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Chapter 115: Owl’s Sanctuary

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Over a hundred ships of various sizes from the five main bases and the two large pirate bands were gathered outside Red Rock Base, totaling over ten thousand people.

They stopped three thousand kilometers away from Red Rock Base, cleanly split into seven groups. Yellow Rock Base’s fleet was the strongest among those gathered, with two Caracal-class cruisers, six destroyers, and eleven frigates. Yellow Rock was also the largest base on this side of Wild Star Region, with it having over one hundred thousand residents, so it was normal for this base to possess a fleet of this size.

The other bases’ fleets were obviously much weaker compared to Yellow Rock Base’s. The rest only had a single cruiser as their main firepower, with seven to eight smaller warships following behind. They were at least one level lower be they in terms of maintenance of ships or equipment.

Maintaining an entire fleet was quite costly as this included stocking weapons and training for their crew. The expenditure costs of each fleet were absolutely astronomical and would be impossible to support these brave things without a sufficiently strong economy.

The seven fleets were flying quite far apart with a few hundred kilometers of gap between them. Although attacking the Owl’s Sanctuary was a group operation, these base leaders and pirates had no concept of teamwork at all. Seeing them proceed together was as united as they were going to get.

Xia Fei was piloting his Vampire among the Ning clan’s fleet, slowly flying out of the Red Rock Base to gather with their allies outside.

The Ning clan’s main ship was an Amarrian Augoror-class cruiser. It was actually quite well maintained, with about eighty percent of its components being new. The ship looked really stylish with its glistening golden body.

The other warships were in much worse conditions compared to this ship. Not only did they look old, their parts seemed to have been hastily mixed and matched. Warships were very particular, and if one wanted to fully realize a ship’s strength, its combination of components must be considered carefully. It would be a miracle if a half-assed battleship like this could have anything resembling firepower.

Moreover, like Xia Fei, there were a few individuals unaffiliated with the bases whose frigates were conscripted into the coalition army at the last minute. In order to bulk up their fleet, even Andy from the workshop was asked to join the coalition army with his Imicus-class frigate.

The Ning clan’s warships could only be described as average at best before, but with the inclusion of these private warships, their fleet looked quite large, with a slight possibility of being the second strongest among the eight fleets only behind Yellow Rock Base.

Xia Fei quickly glanced over the warships on the opposite side. These warships were probably all they got. In order to get the purple Heart of Spirit, these guys were definitely giving it their all by bringing out all the warships they possessed.

Xia Fei was not alone on the Vampire; joining him was a mercenary from the Ning clan who went by the name of Tully. Technically, Tully was there as a co-pilot, but in reality, he was someone sent by the Ning clan to monitor Xia Fei’s every move.

Tully was a hulking dark-skinned man with a massive goatee. Although he looked sloppy with his messy hair, he did not seem like the smiling type.

He did not touch any of the high-quality alcohol or food offered by Xia Fei, silently sitting on the co-pilot seat and staring at the radar and communications systems.

There was not much Xia Fei could do about a man who remained headstrong, so his only option was to abide by the rules and follow the rest of the coalition army outside the base, awaiting his next order.

A hundred or so warships were arranged in a line, looking incredibly formidable from afar. Xia Fei’s ship was quite small in size and had an inconspicuous exterior, so it did not attract any attention at all while within the coalition army.

The coalition army’s communicator started flashing, and Tully turned on the projected screen without Xia Fei’s order.

Ning Baichen was on the screen with a smile on his face and the purple Heart of Spirit in his hand. “Everyone, I, Ning Baichen, am wishing you all success in this operation. I’ll be saving this purple Heart of Spirit for you, excellent people, to claim later.

“Scar and his Owl Pirates have been going about exacting violence and bringing misfortune to others these past few years; meaning, there must be decent loot in their base. This will be our chance to get back at him,” Ning Baichen said passionately, with the temptation of the devil in his voice.

This got everyone excited. Ning Baichen then commanded the ships without wasting any more time; a hundred or so ships, thus, all headed toward their target.

Scar’s base was about one hundred forty thousand lightyears away from Red Rock Base; meaning, it would only take three warps to reach it from their current location. After two hours or so, the line of a hundred or so ships entered wormholes, exiting in the pitch-black space surrounding a black asteroid.

This was the base of the Owl Pirates. There were not any planets suitable for human existence here in the Wild Star Region, so everybody lived on bases that were remnants of the war.

Xia Fei looked outside the window, to see that the black asteroid was enveloped by a white energy shield, about two thirds the size of the one at Red Rock Base, and a yellow artificial atmosphere to keep the air in.

