172: Chapter 172 "Thunder Department" Fires in Unison! Thunder in the Sea of Stars
"Thunder Department main cannons, charging at 95%! Target lock stable! Jammer rounds ready!"
The Chief of Weapons' roar was like a fuse igniting gunpowder, instantly detonating all the pent-up fighting spirit within the bridge. Long Zhantian stared at the rapidly approaching "the piercer" on the main screen. Although the dark red glow on its surface had dimmed, new energy was flowing dangerously through the gaps in its eerie structure—clearly, the opponent's cooling or recharging time was far shorter than expected!
"Now is the time!" Long Zhantian didn't hesitate for a second, his right hand chopping down fiercely. "'Thunder Department' main cannons one through four, full power—salvo! Jammer rounds, fire!"
The command traveled through the quantum network at the speed of light to every corner of the warship.
First were the number four and number seven special jammer rounds. They quietly ejected from two hidden launch tubes on the underside of the soaring heavens, their small thrusters then igniting to fire toward the two wings of the piercer at tricky angles and extremely high initial velocities. The shells silently disintegrated mid-flight, releasing a large "interference cloud" meticulously calculated by Nuwa, mixed with metal micro-particles, specific frequency electromagnetic noise, and false energy signals. This was intended to interfere with any potential point-defense system scans and energy sensing of the piercer, buying a precious, undisturbed moment for the main cannon attack.
Immediately following—
Woom-vroom——!!!
A low, grand roar of energy, seemingly originating from the very source of the universe, erupted from the depths of the four most terrifying muzzles beneath the bow of the soaring heavens! It wasn't sound, but the tremor of the spatial structure itself caused by ultra-high-density energy being forcibly constrained, accelerated, and finally released. Conducted through the ship's hull, it turned into a resonance that struck directly at the soul!
Within a thousandth of a second, the muzzles of the four "Thunder Department" main cannons turned from dark to brilliant white, as if four miniature supernovas were born simultaneously at the bow! Terrifying energy spun and compressed frantically within them, and the space around the muzzles produced visible light distortion and dispersion phenomena due to the extreme concentration of energy.
In the next instant, four brilliant white pillars of light, over three meters in diameter and composed purely of destructive energy, tore through the cold curtain of the universe. Like four enraged galaxies, they blasted toward the piercer on nearly perfectly straight trajectories!
Wherever the pillars of light passed, even the background starlight seemed to be swallowed and annihilated, leaving only scorching afterimages on the retina. The energy contained within was so terrifying that it left a briefly existing, slowly dissipating ionized trail along the launch path, as if a deity had fiercely lashed the starry sky with a whip of light.
"Thunder Department" salvo! The most powerful and concentrated directed-energy attack released by human civilization in actual combat to date!
"It hit!" The Sensor Officer's voice cracked with excitement.
The four brilliant white pillars of light, almost simultaneously, accurately struck the thickest central region of the piercer where the energy reaction was most concentrated, as calculated by Nuwa! That area was believed to be where its energy core or main propulsion structure was located.
There was no deafening explosion—there is no sound in a vacuum. But the light erupting from the impact point instantly surpassed the glow of the soaring heavens' main cannons when they fired, even briefly illuminating the void for tens of thousands of kilometers around! It was an energy furnace millions of times more dazzling than the surface of the sun!
The moment the dark, shadow-like outer shell of the struck portion of the piercer made contact, it was like an ice cube thrown into a steel furnace. The surface material vaporized and ionized instantly, erupting into a blinding plasma fireball! The brilliant white bombardment energy was like a red-hot iron poker thrust into butter, frantically eroding and penetrating its interior!
"'Thunder Department' energy output sustained! Target hull penetrated! Detecting violent internal energy reactions! Structural integrity is dropping rapidly!" The Chief of Weapons stared intently at the readings, his voice fervent.
Everyone on the bridge held their breath, staring fixedly at the terrifying ball of light that had swallowed nearly half of the piercer's body. Did it succeed? A heavy blow or even destruction in one hit?
At that moment, however, the alarm bells in North Heaven Gate Long Zhantian's heart rang frantically. It was too "smooth"! Where was the opponent's eerie adaptive defense? The frequency probe attack from earlier, which sought resonance points, clearly showed it possessed extremely high battlefield learning capabilities. How could it have no defense against such an obvious energy attack?
