Starting from the Planetary Governor

...

Commander Matins and others found their retreat from the sea platform quite smooth.

The special forces elite, who had been deployed outside, had successfully held the retreat path clear from the central tower entrance to the landing site.

Indeed, there should still be a considerable number of Aberrant Beasts and cult members from the Nature Salvation Society within these upper structures, and they did indeed attempt to attack the special forces warriors holding the corridor.

Initially, the warriors of the special forces brigade had a bit of difficulty in combat. Although each of them was an elite of T3 or even T2 level and they were equipped with some of the finest individual gear available to the Union, barring the star warriors, they were outnumbered. They had to guard the landing site and the entirety of the corridor.

Under the assaults of the various monsters and cultists—far more numerous than they—the warriors had a tough fight on their hands.

There were casualties, exhaustion from running from place to place to support and put out fires, and the defenders' positions sometimes changed hands...

But ultimately, after paying a costly toll in lives, they managed to hold their ground.

When the energy shield in the sky finally dissipated, the days of hardship came to an end.

A large number of Windfalcon Fighters rapidly descended in altitude and commenced strafing and launching missiles at various ground targets.

The enemy's few anti-air defenses, those Bio-Tech AA Guns, boomed towards the sky, but to little effect. The protection on the Windfalcons, slightly stronger than that of armored vehicles, wouldn't be easily compromised; moreover, once the energy shield was gone, they could maintain a higher flight altitude, supporting the ground forces even better.

Flying higher meant they were less likely to be hit by anti-air defenses.

In these circumstances, the pressure on the human defenders on the ground was greatly alleviated.

Then, the allies who had gone down earlier were back up as well.

At Commander Matins' call, everyone rapidly retreated and assembled at the landing site.

He then personally led the charge to knock out several of the enemy's anti-air fire points, and established a defensive perimeter around the landing site.

Subsequently, once the landing site was relatively safe, the Windfalcons landed in groups of three, taking on ten people each before withdrawing.

This continued until Commander Matins and three other interstellar warriors were the last to evacuate. Enjoy exclusive chapters from empire

As the final batch of Windfalcons took off from the sea platform, Commander Matins sent the signal for orbital strike authority to the skies above.

It was very difficult to communicate with Revival City from here, nearly five or six thousand kilometers away. The Union had not yet installed a complete communications network nor launched communication satellites.

But wasn't there a starship in orbit?

As long as the starship was properly positioned, not on the other side of the planet, communication could be achieved.

Before departing, Gu Hang had specifically instructed both Commander Matins and the Claw Fierce Tiger on the orbit, giving Matins full authority to request an orbital strike. His request would be treated as if it were his own.

This was a significant authorization.

Aboard the Claw Fierce Tiger, Major Du Zhicheng and Colonel Yelisia received the request for an orbital strike.

Since there was prior authorization from Gu Hang, the two commanders of the Imperial Navy followed the standard procedure.

The Planetary Governor requesting an orbital strike didn't mean they would automatically carry it out. They were part of the Imperial Navy, not the Rage Owl Planet Navy. Upon receiving the request, they would still need to briefly assess it.

The main assessment was the value of the target.

If the target was insignificant, or not considered an enemy of the Empire, then they had to be more cautious.

Today, after receiving the strike request from Commander Matins, they were in the process of assessment.

It's not about whether the value of the target is enough for an orbital strike; a Great Unclean One, an about-to-open Abyss rift, that's more than enough.

What they need to evaluate instead is...

"Is this for real?" Major Du Zhichen, upon seeing the short message on the application report, clearly written with these matters, was dumbstruck.

His age was not young either; he was an honors graduate from the Naval Academy and had served on a starship for many years, working diligently and fostering his experience. Moreover, by holding onto the Fufana Family's coattails, he finally made it to the position of a starship captain at the age of fifty-five, holding the rank of a major.

But in his thirty years of military career, his main experience was fighting pirates. The biggest scenario he had ever encountered was, when he was not yet a captain, following the main force of the Tianma Fleet to combat the Green Skins; and even then, he was just an engine system administrator who followed orders during the battle, hardly entering the command bridge and seeing much of anything.

The moment he heard the name of the Great Demon, he truly felt bewildered.

Major Du Zhichen turned his head towards Yelisia: "Colonel, has life in the orbit of Rage Owl Star always been this thrilling?"

"Indeed..." Yelisia could only respond with a bitter smile.

Several months ago, an orbital strike on the proliferating Green Skin tribes on the surface was one thing, but later, she was inexplicably coaxed by Gu Hang to participate in a one-versus-many interstellar naval battle, which was already thrilling enough.

She thought that would have been the end of it.

But the Great Demon...

Honestly, Gu Hang brought a new meaning to her.

She hadn't expected to face such an adversary and also realized the enormity of the situation.

Never mind why Rage Owl Star had so many issues; that was not particularly strange. The proliferation of the Green Skins was due to pre-war era research samples leaking after the world was destroyed; and demon rifts, too, were normal, considering Rage Owl Star was a planet destroyed and then rebuilt because of a Demon Wave.

But what concerned her more was that this seemed to symbolize military achievements.

The appearance of a Great Demon signaled an impending disaster. Right now, Rage Owl Star was not the prosperous place it used to be, capable of supporting a vast Planetary Defense Force with ample funds. Once the Demons gained momentum, under the leadership of a Great Unclean One, it would strike at the entire planet with overwhelming force.

Yelisia admitted that Gu Hang had his ways, having built up a wasteland into what it was now in just half a year. His forces were also excellent, and in fact, not much worse than some of the Star Realm Army Corps.

Despite this, numbers were always a problem.

With an army of only a few hundred thousand, it was impossible to resist the ravages of a Demon Wave and hold out until Imperial support arrived.

If Demons were to actually succeed in occupying the entire planet and transform it into a Demon World, dragging it completely into the Chaotic Abyss, then the situation would be far more serious.

It would no longer be a matter of whether Rage Owl Star could be held, but rather that this Demon Wave might spread to other star systems.

After corrupting an entire world, the numbers of Demons would be incredibly large; they would also have the capability to drag an entire Chaos Fleet out of the Chaotic Abyss, and at that point, the whole Star Sector might face war!

Gu Hang would certainly be doomed, and she, Yelisia, would probably not escape being tainted by association.

Her family was still capitalizing on the momentum of the last war, crafting a reputation, shaping an image for her as a rising star in the military. She couldn't afford any mistakes now.

But on the other hand, killing a Great Demon here and preventing the opening of an Abyss Rift would also be a great achievement.

Even though commanding a starship to perform orbital strikes against the ground didn't fully count as a naval achievement, and paled in comparison to the solid merits brought by a hearty naval battle, on the whole, it was definitely better than doing nothing in the planet's orbit.

With this in mind, Yelisia gave her orders decisively: "Fire! Strike hard! In the next twenty minutes, we must execute at least five rounds of maximum firepower at the surface! We must prevent the forces of the Demons from rising again on Rage Owl Star!"

"Yes!"

Major Du Zhicheng did not have any objections.