Chapter 524

Episode 524. The Ancient Empire was full of romance. (2)

Of course, right after reading up to that point, let’s open the Community Window and check the gallery…

As expected.

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Title: All the idiots who called me crazy and stupid, come out and bow your heads.

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Screenshot of a post speculating that the Grand Cross might be a mobile fortress moving through star systems, with ‘Edit’ and ‘Delete’ buttons visible (only visible to the author).jpg]

I won’t wait long.

Shut up and kneel, you morons.

Comments:

– [WTF is this?]

– [I didn’t expect this, you jerk.]

– [But you’re the one who’s wrong, right? You’re the idiot, right?] (Author)

– [You’re a joke, your analytical skills are trash, aren’t they? Can’t keep your mouth shut, huh?] (Author)

– [Ugh, damn it, this is frustrating.]

– [He actually got it right.]

– [Is this the legendary post?]

– [Please let me get an SSS-rank on my 100th pull.]

– [Dude, that’s not here, you have to go to the post the guy screenshotted.]

– [Oh.]

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The person who revealed this fact was absolutely furious at the users who had treated them like idiots.

Surprisingly, the most unrealistic opinion turned out to be the most accurate, and a sense of defeatism began to spread through the gallery.

Of course, aside from the initial shock, the event announcement was a very big deal.

I decided to put aside my curiosity about how other users in the gallery would react and continued reading the announcement.

And as I kept reading, it felt like the developers were saying, “You’ve been happy until now, right? Well, it’s time to get screwed!”

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[Global Announcement]

<<[‘Grand Cross’ Event Notice!]>>

[An important notice for all Commanders regarding the ‘Grand Cross’ event!]

[In the distant past, the Titan-class mobile fortresses ‘Grand Cross,’ created by the Ancient Empire, have awakened from hibernation and begun their activities!]

[The ‘Grand Cross’ mobile fortresses, built using entire star systems, are equipped with three incredibly powerful stellar engines and a black hole at their core.]

[They also possess the ‘Grand Cross Cannon,’ named after the fortress, which uses gamma-ray bursts from the black hole to unleash devastating area-of-effect attacks!]

[Of course, inside the Grand Cross mobile fortresses, a massive number of unmanned drone fleets are either dormant or on standby.]

[For more details about the Grand Cross fortress, please refer to the gallery wiki tab!]

[‘Grand Cross’ Event Guide.]

[The event will proceed in three stages.]

[Stage 1]

[To mobilize the massive mobile fortress, numerous fleets and vanguard units must first pave the way.]

˪[In Stage 1, Commanders will face off against fleets designated as ‘Vanguard Units.’]

˪[These fleets will generally engage Commanders in 1-on-1 combat, but if Commanders are docked at a base.]

˪[A separate fleet will respawn to engage the base’s defense fleet, so please keep that in mind.]

˪[Vanguard Units in Stage 1 will not include any super-large ships like battleships or larger.]

[Stage 2]

[Following the Vanguard Units, a large-scale unmanned escort fleet approaches to protect the mobile fortress.]

˪[Unlike the Vanguard Units, this fleet will be centered around super-large ships, including battleships.]

˪[Stage 2 combat is a large-scale battle involving up to 1,000 Commanders.]

˪[The battle will take place on a separate event map, with occasional support bombardments from the mobile fortress.]

[Stage 3]

[With the Vanguard and Escort Fleets annihilated, the ‘Grand Cross’ automatic annihilation system finally targets the Commanders.]

˪[This is a boss raid battle against the Titan-class mobile fortress ‘Grand Cross.’]

˪[Stage 3 combat will not take place on the event map but in the real world.]

˪[The Grand Cross is heavily equipped with aircraft and ships inside, so be cautious during the battle.]

˪[The Grand Cross Cannon, the fortress’s main weapon, cannot be used when close to or inside the fortress.]

[Detailed information will be provided one week later when the event begins.]

