1181: Chapter 653, Signs of Collapse 1181: Chapter 653, Signs of Collapse Did Leroux truly not know that danger was approaching?
Not necessarily.
At first, he didn’t take Gu Hang’s warnings seriously, for the sa reasons he had criticized Gu Hang during a eting earlier, believing that Gu Hang wasn’t acting in the best interest of the Northern Line’s affairs but rather that Gu Hang was exaggerating to obstruct the Northern Line’s advance and claim the highest honor in this war.
However, later on, as undeniable evidence was laid out before him piece by piece, he wasn’t completely oblivious.
Naturally, he began to change his perspective.
Even his mindset underwent a transformation during those repeated and ‘sincere’ warnings.
On one hand, he ca to admire Gu Hang sowhat.
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 wasn’t 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 couldn’t publicly change his stance as it would devastate his own prestige.
He was the Commander, the Alliance Hierarch, but he wasn’t the founder or leader of this army.
At most, he could refrain from ntioning these matters further, allowing them to fade away.
Although inevitable whispers would circulate, as long as the situation didn’t evolve into open opposition, it would prove that everything remained within controllable limits.
In the anti, Leroux believed that there was no turning back now after careful consideration.
Like the Alliance, steadily addressing rear problems had beco impossible.
The state of the Lefo and Jiann Star Domains was already dire due to the Insect Swarm invasion problems.
Due to prior rapid advancents, they hadn’t completely eradicated the Insect Swarm fleet; remnants remained, not to ntion 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 ‘local threats.’ 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 wouldn’t bother—let the locally rebuilt governnt and Empire figure it out.
But now, there was strong evidence suggesting back-end troubles had beco 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 ss, 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 rely scattered, not fully eliminated that Insect Swarm fleet earlier, the Lefo and Jiann 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 wasn’t 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 eting, during which Leroux once again delivered an exceptional speech.
He didn’t ntion Gu Hang even once, only emphasizing the critical mont of survival, though everything wasn’t yet at a dead end.
Everyone should boost their morale, fight hard and only then carve out a path through the crisis.
However, this ti his speech aid at boosting morale wasn’t as effective as before.
Everyone could see that danger was near.
The key point was that this danger was caused by Leroux’s 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 units—the two Black Cross fleet—as 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 army’s backup base.
anwhile, 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 forts—every 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 ntion the Princess Legion played an outstanding auxiliary role comparable to renowned Star Realm Army units.
However, under Leroux’s offensive, they defeated the enemy within a month.
While the planet wasn’t fully occupied, the aforentioned 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 ssage was the Empire’s 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, Jiann, An Guang, White Curtain, Tanggu…
these five Star Domains nominally under Northern and Western Line control within the Spiderweb Domain began to see extensive phenona of infected individuals tabolizing and rising bio-ships.
Even in the Magrey Cosmic Domain, such situations started occurring.
anwhile, in the Sallius’s report claiming their defeat of the Iron Armor Army’s main force, this force unexpectedly appeared from the west, from Magrey Cosmic Domain, moving eastward to encircle Sallius’s main force.
From the Princess Star Domain, a sizable Insect Nest Fleet moved westward to encircle Sallius.
During this ti, Sallius’s 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.
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