Chapter 163: One vs Many

With Zhang Xianzhong's order, the formation of the Federal fleet changed instantly.

The steel defensive line that had been firmly ready instantly turned into an extremely sharp spear.

A thousand warships led by the New Sun-Chaser formed a cone-shaped spearhead, engines at full throttle, like an arrow released from a bow, fiercely charging into the vast and chaotic formation of the Moyun fleet.

Another two thousand warships, from the left and right directions, unleashed a frenzied barrage of fire upon the Moyun fleet's flanks.

In just a few minutes, the war's situation underwent a shocking reversal.

The initiative had completely fallen into human hands.

A Federal Zhurong-class main cruiser, its captain Wang Yu, was calmly commanding his warship.

"Target, front-left, enemy jellyfish-type warship formation! Shoot them down!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Hundreds of laser ports on both sides of the Zhurong-class cruiser's hull lit up simultaneously.

Dense energy beams poured out like a downpour, instantly enveloping the small formation of a dozen or so jellyfish-type warships.

Those jellyfish-type warships trailed long energy tendrils, attempting to evade while firing green, energy-ball-like weapons from those tendrils as a counterattack.

But their movements appeared clumsy and laughable before the Federal warships' intelligent systems.

Most of the energy balls struck empty space.

A few that hit the Zhurong-class cruiser's shield merely caused the pale blue barrier to flicker briefly before falling silent.

"Report, Captain! Enemy energy attack intensity analysis complete! Power……power is only on par with our secondary gun!"

"Single module shield energy consumption, thirty percent!"

Hearing this report, Captain Wang Yu's mouth corner twitched involuntarily.

This……is the expeditionary force of the vast empire spanning hundreds of star systems?

Is this all their strength?

Before he could finish his sigh, his warship's gunfire had already hit the target.

The shields of those jellyfish-type warships shattered upon contact with the attack in the fourth second.

Immediately afterward, their bodies were easily torn to shreds by the concentrated gunfire.

The whole process was smooth and clean.

From locking onto the target to annihilating it completely, the Zhurong-class cruiser needed only a single salvo, taking less than thirty seconds.

"Well done!" Wang Yu shouted, "Find the next target! We continue!"

Such scenes played out in every corner of the battlefield.

The Federal warships were at an absolute numerical disadvantage.

But they were like a pack of tigers that had broken into a flock of sheep, relying on far superior attack and defense to wage a near‑slaughter against the Moyun fleet.

A Federal warship chasing a dozen or even twenty-plus Moyun warships and fighting them had become the norm on the battlefield.

The Moyun fleet's enormous number of four hundred thousand ships, at this moment, became their burden.

They crowded together, blocking each other's lines of fire and routes, their formation in utter chaos.

Meanwhile, the Federal fleet, with each sortie, could precisely take out a warship.

"How……how is this possible?"

Inside the Moyun fleet's flagship, the King Insect‑class mothership a hundred kilometers long,

Commander Ka La Fa, through his biological sensory organ, was incredulously "watching" the one‑sided battle before him.

Its form was not what humans imagined, but a huge, constantly writhing pink brain floating in nutrient fluid.

Countless neural tendrils extended from the brain, linking to the mothership's entire control core.

"Why is the technology of these bugs so strong?"

On Ka La Fa's huge brain, brainwaves representing anger and incomprehension fluctuated violently.

"Where does their shield technology come from? That honeycomb‑like structure can disperse, transfer, and replenish energy, yet our attacks cannot pierce it in one go!"

"And their weapons! Their energy density and firing frequency far exceed our assessment of this low‑level civilization!"

According to the intelligence it received, this civilization on the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy should still be at the stage of just entering interstellar civilization.

Its fleet should have been a bunch of fragile, easily crushed tin cans.

But now, these "tin cans" are madly slaughtering the expeditionary force it prides itself on.

"Commander, our vanguard has already lost over thirty thousand ships!"

"Those bug warships are too agile; our attacks can't hit them effectively!"

"Their shields are too hard! Our weapons need to concentrate fire at least five times to possibly inflict effective damage!"

Wave after wave of panicked thoughts came from the lower‑rank commanders.

"Trash! A bunch of trash!"

Ka La Fa roared angrily, "Four hundred thousand! Exactly four hundred thousand warships! Even if we rammed them, we should have smashed them to pieces!"

"All units! Press forward at any cost! Destroy at least one! I want to see what's inside these bug warships!"

It issued a crazy order.

Having received the death order, the Moyun fleet began a reckless charge toward the Federal fleet, disregarding casualties.

Countless bio‑warships, like madmen, surged forward under Federal fire, fearless of death.

Their tactic was simple: use numbers to drain the Federal warships' shield energy.

A Federal destroyer was quickly surrounded by more than fifty Moyun warships.

"Captain! We're surrounded!"

"The first layer shield energy is dropping rapidly! Seventy percent……fifty percent……thirty percent!"

"Report, the first layer shield has been breached……"

Captain, the second layer is breached, the third layer likewise can't hold much longer... the power system is overloaded beyond its limit, it's about to be damaged!!

The alarm blared frantically inside the destroyer's bridge.

Hold steady! Hold steady for me!

The destroyer's captain, a veteran with rich experience, his eyes red, roared loudly:

All gunners, aim and fire for me! Trade one for one, even if it means death, I want you to tear a piece of flesh from them!

Yes!

For the Federal!

All crew members aboard the destroyer had resolved to fight to the death.

They abandoned futile evasion, diverting all energy to the weapons systems, launching a final frantic counterattack against the surrounding enemies.

Boom!

Finally, after enduring uninterrupted concentrated fire from dozens of Moyun Warships, the destroyer's "Honeycomb" shield reached its limit and shattered with a boom.

Immediately after, the dense barrage instantly engulfed its not-so-large hull.

A violent explosion ignited a dazzling ball of fire in space.

The Human Federal, the first warship since the outbreak of war, has fallen.