Chapter 398

Chapter 398. Call Me Icarus. (4)

Surprisingly, the stealth detection of the ‘Anatolia’-class and Habarovsk’s detection range overlapped…

– Beep, beep, beep!

– “Enemy fleet location detected on radar in real-time!”

– “Attack! Destroy them completely!”

“Wow, this is awesome.”

A kind of two-way detection radar activated, rendering the enemy ships’ stealth systems practically useless.

As a result, our fleet could now pinpoint the enemy fleet’s location in real-time and switch to a full-on offensive.

– “Commence Kraken attack! Crush them all!”

– “Commence bombardment!”

While the fleets were launching a massive counterattack, I decided to check what that damn Anchorage-class was up to.

“Neranzara, what’s the status of the Anchorage-class?”

– “After releasing the spatial anchor to evade Anatolia’s charge, it’s retreating at full speed.”

– “Hoh.”

– “However, even while retreating, it continues to harass us with its own weapons and defense turrets… What should we do?”

‘Why are they so persistent?’

Even though two out of three harpoons were destroyed, leaving only one, they’re still desperately trying to survive, firing missiles and beams to draw Anatolia’s aggro.

I couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded and decided to give a simple order to Neranzara and the superhumans present to handle it.

“Then destroy the Anchorage’s propulsion system and have the superhumans storm the ship before Anatolia rams it to pieces.”

– “Understood, Commander.”

– “Got it!”

==========

After that, the situation wasn’t particularly noteworthy.

The enemy’s stealth fleet seemed to realize they could no longer remain ‘stealthy.’

Unlike before, where they would occasionally send small ships to recklessly charge and try to take out our ships, they now began to aggressively engage our counterattacking fleet.

The problem was, as mentioned before, that damn fleet had a ’10-round’ buff, enhancing all aspects except durability by at least one level.

Facing such opponents, my fleet, which had invested heavily in defense and evasion, clashed head-on…

“Commander.”

“Ughhhhh.”

“I understand your mental pain, but given the situation, I think I need to report.”

“Ughhhhh.”

The Bayern-class, with its double armor structure forcibly reduced to a single layer, had half of its ships literally ‘blown apart,’ requiring days of repair in the shipyard.

The Dreadnought, which bore the brunt of the fleet’s tanking in this battle, even used the ‘fleet barrier’ to barely hold on.

But once the barrier’s time limit expired, the damage it took before and after was so severe that it would need immediate repairs upon returning to base.

Though, to be fair, that was only because it was a gacha ship, sturdier than regular ships.

As for the regular-grade ships, the toughest battleships…

Ships 1 and 2 had their armor plates torn to shreds, half their propulsion systems destroyed, or their main turrets turned into popcorn—nothing too serious.

Except for the ‘Battleship 3,’ which was mentioned earlier in the comms. The superhumans aboard Neranzara launched a full-scale assault, causing chaos.

Realizing the ship would be captured, the Anchorage-class captain, in a last-ditch effort, fired a harpoon, piercing the ship…

It was then dragged into a wormhole, crumpled like a tin can, and exploded.

As for the cruiser battleships, two of them took particularly heavy hits in the recent clash…

– “Well… Battleship 3 was hit in the center by enemy torpedoes, split in two, and exploded.”

– “…Uh.”

– “Battleship 4 is also in bad shape, barely maintaining its hull form after taking too many hits.”

– “Ughhhhh.”

‘Lucky torpedo shots, huh…’

Sunk or severely damaged, they were now inoperable.

But that was just the damage from the recent clash.

Of the original three cruiser battleships, Battleships 1 and 2, battered by artillery fire, had their external armor plates turned into sponges.

Naturally, during such chaos, the small ships, already below 50%, were all used as cannon fodder.

However, thanks to these sacrifices, the Kraken avoided having its vulnerable sides and rear roasted by beam cannons or missiles…

I managed to avoid a disastrous fate.

Although I couldn’t use strategic missiles, Hreðsvelgr, who had been putting in eeeefffffort from the start to handle fleet air defense, and Ouroboros, who got neutered by Anchorage’s attack, were still around.

Thankfully, I was able to avoid the heart-wrenching sight of my precious main fleet friends getting blown to smithereens under insane firepower.

Moreover, while I was putting in all that eeeefffffort, the enemy fleet ended up annihilating themselves due to their reckless attacks.

—

– “Commander, we’re here nyaa!”

– “We’ve completed the orders you gave us.”

– “As our savior wished…”

—

**<Event>**

**<Ship Capture Successful!>**

**<Details>**

**<Successfully captured the ‘Anchorage-Class Forced Salvage Ship’!>**

**<Result>**

**<The ‘Anchorage-Class Forced Salvage Ship’ has been added to the Commander’s fleet.>**

—

Even though I ended up turning someone else’s battleship into scrap metal, the price was that Anchorage, whose internal forces were completely wiped out, fell into my hands.

Even if it’s a ship with no roots, it’s still clearly more valuable than a ‘common-grade’ ship.

I couldn’t help but nod, thinking this was still a decent gain.

And while I was thinking that…

—

*Beep beep!*

– “Hm, Commander?”

– “What is it, my precious Jessica?”

– “The Anatoria-Class monster, who helped us push Anchorage and supported our assault, is leaving the event map.”

– “Oh.”

—

**<Event>**

**<Adios, Amigo>**

**<Details>**

**<The ‘Anatoria-Class Giant Monster’ is a ship that will never be used by the Commander.>**

**<Though this time, it seems to have helped the Commander as thanks for setting it free...>**

**<It appears to have repaid its debt and is now coolly heading back to its nest.>**

**<Result>**

**<The stance with the ‘Anatoria-Class Giant Monster’ has changed to ‘Neutral.’>**

—

‘Eh, whatever.’

The Anatoria-Class, which had been used as this round’s gimmick, showed off its cool exit, saying its job was done.

And just like that, once the Anatoria-Class completely disappeared…

—

**<Round 10 Cleared!>**

**<Battle Result: Victory>**

**<Enemy Fleet Annihilated>**

**<Proceed to the next round?>**

**<Y/N>**

—

Naturally, a status window message popped up, asking if I wanted to proceed to the next round after clearing Round 10…

But considering how Round 10 threw an enemy fleet at me in a way I never expected, and then proceeded to screw me over in ways I couldn’t have predicted…

—

**<Proceed to the next round?>**

**<Y/(N)>**

—

‘Nope.’

I confidently pressed ‘N’ on that cursed message.

Then, with both hands, I made a double middle finger—no, a 山山 gesture—expressing my intense refusal and signaling my retreat.

‘This is too much, my precious ships will all explode.’

Evangelion-level tuna, seriously.

And since things had already gone this far, I adjusted the message and my hand to be in the same frame.

I decided to take a screenshot and post it in the gallery.