Chapter 81: Blood and Ashes Among the Stars

Assault corvettes are fast—no doubt about that.

But by the time they’d covered half a million kilometers to reach the human outpost the enemy was already two or three hundred thousand kilometers ahead.

Judging by their retreat path it was clear they deliberately steered away from the assault corvette group’s trajectory.

In other words unless the course was changed they couldn’t target the human fleet.

But if you changed course the humans could just shift theirs again.

With hundreds of thousands of kilometers between them the enemy always had time to react.

So in the end the assault corvettes lost their targets and burned up their opportunities to adjust trajectory or accelerate again.

They couldn’t even be recovered.

Since assault corvettes outpaced warships even the Klein Fleet couldn’t catch up to their own ships.

To avoid that kind of waste—

Loxi had no choice but to order every assault corvette to shift targets and focus all firepower on the human outpost.

They might not destroy the human fleet this way, but the corvettes could wipe out the forward stations in no time.

After all, those hundreds of weapon-laden asteroids could still inflict major casualties at close range.

Loxi let out a deep sigh.

He’d completed the patriarch’s orders, seized the human outpost, and opened a direct and safe route to Mars.

So why was there still a nagging sense of frustration in his chest?

——

Over twenty minutes later—

More than a thousand assault corvettes rammed forward, slamming into the hundreds of big and small asteroids.

Then waves of Klein warriors burst from the corvettes, tearing through the stations and smashing railguns and any other weapons in their path.

Everything seemed to be progressing smoothly.

And yet…

Just a few minutes later—

When the Klein warriors finished clearing the asteroids and stood waiting on the rocks for retrieval—

Something hidden deep inside those scattered asteroids seemed to kick into action, as if triggered by a signal.

Red lights flashed across their shells, blinking faster and faster.

A few seconds passed…

No sound—just the sight of asteroids exploding into debris, fragments spraying in every direction.

As for the assault corvettes embedded in the rocks—over a thousand of them—

They didn’t escape either. Most were obliterated instantly. The handful that survived were badly crippled.

At the same moment, hundreds of thousands of kilometers away—

“Commander, all nuclear warheads have detonated. Outpost Two is confirmed destroyed, along with over a thousand Klein assault corvettes.”

“Excellent. Order all fleets to cease advance. We’re… turning to confront the enemy!”

“Yes, Commander!”

Without Outpost Two’s defensive support, the Federation lost an asset, but so did the Klein—they were now short their entire assault corvette group.

In fact, their losses were arguably heavier than those of the Human Federation.

And with the corvette threat gone, Mu Xingchen could finally deploy the fleet in full force for a real battle.

At least until the enemy’s main fleet arrived.

Mu Xingchen still hoped to cut down the enemy main warships before the true showdown.

Anything to lay the groundwork for that decisive final battle.

A dozen minutes passed.

The Federation Fleet slowed and arced through space, swinging around.

Then, targeting the chaos of the destroyed Outpost Two and the Klein vanguard fleet drawing close to the next outpost—

They opened fire with everything they had!

——

This time around—

Mu Xingchen had the room to maneuver, going toe-to-toe with the enemy.

But just as he’d said before: don’t get hung up on every outpost or asteroid. Trade space for time. Do whatever it takes to stall the enemy advance.

So the Federation Fleet adopted a strategy—attacking as they retreated bit by bit.

Of course, reversing a warship is far slower than forward movement—a lot slower.

But that didn’t matter. Whenever the enemy drew too close, Mu Xingchen would issue the retreat order and litter the path behind them with minefields.

The Klein Fleet behind them could either slow down, skirt the minefield, and try to catch up—

Or halt entirely and send expendables forward to clear the mines.

Either way cost them precious time. The Federation used it to pull ahead, again and again—then turn to confront them.

This cycle repeated.

Three full days passed.

With every cycle, the Federation Fleet fell farther and farther back.

A glance at the strategic map showed that if they kept this up, in just two and a half days they’d be clear of the Asteroid Belt.

At that point, the Federation would be forced into a final showdown with the Klein in the open void.

That was the last thing the Federation wanted.

And because they never let the enemy approach close enough for the ion-beam cannons to be effective—always falling back as soon as the Kleins entered half a million kilometers—

They’d been fighting for days, but really it had been the Federation firing on the Klein almost unopposed the whole time.

But in reality—

Up till now the Klein vanguard fleet had only lost twenty-three warships.

Compared to losing more than a thousand assault corvettes just days ago, this cost barely stung the Klein commander.

“Any news from the Fifth Fleet?”

“None. If the timeline holds, it’ll be three more days before they’re out of comms blackout, and eight before the attack on Europa begins.”

Chief of Staff Luo Ming shook his head, then added some detail.

“No news is good news!”

Mu Xingchen nodded, finally breathing easier.

That route might be dangerous, but it wouldn’t wipe out an entire fleet.

Even if something happened, Mu Qingxue could always lead most of the fleet out, contact Headquarters, and report.

And since Headquarters hadn’t been contacted, that meant—

The Fifth Fleet was moving through the route without major trouble.

In fact, by the timeline, they’d already cleared the worst stretch.

The next few days might still be risky, but nothing like before. Things were finally looking safer.

Just as Mu Xingchen suspected—

At that very moment, the Fifth Fleet had passed through the most dangerous segment. They’d taken losses, but all within expected limits.

Two frigates had lost all propulsion and were left behind, following Mu Qingxue’s orders.

A destroyer had been battered, all its weapon systems offline, but since engines and life support still ran, it limped along with the fleet.

But that ship—

There was no question it could no longer fight.

The rest all took some hits too, but nothing major.

Cracks in outer armor here or a railgun battery knocked out there—it was manageable.

Nothing that would hurt their performance in the coming battle.

Next, in three days, they’d break through the Asteroid Belt and—once close enough—

Use Europa’s orbit behind Jupiter as cover—

And launch their assault.