Compared to Lothar's calmness, Ionglasper was much more nervous and aggressive. He watched the massacre unfold slowly from the bridge of the Spirit of Vengeance, searching for signs of the success of this high-risk tactic.
An entire fleet of Imperial frigates had been crippled early in the battle, their hulls cracked and now drifting off the battlefield.
The black marauders waged a devastating battle among the remaining ships, swooping down and pursuing the survivors with torpedoes and missiles, coupled with hammering salvos from the capital ships' long-range cannons. The raid has caused heavy losses to the empire's outer fleet.
However, the enemy remains as it is.
The Empire did not try to protect the outer fleet, but allowed the first wave of frigates to burn out. The main battleships remained in the center of the formation, their huge bodies surrounded by flames, and fire support from the rear protected them.
Soon, the number of light spear strikes reached a critical level, and numerous beams penetrated the void, as if they were going to completely burn the void.
Since there was no room to move sideways, the Black Legion fleet could only turn and fire broadside artillery fire from the belly turret, trying to match the opponent's firepower level.
On the bridge of the Vengeful Spirit, tactical reports poured in like a flood. Servants running around kept delivering tactical reports and then forwarded them to the legion's command node.
Many jumping gangs have already approached the bridge of their prey. Three light battleships have already occupied it, another six are still being fought over, and two more have been destroyed from within.
Slowly, Iongrasper began to realize the truth——
The commander of the empire, no matter who this guy is, he doesn't mind letting small ships die.
Those frigates were undermanned and poorly protected. They were bait for infantry raids. The enemy had already expected a gang-hopping raid.
The commanders of the empire are obviously aware that their main battleships have an advantage. They are now targeting the Vengeful Spirit with their front weapon arrays. Now this powerful battleship may be able to compete with the opponent for a while, but it cannot last long——
More importantly, Eingraspeer invested too many troops in the first wave of offensive. He originally thought that the enemy would not hand over the ships easily, and then he could only sacrifice the formation to save the ships.
But that's what the Imperials did, they chose to abandon their warships and comrades.
"God damn bastard!"
Aingra Speer felt an inexplicable pain rising in his stomach. The Spirit of Vengeance had already moved forward to fight, straight into the center of the storm, and all the light spears on the ship's hull were thundering.
The battleship's machine soul has tried its best to control the battleship, roll the hull, adjust the angle, and maximize the effectiveness of the artillery.
Around it, the burnt carcass of the ship bumped and swirled in space, but Iongraspeer decided that wasn't good enough.
"——He knew I would send out gang jumpers."
In front of him, at the edge of the Firebird Divination, the core battleship group of the Empire began to enter the range of the Vengeful Spirit's light spear.
They did not try to protect the frigate group within the range of fire. Judging from the detected energy readings, they seemed to want to fire directly at the Black Legion fleet. Although this would definitely affect their own ships, they had already concluded that : Many ships have been paralyzed by jump gangs, so choose the option that will cause the least damage to the overall fleet.
This is a despicable philosophy of war.
But Aingra Speer had to admit that the other party made the right choice.
He checked the timer and found that three hours had passed since the battle began. The actual progress was far lower than expected. Unless the situation changed rapidly, there was no possibility of a breakthrough in his raid.
"Increase fleet attack speed!"
With his thundering voice, Iongraspiel knew he had pushed the fleet to its limit.
"Order all ships to concentrate their firepower on the forward formation!"
He believed that everything was not over yet. The two giant forces were still crushing each other. An unexpected rupture of the subspace core or a sudden mental breakdown could still change the situation of the war.
The Imperial fleet stood firm in the flames, as calm and cold as a machine.
"Break through them!"
Iongraspiel roared, his fists clenched and his voice trembling with rage burning from deep within.
"In the name of the gods, break through them!"
Brother Lothar, the fourth captain of the Astral Knights and the master of the fleet, is looking at the real-life window of the bridge. The red void in the distance is filled with explosions. The nearby space is filled with arcs produced when energy tears through the giant ship. Everything is silent. The place is almost eerie.
While he was watching, the burning body of a strike cruiser with the Dark Angel mark flew past his field of vision. Its keel had been broken, and its lower belly was flowing out of the rescue cabin, as if it was laying eggs in the sea.
"status report."
Almost every five minutes, he would issue such an order.
Soon, a massive amount of information flooded into his sight.
He only needs to glance at the tactical window to know what changes are taking place on the battlefield. There is no doubt that no matter who the fleet commander of the Black Legion is, his strategy has no chance of success.
The imperial fleet's blockade remained strong, and he deliberately abandoned the outer fleet to defend the defense line, while the enemy focused on those small battleships, reducing its own forces and consuming important jumping troops on weaker vanguard escorts.
The continuous gang-hopping operations have indeed weakened the protective shield formed by small ships, but it is not enough to tear apart the main fleet formation.
Cruel and precise calculations are what Lothar believes are the rules for winning naval battles.
Although the Spirit of Vengeance has rushed into the center of the battlefield, its sides gleaming with the fire of macro cannons, its single battleship cannot shake the steel wall of the empire.
The Endless Fury held firm further away, firing wave after wave of light spears and torpedoes, smashing a path composed of a series of explosions and broken keels towards the Empire's formation, but it was too slow and too blunt.
Although the number of Chaos warships is greater than before, the integrity rate is not high. This is the second advantage analyzed by Lothar.
It is impossible for the enemy to exert its full combat effectiveness, and they can even force it to withdraw from the battle by focusing fire on one of the damaged warships.
As long as he continues to fight like this, Lothar believes he can gain the upper hand.
He could even accept the battle loss ratio of two ships for every ship that penetrated the Black Legion.
On the Eingraspiel side, the fleet had been pushed to the limit. He knew that they had to cut a hole in the defense line and smash the support ships out of place. He almost did it in one of the areas - revenge. The Spirit shattered its nearest opponent, a behemoth of a Dark Angels strike cruiser, and moved on, firing all guns blazing, into the very center of the battle sphere.
But as a rift cannon from the Eternal Loyalty suddenly opened fire, the side deck of the Vengeful Spirit was almost penetrated. Although the machine spirit's early warning allowed it to escape the fatal blow, this also frightened Iongra Speer. It’s so embarrassing that I don’t dare to move forward with my thick shield and armor——
