Meanwhile, in another star system belonging to the Minotaur clan—the Minoara system—the very fabric of space seemed to tremble.

The first battle fleet advanced in spear formation, slowly pushing forward while trading heavy fire with the Minotaur fortress that stood encircled. Around it swarmed no fewer than 2,800 ships of various classes, among them a Taurus-class dreadnought battleship and six Fang-class dreadnoughts.

[MSV Minotauris Rex (Taurus class battleship)]

Grade: Dreadnought

Length: 12,200 meters (12.2 km)

Beam (Width): 3,100 meters (3.1 km)

Height: 2,000 meters (superstructure + towers)

Mass: ~1.1 billion metric tons (dense alloy reinforced with gravitic compression plating)

Crew Capacity: ~500,000 (crew, soldiers, engineers, auxiliaries)

…..

Fang-Class Dreadnought Battleship

Dimensions

Length: 8,800 meters (4.8 km)

Beam (Width): 1,800 meters

Height: 1100 meters

Mass: ~310 million metric tons

Crew Capacity: ~290,000 (including soldiers, engineers, and auxiliary staff)

…..

“This doesn’t match the report Kael sent earlier,” Ezra muttered, watching the chaos unfold. “Nor does it match the intelligence we gathered after the destruction of the Seventh Light Fleet of the Minotaur clan. Clearly, something’s at play here that we don’t yet understand.”

He exhaled sharply. “Moments like this, I truly miss the reach of our Imperial Commander. Back then, we could get information on demand. Everything would have been clearer—easier to manage.”

Grand Admiral flagship main Ai Eclipse’s gaze stayed fixed on the battlefield. “Whatever the case, it won’t matter once we capture one of their vessels. Then we’ll learn the truth. That’s our only choice.”

Ahead, the shields of the vanguard ships flared under relentless bombardment from the fortress and Minotaur warships. The intensity grew by the second—frontline shields degrading one or two percent with every passing heartbeat.

“Frontal command is taking heavy fire!” came the urgent report.

“I can see that,” Eclipse replied coolly. “But it hasn’t yet reached the point where we need to rotate them. Let them hold.”

“In any case, we still hold complete and absolute advantage over these Minotaurs…

Though, what worries me is that dreadnought in their fleet—and its supermassive weapon.”

His eyes narrowed as he studied the battle map projected before him. The display was split in two: his forces in blue, the Minotaur clan in red. His gaze fixed on a colossal vessel, second in size only to the fortress itself. Stretching over three kilometers, a monstrous barrel ran across its hull, radiating menace. Six smaller, though still massive, dreadnought-class ships clustered around it, shielded further by an escort of lesser vessels.

Shifting his focus, he studied the fortress under relentless bombardment by half his fleet. Its defenses, layered six deep, showed no sign of faltering.

“That fortress will be difficult to deal with,” he muttered. “At least as long as it remains under those shields.”

A voice rose from the command deck. “But it isn’t that problematic, right, Grand Admiral? Oblivion’s main weapon can break those shields—and the fortress itself—in a single shot, can it not?”

“That isn’t the problem,” Eclipse replied calmly. “Even without Oblivion, a Storm-class battlecruiser could bring them down. But I have no intention of destroying the fortress—or that dreadnought, or its six escorts. My hope is that they carry the greatest trove of information. Information we can use. And their hulls can be retrofitted, their technology integrated into ours. After all, we intend not just to destroy the Minotaurs, but to capture them.”

He paused, then continued with measured weight.

“We have other targets to take. Wiping out this fortress and the entire fleet would be wasteful, not constructive. Destruction creates more work—securing the system, managing the aftermath, holding territory. If we level everything, we’ll only slow ourselves down when we need to move on to the next system.”

His gaze hardened. “And we cannot assume our actions will go unnoticed. Signs already point to forces at play we do not yet understand. That is why this fortress—and those ships—must be taken, not destroyed.”

“Have the forward ships bring their main weapon systems online and take down the enemy’s phase-photo shield system,” Ezra ordered, already preparing for a larger offensive only seconds into the battle.

“Yes, Commander,” replied Eclipse, relaying the command across the fleet.

The results were immediate.

The forward spearhead—battlecruisers, destroyers, and a handful of frigates—charged their primary weapons and unleashed volley after volley, each barrage growing in intensity. Streams of red plasma and pulsing energy lances tore through the void, hammering the six-layered shields of the Minotaur fortress. The impact was so fierce it physically shoved the massive structure several kilometers backward through space.

