A Xuan Star Civilization warship was unable to dodge in time, and the energy sphere exploded ten kilometers away from it. The power of the antimatter bomb was already terrifying enough, but the energy sphere was tens of thousands of times more powerful than antimatter. One can imagine the fate of this Xuan Star Civilization warship. Although it was a warship from a Small Star Sector Civilization, it still inevitably disintegrated under the energy impact of the energy sphere's explosion.
Energy spheres are a technology that even Small Star Sector Civilization may not have mastered. If it weren't for these top scientists, how could they have such a powerful weapon as energy spheres? In the end, energy spheres and antimatter bombs are essentially the same thing, both releasing pure energy. The only difference is that energy spheres have the energy pre-converted and highly concentrated.
One advantage of energy spheres is their lack of mass. Antimatter of equivalent power would weigh tens of thousands of tons and be quite large, roughly equivalent to a small Wind Master once encapsulated. Furthermore, antimatter cannot be manufactured on a macroscopic scale; it can only be produced particle by particle using miniature magnetic accelerators, making the process incredibly slow. So far, the fleet has only produced a little over two tons of antimatter per day. In contrast, a transport ship can produce energy spheres equivalent to a million tons of antimatter in a single hour's round trip.
Since the advent of the energy sphere, apart from the portion reserved for production for conventional power engines, only a very small amount of antimatter has been kept in production. In Hu Yu's words, it might come in handy someday, so storing it is entirely beneficial.
The energy bursting from the energy sphere continued to travel at the speed of light, quickly reaching another Xuan Star Civilization warship a thousand kilometers away. For Wind Master, this distance would have offered no hope of survival against the energy surge, but the Xuan Star Civilization warship did. It lurched violently in the energy surge, then steadied itself and struck the energy sphere ten thousand kilometers away, which hadn't yet exploded. A beam of high-energy laser seemed to traverse space, arriving beside the energy sphere with zero time difference. The energy sphere immediately disintegrated into Basic Energy, but without a specific firing frequency, the energy slowly dissipated like smoke, posing no offensive capability.
As the energy spheres exploded one after another, violent energy filled the entire airspace, causing the Xuan Star Civilization's warships to explode and disintegrate. A muffled tremor was transmitted to Earth Two through the Wind Master. The 20 giant energy spheres carried by each part of the Earth 2 had escaped the Xuan Star Civilization's attack and found the optimal position to explode.
These giant energy spheres were over four million times more powerful than the smaller ones. Within a two-million-kilometer Xuan Star Civilization civilization's warships were reduced to nothing, with not even basic particles remaining. Warships between two and four million kilometers were rendered combat ineffective. This attack not only shocked the Xuan Star Civilization but also Hu Yu and his commanders. Although the attack range wasn't very wide, its power was terrifying. These were warships from Small Star Sector Civilization; even at their early stages, their strength and defensive capabilities far surpassed those of the Wind Master.
The series of attacks caught the Xuan Star Civilization's fleet off guard. From the Xuan Star Civilization's observation, the attackers were merely a fleet of a Star System-Level Civilization and should not have such powerful offensive capabilities.
"Damn it, throw the head of the intelligence department out of the fleet right now! The other side isn't even Star System-Level Civilization!!!" the commander of the Xuan Star Civilization roared.
"Commander, the head of the intelligence department has just been destroyed."
"What on earth is this thing? How can it be so powerful?!"
"Commander, their speed is only 1800 times the speed of light, lower than ours. Even if they are Small Star Sector Civilization, their strength wouldn't surpass ours. Moreover, the intelligence chief clearly stated before being destroyed that the other side was definitely only Star System-Level Civilization."
"Forget it, let his adjutant take over the intelligence and order the fleet to disperse and avoid these strange bombs."
After the first wave of attacks, the Xuan Star Civilization fleets in three directions suffered a total loss of more than 4 million ships. Seeing this result, Hu Yu felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders.
However, the Xuan Star Civilization's fleet realized something was wrong and immediately dispersed again, now tens of thousands of kilometers apart, and began to meet the Wind Master head-on. This was exactly what Hu Yu wanted; the two sides would engage in close-quarters combat, which would buy them time.
The Wind Master also began to disperse, mingling with the warships of the Xuan Star Civilization in a space with a diameter of one light-year. Within this range, the battle turned into a hunt, with both sides being both hunters and prey. The role of the commander had been reduced to a minimum, and everything here depended on the hunting skills of each warship controller.
However, the warships of the Xuan Star Civilization were significantly stronger than the Wind Master. They constantly risked being damaged by the chaotic space created by the gravity bombs to perform high-speed maneuvers. Often, they would maneuver at high speed to get next to the Wind Master, and then launch a laser jump attack, causing the Wind Master to explode. They did not even use the space compression described by Luo Zhigao. It is possible that space compression is too energy-consuming, and using high-energy lasers that can attack with zero time difference is more economical.
These laser beams, though only a kilometer long, are over a hundred meters in diameter. In the starry sky, they resemble giant glow sticks, streaking across the heavens like meteors before striking the hulls of the Wind Master. The temperature of these high-energy lasers can reach over a billion degrees Celsius, making them impossible for any material to defend against. Under such intense heat, the Wind Master were like tofu meeting a sharp knife.
The number of Wind Master is decreasing at a rate of one per second. The attack from the Xuan Star Civilization is too fast; these laser attacks, launched with zero time difference, leave no chance for escape. At this rate, all 5 million Wind Master will be wiped out in less than two months, which is half the time of the planned delay.
"Number 3487 in Area A, you've failed three times already. Get closer, don't give them time to react."
"Sector S83492, three enemy ships are flanking you. Turn 50 degrees to the right and maneuver to the vicinity of ship 2873 to assist him in taking down the enemy ships."
"Sector G, Units 394, 3849, and 23098, evacuate immediately! Danger! Danger!"
Li Zhixiong used his computer-like brain to directly command each warship, but there were simply too many warships, and he felt very strained. In addition, the Xuan Star Civilization's warships had a clear advantage, and Li Zhixiong was still suffering a series of defeats.
"Sectors D, E, and F, abandon your positions and quickly move to sector S to assist in eliminating a portion of the enemy ships."
"Zone Z, ZA, ZB, ZC, quickly merge into Z. Your numbers are declining too fast and you won't be able to hold on for much longer. You must pay attention to coordinated operations."
"H Sector, well done. Now, send one-third of your warships to Sector J to help disrupt the enemy's offensive formation."
Unlike Li Zhixiong, Gao Jianchuan was used to taking a holistic view of the overall situation and commanded with more of a general's demeanor. However, at this moment, he, like Li Zhixiong, was facing a precarious situation.
As the battle raged on, ten thousand Wind Master slipped through the gaps in the battle circle and flew directly into the spatial vortex. Originally expecting to suffer scattered attacks, they had prepared 9,000 target ships, which were also carrying a full load of energy. Those that were not destroyed would transfer energy to Luo Zhigao's fleet. Now, not a single one had been destroyed. The 9,000 Wind Master circled the vortex and chased after Luo Zhigao Luo Zhigao, trying to replenish his energy as quickly as possible.
" Minister Luo, the energy ball will reach the detonation point in two hours. Get ready immediately and break free from the vortex's control from this direction."
It's difficult for a warship to get out of the vortex, but it's easy to get into it. The deeper you go, the faster the space moves, which is a natural warp drive. With the help of the warship's conventional power engine, a thousand energy balls can reach the designated location in two hours.
"What, General Hu, isn't this the location and time we originally agreed upon?"
" Minister Luo, to tell you the truth, we are already engaged in battle with the Xuan Star Civilization outside. It will take you a year to escape the vortex, but we will buy you two years. Once you escape the vortex, leave immediately and do not fight the Xuan Star Civilization Xuan Star Civilization. We will hold them back and buy you time to escape."
" General Hu, you—" Luo Zhigao was so angry he couldn't speak.
"I'm sorry, Minister, I've been deceiving you. You've suffered enough already. We don't want to see you and the people suffer any more harm. Once this is over, I'll accept whatever punishment you want."
"Sigh, why are you doing this? Although I know your fleet consists of unmanned ships, it would take hundreds of years of accumulation to build such a fleet. And you've committed your entire fleet here; what about the inhabited planets? What if they're in danger?"
"Minister, you don't need to worry about these things anymore. Let's prepare to leave immediately. I'm afraid we won't be able to hold out for much longer."
"That's enough, that's enough. I know it's no use saying anything now. Taking action as soon as possible is the best support we can give you."
"Thank you for your cooperation, Minister," Hu Yu said with a broad, honest smile.
"You're such a stubborn mule." Luo Zhigao said, glancing at Gao Zhengyang beside him, only to be met with a glare from Gao Zhengyang.
Four chapters for Saturday are already prepared, and the rest are still being worked on. To avoid embarrassing myself, I feel like I'm working even harder than before, updating three chapters a day...