Upon receiving news from Han Xiao that the World Tree might be launching a new offensive, the Three Universal Civilizations began to prepare for war in earnest. Waves of garrison troops and standby forces from the Map Book faction were mobilized, causing the interception force to increase steadily.
Because the Child of Destiny had not obtained intelligence on the World Tree's subsequent actions, the Three Universal Civilizations could only remain on high alert, maintaining the highest level of vigilance and detection around the clock. Officers at all levels were also on edge, not daring to relax, just like knowing a knife would be cut towards them, but not knowing when the enemy would strike.
As the interception zone continues to expand, the wormhole support network also needs to be continuously extended, leaving the Three Universal Civilizations uncertain about which area the World Tree will attack.
Nearly a month passed, and the World Tree still hadn't launched an offensive. Just as the Three Universal Civilizations were wondering if this was a feint, the detection devices finally reported that a massive World Tree fleet had entered the beyond-visual-range observation area and was slowly advancing towards the interception zone. The number of warships exceeded two hundred billion, clearly the new wave of invading forces indicated by intelligence.
Thanks to the special observation devices provided by Han Xiao, the beyond-visual-range detection range of the Three Universal Civilizations has far exceeded their control range. This means that they can launch beyond-visual-range strikes against this World Tree fleet from a greater distance, indirectly increasing the strategic depth of the enemy's journey to reach the interception zone.
After locking onto their targets, the Three Universal Civilizations immediately launched a barrage of firepower beyond visual range, while simultaneously deploying Space-Time Shearing self-destruct units using High-Dimensional Apocalypse Teleporter in an attempt to deplete more enemy forces.
After enduring a period of relentless bombardment, the World Tree army finally traversed a large strategic depth and reached the edge of the areas actually controlled by the Three Universal Civilizations. Ahead lay the spatial anchoring orbital network that sealed off each jump point.
However, unlike the previous three times, the World Tree army did not rush straight to the heart of the enemy to avoid losing too many troops along the way. Instead, it stopped at the edge of the Three Universal Civilizations' controlled areas, deploying a series of Raelbo Space Protection Belt to isolate the vast fleet from long-range attacks. At the same time, it divided its forces to support each other while sweeping through space anchoring orbits on a large scale.
This time, the World Tree seems to be not planning a surprise attack, but rather intends to launch a large-scale positional battle based on its main force.
This time, the fleet sweeping through the orbit was not the small force of the past; it was much larger. The Three Universal Civilizations were caught in a dilemma, knowing that the World Tree was clearly forcing them to leave the interception perimeter fortifications and go out to fight in the open, thus more efficiently depleting their forces.
In the previous attempts to repel the World Tree's strong attacks, the interception perimeter fortifications played a crucial role. Most importantly, the rapid support network of wormholes hidden in the strategic depth between the layers of defenses allowed for the swift mobilization of forces to descend upon the World Tree's main attack area against the interception perimeter.
In open field battles, this advantage would be greatly diminished. While High-Dimensional Apocalypse Teleporter could provide support, they were, after all, expensive Universal Treasure, and the limited number of them meant that the efficiency of transporting large numbers of troops was not as good as that of conventional wormhole support channels.
However, if the World Tree fleet's sweeping operations are ignored, the spatial stability orbits laid out in recent days will be unstable. After some deliberation, the Three Universal Civilizations still sent some troops to try to stop it and continued to attack the World Tree's large forces stationed on the edge of the controlled area. This led to a series of high-intensity local battles breaking out in the controlled area.
To minimize casualties in localized battles, Beyond Grade A individuals from the Three Universal Civilizations were deployed one after another, playing a role on the battlefield and assisting their own forces against the enemy fleet. They were equipped with Sovereign Mecha and could be withdrawn to their interception bases at any time. However, the World Tree powerhouses did not appear, as if they did not intend to contain the advanced combat forces of the Three Universal Civilizations.
Although the Three Universal Civilizations achieved victories in most local battles with relatively low casualties, they were unable to repair or maintain stable orbits in space under the pressure of enemy forces and had to endure constant attacks. Briefly repelling the sweeping forces was merely a temporary measure.
After more than a month of this confrontation, both sides suffered losses of tens of billions of troops. The Three Universal Civilizations finally realized that they could not stop the enemy from destroying all the stable orbits in space. They had no choice but to discard this burden, shrink their forces to preserve their strength, and stop investing troops in a disadvantageous war of attrition. Instead, they focused on gaining strategic depth and conducting long-range strikes against the sweeping forces in motion, gradually eroding the World Tree's forces.
The two sides fought fiercely for some time. After about three months, the World Tree army finally swept away all the spatial anchoring tracks set up by the Three Universal Civilizations and liberated all the jump points of the vanguard corps that had been in operation for more than half a year. For this, they paid the price of nearly 100 billion troops.
On April 6, 784 of the Galaxy Calendar, the World Tree's main force, which had been stationed on the edge of the nominally controlled zone for several months, finally set off again to attack the interception circle.
