This was the Japan Nation-Class starship’s second spatial rift attack. This time, the target was absolutely clear, and so was the target’s exact location. This allowed Xiao Yu to precisely adjust the spatial rift’s length.
And there was a simple truth, when the length of the spatial rift is compressed, its destructive power per unit length inevitably increases. In other words, this rift was even more powerful than the previous one.
The first rift had only heavily damaged the Province-Class starships. But with this second one, Xiao Yu was confident that a Province-Class starship would be sliced clean in half.
Xiao Yu could easily control the spatial weapon, switching between attack range and attack strength. In the previous strike, he had chosen range; in this one, he chose strength.
Where energy levels are high, spatial stability is naturally greater. And since mass and energy are interchangeable, areas with large concentrations of mass or energy, such as a star or a ship’s shield, would also have higher spatial stability. In fact, defenses against spatial weapons were built using this very principle, which was why starship shields could resist them at all.
The shield of a Nation-Class starship was without a doubt formidable. In truth, without its Four-Dimensional Space Shield, the Japan’s conventional shield performance might not necessarily surpass that of this Molian Nation-Class starship.
The destructive power of a spatial rift generated by a spatial weapon was equally formidable. While it could not, as in the small universe, cripple a dwarf planet or destroy a Nation-Class ship in a single strike, its might was still at a level that no creation of a Level 5 Civilization could hope to match.
Now, Xiao Yu’s strongest weapon was striking at a Nation-Class starship, the ultimate expression of Level 5 Civilization technology.
Xiao Yu watched as the Molian Nation-Class starship suddenly flared with light. In that instant, it blazed with a radiance no less intense than that of a star, the fierce light carrying extreme heat that even melted a nearby small starship instantly. The massive hull shuddered from the impact.
When the glare faded, Xiao Yu beheld an astonishing sight.A starship’s hull was never smooth and flat; it was always covered with various protrusions, not for aesthetics, but because instruments like gun turrets, launch racks, observation arrays, and detection devices had to be mounted externally. The Molian Nation-Class starship was no exception. But now, after taking a direct hit from the spatial rift, its outer shell had changed.
Dark red, magma-like matter was slowly flowing across its surface. Due to the artificial gravity within the ship, the molten material was not flung into space but instead flowed freely along the contours of the hull like lava on a planetary surface. Entire sections of turrets, launchers, and observation equipment had simply vanished.
The spatial weapon’s attack had instantly driven the ship’s energy engines into an overloaded state. The violent energy surge had burned out these relatively fragile devices, and the resulting extreme heat had melted them completely.
Such was the severe consequence of a single spatial weapon strike.
The unknown always inspired fear, and this ultra-high-power weapon had shaken the Molian intelligent beings to their core. Xiao Yu keenly noticed that after two consecutive spatial weapon attacks, the Molian fleet, previously full of fighting spirit and perfectly formed, was now showing signs of disarray. Seizing the moment, Xiao Yu pressed the attack and pushed forward.
Between two spatial weapon attacks, there had to be at least a gap of more than ten minutes. Right now, Xiao Yu was simply waiting for that time to pass, so he could once again unleash the spatial weapon and deliver the final, fatal blow to the Molian Civilization’s Nation-Class starship.
As if sensing Xiao Yu’s intent, the Molian ships’ attacks grew fiercer. They had already lost their command structure, most likely because the commanders aboard the flagship no longer had the time or composure to direct them. They seemed almost irrational, but deep within their blood ran a spirit of never yielding, never surrendering. That instinct let them clearly grasp the current situation.
They knew that at this very moment, their flagship was in grave danger, extreme danger. It needed protection; it needed extra support to stand against the powerful enemy ship before it. So they moved. Without orders, without coordination, driven purely by that frenzy, they swarmed forward, utterly fearless. Even as the ships beside them were blasted apart, exploding into debris, they remained undeterred.
Before them was nothing but the enemy, nothing but the Japan.
By now, all of the Japan’s escort ships, including the three Province-Class and several City-Class vessels, had been destroyed. Even so, before their demise, these powerful ships had each taken with them at least ten times their number. Now, the battlefield held only a single ship on Xiao Yu’s side, the Japan, the most powerful and massive vessel of them all.
On the Molian side, at least five Province-Class ships and no fewer than ten City-Class ships remained, with a total fleet of over four thousand vessels.
Most importantly, their Nation-Class flagship was still intact.
As long as they destroyed the Japan, their ambush strategy would already be half a success. Without the Japan’s central support, wiping out the rest of Xiao Yu’s fleet would only be a matter of time.
Thus, they had been driven to madness. Continuous, concentrated fire slammed against the Japan’s defensive systems. Having already fired the spatial weapon twice, consuming tremendous amounts of energy, the Japan could not endure this indefinitely.
Warnings were already appearing. Some sections of the ship were experiencing unstable energy supply. More than ten of its tens of thousands of antimatter and elemental decay engines had already burned out. In quiet corridors and maintenance shafts, sparks were beginning to leap from overloaded conduits and equipment.
For a brief moment, hesitation flickered in Xiao Yu’s mind. He could not decide whether to have the Japan retreat, abandoning the plan to use the spatial weapon a third time to destroy the enemy Nation-Class starship, or to press forward with the attack.
After all, the spatial weapon was a technology only a Level 6 Civilization could master. Even though it had been modified by the Trolor Civilization so that Xiao Yu could use it now, its energy consumption was enormous. If he abandoned the third strike and withdrew, he would have enough energy reserves to sustain the defensive systems, and the heavily damaged enemy flagship might not dare to pursue him.
But if he used the spatial weapon again, the energy reserves would be pushed to the brink. And in the face of thousands of enemy ships, the Japan would have virtually no chance of escape.
Between these two choices, Xiao Yu hesitated for only a thousandth of a second before deciding.
“At this point, retreating is not worth it. At worst, I’ll lose the Japan. As long as I have enough time and Grade 1 Metal, I can build another one. But the Molian Civilization is different, destroying this flagship will mean far more than the loss of a single ship. The elite soldiers aboard will be wiped out; at least a thousand highly skilled commanders will be gone. Their morale will take a massive blow. So be it, I’ll trade the destruction of the Japan for the death of their Nation-Class starship.”
Under the relentless barrage from thousands of ships, Xiao Yu calmly completed the spatial weapon’s charging process. The enemy flagship ahead seemed to have recovered somewhat from its earlier panic and was now slowly backing away.
“Trying to run? Not that easy.” Xiao Yu said as he drove the Japan forward once again.
Brushing aside some pesky blocking ships, Xiao Yu fired the spatial weapon once more.
The enemy Nation-Class starship flared with another dazzling burst of light. When it faded, its condition was even more miserable. This time, it wasn’t just molten metal streaming across its surface, Xiao Yu could see flames raging along the hull. Large, jagged holes, clearly caused by internal explosions, were venting gas and debris at high speed. The nanobot repair systems were working frantically, but their pace could not match the rate of destruction.
Xiao Yu knew that the enemy flagship was already on the verge of destruction.
But the Japan was in no better shape. Three spatial weapon firings had drained its energy reserves to the extreme; even the outer shield system had dimmed. Inside, fires, explosions, and engine failures caused by excessive energy load were breaking out everywhere.
The third rift had not destroyed the Nation-Class starship outright, but Xiao Yu was in no hurry. He pushed the Japan toward it once more. The enemy vessel appeared to have lost its propulsion entirely, hanging motionless in space.
The swarm’s attacks grew even more frenzied, yet they still could not halt the Japan’s advance.