Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

Chapter 1067: Chapter 173: Swallowing the Whale 2

”Such high energy levels!”

The Little Woman stared blankly at the screen. Through the display, she could clearly see a colossal light emerging within the cosmic vacuum, spreading from its core outward until it reached from the front to the back of the Long-horned Whale Alpha, precisely where Platform One was located.

On the Number One Interstellar Fortress was where the Commander System resided, wherein both General Quel and numerous AIs had their hardware.

Thus, when the Little Woman learned that the direction of a massive attack by Walter cadres was toward Number Two instead of Number One Interstellar Fortress, she felt both relieved and worried.

The number of the enemy’s high-level combat strength somewhat exceeded their pre-war expectations.

Fortunately, the ’Calamity Corps’ truly proved powerful, with reports of successive boss eliminations constantly coming in, giving them peace of mind while also evoking gratitude. Without the relentless efforts and sacrifices of these ’players,’ what did a small faction with less than a year in the interstellar scene have to challenge the notorious Walter Clan?

Soon, however, a series of obituaries arrived; the deaths of Swordsman Tamil, Cowboy Apu, and others sent a shudder through the Little Woman’s heart.

Among all the high-ranking figures, the Little Woman from the Iron Sand Desert was closest with these Old Hunters, having once helped the Steel Cable Tribe secure a footing, and hunted Radiation Beasts together. They were old comrades since the days of survival on grass roots.

Regretfully, warriors have a fate doomed to perish in battle, and due to the special nature of the ’Emperor’s Guard,’ personality replication or entry into any sanctuary system was impossible — death truly meant the end.

”Damn it, once I conquer this planet, I’ll skin every Green-skinned alive!”

The Little Woman slapped the table, cursing angrily.

”We’ve already bitten into that remaining fleet,” General Quel suddenly stated.

As a commander, the bald-headed woman maintained considerable calm, or even indifference.

With neither emotional fluctuation whether facing destruction of the Interstellar Fortress or new enemy tactics, she finally captured the fleeting chance after suffering numerous tactical failures.

Military adventures do come at a price.

Previously, by transporting Walter’s high-ranking cadres into the fleet’s center area, Commander Number Eight nearly sacrificed the entire main fleet.

And when Walter’s fleet penetrated the core area, releasing those advanced forces, General Quel did not follow the requests of high-ranking cadres like the Little Woman but deployed troops to contain this fleet tightly, utilizing both the Storm and Suppression types of starships, alongside Battleships and Escort Ships, which alternated strikes to cripple the enemy fleet.

Now, only the flagship commanded by the enemy Commander barely escaped, rushing into the planet’s energy atmosphere.

”What a waste,” General Quel suddenly lamented.

”What’s wrong?” Ye the Big Lolita asked from the side.

This Interstellar War opened the eyes of this young CEO.

”If we used the Star-Destroying Cannon now, we could penetrate this energy atmosphere.”

General Quel pointed towards the direction of that flagship. The atmosphere split open, revealing numerous stabilizers, though this distance already exceeded most starships’ Attack Range, and typical Energy Cannons couldn’t reach the strength required to breach the atmosphere.

”The energy strength of that last strike—what level was it at?”

Ye the Big Lolita remembered something and hurriedly asked.

”Reporting to the owner, the recent energy output was estimated at five percent of a Planet Cannon’s capacity and ten percent of the Star-Destroying Cannon,” the AI replied.

Before any high-ranking members could speak, Gao Gong’s voice resonated throughout the command room.

”You need me to step in, right? No problem.”

”But the Planet Cannon—”

The Little Woman was fully aware of what truly alarmed Gao Gong in this battle. She understood quite well that anything below Tier 4 was guaranteed to be annihilated by a Planet Cannon.

”No need to worry; a Planet Cannon isn’t so easily triggered,” Gao Gong’s voice echoed again.

”Didn’t we predict before the battle that using the Planet Cannon would cause the planet’s power supply system to experience Downtime swiftly? Unless the enemy truly aims for mutual destruction, they wouldn’t do it.”

Following Gao Gong’s voice, the systems within the Interstellar Fortress detected a High-Risk Energy Source approaching the planet at Light-speed.

Typically, starships do not enter Light-speed Mode near planets, as doing so risks gravitational pull, potentially leading to a ’planetary collision.’ That’s why most planets have Spaceports in the outer orbit during the Interstellar Era, facilitating starship docking.

However, for personal combat strength, entering Light-speed Mode near a planet has no impact. Subjected to planetary gravitational pull, a sudden stop would suffice.

The turnover from Light-speed is also relatively easy due to the significantly smaller size of individual life forms compared to starships.

Thus, nobody rejected Gao Gong’s proposal.

Instead, Ye the Big Lolita quietly clenched her fists, noting the gap between them had widened within less than a year.

The opponent had reached Tier 3, while she was still hovering at Tier 2.

...

Number Eight sat in the command room, his heart sinking continuously, knowing the tactical adventure had failed and the consequence was enormous. At least half the high-ranking members were lost, and the outer space fleet was severely crippled by the enemy’s rabid tactics.

Guard the planet, guard the fortress, fallback to guard the port, and at worst guard the surface.

This describes the star defense strategy learned at the Level 3 Civilization Military Academy.

It implies that in a planet defense war, the Interstellar Fortress is the primary defense target, followed by the Spaceport, and lastly, ground defense.

Reaching the final step signifies only defense remains, with no offensive capacity.

Number Eight continually reflected on how they fell into this dire situation.

He dared to say that except for the final military adventure, he’d pushed all attainable measures to the limit, with enemy losses far exceeding theirs.

Blame those abnormal Calamity Warriors!

When the offense failed, dropped tens of thousands of Tier 2 Warriors as cannon fodder.

When defensive lines had breaches, dropped tens of thousands of Tier 2 as cannon fodder.

When battle lines shifted, dropped tens of thousands of Tier 2 as human walls.

The key was that this Tier 2 core remained increasingly fervent, dying with joy and high morale. He only saw such warrior fanaticism in stellar classic battles, renowned Calamity Races like the Insect Race, Undead Corps, Purification Agreement, and Other-Dimension Demon.

In his youthful arrogance, he once imagined facing these monsters and through tactics defeating them.

But truly confronting such Calamities revealed the despairing Power they wielded.

Even the clone civilization famed for Overlord capacity required time for cloning and nurturing.

’For now, the plan is to erect new defenses on the planet surface, waiting for the clan to unlock the Flesh Treasure for a counterattack.’

Number Eight was unsure whether his second brother was alive.

’Warning, warning, High-Risk Energy Source approaching—’

”What?!”

Number Eight froze, then watched a figure appear at the space-viewing window, with a gentle wave of the hand, fire flooded everything.

Before dying, he saw unknown methods systematically blasting a massive hole in the entire energy atmosphere.

Followed by swarming ’Tier 2 Warriors,’ storming inside the planet with unfathomable excitement.

’The Walter Clan is finished!’

This was his final thought.