Chapter 440 A Large-Scale Positional Warfare

Having received news from Han Xiao that the World Tree was suspected of launching a new offensive, the three major civilizations began preparing for war in full swing. Batch after batch of standby troops stationed behind the lines were mobilized, causing the intercepting circle's forces to increase steadily.

Because the Child of Destiny had not obtained any information about the World Tree's subsequent actions, the three major civilizations could only be on high alert, maintaining the highest level of detection intensity around the clock. Officers at all levels were also on edge, not daring to relax, just like knowing a knife would be swung at them but not knowing when the enemy would strike.

As the range of the intercepting circle continued to expand, the laid-out wormhole support network also had to be constantly extended. The three major civilizations were uncertain which area the World Tree would attack.

Nearly a month passed in the blink of an eye, and the World Tree still did not launch an offensive. Just as the three major civilizations were wondering if this was a feint, the detection devices finally reported that a vast World Tree fleet had entered the beyond-visual-range observation area and was slowly advancing toward the intercepting circle. The number of warships exceeded two hundred billion, clearly the new wave of invading forces shown in the intelligence.

Thanks to the special observation device provided by Han Xiao, the current beyond-visual-range detection range of the three major civilizations far exceeded their controlled range, meaning they could launch beyond-visual-range strikes against this World Tree fleet from a greater distance, indirectly increasing the strategic depth the enemy had to travel to reach the intercepting circle.

After locking onto the target, the three major civilizations immediately launched beyond-visual-range fire coverage, while also using high-dimensional apocalypse teleporters to deploy space-shearing self-detonation units, attempting to consume more of the enemy's forces.

The World Tree army endured a period of frenzied bombardment before finally passing through a large section of strategic depth and reaching the edge of the three major civilizations' actual controlled area. Ahead lay the space-anchoring orbital network sealing off one jump point after another.

However, unlike the previous three times, the World Tree army did not quickly strike at the heart of the matter to avoid losing too many troops along the way. Instead, they stopped at the edge of the three major civilizations' controlled area, spreading out wave after wave of Lairbo space shields to isolate the endless fleet from long-range strikes. At the same time, they massively divided their forces, supporting each other while sweeping the space-anchoring orbitals on a large scale.

This time, the World Tree did not seem to want to launch a surprise attack. Instead, it planned to launch a large-scale positional warfare with the main force as its base.

The fleet sweeping the orbitals this time was not the small force from before. Its scale was larger, putting the three major civilizations in a dilemma. They knew that the World Tree was clearly forcing them to leave the intercepting circle's fortifications and go out into the wild to fight, more efficiently depleting their forces.

In the previous few times of resisting the World Tree's strong attacks, the intercepting circle's fortifications had played a huge role. The most important thing was the wormhole rapid support network hidden in the strategic depth between layers of defense lines, which allowed them to quickly gather troops to descend upon the World Tree's main attack area on the intercepting circle.

If it were a field battle, this advantage would be greatly weakened. Although high-dimensional apocalypse teleporters could also provide support, they were, after all, cosmic treasures with high manufacturing costs. The limited number meant that the efficiency of transporting large quantities of troops was not as good as that of conventional wormhole support channels.

However, if they ignored the World Tree fleet's sweeping operations, the space-stabilizing orbitals laid out these days would be ruined. After some weighing, the three major civilizations still sent out some troops to try to stop them and constantly attacked the World Tree's main force stationed at the edge of the controlled area. This led to high-intensity local field battles breaking out in the controlled area.

In order to reduce casualties in the local battles, the three major civilizations' Super-A Grade individuals went into action one after another, playing a role in the local battlefield, helping their own troops fight against the enemy's fleet, and equipped with Ruler mechs, they could retreat back to the intercepting circle base at any time. However, the World Tree powerhouses never appeared, as if they did not intend to contain the high-end combat power of the three major civilizations.

Although the three major civilizations won most of the local battles with relatively low battle damage, under the situation of the enemy's main force pressing down, they could not repair or maintain the space-stabilizing orbitals and had to constantly withstand attacks. Temporarily repelling the sweeping forces was just a temporary solution.

After fighting like this for more than a month, the troop losses on both sides reached tens of billions. The three major civilizations finally determined that they could not prevent the enemy from destroying all the space-stabilizing orbitals, so they abandoned this burden, shrank their troops to preserve their strength, no longer invested troops in the losing battle of attrition, and instead exchanged it for strategic depth, launching long-range strikes against the moving sweeping troops, gradually eroding the World Tree's forces.

The two sides fought for another period of time. After about three months, the World Tree army finally swept away all the space-anchoring orbitals set up by the three major civilizations, liberating the jump points of all the pioneer legions from the past six months, paying a price of nearly a hundred billion troops for this.

On April 6, Star Sea Calendar 784, the World Tree main force, which had been stationed on the edge of the nominal controlled area for several months, finally set off again and attacked the intercepting circle.