But the Void Fleet’s First Battle Fleet was not the only one to escalate. The Minotaurs reacted swiftly, ramping up the ferocity of their counterattack. Their primary fire rained down on the frontline vessels, while their secondary batteries tried desperately to intercept the incoming barrages. Over four thousand enemy ships in the forward formation added their firepower to the fortress’s guns.

Yet, just as in the battle of the Granthor system—a battle these Minotaurs knew nothing about—their efforts proved woefully ineffective. Most of their fire never reached the Void Fleet’s spearhead, dissipating harmlessly against shields or missing entirely. The few attacks that did connect were absorbed with minimal effect.

Meanwhile, the Void Fleet’s onslaught was relentless. Even with the Minotaur defenses intercepting what they could, only about ten percent of the incoming salvos were neutralized. The other ninety percent struck home.

Layer by layer, the fortress’s shields buckled under the assault. In less than five minutes, all six were annihilated.

Within the Minotaur fortress—just two minutes before the collapse of its shields—Commander Helran sat surrounded by the blare of alarms. Each report hammered into him, updating the integrity of the six-layer shield system.

It was the same emergency defense that Korvus had activated in the Granthor system as a last resort. But unlike Korvus, Helran was no fool. A seasoned warlord of the Minotaur clan, he needed only a glance at the enemy’s numbers and the energy signatures of their warships to know the truth: this was not a battle he could win.

Still, he had acted swiftly. Activating the shield system immediately had at least bought him time—time to think, to search for a countermeasure, to try to salvage the impossible. Looking back, he admitted the decision had been sound. But not enough. The enemy’s firepower was as overwhelming as their defenses were unbreakable. His own weapons were little more than sparks against an inferno.

Another alarm shrieked.[Shield system down to 48% integrity and falling.][Shield generators overheating—integrity at 38%.]

“This isn’t working…” Helran muttered. Then, sharply, he gave the order: “Shut down the emergency shield system. Save it for later.”

A stunned officer blurted, “What?!”

Helran’s gaze cut to him, calm but unyielding. “Do it now—before we burn out the generators completely and lose our shields for the entire battle.”

“Yes, Commander!” The Minotaur snapped out of his daze, quickly turning back to the console as warning chimes about shield integrity continued to scream through the fortress.

Helran pressed on, his mind already shifting to what came next. Direct engagement was suicide—not against an enemy of such overwhelming strength. But there was still a way to fight back.

He opened comms to the defensive fleet. His voice rang with iron resolve:

“To all defense ships: this is Commander Helran. Form a porcupine formation around the fortress. Then launch an assault on the enemy’s spearhead formation. This will be a high-speed strike—our only chance to inflict heavy damage.”

“And to achieve this, we must break through the enemy’s strong spearhead formation,” Helran declared.

“Only then will we have even the slightest chance of dealing the enemy serious damage. Otherwise, all this effort will mean nothing,” said Helran, his voice heavy with resolve, his expression bittersweet.

“We are prepared to do whatever you command, Commander. Just give the order, and we will give our best to see it done,” came the voices of Minotaurs across the fleet, their words echoing through the comm channels.

It was a stark contrast to the Minotaurs of the Granthor system. Same species, yes—but the difference was plain. There, many had cowered, consumed by fear of death, acting only out of desperation to survive.

But that was the result of Kael and his subordinates, who had broken them down, grinding their spirit until they forgot their very nature—their pride, their instinct for battle, their willingness to die if the fight demanded it.

[MSV Minotauris Rex (Taurus class battleship)]

[Hangar Capacity:]

1,400 starfighters

600 heavy gunships / corvettes

200 boarding craft & assault transports

Space for planetary siege landers (for ground invasions)

{Primary Weaponry}

[Gensolu-Class Beam Weapon System (Superweapon)]

Length of Main Cannon: 3.2 km spinal barrel (runs across the core spine of the ship).

The super-energy beam attack launched by this weapon was capable of delivering a single, focused strike for total annihilation, or it could be dispersed into a broad assault, targeting multiple enemies at once with reduced destructive power.

Output: Equivalent to stellar corona ejection (~0.00005% of a sun’s energy in one shot).

Effective Range: 40 million miles

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep