Chapter 401 Emerging from the Water

Meanwhile, the combined attacks of Humanity's Second and Third Fleets wove an invisible net, forming a blockade against the Guardian Battleship.

At this moment, despite its surface still shining as if it were brand new and without a single scratch, the Guardian Battleship, under the relentless bombardment, found itself frequently forced to dodge desperately, and even exhibited slight tremors.

Each assault from the Human Warships was like a precise probe, trying to uncover that layer of mystery and seek out its weaknesses.

All this allowed the fleet commanders to get their first "glimpse" of a ray of hope in defeating the Guardian Civilization.

The battlefield seemed to be locked in an endless stalemate, with only the combatants' wills colliding and surging through the void.

The war appeared set to drag on indefinitely until the Human First Fleet, like a mighty dragon, sailed into the battle zone and completed the encirclement of that Guardian Battleship.

Such ferocious attacks even managed to interrupt the Guardian Battleship's process of releasing the "Sealing Cloud" for a moment, an achievement that shone like a bright light in the endless darkness, giving Humanity boundless confidence and encouragement.

After several hours of intense combat, although the Guardian Battleship was forced to retreat under the relentless Human onslaught, its robust defense and counterattack capabilities were still astonishing. While Human Warships charged valiantly ahead, they could not deal a fatal blow to that vessel, and instead, under the fierce counterattacks of the Guardian, they suffered heavy losses, with their ships extinguishing like snuffed-out candles, one by one, disappearing into the cosmos.

Concentrating attacks could temporarily boost firepower, yet it also provided openings for the Guardian Battleship to dodge and escape.

If the current intensity of the attacks was maintained, Humanity's Warships would lose a million vessels in less than eight days, and by then, Humanity would completely lose its chance to destroy that battleship, and the first light of victory would also be extinguished.

In the end, the Human Ship Commander "decided" that more forces must be committed, no matter the cost, to utterly destroy the Guardian Battleship in the starry sea.

At that time, Humanity's last two million-strong Fleets also emerged, like twin bolts of lightning tearing through the night sky, racing toward the battlefield at the speed of light, and they were expected to join this ultimate decisive battle that would determine Humanity's fate in fifty hours.

*

Guardian Commander: "I never expected that these insects would truly have such vast power hidden away. It's inconceivable.

"And even more unexpectedly, their concealed Warships are so close to us, at a distance of less than five hundred astronomical units.

"This boldness, this strategy, is like a crude jolt to our strategical nerves."

The Staff Office's head, not without shock in his tone, said, "Yes, the military strength and tactical wisdom they have displayed have far surpassed our initial estimates.

"We were too presumptuous, thinking that their control over such a vast collective would surely mean they were rigid in strategy and tactics. But now we see that it is their strategic and tactical skills that are their strongest.

"Our original plan was to feign weakness in earlier skirmishes, inducing them into believing they needed to commit more troops to succeed.

"Yet, reality tells us that the intensity of their Warship attacks is nearing the limits of what our ships can endure. Those seemingly desperate defenses are not a ruse, but rather our fleet's tenacious struggle on the brink of life and death.

"Their tactical acumen and advanced combat awareness, as if they can see into the future, predicting each of our 'Sealing Cloud' strikes, have rendered our attacks as futile as stones sinking into the sea, causing only negligible damage to their fleet.

"Their precise control over the rhythm of the battlefield chills one to the bone.

"And at the strategic level, their play is even more cleverly devised, as if every move has been carefully calculated.

"Now, they have ingeniously forced one of our key Warships into a predicament, making it impossible to use the familiar terrain to maneuver and counterattack.

"This Warship, now trapped like a turtle in a jar, is in grave danger."

"If they truly amass a formidable force of four million warships, it might indeed be possible for them to destroy our vessel,"

The analysis from Staff Office, each word heavy, struck at the heart of everyone present.

Guardian Commander: "This is, indeed, a situation I had not anticipated. These insects, they have indeed managed to exert some pressure on us.

"Our battle plan must be slightly adjusted now. When their Fourth and Fifth Fleets reach the edge of the battlefield, all ten of our ambush warships must be dispatched. To ensure a decisive victory, the number of warships surrounding them can also be increased.

"For those nearly five million warships daring to besiege our lone vessel, what we need is to encircle and annihilate them.

"Let them bloom in their final brilliance in the endless abyss, and then fade into eternal silence."

The chief of the Staff Office spoke calmly and firmly, "To execute the central blossoming tactic and to annihilate them all, we propose increasing the number of encircling warships to twelve, to ensure that none slip through the net.

"This way, aside from the vessel sent for reconnaissance, we will only have seven warships left to prevent the unforeseen.

"At the same time, I have also issued a request for reinforcements. The nearest warship will arrive in nine months to bolster our defenses here."

The request for reinforcements did not signify any waning in their confidence in the battle; instead, it was to prevent potential invasions from the outside.

In the face of challenges thrown by the Divine Vessel Civilization, up until this moment, the Guardian Civilization might not have taken them seriously enough.

However, they were completely unaware that almost every step they took was within the calculations of humanity. What is more astonishing is that the current situation, seemingly complex and tangled, is actually one of the most ideal and favorable scenarios out of the numerous simulations conducted by humanity.

Even if the Guardian Civilization's warship had not been exposed, humanity had many more relentless measures at the ready.

Humanity had also successfully drawn the Guardian Civilization into the most taboo tactic in interstellar warfare—fueling the conflict, luring the enemy deeper and deeper, until the Guardian Civilization became ensnared, falling into the meticulously laid trap by humanity.

Of course, in the face of an absolute gap in power, any ingeniously conceived strategies would seem pale and powerless. The greatest crisis facing the Divine Vessel Civilization was the possibility that the technological level or the military deployment of the Guardian Civilization in this area far exceeded their estimates.

But according to the profound deductions of Cosmic Sociology, the technological level of the Guardian Civilization should not have reached that fearsome peak. Otherwise, they would not have been stationed here.

Even if the Divine Vessel Civilization were to temporarily suffer defeat in this contest of civilizations, they would still be able to capture valuable fragments of Second Type Civilization technology amidst the smoke of war.

The Divine Vessel of today is not easily extinguished. As long as the Divine Vessel retains the seed of civilization, then at some point in the future, the Divine Vessel Civilization will surely rise again, and may even experience an even more glorious revival.

Of course, this will not be simple, because after the war, the Guardian Civilization will certainly use various clues to trace the development of the Divine Vessel and carry out a purge against the Divine Vessel Civilization. The resurgence of the Divine Vessel will surely be infinitely difficult.

PS: The Black Fog City Wall is a cosmic structure imagined by the author, also to make the concept of the Dark Forest more plausible.

Otherwise, once a civilization grows to 1.2 levels, it would almost be impossible to annihilate, and below the speed of light, all civilizations become equal, for they cannot be pursued further.

If civilizations are hard to destroy, why then is the entire universe a Dark Forest? It should instead be a state where civilizations might still hide but would engage in active communication, and the primary need of any civilization is the development of technology.

So, by writing about the Black Fog City Wall, the author is actually describing a sort of enclosure, creating the possibility of complete annihilation, thus making the existence of the Dark Forest more reasonable.

The mention in the original text of the Low Light Speed Zone as a defensive measure similarly provides such a wall. It significantly restricts the expansion of civilizations on one hand and on the other, makes the complete annihilation of enemies possible.