Chapter 863: Advantage |
Space technology was the foundation of everything. Space technology was like a huge blank canvas, and different civilizations were different painters. According to their different understandings of space technology, they painted completely different pictures upon this canvas. Every method of painting represented one way of utilizing space.
Clearly, the existence facing Xiao Yu as an enemy possessed another method of painting. And the only standard by which one judged the quality of painting skill was the size of combat power, at least for war-related civilizations. Under this standard of judgment, Xiao Yu held an absolute advantage.
Both sides were advancing at speeds exceeding one thousand times the speed of light. In this round of long-range attack, each side paid a certain price. On Xiao Yu’s side, several thousand ships were destroyed and tens of thousands were damaged, while on the virtual life side, Xiao Yu destroyed more than twenty thousand ships, and the number of damaged ships was several times that of Xiao Yu’s side.
This was the battle result achieved without relying on any terrain advantage or any prior advantage. Fused with the technology of the microscopic civilization, fused with the technology of the Architectural Civilization, mixed with part of the technology of the mechanical civilization, the technology of the spatial civilization, and the technology Xiao Yu had developed himself, the advancement of Xiao Yu’s technology had steadily surpassed the virtual life by a clear margin.
“Now, the only thing that worries me is the enormous numbers of the virtual life…” Xiao Yu thought with some concern.
The long-range attack did not last long at all, because the speed at which both sides were approaching each other was simply too fast. Xiao Yu had no intention of taking advantage of his superior long-range weapons at this moment, then widening the distance and fighting a mobile battle. These one million ships were originally meant to be sacrificed, meant to probe the combat data of the virtual life civilization.
In close combat, the Spatial Vortex would be the main weapon, with the other spatial weapons as support. Xiao Yu had also developed the technology of applying the spatial maze to the battlefield. Perhaps continuing to call it a spatial maze here was somewhat inappropriate, because the spatial maze was no longer a method used to trap the other side. Instead, it had become a technology that, through controllable distortion of space, concealed oneself, increased the survival capability of one’s own side, reduced the enemy’s strike accuracy, and created trouble for the other side.
“Let me see what other weapons you have…” Xiao Yu muttered to himself.
The distance between the two sides grew ever closer. Some of the ships had already disengaged from curvature flight. At this moment, however, light pillars of varying sizes suddenly appeared on the ships of the virtual life civilization. These light pillars varied in thickness. One end was connected to the oddly shaped ships of the virtual life civilization, while the other end seemed unrestricted, freely extending or shortening in outer space. Not only that, they could also swing about, just like the lightsabers in certain science fiction films.
With a slight analysis, Xiao Yu arrived at a conclusion. That was that this kind of lightsaber was also a type of spatial weapon, somewhat similar to Xiao Yu’s Spatial Cannon, differing only in certain details. They also obtained energy by collapsing space to attack the enemy. It was only because of changes in those details that they transformed from long-range weapons into close-range weapons.
“Their lightsaber weapons must have one end connected to the ship, which means they will have certain limitations. The technological content of this weapon is not as high as my Spatial Cannon or Spatial Vortex. In other words, in close-range attacks, they are still weaker than me.” After reaching this conclusion, Xiao Yu relaxed a little more.
“The combat power of the Architectural Civilization is truly weak to a certain extent. From the recorded battle footage of the Architectural Civilization, I did not even see the virtual life civilization use these two weapons. Or perhaps it is because the Architectural Civilization ran too fast.” Xiao Yu thought silently.
Xiao Yu had previously watched some battle footage between the Architectural Civilization and the virtual life civilization. There, the performance of the Architectural Civilization was simply too miserable to look at. Often, they would flee at the mere sign of the enemy while still thousands or hundreds of light years away. The few occasional encounters were also only against small detachments of the virtual life civilization. It was precisely for this reason that Xiao Yu had not obtained enough information from the records of the Architectural Civilization regarding the combat power of the virtual life civilization.
