When two armies charged headlong into each other, it came down to momentum and the courage to press forward without hesitation.
Neither the Human Race nor the Ink Clan lacked these qualities, especially now, when the soldiers of both sides were consumed by boundless fury.
The Xiaoxiao Ancestor's plight had enraged the human armies, while her actions had infuriated the Ink Clan.
When two furious armies collided, a savage battle of blood and iron was all but inevitable.
The Ink Clan warriors at the vanguard fell in swathes under the onslaught of the human soldiers. At the same time, the protective glows of the leading human warships flickered violently as they took the brunt of the retaliation.
Secret Techniques from both sides crisscrossed through the void, blasting into the opposing formations. At this scale of combat, there was no need to aim at specific targets—every attack was simply hurled toward wherever the enemy was most densely packed.
From the very first moment of contact, the battle had already reached a fever pitch.
Under such intense fighting, the physical bodies of the Ink Clan soldiers simply couldn't hold up, and many perished. But the human warships fared no better.
The three hundred warships holding the vanguard lasted fewer than ten breaths before their protective glows dimmed, with faint signs that they might shatter at any moment.
On a battlefield like this, if a warship's defenses were broken, the entire squad would be at the mercy of the Ink Clan's wrath. Seventh-rank Open Heaven cultivators might still stand a chance of escaping alive, but anyone below the seventh rank would surely die without a proper burial.
Fortunately, the humans had long since prepared for this.
No order needed to be given. The moment a warship's protective barrier reached a critical threshold, it would pull back swiftly.
Comrades from behind would step up to take its place, forming the new line of defense.
The human fleet of several thousand warships rotated through in this staggered fashion, minimizing their own casualties while steadily closing the distance to the enemy.
Wave after wave of warships withdrew, and an equal number surged forward to replace them.
Through this method, the human side suffered remarkably few losses during the initial clash.
By the second rotation, the Dawnbreak had already moved up to the front line. At this moment, the crew members responsible for the defensive formations and Artifacts channeled their power of heaven and earth with everything they had, pouring their strength into the formations and Artifacts to keep the Dawnbreak's shields up for as long as possible.
The crew managing the offensive formations and offensive Artifacts were urgently recovering their strength. They had launched the first volley of attacks earlier, and the expenditure had been enormous.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai led the numerous seventh-rank Open Heaven cultivators as they unleashed their full power upon the approaching Ink Clan army.
Secret Techniques flew one after another, each finding its mark.
Bai Yi was particularly lethal in a situation like this. Her archery was devastatingly threatening—nearly every arrow claimed a Lord's life. Her small frame stood firmly at the bow, her eyes shimmering with an otherworldly glow as she activated her eye technique to pick out her targets amidst the chaos of battle.
Not far from the Dawnbreak was the warship of the Old Turtle Squad.
The Old Turtle Squad had always been known for their defensive capabilities, and the current situation was tailor-made for them. The entire warship blazed with light, forming a thick, turtle-shell-like barrier that shielded those behind them from the storm.
When the Dawnbreak rotated up, the Old Turtle Squad had already been holding the front, and they were still going strong. Judging by the intensity of their defensive glow, they could likely keep it up for quite some time longer.
It had to be said, while the Old Turtle Squad might be a bit slow, when it came to defense, they were second to none. Such a specialty was useless for grabbing battle credits, but for holding a line and protecting others, nothing could be better.
The ordinary squad-level warships that had rotated up alongside the Dawnbreak had already been swapped out once, and the Dawnbreak itself was beginning to show signs of reaching its limit.
Though the Dawnbreak's overall performance was comparable to any warship, it was well-rounded in nature. Unlike the Old Turtle Squad's warship, which specialized in defense, it couldn't hold the line forever. Reaching this point was already its limit.
Fortunately, the two armies had drawn close enough that the Dawnbreak no longer needed to retreat.
Like two torrents slamming into each other, the world seemed to turn upside down as the void destabilized under the impact.
After a brief moment of wrestling for dominance, the human fleet—led by the Guard-class warship at its head—tore a gaping rift in the Ink Clan army's defensive line.
The warships behind poured through the breach, launching attack after attack at the Ink Clan forces on either side, sending them tumbling in disarray.
The massive fleet transformed into a spearhead, and after splitting open the Ink Clan's defensive line, it plunged tens of thousands of li deeper, cutting straight to the middle of the Ink Clan army.
Only at this point did the leading Guard-class warship suddenly change direction, carving out toward the flank.
The rest of the fleet followed close behind.
That leading Guard-class warship was personally commanded by Xiang Shan. For today's plan, this particular Guard-class warship had undergone a number of extremely specialized modifications. Its crew had been carefully selected as well—both in offensive and defensive capability, it was far beyond what any ordinary squad could match.
A warship of this caliber was perfectly suited to serve as the tip of the spear.
Along the fleet's flanks, additional Guard-class warships each had an eighth-rank Open Heaven cultivator stationed aboard personally. With eighth-rank Open Heaven cultivators guarding each section, the entire fleet could be kept intact, maintaining its cohesion as a single striking force at all times.
The price the East and West Armies paid for this arrangement was the loss of the eighth-rank cultivators' freedom of movement.
The Ink Clan's counter would be simple enough—gather sufficient power and launch a concentrated attack on a single point of the fleet, breaking the whole from one spot.
Executing such a strategy carried inherent risks for the humans, but compared to ensuring the fleet's integrity, it was a risk that simply had to be taken.