After several consecutive teleports, the fleet finally arrived safely at the peaceful region of the Void. After confirming that there were no physical worlds within the next teleport range, Sandora teleported from the Third Army's flagship to the Empire Admiral's bridge to meet up with us. Together with her were Lin Xue, Big Sis, and the others. No wonder the timing and location of the reinforcements had been so perfect. It turned out that Miss Lin had come along as well.
The vicious battle had finally ended. The Fallen Apostle's ambush had been defeated with great difficulty by the Empire's fleet. Everyone couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. Even the simple-minded Shallow Shallow had a frightened expression on her face. The moment Big Sis appeared, she grabbed my arm and dragged me to the side. She looked me up and down several times before patting her chest in fear. "You scared me to death. It's good that you're alright …"
"I'm alright." I smiled tiredly. I hadn't suffered any injuries. However, in the later stages of the battle, due to the gravity traps' collapse one by one, I had no choice but to use my Void Domain to envelop the entire fleet for several hours. Not only that, I had to accurately deal with the enemies within the Void Domain, which was quite taxing on me. However, in order to prevent Big Sis from worrying, I didn't want to talk about these things. "Those two lunatics are the ones who make me worry. Let's see how they're doing."
As I said that, my gaze fell on the seats not far away. Pandora and Visca were sitting side by side on spacious chairs, resting. Their entire bodies were covered in black dust. Sparks kept bursting out from the seams of their light battle armor. It was truly impressive that their protective gear hadn't been completely destroyed. The two sisters looked listless. The severe overload of their components and the lack of energy from their energy furnaces finally calmed the two lunatics down. Their heads were still steaming. Xiaoxue was toasting bread on top of Pandora's head as if she was playing a prank. She was extraordinarily efficient. Noticing that Big Sis and I were looking at her, Visca immediately turned her head and smiled foolishly at us. She also blew out a black smoke ring.
The cat-eyed loli was probably speechless due to the chaotic pace of the battle. She raised the sign in her hand, which had a line of words written on it: "Brother, I'm having a great time fighting!"
These two battle maniacs were probably the only ones who were happy at the scene.
The Protoss squad of five and Jingle were resting on the other side. They weren't citizens of the Empire, but they had been extraordinarily active in the battle just now. I even suspected that they had almost forgotten their nationality after eating for so long. For the first time, Elson's eye-catching golden armor showed its tattered appearance. Because he dared to provoke heavy firepower, he was almost killed by the concentrated fire of the Fallen Apostle's fleet. Now, he looked like a tribal prince who had escaped from East Africa. He waited for his armor to automatically repair itself while he used holy light to heal Monina's injuries. As for the team's original healer, Jingle, she had long been exhausted in the battle just now. Now, the little thing was lying on the armrest of the chair like a big dragonfly that had been dizzy from the sun. She did not look like her usual lively self, and even her wings were wrinkled. Uncle Kenser seemed to be in good condition. He was busy using dolls and other toys to attract Lin's attention. The Dragon God girl was hit in the face by a warp bullet in the late stages of the battle. One of her heads in her twin-headed dragon form instantly went into shock, and she was now in a brain-dead state. Icetis was probably the only one among the Protoss squad who was completely fine. As a high-level Protoss, it wasn't easy for her to exhaust her stamina in such a battle. Now, that female pervert was entangling Sandora, seemingly showing off her heroic performance in the battle. Sandora had a helpless and troubled expression on her face. She kept glancing in my direction, seemingly looking for an opportunity to get rid of the trouble before her.
The command hall below was still bustling with activity. Now that there were no warnings from the ship's mainframe and calls from the various damage control departments, it seemed to have quietened down significantly. The Imperial Army officers were busy calculating the battle damage, organizing the intelligence gathered during the battle, and directing the repair work on the damaged areas of the Empire Admiral. Even after the battle, a lot of work would not be completed so quickly.
