Free Web NovelChapter 2688: Chapter 1818: Firepower Strike (Even Colder After the Snow)
Aikute’s strategy of avoiding confrontation always rests on one fundamental principle—sufficient firepower strike.
In the universe, there’s nothing like gravitational winds to influence trajectories, so strictly speaking, if a shell flies a thousand meters away without hitting anything, it will continue on its original path. This is the basis of Aikute’s strategy—identifying the coordinates of the insect swarm fleet upon the appearance of a large-scale subspace shadow from the swarm, and issuing an attack command from a super long distance without hesitation.
Amidst the roar of gunfire, the howling macro cannon shells burst from the cannon muzzle, and after fifteen seconds, landed at the gap of the Eye of Fear, just as the first wave of the insect swarm poked their heads out, only to be smashed head-on by the shells.
It’s like someone opening a door only to be hit in the head by a flying basketball.
The first wave alone consumed about eighty thousand shells, yet of course, it was far from over. Rows and rows of uninterrupted fire followed, even as the swarm was shattered and scattered. Yet, this was founded on an astronomical consumption of ammunition. Fortunately, the base behind the Tribunal was tirelessly producing stockpiles of ammunition to supply the frontline as much as possible.
Watching this scene, Duanmu Huai couldn’t help but recall the firing squad formations seen in movies about World War I. Soldiers lying on the ground, others kneeling, and the last standing, all firing forward in turn. Once the first line finished firing and reloading, the second line fired, then the third. Aikute’s current tactic was similar, except the firearms had become macro cannons.
The swarm tried to break through, but Aikute grasped the timing of the battlefield so skillfully. You could imagine the feeling when a succession of basketballs kept hitting your face, leaving no time to react. This quickly led to the initial retreat of the swarm back into the Eye of Fear. Aikute halted the attack at that moment, to regroup and reload for the next assault.
It would be best to trap the enemy in this galaxy’s largest garbage bin, although Duanmu Huai knew that was unlikely.
Soon, the swarm launched another assault.
This time at the forefront was an even larger creature than an Emperor-class Battleship—an ancient ship of the Tyron Swarm, older than some civilizations themselves. Like a giant whale swimming in the Star Ocean, countless Tyranid Battleships moved alongside it like a school of fish in the sea.
Aikute fired another round of long-range bombardment, but the macro cannon shells, which could destroy worlds, barely scratched the ancient ship’s surface.
At that moment, Duanmu Huai stood up, raised his right hand, and aimed at the distant Tyronid giant ship.
Divine Power surged.
Duanmu Huai felt an immense force. If the entire universe were an ocean, he was sensing the terrifying existence lurking under the sea. In this ocean, even the Milky Way was merely a drifting shell, with a larger entity lazily hidden in the depths, extending its tentacles to consume everything within reach (this was not a metaphor).
Now, one of its tentacles reached into the shell of the Milky Way, attempting to engulf it whole. The desire filled with greedy, carnal hunger made Duanmu Huai feel sick. He had to admit, for a moment, he truly wanted to summon Azathoth, and let the universe’s most infamous glutton face off against it.
But it was just a thought, since simply mentioning Azathoth’s name brought an indescribable fear, as if the darkness in the Star Ocean transformed into a tangible presence. The countless twinkling starlights in the sky seemed like eyes, blinking as they watched him...
Duanmu Huai shuddered and snapped back to reality. He focused on the tentacle in front of him. Compared to the Insect Nest Will, Duanmu Huai and the entire Milky Way were currently small, insignificant threats, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t destroy the enemy before them.
At least, just as a bird bites back when grabbed, it showed its strength.
Duanmu Huai tightened his right hand.
The God of Destruction’s Power erupted in that instant. Perhaps because the Eye of Fear was located in subspace, Duanmu Huai felt stronger than ever, biting through the tentacle’s nerve network effortlessly like iron teeth. The ancient ship exploded instantly, and the swarm fleet around it shattered like fireworks. Duanmu Huai could feel the Insect Nest Will’s ancient, unwavering, powerful subspace shadow twitch and emit a rage-fueled spiritual energy roar.
It’s like trying to pry open an oyster with your fingers only to be pinched by a crab inside.
Clearly, the Insect Nest Will was furious, even though Duanmu Huai’s God of Destruction’s Power had destroyed one of its tentacles. However, it made sure to remember this pesky individual, imagining it wouldn’t be long before the Insect Nest Will returned to the Milky Way with a large army.
By the way, that ’not long’ would likely take at least a few hundred years.
