Chapter 163

Chapter 163. Lots to Think About for Victory☆ (2)

Along with the report from the patrol unit, where all but one ship were torn apart, and the reconnaissance results brought back at the risk of life by an Azkuran-class destroyer.

The scan results from the absolutely insane, mind-blowing <Graviton Detection Radar> that devoured a whopping 155,500 minerals.

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<Graviton Detection Radar>

<An extremely high-performance, state-of-the-art radar that allows real-time 3D mapping and enemy fleet tracking within the Commander's zone.>

<Provides a minimap feature.>

<Can detect real-time positions of enemy fleets.>

<Real-time detection of unit status for both enemies and allies.>

<Warning! Some stealth ships may not be detected by the Graviton Detection Radar!>

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I could roughly calculate the power structure of the invading clan.

“Let’s see, so the only clearly identified user marks are on the large ships, right?”

“Yes, the rest are difficult to identify with the Graviton Detection Radar.”

“Hmmm… So, there are definitely only three users with cruiser battleships, and one separate user managing all the light aircraft carriers.”

“And among those three cruiser battleship users, two have three ships each, while the other only has one.”

The structure of the enemy fleet was essentially like this.

The guys who brought three cruiser battleships had their fleets filled exclusively with cruiser battleships and heavy cruisers.

With roughly three ships totaling 90 points, the remaining 300+ points were filled entirely with heavy cruisers?

And the user with only one cruiser battleship was responsible for the remaining heavy cruisers that the other two couldn’t fill, along with various small ships and five ‘resource mining ships = repair ships.’

Similarly, another user brought three light aircraft carriers, using the remaining points to bring escort fleets and repair ships for the carriers.

Naturally, the remaining users had their fleets filled with various ‘small ships’ like light cruisers and destroyers.

“Hmm, so in that fleet, at least half of the destroyers and the escort ship power… are managed by just one person?”

“Are they planning to fight by thoroughly dividing roles?”

And here, I immediately found a ‘gap.’

I started forming a rough plan in my head on how to crush them.

“Jessica, gather all the other superhumans right now.”

“Yes, Commander.”

I decided to call in my beloved superhumans and get ready to seriously mess with them.

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And the next morning.

The commanders of the Unity Clan were checking their fleet’s anti-air formations and monitoring the fleet’s advance.

“Wow, this is disgustingly slow.”

“What can we do? It’s an anti-air formation to prepare for aircraft raids. Of course, mobility is sacrificed.”

However, unlike their flashy start where they took out most of the enemy’s reconnaissance and patrol units right from the beginning.

Their advance was painfully slow and leisurely.

If the Humanity Clan’s representative had been watching this, they might have exploded in frustration…

But even if that were the case, the Unity Clan had plenty of excuses ready.

-“Hey, but what if we just charge forward and get swarmed by aircraft like we saw in the gallery?”

-“Oh, now that you mention it, that’s true.”

Remembering what they saw in the gallery about Icarus’ ‘Kraken-class,’ their caution skyrocketed.

Rather than charging forward recklessly, they decided to wait and see what the notoriously ruthless (?) 3rd-ranked player would do.

To preserve their precious large ships, they set up a thorough anti-air formation.

-“Anyway, time is on our side, right? Agreed?”

-“Agreed.”

Despite being the ones invading, they didn’t even touch the nearby resource zones.

For a full day, they just stood there, dumbfounded, watching the situation and giving Icarus time to sharpen their blades and prepare.

Of course, that was now in the past.

Currently, the Unity Clan was cautiously advancing, maintaining a fortress-like anti-air formation with their ships.

But as they themselves had mentioned.

Their specially crafted anti-air formation, overly conscious of aircraft, didn’t just fail to provide any mobility buffs to the fleet.

It actually slapped a massive debuff on their base mobility, causing them to advance at a snail’s pace.

Of course, no matter how slow they were, it would take at most a day or two to reach Icarus’ base.

The biggest risk factor for Icarus, the unlimited hiring of mercenaries, is now impossible for at least a week, and it has been confirmed that the Pirate Empress and her fleet are not here either.

As mentioned earlier, time is on their side, and they are advancing with an incredibly relaxed attitude, driven by their firm belief.

However, the Unity Clan, which was advancing while maintaining what they called a “thorough defensive posture,” had a major problem they themselves hadn’t noticed.

Although they called themselves a clan, in reality, they were a temporary clan formed by randomly selecting five users who had left due to the “factionalization” secretly instigated by the Humanity Clan.

As a result, they had no interest in organic cooperation among themselves.

Of course, they were ranked within the top 500 and 1000, so they had some individual skills.

But they could only perform the most “basic” cooperation.

Since they hadn’t trained together for long, they kept showing signs of miscoordination in ambiguous situations.

Contrary to appearances, the defensive power that should have been organically formed between each user’s formations was severely lacking.

And while they were advancing rapidly, having essentially thrown “teamwork” out the window…

The Goliath, which was serving as the backbone of the entire fleet with just one cruiser battleship, let out a scream-like sound upon seeing numerous dots appear on its fleet radar.

“F***, enemy aircraft are here!”

“Where?”

“Where?!”

“They’re coming this way!”

Naturally, upon hearing Goliath’s communication, the Unity Clan members recalled the overwhelming massacre by the Kraken they had seen in the gallery.

They frantically urged Ramuramu, a small ship user, to send anti-air destroyers, but…

That was short-lived.

-Boom! Crash! Bang!

“Huh? Hey, those aircraft are just melting.”

“Huh?”

“What’s going on?”

Before Ramuramu’s anti-air ships could even arrive, Icarus’s aircraft were being shredded by Goliath’s fleet’s anti-air defenses.

The Unity Clan users were momentarily stunned by the unexpected sight.

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At the same time, inside Icarus’s Astral Base command center.

“Ugh, those precious aircraft.”

“It can’t be helped.”

Jessica looked very regretful as the aircraft (Level 1) from the light aircraft carrier I had sortied and controlled melted away.

I comforted her, saying everything was going according to plan, and quickly ordered the aircraft to retreat.

Of course, if I had mindlessly ordered a retreat, the Level 1 aircraft’s pathetic evasion performance would have ensured they were all wiped out.

So, I manually controlled some of them, scattering rockets (instead of torpedoes and missiles) to draw aggro and cover the retreat of the other aircraft.

However, no matter how hard a user tries to control them, fundamentally poor performance means they can’t hold out for long.

By the time the other aircraft had retreated, taking some damage, the squadron I was controlling had been completely annihilated.

But despite the user’s direct control, hundreds of aircraft were shredded without causing any significant damage.

Soon, the enemy fleet, which had been crawling forward like slugs while maintaining a strict anti-air formation, began to change.

The fleet, which included three light aircraft carriers and seven cruiser battleships, split up and started to increase their speed, unlike before.

Realizing that they had taken the bait as planned, I immediately moved on to the next phase.

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And at the same time Icarus was eagerly watching the Unity Clan’s actions and devising an evil (?) plan…

…a few minutes earlier.

The Unity Clan was momentarily bewildered by the unexpectedly high number of Icarus’s aircraft being shredded.

“Hey, are those Icarus aircraft just a bluff?”

“Maybe?”

If they had seen their terrible future, they would have never made the choice they were about to make.