"There's no rush," Lan Qing said.
"They'll only appear when we need them the most."
Lan Jue had his own plans. Not even Hua Li or Kang Hui were privy to the most important part of the plan.
Kang Hui couldn't help but admire Lan Qing's calm expression on the monitor. Lan Qing was so calm in the face of such a battle. It was no wonder he'd become the Eastern Alliance's Admiral at such a young age.
He didn't say another word. The enemy's strength had dispelled the last shred of dissatisfaction he had with Lan Qing.
Middle Heaven didn't slow down in the face of so many enemies. It continued forward, its honeycomb cannons fully engaged. Orange light flickered in and out of view, as if ready to fire at a moment's notice.
The three bastions and the battleships' shields were on full alert.
On the aliens' front were the twelve beasts and twelve avatars. The rest were spread out on the flanks, clearly prepared to evade the attacks of the bastions and battleships at a moment's notice.
Their losses were as low as possible.
After so many battles with the humans, the aliens were also improving.
In a direct confrontation the aliens didn't have much of an advantage because they were at a disadvantage in long-range combat.
Angel's defeat had forced them to face the enemy head-on. They'd lost the opportunity to circle back.
Europa was not far behind them, where the alien home worlds were in the midst of their evolution.
The aliens didn't think the humans would be able to defeat them.
Lan Qing's conjecture was correct. The reason the aliens didn't send in all their forces from the start was because if they did, the humans would be able to find another strong enough to deal with the threat of defeat.
That was not what the Marauders wanted to see.
This was because the combat power displayed by the human army in front of them had exceeded their expectations. If they wanted to destroy them, they would have to pay a huge price.
If another human army of the same strength came, it was very likely that the evolution would really be disrupted.
So the aliens' plan was to delay and conserve their strength. Their goal was simple, to buy time.
At least for the moment they'd succeeded. The humans had arrived, but they'd wasted a great deal of time. They were getting closer and closer to the end of their evolution.
Now that they'd defeated the humans, it would be too late for them to send another.
Monarch's avatar sat atop a beast twenty thousand meters long. When it raised its head, the other eleven beasts did the same.
Twelve of the behemoths roared in unison.
The space between the two sides was distorted by the shockwave. Cracks tore through the fabric of space.
The shockwave bore down on the human army.
The roar of the twelve behemoths was the equivalent of a long-range attack.
Lan Jue had sent Lan Qing not only news of their victory, but also video of the battle. Lan Qing knew the behemoths were capable of this. That was why he'd ordered all the bastions and battleships to activate their shields as soon as they arrived.
A shower of orange light shot out from Middle Heaven and into the air.
The shockwave was instantly penetrated by countless holes, and with each hole, the power of the shockwave would decrease a little.
However, the combined power of the twelve behemoths wasn't strong enough to stop them.
Bastions and larger battleships weren't affected by the shockwaves. At most they were shaken, but that was all.
However, some of the smaller warships were more affected. Some of them were blown to the side, and the originally neat formation suddenly showed a certain degree of chaos.
The behemoths on both flanks were like a swarm of locusts. They pounced on the human army with terrifying speed.
The Twelve Beasts did the same. They beat their enormous wings and raced toward Middle Heaven.
The alien commander was a shrewd man. He knew that if they wanted to defeat the human army, they had to first destroy their strongest bastion. Once Middle Heaven was destroyed, the human army's morale would plummet and the battle would be over.
Lan Qing stood in the control room, unfazed by the onslaught. He only muttered to himself. "Is this what you're capable of?"
"Fighters, move." Lan Qing gave the order.
The fleet's battleships scrambled to adjust to the situation. At the same time, the three bastions opened up a number of hatches. Fighter jets shot out like missiles and into the sky.
These Space Combat Jets were usually between 30 to 50 meters long.
Each bastion had a different type of fighter.
The Northern Alliance's Tyrannosaurus had a sky-blue jet with the insignia of a dinosaur.
Each Space Combat Jet was 50 meters long, equipped with a main laser cannon and 4 small antimatter missiles.
The explosive power of this thing was like a small positron cannon.
Only the Northern Alliance could afford to equip their own fighters with them.
The Eastern Alliance and Western Alliance couldn't compare.
The Eastern Alliance and Western Alliance couldn't compare, but that didn't mean the Hanhai Group couldn't.
As one of humanity's wealthiest corporations, Poseidon Group placed a great deal of importance on Poseidon. It was equipped with the finest equipment.
In the previous battle, Poseidon and the fleet it belonged to had already displayed their formidable combat prowess.
They were even stronger than the Northern Alliance's fleet and Tyrannosaurus.
Neptune's fighters were only forty meters long, a bit smaller than Tyrannosaurus'.
They were dark blue in color, and each of them had the symbol of Poseidon's Trident.
They were also equipped with laser cannons, but there were two of them.
It was also equipped with six missiles, two of which were antimatter missiles and four of which were small weak water missiles.
This was far superior to Tyrannosaurus'.
The Hanhai Group's financial prowess was obvious.
Laser cannons were the primary means of attack for the fighters, as well as a means of sustained attack.
The number of cannons wasn't important. What was important was that they had enough energy to sustain them.
The fact that the Hanhai Group was willing to equip their fighters with two laser cannons meant they were confident they could sustain the energy supply. This was the strength of their research.
Tyrannosaurus' fleet consisted of ten thousand fighters. That was a lot for a bastion ship.
But Poseidon's fleet of eighteen thousand ships was a frightening number.
This was the most powerful Bastion they had ever seen.
Compared to these two, Middle Heaven's fighters were a bit different.
Middle Heaven's fleet was between the two, with fifteen thousand fighters in total.
Still, it was larger than the Northern Alliance's strongest Bastion, Terminator.
Middle Heaven's fighters were white, with the insignia of Bloodiron Yellow.
Each one was a staggering sixty meters long, longer than Tyrannosaurus' ships.
If it weren't for Middle Heaven's size, it would have been difficult for it to carry so many fighters.
The fighters were longer than Tyrannosaurus, but they were more slender and streamlined. There were no missiles, which meant they were not equipped with missiles.
However, there were four laser cannons.
In other words, they only had one method of attack.
The white Space Combat Jet's tail had an orange flame pattern. The three different Space Combat Jets had their own specialties and strengths.
Neptune's fighters were the strongest, but they were the smallest.
No matter how you looked at it, it was the strongest.
Tyrannosaurus' fighters were in the middle, representing the Northern Alliance's most advanced technology.
On the Eastern Alliance's side, Middle Heaven's fighters were large, but size was never the deciding factor in a space battle.
They were too big to be hit by enemy fire!
They didn't have any missiles, so they didn't have any explosive power.
Those who were familiar with military affairs would undoubtedly think it was the weakest of the three Space Combat Jets.
As for the four laser cannons, they were a joke to those with a discerning eye.
This was especially true of the Northern Alliance's generals.
The Northern Alliance had the largest number of Bastions, and their research was the most thorough. Tyrannosaurus' fighters had gone through thousands of trials and tribulations to come to fruition.
It was a combination of performance, attack power, speed, agility, and many other attributes.