Chapter 160

Chapter 160. How’s It Going? Coming to Your Senses? (1)

And if Icarus had known, there would have been even more reason to feel what it means for blood to boil in reverse.

Even though there were quite a few solo rankers stationed in the Central Zone, where Humanity Clan’s offensive was about to begin, aside from Icarus…

The fact that five people were assigned specifically to Icarus was exactly that.

Of course, Humanity had their own reasons for taking such measures…

The biggest reason was that the other solo rankers in the Central Zone didn’t show “overwhelming power against other users” like Icarus did.

In other detailed matters, Icarus and other ranked users were also somewhat different.

==========

In the case of Menaldu, ranked 10th.

Like Icarus, a complete solo player.

True to his appearance, he plays like a cold, lone wolf (?) city guy, so there was less to think about.

Unlike Icarus, he didn’t show anything “overwhelming” enough to become a topic in the gallery, aside from beating up nearby users.

Since he didn’t draw aggro, it was judged that just three rankers within the top 1000 of Humanity would be enough to handle him.

==========

And in the case of Indypatible, ranked 7th… the situation was quite different.

“Why aren’t we attacking Indypatible?”

“Crazy bastard, that guy’s our external mercenary.”

“Ah, I see.”

From the start, he chose Earth Federation as his faction.

Though neutral in name, he was a pro-Earth Federation force and had handled quite a few requests for Humanity Clan, making him a “friendly force.”

“Ah, please take care of this again~”

“I don’t know what you’re up to this time, but if you mess with me or my acquaintances here, I won’t stand by.”

“Of course, of course.”

They neatly signed a non-aggression pact.

To ensure they wouldn’t intervene in requests for help from other “acquaintances’ acquaintances,” they provided some resources…

—————————————-

-[It’s a modest offering…]

—————————————-

<Notification!>

<Antares has requested a trade with you.>

<Antares⇒Indypatible: 50,000 Minerals, 4,500 Rare Resources, 10,000 Gold>

<Y/N>

—————————————-

-[No, don’t worry about it]

-[Don’t say that]

-[Then]

—————————————-

<Trade accepted.>

—————————————-

“Ah, this level of courtesy is acceptable.”

“Hahaha.”

“Alright, I don’t know what you’re planning, but I’ll just stay out of it.”

“That’s enough.”

With a bit of gold support, they drew a line to ensure no interference in this matter.

==========

In the case of Laura, ranked 5th, oddly enough, about three people were assigned to her, just like with Menaldu, who was five ranks lower at 10th.

And because of that, even though three people were assigned to the 10th ranker…

Assigning three people to the 5th ranker seemed a bit off, and there were murmurs about it internally.

“Assigning three people to the 10th ranker and three to the 5th ranker?”

“Even so, that’s a bit…”

“Aren’t we just asking to get counter-invaded and beaten up?”

Especially since the clan assigned to Laura was even more panicked.

Whether they liked it or not, Humanity needed to explain the situation.

Of course, Humanity wasn’t stupid, and there were reasons for selecting the personnel the way they did…

“Don’t worry, there’s no problem.”

“Is assigning three to the 10th ranker and three to the 5th ranker the same?”

“Think about it, the three going to Laura are from the top 500, unlike Menaldu.”

“Even considering that, it still doesn’t make sense.”

First, they were assigning stronger rankers than Menaldu.

And on top of that, there was one more critical reason, which they revealed to the clan members…

“And Laura, during the last defense battle of Justice Clan in the Central Zone, she acted as an external mercenary.”

“Oh? What does that mean?”

“Currently, that woman Laura’s main fleet is still under repair, so she’ll be much weaker than you think.”

Showing proof of Laura’s main fleet being destroyed alongside theirs, the Humanity Clan representative explained…

The clan and those involved…

The personnel who were about to enter each let out a sigh of relief.

Anyway, I had no idea such things were happening.

“Commander, the people coming up ahead aren’t responding to any communications?!”

“Haha, these damn bastards.”

I felt incredibly annoyed by the attitude of these bastards trying to gang up on me, but I decided to check the enemy fleet’s strength first.

“Jessica, what’s the status of the enemy fleet’s strength?”

“Just a moment, the reconnaissance results are being analyzed right now… Ah, I’ll show you now!”

And then, the fleet analysis data created by the supercomputer and analysts within the base, along with the command console I was holding, was displayed on the huge monitor right in front of the command center.

—————————————-

<Invasion Fleet Strength Analysis Report>

<Total Strength: 408 ships>

<Cruiser Battleships: 7>

<Light Aircraft Carriers: 3>

<Heavy Cruisers: 75>

<Light Cruisers: 28>

<Destroyers: 230>

<Escort Ships: 25>

<Patrol Ships: 30>

<Resource Mining Ships: 10>

—————————————-

And that insane strength.

Seeing that there are 7 cruiser battleships and over 200 destroyers coming at us, I briefly considered just surrendering.

‘This is crazy, how am I supposed to deal with that scale?’

Of course, realistically, those bastards aren’t moving as one perfect unit.

In reality, it’s probably 5 users each controlling their own separate fleets.

If I take them on one by one, like you usually do when outnumbered, maybe I can manage somehow… but the problem is the scale.

Even with mercenaries included, if the enemy’s strength is more than double ours…

If they just split their forces in half, one half dealing with my entire fleet and the other half casually pushing into the base, the game would be over.

So, I was about to make a grand decision to send a surrender message to those bastards… but right at that moment, chat notifications started flashing like crazy in front of my eyes.

‘What’s this?’

Wondering what was going on, I opened the so-called ‘solo player room’ before sending the surrender message.

—————————————-

-[Dude](Laura)

-[Dude](Laura)

-[Dude](Laura)

-[You guys okay? Damn, the Humanity bastards are seriously attacking all solo players in the central zone](Menaldu)

-[Danger](Laura)

—————————————-

As soon as I opened it, I saw frantic chats from Laura and Menaldu, along with…

—————————————-

-[Damn, these bastards are coming at me]

-[I’m also being invaded right now, these bastards are pushing with 2 vs 1]

-[I’m dealing with 3 vs 1]

-[These bastards are throwing at least 3 players against solo rankers in the top 1,000]

-[Help! Help! I’m being attacked by 3 players right now!]

-[These damn bastards are ganging up on us]

-[Ah damn, my fleet’s gone]

—————————————-

Along with the desperate situations of solo players, there were also…

—————————————-

-[Hey, don’t surrender]

-[These bastards tried to make me their subordinate after I surrendered]

-[They said if I didn’t accept their terms, they’d destroy my base]

-[I also got hit by that, they tried to destroy my entire fleet when I didn’t accept their surrender, so I barely escaped and started over]

—————————————-

Realizing that surrendering wouldn’t bring happiness, I threw all thoughts of surrender into the trash and decided to fight those damn bastards to the bitter end.