Chapter 988: Chapter 532, Getting Messy

The battle situation in Yuehe VII was completely reversed.

Before this, over ten million Alliance Army along with forty million Pact Army were resisting the fierce assault of over seventy million Princess’s Rebel Army, while also facing the threat of orbital bombardment from above… the fight was extremely arduous and brutal.

And now, they finally turned the tide and took control.

A large number of the Princess’s Rebel Army’s forces were bombed to death in these three days; then in the following week, due to their structure being scattered, they suffered strong clearance operations from the Alliance ground forces, resulting in huge losses.

In just these ten days or so, over ten million traitors of the Princess Legion died in Yuehe VII.

This loss amount is almost equivalent to the losses the Princess Legion suffered while attacking various fortresses across the entire planet in the past three months.

If they could have more time, say a year or half a year more, the Alliance might have a chance to execute a large-scale annihilation operation in Yuehe VII, where seventy million Princess’s rebels would all die here.

However, that’s not possible.

The Fury Flame Battle Group has already reacted.

They also cannot accept losing so heavily in Yuehe VII.

Seventy million Princess Legion! This is not the Defense Army! This is the legitimate Princess Legion, reformed from the former Battle Group Auxiliary Army!

This is the Iron Fury Stone’s core force aside from the Interstellar Warriors, the Princess Legion, this is their Star Realm Army. In the southward Fury Flame Battle Group, the total number of troops amounts to several hundred million, possibly even over a billion. However, even within that, the Princess Legion only accounts for half, at most two to three hundred million.

To lose seventy million just like that is unacceptable.

Moreover, it’s not that there’s no rescue.

The predicament in Yuehe VII was mainly caused by the attackers losing orbital cover. And this was all caused by just one sudden attack from the Raging Owl.

Although surprised by the unexpected battlefield dominance displayed by the rare Holy Grail-class battlecruiser, the Fury Flame still has two battleship-class large ships.

There are already reports that those two large ships are heading for Yuehe VII.

In a direct confrontation, the Raging Owl cannot withstand either of them, let alone two at once.

By then, the battle situation on planet Yuehe VII.3 may very well revert to how it was before.

Or even worse.

But the Alliance does not intend to give up this planet.

If they lose Yuehe VII, the other planets won’t have such good defensive conditions.

The Alliance Vanguard Command, with its two commanders, believes that Yuehe VII is very likely to become a focal area in the next period of time. Both sides will probably repeatedly contest this place. The massive investment of troops, including naval power, will turn this place into a meat grinder until one side can no longer bear the cost and a result emerges.

Thus, this sudden attack on Yuehe VII by the Raging Owl, while boosting morale, does not actually have a particularly substantial impact on the overall situation.

However, it still holds significance.

The lives of over ten million elite from the Princess Legion, along with taking down two Rose Cruisers, is significant in itself!

The war between the Alliance and the Iron Fury Stone is foreseeable to become incredibly expansive in the future. Even these current skirmishes, which can mostly be considered mutual probes and vanguard clashes, involve several Star Sectors and dozens of planets.

At this scale, war is no longer about gains and losses of a single city or place, but a comprehensive confrontation of the national strengths of both sides. Both are creating and losing manpower, and the consumption of viable forces is crucial.

At this time, eliminating more enemies at a relatively lower cost can ease the pressure when facing future challenges.

Moreover, the space created by this victory allows the Alliance to accomplish many things.

During these ten days, the navy bombarded the enemies on the surface, and the ground forces cleared active enemy forces, while the Alliance’s logistics troops were not idle either.

One after another, large transport ships, carrying scarce supplies, equipment, and personnel for surface troops, descended to the ground, replenishing the forces.

If they wait until the enemy’s battleships arrive and lose orbital advantage, it won’t be as convenient to transport supplies inside, as it would involve taking significant risks and losses.

Instead of risking transport later, it is better to seize this opportunity to transport as much as possible now.

At the same time, some units no longer suitable for continued battle are to be withdrawn during this opportunity.

The 5th Army Group and the 311th Skeleton Division are among them.

That includes Xiong Lei’s unit.

Although they suffered orbital bombardment, he did not die.

Even though he didn’t die, his unit was almost entirely wiped out.

After the orbital bombardment, among the three divisions stationed in the fortress, possibly only two thousand to five thousand survived. The remaining tens of thousands were almost all killed in the intense bombardments in a few hours or were eliminated by the Princess’s Rebel Army that followed the attack into the fortress.

The fortunately surviving Xiong Lei had to flee with the remnants of his troops, and under constant pursuit, only less than a thousand ultimately reached true safety.

This is what’s left of a Skeleton Division plus two large infantry divisions after a single battle.

Clearly, this is what is called ‘being annihilated as a unit.’

To such an extent, Xiong Lei’s unit doesn’t even hold value for personnel replenishment.

What he needs is not replenishment.

He and the few hundred survivors of his unit boarded a transport ship that had unloaded its cargo and left Yuehe VII in silence.

The war here is not over yet, but for Xiong Lei, the war has ended.