"The preliminary battle results are out." Sandora seemed to have finally gotten rid of Icetis. She walked quickly to my side, holding a MDT in her hand. "Take a look for yourself. I can only say that we were lucky."
I quickly scanned through the statistics. They described the best possible outcome for a large-scale ambush. The enemy was clearly well-prepared and had invested a considerable number of mixed fleets. After the Empire's fleet entered the material world, it immediately encountered fierce attacks and various targeted surprise attacks. For example, the Warsong faced assault ships and various harassment ships used to divert the Avengers' firepower. As a result, half of the warships in the Empire's fleet almost completely lost their combat effectiveness, and a third of the warships were completely scrapped. If it wasn't for the Shiring Apostles' soul transfer technology, the losses in this battle could be described as tragic. However, due to the existence of the prophet class, the Empire's fleet was able to defend against the most dangerous attacks to the greatest extent. They also summoned reinforcements at a speed that the enemy did not expect. At the same time, the activity of the five Protoss Bars and the strange combat power of the Avengers' T2 warships were probably out of the Fallen Apostles' expectations. As a result, the enemy suffered almost the same amount of losses while achieving great results. It could be said that due to the two major factors of the prophet and the elite, the Empire's fleet mostly offset the enemy's ambush advantage in this battle. However, this offset was ultimately temporary and partial. As the battle progressed, the combat power of the Empire's fleet continued to weaken, and the enemy's reinforcements continued to follow. Our losses continued to increase. Fortunately, Godfather's timely intervention was the key to turning the situation around. Due to the huge disparity in numbers and the fact that our retreat route was blocked, the Empire's fleet could have been completely routed. However, Godfather actually directly ran over and crushed the Fallen Apostles' heavily guarded Void Disruptor … That thing was undoubtedly a strategic device, the key to ensuring the success of the ambush. However, Godfather used less than a minute to find it and crush it. I could only say that Cyndia's ultimate move was truly amazing.
God Father's stunning pinch had definitely achieved far greater results than if he had rushed out to help us attack the spaceship. The Fallen Apostles' ambush was thus destroyed, and it became a regular battle. After Shadora's reinforcements arrived, the Fallen Apostles finally chose to give up.
"What a huge loss …" I smiled wryly and shook my head. "Many of the enemy died as well. This is probably the only good news."
"To be honest, this is already countless times better than what I expected." Sandora exhaled. "Originally, we could have been completely wiped out. Do you know that we are now evenly matched? I no longer have any higher expectations for this kind of battle result. More importantly, we have gathered a large amount of intelligence: the actual battle data of the Fallen Apostles. This harvest is extremely important. This is the first time the enemy has engaged in such an intense battle with the Imperial Army. They revealed their main forces, revealing more than in any other battle in the past. Their combat style, combat power, and the composition of their troops are finally clear. More importantly … "At this point, Sandora's lips suddenly curled up." They have revealed two of their deeply hidden troops: the Dimensional Gemini and the Armored Scorpion. These two troops have never been used before, and we almost overlooked them. Now, it seems that they have indeed retained a large portion of the old Empire's information. Let's not talk about the Armored Scorpion for now. Once the existence of the Dimensional Gemini is exposed, their strategic significance will instantly drop by several levels. I think you should know the reason. "
Sandora's explanation made my mind clear. At this moment, the isolation gate at the back of the officers' platform suddenly opened. There was a rapid sound of metal rubbing behind the gate. A tall figure shrouded in the smell of gunpowder appeared in front of us. It was Sister Scorpion, Veigar, who had just returned from the research ship.
"Veigar, you should take a rest first. Take a look at your injuries." I frowned. Sister Scorpion didn't seem to be in good condition. Her mechanical scorpion was bursting with bright sparks everywhere. The mechanical parts must have suffered serious damage. There were several serious wounds on her human upper body. The areas that were not covered by the cool armor that was not much bigger than a waistcoat were left by the enemy's scorpions. The size of the wounds was shocking. Her long brown hair was scattered over her shoulders. Her face was covered in dust and even molten metal. Veigar looked as though he had just fought his way out of hell. Although I knew it was inappropriate to say this in this situation, I felt really uncomfortable to see a woman covered in wounds in front of me. Especially when she was loyal to me and was saluting while dragging her wounds.
