Poverty makes me capable of anything.

"Those lunatics from the Cult of Machines!"

The commander couldn't help but curse.

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a black beam of light erupting from the distance.

The beam of light was like an indestructible blade. After striking the energy shield, it paused for only a moment before continuing its rapid advance.

Shields, decks, cabins...

Everything that stood in the way of the black beam of light was easily torn apart.

The black beam of light spread rapidly the instant the first spaceship exploded.

Amidst the rings of energy vibrations, the more than 200 ships on the side of the fleet facing the black pillar of light disintegrated on the spot, turning into interstellar debris.

The people inside the spaceship didn't fare any better.

Players below level 170 all perished.

Wow, that's incredibly brave!

It must have been done by people from the Feathered Civilization.

[This is the deterrent power of high-level NPCs! What fleet? They're utterly vulnerable.]

[If it were a Divine Court-class warship, I doubt you would say that.]

The Exiled Empire's [Cognitive Edge] is 308.6 kilometers long. It's said that even attacks from a Starfield Overlord wouldn't easily destroy its armor. Star-Slayer NPCs wouldn't even need to fire; they could simply ram it to death.

While a group of players were still enthusiastically discussing the attack Winston had made, they were completely unaware that they had already been hated by the opposing team.

"Counterattack! Counterattack directly! Damn it, I don't care about this Mechanicus Cult!"

The commander shouted angrily.

He strongly suspects that the Mechanicus has already colluded with the Ascended Civilization.

Everything they did before was an act to lure them in.

What is Winston doing?

Inside the cabin, Derrick's face changed drastically.

Faced with such a level of provocation, how could the other side possibly remain calm?

Sure enough, after being attacked, the fleet launched a fierce counterattack.

The player, who was enjoying the show, suddenly found himself being attacked.

【淦】

Why did you hit me?

Did I break the law? If being handsome counts as a crime...?

Boom!

While they were chatting in the chat channel, a beam of light pierced through the body of the player who had just been there.

He melted instantly under the intense heat, not even lasting a second.

What started as a 1v1 battle instantly turned into a three-way free-for-all.

Winston, having stirred up trouble, did not immediately return to the command ship, even though Derrick was shouting angrily.

"Sir, this is a golden opportunity!"

Winston immediately cut off the communicator's signal.

He had a strong feeling that Derrick's caution would be of no use in this war.

After flying forward for a little over a minute, Winston was stopped by a man who suddenly appeared.

"Was it you who was sniping from a distance just now?"

"Ah……"

Winston sneered and lunged straight at him.

Life and death are bearish, if you don't agree, just do it.

then……

Winston was astonished to discover this.

He easily dodged the powerful attack and wrapped his black energy around the man's neck.

"It's much weaker than I imagined."

With a forceful push of his right hand, Winston severed the man's head from his body.

Just as Winston was preparing to strike at the heart of the enemy fleet, he suddenly discovered that the enemy ships, which had been fighting his fleet to a standstill, had turned and fled.

At first, he thought those spaceships were just trying to create distance so they could launch a counterattack.

Winston didn't realize what was happening until one of the ships suddenly activated its warp drive and disappeared from sight.

"They're trying to escape!"

Winston quickly contacted Derrick: "Sir, if we don't launch a full-scale attack soon, they're going to escape!"

“This could be a trap; all we need to do is chase them away,” Derrick said, frowning.

If Winston hadn't been familiar with Derrick's personality, he would have thought Derrick was deliberately hindering him, afraid that he would gain merit.

“Since you’re worried this might be a trap, sir, then give me a portion of the spaceships. I’ll go and test it out. With you backing me up, nothing too serious will happen,” Winston said.

Derrick was still hesitating.

He didn't see any point in chasing the enemy ships.

The real war is yet to come; even if this entire fleet is destroyed, it won't affect the overall situation.

But seeing Winston's eagerness, Derrick relented.

"I'll give you one hundred standard warships."

Winston's face lit up with delight.

"I promise I won't let them escape so easily!"

Under Winston's leadership, the player fleet that lagged behind became the primary target.

"What the hell? Are you kidding me? We didn't do anything, and we're being chased and beaten up."

Is there no justice left in the world?

No matter how much the players complained, they were still unable to shake off Winston behind them for the time being.

While the psionic warp engine boasts exceptional performance, it still requires sufficient startup time.

By the time Anran sent her psionic servants to help, the players had already been wiped out by Winston's dismissive efforts.

Only fragments of the demon ship drifted in the starry sky.

Before leaving, Winston took several of the core information processing modules from the demon ships.

"Do they want to find out what's going on our side?" the psionic servant muttered to himself.

However, this may have been the worst decision Winston made.

The Feathered Civilization could indeed obtain some intelligence about the Mechanicus and the Exiled Empire from those information processing modules, but at the same time, they also exposed their hiding place.

Given the vastness of the starry sky, An Ran would have had to put in a lot of effort to find the hiding place of the Feathered Civilization.

"That makes things much simpler."

The psionic servants did not leave immediately, but instead moved forward slowly, guided by the signal.

……

"You really didn't encounter an ambush?"

Derrick stared in astonishment at Winston, whose face was radiating confidence.

Winston nodded: "Of course, sir. This might just be a probe force sent by the other side, so their strength is far weaker than we imagined. After suffering a complete annihilation, I think those outsiders will be more cautious as a result."

Derrick neither confirmed nor denied it.

His eyes darted around.

If what Winston said is true, perhaps they can successfully wait for the Unbelievers' aid fleet to arrive.

If all of this is a conspiracy—

That would be troublesome.

“What are you holding in your hand?” Derrick asked.

"I think the information processing modules taken from those spaceships could give us a lot of intelligence."

"Let those intelligence agents handle it when the time comes."

Winston nodded: "Of course."

Derrick paid no attention to those information processing modules.

Having little knowledge of mechanical technology, he never imagined that Anran could be located from such a distance.

We still suffered from a lack of cultural understanding.

"Let's go back."

At Derrick's command, the fleet of the Feathered Civilization embarked on its journey home.

Sitting in his designated seat, Derrick fell into deep thought.

It is difficult to win against these powerful outsiders by brute force.

He has to do something.

Everything he has was given to him by the Feathered Civilization, and he cannot simply stand by and watch the Feathered Civilization be destroyed by this sudden clash of civilizations.

Meanwhile, Winston, standing not far away, was calculating what he could gain in return for his successful operation.

A full-time job?

Perhaps that's not enough.