Ch.140″Since I’ve completed the mission, I should receive my reward, right?” (4)

Of course, as I’ve already mentioned, nothing in this world is truly “perfect.”

Looking at another wiki tab post, there was a “real user review” of my one-in-a-million Kraken-class performance…

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Title: Kraken-class actual usage review.txt

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Authentication shot showing the Kraken-class alongside various fleets]

Of course, this is just a screenshot from when this was still a game

Honestly, while it’s a jack of all trades, when you actually use it, there are some disappointing aspects

Because this is ultimately an assault combat “carrier,” making it one of the extremely rare long-range vessels among monster faction ships

And it doesn’t even focus on monster-style firepower bursts, but rather provides sustained sub-DPS with large numbers of carrier-based aircraft and missiles

But if you look at the specs, it mentions dozens of tentacles for close combat, right?

Seriously, when you actually use it, you’ll want to rip out all but about 10 of those tentacles like you’re treating hair loss, and replace them with hangars or biological silos

In small fleet battles, it’s insanely powerful, beating everything at both long and short range

But heading into large-scale fleet battles? Then at long range, its firepower and number of carrier aircraft fall behind proper long-range bombardment vessels or aircraft carriers

No joke, excluding aircraft and missiles, its inherent firepower is on par with bombardment-type “medium cruisers” like the Overseer, which is 3 class levels below it

So you try close combat with those tentacles more abundant than a balding guy’s remaining hair?

Then users or NPCs will come loaded with medium torpedoes and skewer you

Or the large fleets at the front will aggro immediately and focus all their damage on you

And this is something any user of monster fleets would know

These kinds of protruding super-large monster ships can’t be manually repaired by users

Especially if they’re damaged beyond medium damage?

Then you just have to leave them alone until they self-heal

Well, you could throw resources and nutrients at the monster as food to speed it up a bit

But if its feeding mouth gets destroyed, you’ll have no choice but to park it at your base and pray for natural recovery lol

Or you can send it to the monster headquarters with massive resources, and they’ll somehow restore it

But the resources required are no joke, about the same as building a new battleship, so you’ll probably agonize over the decision when you actually use it

But still, I love this insane hexagonal ship!

Comments:

-[This guy was actually a high-level ship hoarder]

-[Isn’t he just criticizing it? Why are there so many upvotes?]

-˪[In other words, despite being an aircraft carrier, it outputs the same damage as an SSS-grade “firepower-type” medium cruiser, and at close range, nothing short of a “large fleet” or torpedo spam can sink it]

-˪[Regardless of whether this post is sophisticated viral marketing, it doesn’t mention the most important thing]

-˪[The Kraken’s greatest strength is its ability to instantly teleport carrier aircraft and missiles right in front of, above, or behind enemy fleets for surprise attacks on defenseless fleets]

-˪[There’s a video someone uploaded to Youtube when this game was popular, showing the Kraken’s teleport function delivering dozens of medium torpedoes directly into the rear of an enemy battleship fleet, crippling them]

-[Wow]

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“Wow.”

Reading this review that conveyed the actual user experience, I looked outside the command center once more.

Seeing the Kraken’s majestic form, I finally understood why some people occasionally became ship-obsessed.

But if I left it out there just to admire it, without the protection of the base shields…

It could fall victim to medium torpedo terrorism from small high-speed vessels, a tactic frequently used by trollers against large ships that venture outside bases.

So I decided to take possession of this large and precious Kraken-class and move it inside the docking facility.

However, the fact that we weren’t discussing other pirates indicated that…

The hundreds of thousands of pirate fleets that Marian had scattered were all returning home.

The area around our base was, quite literally, as empty as an “abandoned house.”

“Commander! A Xenovia Empire detachment has appeared in the resource zone!”

“What’s their scale?”

“Three light cruisers, ten destroyers, and five escort vessels, sir!”

“Hmm, the timing is quite appropriate.”

Just as Marian’s fleets had completely withdrawn, and while our fleet was still undergoing reorganization…

News arrived of a Xenovia Empire detachment—or rather, space scavenger pirate raiders disguised as one.

And after quite some time, these were the typical pirates dreaming of “resource plunder.”

