Almost a year passed, and the battles on both fronts developed accordingly. The Nexus spent most of the year retreating and regrouping, intending to reach their Solar Systems and use the local defenses to create a line of defense.
Attacking worlds was complicated in wars of this scale because, no matter how much the System allowed for "secondary casualties" due to war, like non-combat personnel in starships that exploded, destroying an entire world because of a "side consequence" was stretching that meaning far too much.
So, the System harshly punished the destruction of worlds with life. Naturally, while it did punish, it was not completely mindless. The System was not a strict group of laws, but a flexible ruleset. So, if, for example, one of Liu Shu's beam attacks missed and, after covering a long distance, unfortunately struck a world and destroyed it, the System would not penalize that type of thing too harshly.
There would be a penalty, but it would not be as crippling as purposefully destroying a world.
All of this was to say that defensive battles became easier the closer they were to their home planets. As scummy as it was, using home worlds as defensive lines for wide-area-of-effect attacks was a tactic basically everyone used.
Plus, using the world's gravity to prepare orbital defense systems was much better than having them drift in the void where they could be attacked from all angles.
Carter asked, his face a touch tired after one year of retreating warring. "How is communication with the home worlds?"
"It is still not clear, Commander."
A woman answered, her face also showing signs of tiredness. The Golden Sap Empire's pursuit had been incredibly taxing. If it weren't because of their superior starships and practiced and experienced generals and tacticians, the Nexus might've been scattered and exterminated instead of slowly gathering together.
This was not a result of Liu Shu allowing it to happen. This time, it was Carter's sharp mind and the Nexus's powerful strategy that allowed it. Moreover, they even managed to hit back a few times, causing some deaths among the Golden Sap Empire's army.
"Thankfully, those World Trees are unable to pursue us. If they could've advanced with our pursuers, things would've been much more complicated."
A man nearby muttered, and another sighed. "Those Arboreal Winged Serpents are also missing for some reason. The Heavenly Willow might also be feeling tired."
Carter spoke. "It is because of Deadly Petal and the Covenant. They began their attack around a year ago."
"When did such information arrive, Commander?"
"Around a month ago. I had not publicized it because I needed to make sure it was not a false communication. Yesterday, results arrived, and there were even images of Deadly Petal and the Heavenly Willow's clashes."
Some suggested. "Should we turn and pressure them again?"
Carter shook his head. "Don't. We need to either gather Gold Corrupt Elders or one of our few
He fully admitted that, with his current army, besides causing a large number of casualties to the Golden Sap Empire, victory would never come to them. They were too strong.
"But Commander, with the Covenant dividing their attention and troops, isn't this a good chance?"
"Dividing?" Carter snorted. "The World Tree Legion is probably fighting on that side together with some of those Strategic Class Sylvans. Remember that all of our flanks have collapsed. If we turn around, we are just waiting for a pincer attack. Do you think we can survive if all the Strategic Class Sylvans gather and push together? It's better to allow the Covenant to take pressure off of us, gather, and create a defensive line to avoid the Heavenly Willow's advancement."
Someone still complained. "For how long, Commander? We can't hold the frontline without a date in mind."
"Long enough for our higher-ups to decide if they will send some of the lords or not. Still, no matter how strong, the Golden Sap Empire is still much less threatening than the Verdant Sanctity Covenant."
It was a matter of numbers. The Covenant's total armies were in the billions, while the Golden Sap Empire's were in the millions. That was a thousandfold difference. So, even if the Golden Sap Empire wanted to invade outward, they lacked manpower.
Carter assumed that, at least for a century or so, the Golden Sap Empire would never reach a level of threat comparable to the Covenant. Even if they leave this front empty and allow the Golden Sap Empire to expand freely, it won't bring too much damage to the vast Abyssal Void Nexus Empire.
"To start with, this attack in itself was a mistake," Carter grumbled, pressing his forehead. "I don't know why the higher-ups became so obsessed with the Heavenly Willow to send us in an offensive. If our army had joined the frontline with the Covenant, we might've been able to take over two or three solar systems without much loss."
Taking care of threats before they matured was a good tactic, but the Nexus had clearly been hasty. They had effectively zero information on the enemy, and yet, they decided to act. Those above probably expected their army to sweep the Golden Sap Empire.
