Chapter 1534: Laying the Groundwork

A powerful and advanced civilization must inevitably remain in a state of constant development and progress.

This also applied to both the Magus Civilization and the Gallant Federation!

Compared to tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of years ago, what changes had occurred on Klythera?

They had grown poorer! The number of high-ranking beings had dwindled, and even their population base had shrunk to an all-time low.

The Klytheran fighters had also weakened significantly due to the lack of an environment suitable for growth...

It was truly a tragic reality.

In stark contrast, the Gallant Federation had become stronger and stronger.

After several revolutionary leaps forward, their technology had reached a level even the Magus Civilization found unsettling.

As they charged into the interstellar battlefield beyond Planet Zax, the high-ranking Klytheran fighters soon encountered the Gallant Federation’s war fleet, redeployed from other planetary fronts.

Superior firepower, tighter fleet formations, and more diverse attack methods—this was the true combat strength of the Gallant Federation forces!

The Klytheran’s earlier rampage on Zax had only succeeded because they attacked from the rear and caught the federation off guard.

Backed by a vastly larger number of high-ranking combatants, it had been a nearly one-sided slaughter.

But if both sides fielded similar numbers of elite forces, would the Klytheran legions still have it so easy?

The fallen Magus World legions and the even greater casualties among the Magus Alliance legions had already proven with hard numbers that the Gallant Federation was no pushover.

When the Klytheran fighters charged out of Zax and faced the concentrated frontal fire of the federation’s support fleet...

Massive casualties were unavoidable.

This included Karl, who had fought the fiercest earlier and even destroyed a federal capital ship

He, too, was intercepted.

Blocking Karl’s path was a giant mobile suit nearly two thousand meters tall.

The dimensions of the Gallant Federation’s giant mobile suits were not fixed.

Most of them used special memory alloys, allowing the suits to freely contract or expand depending on combat needs, even altering their weight and the density of their outer metal plating.

The weapons this particular mobile suit wielded were two massive blue chainsaws.

Blinding sparks danced between the spinning blades.

In terms of individual strength, this giant mobile suit, which had already clashed with Karl earlier, was evenly matched with him.

Karl had never encountered a mobile suit of this model before!

Not only Karl, but Karazo and Drew as well.

In all the intel on the Gallant Federation they had received and processed, there had been absolutely no mention of such a model.

Then again, the Klytheran survivors’ knowledge of the Gallant Federation was stuck hundreds of thousands of years in the past.

The Gallant Federation of today was nothing like it used to be.

Even their standard warships were vastly different from what Klytheran records described.

Fortunately, breakthroughs in power levels were not easy to achieve.

The Gallant Federation could not possibly have upgraded all its warships to the point where they were a threat to Rank Four or higher lifeforms.

Although there were casualties among the Klytherans, the Gallant Federation also suffered losses.

Many newly arrived federal commanders were baffled.

Where had this swarm of alien fighters come from, and why were they so fearless in battle? They were far more troublesome than the typical Magus Alliance combat legions!

A few sharp, seasoned commanders eventually recognized these aliens as Klytherans, a race the Gallant Federation had supposedly wiped out in the past.

The federation had once prepared numerous countermeasures specifically for dealing with the Klytherans.

Some ships with deep information archives even held detailed records on the Klytherans’ weaknesses and common combat habits.

With their powerful information-sharing systems, this intel was disseminated to all Gallant Federation combat units across the nearby battlefields in an extremely short time.

The Klytherans’ greatest vulnerability lay in the Klytherite embedded in their chests.

Damage to the Klytherite inflicted far more severe harm than an injury to vital organs like the brain or heart.

Furthermore, the records listed Klytherite as a Grade A war resource.

The fact that the Klytheran fighters on the battlefield were at least Rank One was a massive boon for these federal fleets.

“Destroy them!” The order was transmitted to every federal legion across the surrounding starfields.

For the Klytheran fighters on this battlefield, the greatest threat did not come from the federal battleships equipped with heavy main cannons and secondary batteries.

It was the dense swarms of drones, like countless locusts.

Individually, each drone’s attack power was low; even a Rank One Klytheran fighter could take down five or six without trouble. But the overwhelming number of drones were all aiming for the Klytherans’ chests with incredible agility.

As expected, shortly after the battle began, the majority of casualties among the Klytherans were caused by the Gallant Federation’s relentless drone swarms.

“Should we lend them a hand?” Orric asked, leaning back with his hands behind his head inside a metallic warship stationed near the edge of the battlefield.

Darian, from the Shadowbat Civilization, remained silent.

Auron, the Rank Four Voltaran World, also kept quiet.

Only Beatrice showed a flicker of hesitation.

Within the Gallant Federation legions, the lifeless, fully metallic constructs of pure technology known as drones made up the bulk of their forces.

After spending some time with the Klytherans and witnessing one fighter after another fall to the drones’ relentless assault, Beatrice genuinely considered stepping in.

But before Orric and the rest could even reach a decision, a beam of green energy shot toward them from a distance, striking the metal vessel they were on.

The Klytherans’ metal ships were clearly no match for a Gallant Federation battleship.

With a chain of explosions, the vessel began falling apart.

Through the flames, the figures of Darian and the others slowly emerged.

“I’m not the one starting this fight. They attacked me first. I can’t just stand there, can I?” Orric said, flicking a couple of glowing sparks off his shoulder.

The Gallant Federation fleet’s firepower was undeniably impressive. Orric had already spotted several targets in this starfield capable of actually threatening him.

A surge of water burst upward from beneath his feet, and the arrogant Rank Five Aquarian prince launched himself straight at the nearest large federal warship.

Beatrice also entered the fray, but she showed more restraint than Orric.

She did not go after the federal battleships. Instead, she focused on the overwhelming swarms of drones flooding the battlefield.

A pale golden glow radiated from the circular shield in her left hand, protecting nearby Klytheran fighters from a heavy barrage of energy beams.

With a swift flick of the short sword in her right hand, a chain of explosions detonated across the incoming drone cluster.

The Rank Four powerhouse dealt with the drone swarms with impressive efficiency.

Meanwhile, Darian and Auron did not move at all.

What they did not yet realize was that whether they chose to intervene or simply observe, the drone swarms across the battlefield, and every federal warship watching this sector had already locked onto and recorded their information.

That data would eventually be fed into the Gallant Federation’s central database, laying the groundwork for future decisions...