“Heh, entering as soon as we leave… quite brazen fellows, aren’t they?”

“Indeed they are.”

“Oppa, I’ll call back some of my subordinates to subdue them right away.”

Naturally, upon seeing these “raider ships,” Marian immediately offered to turn around some of her returning subordinates to deal with the situation.

“Oh? They’re approaching? Not running away but approaching this Kraken?”

“What do you mean by that, Commander?”

“For now, Marian, there’s no need to recall your fleets, so leave them be.”

“Oppa, what are you planning?”

I was secretly satisfied with the prospect of combat against a small pirate group rather than the large-scale battles that typically offered explosive leveling opportunities.

After all, what was the current situation?

It wasn’t a case where there were “too many” enemy ships causing our forces to be overwhelmed before the Kraken-class could demonstrate its capabilities.

Nor was it a battle against a large-scale force where we’d need to worry about enemy reinforcements or flanking maneuvers that would prevent a large vessel like the Kraken-class from moving.

This was simply about eliminating a small pirate group that couldn’t possibly have reinforcements.

It was precisely the optimal condition for my Kraken to operate, as mentioned in that “user review(?)”.

“Jessica, how many ships do we currently have available?”

“Let me see… Three medium cruisers including the ‘Overseer,’ and two destroyers that returned to base due to damage sustained in the recent battle with wild monsters.”

Jessica explained that the rest of the ships had been dispatched to “defend the resource zone,” which initially gave me pause for thought.

But then I realized there was no need to worry since the Kraken would crush everything anyway.

Rising from my seat, I ordered Jessica to form a new fleet.

“Good, then form a fleet with the Kraken over there, one medium cruiser, and those two destroyers.”

“Yes, and who will you appoint as commander?”

In response to Jessica’s question, a window for selecting a commander for “small-scale automatic combat” appeared.

But I dismissed the window with a swipe and declared proudly:

“This time I’ll operate it myself! It’s also a field test for the Kraken!”

“…You’re going to command personally, Commander?”

“Oppa is going into battle himself, how exciting!”

==========

Meanwhile, at the time when Icarus was organizing a mixed fleet for the first sortie of the big-fucking-ship Kraken…

“Captain, there’s a mining vessel escaping over there.”

“Leave it be. Just salvaging what remains will fill our cargo hold to capacity.”

Coltar, the leader of the “Blue Fang” pirate group from the Xenovia Empire who had come to plunder Icarus’s 6th Resource Zone, was sensing an ominous foreboding.

“Hmm?”

“What’s wrong, sir?”

“No, I just have this ominous feeling. Have our surveillance units reported anything unusual yet?”

“No, nothing so far…”

Of course, Coltar couldn’t even guess the cause of this foreboding.

“Hmm, is that so?”

“Isn’t it just because there’s no proper defense fleet or facilities, making it seem suspiciously unprotected?”

“I think so too, Captain.”

After listening to his subordinates who were distracted by the plundering, he nodded in agreement that it was a plausible explanation.

He shook his head repeatedly, trying to dispel the persistent sense of foreboding.

But not long after…

“C-Captain! We’ve got a huge problem!”

“Huh?”

“Holy shit! There’s a fucking huge ship coming this way with several smaller ones!”

“Damn it.”

He silently regretted not trusting his instincts as he immediately ordered all ships to deploy.

Of course, this action was intended to allow for escape if the battle turned dire.

“Wait, how many escort vessels are there exactly when you say ‘several’?”

“It’s… less than ten, sir!”

“…Damn it all, they’ve already surrounded us.”

Assessing the situation(?), Coltar realized that for his pirate group to survive, “escape” wasn’t the answer.

Their best option was to either defeat or evade the unidentified large vessel and its escort fleet approaching head-on.

Of course, Coltar himself had assumed that the “fucking huge ship” was at most a cruiser or battle cruiser.

He judged that if they charged quickly enough, they could somehow break through the enemy fleet’s barrage and escape.

But the moment the pirate ships, which had been busy plundering, left the resource mining area and entered open space…

“Urk?!”

“What the fuck is that!”

Faced with a “super-large vessel” far exceeding his expectations, Coltar and his pirate group were forced to feel extreme despair.