Chapter 160: Gloating?

Hundreds of planets simultaneously welcomed a rain-like bombardment of cannon fire. After the artillery strikes, the planets’ bodies violently squeezed inward, contracted, then instantly cracked apart before exploding into pieces.

Blinding bursts of light erupted within this stretch of starry sky, enveloping all of space and illuminating it in a sea of light tinged with fiery red.

From a distance, the sight of numerous planets exploding one after another was quite tragically beautiful. You couldn’t help but marvel at the wonder of creation—the scene was truly magnificent.

But…

This tragically beautiful scene was also deadly enough to cost people their lives.

The successive explosions of hundreds of giant planets released terrifying amounts of energy. The entire starry sky was compressed by the energy generated from these planetary explosions. With the naked eye, one could see the surrounding space twisting and trembling violently.

Just a few seconds later, countless fragments of the shattered planets shot out in all directions, streaking through space like comets.

“Maximum energy output! Overload operation! Activate protective shields to their fullest—we’re about to face the greatest danger!” Eli and Obena simultaneously shouted orders to their officers from their respective flagships.

Even Hudi and Tad, positioned far in the rear, felt their hearts tighten at this sight.

Hudi ordered the officers beside him, “Run energy output at full capacity! All cannons, aim forward! Each ship’s captain is to freely fire on any planetary fragments entering their range. Activate protective shields!” It seemed Hudi was also worried that the fleets under his command in the rear might be hit and damaged by these planetary fragments.

Tad watched as space ahead twisted and distorted, feeling deeply shocked. “In my world, even the wars of those so-called deities didn’t have this kind of power,” Tad thought to himself with a stunned expression.

“Hudi, won’t we be affected by what’s happening ahead?” Tad asked with some concern.

After finishing his instructions to his subordinates, Hudi turned and looked at Tad. “We’re bound to be affected a bit, but compared to the vanguard, we’re in a better position.” Hudi then turned sideways to gaze out the window into the distance. “They’re the ones in the most danger, not us.”

Tad continued, “After those giant planets explode, will the resulting fragments come crashing toward us?” Tad was quite worried about this.

Seeing Tad’s concern, Hudi told him, “It’s certain that fragments will hit this area. But don’t worry too much—I’m confident we can destroy them completely before they reach us.”

Hearing Hudi’s words, Tad felt relieved. “Coward!” Hudi thought to himself scornfully, seeing Tad’s reaction.

…

“Fire! Open fire! Destroy all those planetary fragments! Run energy at maximum power! Energy output at full overload!” At this moment, Eli and Obena were continuously shouting at the officers around them in their respective flagship command rooms.

The crew in the command rooms wore serious expressions, anxiously monitoring all the instruments.

Everyone understood clearly—if they couldn’t destroy the incoming planetary fragments, everyone on the warships would lose their lives here.

Besides needing to immediately destroy those planetary fragments, they also had to pray that the energy shields released by the warships could withstand the impact of the debris.

Eli and Obena stood in their flagship command rooms, their faces tense as they watched the planetary fragments, wrapped in flames and rushing toward them like comets. Like everyone else, they were silently praying.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Warships on the first, second, and third battle lines began firing. All warships, whether equipped with heavy cannons or rapid-fire cannons, unleashed their maximum firepower without conserving energy.

Fortunately, these warships had good accuracy, hitting areas around the planets immediately after they shattered and destroying many of the fragments. But this still wasn’t enough—some planetary fragments continued heading toward the fleet.

Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The planetary fragments moved at incredible speeds, reaching the first battle line in an instant. Then, some unlucky warships exploded upon impact, blossoming into eerie, dazzling fireflowers…

Under the impact of these fragments, hundreds of thousands of warships vanished just like that into the vastness of space.

However, it was precisely because of these warships’ presence that the number of planetary fragments was significantly reduced.

Additionally, with artillery fire from the rear warships, these fragments were basically all destroyed before reaching the second battle line.

“The losses are huge!” Obena felt his heart bleeding.

Without even seeing the enemy fleet’s appearance, his own forces had already been depleted. It could be said that under the attack from Lei Yaotian’s fleet and the impact of planetary fragments, Obena no longer had any fighting capacity left.

From a fleet of millions of warships, only a few thousand remained. It was impossible for Obena not to feel heartache—this was all the wealth he had. Who knew how long it would take to rebuild such a fleet in the future?