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“This is a pretty unique event.”

“Yeah… switching from the regular map to the event map, and then back to the regular map… it’s like fighting in different phases.”

Our developers haven’t done a combat event in nearly three months, just non-combat events.

It really feels like they’ve been sharpening their knives for this.

I felt a deep satisfaction as I nodded my head at the intense and well-crafted event content.

However, unlike my emotional response, some users expressed dissatisfaction with the event’s progression…

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**Title:** Why is the Mobile Fortress at the very end while weak fleets are at the front?

**Author:** ㅇㅇ

**Content:** [Screenshot of the event notice.jpg]

Does this even make sense logically?

If the fortress didn’t move, I’d understand.

But a fortress larger than most bases, capable of moving, and yet the ships have to go first and get blown up by users?

Are the devs idiots?

**Comments:**

– [It’s a game, idiot.]

– [Of course, it has to be done step by step for balance.]

– [If they went for realism, would you want to face a freaking awesome Black Hole Cannon-shooting super-massive Mobile Fortress right away?]

– [Do you want everything destroyed at the start of the event?]

– [Now that I think about it, you’re right.] (Author)

– [Look at this guy raging in the comments lol.]

– [As expected, the real wisdom comes from the lurkers lol.]

– [But seriously, if the Mobile Fortress charged at us first, how would we even handle it lololol.]

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Trying to push “realism” clumsily, they ended up getting roasted by other users for suggesting that facing a ridiculously overpowered Mobile Fortress from the start would be a nightmare.

Anyway, aside from those users, the rest had a pretty positive reaction to the event.

And for good reason—shortly after the notice, the “Wiki Tab” updated with an explanation of the Grand Cross, giving everyone a brief idea of what it was.

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**Title:** Explanation of the Titan-class Mobile Fortress ‘Grand Cross.’

**Author:** Wiki Officer mk-16

**Content:** [Grand Cross concept art, big and beautiful.jpg]

Got the info from the devs and even had it reviewed.

First off, this is one of the super-massive weapons created by the ‘Ancient Empire,’ which appeared in a previous event.

There are even crazier things out there, but many are treated as MacGuffins in the lore, so I won’t mention them here.

Anyway, so what is this?

Lore-wise, it’s an ancient weapon that’s been in emergency shutdown for a very long time.

Its main cannon, the Grand Cross Cannon, is an insane weapon that uses an entire star system to function.

The barrel is made up of planets orbiting the star system.

When it detects a target, the planets align and transform into a massive ring structure.

Then, the three stars at the center of the star system transform to activate a black hole at the core, which fires the cannon.

The resulting gamma-ray burst is manipulated by the planetary barrel to create a massive beam that annihilates everything.

Besides the main cannon, it’s also equipped with asteroid belts, planetary defense fortresses, and facilities.

Oh, and there are shipyards and space fortresses floating around the star system, maintaining their orbits.

What does this mean?

It means you have to break through a defense line far stronger than any regular base.

And even if you do, you’ll be greeted by a defense fleet larger than any base’s.

**Comments:**

– [What the hell did I just read?]

– [Wait, so it’s a freaking awesome star system-class Mobile Fortress with a Stellar Engine?]

– [Yep, that’s right.] (Author)

– [And the star system is several times larger than our solar system lololol.]

– [It has three stars? What does that even mean?]

– [Exactly what it sounds like. There’s a mini black hole at the center for the cannon.] (Author)

– [Surrounded by three red giants orbiting just enough to not get sucked in, powering the Stellar Engine.] (Author)

– [Whoaaaa, what the hell.]

– [So is this the biggest ship in the game?]

– [Not really, lore-wise there are even bigger things.]

– [???]

– [There’s also something called a Galactic Invasion Ship.]

– [What the hell is that?]

– [Now’s not the time to talk about it.]

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And as I read that, I couldn’t help but think…

Our devs might have sharpened their blades a bit too much, huh?