Chapter 480

Chapter 480. The Second Siege of Tanhoizer (5)

Well, the only silver lining is that the hyper particle thingy from that Amiris lady was so ridiculously strong. It pierced right through the center of the Rafflesia-Class, completely annihilating its power source, so at least we avoided a catastrophic explosion. Thanks to that, Tiamat, who was on the Rafflesia as a “somewhat decent carrier” replacement for the Kraken and regular carriers, also managed to avoid a gruesome death.

– “I… I thought I was gonna die.”

“Tiamat, evacuate with the remaining crew and transfer to the Kraken.”

– “Ugh, ugh… It’s not ideal, but I guess I have no choice… I’ll do it right away!”

Anyway, as the ship’s core turned into a donut hole and started collapsing, the multi-layered flight decks forming the “La” and “Ah” sections broke apart and fell off. While Tiamat was busy escaping with the remaining aircraft and shuttles, I received two pieces of good news amidst the chaos—one small joy and one big joy.

The small joy was this:

– “C-Commander, it’s Nero here…”

“Ah, Nero, what’s the situation?”

– “Heh, this time, my Assimilation Assault Ships managed to capture three enemy warships!”

“Oh.”

Essentially, Nero used the Assimilation Assault Ships, which are basically giant assault pods, to break through the enemy’s defensive line and seize their ships. Though, since Nero doesn’t really care about ship classifications, he just called them “warships.”

– “B-but, the superhumans and troops inside the ships are resisting…”

“There are superhumans and troops on battleship-class ships?”

“Commander, the ships detected on radar aren’t battleships; they’re heavy battleships.”

“Oh, really? Tell Bendalope nearby to assist Nero in securing the three heavy battleships.”

“Will do.”

In reality, all three were Xenobia-style tanking heavy battleships, heavily invested in barriers and armor reinforcement. This was more than enough to make up for the loss of the Rafflesia, a pretty impressive feat.

As for the big joy…

—————————————–

[Event]

[Repairs on the Tanhoizer Fortress’s Fortress Main Gun have been completed!]

[Details]

[Fortress Main Gun durability restored to 100%]

[Main Gun energy fully charged, ready to fire]

—————————————–

– “Commander, the repairs on Tanhoizer’s Fortress Main Gun are complete!”

“Ooooh, finally.”

At the start of the battle, the Tanhoizer’s main gun had been rendered useless by a precise long-range shot from Titan Arum. But now, it was finally restored. As I read the event message and heard the announcement, I immediately opened the chat room and notified everyone about the main gun’s impending firing.

Of course, some users whined about how they couldn’t just retreat on such short notice, but those were either a minority or just clueless noobs. Most of the chat was like this:

—————————————–

[Tanhoizer Allied Forces Chat Room]

-[Fortress Main Gun ON!]

-[Perfect timing]

-[If you can’t retreat, just fall back to the base. Better to get forcibly recalled than to get blown up and lose your ship]

-[Let’s gooooo]

—————————————–

For the users who had already suffered heavy losses with their support ships and cannon fodder wiped out, this was a “legal” way to retreat. Even if not, it was a golden opportunity to obliterate the damn Punishment Fleet’s small ships. Everyone quickly moved out of the main gun’s firing path.

The Punishment Fleet, unaware of the main gun’s restoration, mistook the sudden increase in ships retreating to the base as a sign of the defensive line collapsing. They frantically pushed through the gap in the line, only to be met with…

– “Main Gun firing countdown! 10… 9… 8…”

As the countdown began, the swirling energy vortex around the Fortress Main Gun looked terrifyingly dangerous. The Punishment Fleet, realizing the danger, scrambled to scatter in all directions. Some even tried to fire beams in a desperate attempt to stop the main gun, but…

There was no way regular turrets could reach the range that Titan Arum’s full-power charge could barely manage.

– “3… 2… 1… Fire!”

– …KWAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

“Whoa.”

No joke, a beam the size of a star (not a planet) blasted out, directly hitting the Punishment Fleet, which had just broken through the defensive line and was trying to evade. The heavy battleships leading the charge, along with other large ships, began melting from the bow. As the armor plates melted away, exposing the internal framework, the ships couldn’t withstand the energy surge and burst open like blooming flowers.