So, it’s not something that needs to worry him now.
As the ancient ship crumbled, the swarm scattered and retreated to the subspace. Whether they survived there or evolved into something new was not Duanmu Huai’s concern. At that moment, Aikute’s report came through again.
"Detected subspace reaction, Uncle! It’s the Chaos Fleet!"
Almost instantly, Duanmu Huai saw the subspace gateway opening outside the Planet Fortress, clearly indicating those damn bastards had been watching all along.
Duanmu Huai gritted his teeth. Generally speaking, Subspace teleportation is somewhat "random." They can only send you to a "general" area, unlike the Net Path which can be precise to the centimeter. So even if the Chaos Fleet attempts to attack us through Subspace, it wouldn’t coincidentally appear inside.
Thus, it can be certain that the Evil Gods who can manipulate Subspace played this trick. Clearly, they have the same idea as Duanmu Huai, intending to use the Insect Swarm to exhaust the Tribunal’s strength and then take action.
However, it is unfortunate for them that Duanmu Huai prefers to make a big entrance to show goodwill, unlike some pretentious Golden Saint who waits until matters become extremely critical before taking action. In fact, Duanmu Huai suspects there might be some rules between the gods of Subspace, but... what does that have to do with him?
He’s not a deity of Subspace, so why should he follow their rules?
And now it’s the same.
You want me to play by your rules, but I prefer to play by mine.
Thus, Duanmu Huai decisively gave the order.
"Activate the Reality Stabilizing Anchor."
In an instant, the Subspace passages that had appeared within the battlefield dissipated — because such things weren’t meant to appear in the real world, so naturally, as the surrounding reality became more stabilized, the exits of the Subspace passages would also be closed.
Duanmu Huai didn’t know what the outcome would be for the warships that had entered through the Subspace passages under such circumstances, but who knows? At least it’s not his problem.
"Alright, from now on, everyone stay alert."
Duanmu Huai sat back down in his chair, staring at the Starlit Sky ahead. Using the three planet fortresses as reference points, the entire Ether Synchronous Engine project zone was completely covered by the Reality Stabilizing Anchor. This meant that no filthy Subspace tricks would work here; if they wanted to destroy this place completely, they would have to engage in a frontal, hard-to-hard collision like they did with Cadia.
And this is exactly what Duanmu Huai wanted.
We have three Isherlon Fortresses, all operated by Duanmu Huai’s Soul Card Puppets. Although rigid, this maximizes the prevention of Chaos Believers or other random intrusions from causing damage. And if the enemy wants to destroy them without using Subspace witchcraft, they would only rely on their Chaos Believers and Warbands.
Moreover, Duanmu Huai believes this is advantageous because in the physical universe, he can use his Divine Power freely. But the Chaos Evil Gods cannot; there is a thick barrier between them and the physical universe, and unless they find a way to breach it, they cannot come here to fight him.
Therefore, Duanmu Huai only has to deal with a few Divine Chosen Champions at most, and with his strength as a True God, handling these small fries shouldn’t be a problem.
But that’s all theory. Who knows what the Chaos Evil Gods will do once they realize Duanmu Huai intends to clear up this Milky Way "toilet" a bit. After all, the methods of Chaos Evil Gods are too numerous, and what Duanmu Huai can do now is to remain unchanged to counter changes.
Sure enough, soon, Aikute’s voice came through once again.
"Detecting Subspace reactions, a large number! Uncle, they are attempting to surround us completely from all sides!"
Hearing Aikute’s report, Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow.
Well, it seems the Chaos Evil Gods also realized something was amiss, which is normal. His blatant maneuvering in front of the Eye of Fear and using strategies like the Reality Stabilizing Anchor — no matter how you look at it, this seems like an aggressive move. Instead of probing time and again to waste it, it’s better to initiate confrontation directly.
Indeed, as the filthy brilliance of Subspace flickered, fleets of warships encircled the entire outer orbit emerging from the void; their numbers were in the thousands, and to Duanmu Huai’s surprise, many were not the traitors’ ships but... Spaceship Wrecks.
Alright, that’s normal too; players have always believed that Spaceship Wrecks are actually secretly manipulated by Chaos, and now it seems that’s indeed the case.
These Spaceship Wrecks are much more difficult to deal with than the Chaos Legion’s warships.
But Duanmu Huai didn’t care about this either, after all, both sides had already revealed their first round of cards, so next is...
"Take action."
With Duanmu Huai’s command, the brilliance of the cannon fire shook the entire Milky Way.
