Chapter 421: Ch
Different kinds of projectiles rushed toward the Orc fleet carrying destructive momentum. Be it kinetic shells, intense plasma bolts, pulses of energy, or the destructive red-colored lances of the Crust Breaker Cannons, everything surged forward like a tide of annihilation.
And like flashes of light, perhaps even faster, all the attacks directly struck the unprepared Orc fleet first, slamming straight onto their unprotected hulls.
Explosions instantly rose around more than 2,500 ships and the five battle fortresses, whose shields were fortunately active. But under the intense impacts of the Crust Breaker Cannon’s red lances, the shields continuously lost their integrity before finally collapsing altogether.
And like flashes of light, perhaps even faster, all the attacks directly struck the unprepared Orc fleet first, slamming straight onto their unprotected hulls.
Explosions instantly rose around more than 2,500 ships and the five battle fortresses, whose shields were fortunately active. But under the intense impacts of the Crust Breaker Cannon’s red lances, the shields continuously lost their integrity before finally collapsing altogether.
Then, tens of Crust Breaker Cannon lances landed directly onto the fortresses’ thick hull plating.
And if it had been some kind of normal metal and not top-tier Tier 2 or even Tier 3 class alloys, then with each impact they would have peeled apart like bananas or melted away like ordinary metal under extreme heat.
Clouds of fire rapidly rose across the bodies of the five battle fortresses of the Orc fleet in quick succession.
Moments before the center-most fortress was hit and had its shields destroyed...
"Wh-what is going on?" muttered the commanding Orc, who just a while ago had been sleeping soundly on the command bridge of the battle fortress.
Rumble... Rumble...
Even as he spoke, the entire fortress trembled violently as multiple attacks made direct contact with its shields.
One Orc officer below the command deck, clearly panicked and terrified, shouted, "Co-Commander! We-we are under atta—"
Before he could even finish, another officer shouted with an even greater sense of urgency and panic. "Commander! Our shield integrity is down by fifty percent!"
RUMBLEEEE... RUMBLE!
The fortress shook once again.
"No, make that forty... thirty... twenty... ten...!"
"Wh-what is happening?" the Orc commander was unable to register anything and remained standing there dazed as the fortress rocked with even greater intensity.
Then came a loud cracking sound.
"Our shields are gone, commande—" Before the Orc officer could continue further, multiple attacks slammed hard into the fortress’s thick armor, and massive clouds of fire rapidly rose across its surface.
[Warning! Compartment A1-A34 have lost integrity!]
[Warning! Hull breaches detected!]
[Warning! Internal systems failing!]
Alerts were rapidly raised throughout the fortress.
All the while, the ship continued to rumble as multiple internal compartments lost their integrity. Even the walls and roof of the command bridge began collapsing, crushing and killing almost every Orc there, including the reporting officer not long after.
Then... BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The entire bridge was consumed by fire as a gigantic energy lance broke through the hull and burst inside, destroying and killing everyone there instantly.
Not long after, under the constant barrage of the Imperium fleet’s long-distance attacks, the central fortress, along with the other four battle fortresses, was completely consumed by the destructive assaults and explosions.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
One after another, the gigantic fortresses exploded from within, fragmenting into multiple massive pieces that scattered across space.
Along with them, they also took down several nearby ships that had been concentrated around the fortresses, if those ships had not already been destroyed beforehand.
By this point, the rest of the Orc fleet had finally realized they were under attack and had regained their footing. No longer were they dazed, but they still remained completely clueless about where the attacks were coming from.
Inside one of the larger Orc battleships...
BANG!
The last standing high-ranking officer, a Vice Admiral by rank, slammed his fist against the central consoles in fury.
"What the hell is going on?! Can anyone tell me where these attacks are coming from, for the Overlord’s sake?!"
"Captain, I can tell!" one of the Orcs suddenly stood up and said, attracting the attention of everyone around him.
The Vice Admiral immediately reacted.
"Oh? Then tell me quickly! What are you waiting for?!" he barked furiously.
"Based on the pathways the attacks are coming from... they are approaching us from the forward direction..." the Orc officer innocently replied with an expectant look on his face, one that practically screamed, Praise me.
