm. Stellar matter was far too scorching, and there were no planets. The Swarm had not even wanted to stop and rest in Baron Star's stellar system.

But now, the existence of planetary organisms had vastly expanded the Babel Swarm's hunting range.

As long as stellar matter was extracted with psionic power and cooled, they could obtain more matter than an entire planet in a single day.

Whenever Kasha thought of this, she felt that the Swarm of the past had been hopelessly obtuse.

Psionic power was so useful, yet they had left such a convenient ability unused.

"Don't take it too lightly."

"The Galactic Alliance still has cards it hasn't played. Have you noticed anything different from before on the battlefield?" Lu Shang reminded Main Brain Kasha.

Kasha could realize that if the Babel Swarm extracted all of Baron Star's matter, the planetary organisms it produced could steamroll the entire galaxy in one push.

Could the Galactic Alliance possibly fail to realize that?

Obviously not!

Moreover, Lu Shang had recently received a piece of gossip through the intelligence network—the Galactic Alliance had already applied a new technology on the battlefield.

Because the source of this information was far too unreliable, Lu Shang had not taken it seriously. But now that he thought of Baron Star, he could not help becoming wary.

"No." The antennae on Kasha's large head twitched in confusion.

Lu Shang said, "No? I just received word that the Galactic Alliance has already applied some new technology on the battlefield, one that can effectively reduce casualties."

Kasha froze, then said dismissively, "Reduce casualties? That's impossible. The Swarm has destroyed every incoming fleet. There is no chance of survivors."

"Now that the strategic deployment within one light-year of Baron Star is complete, the Galactic Alliance can either give up or keep fighting and needlessly increase its casualties."

Seeing how confident Kasha was, and knowing his own source was not particularly reliable, Lu Shang did not press further.

Kasha returned to directing the battle, commanding the planetary organisms to use black hole-induced strikes to pick off the warships in the Galactic Alliance fleet one by one.

Countless warships became metal coffins drifting through space, ending everything in brilliant explosions.

As for the black hole-induced strikes used by the Galactic Alliance fleet, they simply could not penetrate the Scout Nebula and trigger the formation of black holes. Once microscopic black holes were prematurely induced, they would be tossed out of the Scout Nebula.

But Kasha gradually began to feel that something was wrong.

As time passed, that feeling seemed to grow stronger and stronger.

It seemed...

The more they fought, the more enemy fleets there were?

With this doubt in mind, Kasha commanded the planetary organisms to launch their attacks.