Chapter 1696: Things change over time
One after another, interstellar missiles rained down, and interstellar heavy cannon shells rained down.
This completely surprised the legions and fleets of the Holy Maiden Civilization, who had previously been the ones to deliver such saturation firepower to the enemy in this manner.
But now, this kind of thing has actually happened to them.
It's clear that they were completely unprepared for this.
Especially when the interstellar escort ships' interception efforts clearly failed and these interstellar heavy artillery ships began to suffer heavy casualties, these interstellar warships naturally panicked.
During the retreat, many basic mistakes were made. Some starships disregarded the routes planned for them by their superiors, only wanting to get out of this damned hellish area as soon as possible.
To avoid enemy artillery fire.
This leads to unnecessary struggles and collisions during navigation.
This situation, in turn, blocked the already limited shipping routes, greatly affecting the speed of the evacuation of these interstellar warships.
This naturally increases completely unnecessary losses.
The Saintess herself, the commander of the Saintess Civilization Legion fleet, naturally took note of this situation.
However, no matter how hysterically she roared in the command channel, she could still command the commanders of all legions and even the lower-level fleets to obey her orders.
However, these commands are often difficult to execute.
After all, when faced with life and death, how many people can disregard their own safety and obey orders from above?
If it were a race with a firm will, it would be fine, but these minions of civilizations under the control of the Order are only outwardly steadfast in their beliefs.
They enjoy the technological advancements and elevated status that order brings them.
When they are truly faced with death, how many of them can persevere?
What you see before you is the answer.
All she could do was watch as the casualties of their Saintess Civilization's interstellar legion fleet steadily increased.
Watching the retaliatory artillery fire from the opposing Dragon Star Legion fleet.
We are powerless to do anything about it.
In less than half an hour, the saturation firepower attack from the JF-17 fleet was over.
Although it lasted much longer than the Saintess Civilization Legion fleet.
However, the results were vastly different.
Despite the prolonged saturation bombardment by the Holy Maiden Civilization, they only managed to destroy a little over a thousand of the opposing Dragon-class interstellar warships.
In contrast, their Saintess civilization's interstellar warships took less than half an hour.
The direct losses have exceeded 50,000 interstellar warships.
In this round of back-and-forth fighting, the casualty ratio between the two sides reached a terrifying fifty to one.
Most importantly, the enemy's attack was still purposeful.
The primary targets of the attacks are the interstellar heavy artillery ships, and if given a choice, they would prefer T5 and T6 level interstellar heavy artillery ships.
This resulted in the actual losses to the Holy Maiden Civilization being far greater.
"Damn it! Why did it turn out like this!" the saintess roared hysterically, waving her hands at the air in front of her, venting her impotent rage.
The officers and soldiers around them dared not speak at this moment.
The saintess's eyes were bloodshot, and for a moment she seemed to have lost the ability to speak.
"Your Holiness, what should we do next?" the adjutant beside him asked cautiously.
The saintess remained silent.
Given the current situation.
If they continue their previous attacks, the opposing JF-17 fleet will inevitably adopt the same tactics.
Use interstellar escorts to defend against their first wave of attacks, then counterattack with interstellar missile ships and interstellar heavy gunners.
If the enemy seizes the opportunity, their interstellar missile ships and interstellar heavy artillery ships might even launch a preemptive counterattack to suppress them.
After this first round of firefight, it was clear that the opposing JF-17 fleet was not afraid of them.
This puts them in a dilemma.
Should we continue fighting?
That would result in huge losses, so why not continue fighting?
That might not work.
Now we can only try to find a way to break this deadlock.
However, no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't come up with any way to counter it.
Such technological advantages are often difficult to counter with mere clever tricks.
"Think of something for me! Think of a way to counter them!" the saintess roared at her staff, throwing this difficult problem at them.
But these staff officers couldn't possibly come up with a countermeasure out of thin air.
In the blink of an eye, more than ten hours had passed.
After the first wave of attacks, the three legion fleets of the Holy Maiden Civilization withdrew to a safe area and did not fire again.