It was a truly spectacular, Xenobia Empire-style demise, fitting for ships named after flowers. And as we watched this unfold, the users around me erupted in cheers.

[Tanhoizer Allied Forces Exclusive Chat Room]

-[Ah, damn, my ship’s ass is melted]

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-[What were you doing instead of dodging?]

-[That Xenobia battleship bastard hooked a towline and dragged me]

-[LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO]

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-[What the LOL]

—————————————–

Even though some of us, perhaps inspired by the users, lost ships to enemy vessels using such desperate tactics.

Of course, we achieved some satisfying results by firing the fortress main guns, but…

Honestly, only about 5,000 to 6,000 ships were wiped out in one shot, compared to the hundreds of thousands still remaining in the Xenobia Empire’s fleet.

Except for the jokers who actually fled when told to dodge, the rest of the users…

Especially the Anti-Faction users, who pulled out additional main combat ships from who knows where.

The mercenary users, forced to join the offensive because if I fell, they’d all go down with me.

The community users, who, while useless in fleet battles, had an absurd number of superhumans, helping in their own way.

The remaining users were pushing their limits, using every means possible to defeat the damn Punishment Fleet.

==========

And as time passed, when Naranja, who kept chip-damaging, received his third ammo resupply and sortied again.

-Boom! Crash!

-“Fortress main gun hit! Further exposure to firepower is dangerous!”

-“Sigh… Retract the fortress main gun, and don’t deploy it until fully repaired.”

-“Understood!”

Our user alliance’s trump card, the fortress main gun, was severely damaged by the relentless Punishment Fleet and forced into sealing.

Adding to that, the Guard Fleets and Main Combat Fleets responsible for our numbers weren’t doing well either.

“Commander, the base defense fleets called from Spiralus have been wiped out!”

“Avalon, no, we need to call more from Barracuda.”

“Avalon and Barracuda are already gone, and Tanhoizer has lost over 70% of the aircraft stored in the defense facility hangars.”

“Damn it, then bring whatever Level 1 and Level 2 base fleets we have left, we need every ship we can get!”

As Jessica said, the base defense fleets were practically annihilated.

And naturally, in such a fierce battle where the defense fleets were wiped out, the other fleets weren’t faring any better.

-“Ugh, barely made it out alive.”

-“Commander Icarus, we can’t handle this anymore, we’re retreating to the base!”

-“Damn it, everyone retreat! Retreat!”

-“Waaaah, my precious ships!”

Even the four direct and base mercenary groups I had were either annihilated or severely damaged, hastily retreating.

—————————————–

[Tanhoizer Allied Forces Exclusive Chat Room]

-[Ugh, damn, we’re getting pushed back more and more]

-[This is hopeless, GG]

-[Good job, everyone]

-[Damn these bastards, they’re so strong]

-[This is why messing with a faction is insane]

-[Three Dreadnoughts got wrecked, my mental is shattered]

-[But they’re all normal grade, let’s have a drink]

—————————————–

We were also counterattacked simultaneously by the scattered Titan Arums and their escort fleets.

In the process, more users retreated to the base, fearing their main ships (gacha ships) might be in danger.

Reminiscent of the 30,000 mercenaries who suffered under the Federation’s border defense fleet during Humanity’s revolution, similar scenes were popping up everywhere.

As time went on, I shook my head at the sight of our alliance, which had turned from “creative tactics and unconventional strategies” into “just a massive, disorganized mob.”

I was about to prepare to declare surrender to the remaining 30,000 ships of the Punishment Fleet advancing toward Tanhoizer.

Though honestly, I doubted they’d accept, given how they were ramming their ships into my battered Hreðsvelgr near Tanhoizer.

‘Damn rigged event.’

With that thought, I tried to counter the enemy fleet charging at me with the Kraken’s main gun, holed up at the fortress entrance.

But right at that moment.

-Beep beep!

-“Multiple powerful energy signatures detected from the rear… heading this way!”

-“Multiple annihilation-type flame bombardments detected, these are… Jörmungandr-Class volleys!”

-“…Finally, damn it!!!!!”

Our Leviathan brothers, who had been missing all this time, finally showed up with a fiery barrage.

And with that, this damn rigged quest was finally completed, giving me the relief of a week-long constipation finally passing.