"Nuwa! Target reaction! Real-time analysis!" he barked urgently.
Nuwa's data stream refreshed at extreme speed: "Attack effective! Target external armor severely damaged, suspected internal energy leakage and structural damage. However... anomaly detected! The energy dissipation rate in the hit area is lower than expected! Its internal structure is absorbing and deflecting part of the bombardment energy in a... non-physical damage manner! An unknown field effect is interfering with energy transfer! Furthermore, the target's overall energy reading... the magnitude of the drop is far less than what the hull damage should warrant!"
As expected!
Almost simultaneously with Nuwa's warning, a sudden change occurred within the brilliant white ball of light enveloping the piercer!
Several previously unheralded, deep blue, and extremely fine energy beams suddenly shot out like venomous snakes from the remaining parts of the piercer's hull at the edges of the light ball that weren't fully covered! They weren't aimed at the soaring heavens, but at the two "interference clouds" the soaring heavens had just launched and which were currently in effect!
The moment the deep blue energy beams made contact with the interference clouds, the cloud masses mixed with metal micro-particles and electromagnetic noise seemed to meet their natural enemy. The energy signals within them were rapidly "smoothed out" or "assimilated," and the metal micro-particles were filtered as if by an invisible sieve, losing their original interference characteristics. The effectiveness of the interference clouds was drastically weakened!
Immediately after, at the damaged section of the piercer's central region—which was being continuously bombarded by the "Thunder Department" main cannons and appeared heavily damaged—a large amount of silver-gray liquid metal, behaving like a living thing, suddenly emerged from the breaches! These metal flows spread, covered, and repaired the damage at an incredible speed. Simultaneously, the surface began to exhibit faint fluctuations with a frequency highly similar to the "Thunder Department" bombardment energy, but with a completely opposite phase!
"It's adapting! It's using some unknown method to disperse and absorb our attack energy, and it's trying to generate a reverse 'cancellation field'! The effect of the jammer rounds has also been specifically countered!" the Electronic Warfare Officer cried out in horror.
"Remaining energy of the 'Thunder Department' salvo is being rapidly consumed! Continued bombardment efficiency will plummet!" The Chief of Weapons' face changed drastically.
"Cease fire! Immediately!" Long Zhantian made a decisive call. He understood now; the piercer was indeed injured, its hull broken and internal damage likely, but its eerie adaptive and energy absorption/deflection capabilities far exceeded expectations. Continuing the bombardment with the same frequency and energy would only give it more time to "learn" and "adapt," and might even allow it to find a flaw for a counterattack.
The four brilliant white pillars of light extinguished almost simultaneously. The muzzles of the "Thunder Department" main cannons turned from brilliant white to dark red, then cooled rapidly, emitting a hissing sound (simulated sound effect) from the energy overload.
In the sea of stars, the blinding ball of light quickly dissipated and dimmed, revealing the piercer inside.
Its appearance was much more wretched than before. In the central area that was hit, a massive erosion crater dozens of meters wide and several meters deep had appeared. The edges consisted of twisted, torn metal and molten material that had not yet fully solidified. The complex internal structure was vaguely visible, with some parts still flickering with unstable electrical sparks and the glow of energy leaks. The entire ship also seemed to have lost some balance, its posture tilting slightly.
However, it was still "alive"! Moreover, those silver-gray liquid metals were rapidly covering the edges of the erosion crater like living bandages, attempting to repair it. Although its overall energy reading had dropped, it still remained above the dangerous threshold. Even more terrifying was that the frequency characteristics of the energy radiation in the hit area seemed to be undergoing subtle and rapid changes, as if it were "digesting" the attack it had just endured and converting it into some kind of defensive experience.
"Record the 'Thunder Department' salvo data in full!" Long Zhantian suppressed the shock in his heart and commanded sharply, "Nuwa, analyze its energy absorption pattern, the repair speed of the liquid metal, and its means of countering the interference clouds! Sync all data back to the system immediately! This is a more precious harvest than merely wounding it!"
"Data recording complete, analysis in progress, increasing load on the transmission channel," Nuwa responded quickly.
The first full-scale exchange of attacks ended with the soaring heavens proactively ceasing fire.
Humanity's strongest spear had torn through the outer shell of the alien creation but failed to deliver a fatal blow. Instead, it exposed the enemy's even more eerie and troublesome "learning" and "adaptive" capabilities.