The Electromaic Megastructures had been far from idle during this period. Although the few 300 meter Mature Bodies they had justunched were intercepted mid-flight by Daqi drones, their defensive forces were finally breached, allowing new 300 meter Mature Bodies to press forward and deploy to designated positions.


    Thesergebat units of the Swarm barely stabilized their forms before lunging toward the four transferring warships.


    Facing the ferocious space octopuses, the three numbered Daqi warships began converging on the Chisaya to provide desperate cover. Meanwhile, the Chisaya ignited its engines and began elerating.


    —


    “Your Majesty, what do we do?” a de asked.


    Sarah Kerrigan’s expression wavered slightly. The four warships had recently gathered escape vehicles from the Doria. Any one of them could potentially be the target chosen by the alien Supreme Commander.


    The Swarm’sbat units in the area had been nearly annihted earlier, and the newly arrived forces were too few to intercept all four warships simultaneously. A focused effort was required.


    From the current situation, the Chisaya, thergest of the ships, was the most probable target. Moreover, the protective actions of the other three warships subtly suggested someone important might indeed be aboard the Chisaya.


    Yet, this very situation made Sarah suspicious. She sensed that such actions might be a ploy—a facade intended to mislead. Raising her head, she put herself in the alienmander’s shoes.Earlier, they had transferred from thergest gship to the secondrgest escort ship, the Doria, which then became the focal point of the Swarm’s assault.


    From this, it seemed likely that the Swarm was judging the importance of warships by their size.


    Thus, after the destruction of both the gship and the Doria, the Chisaya, being thergest remaining vessel, should logically be the most dangerous ce on the field. However, the Chisaya had also suffered significant damage earlier when it shielded the gship, with severe damage to its left-front hull.


    Sarah shook her head. If she were the alienmander, she would never choose such an obvious and already-damaged warship as her ride.


    If this line of reasoning held true, the Daqi’s current actions were likely an attempt to draw the Swarm’s attention to the Chisaya to cover the retreat of the truemand ship.


    Narrowing her eyes, Sarah scanned the battlefield, focusing on the four warships. Momentster, she suddenly marked one of them. “Found it!”


    Still, with the chaos of battle, illusions and deceptions were rampant. The Chisaya’s engines had already fired up—any misjudgment might allow themander to escape.


    However, in such time-critical circumstances, hesitation was not the hallmark of an excellentmander. After only a fleeting moment of doubt, Sarah made her decision: “Full-scale assault!”


    This ordinary warship, while posturing as an escort, had its bow angled slightly outward, standing in a peculiarly isted position. It appeared to hover near the Chisaya, but its location ced it furthest from the Swarm’s operational units.


    If the Swarm were to focus entirely on the Chisaya, its position would block much of their assault trajectory, subtly shielding this smaller warship.


    The space octopuses that had originally been rushing toward the Chisaya suddenly veered, changing their target.


    And next, the Daqi fleet’s reaction confirmed Sarah’s deduction.


    Including the Chisaya, the remaining three warships suddenly elerated madly, converging in an attempt to intercept the oing space octopuses…


    “XXX! What the hell is going on?! How did they figure it out?” Prince Diallo hadpletely lost hisposure, cursing furiously.


    He indeed had not transferred to the Chisaya; the damage to that escort ship was far worse than it appeared externally. Thus, he had devised a n.


    The DX12497 he upied had secretly redirected most of its energy reserves to its interster engines. The moment the Swarm attacked the Chisaya, the other two ordinary warships would risk everything to block the assault, even if it meant detonating the Chisaya. Meanwhile, Diallo intended to use the opportunity to escape this disastrous battlefield.


    Unfortunately, the n had been exposed almost as soon as it began.


    “Hold them off! Start the engines! Force an escape!” Diallo barked orders as Aslit hastily ryed them.


    In truth, it would have been more efficient to directlymand the shipboard AI at this moment. However, for various reasons, the Daqi Empire had always restrained the authority of artificial intelligence.


    At this moment, a 300 meter Mature Body led the charge. It leapt onto the DX12475, quickly scuttling across its hull to the opposite side. Compressing its body, itunched itself like a spring toward the Chisaya. Mid-air, its massive tentacles extended toward the Chisaya’smand tower and coiled around it.


    Using the inertia, the creature swung a full circle around themand tower before flinging itself at the DX12497.


    The sequence of movements was fluid and seamless. In close-quartersbat like this, mechanical warships were simply too cumbersome.


    “Bang!” Amidst the hail of bullets and shells, several warships were inadvertently struck by friendly fire, leaving a few scorched craters on the Mature Body. However, it pressed forward undeterred, crashing into the DX12497.


    Seizing the moment when the other warships hesitated to avoid coteral damage, the creature bolted toward the rear of the warship. A single tentacle stabbed directly into the portside main thruster.


    “Boom!” A violent explosion ensued. Trading a tentacle for a main thruster? A worthwhile exchange!


    Diallo steadied himself against the tremors caused by the explosion, his expression dark. “Use every means necessary to keep that 300 meter space octopus pinned to the DX12497’s rear!”


    “Your Highness! That’s too dangerous!” Aslit quickly objected.


    “Shut up! Execute the order!” Faced with Diallo’s menacing re, Aslit dared not argue further and hastily transmitted themands.


    The Daqi’s execution capabilities were terrifying. Whether it was suicidal defenses or firing on their ownmander’s vessel, as long as the orders were credible, they were carried out without hesitation.


    The main and secondary cannons, which had briefly paused, resumed their barrage. The Mature Body, having just sacrificed its tentacle in the thruster exchange, was caught off guard by the Daqi’s disregard for their ownmander. It was overwhelmed by the relentless firepower and rendered incapable of furtherbat.


    At the same time, the DX12497 suffered severe damage. Of its 1,600 meter long hull, over 500 meters of the rear section was left in shambles.


    Having prepared for this contingency, Diallo had secured himself beforehand. Though he was thrown about by the vibrations, he remained uninjured. Under hismand, the Daqi warships—unconcerned about friendly fire—unleashed a frenzied assault, quickly annihting the remaining small Mature Bodies and Larval Bodies.


    However, the cost was steep. The DX12475 was entirely removed frombat. The Chisaya, DX12490, and DX12497 sustained critical damage. Nearly all these losses stemmed from their mutual friendly fire in their desperate bid to eliminate the Swarm’sbat units as quickly as possible.


    Their battered forms were not far fromplete destruction.


    “Your Highness, the Swarm’s electromaic cannon hasunched, and the next 300 meter space octopus has been deployed…”@@novelbin@@


    “It doesn’t matter. This round, we’ve won!”