Chapter 218

Chapter 218. If There Are Five People, One of Them Is Trash. (2)

Well, the situation that followed was really simple.

Out of nowhere, 3 out of the 8 aircraft carriers at the very back were disabled, and the remaining 5 had their engines destroyed, leaving them stranded. As they flailed around, the main force’s advance came to a halt.

Seizing the moment, my Hreðsvelgr and Kraken unleashed a relentless barrage of missiles & aircraft, along with allied carrier-based aircraft.

Following that, an intense artillery duel broke out between the battleships and heavy cruisers on both sides, with no holds barred.

Amidst the battlefield, where beam cannons the size of ships were flying everywhere, a fleet of small ships, led by a light cruiser, charged forward.

As they closed in, dodging enemy fire as best they could, the superhumans aboard the small ships launched assault pods to infiltrate the enemy vessels.

There, they clashed with the enemy superhumans, trading blows in a fierce struggle…

Yep, just your typical, everyday battle scenario in the dumpster fire of a game called *Astral Lagrange*.

Of course, as expected, our small ships suffered massive losses during the approach, literally getting “shredded” to pieces.

This naturally took a toll on the players’ mental states, but…

—

[Our small ships just explode if we ram them, right?]

[If we don’t ram these small ships and deploy the superhumans, we can’t win.] (Me)

[Icarus managed to take out 3 enemy battleships, but we have two trolls who made their 7 battleships useless.]

[For real.]

[Wait, for real?]

[Yeah, if we just go head-on with brute force, they have more battleships and cruiser battleships, so we’ll lose.]

[So while I tie down their main force, we should make it look like we’re going for a head-on fight, like they want.] (Me)

[Then what?]

[Once I successfully tie them down, make it seem like we’re engaging in a frontal fleet battle, like I said earlier.] (Me)

[Got it.]

[Got it.]

[And if the enemy pushes their battleships forward to engage in a brute force fight, have our battleships and cruiser battleships slowly fall back while the heavy cruisers tank.]

[Meanwhile, the small ships under the light cruiser’s command buff should all ram the enemy fleet for close-quarters combat.] (Me)

[Hmm, interesting…]

—

Even without the Kraken, I had enough variables to control the situation.

As a show of confidence, I was giving proper commands in the chat.

The other players, not completely demoralized, were doing their best to thoroughly engage in the battle.

And because of that, even though 20% of our small ships were lost during the approach…

We somehow managed to close in, deploying superhumans and various assault troops while unleashing a barrage of torpedoes at close range.

The enemy battleships, not expecting us to take such losses to close the distance, were caught off guard and took hit after hit, accumulating damage.

Of course, the enemy wasn’t just going to sit back and watch. Their small ships, positioned behind the battleships, rushed forward to counterattack.

But as mentioned earlier, we had more aircraft, including both carriers and light carriers, so the enemy small ships couldn’t even get close due to the aircraft harassment.

If they recklessly broke their anti-air formation and charged in, they’d face not only the Kraken’s bio-torpedo bombers armed with torpedoes and missiles…

But also the swarm of over 100,000 aircraft that had flanked them. With only a few hundred small ships, there was no way they could break through.

Sure, if they ignored the damage and charged head-on, our fleet engaging in close combat would’ve taken significant losses, but…

—

*BOOM! KABOOM!*

—

[Enemy carrier engines and catapults are destroyed. No need to worry about their aircraft now.] (Me)

[Wait, how did you do that?]

[Skill.] (Me)

[Is this the secret of being ranked 3rd?]

[I don’t know what it is, but it’s good.]

—

“But then, Naranzara appeared.”

“Uh… yeah, they definitely appeared.”

Of course, with just one ship, there was no way they could sink an enemy carrier and its escort ships, so the kill count was pretty lackluster.

But Naranzara, appearing just seconds before impact, made it nearly impossible to intercept. However, their firepower was limited to weak spatial torpedoes…

It wasn’t there.

Since they were equipped with ordinary torpedoes, light torpedoes, and missiles, the enemies only thought they were being attacked from something they were hiding in.

They seemed to have no idea that they were being hit by the spatial torpedoes of Naranzara, which was hiding in subspace.

Moreover, in the midst of this chaotic battle, some aircraft managed to get close enough to the enemy carriers and hit them with a few missiles.

It seemed like the enemy would need even more effort to figure out the true nature of our Naranzara.

“Report from Naranzara, confirmed destruction of engines and catapults on 8 enemy large aircraft carriers… One light carrier was hit in the engine but has been repaired and is back in action.”

“Hmm.”

“So, Commander, Naranzara is requesting to get closer to the fleet and actively utilize its weapons…”

“That’s a no.”

Of course, I didn’t just throw Naranzara into the heart of the enemy fleet.

The reason Naranzara is ‘completely blocked’ from enemy attacks when it enters subspace is obvious.

It literally ceases to exist in this world, so that’s why.

The problem is that Naranzara, once in subspace, is completely cut off from this world…

Without a separate sonar buoy or periscope bridging subspace and reality, it’s impossible for Naranzara to accurately attack this world from within subspace.

Well… since that periscope is obviously small compared to the ship, the chance of it being detected while being pounded from a distance like now is low.

But if I were to send the ship into the middle of the fleet as I wished?

It’s only natural that the small, fragile periscope would be destroyed, leaving Naranzara completely blind.

Of course, if the situation were extremely urgent and Naranzara had to grit its teeth and draw aggro, that would be a different story…

-BOOM!!!

“Oh.”

“Enemy battleship sunk, exact class unknown, but it seems to have been caused by dimensional causality fixation.”

“Kyaaaah.”

—————————————-

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-[Holy crap, got ’em!]

-[Those guys’ battleships and heavy cruisers are getting shredded]

-[LOLOLOLOLOL]

—————————————-

Suddenly, the enemy fleet found itself split in strength, unable to protect each other, and being torn apart.

And on top of that…

—————————————-

-[I’m here, damn it]

-[You’re so late, you troll]

-[Don’t be too harsh, so why were you late?] (Me)

-[There was a guy trying to desert, so I threatened him to bring him along]

-[???]

-[How did you do it?]

-[Just blew up the engine of a regular cruiser battleship with a battleship, then aimed and towed it]

-[What?]

-[Oh, and by the way, I also wrecked that guy’s repair ship, and I’ll just charge the rest of the ships]

-[WHAT?]

—————————————-

“Our troll turned out to be a political officer.”

“Ah…”

One guy who was out repairing a battleship caught a deserter who had just lost his mind…

Well, more precisely, he broke the deserter’s large ship’s leg, put a leash on him, and dragged him all the way to the front line.

Not to mention, he even started using the deserter as a penal unit.

I felt a truly complex and indescribable emotion seeing someone use ‘team killing’ in such a way, but…

That was just for a moment.

Anyway, with additional forces arriving like that, the enemy team couldn’t hold out any longer and eventually surrendered, admitting defeat.