Chapter 222

Chapter 222. The Battle Continues, Zzzzzzzzz. (3)

Luckily, before my hook combo could continue, two users immediately attached their fleets to mine and even initiated communication.

“Commander, we’re receiving a communication request right now.”

“To us?”

“Yes, from two fleets simultaneously… Should I just connect both right away?”

“Hmm… Sure, go ahead and connect them.”

“Got it.”

Even though two people were contacting me at the same time, I found it odd that they were using the ship’s communication system instead of the chat window.

Anyway, since it’s only polite to accept incoming communications, I nodded to Jessica to connect the call.

And as soon as I accepted the communication, two communication screens popped up on Hreðsvelgr’s bridge channel.

-“Ah, can you hear me? We owe you quite a bit from last time.”

“…Huh?”

But just like in the chat, as soon as the communication connected, a male commander with horns on his head was acting all familiar with me.

-“Um, you’re Icarus, right?”

“Ah, yes,”

And for some reason, a platinum-blonde female commander was blushing and staring at me, going “Hoe~ee~ee…”

Wait, she was the user I saw once before, ranked 4th.

And at the same time, she was the Clan Leader of ‘Justice,’ one of the top three largest clans currently.

All of this left me, who knew nothing, feeling quite bewildered.

=========

But that bewilderment was short-lived.

As soon as they saw me visibly flustered, the two commanders who had contacted me immediately introduced themselves.

-“I apologize for the late introduction. I’m ‘Königs,’ and I was on the same team as you during the first battle.”

“Huh? Even if we were on the same team, what…?”

-“You know, like when we caught that troll…?”

The moment I heard that, the image of the ‘Political Officer’ from the first battle popped into my head.

-“Ah, that time with the suicide squad! That was you?”

“Hahaha, well, thanks to that, I got less flak from other users, so it worked out, right?”

Despite the somewhat chaotic vibe, meeting him in person, he seemed quite polite.

Considering how often users these days throw around casual speech or curses in-game, this level of politeness was already a passing grade.

Plus, I later found out that while I hadn’t realized it at the time, this guy had been repairing battleships in the rear and ended up ambushing an enemy carrier task force that was trying to flank us.

I couldn’t help but feel a genuinely friendly vibe toward the user who introduced himself as ‘Königs.’

But unlike Königs, with whom I had at least some small connection…

Arcadia, who was staring at me from the other screen… no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t figure out where or how we had any connection.

For me, it was utterly incomprehensible.

‘Wait, ever since I got reincarnated here, most of my interactions with other users haven’t exactly been positive, right?’

And it seemed Jessica, who was next to me, felt the same way.

Making sure the other person on the communication screen couldn’t hear, Jessica quietly leaned closer to me and whispered cautiously.

“Commander, do you… have a secret lover or something?”

“…”

I need to correct my thoughts.

It wasn’t that there was no connection—she must have mistaken it for a hidden connection (?).

Of course, there was no way that was the case, so I immediately gestured that it wasn’t possible and decided to start by exchanging a light greeting with Arcadia.

“Well, first of all, nice to meet you. I didn’t expect to be teamed up with the 3rd and 4th ranked players here.”

-“Yes… I was also very surprised.”

And honestly, aside from being flustered, having two top 10 ranked players on my team was a really good thing.

So, I decided to take this opportunity to chat with them a bit and also check out the status of their fleets.

=========

And a little while later.

After chatting about this and that and getting a grasp on their fleet situations, I found out that both Arcadia and Königs had managed to preserve quite a few ships.

Of course, the reason for that was largely because their playstyles were completely different from mine…

“How did you manage to save so many?”

-“It’s nothing special. I just focused on flanking and rear support, or just saving myself…”

“Since my role is just to beat up the fools, sometimes I get unlucky and the game ends without even facing the enemy.”

“Oh.”

Even Königs, as they admit themselves, had some ‘luck’ on their side.

But basically, they tend to avoid head-on confrontations and prefer flanking maneuvers. Unless the enemy is also using flanking tactics, there are times when you can go through the entire game without properly facing the enemy.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you can completely avoid them.

“Commander.”

“What is it, Jessica?”

“I compared the data of your fleet, and it seems like your fleet has shrunk quite a bit since the first time I saw it.”

Unlike me, who laughs cheerfully without showing any particular emotion…

—————————————-

<Königs Fleet Power Analysis>

<Battleships: 2>

<Cruiser Battleships: 1>

<Heavy Cruisers: Up to 3>

<Light Cruisers: None>

<Destroyers: 12>

<Escort Ships: 3>

<Patrol Ships: 5>

<Resource Mining Ships: 5>

—————————————-

‘Hmm.’

In the data Jessica subtly displayed on the screen, it was clear that Königs’ fleet had significantly shrunk compared to the first time I saw it.

‘At least one Cruiser Battleship and more than half of the cruisers and below have been wiped out.’

Of course, it’s not polite to point that out directly, so I just nodded in response.

Similarly, without showing any particular emotion, I was able to conclude a pleasant conversation with Königs.

-“Well, I’ll be going now~ I hope we can meet again in the next game.”

“Ah, yes.”

And as I sent Königs off, I also took a look at the fleet data of Arcadia, who is ranked 4th…

—————————————-

<Arcadia Fleet Power Analysis>

<Cruiser Battleships: 3>

<Aviation Cruisers: 3>

<Light Cruisers: 12>

<Destroyers: 20>

<Escort Ships: 14>

<Patrol Ships: 1>

—————————————-

‘…Hmm.’

Although I don’t know how Arcadia initially brought their fleet.

There are only 3 Cruiser Battleships, which can be considered large ships.

Of course, one of those Cruiser Battleships, upon closer inspection, is an SSS-class high-mobility, high-speed Cruiser Battleship, as expected from a top-ranked player.

The other two are also S-class ships, considered quasi-SS-class.

But the rest are mostly Light Cruisers and smaller ships.

Due to the setting of modifying cruisers to function like Light Aircraft Carriers, except for the aircraft hangars, the defensive armaments have been completely stripped down to just CIWS-like air defense systems, leaving them with ‘Aviation Cruisers’ and such.

Jessica and I couldn’t help but feel a natural sense of pity upon seeing Arcadia’s pitiful (?) fleet condition.

But Arcadia themselves seemed puzzled by my expression.

-“Hmm? Is there something wrong?”

“Ah, no… Hmm… You’ve really been through a lot.”

-“Ah, you mean my fleet?”

Upon hearing my comment about having been through a lot, Arcadia finally seemed to realize that we were reacting to the ‘damage status’ of their fleet.

But that was only for a moment.

-“No need to worry too much, I only brought 3 Cruiser Battleships as large ships this time.”

“…Huh?”

-“Since other users are bringing the large ships, I thought it would be enough to focus on mobility and auxiliary firepower.”

With that, Arcadia confidently smiled.

I realized that while Arcadia’s fleet had been cut down, it was specialized in evasion and flanking maneuvers, a ‘mobile unit’ style different from Königs.