"These injuries can be ignored. The defense and vitality of the Armored Scorpions are super strong." Veigar moved his arms nonchalantly. There was no blood flowing out of the blue glowing wounds. The Armored Scorpions should not have any blood. "I came here to report something. The scientists on the research ship said that the two Gemini took a lot of things with them before they escaped."
"Took things with them?" I frowned, feeling that something was wrong. "What things?"
"A mess of everything." Veigar's careless side was exposed. She probably didn't understand how precious the things in the laboratory were. "The enemy probably wanted to snatch the data. But after the group of Black Scorpions rushed in, an engineer who couldn't retreat in time hugged the laboratory mainframe and self-destructed. So, they started to snatch the samples and other equipment. Basically, everything that could be taken away from the laboratory was taken away by the two guys who ran faster than anything else..."
"Including the EN-166 sample..." I suddenly understood and clenched my teeth. "Those bastards!"
"EN-166?" Sandora looked at me in confusion. "What is it?"
"Tens of thousands of years ago, the first sample that the Old Empire obtained from the other side of the river. The predecessor of Black Shuttle." I quickly gave a brief overview of the EN-166. "So, the real purpose of the Fallen Apostle was actually that?! They paid such a high price just to snatch a pile of sand? "
"They didn't expect to pay such a high price," Sandora thought for a while. "Besides, I don't think they knew about the EN-166. According to Veigar's report, the Gemini took away everything in the laboratory section. It can be said that, except for the entire spaceship, the enemy had no way to distinguish what was there to snatch. So, they probably weren't sure what they could find."
"But they were sure that the Empire's fleet must have found something vital in the wreckage of that world," the elder sister suddenly said. "So, they organized this ambush. Their original goal was to snatch the sample?"
"If that's the case, I can only say that they have a general who loves grandiosity." The corner of Sandora's mouth curled up again. "If they only wanted to snatch the sample, they wouldn't have had to develop into such a battle. It seems that they still wanted to annihilate the entire Empire's fleet. In the end, the losses they paid were almost the same as the number of people who were ambushed."
"No matter what, we were tricked severely this time." I felt very unhappy. "The loss of the fleet and the sample. Compared to these losses, even if they annihilated a legion of the Fallen Apostles, it would be difficult to recover... Sigh."
"The sample that was snatched was only a part of it." Xiaoxue wandered over and reminded me from the side. "Before the research ship was ambushed, the sample was divided into several parts and sent to other spaceships."
With Xiaoxue's reminder, I recalled that I had indeed given such an order back then. I didn't expect that the order I had given in a moment of desperation would have such a great effect. In other words, most of the EN-166 sample was still preserved. It's just that...
Some of the things that I had originally planned to monopolize still ended up in the hands of the Fallen Apostles.
I shook my head and tried my best to calm my thoughts down again. The exhaustion from the previous battle had made my mind a little unstable. Now, even when I was thinking about problems, I seemed to be constantly restless. In this battle, in terms of the loss of the fleet, both sides had practically exchanged the outcome. The Imperial Army was at a certain disadvantage. In terms of intelligence, we had collected a large amount of combat data from the Fallen Apostles, but at the same time, we had also leaked the EN-166 sample. A portion of the sample had even fallen into the hands of the enemy... Personally, I urgently wanted to charge into the Abyss Empire and press the Fallen Emperor, who had organized the ambush, to the ground and directly kill him. However, rationally speaking, I only had one choice.
"Withdraw the troops and return to the country. What needs to be repaired, what needs to be prepared for war, and also... increase the ratio of the research and development department. Right now, the Fallen Apostles have the same sample as us. We have to be ahead of the enemy."
