1188: Chapter 659, Grand Trend Collaboration_2 1188: Chapter 659, Grand Trend Collaboration_2 The Extinction Order is meant for moments like this.
As for whether there are any remaining loyalists on the planetâŠ
itâs not within the scope of consideration.
However, this kind of action poses a massive challenge to the Allianceâs Extinction Order weapon stockpile.
The âTerra-Burst Star Destroyerâ that Gu Hang newly acquired is still limited to just one piece and hasnât been used yet.
This single piece was even dragged out of the black box.
All used are âSkyburn Torpedoesâ.
The production line for this thing has never been fully operational.
After Gu Hang got this technology, he felt its uses were quite narrow, so it wasnât mass-produced.
In most situations, this was undoubtedly the right choice.
But isnât this one of those rare situations?
The places where the Extinction Order is needed are so densely packed.
Back when Gu Hang invaded the heart of the Iron Tooth Ork Empire to clean up those green skins, he didnât use this many.
Of course, the situations are different and cannot be generalized.
But then again, even so, Gu Hang had no regrets about not mass-producing the Skyburn Torpedo back then, only establishing one production line and using a mother machine black box to gradually produce them.
That was the right decision.
Building a Skyburn Torpedo costs nearly 2 billion tax coinsâexcluding those drawn from the black box, which have a very low cost.
Expanding its production line is extremely costly, and its manufacturing is also very expensive.
The price of building just one Skyburn Torpedo could nearly build five Lunar-Class Cruisers.
Skyburn Torpedoes only destroy, they donât have the capability to capture.
Whatâs more, theyâre also quite easily intercepted.
Building too many is useless.
As of now, the Alliance only has under twenty Skyburn Torpedoes in hand.
But if used well, this is a weapon that can completely destroy two Star Sectors!
Of course, this amount, compared to the hundreds of worlds in the Princess Star Domain, is still very different.
However, Gu Hang never intended to use Extinction Order weapons to plant mushrooms on every planet in the Princess Star Domain.
That would be too costly, unrealistic.
Moreover, many planetsâ circumstances donât warrant the use of Skyburn Torpedoes.
This is Gu Hangâs third line of thinking: some planets not on his advance route, that are not blocking the path, and where the swarm or the number of infectees is relatively small after rough estimation, will be passed over.
Itâs not completely ignored; assigning an observation post will suffice.
Just monitor one thing: to ensure a large Insect Race Fleet doesnât suddenly emerge from this planet.
The probability of this happening is actually not high.
For the Insect Race to evolve large biological ships, enormous biomass is required.
On planets where infectees and swarms are already small, the natural environment tends to be quite harsh.
The Insect Race accumulating that much biomass is impractical.
At most, some small ships might emerge, but the threat is minimal.
If it were possible to eliminate all dangers, that would be ideal.
But the time and manpower costs are enormous.
Truly clearing one planet after another is unsustainable, even if the Alliance has strong foundations.
Competing with the swarm in terms of wastage is a decision only the most foolish of commanders would make.
In this regard, one needs to have some level of understanding for Northern Commander Marshal Leroux.
When heâs thinking about ending the war as soon as possible, he canât manage as thoroughly as the Alliance the ruined worlds in the rear.
Compared to the Northern Levo and Sword Gate Star Domains, Thistle and Alfonso Star Domain were much better managed, yet Gu Hang spent more than two years tidying them up.
How long would Leroux take to clean up Levo and Sword Gate?
Four years?
Six years?
He couldnât wait any longer.
And then he was defeated.
Yet Gu Hang still couldnât quite believe that the Northern Line Army, with its massive fleet, over four thousand Interstellar Warriors, and strong support from the Extraplanar Tribunal, was entirely wiped out.
With billions of troops, among whom were many elites, as long as they werenât all destroyed at once when ship-bound, it would be normal for a considerable number to have survived until now.
Even killing several billion pigs isnât that easy.
Extract some value and see how much of the Northern Line Army remains was one of Gu Hangâs secondary objectives in this campaign.
