Chapter 268

Chapter 268. The Siege of Avalon (4)

Despite the opinions of those seasoned veterans and high-level players, some users in the gallery couldn’t shake off the thought that Icarus might lose in the preliminary battle.

Funny enough, the reason wasn’t anything else but the very thing that made Icarus stand out in the gallery—the aircraft. No, to be precise, it was the hundreds of thousands of interceptors swarming in like a hive of bees.

Of course, the newbies’ comments immediately triggered the old-timers, who were always itching to roast them. But before they could pounce, other veterans stepped in to stop them.

—

**Title:** Isn’t Icarus getting wrecked by the very thing they used to dominate?

**Author:** Chocolate

**Content:** [GIF of Unity Clan’s cruiser battleships getting wrecked by Kraken’s teleportation ambush]

Isn’t this exactly what’s gonna happen to that guy with all those aircraft?

Right?

**Comments:**

– [Haha, it’s been a while since I’ve seen this.]

– [Do we even need to explain this?]

– [For real, it’ll all be clear once it happens.]

– [Why are you acting like only you know this?] (Author)

– [Show me what you know too!] (Author)

—

Just as the old-timers were about to pounce, other veterans held them back.

—

**Title:** For those who think the 3rd place is gonna get wrecked by aircraft, read this.txt

**Author:** Heart Breaker

**Content:** [Image of a toad with a meaningful smile]

“Seeing is better than a hundred words.”

Got it?

It’s annoying to explain, so just watch what happens next.

**Comments:**

– [What, is this WWE again?]

– [Teacher, that’s not the right joke for this situation.] (Author)

– [Oh.]

– [What does this mean?]

– [Icarus has carriers too, so they can counter, right?]

– [Oh, is that it?]

—

Suddenly, the newbies in the gallery couldn’t understand why the old-timers, who were always quick to roast them, were now holding back and managing the situation so carefully. But that confusion didn’t last long.

Soon, as the situation unfolded, the newbies finally understood the limitations of “aircraft” and “aircraft carriers” that the seasoned players had been pointing out all along. They were hit with a massive culture shock in more ways than one. And along the way, they also learned why Kraken’s teleportation system was considered so broken that it could only be used once a day.

And just a few dozen minutes before those newbies’ curiosity was satisfied…

—

“Commander, we’ve detected the fleet and interceptors launching from Avalon!”

“The interceptors will take a while to arrive, so tell the mercenaries to position the battleships and cruiser battleships forward for bombardment.”

“Yes, sir!”

Even though we had nearly double the numbers, there was no need to waste fleet strength in close combat as the enemy wanted. With Kraken, which has battleship-level firepower despite being a carrier, leading the charge, I ordered all battleships and cruiser battleships to form a firing line.

“All fleets, commence bombardment!”

-“By the Commander’s orders, all fleets commence bombardment!”

-“Haha, it’s been a while since we’ve fought like this!”

With nearly 40 battleships and over a hundred cruiser battleships, the fleet unleashed a barrage of particle beams, railgun rounds made of uranium-tungsten-whatever superalloy, and plasma bombs that could vaporize armor at 100 million degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, ships like Hreðsvelgr and others fired additional missiles.

The 24 guard fleets, with only 24 battleships, were inevitably overwhelmed by the firepower from long range. Especially notable was Pashtira, who had grown significantly through consistent leveling and was now showing off her full power.

-“Watch my performance, Commander♡”

-KABOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

“Oh.”

Pashtira’s fully-powered beam didn’t just obliterate a cruiser in front of a battleship—it went straight through the battleship behind it and kept going, eventually hitting the Avalon Fortress in the distance.

“Ohhh…”

Despite this incredible display, it was clear that battleships and cruiser battleships were on a whole different level.

The main guns, trying to accurately target those tiny destroyers and escort ships…

Even with the triple buff from Belial, Marian, and Gryanarr, there was a limit.

Unlike the relatively slow light cruisers or the battleships, which were few in number and became primary targets, getting blown up left and right.

We could see the small destroyers, acting as flagships, with over 30,000 escort ships reorganized into separate squadrons, charging towards our main force.

Of course, the targets of those thousands of squadrons were the battleships and cruiser battleships pouring fire on them from the front lines.

But no way.

“Pull the battleships and cruiser battleships back, and send all the mercenary groups with light cruisers and smaller ships to fight.”

“Got it, I’ll relay that right away.”

We had more small ships from the start, and some of them had already been sacrificed to our fleet’s barrage while they charged in.

As the real chaos began, the Guard Fleet friends, as expected, were at a numerical disadvantage.

Unlike us, who were heavily buffed by fleet bonuses, they had none, so…

Their initial momentum was gone, and as time went on, they focused solely on defense and evasion.

And at this point, newbies might wonder where the heck those swarms of interceptors were and what they were doing.

Of course, having played for about 3 years… no, almost 5 years now, and having cleared the endgame content before…

I knew exactly where those crazy swarms of interceptors were and what they were up to, without even looking.

“Jessica, the interceptors still haven’t arrived at the battlefield, right?”

“Yep.”

“Looks like they rushed them out to avoid getting their hangars smashed, but that’s just dumb.”

Saying that, I shook my head while watching the huge screen from the command seat, seeing the interceptors still flying in from afar.

“Tiamat.”

-“Yes, Commander?”

“It’s your turn now, launch all aircraft from the carriers.”

-“Yes, launching immediately!”

==========

And switching back to the gallery perspective…

The newbies were finally realizing why veterans always told them not to use carriers early on.

—————————————–

Title: Why are the aircraft so slow?

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Icarus battle footage, interceptors still flying.jpg]

Last event and even when Icarus fought before, the aircraft didn’t seem this slow in the videos.

Are the city interceptors just super slow? Why is that?

Comments:

-[It’s hard to explain in a comment, I’ll just write a post for you to read.]

-˪[ㅇㅇ](Author)

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—————————————–

Title: The interceptors aren’t slow, you’ve just been mistaken all along

Author: Tteokbokki

Content: [Image of a toad shaking its head]

1. During the Ancient Empire event, the battlefield itself was small, but there were a ton of indestructible obstacles, so the aircraft speed wasn’t noticeable.

The combat distance was so close that the time it took for aircraft to fly and engage enemy fleets was similar to the time it took for fleets to collide.

Unlike ships that had to detour around obstacles, aircraft could just fly straight through, making them seem faster.

2. Some people use Icarus’ battle scenes as an example, but even there, it took a long time for the aircraft to launch and engage enemy fleets.

But in the actual game, it goes like this:

[Gif of interceptors still flying towards Icarus’ fleet]

It’s like this.

The time it takes for aircraft to launch, cross the battlefield, and reach enemy fleets is longer than the time it takes for battleship main guns to tear through your fleet and carriers.

No need to talk about battleship accuracy issues.

Even with accuracy problems, battleship guns are way faster and more effective than aircraft crawling their way to enemy fleets.

Comments:

-[Makes sense]

-[After reading this, I scrapped my carriers]

-[Ah, Arthur, I totally get it now]

—————————————–

…Of course, whether they really understood or not will probably remain a mystery for life.