Chapter 114

Chapter 114. The Final Week. (5)

Meanwhile, at the same time Icarus was retreating and reorganizing the fleet.

“Tell the entire fleet to activate self-repair functions.”

“Yes, Commander.”

The user, who had successfully repelled Icarus’ fleet, gathered his expedition fleet near a resource zone.

Looking at the state of the assembled fleet, he expressed a small doubt.

“We took more damage than I thought, why is that?”

“The enemy fleet’s accuracy was slightly higher than our fleet’s evasion rate.”

“Oh?”

Nodding at the words of the male adjutant beside him, the Commander continued the conversation while looking at his fleet, which had suffered losses here and there, including a light cruiser with half its hull blown off.

“We loaded up on evasion-related equipment and even added supporters to boost evasion further… and they still hit us directly.”

“That’s correct, Commander.”

“Well, if they’re ranked higher than me, they should be able to do that much, right?”

“…That’s not wrong.”

But as the Commander said this, he flashed a truly wicked smile.

The male adjutant inwardly shook his head, thinking that his Commander’s mischievousness and obsession had kicked in again.

While the adjutant was thinking this.

“Oh right, how much damage did their fleet take?”

“Confirmed sunk are 4 cruisers, 2 destroyers, and 12 patrol ships. There were also at least 5 ships with moderate damage or more.”

“Hmm, not as much as I thought?”

“Our fleet suffered less than 15 ships in total damage, so isn’t that a win?”

“No, considering we can only replenish ships by capturing them in battle… it’s not as good as it seems.”

Recalling the battle results, the Commander tapped the command console with his finger and fell into thought for a moment.

Then he stood up and gave additional orders to his adjutant.

“Then this isn’t the end.”

“I think so too, Commander.”

“There’s a repair ship hidden nearby, right? Mobilize that as well to speed up fleet repairs.”

“Understood.”

“Also, run the self-repair modules on the ships at full capacity to expedite the rearmament.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Despite having achieved a significant victory against Icarus’ fleet early on.

The Commander, who didn’t expect Icarus to be so frightened and hole up in the base, showed signs of quickly repairing his fleet to prepare for the next battle.

But less than 3 hours after starting the repair work…

“Commander!”

“Hmm?”

“The enemy Commander’s fleet has reappeared ahead!”

“What’s the composition?”

“1 Overseer-class heavy cruiser, along with cruisers and a small number of destroyers!”

“…Huh.”

The Commander, who thought Icarus’ fleet had retreated after taking heavy damage, was surprised to see them reappear faster than expected.

Upon hearing the report, the Commander twirled his long, curly pink hair with his fingers and flashed a bright smile.

“Kyah, as expected from the 3rd rank, they should have that much fighting spirit!”

==========

Having decided to hold onto my mental state and dive into the second battle.

This time, I decided to counter that veteran in a slightly different way.

And that way was to flip the existing bait-main force strategy.

Using my pretty Overseer-included cruiser fleet as both bait and anvil.

While forming a mobile force that included 5 [Azkran-Class Destroyers] I recently bought from the shop.

While the Overseer and Pashtira drew aggro with ultra-long-range bombardment.

Our mobile force would flank and deliver a delicious blow to the back of the enemy fleet that had been drawn in.

However, in this process, since the enemy likely had at least one superhuman specializing in long-range firepower similar to Pashtira.

If we just sent in the cruiser fleet, it would obviously get wrecked.

-Chichichichi chichichichi.

“Chichichichi.”

“…What are you doing, Commander?”

“Uh, nothing.”

This time, I included resource mining ships in the bait main force(?).

So that even if they took damage, they could repair on the spot and hold out.

At the same time, the fleet organized as the mobile force was equipped with high-grade heavy torpedoes I had pulled from gacha and used very sparingly.

Ready to show the enemy fleet what a death charge really is.

With all the preparations I could make, I ordered the fleet to sortie towards their fleet.

==========

The battlefield I chose was a sector near a large resource mining zone I had been using.

With many asteroid fields nearby, it was a place where flanking fleets could move without being exposed to the enemy.

Although the price for that was…

While moving through planetary zones, there was a downside: the fleet’s speed slowed down.

Additionally, to move through asteroid zones, you couldn’t deploy large ships like cruisers or above, which was another drawback.

But since our mobile unit was entirely composed of small ships like destroyers or below, that wasn’t a big issue.

And the superhumans on board, Ignis and Partia, didn’t have any fleet-related buffs, so they were only operating at their base specs.

To ensure the success of our mobile unit’s flanking and sneak attack, the main force, including Belial, Pashtira, and Gryanarr, decided to buy enough time by stalling.

So, I planned to set the main force’s formation for long-range artillery battles, ready to engage in a thrilling artillery duel with the enemy…

But as soon as the second round of battle began with some unknown jerk (or jerkette), despite their expeditionary force likely being in disarray, they acted as if they’d been waiting for us.

As soon as my cruiser fleet appeared within their detection range, they immediately launched their fleet from the resource mining area they had seized, preparing to intercept us.

And unlike the first battle, where they maintained distance and focused on evasion and bombardment, this time…

“Commander! The enemy is charging at us!”

“Ah, damn it.”

They were charging like berserkers, taking full advantage of their mobility…

Because I had reduced the number of small ships in the main force to prepare the mobile unit, our close-combat capabilities were weakened.

Seeing them pour firepower while charging, I got annoyed and started pulling the fleet back.

“Pull the fleet back! Keep firing while retreating!”

-“Understood, Commander!”

If things went wrong, we’d be crushed in a piecemeal engagement instead of buying time.

While Belial, commanding on-site in my stead, focused on sniping the enemy’s main ships with Overseer and Pashtira’s artillery, the destroyers and cruisers at the front were pushed back, desperately trying to create distance.

The problem was, while we were retreating at our already sluggish speed, the enemy ignored some damage and charged forward at full speed.

Not long after the battle started…

-“Enemy ships are closing in!”

“Ah, crap.”

My main force ended up tangled with the enemy fleet, plunging into chaotic close-quarters combat.

And of course, in such close combat, small ships are the most effective.

But my main force only had five destroyers left.

The enemy’s small ships focused their attacks, and one by one, my five destroyers turned into space dust.

After that, my precious Overseer and light cruisers were next in line for a beating.

Although, in the chaos, Overseer and Pashtira accidentally fired beams that interfered with each other, scattering and wiping out ten of the enemy’s small ships in a lucky shot.

But right after that, one of Overseer’s main cannons was destroyed.

And while I couldn’t tell exactly what kind of character the enemy had, there was one superhuman who, like Pashtira, fired powerful beam cannons.

Every time they fired a battleship-grade beam at close range, one of our cruisers was split in half or critically damaged, only to be sunk by follow-up attacks.

The scene was utterly devastating, and it was taking a massive toll on my mental state.

Even Belial, who was trying to maintain the formation, had to sacrifice three regular cruisers to protect Overseer.

She urgently suggested a fleet retreat.

-“Commander, if this continues, the fleet will be annihilated.”

-“Belial’s right, Commander. Even with the self-repair systems I installed, the damage is accumulating too fast to keep up.”

On top of that, Gryanarr, who was aboard Overseer, chimed in with similar concerns.

I was about to give up on waiting for the still-missing mobile unit and reluctantly issue a retreat order.

But just at that moment…

-“Enemy spotted!”

-“Savior, we’ve arrived.”

“···Uoooh!”

Our long-awaited mobile unit finally emerged from the damn asteroid zone, launching a furious sneak attack on the enemy, who had carelessly pulled their precious cruisers to the rear.