Sandora silently glanced at me and suddenly revealed a faint smile. "You have really grown up now."
"You have?" I was very surprised. I felt that I had just said something that was only natural. After all, looking at the current situation, to continue to increase the power of the Empire and suppress the development of the Fallen Apostles, this was the only choice. Apart from that, the only thing I could think of was to return with my eyes bloodshot and my fleet... In that case, I would most likely come back lying on the ground.
"Although it is still not enough, it is already very good," Sandora quietly said. "Not only do we have to prepare for war and speed up the research and development project, we also have to consider the changes in the situation in the future. Today's encounter was the largest battle that has ever occurred between the two sides in a standoff. You can roughly understand what this means. In the future, the military operations of the Fallen Apostles will probably increase, and the scale will also be larger. The harassment of the Sixth Army at the border will no longer be of much use. Furthermore, based on this ambush, it is very likely that the enemy's surveillance of their border has increased. The movements of the Imperial Army in this area are all under their surveillance. So, we have to withdraw the Sixth Army and only leave behind the original Abyssal fleet to continue monitoring. The garrisons at the borders of the Empire must be increased, and we have to add a batch of military World Gates to ensure that we can deal with large-scale attacks at any time. The restoration and organization of the mystical side's information is already more than half done. Right now, factories at all levels have already started operating. We have to prioritize increasing the number of mystical units and equipment for the First and Sixth Army and intensify their training. Father God's action means that the Protoss has officially declared war on the Fallen Apostles. This might make the Fallen Apostles extremely fearful and restrain their military operations for a short period of time. However, they know that the majority of the Protoss's forces have already been mobilized for the expedition, so their restraint is also limited. Furthermore, if this drags on for too long, it is hard to guarantee that they won't be driven to desperate action. These are all problems that need to be considered. "
I exhaled. I felt that the most fortunate thing for me was to have Sandora by my side.
As well as … many others.
My gaze swept across the military platform as I began to search for Lin Xue and Xiaoxue's figures. One of the greatest contributors to today's crisis was the military prophet — Chen Xiaoxue. Although she was a naughty child, I felt that I had to praise her. In the end, I saw the mother and daughter in a corner. What was surprising was that Miss Lin seemed to be teaching her daughter a lesson. Xiaoxue had her head lowered and didn't make a sound, as though she was obediently being scolded. Miss Lin, on the other hand, was acting majestically in front of her. What was going on?
I quickly walked over. Miss Lin sensed something and immediately turned her head. "Blockhead."
"Err, what's wrong? Did Xiaoxue make a mistake? "
"As a military prophet, the fleet actually drove straight into the enemy's trap and only gave a warning five minutes in advance. Isn't that a big enough mistake?" Miss Lin's face was filled with anger. "I should have told her long ago that when a military prophet goes into battle, she must ensure that her foresight is on the entire time. Most of the time, she won't be able to react in time! If this child was half as capable as I am, the fleet wouldn't have met with such a mishap! "
"But I really only have half of my mother's capabilities …" Xiaoxue muttered softly. "Plus, you never told me that a military prophet must be on the entire time when I was young. This is the first time I've heard of it … Isn't she going to die of exhaustion …"
"Be obedient!" Miss Lin roared. Xiaoxue quickly lowered her head again. This naughty child who isn't afraid of anything in this world still has some respect for her parents. "I should have known that this child is unreliable. If only I had taken one more look at her before we departed …"
Hearing this, I understood. Although Miss Lin was lecturing the child, in the end … she was just blaming herself. It was because she hadn't calculated everything properly that the fleet had been ambushed. With Miss Lin's strong personality, I should have known that she would have such a feeling. However … the unlucky naughty child, Xiaoxue, was implicated.
Just as I was thinking about that, Xiaoxue suddenly blinked at me and said through the mental connection, "Dad, you should go do what you need to do. I know what happened to my mother. She will be fine in a while."
I was speechless. This child!
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