Just as the various ships arrived, over ten mid-sizes projectile turrets appeared, bombarding them with shots.

These projectile turrets were much weaker compared to the large turrets on Red Rock Base in terms of range or firepower. This artillery fire did not threaten the cruisers at all, and at best, it could be used to deal with smaller warships of or below destroyer class.

Xia Fei piloted his Vampire and hid behind a Ning clan cruiser before taking a few shots at the base.

Tully gave a cold snort, seemingly to express his derision toward Xia Fei’s conservative approach.

Xia Fei did not mind him at all. It was totally normal to have the bigger warships act as meatshields, protecting smaller warships that had the firepower. Moreover, Xia Fei was not dumb enough to rush out and fall into the traps laid by the enemy.

A Caldarian Condor-class frigate was blown into smithereens as it could not dodge enemy fire in time, exploding into pieces near Vampire.

The huge explosion could be heard anywhere, and Xia Fei’s ship shook because of it. Tully managed to keep his balance and prevented himself from falling off his seat.

Tully learned a lesson after watching the explosion happen right in front of him. He wiped off the sweat from his forehead and continued staring at the radar in front of him, staying silent as this shadow of fear was cast over his heart, no longer saying another word.

The medium projectile turrets had a high rate of firepower and a decent tracking angle. Although it did not have an advantage against larger ships, it was fully capable of destroying smaller ones. The smaller ships on their side fell one after another as space was filled with explosions.

More than half of the smaller ships were gone without much effort. Luckily, the ships that remained also started hiding behind the larger battleships, firing once in a while.

Owl’s Sanctuary did not have a great defense, nor did it have great firepower; in fact, its firepower slowly declined after the initial heavy barrage.

The coalition army also noticed the light at the end of the tunnel for this assault, and they started bombarding the energy shield with their artillery. Ten or so minutes later, the energy shield was destroyed, so every shot at this point would land right on the structure of the base.

“Focus fire on their main entrance!” commanded Ning Baichen passionately on the projected screen.

They quickly locked onto the round alloy door and bombarded it with missiles, cannons, and lasers. Different weapons produced a different color, like firecrackers, when they hit the alloy door, creating quite a lively atmosphere.

It was surprisingly easy. The main door of Owl’s Sanctuary seemed incredibly brittle as it was blown into smithereens without much effort. Xia Fei was suspicious of this; how could the main door of an armed base be blown apart so easily?

How could the rest of the ships who were overcome by the victory and the incredible prize pool take into account such thoughts, however? Dozens of ships rushed into the base, fearing that the loot within might be taken by those before them.

Scar had less than a thousand subordinates, while the combination of all allied ships reached over eight thousand. Even a tiger could be defeated eight against one. Moreover, these people did not care much for their lives as they rushed into the base in hopes of getting Scar’s head in their hands.

Xia Fei calmly watched all this unfold as he trailed after them, maintaining a safe distance.

Owl’s Sanctuary was completely different from Red Rock Base. These old ancient bases were built for war. There was a limited amount of living space within Red Rock Base due to the complex roads and it being riddled with pipelines and warehouses.

It was only through years after years of modifications that Red Rock Base slightly resembled a city instead of an army base today. In order to gain more living space, the complex pipelines were all removed, and many things that did not have use were disposed of as space trash.

Owl’s Sanctuary, on the other hand, had fewer residents, so there were fewer modifications made to it. The interior was incredibly messy and narrow, equipped with many useless things. Unless one had lived here for a few years, anyone new would surely get incredibly confused and lost.

The coalition army stopped at the port as people rushed off their ships with various weapons in hand, quickly occupying the dock area.

Scar’s men put up a pitiful defense before shamefully retreating deeper into the base.

“Everyone, let’s go to the command center to get Scar!”

“We’ll have a lifetime supply of money if we get Scar!”

“The Owl Pirates are done for; start looting!”

A few managed to contain their excitement, but everyone clearly was unable to do so as they rushed to pillage and loot deeper into the base; it was as if treasures were within an arm’s length away from them.

“This is for you,” Tully handed Xia Fei an armband as they got off the ship.

The armband was made from a piece of red cloth. The coalition army was a combined force of eight strong groups, and many of them did not know one another, so they agreed to wear a red armband in order to help identify allies.

Xia Fei smiled before putting it on his arm and chasing after the others.

Just as everyone was focused on trying to plunder and catch Scar, nobody noticed that a white lightscreen slowly rose, enveloping the entire base.