After a period of navigation, the World Tree army, with only about half of its strength left, finally crossed the strategic depth under various harassments and arrived at the intercepting circle, trying to break through the blockade, and immediately engaged in fierce combat with the armies of the three major civilizations.

The three major civilizations were waiting in full battle array and had a troop advantage. As soon as the battle began, they quickly gained the upper hand. According to this trend, it was not a problem to withstand this wave of offensive and wipe out the World Tree's hundreds of billions of fleets.

However, on the third day of the battle between the two sides, three World Tree reinforcements airdropped from the unsealed nearby jump points. A total of 150 billion fresh troops were投入into the battle, attacking different areas. The three major civilizations' pressure suddenly increased, while drawing existing troops to resist and summoning support from the rear.

After continuing to fight fiercely for five days, two more World Tree reinforcements airdropped, totaling hundreds of billions,投入into the battle.

On the ninth day, an 80 billion-scale World Tree fleet reinforced.

On the fourteenth day, 140 billion enemy troops reinforced.

On the twentieth day, 206 billion enemy troops reinforced.

The World Tree's support troops were constantly arriving. No matter how many died on the front line, the rear would reinforce as many. They were trying to fully utilize their advantage in the war of attrition and grind through the entire intercepting circle!

…

"C-1008a war zone is in emergency… L-0213b war zone is in emergency…"

The scene in the command room was a busy one. The emotionless synthesized voice of the spaceship intelligence constantly broadcasted emergency alarms from war zones, one after another. Simon and the other high-level officials stared intently at the real-time battle situation monitoring, their eyes full of tired bloodshot eyes.

The high-intensity battle had lasted for nearly a month, without stopping for even a minute or a second. Currently, none of the surviving officers were not exhausted. The battle damage of the fleets on both sides had already risen to the level of hundreds of billions.

On the side, many Super-A Grades were basically injured. These injuries were all caused by the World Tree fleet, and no high-level combat power was involved.

The World Tree's endless reinforcements made the battle situation precarious. The Super-A Grades had no choice but to fight against the fleet. This month was like becoming firefighters, stabilizing the various local battlefields that had fallen into crisis, one after another, without much time to rest and recover.

But even so, the contribution of the many Super-A Grades was only a drop in the bucket for the ultra-large-scale interstellar battle with a total number of over ten trillion warships, and could not play a decisive role.

Many Super-A Grades were worried. Although the World Tree's high-level combat power had not participated in the war, causing the Super-A Grades on their side not to suffer any new sacrifices, everyone was sweating as they watched the three major civilizations' troops become more and more disadvantaged.

Kesiye looked at the battle situation monitoring, approached Han Xiao, and whispered, "The World Tree has launched a general offensive, colliding head-on regardless of casualties. The first and second defense belts have been broken through, and the enemy's reinforcements are still pouring in. Judging from this situation, the intercepting circle should not be able to be defended."

"I guess so."

Han Xiao breathed out a sigh of relief, quite dignified, and equally exhausted.

The month-long high-intensity war had completely turned this place into a meat grinder. Even most of the players had used up their daily respawn quota many times. In this place, there was very little he could do.

This time, the World Tree did not use any special plans. It was simply relying on its troop advantage to collide head-on. Using brute force to overcome skill, if it could not break through the intercepting circle in one day, it would not stop reinforcing for one day. If a month of continuous combat was not enough, then two months, three months… It was just one word, reckless!

The intercepting circle could not stop the World Tree's advance once and for all, and would be breached sooner or later. However, this day seemed to have come earlier than expected, and from the beginning of its establishment, it had only won the three major civilizations about a year of time.

"Black Star, we have to consider evacuating too." Kesiye whispered.

Han Xiao ignored him and stared intently at the battlefield outside.

At this time, endless warships were fighting and firing at each other. The flashing light was like the starry sky, and the silent brilliance carried the aura of destruction. Countless lives were投入into the embrace of death every second.

Even if the intercepting circle troops of the three major civilizations were defeated, their group would have plenty of time to retreat back to the territory, without worrying about their retreat route.

Even if the World Tree passed through the intercepting circle, it would still take a long time to navigate before reaching the edge of the Shattered Star Ring. However, the three major civilizations would probably not be able to replicate a similar defense line like the intercepting circle, meaning that as long as the World Tree broke through head-on, it would represent that the other party's invasion of the territory had officially entered the countdown.

Just then, another World Tree fleet drove into the battlefield, and the familiar Tree King halo followed, immediately amplifying the combat power of a large number of World Tree members, immediately attracting everyone's attention.

"This is the ability of the Tree King… They have finally sent out their high-level combat power. It is already very difficult for the three major civilizations to persevere. If the Tree King uses the halo at this time, I am afraid it will be the last straw that breaks the camel's back. I wonder which Tree King is coming this time…"

A dignified look flashed in Han Xiao's eyes.

Not only him, but the eyes of all the other Super-A Grades locked onto the source of the halo, and at the same time, they tensed up.