Chapter 554: Retreat
How Mowei communicated with Elder Humes of the Ji race and what the Rashudia had to sacrifice in return remained unknown to the outsiders. However, the fact that the Ji agreed to temporarily halt the offensive brought a collective sigh of relief to everyone.
The Confederation fleet in front of Swarm’s Star System Nine had stopped their advance immediately upon learning about the Swarm’s equipment upgrades. At that time, they were still half a month away from the Swarm’s forces, giving them ample buffer space. Therefore, upon receiving the news of the temporary halt, they easily adjusted their formation and began their retreat.
The Ketou Race, however, had a much harder time. By the time they received the new orders, they had already been engaged in battle with the Swarm for three days. During these three days, not only had the Ketou Race, positioned at the forefront and center of the formation, clashed with the Swarm, but several mid-ring civilizations had also been dragged into the conflict to varying degrees.
On the other hand, the six outer-ring civilizations, due to their relatively rearward positions and slower speeds, had become somewhat detached from the mid-ring civilizations’ formation. As a result, they had miraculously suffered no losses.
The Ketou Race, being the first to engage in combat, suffered the heaviest losses. Moreover, the most critical issue was that if they fought too fiercely, they feared it would be difficult to retreat if they received orders to withdraw. If they fought while retreating, they worried about being held accountable if they later received orders to launch a strong offensive. With their subsequent tactics unclear, they fought with great hesitation.
The Swarm, on the other hand, had no such concerns. However, what was somewhat strange was that the Swarm did not employ their favorite tactic of surrounding the enemy with their numerical advantage. Instead, they engaged in straightforward, head-on confrontations. It was as if they knew this force wouldn’t stay for long, and rather than wasting effort on complex maneuvers, they opted for a simple and brutal exchange of losses.
But professional strategist teams quickly offered their perspective: the Swarm likely acted this way because their rear was their own territory. This reasoning was plausible, and even if some still had doubts, this was the first time the Confederation forces had fought on the Swarm’s turf, with no past cases to reference, so the matter was left at that.
The Swarm’s lack of additional maneuvers meant they had more forces concentrated on the frontlines. Taking advantage of their slightly superior main cannon range compared to even the strongest among the Confederation forces, the Ketou Race, they relentlessly wore down the Confederation forces.
Although the Confederation forces put up a fierce resistance, the uncertainty over whether to advance or not allowed the Swarm to exploit their slight range advantage, effectively chipping away at the Confederation forces.