Ch.165Victory☆ Requires Much Contemplation (4)

“Aaaaargh! The cruisers are melting!”

With an assault completely different from what they had imagined… no, from anything they had experienced before.

When three cruisers positioned at the outermost area couldn’t withstand the offensive and were sunk on the spot.

“Gaaaah!! Light carrier! Light carrier!”

“Fighter planes! Secure air superiority quickly!!”

The three users, terrified by the insane damage output, desperately called for support from the light carrier that was attempting to flank, but…

“Ugh.”

“They’re coming to rescue us!”

“No, I’m under attack right now too.”

Unfortunately, the light carrier user they had been desperately searching for to provide air cover was exposed to a surprise attack from Kraken’s third attack wave along with four mercenary groups.

Rather than providing air cover for the main fleet, they were in a situation where they had to worry about their own fleet’s survival.

If there was any fortunate aspect for the main fleet users…

“What are you doing? Fall back immediately! Air defense cover coming in now!”

“Ohhh.”

“Thank you… overwhelming thanks…!”

The small ship user Ramuramu, who quickly assessed the situation, rapidly moved his small ships=anti-air vessels to the front to form a fleet air defense network.

Though they suffered considerable damage, they somehow managed to survive by taking the hits and quickly pulled the capital ships to the rear.

“Let’s quickly deploy repair ships.”

“Whew, I almost died.”

“We need to repair as much as possible while we have cover if we want to survive.”

They decided to quickly repair the heavily damaged ships on site using repair ships that were traveling alongside the fleet.

But just about a minute after making that decision and having the five repair ships in the fleet begin repairs in earnest…

When Ramuramu’s small ships all moved to the front to deal with the fighter spam coming from the front, creating a gap…

“Oh shit.”

“What now?”

“Fighter planes are teleporting in from behind!!!”

“Oh fuck.”

When Icarus’s second attack wave launched a surprise strike on their rear through Kraken’s teleport with impeccable timing.

The users who were about to feel relieved hurriedly tried to reposition their battlecruisers that were stationed at the rear to the front while frantically pulling back.

Of course, no matter how quick their control was, there remained the fundamental problem that the battlecruisers’ response speed couldn’t keep up…

Above all, the ships that had completely stopped and attached themselves to repair ships for emergency repairs hindered their maneuverability.

Contrary to their urgent feelings, most ships including the battlecruisers were left in an awkward and defenseless state.

With their weak rear exposed, they were subjected to a large-scale attack from the second attack wave.

But as the saying goes, there was a silver lining to their misfortune. The damage they suffered from the second attack wave was quite minimal “on paper.”

Since the toughest battlecruisers in the fleet drew the aggro of the fighter planes from the rear, the attacks directed at other ships were significantly reduced.

They inadvertently succeeded in preserving a considerable portion of the fleet’s combat power.

However, unlike the numerical damage, the damage felt by the users was much greater…

Unlike the battlecruisers that were pounded from behind and suffered from “ships are weak from behind” but didn’t succumb…

The damaged cruisers positioned behind (in front?) and the repair ships that were attached to repair them…

When suddenly faced with swarms of biological flies without any cover…

They desperately canceled the repair process and made frantic efforts to enter the anti-air zone of the small ships that could protect them.

But despite the desperate efforts of these repair ships, shortly after…

“Swoosh, nice and clean!”

“Ah.”

No matter how sturdy the battlecruisers were, their rear engine nozzles couldn’t be equally tough.

As they were mercilessly pounded and became immobilized, spewing smoke from their rear…

When exposed to the attacks of fighter planes rushing in with their remaining bombs…

Before long, the damaged cruisers that were struggling along with the repair ships attached to them for repairs ended their existence as the cruisers exploded under the air raid.

Even as they watched Icarus’s fighter planes return after expending all their weapons…

“Shit, we’re fucked!”

“Why?”

“All our repair ships are destroyed!”

“What?”

“We have no way to repair the battlecruisers, cruisers, and other ships.”

“This is bad.”

As the price for not “saving” the five repair ships assigned to the fleet, they formed an anti-air formation around the immobilized battlecruisers with destroyed engines and thrusters.

Instead of advancing, they decided to form another anti-air formation centered around the tattered battlecruisers.

“We have support superhumans, right? Let’s try using them somehow.”

“Oh, genius.”

They decided to deploy the support superhumans they had originally brought to speed up the repair ships.

They hoped to somehow regain at least mobility through slow self-recovery.

Of course, no matter what they did, these superhumans were brought solely to “increase repair speed” of repair ships.

And the speed increase wasn’t something the superhumans did directly, but rather through naturally emitted “buff auras”…

“We’re screwed, aren’t we?”

“How are we supposed to handle this…”

“Ugh, it would take a month to fix this with just automatic recovery.”

“This is a disaster.”

They sent a signal to join “Marshmallow’s” fleet, which still had repair ships, then stopped in place.

They showed an attitude of trying to survive Icarus’s ruthlessly vicious fighter plane raids by forming an anti-air formation again.

But as they were panicking and forming a formation strictly optimized for “anti-air” defense…

“Hey, there’s a fleet coming from the front.”

“Wow, shit, how big is that?!”

“It’s huge, looks about three times bigger than our battlecruisers.”

Eventually, having forgotten that they came for a “fleet battle” rather than just mindlessly dealing with fighter plane spam…

After Icarus’s “main force” appeared with the Kraken-class and two battlecruisers, along with eight mercenary groups…

They found themselves helplessly pounded by the overwhelming barrage of fire raining down on them.

And there was one more issue here that was sweet for Icarus but terrible for the Unity Clan…

“Aaaaargh!”

“Oh shit…”

“You idiots! Why are the capital ships stuck in the back when an enemy fleet is approaching?!”

Just before, while dealing with the incoming fighter planes, Ramuramu’s anti-air ships=small vessels were positioned at the front line.

The capital ships of the other three users, including Goliath, had retreated to the rear to avoid the air raid.

When Icarus suddenly appeared with his main force and mercenary groups and engaged in artillery combat, Ramuramu’s small ships were being slaughtered without even being able to resist due to range issues.

The problem was that unlike Ramuramu’s fleet being slaughtered by the superior range of the Kraken, battlecruisers, and cruisers including the Overseer…

“Urgh.”

“Damn, the engine’s destroyed so I can’t move…”

“This is insane.”

As they retreated to the rear, they were out of range of Icarus’s fleet.

Due to the second attack wave’s raid, all the battlecruisers, which were the center of firepower, were immobilized.

As a result, they could only watch helplessly as Ramuramu’s fleet was being slaughtered.

But fortunately, since Ramuramu was also a ranker within the top 500…

He somehow maintained his composure and, even as his fleet was being decimated, carefully baited Icarus’s fleet while slowly retreating.

Unfortunately, our Icarus and his fleet, thinking they had destroyed the enemy main force’s mobility and were carrying out a slaughter, advanced carelessly…

“Surpriiiiise! Mother fucker!”

“Oh shit.”

With Ramuramu’s mentally tough deception tactics…

And the brilliant strategy of the Unity Clan members who pushed the immobilized battlecruisers to the front line using three intact cruisers from behind…

When exposed to the frontal artillery battle with seven battlecruisers and the remaining cruisers…

With a pure seven battlecruisers on their side, and even excluding those that were pushing, about 30 cruisers joining the artillery battle…

Despite having the Kraken, two battlecruisers, and the Overseer with battleship-level firepower, Icarus’s fleet was overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemy guns and quickly accumulated damage.

They gave up the frontal battle and retreated back to their base.