Chapter 389

Chapter 389. Don’t Resist, Just Accept It. (5)

But once we entered the 5th round, things started to look… different.

<5th Round Battle Commence>

<Enemy Fleet Detected>

<Current Formation>

<Dreadnought x1>

<Annihilation Ship x1>

<Battleship x5>

<Aircraft Carrier x1>

<Cruiser Battleship x3>

<Heavy Cruiser x10>

<Light Cruiser x3>

<Destroyer x20>

<Warning!>

<From the 5th round onward, the overall performance of enemy fleets is enhanced!>

Unlike before, the fact that the enemy fleet’s composition was suddenly revealed felt off from the start. The battle began, and not long after…

– BOOOOM!

– “Abandon ship!”

– “Battleship No. 3 heavily damaged! All personnel, evacuate immediately!”

“Commander, Ouroboros’s concentrated fire is fully charged!”

“Fire now! Aim for the center of that cursed battleship formation!”

– “Order confirmed, main cannons firing!”

– KABOOOOOOOOOM!!!

As if the countless users in the gallery weren’t exaggerating, the difficulty level was absolutely brutal. Of course, I wasn’t just sitting there taking hits.

– BOOM! BOOM!

“Commander, Ouroboros’s bombardment just sank 1 enemy battleship and 3 cruisers!”

“Good, goooood.”

“Enemy fleet is flanking us—1 light cruiser and 5 destroyers.”

– “I’ll handle the flanking enemy fleet!”

Belial’s sharp fleet maneuvers and command buffs were on point. Tiamat’s buffs doubled the performance of our aircraft. Ouroboros, Hreðsvelgr, and the two Krakens were unstoppable…

– KRKRKRKRKR… KABOOM!

– “Cruiser Battleship No. 2 heavily damaged, crash-landed on a nearby asteroid!”

– “Bayern is countering—one of the enemy battleship’s main turrets has been destroyed!”

“Ughhh.”

The newly acquired S-class battleship, Bayern, was putting in more work than expected.

“Enemy aircraft… no, unmanned drone swarms detected!”

– “The flanking enemy unit is undetected—they must be using cloaking systems!”

“Ugh, tell Habarovsk to run another full-range scan. The moment they’re detected, launch a massive assault with interceptors.”

– “Yes, Commander!”

Habarovsk, who popped up after 9,980 pulls, was also working hard. By sacrificing some lower-tier ships, we managed to keep the battle somewhat under control. But no matter what, watching cruiser battleships and battleships get shredded like tofu was unbearable.

“This is insane, Belial!”

– “Yes, Commander?”

“How many ships can withstand enemy battleship-grade firepower right now?”

– “Including the two Krakens, the Dreadnought, and the Bayern-class, a total of 4 ships.”

“The Krakens?”

– “Yes, their frontal armor is on par with the Dreadnought.”

‘Holy moly.’

Aside from the Bayern-class, which was designed more for armor than mobility, and the ridiculously thick-armored Dreadnought, the only ships that could withstand enemy battleship-grade firepower were the Krakens—and even then, only from the front. Meanwhile, the enemy had not only battleships but two even more powerful units.

– “Enemy Dreadnought advancing head-on!”

“Tell Nerañzara to destroy one of the enemy Dreadnought’s propulsion systems.”

– “Understood!”

Perhaps out of some last shred of decency, the enemy Dreadnought’s armor was on par with ours, but everything else about it was disgustingly overpowered, making it a nightmare to face head-on.

– “High-energy reaction detected ahead!”

“Ouroboros, commence bombardment!”

After capturing Ouroboros during the last event, with buffs from Partia and Belial, it could barely match the enemy’s firepower by overcharging to 140% every cooldown. The annihilation ship, which had been buffed in every aspect except armor, was a whole other level of ridiculous.

‘This is insane.’

As mentioned earlier, I could finally understand why even the veterans in the gallery were cursing the 5th round.

Of course, no matter how strong the enemy is…

– BOOM!

– “This is Nerañzara, 80% of the enemy Dreadnought’s right propulsion system has been eliminated.”

Just as I had instructed earlier, Nerañzara completely sabotaged the Dreadnought’s propulsion systems.

The Dreadnought, which had been pushing forward recklessly, suddenly veered sharply due to the imbalance in its propulsion systems.

“Commander, Hreðsvelgr’s strategic missiles are ready to launch.”

“Then fire them immediately, and use Kraken Unit 2’s teleport to hit the enemy Dreadnought directly.”

“Roger.”

The strategic missiles from Hreðsvelgr, similar in size to a Heavy Cruiser, inflict irreversible damage with a point-blank impact.

– Beep!

– “Commander! We’ve successfully destroyed the main cannon of the enemy’s annihilation ship!”

“Good, then have Tiamat’s aircraft prioritize attacking the enemy Destroyers, and if there’s time, disable the Battleships’ mobility.”

– “Yes, sir!”

Using Kraken Unit 1’s teleport, we destroyed the main cannon of that damn enemy annihilation ship that kept trying to engage in energy wave battles.

We effectively neutered it.

After pushing those two troublesome ships into a state of disrepair, we no longer needed to engage in energy wave battles, so we utilized Ouroboros.

– “All aircraft, retreat immediately! Ouroboros’ main cannon is firing in spread mode!”

– “Main cannon, prepare to fire in spread mode!”

With their main ships struggling, the enemy fleet clustered together for cover, so we decided to fire Ouroboros’ spread mode for the first time.

And when the spread mode—aka the ‘flamethrower’—spewed fire…

Unlike when Ouroboros’ glowing halos focused energy, this time the energy grew exponentially with each halo it passed.

The torrent of energy ejected from the cannon amplified as it passed through each halo, growing larger and larger.

By the time it passed the last halo, a massive wave of fire, wide enough to cover an entire planet and its satellite orbits, surged forward.

And the enemy fleet exposed to that torrent, as mentioned earlier, had no significant difference in durability compared to other ships.

Even the Dreadnought, which should have been able to withstand it, ended up with a massive hole after taking 12 strategic missiles to its side.

– WHOOSH!!!

– BOOM! BANG!

– KABOOM!!!

“Quite a comical sight.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“There’s such a thing.”

The small ships, as mentioned before, melted like plastic under a lighter, going ‘pop pop.’

Ships heavier than Heavy Cruisers showed some resistance if their armor was intact.

But for ships with severely damaged armor, including the Dreadnought…

They shattered into pieces like styrofoam under a high-pressure air blower, getting ‘crushed.’

Especially the Dreadnought, with its massive satellite-sized hull turning into charred coal chunks, was a sight to behold.

I took a screenshot and decided to use it as my command console’s wallpaper for a while.

And after Ouroboros’ 140% maximum charge flamethrower ended…

All the remaining ships, except those already sunk or crashed into nearby planets or asteroids, rushed in and subdued the groggy enemy fleet.

And finally, after 59 simultaneous shots vaporized the last remaining Battleship…

—————————————–

<Round 5 Cleared!>

<Battle Result: Victory>

<Enemy Fleet Annihilated>

<Proceed to the next round?>

<Y/N>

—————————————–

Seeing the message asking, “Proceed to the next round?”…

I took a moment to ponder.

Then, with a natural double middle finger, I expressed my extreme reluctance.

‘If I do this again, I’m insane, screw this.’

These crazy developers, who in the world made something like this to clear?