Chapter 484

Episode 484. Just because the battle is over doesn’t mean the work is done. (3)

And well, since we’ve managed to resolve the issues related to the debris zone like that, it’s safe to say that two out of the three major problems that had hit me were more or less neatly taken care of.

But even though I worked hard to solve the problems that had swept through the area and even managed to subdue those damn jokers, the last problem—the one that had hit *me* personally—was still a massive headache.

—

“Jessica, what’s the current status of our fleet?”

“It’s pretty dire. Except for the resource fleet, the general-grade ships are completely wiped out.”

“Hmm…”

“Oh, and by the way, the rest of our forces are also a mess.”

—

Right after hearing Jessica’s words, an event message popped up in front of me, explaining exactly what kind of problem we were facing.

—

**[Event]**

**[Severely Critical Damage Status]**

**[Details]**

It’s great that you proved your leadership by fighting against the Punishment Fleet, but…

The fleets under your command have suffered catastrophic damage as a result.

**[Result]**

You cannot sortie until the hired mercenary groups and base mercenary groups are 100% restored.

However, the leaders of these mercenary groups can still be utilized separately.

—

That’s right.

After the Second Tanhoizer Siege, not only the base defense fleet but also my direct fleets were so thoroughly wrecked that there’s practically nothing we can do right now.

Of course, the event message only tells us, “Your mercenary fleet is *really* messed up,” but with Jessica—who’s practically omnipotent except when it comes to gallery-related situations—there’s no need for further interpretation.

—

“Right now, Lephan’s Rhodes Mercenary Group only has one battleship left.”

“Hmm.”

“Aquarias’s Avalonia Security Fleet is down to two cruisers and one destroyer. The rest are wiped out.”

“Wiped out?”

“Yes. Oh, and Bendalope’s Rams Assault Team and Nero’s Mecharshetentakel—all their ships are completely destroyed.”

“Oh…”

—

And besides that, there’s an even more serious problem.

The mercenary fleets will eventually recover on their own using my shipyard, and once they’re back, they’ll level up on their own, so there’s no need to worry too much about them.

The real issue is that my main fleet—the *core force*—is in an extremely dire state.

—

“But honestly, the state of our main fleet is even worse than the mercenary fleets.”

“…”

—

The fact that Jessica mentioned the main fleet like that while explaining the mercenary fleets’ situation says a lot.

And just how bad is it, you ask?

—

“Honestly, by the end, except for the Kraken that was holed up in the Tanhoizer main gate, all our main ships were either on the verge of being scrapped or already sunk.”

“Yeah.”

—

As Jessica said, it’s that bad.

Everyone already knows about the Rafflesia-Class, which took a direct hit from the Titan Arum’s main cannon, the “Hyper Particle Lance Accelerator,” and turned into a donut. But…

—

“Wait, when did the Bayern-Class get sunk without anyone noticing?”

“While the Ouroboros was overcharging and spamming attacks, it overloaded and became immobilized. The Bayern-Class took the hits for it and got focused down by the enemy fleet.”

—

Starting with the Bayern-Class battleship, which was sunk without anyone even realizing…

The Ouroboros-Class, which was already struggling from overloading, had its main flamethrower reduced to just the letter “ㅎ” after the Bayern-Class went down and the aggro shifted.

The Hreðsvelgr-Class, which was firing missiles relentlessly from the rear, had its strategic missile platform explode from enemy bombardment, leaving its hull looking like a filleted fish.

And that’s just the beginning for the “gacha-type ships”…

—

“The Dreadnought and the rest of the ships… Hmm, I should’ve just not looked.”

“It’s brutal.”

—

**[Fleet Status]**

Total Points: 705/1,050 Points

– Siege-Type Battleship: 1 ship, 120 points each = 120 points

– Assault Carrier: 2 ships, 110 points each = 220 points

– Dreadnought: 1 ship, 100 points each = 100 points

– Aircraft Carrier: 0 ships, 70 points each = 0 points

—

Yeah, it’s a mess.

Arsenal Ship: 1 ship, 70 points per ship = 70 points

Salvage Ship: 1 ship, 50 points per ship = 50 points

Battleship: 0 ships, 45 points per ship = 0 points

Standard Class Battleship: 1 ship, 40 points per ship = 40 points

Aetheric Submarine: 1 ship, 50 points per ship = 50 points

Light Aircraft Carrier: 0 ships, 40 points per ship = 0 points

Cruiser Battleship: 0 ships, 30 points per ship = 0 points

Heavy Cruiser: 1 ship, 10 points per ship = 10 points

Light Cruiser: 0 ships, 6 points per ship = 0 points

Destroyer: 0 ships, 3 points per ship = 0 points

Escort Ship: 0 ships, 1.5 points per ship = 0 points

Patrol Ship: 0 ships, 1 point per ship = 0 points

Resource Mining Ship: 30 ships, 1.5 points per ship = 45 points

—————————————–

As the only Dreadnought-Class in the fleet, the Bayern-Class and above are so focused on firepower that the bow might just fly off.

There’s also the standard-class Dreadnought, which has more holes in its hull than intact parts.

The Kraken-Class, barely holding on with less than moderate damage, is naturally healing inside the Tanhoizer.

And finally, seeing all the large ships annihilated except for one surviving standard-class battleship, I realized something I was too busy to notice after the battle, and my mental state took a sharp nosedive.

Plus, that’s just the story of the big and beautiful large ships.

“Wait a minute, where did all my Brawler-Class go? What about the Halfling-Class I got from the monster?”

“They’re all gone. The Brawler-Class was next to Ouroboros and got wiped out by the main gun’s explosion.”

“Huh.”

“One Halfling-Class was sold for gold, and the other one got destroyed during the skirmish under Belial’s orders.”

Except for Habarovsk, which stayed hidden among the fleets without ever hitting the frontlines, the rest of the ships—like the S-Class destroyer I got as a reward or the ships from event gacha—were all shredded.

Seeing the damage was so severe, I decided to take a break to stabilize my shaky mental state.

==========

After somehow pulling myself together, I sent the heavily damaged Dreadnought, battleship, Hreðsvelgr, and Ouroboros to the shipyard for repairs.

Then, I set a very important goal.

“Jessica, Jessica.”

“You don’t have to call me like I’m a genie from a lamp. What is it?”

“For our fleet to survive in the long run, we need an SS-Class or higher tanking ship, whether we like it or not.”

“Uh… yeah.”

It’s ironic, but the current composition of my fleet is, well…

I didn’t intend it this way, but it’s structured entirely to ‘support other fleets.’ Except for small-scale fleet battles, including 1v1s with other users, we’re pretty much screwed.

I realized that, no matter what, we need a proper ‘tank’ in our fleet, not just relying on dodging and luck.

‘We need a real meat shield, seriously.’

And with that determination, since I’ve got a bunch of gacha tickets from clearing the Leviathan Fleet quest, I decided to go all in.

“Prepare the offerings, Jessica!”

“Huh?”

“Getting Habarovsk, Brawler, Dornia, and Halfling proves my abnormal luck has normalized!”

“Wait… are you seriously trying to pull a tanking ship using dimensional causality fixation?”

“Exactly!!”

With the heart of a beast, I’m aiming for a ship with defense as strong as Bayern or even stronger.

Hoping for a ship worth selling on the market, I purified myself and put my faith in our all-powerful gacha machine.