His primary goal was certainly to locate the main force of the swarm, especially to find the Queen that was once sent to the Alphonso Sect, cultivated, and then released back.
Only by resolving the Queen could this threat be considered ended.
Of course, this doesnât prevent the complete destruction of the Princess Star Domain.
That is already a foregone conclusion.
In the dozens of worlds Gu Hang has passed through, there might still be living humans on the planets, uninfected and struggling, but their numbers are extremely small, likely less than one percent of the total population.
The entire Princess Star Domain is likely in this condition.
Even if Gu Hang ultimately wins the war and eliminates the Queen, these planets will eventually all be consumed by the Insect Race.
But, without the Queen, many âhub organismsâ will lose guidance, even die; without the Queenâs biological elements, the incubation pools will also cease to evolve, only mechanically operating as per the current mechanism until all biomass is consumed and they collapse.
By that time, the remaining cleanup, although still arduous, will merely be cleanup work.
The war could then be considered won.
Still, this primary goal isnât easy to accomplish.
Thus, finding the possibly remaining Northern Line Army is a secondary goal, aimed at strengthening oneâs forces.
Another secondary goal aligns with this: to attract the attention of the Void Insect Swarm in the Princess Star Domain as much as possible, setting the stage for a counterattack on the Western Front.
The grand scheme aligns in this way.
With Gu Hang piercing into the heart of the Princess Star Domain, even though a large-scale war hasnât yet erupted, much of the Insect Raceâs forces will inevitably be drawn over, and a big showdown is inevitable.
Otherwise, the planets not yet âeatenâ will be âburnedâ one by one by the Alliance, and that would be a great loss for the Void Insect Species.
This ensures that the Western Front will not face an additional swarm level of insects emerging from the Princess Star Domain and crashing into the defenses laid out by Salius.
Because of Gu Hangâs distraction in the enemyâs core area, Matins and Salius were finally able to keep the relatively small numbers in the east for defense and mass their forces for a western counterattack.
Hitting hard to eliminate the infected main forces of the Iron Armor Battle Group and clearing the logistics supply lines for the Western Front Army on one hand, on the other hand, it allows the Western Front to unleash its combat power, letting them strike into the Princess Star Domain from the west, relatively unhindered, in coordination with Gu Hangâs operations to search for the swarmâs core forces and eliminate the Queen.
The Queen is hardly a unit that would sit still in one place without resistance.
Once threatened, it will certainly be surrounded by a massive amount of Insect Race forces.
A final showdown is inevitable.
The stronger oneâs forces are at that time, the better.
Matins and Salius fully understood Gu Hangâs intention.
Their counterattack on Iron Armor was resolute.
The war fought over several months yielded quite an achievement.
Though the Iron Armor Battle Group was indeed vast, still numbering in the tens of thousands, the forces in Matins and Saliusâs hands were not insignificant at all.
Just the main force that Matins brought from the Thistle Muster Star Field numbers over three thousand Interstellar Warriors.
Salius himself has more than four thousand.
Besides his Otaubis Battle Group, there are also three thousand Starfighter Battle Groups assembled from various regions during the formation of the Expeditionary Force from the Sun Star Domain and reinforcements received throughout the war.
Together, they have seven thousand Interstellar Warriors, not much less than Iron Armor.
Even with 1,500 left to block the swarms pouring out from the Princess Star Domain to the east, they still have at least over five thousand Interstellar Warriors in their hands.
Moreover, in terms of elite strength, they certainly surpass Iron Armor.
Matins is confident in his Battle Group; Blood Shark is also a powerful Battle Group; only Spear of the Dragon King is fairly ordinary.
On the other hand, Otaubis Battle Group, as the favorite of the High Lords, has an extremely exaggerated elite level, definitely among the forefront of all Battle Groups.
The quality sufficiently compensates for the quantity difference.
And the Battle for Wanzhou Star is the most critical engagement in this grand counterattack.
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