175: Chapter 175 Seventh Squadron

The rear airspace where Zhou An was located.

Because this area was currently located at about seventy percent of the total progress, it had not yet been affected by the main force. However, the murderous atmosphere permeating the air had already made everyone tense.

At this moment, Ivy was standing in the command room of an LV5 main battleship, her gaze fixed like a torch on the holographic tactical radar in front of her.

With Zhou An pouring in two hundred million in combat supplies and Luo Ning's crazy, day-and-night modifications, the White Feather Guild's paper strength had seen an epic surge. Now, the number of LV5 battleships under their command had reached a full fifty-three!

Ivy reorganized these fifty-three battleships: ten ships formed a standard main battle formation, totaling five large formations. The remaining three ships served as suicide guards, staying close to the 'wind chaser' battleship at all times.

Each formation carried about thirty escort battleships.

"Beep—beep—beep—"

Suddenly, a string of dazzling red alarms lit up on the edge of the tactical radar.

"Report, Elder! Unknown fleet signals captured at the nine o'clock position on the outer perimeter of the defense zone!" the radar operator reported loudly.

"System identification complete... It's the fleet characteristics of the Dragonman Guild! There are about twelve ships, all LV4 or higher level. Judging by the formation, they should be vanguard scouts here to probe the rear!"

"The Dragonman Guild's dog noses actually smelled their way to the rear so quickly." Ivy snorted coldly, her eyes full of killing intent. Since both sides were already at full-scale war, there was no need to be polite.

"Pass on my order! Since they dare to penetrate deep alone, then leave them all here for me! If we can wipe out some of the Beast Race's vital forces, we'll have a better chance of winning!"

Ivy pressed her hands on the command console and gave the order swiftly and decisively: "The 1st Formation and 2nd Formation will attack immediately! Activate optical stealth, pull an arc from the left and right flanks, and implement a double envelopment! Do not let a single enemy ship escape!"

"Understood!"

In space, the engines of twenty brand-new LV5 battleships roared. Under the support of the legendary grade stealth modules personally replaced by Luo Ning, the massive fleet blended into the cloud sea like ghosts, quietly flanking the Dragonman scout fleet.

Ten minutes later, the firefight erupted instantly!

"Boom—!"

By the time the Dragonman Guild's vanguard fleet reacted, they were already locked tightly in the center of the crossfire by the twenty battleships.

"Fire!"

As Ivy gave the order, the legendary grade weapon modules displayed breathtaking destructive power. Plasma beams and dense micro-antimatter missiles poured out, instantly tearing through the Dragonman battleships' proud armor protection.

In just one exchange, the shields of the twelve Dragonman battleships shattered like paper, exploding one after another into brilliant fireballs in the vacuum. This was a one-sided massacre relying on equipment generation gaps and numerical superiority.

In less than twenty minutes, the battle was over. That arrogant Dragonman vanguard formation hadn't even managed to send out a distress signal before completely turning into space junk in the cloud sea.

Looking at the hostile red dots completely cleared from the radar, Ivy calmly pressed the communication key: "Danger cleared. Notify the logistics unit to immediately dispatch individual aircraft and engineering drones to start cleaning up the battlefield. Recover all scattered battleship wreckage, weapon modules, and the enemies' power cores; don't waste a single bit of supplies!"

Not far from where the battle took place, the 7th Formation of the Dragonman Guild's 4th Division was entrenched.

Within the entire Beast Race faction of the Cangyun Airspace, the Dragonman Guild was absolutely a terrifying war machine. The entire guild possessed about five hundred thousand pure-blooded and half-blooded Dragonmen, almost all of whom were naturally warlike combatants.

This five-hundred-thousand-strong army was divided into five large divisions, each governing one hundred thousand people. Under each division, every one thousand people formed an independent combat formation. A single division alone possessed one hundred such militant formations. This exaggerated military foundation was enough to make any small or medium-sized race feel despair.

Although the Dragonman Guild was powerful, LV6-level battleships were still the absolute leaders in this airspace, belonging to the rare strategic-level weapons of mass destruction.

Therefore, this one-thousand-man 7th Formation was not equipped with LV6s, but their assets were still substantial, possessing a full twenty LV5-level heavy battleships armed to the teeth.

In the main ship's conference room, the 7th Formation's Captain Cliff was sitting in the main seat with a bold and unconstrained posture.