Just then, a video window popped up.
The person opposite was none other than the Black God Emperor.
"Your Excellency, Holy Maiden."
"Our supreme commander in the A-10 star system battlefield asked me, 'Why have you stopped providing fire support?'" Black God Emperor asked casually.
The saintess replied in a deep voice, "My interstellar heavy gunship needs resupply."
The Black God Emperor then said, "I understand that the interstellar heavy artillery ships need to be resupplyed to me."
But as far as I know, your starships, even a fleet of one legion, can complete a resupply in no more than six hours.
At full capacity, it can conduct at least three to four rounds of saturation firepower strikes per day.
The Black God Emperor was quite unfamiliar with these legion fleets of the Holy Maiden Civilization.
The Black God Emperor had done his homework well in advance regarding the allied fleets that would participate in his sworn duel.
On the battlefield, you need to understand not only your enemy, but also your teammates.
What's more, some of these teammates are quite likely not very honest.
The saintess was speechless at this point.
Because what the Black Emperor said is indeed true.
If it were just a few hours of delay, it would be understandable, but now more than ten hours have passed, which is really hard to explain.
The saintess could only grit her teeth and say, "We did not expect the Dragon Legion fleet's defensive capabilities and long-range firepower to be so terrifying."
We suffered a great loss in the first round of confrontation.
Therefore, we are considering possible countermeasures.
Please give us some time.
"Give you time?" The Black God Emperor sneered, then suddenly changed his expression and shouted angrily, "I'll give you time."
Who gives my legion and fleet time? Who gives my soldiers fighting on the battlefield time?
They are now fighting a desperate battle with the enemy.
The battle that you are now worried about, this kind of battle situation.
They've been on the battlefield for over a month, and your Saintess Civilization's fleet has only gone through one battle. And now you're saying you're too afraid to fight?"
The Black God Emperor's barrage of attacks left the Saintess with no chance to refute, or even a reason to do so.
The Black God Emperor looked at the Holy Maiden opposite him with a mocking smile, and said without any politeness: "You all swore before that the Dragon Slayer Legion fleet was nothing special."
My men, who fought a month-long battle in the A-10 system, are nothing but a bunch of useless trash.
Now I will tell you.
Your Holy Maiden Civilization's legion fleet will have to fight whether you want to or not.
If you slack off in the fight now, don't blame me for wiping you all out.
Upon hearing the Black God Emperor's threatening words, the Holy Maiden's expression changed drastically.
"You can't do this, we're allies...we..."
"ally?
In theory, I have no right to deal with you.
But if you are cowardly on the battlefield, I can act first and ask for permission later.
Do you think your Holy Maiden Civilization would break ties with me for your sake?
I can tell you the answer right now!
Won't!
They might even be ashamed of you, sever ties with you, and then smile and shake hands with me, making peace.
The saintess's eyes were filled with panic.
Because she knew that what the Black God Emperor said was true.
This situation can indeed occur.
But now, she is powerless to do anything.
"I... my legion's fleet will take the lead." The saintess clenched her fists and said unwillingly.
The Black God Emperor's anger turned into a smile, and he slowly said, "That's right."
We are now comrades-in-arms and should fight side by side.
My request is simple: your legion's fleet must conduct three rounds of saturation firepower attacks within 24 hours a day to provide fire support for our legion's fleet's offensive.
Regarding the consumption of energy munitions, we will unconditionally package them as agreed.
Ensure your interstellar missile ships can fight on the battlefield without any worries!
The words sounded plain, yet carried a hint of sarcasm.
"I understand," the saintess said weakly.
Communication lost.
The saintess gritted her teeth, having cursed the Black God Emperor countless times in her heart.
"Your Holiness, what do we do next?" the adjutant beside him asked cautiously.
Since the conversation wasn't encrypted, he naturally heard it all.
"What else can we do?"
"Continue with the battle plan," the saintess said through gritted teeth.
She felt like her heart was bleeding, but there was nothing she could do but do this.
"Yes..." The adjutant prepared to relay the order.
The saintess then called out again, adding, "Remind the interstellar escort ships to intercept enemy artillery fire as much as possible to ensure our safe withdrawal after the attack is complete."
Furthermore, in the formation of starships, T5 and T6 class starships are positioned at the furthest point, and are given priority to retreat after the attack is completed.
“But that would greatly reduce the effectiveness of the attack,” the adjutant said.
The saintess gave him a cold glance: "What I want is not victory, but to minimize our casualties!"
These interstellar heavy artillery ships are the wealth of our Holy Maiden Civilization! How can we let them be wasted here just to devour civilizations, for that damned emperor!
Having understood the Holy Maiden's meaning, the adjutant immediately went to make the arrangements.
And so, these legion fleets of the Holy Maiden Civilization returned to the battlefield once again.
The same combat procedure applies as before: enter the firing range and then launch a barrage of fire from the interstellar heavy gunship.
After the saturation firepower has ended, then retreat.
At this point, the interstellar warships of these Holy Maiden civilizations were clearly in a great hurry to retreat.
As expected, the attack from the Xiaolong Star Legion's interstellar missile ships and interstellar heavy gun ships arrived.
Although the Saintess Civilization's interstellar escort ships were well-prepared this time, the enemy's attack was too powerful, and they were still unable to intercept most of them.
Many attacks from interstellar missile ships and interstellar heavy gun ships still landed on their fleet.
This resulted in the loss of many interstellar heavy artillery ships.
In one round of attacks, nearly 50,000 interstellar warships were lost.
Such battles will continue to unfold in the A-10 system battlefield.
The saintess was bleeding, and for this reason, she even wanted to send more legion fleets over, both to reduce her own losses and to increase firepower.
At the same time, it destroyed the enemy's defenses in one fell swoop.
In the absence of other options, increasing firepower is the only solution.
After all, the Holy Maiden Civilization brought not three hundred interstellar warships this time, but a full four thousand interstellar warships, which is forty fleet groups!
And those who have reached this point are less than one-tenth of the total.
However, the Black God Emperor rejected this request.
The reason given is that the remaining legion fleets of these Saintess civilizations have other plans.
Furthermore, wielding the sword of authority previously bestowed by the Order, which mandates that all interstellar civilizations' legions and fleets must unconditionally obey the Black God Emperor's commands on the battlefield of the sworn duel.
They had no other choice.
And this arrangement is indeed without any flaws; it cannot be said that the interstellar warships of the Saintess civilization were wasted.
Compared to the losses, the civilization that was devoured also suffered significant losses.
Furthermore, the deployment of the Saintess Civilization's forty million interstellar warships and forty legion fleets was arranged well before the battle even began.
It's impossible to overturn the previous battle plan just because you asked for help.
Therefore, the Black God Emperor controlled all the 'high ground', making his demands and arrangements entirely justifiable.
The saintess had no choice but to swallow this bitter pill.
Thus, on the battlefield of the A-10 star system, the Saintess Civilization's fleet of three million interstellar warships suffered at least 150,000 losses of interstellar warships every day, the majority of which were interstellar heavy artillery ships, accounting for at least two-thirds.
It's important to know that among these three million interstellar warships, the number of interstellar heavy artillery ships is only about nine hundred thousand.
If 100,000 ships are lost in a single day, then within half a month, the three million-ship legion fleet of the Holy Maiden Civilization, renowned for its interstellar heavy artillery ships, will be reduced to nothing.
On the surface, it appears that the 10th Legion Fleet Group of the JF-17 has gained the upper hand.
However, if you carefully observe the current situation on the battlefield in the A-10 system, you will find that the slight advantage that the JF-17 Tenth Legion fleet had managed to gain was now being gradually reversed.
The reason is simple: in order to deal with the Holy Maiden Civilization's fleet, the 10th Legion of the Xiaolong needs to deploy a large number of interstellar missile ships, interstellar heavy artillery ships, and interstellar escort ships.
As a result, other defensive lines will have to bear greater pressure.
Naturally, the situation tilted in favor of the side that was devouring civilization.