It wasn’t just the left flank of the Minotaur’s subgroup that had started, but the main battle line and the right flank also began firing at the First Battle Group, targeting their Vanguard. The intensity was obviously much higher than that of the left and right flanks, because the majority of their forces were on the main battle line.

They had with them all the battle cruisers, battleships, destroyers, frigates, and even the superstructure of a Star Fortress, totaling about 2,400 ships. The left and right flanks of the Minotaur forces focused on the opposite flanks of the Void Fleet’s First Battle Fleet.

The First Fleet was not to be left behind. The Vanguard and the left and right divisions of the First Battle Group also began opening fire. The left and right divisions targeted the Minotaur flanks, while the Vanguard focused on mostly defensive tactics.

The Vanguard’s plan was to slowly hunt down the ships of the Minotaur’s main battle line. The Vanguard of the First Battle Fleet, made up of about 2,000 ships, responded to the attacks racing toward them with methodical barrages of their own.

Their energy weapon systems—pulse cannons, heavy plasma cannons, ion cannons, and other weapons—lanced out. Not in a random, wild burst, but in a slow, steady rhythm that meticulously began to counter the attacks launched by the Minotaur’s main battle line. They intercepted most of the attacks midway.

A few attacks managed to pass through the lines, but they were blasted off midway before they could even strike the shields of the Vanguard of the First Battle Fleet.

If not for the battle taking place in space, the sheer sound of explosions would have been deafening. Explosions were happening not far from the Vanguard fleet as well as the main battle line of the Minotaur forces.

As attacks like pulse lasers, turboslasers, and projectiles met each other in striking fashion, despite their near-light speed, they were all counteracted by the weapon systems of the Vanguard battle cruisers, destroyers, and frigates. Not a single attack was able to brush past the raging sea of flames that the collision of multiple attacks had created in empty space.

However, that was the case only for the Minotaur forces, not for the Vanguard itself. The attacks that the Vanguard had launched, while not yet at full force, were easily able to push past the main battle line of the Minotaur forces.

Despite the efforts that the main battle line ships and destroyers made along with the ships on other lines, they failed to launch a counter-attack. Their systems were simply not able to predict the moving projectiles and hit them to neutralize them quickly enough.

Within seconds of the battle’s restart, the main battle line of the Minotaur forces was struck again. The impact was so hard that it made the frontline battle carriers’ shields quiver as if they were about to collapse. Even the structures of the battle cruisers were making weird noises as the alloys they were made of were under immense pressure and could collapse at any moment.

Within one of the battle carriers, the captain, or whatever position the Minotaur held, sat in a high chair in what seemed like a command bridge. He was clutching the arms of his chair as the whole ship shook violently.

Creeeeeeeek.

Craaaaaaaaaack.

The sounds he and others were hearing within the command bridge of their ships—and even those who were within this ship—were no different.

“Sir!” a voice that was literally shaking with fear yelled. “The immediate frontal shields are at 11% of their integrity. We lost it. We almost lost it completely!”

“Captain, the ship’s hull structure is down to 86% of its integrity,” said another Minotaur officer as he gulped, trying to swallow non-existent saliva.

“Damn!” said the Minotaur, who was called Captain. He was the same one sitting high above in the command bridge.

“This… this is just way too brutal,” he said with fear and dread in his voice. He, too, gulped down his saliva and tried to wipe the sweat that had dared to bead on his face.

“How the hell did the ship’s structural integrity come down by 14% when it wasn’t even a direct hit on our hull?” he said.

‘Just how much power lay behind those energy attacks… No wonder—our quasi–Tier-1 shields on the star-fortress collapsed in record time, he thought, grime streaking his face.’

He then barked ordered, even more hastily than he could thought of other things “We can’t bear another attack like that—not with our forward shields already down by 89 percent.”

He turned to a comms officer and ordered, ‘Inform the others, and make sure the commander knows—we can withstand at most two more strikes before we’ll be forced to pull back. If we don’t, there’s a high chance this ship will become inoperable, even before our shields are completely down.'”

“Y-yes, sir. I’m doing it immediately,” said one of the officers as he operated the propulsion systems of the battlecruiser.

The ship began to turn, letting its left flank face the Void Fleet. As the propulsion systems activated, the ship once again rocked, making the Captain jump out of his seat.

He shouted, “Brace!” at the top of his lungs. He was having a mirage—he thought they had been hit once again. ….

“Umm umm .. well ,” said one of the Minotaur officers as he looked at the Captain, speechless.

He shouted, “Brace!” at the top of his lungs. He was having a mirage—he thought they had been hit once again. ….

“Umm,” said one of the Minotaur officers as he looked at the Captain, speechless. Even though the situation was already this severe, he couldn’t help but be speechless, just like the others on the command bridge of this battle cruiser.

“What are you looking at?” said the slightly panicked Minotaur Captain, who was hiding behind his command chair. He looked at his subordinates from behind his chair. “Quickly, get hold of something!” he said, feeling a bit weird about the looks he was receiving.

“Umm, well, Captain,” the officer stammered, “We’re not being attacked. Well, not just yet.” The ship had just rocked because the propulsion engine fired up, and the dampers—which should have cushioned the force—were likely damaged by that last attack.

Now it was time for the others to look at this particular Minotaur officer with the same speechless look they had given the Minotaur Captain.

The difference was that their faces were twitching as many of the officers present thought, What? Dampers damaged? Is he out of his mind? Our ship always rocks like that whenever the propulsion engines are fired up at full force!

Then, as they looked at the emblem on the right shoulder of the officer—a hammer hammering a ship—they realized their mistake. Oh, wait… they thought. So he’s from the production department? No wonder he’s saying that.

In low voices, some spoke to each other so that the officer couldn’t hear.

“No wonder he said that,” one Minotaur whispered.

“Yes,” another joined, “It looks like even in this situation, he’s hiding it.”

“Spoken like a true person from the shipbuilding department,” another said.

But they didn’t dare to speak loudly, afraid that if they survived and the officer and commander remembered this, their lives would take a turn for the worse. They kept their lips and thoughts to themselves.

On the command bridge of the Oblivion-class dreadnought, part of the Central Formation, Admiral Michael watched the first engagement unfold. His destroyers and battle cruisers countered the attack launched on their side of the formation while also effectively attacking the small Mintaur fleet attempting to flank them.

The skirmish between the two fleets had just begun, but already, he was able to take down a few of the enemy ships. The Minotaur , in a clever maneuver, safeguarded their other vessels by using their own ships to defend those that had taken damage, effectively reducing their losses.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Minotaur captain watched as a few of his destroyers—ships that they themselves had just initiated an attack with—erupted into flames. While others were safe, four or five destroyers were completely obliterated, and another three had their shields wiped out.

His face creased as he watched, but he didn’t lose hope. He quickly ordered, “Have those ships move back! Let the second line frigates take their place! Quick!”

The officers on the bridge knew they had just lost many of their comrades, those who were on board the destroyers that were even now bursting into flames.

They had heard their cries for help, a static-filled scream over the comms as the ships were struck by multiple attacks that they had all failed to intercept.

They watched in silent horror as their shields gave up and the crews shouted for support, but it just happened so quickly. No one was able to do anything at all.

All they could do was watch as the ships, and those trapped within, burst into silent, expanding fireballs. The blinding light from the explosions briefly lit up the space around them, turning the destroyed vessels into glowing coffins in the dark.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep