Chapter 166

Chapter 166. Let’s not fight cowardly head-on; let’s play fair and square with some sneaky tactics. (1)

Of course, upon witnessing Icarus’s tactical counterattack, the Unity Clan immediately decided to charge forward, thinking this was their chance for a major reversal.

“That guy really is a one-trick pony with carriers. If we get close, we win!”

“Oh…”

But their dreams and hopes were shattered upon colliding with reality.

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<Cruiser Battleship propulsion system destroyed!>

<The ship's speed and maneuverability reduced by -99%.>

—————————————-

“Kyaaaah!”

“Please get up, Captain!!”

“Did you just call a cruiser battleship a battlecruiser…?”

“That’s not the point right now, you idiot!”

As they chased Icarus’s retreating fleet, the cruiser battleships they were supposed to annihilate were all immobilized. Even with three heavy cruisers pushing from behind, there was a limit to how much they could do.

“Let’s stop and wait for now.”

“This is hopeless.”

The Unity Clan’s main fleet halted their advance and formed a defensive formation to hold their ground while waiting for their ships to recover.

Of course, as soon as they set up their formation, Icarus’s fleet, which had been slowly retreating, suddenly turned around and disappeared.

Some suggested pursuing with only the undamaged ships, but…

“Seven cruiser battleships and ten heavy cruisers are immobilized. What’s the point of chasing with just the intact ones?”

“They have two cruiser battleships and, according to the Galley Wiki, the Kraken and Overseer, which have battleship-level firepower.”

“The mercenaries took heavy losses, but Icarus’s main force only lost some aircraft. If we charge in, we’ll get slaughtered.”

The idea was quickly dismissed as unrealistic.

With their cruiser battleships unable to move, the Unity Clan’s main fleet decided to focus on building a fortress-like defensive formation, vowing never to be outsmarted by Icarus again.

But as they were busy setting up their formation, a frantic message from Marshmallow, the light aircraft carrier user, came in…

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-[Help]

-[Help!]

-[Cover me!]

-[Small ships!]

-[WTF!]

-[Cover me!]

-[You bastards, help meeeee!] (Marshmallow)

-[?] (Dolphin)

-[Why are you suddenly swearing and freaking out?] (Bairaktar)

—————————————-

Icarus’s fleet had retreated after losing the artillery battle, so naturally, the light aircraft carrier user was expected to survive and return from the skirmish with Icarus’s detachment.

But suddenly, Marshmallow started spamming curses, leaving the other four members of the Unity Clan puzzled.

Then, right after…

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-[Sh*t]

-[Help me]

-[These f*ckers are pulling all the aggro here] (Marshmallow)

-[Image: A Kraken’s maw descending onto the deck of a light aircraft carrier, with 250mm CIWS firing 5,000 rounds per minute]

-[Image: A Kraken and two cruiser battleships breaking through the fleet’s center]

-[Oh sh*t] (Bairaktar)

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Marshmallow, clearly panicking, sent images filled with typos. It became clear that Icarus, realizing they couldn’t crush the Unity Clan head-on, had faked a retreat to repair their ships at the base.

In reality, they had taken some damage and instead of repairing, they had led their entire fleet to ambush Marshmallow’s light aircraft carrier fleet, which had been operating separately.

==========

At the same time, as the Unity Clan realized they had been tricked by Icarus…

“Wow, seven cruiser battleships firing in unison are terrifying.”

“But with the enemy’s main force immobilized, the battle should go smoothly now.”

I was filled with exhilaration as I led my entire fleet to crash into the enemy’s fleet, which was stuck with four mercenary groups and one squadron.

-“For the Savior!!!!”

-“This crazy woman!”

After all, while it was fun to toy with the enemy using well-grown aircraft, nothing beats the thrill of a no-holds-barred brawl. That’s the ultimate rule for true warriors.

Plus, it’s incredibly satisfying to beat the enemy senseless while taking almost no damage in return.

Earlier, the battle had been at such a long range that only Pashtira, with her Dreadnought-class beam cannon, could make a significant impact. But now, we were engaging in close-quarters combat, pounding the enemy fleet with everything we had.

