"If it truly is a quantum-modified fleet, our only option is to concentrate our firepower, with multiple warships attacking one at a time, increasing the combined energy output to see if we can sever the four-dimensional connection between this fleet and another. The warship they just used for their dimensional reduction attack hasn't recovered, indicating that with sufficient energy, we can still take them down. Also, I estimate that the process of this kind of warship quantumization isn't very simple. Li Shun's quantum-modified fleet probably isn't large. The fleet beyond these 100,000 warships is very likely not quantum-modified. If we can't destroy these 100,000 warships, we can try to avoid them, jump outside the swarm, and attack other fleets to see if that has any effect."
"Alright, let's concentrate our firepower. They only have 100,000 ships, while we have 120 billion. 120,000 ships against one ship—I refuse to believe it."
"Chief of the General Staff, we may need to address the swarm problem first. The swarm is growing larger and larger, and its range is shrinking. If this continues, we will soon have no room to maneuver."
"Damn it, Li Shun! Open fire on the swarm immediately and break through their encirclement!"
"Chief of the General Staff, what exactly happened?" Li Zhixiong and Gao Jianchuan asked while issuing orders.
"Is there even a question? It's obvious. Li Shun is taking advantage of our constant doubts. The swarm of insects is gradually closing in and compressing our space. Once our fleet is dense enough, all his warships will rush into our midst for a dimensional reduction attack. At that point, we won't even have a chance to cry. Look at the distance between our warships now; it's already been unintentionally compressed a lot. If it's compressed any further, Li Shun will definitely rush over."
The fleet launched a frantic attack on a swarm of insects in one spot, but both the space cannons and Dimensional Bomb had intervals between their attacks. After the first wave of attacks, the insect swarm had already overwhelmed the fleet, pushing the swarms in front of it forward relentlessly, even under the cover of the consciousness-shattering weapons.
The fleet immediately split into multiple waves to attack, ensuring there were no gaps in firepower. This barely managed to hold off the swarm's onslaught. The fleet was like a hedgehog with its spikes raised, rolling forward through the endless swarm of insects.
As expected, Li Shun's fleet was dispatched after only a few waves of attacks. However, under the Reaper's relentless barrage of fire, Li Shun's fleet was unable to get close to the Reaper. Each time they approached, they were destroyed by Dimensional Bomb, but the warships quickly recovered.
Just after Li Shun's fleet was destroyed several times, they suddenly stopped and blended into the insect swarm behind them. The insect swarm did not hesitate at all and directly enveloped part of Li Shun's fleet layer by layer. Soon, these warships, which were tens of kilometers long, turned into giant insect spheres with a diameter of tens of thousands of kilometers, and insects were still crawling onto the insect spheres in an endless stream.
The more than 10,000 disc-shaped warships, enveloped by the swarm, advanced once again, resembling more than 10,000 giant planets traversing the starry sky. Although the Dimensional Bomb blasted the insect sphere into a chaotic mess of insect corpses, these insects were, after all, of considerable rank. Even after being stripped of hundreds of kilometers of thickness by the Dimensional Bomb, they did not cease their forward momentum.
The Dimensional Bomb's attack range is at most 600,000 kilometers, and at its closest, it's only a little over 300,000 kilometers. Although the speed of the insect sphere is not as fast as a single insect, it is not slow either. At most, it only needs to travel 500,000 kilometers before the Reaper enters the attack range of Li Shun's fleet.
"Concentrate your firepower and prioritize attacking Li Shun. Don't let them get close. Pay attention to the distance between your warships. If Li Shun manages to get in, don't let him wipe us out in one fell swoop."
A portion of the fleet was diverted to attack Li Shun's disc-shaped warships. Although there were only 100,000 of these warships, the pressure they put on Wen Zhonghua was much greater than that of the endless swarm of insects around them. The insect swarm behind them hid behind the insect spheres to avoid the attacks of the Dimensional Bomb, and recklessly climbed onto the insect spheres to fill the thickness that had been stripped away by the Dimensional Bomb.
Further back, outside the range of the Dimensional Bomb, the remaining 100,000 warships followed the swarm of insects without falling behind. If the Reaper fleet were to cease fire for just ten seconds, Li Shun's 100,000 warships would immediately reach the center of the Reaper fleet. At that point, it would be hard to say how many Reaper would be left.
Besides Li Shun's fleet, there was also the Insect King, whose length was estimated to be over 200,000 kilometers. Judging from its size, it was impossible to determine the exact rank of this slender insect, but to become the king of so many insects, its rank must definitely exceed 30, making it even more terrifying than the giant mantis-like insect from before.
The previous Insect King could use dimensional reduction attacks, so Wen Zhonghua was afraid that this Insect King could do the same. Each insect has different abilities and attack methods, but insects that have reached this level can destroy the warships of Great Star Region Civilization. Even if this Insect King cannot create a super sphere for dimensional reduction attacks, it definitely has the ability to destroy the Reaper.
The insect hasn't been deployed yet, the fleet is in complete disarray, and nobody knows where the Insect King went. One of the downsides of fighting in the Insect Zone is that you can't deploy satellite equipment on a large scale, and you can't have a full grasp of battlefield information. You have to rely entirely on on-the-spot performance and experience to predict the situation.
Wen Zhonghua and the others couldn't see the Insect King, but Insect King was hiding behind them, observing the Reaper Fleet with a malevolent gaze. It had a strong desire to attack every single insect in the Civilization Fleet. The Insect King was also under the command of the Insect Emperor. Now that the Reaper Fleet had broken out in battle with the Insect Swarm, the Insect King was controlling the Insect Swarm while observing the fleet's combat strength.
In the eyes of this Insect King, the Reaper were already regarded as warships of a rudimentary civilization in the Large Star Region. Moreover, civilized creatures are cunning and can always come up with various ways to kill insects that are far more advanced than the fleet. These Insect King are also cautious and will not easily attack unless they are absolutely certain of victory or are provoked.
Li Shun's fleet, enveloped by the insects, approached step by step. Soon, the closest ships were only 300,000 kilometers away from the Reaper fleet. This was already the dense explosion zone of Dimensional Bomb. Li Shun's fleet was finally firmly blocked here and could not advance another meter. Wen Zhonghua also relaxed a little. At this distance, even if Li Shun launched a dimensional reduction attack, it would not destroy the Reaper's Fourth Reversed State Armor.
" Old Gao, what you said seems to make some sense. Li Shun is also afraid that we'll concentrate our firepower on him, so he's hiding inside the insect sphere and won't come out. What a coward..."
"Don't let your guard down. That Insect King hasn't shown itself yet, and it's probably plotting something wicked against us. Chief of the General Staff, there are just too many insect swarms around us right now, and we also have to guard against Li Shun. It will be very difficult to break through the swarms."