Chapter 572: The Beam
Not only Conradus’s side, but other members of the Confederation forces also had their own databases. Before engaging the Swarm, the Ji race had shared some intelligence with everyone, so their information on the Swarm was roughly the same.
As a result, the matches they came up with were similar to those of the Rashudia race. Likewise, no one believed that the Swarm’s megastructure was gathering energy for electromagnetic catapulting. Were the Swarm planning to launch a massive projectile to attack the Confederation forces?
This seemed laughable, as the current battlefield conditions simply didn’t allow for such an operation.
Unlike energy fire, electromagnetic projectiles were physical entities. Smaller ones might be manageable, but the Swarm’s megastructure was designed to catapult something like a 500-meter-long Primordial Body. Something that large, if not launched into a cleared path, would quickly become riddled with holes before it could travel far.
By now, the battle had been ongoing for some time, and the mutual bombardment had caused significant losses on both sides. The Swarm had it slightly better, as the wreckage of their Primordial Bodies could be absorbed by other combat units to accelerate repairs. Lightly damaged units either moved themselves or were dragged to the rear by allies to bask in the star’s energy and heal faster. If the battle dragged on, they might even have a chance to return to the front lines.
The Confederation forces, however, were in a different situation. Damaged ships with minor damage would also retreat to the rear for emergency repairs, but many had been directly shattered into fragments by concentrated main cannon fire.
These shipwrecks floated in the void, becoming obstacles. However, the Confederation forces actually liked these obstacles and even deliberately pushed the wreckage toward the front lines.
Although energy beams weren’t physical entities, they could still be disrupted or even prematurely detonated by these wreckage obstacles. Since the wreckage was closer to the Confederation forces, they could more easily adjust their firing angles to avoid them.
The wreckage acted as a layer of cover, blocking a significant amount of the Swarm’s firepower.