Cracked Jaw, freshly appointed, immediately took command of the fleet and faithfully executed the Supreme Councilor's orders: to completely destroy humanity's will to resist with minimal losses, without extensively damaging Earth, and while safeguarding its minerals and resources!
It must be said, this was quite presumptuous.
This almost self-contradictory resolution, demanding both the preservation of Earth's minerals and resources and the consumption of as little energy as possible, was clearly built upon the ultimate arrogance of the Supreme Council's Elders and indeed the entire Devourers!
From beginning to end, the Devourers never viewed humans as an equal opponent, but rather as ants that could be casually wiped away.
Cracked Jaw was different from Stonefang; he was shrewd and clearly understood that the reason he was chosen by the Elders of the Supreme Council to become the new fleet Commander was because he was willing to listen!
Stonefang was formidable, having previously commanded many Devourers wars and achieved brilliant results with the smallest cost!
But precisely because of this, Stonefang's prestige grew ever deeper in the eyes of the new generation of Devourers, and even the majority of the fleet supported him.
However, the greater Stonefang's prestige, the more he became an eyesore in the eyes of the Elders of the Supreme Council!
No matter the place or civilization, there are always power struggles, and the Devourer civilization, as a sister civilization extremely similar to humanity, naturally inherited this trait.
The leader's demands? Just agree!
Whether they can be completed is another matter.
However, before Cracked Jaw could be happy for a few seconds, he suddenly received a reminder from the AI.
"Cracked Jaw, Commander, signal detected, rapidly approaching."
What is this?!
On the display in front of Cracked Jaw, the AI detected several tiny signals, moving extremely fast, approaching the Devourers.
If not for the AI's reminder, he probably would have even ignored such tiny, pitiful signal radiation, perhaps mistaking them for a few meteorites?
"Magnify the image." Cracked Jaw stared intently at the magnified image, and then, upon seeing that they were actually several human warships, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Hahaha, so they're human warships? They're so small, are they here to die?"
The size of these warships, compared to the Devourers with its fifty-thousand-kilometer diameter, was like a louse on the body of this colossal steel behemoth.
Moreover, the exteriors of those warships were almost dilapidated, looking extremely ancient.
"Heh, such backward warships, and they think they can break through our blockade?" This made Cracked Jaw somewhat dispirited and disdainful, he sneered and issued his first order as fleet Commander.
"Have the outer fleet destroy them."
Suspended outside the giant metal ring, the dense, beehive-like Devourer warships immediately locked onto the human warships that had intruded into the forbidden zone.
Then, several dazzling beams of light, trailing what looked like distorted traces, directly struck those human warships!
Dazzling light clusters exploded in the dark universe!
Just as Cracked Jaw thought the human warships should have vanished in the previous round of attacks, the AI returned bad news!
The dazzling light clusters dispersed, and the human warships were still there, completely unharmed; the Devourer warships' attack was like a tickle!
"How is this possible?!"
Not only Cracked Jaw, but even the frontline fleet was shocked by this scene.
Their weapons were ineffective against humans?!
"Detected a special energy defense device deployed on the human warships; our attack was blocked." The AI provided the analysis.
Cracked Jaw then realized that the human warships were all enveloped by an energy shield, and it was that energy shield that had blocked their attacks!
"Use the matter-disintegration beam, quick!" Staring at the accelerating human warships, Cracked Jaw suddenly panicked, hastily telling the AI to intercept them.
"Commander, please confirm whether to use the matter-disintegration beam at this distance. Possible consequences: the Imperium's equatorial region could be affected, causing 15% of the living area population to die."
The matter-disintegration beam was the Devourers's most powerful energy weapon, similar to the ecological decomposition beam, but its modulated gamma rays had enough power to disintegrate a large warship with a single strike!
But similarly, using the matter-disintegration beam at this distance would also cause the Devourers's ring to suffer from the aftershocks, leading to unpredictable damage!
Looking at the analysis presented by the AI, Cracked Jaw stared at the bright red numbers and the cost, falling into hesitation.
"Commander, please confirm whether to use the matter-disintegration beam? The enemy is accelerating, estimated to enter the inside of the ring in 3 minutes." The AI urged him to make a decision quickly.
But the more it urged, the more conflicted Cracked Jaw became.
"Still, don't use the matter-disintegration beam." Ultimately, the hesitant Cracked Jaw, faced with immense pressure, chose to retreat.
"Use the defensive array, activate the quantum resonance barrier for interception."
A brilliant blue, beehive-like energy enveloped all the Devourers's warships!
"I refuse to believe they can still break through!"
Cracked Jaw wiped the cold sweat from his brow, quite confident in the defensive power of this barrier.
This was a powerful barrier created by locking particle vibrations through 'strong interaction forces'; with humanity's current technological level, it was absolutely impossible to break through!
But the few human warships not only didn't slow down but accelerated to their limit as if insane, trailing several flames, charging head-on towards them without hesitation!
"Are these people crazy?" Watching this scene, Cracked Jaw found it very funny.
"Hahaha, they can't possibly think they can smash through the quantum resonance barrier, can they?!"
But, the next second...
The smile on Cracked Jaw's face froze.
The human warships, enveloped by unknown energy, seemed to vanish into thin air, suddenly jumping to the inside of the barrier; the much-hoped-for 'quantum resonance barrier' became a joke at this moment!
"What happened? How did they get in?!"
Cracked Jaw's expression was a mix of terror and panic, with a faint premonition of disaster.
"Apologies, Cracked Jaw, Commander, insufficient data, unable to analyze." Even the Devourers's AI could not analyze something it had never seen before.
"Impact warning! Impact warning!"
"Target landing zone is B-2, command and communication terminal for the war council!"
The front of the human warships shot out high-temperature flames, melting the armor ahead, and then mercilessly slammed into the inner ring of the Devourers's warships!
"Quick, send people to stop them!"
Even if Cracked Jaw was foolish, he guessed that the human objective was to destroy their communication and command terminals, attempting to cripple the Devourers's warships!
At the same time, after successfully breaking into the Devourer warship, Emrys stepped out of the landing craft, tidied his slightly disheveled hair, looked at the terrified Devourer civilians around him, threw out a teleportation beacon, and smiled.
"Excuse me, let me call some people over."
The teleportation beacon glowed brightly, a beam of light piercing the air!
Immediately following, amidst the roaring air currents, figures emerged from within, including Space Marines and Knight mechs, but what terrified the Devourers even more were the pure silicon-based lifeforms!
"Kill them all."