Chapter 397

Episode 397. Call me Icarus. (3)

“Fleet advance, lead with the Dreadnought at the front.”

“Yes, Commander!”

Of course, it’s called an advance, but…

In reality, since Habarovsk couldn’t move on its own due to real-time omnidirectional detection, Bayern, whose tanking ability was half gone, had to drag it along.

The ‘vanguard’ was the largest and slowest ship in my fleet, the Dreadnought, which was set up to tank slowly.

So, the advance of my fleet was, in fact, painfully slow.

And, as expected, the enemy fleet seemed to have noticed that our route was heading towards Anatolia and the Anchoridge-Class.

-Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!

“Commander, part of the enemy fleet has started attacking from outside Habarovsk’s detection range!”

“Intercept them, and have the battleships respond with wide-area bombardment!”

Unlike before, where we avoided damage as much as possible, firing 100 shots to hit just one…

Now, they were attacking the fleet in waves, trying to chip away at our strength…

-Boom!

“Destroyer number 8 sunk, only two destroyers left now.”

“Ugh.”

The small ships, used as ‘meat shields,’ were being sunk one by one.

-Zzzzt… Bang!

“Commander, enemy ships are focusing their fire on the Dreadnought.”

“Belial? No matter how much they’ve strengthened, they shouldn’t be able to pierce the Dreadnought’s armor, right?”

“Yes, the main armor isn’t being pierced… but the secondary guns, main turrets, and various sensors on the exterior are being destroyed.”

“Ah.”

Just like modern tanks, the armor wasn’t being pierced…

But all the unnecessary sensors and other equipment on the exterior were being blown to bits by shrapnel, rendering it useless.

Unknowingly, our strength was being chipped away in real-time, causing a lot of frustration.

And that wasn’t the end of the problems…

-“Ouroboros charge at 100%, preparing additional radiation bombardment…”

-Beep beep beep beep beep!

“Commander, wormhole activity detected near the Ouroboros!”

“Wait, what? No, ah!”

Just as the Ouroboros-Class was about to fire its second radiation bombardment at 100% charge…

Two of those damn Anchoridge harpoon anchors appeared simultaneously on the ‘front’ of the Ouroboros.

One lodged directly into the Ouroboros’s main cannon, which was about to fire.

The other pierced through the uniquely shaped front armor of the Ouroboros with sheer mass.

-Kaboooom!!!!

“Ahhh!”

“Lower armor plate melting!”

“Main cannon destroyed!”

“Commander, the Ouroboros’s main cannon is destroyed! The energy backflow caused a complete explosion!”

“Oh, damn it, this crazy bullshit.”

The 100% charged energy, about to be fired, backflowed due to the harpoon lodged in the cannon.

The massive energy surge instantly crushed the super-large main cannon on the lower part of the ship, along with the rear section, destroying the ‘main engine’ in the process.

At least the harpoon lodged in the cannon was also destroyed in the process…

But now, with both firepower and mobility lost, the Ouroboros had no way to stop the remaining harpoon from dragging it away.

And seeing our all-powerful Ouroboros being turned into a crushed can—no, an Ouroboros tin can—by that no-name ship…

“Commander!!”

“Propulsion system destroyed!”

“Engage all reverse thrusters! Hold on no matter what!”

“Ahhhhhhh!!! My Ouroboros!”

I felt an automatic, high-pitched scream, like that of a 7-year-old girl, erupt from me.

But the Ouroboros, caught by the harpoon, had no way to remove it.

Even if the other ships tried to remove the harpoon, the small ships’ firepower was no match for its absurd durability.

If this continued, my Ouroboros would be dragged into the wormhole like a snake, and I couldn’t help but feel like I’d stepped into round 10 too soon.

But just then, the energy chain connected to the wormhole suddenly released.

And immediately after…

-“This is Nerañzara, I’ve destroyed the harpoon lodged in the enemy’s colossal space monster.”

<Event>

<Freedom for Anatoria!>

<Content>

The ‘harpoon’ of the Anchorage embedded in the body of the Anatoria-Class colossal monster has been released!

<Result>

The attitude of the ‘Anatoria-Class colossal monster’ towards you has changed from ‘hostile’ to ‘friendly neutral’.

The attitude of the ‘Anatoria-Class colossal monster’ towards the fleet that captured it has turned ‘hostile’.

As of this moment, the restrictions on the fleet’s teleportation system have been lifted.

—————————————–

‘Viva!’

“Th-that’s right! I was waiting for this, General!”

The ninja… no, Nerañzara has appeared.

==========

At the moment when Icarus saw the Ouroboros-Class annihilation-type siege battleship about to become canned food and let out a scream like a 7-year-old girl…

…Rewinding time to just before the battle began.

“Hmm, I’m not sure if it’s okay for all of us to be here.”

“Don’t you think the Savior has it all figured out?”

“That’s true, but the enemy fleet is all in stealth mode, so we can’t dive anyway.”

“Well, that’s true.”

For fleet command, buffs, and minimal defense, Belial, Tiamat, Gryanarr, and all the superhumans except Oxianor.

In other words, the three close-combat superhumans, including Ignis, Partia, and Smeragi, were aboard the Nerañzara-Class Aetheric Submarine, which had detached from the fleet in a submerged state.

And their goal, along with the Nerañzara-Class, was none other than to disable the ‘Anatoria-Class’—the electronic warfare ship that blocks teleportation—identified by the electronic warfare cruiser Habarovsk, immediately after the battle began.

The problem was, while the Nerañzara-Class could remain undetected by the Anatoria during movement due to its aetheric submersion, it could only stay submerged for a minimum of a few hours to a maximum of 12 hours.

So, they were intermittently navigating, surfacing stealthily among asteroids to avoid detection, and holding their breath to stay hidden.

To prevent any mishaps like being tracked through communication interception, they strictly avoided contact with the main fleet, reminiscent of ancient U-boats.

After such a journey…

“Target confirmed.”

“Oooooh.”

“Finally found it.”

“Oh my, oh my.”

Our navigationally challenged Nerañzara-Class finally spotted the target, Anatoria and Anchorage, just as Ouroboros was about to become wormhole kebab skewers.

Of course, if the Nerañzara-Class had recklessly attacked the Anchorage here…

The Anchorage-Class had the tanking ability to withstand dozens of hits from Nerañzara’s weak attacks, so it could have ignored Nerañzara’s assault and continued pulling the harpoon, turning Ouroboros into a ‘Uᅟᅳlbrㅡs’-style kebab…

But…

“All spatial torpedoes fired, target is the super-large harpoon embedded in the colossal monster.”

Our protagonist, Icarus, gave instructions that the Nerañzara’s captain ‘interpreted’ appropriately, naturally destroying only the harpoon embedded in Anatoria.

The Anchorage, instead of focusing on pulling Ouroboros, had to hastily evade as Anatoria, now free and filled with rage, charged towards it.

Witnessing this, the Nerañzara’s captain captured the scene as evidence, activated the previously silent communication network, and sent a short but impactful message to Icarus, who was rejoicing at Ouroboros’s miraculous survival.

“This is Nerañzara, the harpoon embedded in the enemy super-colossal space monster has been destroyed.”