Captain Cliff was a prime-aged male Dragonman, his body covered in hard, dark red scales, with black horns curving backward on both sides of his forehead. He wore no extra armor, relying purely on the explosive muscle lines and thick scales to manifest a sense of oppression, and his dark golden vertical pupils revealed a beast-like ferocity.

"Captain, the vanguard scout team has lost contact." An intelligence officer walked up quickly. "Before the scout ship was completely destroyed, it desperately transmitted the last segment of optical footage."

The screen lit up, showing the scene of the White Feather Guild double-enveloping and one-sidedly slaughtering the scout team just a moment ago.

Captain Cliff's vertical pupils contracted slightly, staring intently at the enemy ships in the footage that had been hidden in the cloud sea and suddenly opened fire. "This firepower configuration and outer armor... are they all LV5? And looking at the formation, there are no fewer than ten or more ships!"

Captain Cliff touched his chin, which was covered in barbs. He was not impulsive and spoke decisively: "This force is not something our regular formation can easily swallow; we might capsize if we're not careful. Connect to the Vice Minister's communication."

Soon, the holographic projection flickered, and Vice Minister Stella of the 4th Division appeared on the screen. She was a female Dragonman with a heroic appearance, also having dark red skin, but her scales were finer and tighter, outlining her tall and robust figure. Her eyes revealed the majesty of someone in a high position, making people afraid to look directly at her.

"Captain Cliff, the war is tight; you'd better have some valuable intelligence if you're looking for me at this time." Vice Minister Stella said coldly.

"Vice Minister, we caught a big fish in the rear." Captain Cliff grinned, revealing his fang-filled mouth, and pointed to the frozen screen beside him. "A fleet of the Winged Race, with fierce firepower, at least ten or more LV5 battleships."

Vice Minister Stella frowned slightly, a flash of doubt in her eyes: "A fleet of the Winged Race? Aren't King Dominic that old thing's troops all concentrated on the front defense line preparing to fight us to the death? How could there be so many high-level battleships hiding in the rear?"

She immediately turned to her adjutant and ordered: "Retrieve the identification codes of this batch of battleships and compare them with the intelligence database." A few seconds later, the adjutant reported: "Vice Minister, found it. It's the exclusive paint job of the Winged Race [White Feather Guild]."

"White Feather Guild?" Vice Minister Stella sneered, suddenly realizing. "I remember now. Some time ago, those mad dogs from the Blood Moon Guild beat them to pieces. I thought these remnants had long since died out; so they took advantage of the chaos to flee to the rear to linger on."

Vice Minister Stella flipped through the data in front of her, her eyes suddenly brightening as if she had seen a rare treasure: "Interesting. Intelligence shows that Grace, the president of the White Feather Guild, has a real LV6-level battleship in her hands!"

Hearing the word "LV6," Vice Minister Stella's breathing became a bit heavier. Even as a Vice Minister of a division, she was full of desire for a fortress of this level.

"Captain Cliff, order your formation to bite their tail, maintain a safe distance, perform radar locking, and absolutely do not act rashly." Vice Minister Stella made a decision decisively. "I will personally lead the division's main fleet to support you. This big fish, we of the 4th Division are determined to eat!"

"Understood!" Captain Cliff shouted in acknowledgment.

The communication hung up, and Captain Cliff excitedly clenched his scale-covered fists, a low laugh emitting from his throat.

That was an LV6 super battleship! If he could successfully sink that battleship in the upcoming encirclement, and if valuable raw materials or other strategic-level components exploded out, he, Captain Cliff, would also have hope of upgrading his own flagship to LV6! For any Beastman who craved power, this was an irresistible temptation.

Vice Minister Stella's holographic communication had just been cut off, and Captain Cliff was still immersed in the dream of capturing the LV6 battleship. In just these few short seconds, a sudden change occurred!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

On the periphery of the main ship, several LV4-level escort battleships that were flying alongside it exploded violently without warning, the firelight instantly illuminating the dark cloud sea. Immediately after, a dazzling, deep blue energy cannon tore through the void like a venomous snake, blasting straight toward the main ship's cockpit!

"Bang—crack, crack, crack!"

At the critical moment, the main ship's automatic defense barrier rose instantly, barely blocking this fatal blow. The energy collided with the barrier, sending out ripples of intense distortion, and the ear-piercing alarm instantly resounded throughout the command room.

