Chapter 345

Chapter 345. The Siege of Tanhoizer (1)

By the way, there were actually quite complex reasons hidden behind Icarus mobilizing the fleet during the night.

First of all, they were utilizing a massive army of 400,000 mercenaries, who were costing a whopping 4.7 million resources in daily contract fees. It was largely due to a penny-pinching mentality, trying to squeeze every possible hour of use out of them.

But aside from that, there were other reasons as well.

Putting aside all the miscellaneous stuff, let’s focus on two additional reasons, excluding the penny-pinching:

One of them was that there were users targeting bases all around, just like the “Temporary Clan” incident from before. The idea was to strike preemptively before those users woke up and started their activities.

And the other reason? Well…

“Commander, so what’s the final reason?”

“Remember last time when we tried to capture Barracuda? We charged in too openly, and users swarmed in from all directions, right?”

“Ah…”

“Yeah, we’re trying to avoid that.”

As the saying goes, too much attention can be harmful. If we moved around during the day, there would be more active users, and we’d just end up drawing unnecessary attention. In the process, our strategies and other information might get exposed, so we chose this time to avoid that.

Of course, all of that was secondary. The fundamental reason was simply that we wanted to save as much time as possible because time was precious. After the battle, I planned to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

==========

However, contrary to Icarus’s expectations, the number of users staying up late at night was surprisingly high.

And it made sense—after all, if you paid 3,000 minerals, 800 rare resources, and 2 million gold every week, you wouldn’t have to worry about being hunted by random mobs or passing veterans.

Some of them were just hanging out, drinking and having fun, while others were glued to the games installed on the base computers.

And then there were those who, instead of engaging in battles with their adjutants or superhumans, were busy having fun with… enthusiastic underwear wrestling (or getting wrestled?).

But even if those users hadn’t been there…

“Uh… what?”

“Wow, how many ships is that?”

“That’s insane.”

Icarus had spent over 10 minutes summoning 2,535 mercenary groups, and as soon as they were hired, they started warping in real-time.

-*BOOM! BOOM! KABOOM!*

“Ugh, let us sleep!”

“Commander, I don’t think now is the time for a nap.”

The loud noises and vibrations from the warp-outs were hitting the base, turning into a powerful “wake-up call” for the users who were deep in sleep.

Half of our users woke up furious, wondering what the hell was going on, and the other half suspected that someone had come to raid their Avalon. They headed to the command center, only to…

“Whaaaaat?!”

“I knew you’d react like that.”

…see over 400,000 ships disappearing through a “gate” connected to Icarus’s base, which also functioned as a <Large-Scale Fleet Long-Distance Teleport System>.

They were completely baffled, wondering what on earth was happening.

The problem was, unlike the previous “colony” days, most of the docked users were now active in galleries and communities, so…

—————————————–

Title: Late at Night, WTF is Happening.jpg

Author: Anonymous

Content: [GIF of thousands of mercenary groups continuously warping in]

(It’s actually a GIF, sorry.)

Comments:

– [What is that?]

– [Is some clan launching a base siege at night? There are way more than I expected.]

– [Oh, most of them are small ships—are they planning a frontal assault?]

—————————————–

Frustrated from being woken up, users started flooding the gallery with “proof posts,” and Icarus’s plan for a “stealthy operation” was already falling apart from the start.

==========

Of course, those proof posts were just the usual mix of low-quality memes and grandpa-mom cringe. They didn’t have much impact on the usual flow of the early morning gallery, which was already filled with random nonsense, NSFW content, and bizarre fetishes…

—————————————–

<Humanity Staff Chat>

<Notice: Respond within 10 seconds of joining, or you’ll be kicked>

– [<Spotted in Avalon...]
[Link to the post certifying a grand fleet of 400,000 ships>]

-[Emergency ㅇㅇ]

-[Icarus just spawned 400,000 ships, wtf]

-[???]

-[Huh?]

-[400,000 ships?]

-[Not another clan attacking, but one person with 400,000 ships?]

-[Yeah, actually more than that. Ran a number-checking program, and even at the lowest estimate, it’s over 400,000 ships.]

-[Wow]

—————————————–

—————————————–

<Loki Clan Story☆Room of Truth>

-[Clan Leader, did you see this?]

-[<Link to the post certifying a grand fleet of 400,000 ships spotted in Avalon>]

-[They say they mobilized 400,000 ships alone.]

-[Are they insane?]

-[Lmaoooooo]

-[Is that even the scale of a solo player? That’s practically on par with a major clan.]

—————————————–

—————————————–

<We Are Justice>

-[<Link to the post certifying a grand fleet of 400,000 ships spotted in Avalon>]

-[Ah, crap.]

-[So this is why the Clan Leader suggested recruiting Icarus?]

-[That conversation’s already over, dude.]

-[If you guys hadn’t argued back then, Icarus would’ve been on our team by now. What a waste, huh?]

-[Everyone, calm down.]

-[Okay.]

—————————————–

Given the sheer number of users, clans had set up a 24/7 surveillance system among themselves.

They knew that the 400,000+ ships mobilized by Icarus were something no single user should be able to—or even should—mobilize. It was insane.

Moreover, aside from the top three clans, other “semi-major” clans also confirmed reports of Icarus’ fleet.

They were busy chattering among themselves, evaluating the situation, and eventually managed to push out the gallery’s meme and NSFW posts, replacing the hot topic with Icarus’ fleet.

Of course, most users who came for the NSFW content initially resisted, calling it some nonsense high-level brown-nosing.

But that didn’t last long.

—————————————–

Title: The reason Icarus is the hot topic right now is no joke.

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [GIF of fleets moving somewhere via the base teleport system.]

Looking at the certification post, even at the lowest estimate, it’s over 400,000 ships.

At this scale, it’s no joke—it’s practically on par with a mid-tier clan, even bordering on what we call a “major clan.”

You might say people are overreacting, but considering that the average user base level of thriving clans is around level 8, and assuming users also fully deploy faction and mercenary forces, the number of ships Icarus mobilized is equivalent to a mid-tier clan of “thousands” going all out.

In other words, they’ve mobilized the power of a mid-to-large clan alone.

Frankly, it’s a level far beyond what a single user should be capable of.

That’s why all sorts of clans are now debating Icarus’ power.

Comments:

-[I see.]

-[Oh sh*t.]

-[Hmm, interesting.]

-[Just shut up and watch, lol.]

-[True.]

-[So, are we back to meme posts?]

-[Thinking about it, analyzing Icarus’ power seems better.]

-[Behave, guys.]

—————————————–

As the trolls, who had nothing better to do, focused on analyzing Icarus’ power and stopped posting memes and NSFW, even the users who initially reacted negatively naturally joined in on the hype.

And as a result of all this…

When Icarus’ massive fleet moved en masse, and after the fleets gathered and formed their formation to attack Tanhoizer, thousands of stealth ships from users who came to watch the spectacle started crowding the area.