Chapter 336

Chapter 336. Charge!!! (2)

Of course, even if my fleet were to charge in,

One-third of it would be wiped out in a single blow, and a few more ships would be left staggering from the splash damage.

Compared to Arcadia, the numbers were smaller, so the enemy ships’ response seemed rather lackluster.

To be precise, it was more like…

“Hmm, I think I know what those guys are thinking.”

“What is it?”

“They’re probably thinking, ‘Oh, those guys are trying to hit-and-run again, let’s just respond half-heartedly.'”

“Huh.”

Seeing my fleet charging at full speed, they must have assumed I was planning to hit-and-run like Arcadia.

So instead of tightening their formation, they deliberately spread out their ships,

and as my fleet closed in, they tried to stick to us like glue, aiming to prevent us from breaking through.

But as I mentioned earlier, my fleet neither had the capability nor the intention to hit-and-run.

-“Charge!!!”

-“Let’s gooooo!!!”

Ignoring the ships swarming from all sides like sticky spatulas, we charged straight through the central defense line.

-“Enemy fleet breached!”

-“Patrol Ships 5 and 8 sunk, Light Cruiser 2 heavily damaged!”

“Just ignore the damage and keep charging.”

Even the scout patrol ships were swept up in the charge, and after losing two patrol ships, we broke through the enemy’s loosened defense line.

“All ships, ignore the rest and focus solely on the Ouroboros.”

-“Understood.”

-“Attack! Attack!”

Whether the heavy cruisers or battleships on the side were showing off or not,

we pushed forward with the Wyvern-class ships Princess Luka had painstakingly raised at the forefront, and our fleet, with the cruiser battleships positioned in the center, charged straight toward the Ouroboros-class ships at the same speed we had broken through the front lines.

Of course, during this process, the enemy fleet, which had been trying to encircle us—now turned into the rear guard—chased after us, relentlessly pounding our rear.

The patrol ships and destroyers at the very end of the formation were brutally hammered on their weak rear ends, exploding one after another.

-“Attack from the rear!”

-“Protect the cruisers, the patrol ships will act as shields!”

-“Gyaaaaaah!!!”

Well… they were essentially thrown in as meat shields from the start.

Especially the Monster Fleet, which was specialized in frontal armor, making their rear extremely vulnerable.

For those ships, I ordered a 180-degree turn to charge “head-on” into the enemy fleet.

“Escort ships and below, turn 180 degrees and charge into the pursuing enemy fleet to buy time.”

-“Understood, all patrol ships executing emergency 180-degree turn!”

And at my command, they charged in as if they had been waiting for this moment.

It was like watching unleashed puppies running wild, making the whole situation feel oddly surreal.

Moreover, during the roughly one hour of this charge,

our fleet suffered a catastrophic loss, with 50% of our forces literally “vanishing.”

This scene was witnessed in real-time by Princess Luka, who had come to check on her “babies” that she had entrusted to me.

“Waaaaaah!!!”

“Hmm.”

Naturally, seeing the fleet she had painstakingly built melt away in less than an hour, Princess Luka couldn’t hold back her tears.

But that was only temporary.

“Princess Luka, once this is over, the Commander has promised additional resources.”

“Wuuu… Are you trying to buy me off with money? Are you insulting me?”

“5,000 daily minerals, 1,500 rare resources.”

“…That’s an amount too large to refuse. I guess I can accept that.”

When our Jessica presented a capitalist-based negotiation(?) offer,

the Princess, hearing a reward five times higher than before, nodded her head in satisfaction.

Well, with a contract like that, we’d have to give 35,000 minerals and 10,500 rare resources per week…

But since we now get 3,000 minerals and 800 rare resources per user docking at the base every week,

we had enough leeway, so it wasn’t a big issue.

Of course, apart from that satisfaction…

-Boom!

-“Gasp!”

“Wuuuuu…”

Every time a monster ship exploded on the battle screen I was watching, Princess Luka couldn’t help but sob…

It seemed like an unavoidable situation.

==========

Meanwhile, having finished negotiations with Princess Luka…

Around the time of the ridge.

—————————————–

<Event-exclusive chat window>

-[Impressive]

-[A fleet that lost a third of its power from the start is fighting better than expected.](Arcadia)

-[Hahaha, well…](Icarus)

—————————————–

Arcadia, watching my fleet charge head-on into Ouroboros while losing 50% of its strength, made a comment that could either be sarcastic or a genuine compliment.

Of course, this thought came right after.

—————————————–

<Event-exclusive chat window>

-[It’s not a joke or sarcasm, you’re really amazing](Arcadia)

-[Is that so?](Icarus)

-[Yes]

-[It’s almost like there’s another fleet here](Arcadia)

-[Ahaha](Icarus)

—————————————–

Thanks to Arcadia adding more to the chat, the misunderstanding was quickly cleared up.

And I just smiled at Arcadia’s reaction, thinking, “Well, that’s how it is.”

The reason my fleet, which had lost its strength from the start, seemed to be fighting so well was none other than…

-“The 3rd torpedo support attack from Nerañzara has been launched!”

-“Enemy destroyer sunk, sunk!”

-“Keep advancing!”

Our Nerañzara was working hard, using its subspace diving ability to great effect.

It was quietly firing torpedoes and missiles, leaving clear marks on the propulsion systems and bridges of enemy ships targeting our main force.

Or diving close to the enemy fleet and pouring medium torpedoes at point-blank range, crippling a heavy cruiser.

Or, after a Wyvern-class was sunk, smashing the direction control system of an enemy battleship heading towards our frontline cruiser battleship.

In short, it was a destroyer-sized ship using all its firepower to fully support my fleet.

And from the enemy fleet’s perspective, they were being harassed by medium and light torpedoes and missiles coming from an invisible source.

They must have thought I had some kind of special task force, preventing them from forming a proper formation and concentrating their firepower.

This reduced the pressure on our main force, allowing us to somehow manage.

However, as mentioned before, Nerañzara’s size and number of weapon slots limited the amount of armament it could deploy at once.

The effective “point-blank medium torpedo barrage” was banned after nearly blowing up Nerañzara’s periscope.

As a result, most of the armaments, except for space torpedoes, were being intercepted, and Nerañzara’s limited missiles and torpedoes were being depleted at a rapid rate.

Fortunately, this time there was a place for Nerañzara to replenish its “ammunition”…

-“You’ve worked hard.”

-“You’ve worked harder, 20 medium torpedoes and 120 light torpedoes, right?”

-“Yes, that’s correct.”

That place was the ammunition depot of the half-destroyed 2nd cruiser battleship, which Arcadia’s three destroyers were struggling to tow.

The Nerañzara-class, after firing all its ammunition, returned in a submerged state.

It attached itself to the left side, where only the frame remained after the armor was blown off, naturally receiving real-time ammunition delivery from inside.

At the same time, it surfaced to recharge its batteries, and once the ammunition was replenished, it submerged again and unleashed a full barrage on the enemy fleet.

Of course, every time Nerañzara resupplied, a few of our fleet’s ships were destroyed.

But if we didn’t resupply, not just a few but 20-30 ships would be destroyed, so it was a necessary action.