“Commander! Enemy destroyers…”

“A ship is charging at our cruiser’s bridge with a ramming attack!”

“Contact the nearby cruisers and sink it.”

– “Commander, we’ll charge in now!”

“Yeah, yeah, Partia seems to have already gone all-in.”

With the assault pods allowing superhumans to deploy, or ships intentionally or unintentionally ramming each other, it’s become a complete mess.

– “We can’t let them pass here!”

– “Hmph! Give up!”

Ignis swings their new energy blade—also a whip—fighting even more spectacularly.

– “All troops, charge! We must seize this ship’s command and engine.”

While I take command of the fleet, I finally join the boarding battle after a long time.

But as soon as I enter, Belial crashes into the enemy’s light aircraft carrier instead of a regular ship, quickly taking over sections of the ship.

– “Eek, get away!”

– “Go!!!”

…Even though they’re on our team, I can’t help but feel sorry for the enemy.

As mentioned earlier, Partia has already charged in and turned an enemy cruiser into a slaughterhouse.

“Kyahahaha! It’s a carnival!”

– *Bwoooosh!!!*

With ‘Trigger Happy’ activated, Pashtra indiscriminately fires battleship-grade beam cannons at the enemy, creating a massacre.

– “How is it, Commander? The power of the new shipboard combat monster I made?”

“Oh…”

Finally, wanting to shine after a long time, Gryanarr, embedded in the torso of a giant monster that looks like a woolly mammoth, enters a destroyer and starts smashing everything inside, showing overwhelming power.

With all five superhumans deployed and engaging in boarding battles with the enemy.

Adding to that, Kraken swings dozens of tentacles wildly, supporting close combat instead of deploying aircraft.

The enemy fleet, filled with only a moderate number of escort ships excluding the light aircraft carrier, couldn’t withstand the attacks from our fleet led by the cruiser battleship.

Of course, since the enemy came prepared to face me, they seemed to be a high-ranking player.

They quickly rearranged their ships, counterattacked with aircraft that survived the air battle with Kraken, and even rammed our charging ships with their light aircraft carrier, taking damage to push us back.

– “Who dares try to take over our Commander’s ship!”

– “Oh, an enemy superhuman has appeared.”

– “How arrogant! You’ll pay with your life for attacking our Commander’s ship.”

– “Those pathetic claws will be sliced to pieces.”

Not only do their main ships have S-class or higher superhumans, but the light aircraft carrier Ignis is assaulting even has an SSS-class superhuman defending it.

They’re using every means possible to resist us.

But no matter how much the enemy player struggles, our precious Kraken, as mentioned on the wiki, is extremely efficient in these ‘small-scale fleet battles.’

While the cruiser battleships and other fleet ships cover the weak flanks, Kraken, with its overwhelming size—almost 10 times larger than the Overseer—and dozens of tentacles that pack the firepower of a heavy cruiser’s main guns at close range.

With thousands of monster-style assault pods and short-range scatter missiles, Kraken charges in.

The enemy fleet, unable to retreat due to the chaos, tries to resist, but when Kraken charges at their light aircraft carrier, they panic.

They try to resist with the 250mm CIWS and anti-ship missiles standard on cruisers and above…

In desperation, they turn the ship to save the light aircraft carrier and send a destroyer to ram Kraken.

Of course, a regular destroyer wouldn’t cut it, so they sent a ‘medium destroyer’ with gacha-like armor equipment.

But to Kraken, it was just a slightly larger piece of crispy fried pork cutlet.

Our Kraken swallowed the medium destroyer whole, chewing it up as it charged.

And naturally, with the medium destroyer becoming a mere snack, not even buying a second of time.

The light aircraft carrier, desperately trying to turn, exposed its wide flight deck and side to Kraken.

In a panic, they fired the remaining CIWS, anti-ship missiles, and even their surviving fighter planes at Kraken.

But our Kraken, with battleship-grade armor on its front, ignored the feeble resistance and charged straight in.

With Kraken’s full-force ramming, the enemy’s light aircraft carrier’s flight deck crumbled, and unable to withstand Kraken’s massive weight, the ship’s spine—no, its hull—snapped in two, sinking it.