As the Colossi invaded and sabotaged, and especially as they destroyed the enemy's defense arrays, the spiritual shields on the surface of the two Supreme Fortresses dimmed immediately, with shocking holes that looked like rotten spots appearing on them.
The previous stormy attacks became sparse, too. One turret after another was destroyed by the Colossi mercilessly.
The Colossi that Lu Qingchen took away did not show up in the battle. Inside the two fortresses, there was barely any force that could stop the savaging of the experts such as Ding Ling Dong. They broke through the plate armor and the cabin walls one after another as if they were tearing apart pieces of paper.
"The two fortresses have been completely suppressed by us!"
Ding Lingdang roared in the communication channel. "The enemy's combat ability is much weaker than we thought. So far, we haven't found a single Colossus. The number of crystal suits is seriously insufficient, too. It's like Lu Qingchen took away 50% of the combat ability of the two Supreme Fortresses in advance!"
"Be careful."
Li Yao reminded her, "I vaguely feel that something is not right. There's no reason for Lu Qingchen to send the remaining two fortresses to die for nothing after losing two of them in the collision … Be careful that he turns the Phantom Ocean Fortress and the Sharp Gold Fortress into powerful bombs and activates the self-detonation system of the two fortresses, hoping to die together with you!"
"I know. I won't let him win."
Ding Ling Dong laughed aloud. "The Supreme Battle Fortresses are not real bombs after all. The so-called self-detonation system is not designed to kill the enemy on a large scale, either. Even if Lu Qingchen does detonate all the fuel and ammunition in the two fortresses, the blast can't spread far in the vacuum. The radiation and the high-energy particles can't cause heavy damage to the Colossi.
"Is Lu Qingchen stupid enough to sacrifice two fortresses just to cause 'superficial wounds' to dozens of Colossi?
"Rest assured. We will not enter the core activities of the two fortresses, especially their arsenals and fuel warehouses. We will definitely keep a safe distance from them. Whatever tricks Lu Qingchen has up his sleeves, we will wander on the surface of the Supreme Battle Fortresses and knock down their firing points and defense runes one after another.
"After all the firing points, turrets, defense runes, and power units on the surface of the fortress have been knocked out by us, making it unable to fight, hide, or escape, we will immediately retreat and let the warships focus fire from a distance to wear down its defense. However thick its plate armor is, it won't be able to resist for long.
"The only problem right now is that our battle has disrupted the spiritual and magnetic balance in the space, making the torrents of meteorites and magnetic field interference even more violent and disorderly. It's almost like … an unprecedented thunderstorm is brewing. Is this Lu Qingchen's purpose? He does not want to count on the two Supreme Battle Fortresses but wants to annihilate us with the power of nature and make us repeat the mistakes of 'Thick Earth Fortress' and 'Scorching Fire Fortress'?"
Li Li Yao thought of it.
It was the only possibility.
Otherwise, the two fortresses, which had incomplete battle systems and did not even carry a Colossus, couldn't possibly be a match for the hundred Colossi of the exploration fleet.
Lu Qingchen was well aware of that.
Then, what if he borrowed the strength of "Gu Shisan"? For example, could he create another collision on "Gu Shisan" and shatter "Gu Shisan", which was already very fragile in the first place, so that a tsunami of materials, magnetic fields, radiations, and high-energy particles would be raised?
Theoretically speaking, it was indeed possible that the entire exploration fleet as well as all the Colossi would be swallowed by the surging tides.
The question was, what could Lu Qingchen do to blow up "Gu Shisan", which was a satellite more than five thousand kilometers in diameter?
Unless Lu Qingchen was so capable that he could drill a hole more than two thousand kilometers deep on the crust of "Gu Shisan" in advance and fill it with astronomical crystal bombs, it would be possible for him to blow "Gu Shisan" into smithereens in an explosion.
It was impossible. Lu Qingchen had only arrived here seven to ten days ago. He did not have so much time or so many crystal bombs to carry out such an absurd tactic.
Even so, under Li Yao's reminder, Li Linghai still strengthened the monitoring between the battlefield and "Gu Shisan" to make sure that he did not miss any anomaly.
The astronomical parameters of the stone belts, such as the speed of the meteoroids, the density of the cosmic dust, the intensity of the interferences, and so on, were all under high surveillance.
So far, although the intensity of the interferences and the density of the cosmic dust had been increasing, which caused a lot of damage to the spiritual shields and the power units of the starships, it was still bearable.
Lu Qingchen's two fortresses, on the other hand, gradually slowed down and began to rotate irregularly. It was obvious that the power units of the main working medium had been blown up by the Colossi of Ding Ling Dong and the rest of them, resulting in the uneven power output.
