Chapter 1181: Chapter 653, Signs of Collapse
Did Leroux truly not know that danger was approaching?
Not necessarily.
At first, he didnât take Gu Hangâs warnings seriously, for the same reasons he had criticized Gu Hang during a meeting earlier, believing that Gu Hang wasnât acting in the best interest of the Northern Lineâs affairs but rather that Gu Hang was exaggerating to obstruct the Northern Lineâs advance and claim the highest honor in this war.
However, later on, as undeniable evidence was laid out before him piece by piece, he wasnât completely oblivious. Naturally, he began to change his perspective.
Even his mindset underwent a transformation during those repeated and âsincereâ warnings.
On one hand, he came to admire Gu Hang somewhat.
Not everyone can set aside past grievances when truly important matters arise and dedicate themselves to offering reminders for the ultimate great cause.
On the other hand, he grew increasingly resolute in his determination to swiftly defeat Reiaductus and achieve final victory.
It wasnât because he disbelieved the intelligence provided by Gu Hang; on the contrary, he took it seriously, hence the need for such actions.
Words spoken in the past cannot be taken back. Even though he had shifted his thinking, he couldnât publicly change his stance as it would devastate his own prestige.
He was the Commander, the Alliance Hierarch, but he wasnât the founder or leader of this army.
At most, he could refrain from mentioning these matters further, allowing them to fade away.
Although inevitable whispers would circulate, as long as the situation didnât evolve into open opposition, it would prove that everything remained within controllable limits.
In the meantime, Leroux believed that there was no turning back now after careful consideration.
Like the Alliance, steadily addressing rear problems had become impossible. The state of the Lefo and Jianmen Star Domains was already dire due to the Insect Swarm invasion problems. Due to prior rapid advancements, they hadnât completely eradicated the Insect Swarm fleet; remnants remained, not to mention the various planet-based Swarm forces and infected individuals.
Previously, they believed all was manageable. The enemy had been dispersed, and the remaining threats were confined within Star Domain or even multiple Star Sector levels, qualifying as âlocal threats.â As long as they reached the Princess Star Domain and captured Reiaductus, they could achieve campaign-level victory. As for the cleanup issues left behind, the noble Interstellar Warriors wouldnât botherâlet the locally rebuilt government and Empire figure it out.
But now, there was strong evidence suggesting back-end troubles had become incredibly exaggerated in scale, and as they deepened into such territory, with Reiaductus already in sight, going back was impossible.
Even if Leroux issued such a command and his coalition forces supported his decision to return and clean up the mess, according to the intelligence provided by Gu Hang, those insects were fully capable of triggering a complete transformation of all infected individuals in the two Star Domains, just as with Gu Hang, for full conversion.
Moreover, because they merely scattered, not fully eliminated that Insect Swarm fleet earlier, the Lefo and Jianmen Star Domains might evolve into massive war quagmires. At that point, Leroux and his army would find it challenging to escape the chaos, let alone win the war!
From this angle, even if victory wasnât assured, the only way to preserve his army was to forge ahead bravely and conquer Reiaductus!
He even stopped pondering what to do if the war continued after capturing it and the coveted victory remained elusive.
He had no choice left.
He convened another internal military meeting, during which Leroux once again delivered an exceptional speech.
He didnât mention Gu Hang even once, only emphasizing the critical moment of survival, though everything wasnât yet at a dead end. Everyone should boost their morale, fight hard and only then carve out a path through the crisis.
However, this time his speech aimed at boosting morale wasnât as effective as before.
Everyone could see that danger was near.
The key point was that this danger was caused by Lerouxâs consistently aggressive strategy.
Eloquence had limited utility.
Leroux stopped saying much.
Actions spoke louder than words.
On the march toward Reiaductus, Leroux personally commanded, especially deploying his most loyal and reliable unitsâthe two Black Cross fleetâas they won several brilliant annihilation battles. They eliminated two local scouting and delaying units in the Princess Star Domain and captured a well-facilitated planet to serve as the armyâs backup base. Meanwhile, the entire army advanced rapidly, with Reiaductus now just two Star Realm jumps away.
The power of victory outweighed words.
Reinvigorated, the army finally reached Reiaductus one week later.
Here, they achieved a victory worthy of being called brilliant.
Using brilliance was not because they captured the target bloodlessly, quite the opposite.
The Iron Armor Battle Group in their stronghold had formidable defenses: Starports, Star Fortresses, planet-grade Void Shields, dense orbital gun fortsâevery necessary defense structure was there. Additionally, there was a competent mobile fleet stationed here, and the number of Ironclad Interstellar Soldiers revealed during combat exceeded a thousand, not to mention the Princess Legion played an outstanding auxiliary role comparable to renowned Star Realm Army units.
However, under Lerouxâs offensive, they defeated the enemy within a month.
While the planet wasnât fully occupied, the aforementioned key strategic points were under their control.
Then, Leroux eagerly spread the news of victory to all parties.
West Line, South Line, Holy Terra...
Alongside the victory news, he also pragmatically stated their intention to stay in Reiaductus for a while, to eradicate the resistance forces on the ground and fortify the planetary defense systems, particularly prioritizing the repair of the planet-grade Void Shield.
They would wait there for the victorious convergence with Mr. Gu and the Sallius Warlord.
This message was the Empireâs last combat report received from the Northern Line Army.
On the third day of their conquest of Reiaductus, the sky-darkening Subspace Shadow completely sealed off the Princess Star Domain, allowing no communication to escape.
Simultaneously, Lefo, Jianmen, An Guang, White Curtain, Tanggu... these five Star Domains nominally under Northern and Western Line control within the Spiderweb Domain began to see extensive phenomena of infected individuals metabolizing and rising bio-ships.
Even in the Magrey Cosmic Domain, such situations started occurring.
Meanwhile, in the Salliusâs report claiming their defeat of the Iron Armor Armyâs main force, this force unexpectedly appeared from the west, from Magrey Cosmic Domain, moving eastward to encircle Salliusâs main force.
From the Princess Star Domain, a sizable Insect Nest Fleet moved westward to encircle Sallius.
During this time, Salliusâs main force was still engaged in the cleanup of local infected and digestion pools at the border between the White Curtain Star Domain and the Princess Star Domain.