Moreover, after this war was won, who knew if Tad would keep his promise and share some benefits with him?

If Tad honored his promise, Obena estimated he could recover in less than half a year. But one shouldn’t always expect the best outcome, so Obena was somewhat worried.

Little did Obena know that he didn’t need to worry about whether Tad would keep his promise—because Tad never intended to keep it at all. In fact, Tad planned to capture everyone in one sweep.

In other words, Tad even wanted to take Obena’s life, so how could he care about promises?

Fortunately, Eli’s fleet reinforced Obena’s battle line at the critical moment, filling the gaps in Obena’s fleet. If Eli hadn’t arrived in time, Obena likely wouldn’t have been able to withstand the planetary fragments’ impact.

After all, Eli’s fleet possessed E-level technology, which wasn’t comparable to Obena’s T-level fleet.

“Notify Obena to have his flagship move closer and follow behind my flagship. All his low-level warships are to be incorporated into the vanguard fleet for the first wave of attacks against the enemy. Have him adjust his fleet’s signal frequency now, and give him our fleet’s signal channel!”

“Yes, Commander!”

After dealing with the planetary belt, Eli immediately issued the command to advance. Now that this planetary belt no longer existed, the fleet slowly started moving forward, advancing toward Lei Yaotian’s frontline.

Since the planetary belt had disappeared, the magnetic fields that disrupted instruments also vanished. Communication between each warship and the flagship returned to normal, and electronic instruments resumed functioning.

Obena’s remaining warships were incorporated into the vanguard fleet, while his own flagship quickly moved to position itself behind Eli’s flagship. Obena personally traveled via a small warship to board Eli’s flagship.

As soon as they met, without any pleasantries, Obena quickly said to Eli, “Mr. Eli, my fleet has lost its combat power, but we haven’t even seen the enemy fleet yet. We’re already at a disadvantage.” Obena’s face showed extreme anxiety.

In his view, they hadn’t even encountered the enemy fleet, yet his cannon fodder troops were already exhausted. This completely proved that he hadn’t fulfilled the planned objective of tying down the enemy’s effective forces.

After hearing this, Eli’s expression also turned grim. Not only had Obena suffered heavy warship losses—Eli’s own fleet had taken significant damage too. Under the impact of the planetary fragments, nearly all of Eli’s warships on the first battle line were destroyed.

But it was precisely because of the first battle line’s warships that those planetary fragments were held back.

So Eli’s face was dark—after all, those were his warships, his assets.

Like Obena, Eli had invested heavily to participate in this Dimensional War. After all, Tad had made enticing promises—if they defeated the enemy, the hundreds of billions of credit points in the enemy’s account would be divided equally among them.

Thinking of Tad’s promise, Eli’s expression gradually softened.

Hundreds of billions of credit points weren’t a small amount. Even split among several people, he could still get billions.

By then, while he might not be able to afford high-level warships, he could certainly purchase some D-level or C-level technology warships. Although he couldn’t buy many, buying the warship manufacturing blueprints and technology would still be very cost-effective.

This way, he could have a large fleet again in no time. And with these warships, he could wage war to unify his own dimensional plane, couldn’t he?

With this thought, Eli took a deep breath, then looked at the anxious Obena and said, “Our casualties are heavy, but don’t forget—the enemy fleet is right beyond the planetary belt. They also have to endure the assault from the planetary explosion fragments. So I suspect their situation isn’t any better than ours.”

In Eli’s view, the enemy fleet definitely had to face those planetary fragments too—what they experienced couldn’t be much different from their own.

Even after the planetary fragment assault, Eli still had over two million warships under his command.

The massive fleet began moving slowly, sailing toward the first battle line of Lei Yaotian’s forward fleet.

Eli and Obena walked to the floor-to-ceiling window at the front of the command room, looking out into the distant space through the glass.

The trails left by those planetary fragments streaking through the void were still faintly visible to their naked eyes.

“Activate long-range observers! Immediate transmission of three-dimensional imagery!” Eli commanded his deputy officer.

In the distant sky, bursts of flickering fireflowers suddenly erupted. These fireflowers flashed intensely then died out, rising and falling intermittently, making the far-off starry sky appear exceptionally magnificent.

“Aha!” Finally, a gloating smile appeared on Eli’s face. “Look, the enemy is also resisting the planetary fragments right now.”