Starsea Fleet: Age of the Lord

The enemy fleet had no choice but to rely on three old, standard tactics: acceleration to evade, shield activation, and interceptive attacks, as their main and auxiliary cannons were in cooldown. Meanwhile, the Storm Fleet paid the price of the Vermilion Ape going offline temporarily. But Feng Mo knew it was worth it; his fifteen warships, combined with two hundred laser blasts and a thousand fifty missiles, rained down on the Mechanical Fleet's warships.

Though the enemy managed to intercept some attacks, the close proximity left little room for evasion. With trajectory calculations for even accelerated movements, the Storm Fleet delivered a precisely aimed barrage.

Among the most powerful assets in this attack were the T6 dark-energy missiles—true game-changers. With just fifty of them, each requiring only two missiles to bring down a T6 mechanical warship, they decimated the enemy's defenses. The T6 Cluster Starbreaker Cannons also played a crucial role, their firepower capable of breaking through T6 shields and inflicting structural damage, allowing the following lasers to destroy enemy ships.

After this wave, the remaining sixty-odd T6 mechanical warships couldn't withstand the sustained assault. Feng Mo's bold move of sacrificing the Vermilion Ape had paid off. Radar scans now showed only a dozen T6 mechanical warships left, all of which promptly turned around, abandoning the remaining fleet on the front lines and fleeing back to the Mechanical Star System.

Meanwhile, within the Vermilion Bird Fortress, the Storm Fleet continued their unchecked rampage. With thousands of unmanned combat drones carrying out suicide strikes, the fortress's defensive installations crumbled one after another.

The battle was all but won, leaving only the enemy's seventeen T5 fleets on the front line. Just then, the two enemy commanders emerged from the wreckage, only to find themselves facing Feng Xian and his squad of over a hundred mechas. Realizing resistance was futile, they raised their hands in surrender. Particularly for Modese, who had only recently tried to put on a strong front for Ai Er, this sudden reversal to becoming a prisoner was a humbling, ironic twist.

Now, Modese and Luo Tian awaited Feng Mo's judgment, uncertain if they would be granted mercy. But at that moment, Feng Mo sat calmly within the Vermilion Ape's control room, which was currently being towed back to the Vermilion Bird Fortress by two T6 Phoenixes.

As this happened, Feng Mo felt a strange sensation on his wrist, a chill spreading through his body. This was his enslaved interstellar worm, which he had subjugated with a Level 5 chip during its juvenile phase. Each night, the small worm consumed precisely three cubic energy blocks, curling up to form a bracelet on his wrist during the day.

Curious, Feng Mo took off his combat suit, revealing his strong upper body. The white interstellar worm detached from his wrist and dropped to the floor, emitting a frosty chill as a layer of white mist began to envelop it.

Feng Mo bent down, observing the worm's small, writhing body, which seemed to be struggling, as though it was experiencing some kind of transformation. The mist thickened, shrouding the worm in an opaque layer. After half an hour, the mist dissipated, revealing a now one-meter-long white worm, with a layer of shed skin beside it.

Intrigued, Feng Mo picked up the shed skin and tried to tear it apart, only to find that, despite his strength as a Level 4 genetic warrior, he couldn't rip the material. His curiosity about this creature's mysterious nature deepened.

Having just completed its evolution, the worm noticed Feng Mo examining its shed skin. It emitted a soft hissing sound in protest, quickly climbing up his leg and onto his shoulder. The creature seemed to be expressing its displeasure at his handling of its old skin.

Feng Mo, amused, handed the shed skin to the worm, now nicknamed Little Z. Grabbing it, Little Z eagerly devoured the skin before wrapping itself around Feng Mo's waist like a belt. Feng Mo didn't know the worm's exact classification, but his radar system could identify it.

"Detected: Level 1 interstellar worm. Recommendation from the intelligence system: employ the T6 Black Hole-class Starbreaker Cannon in Ultimate Mode to eliminate it."

The high-priority alert surprised Feng Mo. The recommendation to use such a powerful weapon against a mere juvenile worm hinted at the creature's potential. He recalled Professor Luo's description of a three-kilometer-long adult interstellar worm that was impervious to an entire T5 fleet's attacks.

Patting the worm coiled around his waist, Feng Mo mused about its future potential, imagining it one day becoming a true interstellar behemoth. He also remembered that he had a floating land module waiting to be built—once a lack of strength had held him back, then a shortage of energy, and eventually, he had simply forgotten about it.

As the Storm Fleet regrouped, news of the T6 mechanical fleet's near-total defeat reached the frontline forces. Realizing the tide had turned, the enemy fleet commanders began to retreat, each seeking to escape the chaos, with little concern for their fellow commanders' fates.

Back at the Vermilion Bird Fortress, Feng Mo's victory was already assured, the final stages of the battle unfolding anticlimactically. It was the Storm Fleet's interstellar warp ship that had turned the tide, allowing for this rapid, large-scale invasion that took the enemy by surprise. Feng Mo's confidence in the Spark system had only grown.

Securing the Vermilion Bird Fortress now placed a strategic foothold between the Mechanical Star System and the Southern War Zone, opening a path to the entire Southern region.

The three empires of the Southern War Zone now faced dire circumstances, with the threat of two powerful enemies from the north and a third looming from the south. Squeezed in the middle, they were in an untenable position—particularly as Feng Mo had just released footage of the battle on the interstellar network.