But the Orc Admiral was left stunned and speechless for a moment before barking out even more furiously.
"What the hell are you saying, soldier?! Does the word foolish look like it’s written on my forehead?! Do you think I can’t even tell that, damn it?!"
As he shouted, he raised the futuristic-looking, slightly rusted gun in his hand, frightening the soldier badly.
"N-no, Commander! You are mistaken!" the Orc officer quickly said in panic. "What I mean is, the attacks are coming at us from toward the seventh planet not far from here! I think the enemy has some kind of long-range weapon system, and they are sniping us from there!"
BANG!!
The Orc Vice Admiral had finally had enough. Shouting at the top of his lungs, he roared, "How is that any different from before?! Do you think I can’t tell what you just said?!"
And with that, he fired his gun directly at the soldier’s shoulder.
"AAAAAHHHH!!"
The soldier screamed in pain, clutching his burnt shoulder as tears streaked down his face.
The Orc Vice Admiral didn’t even bother looking at him afterward.
"Someone throw this person outside the command bridge."
Almost immediately, two large Orcs walked over and grabbed the bleeding and screaming officer before dragging him away.
The Orc Admiral then looked toward the others. "Scan the area around us immediately! Move the surviving units into formation and prepare for battle!"
"Yes, Vice Admiral!" everyone on the command bridge replied fearfully.
Only a couple of seconds later, one officer hurriedly shouted, "Commander! A fleet of ships is closing in from the bow side!"
"At what distance?" the Vice Admiral barked.
"A-about a billion kilometers and moving toward us fast at the moment..." the officer gulped while replying.
"Huh?"
The Vice Admiral immediately pulled the scans toward himself and looked at the dense red dots rapidly approaching from the front.
"So it was them who attacked us, huh?"
"Bring up the optic imaging right now! Let me see who dares attack the Orc fleet!"
"At the same time, use the relay system back to the ground and send a message to command! Tell them about our status and request reinforcements immediately!
Lock down the mined resources as well and halt all mining operations at once! Prepare the planetary weapons and start charging them!
Pass down these orders quickly!"
"Yes, Commander! I’ll pass the orders down to the ground units!" one Orc officer replied.
"And I’ll immediately contact command and relay your message, Admiral!" another added.
"Admiral! Here is the optic imaging!" a third officer shouted.
"Hmmm... let me see."
The Orc Admiral nodded his head and focused on the holographic screen in front of him.
It showed around 1,500 or slightly more ships moving toward them, divided almost evenly into four segments.
Looking closely at the ships leading the enemy formation, they appeared completely unfamiliar to him. He couldn’t remember ever seeing or even encountering ships of the same or even similar design before.
Suddenly, his eyes constricted into thin lines as he noticed the logo painted across the hulls of the ships, causing astonishment and surprise to appear on his face.
To confirm it, he checked the ships within the other segments as well.
And indeed... they belonged to the Imperium.
He couldn’t help but laugh angrily.
"So it’s you Asura people who dared attack us, huh?!"
"And those ships... they should belong to the human forces... what were they called again...?" the Orc Admiral muttered while trying to remember.
"I-it’s the Void Fleet, Admiral..." one of the officers replied while shuddering.
"Hmmm, yes... Void Fleet was the name."
"What a Void Fleet... what powerful ships."
Suddenly—
"Commander! Incoming!!" one of the soldiers screamed.
"What—"
The Orc Admiral was immediately cut off and unable to utter another word before a gigantic red-colored energy lance directly collided against his ship’s already weakened shields.
CRACK!!
The shields shattered instantly before the massive attack slammed into the hull of the five-kilometer-long battleship.
It landed directly where the command bridge was located, obliterating it upon impact and splitting the ship into two. The two halves of the battleship lifted apart while the center section bent inward and violently broke off.
The other ships were no better.
Some were split apart just like this, while others violently exploded into multiple fragments.
At this point, not many ships survived anymore.
Leaving Kronos and the others stunned and speechless, not fully understanding what had just happened or how it had happened.
At the same time, they were beginning to realize just how powerful the ships they were sitting in and operating truly were.