The close-range melee had already begun. Under Xiao Yu’s control, the spatial maze launched jointly by all surviving ships spread out. Immediately, the entire battlefield region became distorted, as though a dense fog had suddenly arisen across the battlefield. The difference was that this dense fog was completely transparent to Xiao Yu, because this fog itself had been launched by Xiao Yu. But the virtual life civilization was not so fortunate. Within this space distorted according to certain characteristics and patterns, whether advancing, retreating, or attacking, they would all be affected to a certain degree.
Xiao Yu, however, moved through this dense fog like a fish in water. The Spatial Bombs that had been launched in advance hid within the spatial maze, like elusive ghosts, completely impossible to guard against. The Spatial Cannon also constantly revealed its presence, like lightning that kept appearing across the dark and distorted space. The ships that had activated Spatial Vortex were like high-speed drills, appearing and disappearing unpredictably…
On the side of the virtual life civilization, those ships were like hedgehogs covered in spikes. The pale purple lightsabers of varying numbers depended on the hulls of the ships, constantly extending and shortening there, and sometimes they slashed down through empty space like true swords. The space-motion distortion weapons were activated frequently, making the chaotic space even more chaotic, even forming violent spatial turbulence that tore apart any existence within its range…
Dozens of light years away, Xiao Yu’s main base was silently watching this place. At a distance of less than one light year, the immense fleet of the virtual life civilization was also watching this place. This seemed to be an independent world. No other existence would intervene here and would only silently watch them attack each other to the death.
This was a very strange situation. No rational intelligent civilization would do such a thing. Because ships meant life, and to advanced civilizations, life was the most precious resource. Yet at this moment, neither of the two civilizations participating in the war had this concern. To them, ships were merely ships.
Using several million ships to probe the other’s real capabilities was a very worthwhile deal.
Under this strange situation, the battle continued fiercely. Violent energy currents swept in all directions, and space was ravaged at will like a ragged cloth. A battle involving only around two million ships caused the battlefield to expand to more than one light year. A nearby star was affected immediately. Not long after the war began, it exploded with a crash, and the matter composing it was swiftly swept into the chaotic space, disappearing to who knew where.
The destructive power of war between advanced civilizations was revealed without reservation. Destroying a star was as casual as accidentally wrecking a house in a human war of the Earth era.
A long lightsaber crossed a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers and slashed down violently, striking a Province-Class ship with great precision. This Province-Class ship remained unmoved. Instead, it activated Spatial Vortex and slammed violently toward that ship. The result of the battle appeared at once. That ship was destroyed by the collision, and in the next moment, at least several hundred lightsabers struck it simultaneously. Its Energy Shield flickered urgently, and after roughly several seconds, it exploded with a bang.
Freed from the constraints of technological instruments, the distorted space inside it was released, causing another burst of spatial fluctuation. The spatial maze, Spatial Cannon, Spatial Vortex, space-motion distortion weapons, lightsabers, Spatial Bombs…
At this moment, space had truly become chaotic to a certain degree. On such a battlefield, probably even an unprotected white dwarf would be torn apart here. This was a severe test of the defensive capability of ships, and fortunately, Xiao Yu’s ships once again displayed an unmatched advantage in defense.
This battle lasted for less than two hours. Under the desperate fighting of the two great civilizations, this battlefield became an extremely efficient ship meat grinder. In a very short time, it had already ground one side’s strength down to nothing. The final victor had emerged. Xiao Yu still had around four hundred thousand ships left, and almost every ship bore scars. But in the end, victory had come into Xiao Yu’s hands. Xiao Yu had used cannons and ships to prove the advanced degree of his technology.
“I have basically figured out your technological level and combat strength. Then, for the battles to come, I now have a bit of confidence in my heart…” Xiao Yu quietly let out a breath of relief inwardly.
Xiao Yu had no intention of recovering these four hundred thousand ships. Because Xiao Yu saw that even more enemy warships had already charged over, and almost in an instant, they surrounded these lucky ships that had survived disaster.
“Clearly, they have also understood my strength fairly well. Next, it will be time for large-scale battle. Very good. With your combat data, I can carry out more war simulations.”
Xiao Yu felt no pity whatsoever for those four hundred thousand ships. From the moment they set out, they had already been destined for death. No matter whether that battle ended in victory or defeat, their final outcome would have been destruction.