Before everyone could react to this sudden attack, the radar operator suddenly stood up abruptly from the console, covered in sweat, his voice breaking from excessive terror: "Captain! Above our heads! There is an immeasurable, massive amount of energy gathering in the sky!"

Hearing this, Captain Cliff looked up abruptly, peering upward through the reinforced glass of the cockpit, his dark red vertical pupils instantly shrinking to the size of needle points.

At an altitude of about 19,000 meters.

The air here was thin and cold, and the surroundings were quiet and silent. Luo Ning was piloting her mecha, floating quietly in mid-air.

And around her mecha, there were densely arrayed a full three hundred high-altitude railguns with exaggerated designs, emitting the terrifying light of the Moon-Glitter Grade!

This was Luo Ning's proudest masterpiece during this period. She named it [Aurora I Series]. Every single railgun here was a genuine LV6 Moon-Glitter Grade product; if one were dismantled, it would be fully qualified to be installed directly on an LV5 battleship as a main gun!

Of course, the cost of this firepower was outrageously expensive. To build these three hundred Aurora railguns, Luo Ning burned through a full one hundred million level-five unit supplies! It is estimated that only the wealthy and generous Zhou An could allow this mechanic to squander capital so crazily.

"Hum—"

The muzzles of the three hundred Aurora railguns lit up simultaneously with a strong, deep blue light, and the terrifying energy had been compressed to the critical point.

Luo Ning sat in the mecha cockpit, chewing gum, and casually opened the internal tactical communication channel.

"Hila, don't rush to lead the team down yet, hold back your wings."

Luo Ning looked at the group of red dots displayed on the radar below, a smile of excitement curling up at the corner of her mouth.

"Let my big babies wash the ground for them first. It would be a huge loss not to watch the fireworks released by one hundred million in supplies."

The thousand-man-level Dragonman fleet below had over two hundred ships in total, large and small.

"Three hundred guns, firing at over two hundred ships..." Luo Ning's fingers rested lightly on the launch button.

"Very good, on average, each ship can get one shot. Let me see, you scale-covered lizards, whether you can withstand an LV6 strike!"

"Fire!"

Below, the shadow of death had completely enveloped this arrogant Dragonman fleet.

Until this moment, Captain Cliff still hadn't figured out when the enemy had managed to sneak to an altitude of 20,000 meters directly above their heads! This altitude and concealment completely exceeded the detection limits of conventional radar.

"Can't dodge! All fleets, listen to my order, immediately activate the joint defense array! Push all energy cartridges to overload status, pull the barrier to the maximum!" Captain Cliff roared hysterically, his dark red dragon scales standing up due to extreme tension.

The two hundred-plus Dragonman battleships quickly drew close, their energy shields weaving and linking together, forming an incomparably thick, crimson joint barrier above the fleet like an inverted giant bowl.

The next second, divine punishment descended. Three hundred thick, deep blue aurora beams fell from the sky, like thunder spears thrown by gods, slamming fiercely onto that crimson joint barrier!

"Crack—"

It only held out for less than two seconds.

Under the absolute crushing power of the LV6 Moon-Glitter Grade firepower, the joint shield, which was barely cobbled together by LV4 and LV5 battleships, emitted a teeth-grinding cracking sound. Subsequently, the entire giant barrier, like glass hit by a hammer, instantly shattered, turning into scattered light spots filling the sky!

Without the protection of the barrier, those battleships made of metal were as fragile as paper toys in front of the aurora. The terrifying energy beams directly pierced through the fleet formation. Especially those smaller LV4 escort battleships; the moment they were hit by the aurora, they didn't even have time to make an explosion sound before the entire hull, along with the Dragonman soldiers inside, melted directly under the baptism of super-high-temperature energy, instantly evaporating into puddles of metal iron water emitting a pungent odor.

Dazzling red light flashed wildly, and the entire command room was filled with the sound of desperate alarms. Captain Cliff stared fixedly at the holographic screen above his head, watching with his own eyes as the second shield, representing the main ship's last line of defense, exploded instantly like thin ice under that deep blue beam of light descending from the sky!

"Engine overload! Evade immediately—!"

At the critical moment of life and death, Captain Cliff roared with all his might. The pilot smashed the throttle to the bottom like a madman, and the interior of the main ship emitted a teeth-grinding sound of metal tearing. Under the powerful thrust of the engine's full-load overload, the massive battleship forcibly shifted dozens of meters to the right.