Chapter 154

Chapter 154. Return to (?) Normal Life (1)

After that, for about a week, the state of the fleet and base in the situation I experienced was…

To cut to the chase, it seemed like a pretty tasty snack to newbies who approached without knowing any better.

Of course, to be honest, since it was placed outside the base, the number of ships in the external docking facilities visible when approaching nearby was only a few dozen.

And most of them were either ‘common grade’ or bought from the ‘Favor Exchange’ shop.

Meanwhile, the resource zones were unnecessarily abundant, and even a ranker?

From the perspective of clueless newbies or those who rarely or never engage in communication… it was like a living, breathing treasure goblin.

And those folks, with a high probability, would invade my area with a cruiser battleship as their flagship, which anyone in the top 40% of users would have.

But what awaited them was at least five hired mercenary fleets, along with the newly constructed first cruiser battleship, which had successfully leveled up through continuous battles.

And there was the insane collaboration of the Kraken, showing off its dignity as a full-fledged carrier.

Although at the beginning, it was weak, losing half of its aircraft to a mere pirate group when it charged in at level 1.

But through steady leveling and growth, our Kraken, which reached level 30 three days ago…

“HAHAHAHA, look at these trash humans!”

“Wow.”

…showed up above the newbie who charged in with just one cruiser battleship, teleporting and unleashing thousands of bio-bombers.

Like Goliath from StarCraft, it turned the big and beautiful cruiser battleship into a cute, split sausage.

It literally did all sorts of amazing things, redeeming its initial humiliation.

Moreover, with the Kraken taking the stance of “Destroy the cruiser battleships!!!” from a distance, it essentially handled all the damage alone.

At this point, it was showing off the image of that “insanely awesome assault battle carrier” I had envisioned.

No joke, it was literally showing with its whole body what a “big hexagon” is, making newbies and non-communicative players feel the wall of despair.

Of course, despite that, some users, while not communicating, were quite skilled.

Early on, they sent out 2-3 patrol ships for reconnaissance, and upon realizing there was a carrier here, they switched their fleet to an anti-air formation.

They deployed anti-air destroyers with high in-game anti-air defense stats to the outside, preparing solidly for aircraft raids.

It was truly an excellent countermeasure.

But such formations were only optimized for defending against aircraft raids.

“Let’s go~”

“No, ten.”

Instead of aircraft, the Kraken used eyeball missiles and bio-plasma.

And even though the Kraken was doing too well, making leveling a bit lackluster…

Unlike our small, cute, and precious Kraken, when the first cruiser battleship, overseer, and cruisers, which could properly receive Belial and others’ command buffs, launched a full barrage…

It didn’t take long for the opponent to realize they were screwed no matter what they chose and to surrender.

If they managed to withstand the aircraft raids and the full barrage of my large ships and still closed in?

-“Hahaha!! Time to plunder!”

-“The employer has permitted it! Kill them all!”

-“Uwaaaaah!”

Using the lack of point limits, I deployed 10 pre-hired pirate-mercenary groups.

At this point, deploying a massive fleet that a single user couldn’t possibly muster, completely obliterating them with harpoons…

…was pretty much my daily life for the past week.

However, in the process, the resource fleets had to frequently retreat due to battles.

“Jessica, it seems like the resource acquisition rate has been lagging recently.”

“The base and nearby forced labor camps’ resource acquisition is fine, but some resources that should have been transported from nearby resource zones were plundered by the commander’s fleet during the last invasion.”

“Hmm.”

Due to the inevitable plundering during battles, the resource acquisition rate dropped sharply.

“So, roughly how much resources do we have left?”

“Commander, when you pressed to build the <Graviton Detection Radar> a few days ago for early warning, we had about 90,000 minerals and 8,400 rare resources?”

“Hmm.”

“And considering today’s opponent brought five anti-air cruisers, causing the Kraken’s aircraft to be shredded in the thousands for the first time in a while…”

“Ugh.”

“…you should probably expect to lose an additional 15,000 minerals.”

Finally, the supply rate versus consumption rate graph formed an X-shaped cross, and I could feel my heart aching.

But even so, unlike before, my mental state didn’t completely shatter.

And for good reason—after grinding resources tirelessly and enduring with sheer persistence.

Now, a week since the beginning.

For the first time in a long while, instead of a command center filled with warning alarms from the morning breeze.

I could leisurely sip on the coffee made by our black rabbit, Jessica, and casually browse through reports.

‘Yeah, sometimes we need peaceful days like this.’

With that thought, after Jessica finished her report.

As usual, I checked the completion messages of our superhumans and fleet quests, then gulped down the rewards.

To maintain this peace, I decided not to enter the gallery today and instead enjoy a moment of tranquility.

==========

At the same time.

Inside the gallery that Icarus wasn’t watching, a flood of complaints from newbies who got wrecked was pouring in…

—————————————-

Title: WTF, how is there already an aircraft carrier?

Author: SeaweedStemIsYummy

Content: [Image from the bridge of a cruiser facing a Kraken-Class ship in the distance and thousands of incoming aircraft]

I thought that guy’s fleet was trash for some reason, so I charged in like, “Let’s go!”

But suddenly, aircraft teleported in and started dive-bombing my fleet with bombs, missiles, and torpedoes, completely wrecking me.

I had five anti-air cruisers, but they teleported right above me, so I couldn’t respond.

Plus, their evasion rate was insane, unlike other users, so I couldn’t even hit them.

I tried pushing forward while enduring, but then a massive monster and a cruiser battleship started blasting my fleet with beam cannons.

I thought, “Oh, this guy’s all-in on large ships.”

While trying to dodge the aircraft and close in, suddenly, dozens of mercenary squads popped up and devoured my fleet.

Comments:

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-[Is this top player trash? LOL]

-[Aircraft carriers are kinda hot tho]

-[Dozens of merc squads? That’s impossible]

-[Keep crying, you idiot]

-[What the hell are you even saying?]

-[??? A giant monster using aircraft and cannons?]

-[Wait, this guy’s no joke, huh?]

—————————————-

Title: Why are these damn aircraft so strong?

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Image of a cruiser battleship being split in half and sinking under a swarm of aircraft]

WTF, my cruiser battleship!!!!!!

You damn bastard!!!!!!

Comments:

-[LOL]

-[Haha, look at this! Humans are trash!!]

-[This guy’s soloing like he’s in Laxta]

-[Did you try shouting “Barux” towards the base?]

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-[LOL]

—————————————-

Title: Guys, aircraft keep teleporting above my fleet out of nowhere, is this a bug?

Author: Anonymous

Content: [GIF of aircraft teleporting in with a flash above a fleet]

How the hell are aircraft doing this?

Is this a bug? A hack?

Is this top player using hacks? How do I report this to the admins?

Comments:

-[Uhh…]

-[Why do kids always call things they don’t understand bugs or hacks?]

-[Then what is it if it’s not a bug?] (Author)

-[Dude, use some spaces]

-[Wait, I’m already writing an analysis post about this guy and other top players’ fleets]

—————————————-

Seeing these whiny posts from newbies, some veterans, including Icarus, started posting fleet analysis threads.

In a way, it was only natural.