Instead, their initial army of almost 300 million had been reduced to just over 120 million. The number of starships lost was even worse, reaching over two-thirds. As for the VIPs, Carter was still agonizing over them. Over three-quarters. Over three-quarters of VIPs had disappeared already. Among those who did, around a third were killed.
Those numbers were… ridiculous. Every single VIP had a dimensional teleportation device. Killing them was so hard that, unless you could block their thoughts or something similar, it was impossible.
And yet, even with all those survivability tools, so many of them died. This loss was worse than when fighting the Covenant head-on. You had to take into account that many of those who died were at the level of Rhazor. Each Rhazor could lead an army to conquer outer Solar Systems, yet hundreds of them died.
Carter sighed deeply.
What he didn't know was that the flank armies led by Verdantia and the others had not all moved toward the Covenant's side. In the end, Tempestria decided to move her army to help with the Covenant. The numbers on that side were far too few to reliably stop them, even taking the Arboreal Winged Serpents and World Legion into account.
As for Verdantia, Obsidianis, and Seraphina, they had already gathered and were moving through Liu Shu's domain to the back of the Nexus's Solar System.
Liu Shu's encircling with her roots, which had gone completely under the radar, was their foundation for such an attack. Creating that donut-shaped domain was all for this tactic.
She allowed the Nexus to carve the hole of the donut, and now, she was about to fill that hole with her roots, targeting the two Solar Systems.
Looking at everything with her improved
If Liu Shu were to ask for something that made no sense or was tactically wrong, he would disagree without a shred of hesitation. This was something all the higher-ups in the Golden Sap Empire knew and learned. As long as you made your complaint with proper arguments, Liu Shu would hear you and adjust things. She was not a selfish tyrant, so if the suggestions were made in good faith, there was nothing to fear.
"This side is going well. What about here…?"
Liu Shu glanced at the Covenant's front. She had used the exact same tactic on them. After all, there was no need to change it. The only difference was that, since Liu Shu's troops on that side were much fewer, there were some adjustments.
For starters, Deadly Petal's advance was kept constantly behind the army by Liu Shu. Allowing Deadly Petal to take this spearhead position would cause a lot of problems for Flor and the others.
Then, the clashes between them were not frontal, but ambushes. A year, while long, was not long enough to allow the Covenant army to cover a long distance toward Ceperet. The distance between them was vast, and between stars, there were plenty of
She was, effectively, doing guerrilla tactics using the
Therefore, Liu Shu only permitted its use every four months.
This created two proper total attack situations during this last year. It was a low number, but enough for the Covenant to suffer tremendous losses.
Namue's confidence faltered as they advanced. Their initial 170 million had been cut down to around 105 million. This was a loss of around a third. Even if they'd covered a long distance toward Ceperet and were steadily approaching their objective, Namue wondered if they'd had enough forces to deal with Liu Shu's main body once they arrived.
"Are there any signs of Arboreal Winged Serpents?"
Liu Shu had cleverly conditioned them by using the Arboreal Winged Serpents only when she would release the
Once again, Liu Shu was using fake information to confuse them and then, when it was the right momemt, deliver the killing blow. Moreover, this false information would become the enemy's resource gained through sacrifice, making it more believable for those higher above.
"Nothing at all, Lord Namue. The first attack happened more or less after five months, and the second after four."
Namue shook his head at the summary. "Don't. Assuming that the skill has a decreasing cooldown is foolish. If it had, the World Tree would've used it before we arrived a few times, wasted it, and then had it at a much lower cooldown."
"What if the skill consumes immense resources?"
Namue spoke once more. "It has no correlation. If you had an army-wide buff of that caliber and can use it six times, wasting two to deliver a devastating blow on the last two is not a bad deal."
Moving from that train of thought, Namue asked. "At our pace, how long until we reach Ceperet?"
"At least two years or so. We are advancing rapidly, but Lady Deadly Petal is having trouble fighting with Lady Heavenly Willow."
Namue nodded. After the first two ambushes using the wide-army buff, their losses were grave. However, they developed tactics, and the third showed a step decrease in fatalities.
So, even if it was long, Namue believed that they could resist those attacks and eventually counterattack.
This train of thought would soon change when the news of the Nexus's retreat reached them.