The two fortresses were like hippopotamuses and rhinoceroses whose legs had been broken. No matter how thick their armor was, how strong their impact was, and how sharp their front teeth and horns were, they were screwed.
Bright fireballs rose on the surface of the two fortresses almost at the same time. Even the last spiritual shield that was as thin as paper was immediately dispersed, revealing their pale and twisted plate armor.
Cheers echoed in the communication channel. As it turned out, Ding Ling Dong and the other experts had successfully completed the mission of destroying the enemy's main guns, main defense arrays, and main power units.
In the next moment, the fast attack warships on the exploration fleet's side, which were small but agile and had rapid firepower, could swarm forward like piranhas and tear apart the two paralyzed behemoths to their heart's content.
Li Yao, on the other hand, was frowning harder and harder. Lu Qingchen's hideous, gloomy, and insane face popped up in his head again.
"All bark and no bite. Lu Qingchen, Lu Qingchen, you've gone through all the trouble to set up such a trap, sacrificing two Supreme Fortresses and countless puppets, just to delay us for half a day?"
Li Yao's intuition told him that it was impossible.
Lu Qingchen was a man who had to summon all his willpower and wisdom to fight to the end even when his remaining soul was captured by 'Fuxi'. How could he have announced his surrender with such an idiotic tactic that was almost suicidal?
There was also the Supreme Battle Fort and the Deadwood Battle Fort. Where on earth were they hiding?
If Lu Qingchen had entered the mausoleum of the Supreme Emperor, he obviously wouldn't have brought such an enormous fortress with him. So, was the fortress hiding somewhere and preparing to ambush them?
However, even if a single fortress joined the battlefield, it was impossible to change the situation.
Therefore … Therefore …
Dense cold sweat was popping up on Li Yao's forehead.
"Have you detected any abnormal high-energy reactions between the battlefield and 'Gu Shisan'? I mean, traces of the 'Dry Wood Fortress'?"
He raised his voice and asked Li Linghai.
"No. We've sent out almost all the probe cameras and monitored every inch between the battlefield and 'Gu Shisan'. Even a hidden starship would've been discovered by us, not to mention such an enormous space fortress."
Li Linghai's voice was mixed with intense confusion and uneasiness, too. "This battle is rather weird. Lu Qingchen's trap is too simple and vulnerable. Is this the extent of his control over the five fortresses, or …"
Right then, the two of them heard earsplitting alarms at the same time.
Highly unusual high-energy reactions had been detected. The last fortress had shown up, but it was neither in the dense asteroid belt in front of and behind them nor in the dark vacuum between the asteroid belt and 'Gu Shisan'. Instead, it was between 'Gu Shisan' and the ancient giant star, closer to the gravity sphere of the ancient giant star.
In the fierce battle just now, everybody's attention had been attracted by the 'Phantom Ocean Fortress' and the 'Sharp Gold Fortress'. Even Li Yao and Li Linghai, who could smell that something was wrong on the battlefield, had also spread out their wariness between the asteroid belt and 'Gu Shisan', fearing that Lu Qingchen was up to something with 'Gu Shisan'. Nobody paid any attention to the side of the ancient giant star.
It was not until this moment that the 'Dry Wood Fortress' unleashed the most powerful spiritual energy and spurted out the magnificent exhaust flames that were thousands of kilometers long that the high-energy reactions were detected by the exploration fleet.
Shua! Shua! Shua!
Shua! Shua! Countless surveillance cameras were immediately turned to the ancient giant star and captured almost ten thousand pictures from various angles, assembling the soul-stirring and unbelievable scene.
The 'Dry Wood Fortress' was the weirdest of the five fortresses in the first place. It did not seem to be made of metal but more like a certain enormous plant that the Kuafu Clan in the primeval era had made. The surface of the fortress was full of vines that were as thick as boas.
However, right now, the 'vines' were deeply embedded into an enormous asteroid and tied the asteroid to the Dry Wood Fortress itself.
It was impossible to analyze the diameter and mass of the asteroid due to the long distance, but judging from the size of the asteroid and the Dry Wood Fortress, the ratio of their sizes was at least ten to one. The asteroid was ten times larger than the Dry Wood Fortress. It was almost beyond the category of asteroids but an asteroid!
Since the very beginning, the Dry Wood Fortress had been 'binding' the asteroid and floating at the periphery of the gravity sphere of the ancient giant star quietly. It had even entered the gravity sphere of the ancient giant star and was slowly falling toward it.
Because the surface of the Dry Wood Fortress was covered in a lot of exotic materials that were neither gold nor iron, it was barely detectable by the metal probe magical equipment. Also, with such a huge asteroid as a cover, nobody expected that it would be hiding in this place.
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