Chapter 162

Chapter 162. Lots to Worry About for Vic☆tory (1)

Anyway, while casually checking the gallery reactions and observing the enemy fleet’s situation, I suddenly sensed something strange at this point.

‘Wait, why haven’t they come yet?’

No matter how vast the area is, it shouldn’t take more than a day to get here, right?

Even if we just count the number of ships, it’s 408 vs. 150. If they pushed with sheer force, it’d be over. So why are they hesitating and not coming?

Are they really planning to drain our resources by joyfully and happily touring the resource zones again?

‘I can’t forgive such a dirty move!’

But when I voiced this suspicion, Jessica shook her head vigorously and brought up a new topic.

“Commander, the enemy fleet is currently stationary in the outer regions of our area.”

“Stationary?”

“Yes, strangely, they’re not even attacking resource zones or anything. They’re just staying still.”

“…Hmm?”

Hearing this from Jessica, I felt a flood of new questions rising about the enemy’s incomprehensible behavior.

Why on earth…?

No joke, if they just split in half and started moving around, I’d be completely helpless and torn apart.

So why aren’t they moving? Why are they just staying still?

The enemy’s behavior was so baffling that my head was bursting with doubts.

But those thoughts didn’t last long.

—————————————-

<Large Ship Dedicated Shipyard Construction List>

–<Dock 1>

<Cruiser Battleship Construction Complete>

—————————————-

Just as I heard the news that the 2nd Cruiser Battleship was completed, I decided to start building the 3rd Cruiser Battleship for firepower while the enemy was stalled.

But just as I was about to start construction…

*Sigh*… No, I should build a Light Aircraft Carrier here.

Suddenly, a brilliant tactical plan popped into my head, and instead of the big and beautiful Cruiser Battleship, I decided to build a Light Aircraft Carrier.

—————————————-

<Large Ship Dedicated Shipyard Construction List>

–<Dock 1>

<Light Aircraft Carrier Under Construction...>

<Remaining Time: 3 days 5 hours 1 minute 24 seconds>

<Resource Consumption: Minerals 10,700, Rare Resources 4,500>

—————————————-

Though big and beautiful, as you can tell from the shorter construction time, its durability is worse than even a Cruiser.

I decided to build a Light Aircraft Carrier, which, despite its size, is weaker than a Cruiser.

And since I couldn’t just wait around for three days, I dumped all the high-speed construction systems I’d been saving up into it.

—————————————-

<Large Ship Dedicated Shipyard Construction List>

–<Dock 1>

<Light Aircraft Carrier Construction Complete>

—————————————-

I immediately launched a Light Aircraft Carrier, comparable in size to a Cruiser Battleship, and started filling it with aircraft.

Of course, Jessica, our resident bunny, reacted with concern to my actions.

“Commander, isn’t it bad to add a Light Aircraft Carrier in this situation?”

“Light Aircraft Carrier, you say?”

“Yep, if the aircraft aren’t properly leveled, sending them out will just turn into a turkey shoot, right?”

“Hmm, true.”

“Plus, you used up all our remaining high-speed construction systems for this.”

In short, she was saying, ‘Those aircraft are so under-leveled they’ll get wiped out. Why are you wasting all our good stuff?’

So, after giving birth—no, constructing—the Light Aircraft Carrier, I immediately started building the 3rd Cruiser Battleship in the Large Ship Dedicated Shipyard.

“There’s a plan here, Jessica.”

“Ah, okay.”

I hinted that I wasn’t going to explain it right now.

—————————————-

Anyway, while the 3rd Cruiser Battleship was being built, I was thinking about the enemy fleet that had stopped moving.

“Commander, isn’t it possible that this large fleet is just a decoy, and the real force is trying to flank and strike our base?”

“I kinda feel like that might be the case.”

“I think so too, Commander. If five people of your level are coming, it’s entirely possible in terms of scale.”

Jessica, who came with Belial, offered her advice based on the enemy’s unusual movements, trying to make sense of it within their own logic.

But even so…

Nevertheless, I responded in my own relaxed manner.

“Don’t worry, they won’t have the strength to bypass us.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

Seeing Belial’s puzzled expression, I shrugged my shoulders and gave her the answer.

“Well, I just realized this a moment ago, but unlike us who are on home ground… they’re the ones who came all the way here on an expedition, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Then, they must have allocated a certain portion of their strength for base defense in case of emergencies…”

With those words, I tapped the command console to bring up the enemy fleet’s strength analysis chart I had seen earlier and continued.

—————————————-

<Zone Invasion Fleet Strength Analysis Chart>

<Total Strength: 408 ships>

<Cruiser Battleships: 7>

<Light Aircraft Carriers: 3>

<Heavy Cruisers: 75>

<Light Cruisers: 28>

<Destroyers: 230>

<Escort Ships: 25>

<Patrol Ships: 30>

<Resource Mining Ships: 10>

—————————————-

“What comes to mind when you see that?”

“…I think there are a lot of them.”

“Right, and there’s one more critical issue.”

I then brought up the required ‘points’ for each ship and continued.

—————————————-

<Zone Invasion Fleet Strength Analysis Chart>

<Total Strength: 408 ships>

<Cruiser Battleships: 7> – 210 points

<Light Aircraft Carriers: 3> – 120 points

<Heavy Cruisers: 75> – 750 points

<Light Cruisers: 28> – 168 points

<Destroyers: 230> – 690 points

<Escort Ships: 25> – 37.5 points

<Patrol Ships: 30> – 30 points

<Resource Mining Ships: 10> – 15 points

Total: 2020.5 points

—————————————-

“So, five people brought a fleet worth over 2000 points.”

“Yep.”

“But at this point, individual users probably have around 400 to 500 points, max 600?”

“…Ah!”

“I see, that’s what it is.”

Seeing that they understood what I meant, I calmly presented my conclusion.

“If they had to allocate points for base defense from other players…”

“Then each commander probably only brought 300 to 400 points worth of fleet?”

“Exactly.”

Of course, if you think about it, the total of five people shouldn’t add up to 2000 points, so some must have brought over 400 points.

But the important point is that they brought almost all their available strength, excluding base defense.

Unless some other clan or users suddenly show up as reinforcements.

At least at this point, there won’t be any bypassing forces.

“So, as of now, we don’t need to worry about the enemy bypassing us.”

“Right, well… even if they split in half, we’d still have a hard time winning a head-on fight.”

Of course, even so, the current unfavorable situation doesn’t improve.

Jessica, Belial, and I once again spent time in deep thought, pondering how to break through this situation.

But at this point, I noticed one more important fact…

‘Wait a minute, their fleet… why are there only three types of user marks on the Cruiser Battleships?’

For some reason, out of the five players, only three have Cruiser Battleships.

And come to think of it, the five players aren’t sharing fleet command points.

Instead, it’s just a simple addition like 400+400+400+400+400, meaning the command system is decentralized.

‘Oh wait, maybe we can use this to our advantage.’

In this messed-up situation, I started to see a potential opening.