Chapter 180: The Stalemate at Kodo Star

Totran Kingdom.

Kodo Star.

It wasn’t anything like their early unstoppable advance.

Right now, even Tuoba was starting to feel the pressure. His fleet had been stuck here for half a year.

If he couldn’t break through, he’d have no way to attack the Totran Kingdom’s capital region from behind.

Of course, avoiding Kodo was possible. After all, it wasn’t the only interstellar current leading to the capital.

But if you looked at the star chart, you’d see the capital was only connected to the outside by four currents, and three of them led to the far side of the kingdom.

If they went around, attacking from a different route, it would take at least three years.

And that’s assuming Totran left those other routes completely undefended.

Clearly, there was a lot of uncertainty in that plan.

Come to think of it, this place was a lot like the Solar System.

Tuoba’s invading force had entered through a pass that was buried deep inside a super-dense asteroid belt.

The good news was, since space was so cramped here, Totran Kingdom had gathered more than ten thousand warships, but they hadn’t set up a battle line at the current’s mouth.

The bad news? While reaching Kodo was simple enough, breaking out of the asteroid belt was a nightmare.

Totran had filled the entire area with countless mines, disguising them as asteroids or as random bits of cosmic debris.

The Xitoris Kingdom had minesweepers, sure, but the trouble was…

Whenever they tried to send out a minesweeper to open a safe passage, Totran warships would pop out from their hiding spots, attack, and destroy it.

Then they’d slip away again without sticking around to fight.

Their intention was clear: do whatever it took to bog down the enemy.

Totran Kingdom understood perfectly well that in a head-on fight, they didn’t have the strength to defeat Xitoris’ fleet right now.

After all, they’d scraped together just over ten thousand warships from their entire kingdom, and almost all of them were here.

Their enemy, Xitoris, had just over ten thousand ships too, but those vessels…

Were all far superior to anything Totran could muster.

But as long as they could keep Tuoba tied up for a few years, once the Alliance fleet arrived…

Everything could turn around.

So, Totran’s strategic goal wasn’t to defeat Tuoba, but to hold him here.

Every tactic and strategy they used revolved around a single goal—

Delay.

As long as you don’t deploy your minesweepers, we’ll just ignore you!

But the moment you send out a minesweeper, we’ll blow it up on the spot.

Even if it costs us dearly!

So, without minesweepers, is the fleet completely unable to break through this mine-filled asteroid belt?

Truth is, they really can’t.

Unless they’re willing to burn through ship after ship, forcing a path with massive losses.

Tuoba wasn’t like Parlo. After transporting his warships to the front, he needed more time to get them into battle.

And on top of that, most of the initial ships had been handed over to Parlo.

So, right now, the eleven thousand warships Tuoba commanded were nearly all the Seawolf-class vessels he had left.

Sure, there were another ten thousand on the way, but they’d take at least three years to reach the frontline.

Sending ships to their deaths to clear a path was simply out of the question.

After half a year, all thirty-plus specialist support vessels meant for minesweeping had been spent. Now the entire fleet was caught in a bind—not able to push forward, but with no way to retreat either.

Even though Seawolf-class ships were versatile, they simply couldn’t replace the unique support functions those specialist vessels provided.

“No word from His Majesty yet?”

The fleet commander looked increasingly frustrated as he questioned his deputy.

“No. Actually, we just received our latest orders.”

“Great, what did His Majesty say?”

“His Majesty said we don’t need to do anything at all. Someone else will come deal with this problem for us.”

Hearing this, the commander could only stare in confusion, question marks practically circling his head.

And just then—

Suddenly, alarms blared throughout the bridge.

“What’s going on?”

“Commander, we’re detecting a massive energy spike up ahead!”

“Those Totran bastards are trying to ambush us again?!”

The commander was clearly irritated.

For the past six months, their enemies had never stopped sabotaging their minesweeping efforts, popping out from all directions, firing a few shots, and slipping away.

They didn’t deal out much actual damage, but it was absolutely maddening.

Their one goal seemed to be never letting up, even for a moment.

“No, it’s not coming from inside the asteroid belt. The source is about thirty thousand kilometers ahead, out in the open by the current’s mouth.”

“Put it on screen!”

“Yes, Commander!”

With the warship’s sensors locked on, they projected the image onto the bridge.

A scene flickered to life before them.

“What the…”

Everyone on the bridge stared in disbelief.

Out in the empty void, space itself was being torn apart—or to be precise, a swirling azure portal was opening, twisting open a spiral in reality.

Then, a massive silver-white warship five point seven kilometers long emerged from within.

“All ships, target the unknown vessel and stand by for my order!”

“It won’t work, Commander! We can’t lock onto the target—I repeat, we cannot lock on!”

“Can’t lock on? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. The system just says the target can’t be locked.”

The weapons officer was sweating bullets.

Of course, that’s how it was.

After all, every Seawolf-class warship had a built-in backdoor—by design, they weren’t allowed to target human vessels at the system level.

“Commander, the unknown ship is transmitting a message.”

“What’s it say?”

“They say they’re about to clear us a safe passage ahead, so we should prepare to attack!”

“Wait… could this be who His Majesty was talking about?”

“Odds are, it probably is…”

The deputy looked just as stunned, but managed a nod.

——

“Commander, we’ve reached our position!”

“All right, let’s play minesweeper ourselves. Get to it!”

“Yes, Commander!”

Next moment, under Meng Fei’s control, several quantum bombs were launched, streaking into the dense asteroid field ahead.

Moments later, three brilliant azure portals flashed through the gloom.

A second ago, that stretch of space had been jammed full of asteroids and debris. Suddenly, it was swept spotlessly clean.

Not a trace left behind.

What Lin Yu and the others didn’t realize was that three Totran warships had been hiding in that very area.

But honestly, even if they did know, it wouldn’t have changed anything.

Work’s work—cleaning up is cleaning up, doesn’t matter what’s in the way.

“Keep going!”

“Yes, Commander!”