After a period of sailing, the World Tree army, with only about half its original strength remaining, finally crossed the strategic depth despite various harassments and reached the interception zone, attempting to break through the blockade. They immediately engaged in fierce battles with the armies of the Three Universal Civilizations.
With their superior numbers and the advantage of being well-rested, the Three Universal Civilizations quickly gained the upper hand upon engaging in battle. At this rate, withstanding this offensive and annihilating the trillion-strong fleet on the World Tree would be a piece of cake.
However, on the third day of the battle, three World Tree reinforcements parachuted in from the nearby jump points that had been unsealed, bringing the total number of fresh troops to 150 billion to the battle. They attacked different areas, and the Three Universal Civilizations were immediately under immense pressure. They had to redeploy their existing forces to resist while calling for support from the rear.
After five more days of fierce fighting, two more World Tree reinforcements, totaling hundreds of billions, were airdropped and joined the battle.
On the ninth day, the World Tree Fleet, with a scale of 80 billion, arrived as reinforcements.
On the fourteenth day, enemy reinforcements arrived, numbering 140 billion.
On the twentieth day, enemy reinforcements arrived, numbering 206 billion.
The World Tree's support forces kept arriving, sending reinforcements to the rear for every casualty on the front lines, attempting to fully exploit the advantages of attrition warfare and wear down the entire interception circle!
"C-1008a theater of operations is in critical condition... L-0213b theater of operations is in critical condition..."
The command center was a hive of activity. The ship's AI, with its emotionless synthesized voice, continuously broadcasted emergency alerts from various war zones. Simon and other high-ranking officers stared intently at the real-time battle monitoring system, their eyes bloodshot with exhaustion.
The high-intensity battle lasted for nearly a month without a single break. None of the surviving officers were not exhausted, and the casualties on both sides had already reached hundreds of billions.
Nearby, many of the Beyond Grade A soldiers were injured, all of whom were wounded by the World Tree Fleet; no high-level combatants were involved.
The World Tree's relentless reinforcements have made the battle situation extremely precarious. Even the Beyond Grade A ships have to fight against the fleet. For the past month, they have been like firefighters, stabilizing various local battlefields that have fallen into crisis time and time again, with little time to rest and recover.
Even so, the contributions of numerous Beyond Grade A are merely a drop in the ocean for a massive interstellar battle with a total of over a trillion warships, and cannot play a decisive role.
Many Beyond Grade A warriors were deeply worried. Although the World Tree's advanced combat forces did not participate in the battle, resulting in no new casualties among their own Beyond Grade A warriors, everyone was still on edge as they watched the Three Universal Civilizations' forces become increasingly disadvantaged.
Kasuyi watched the battle monitor, leaned close to Han Xiao, and whispered, "The World Tree has launched a full-scale attack, a head-on assault regardless of casualties. The first and second defensive lines have been breached, and enemy reinforcements continue to pour in. Judging from this, the interception perimeter will likely fall."
That's probably it.
Han Xiao let out a heavy breath, equally exhausted.
The intense war that has lasted for a month has turned this place into a meat grinder. Even most players have used up their daily resurrection quota multiple times. In this kind of place, there is very little he can do.
This time, World Tree didn't use any special strategies; they simply relied on their numerical superiority to confront the enemy head-on. They believed that brute force could overcome any skill, and they wouldn't stop sending reinforcements until they broke through the interception perimeter. If a month of continuous fighting wasn't enough, they would fight for two months, three months... In short, they were reckless!
The interception circle could not stop the World Tree's advance once and for all, and it would be breached sooner or later. However, that day seemed to have come sooner than expected. From the very beginning, it only bought the Three Universal Civilizations about a year more time.
"Black Star, we also need to consider evacuating," Kasuyi whispered.
Han Xiao ignored him and stared intently at the battlefield outside.
At this moment, countless warships were engaged in fierce combat, their shimmering light resembling a sky full of stardust. The silent brilliance carried an aura of destruction, and every second countless lives were plunged into the embrace of death.
Even if the interception forces of the Three Universal Civilizations are defeated, they will have ample time to retreat back to their territory and need not worry about their escape route.
Even if the World Tree breaks through the interception circle, it will still take a long time to reach the edge of the Shattered World. However, the Three Universal Civilizations are unlikely to be able to replicate a similar defensive line, which means that as long as the World Tree breaks through head-on, it means that the countdown to the enemy's invasion of their territory has officially begun.
Just then, another World Tree fleet entered the battlefield, accompanied by the familiar Tree King aura, which immediately boosted the combat power of many World Tree members, instantly attracting everyone's attention.
"This is the Tree King's power... They've finally sent out their high-level combat forces. The Three Universal Civilizations are already struggling to hold on. If the Tree King uses its aura at this time, it might be the last straw that breaks the camel's back. I wonder which Tree King has come this time..."
A look of seriousness flashed in Han Xiao's eyes.
Not only him, but all the other Beyond Grade A beings locked their gazes on the source of the halo, and tensed up at the same time.