Ch.171″We’re gonna die. We’re really gonna die.” (1)

It was true that the repair of the cruisers had been unexpectedly extended.

But with no more air raids or those damned torpedo teleport assaults…

The Unity Clan users were determined to unleash a merciless offensive against Icarus with no surrender as “soon” as repairs were completed.

However, contrary to their determination, among the thousands of air raids, stray shells and missiles had inflicted minor damage to the engine compartments of the cruisers.

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-[How the hell did they deal damage here when our anti-air network wasn’t even breached?] (Bayraktar)

-[Wow, a stray shell scored a direct hit there] (Marshmallow)

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Thanks to this, they suffered ridiculous bad luck just like Icarus and miraculously had their repair time extended until tomorrow.

However, they discovered through the gallery wiki tab that they only needed 70% completion rather than 100% to move, though they’d be screwed if they took even a single hit.

So they decided that by tomorrow morning, when repairs would be roughly 75% complete, they would charge at full speed toward Icarus’s base regardless of the damage they might sustain.

They were determined to mobilize all their forces and carry out a massacre with no surrender.

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But the next morning, while they were harboring such thoughts…

With three days remaining until the defensive fleet arrived to save Icarus…

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-[We’re screwed! Carrier-based aircraft coming from all directions] (Dolphin)

-[Damn it! 1,000 aircraft each coming from 5 directions with just 5 people] (Goliath)

-[Hold tight] (Ramuramu)

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A simultaneous all-direction assault of 5,000 carrier-based aircraft from the Kraken and “2” light carriers in true no-reserve, manly style was underway.

Against Icarus’s evil(?) attempts to caress their pristine capital ships…

Unity Clan’s desperate struggle to protect the virginity of their cruisers and light carriers was showing a truly neck-and-neck battle.

Of course, “neck-and-neck” was just a figure of speech. Due to the overwhelming anti-air formation, Icarus’s small and precious carrier-based aircraft were literally being shredded at a rate of 100 per minute.

The Unity Clan members began to harbor happy thoughts that if they just held out a little longer, they could enjoy a fun Icarus raid with their repaired cruisers.

But as the clan’s attention was completely focused in “all directions”…

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-[What the hell! Teleport!] (Goliath)

-[It’s coming right above the fleet!] (Marshmallow)

-[This is bullshit!] (Bayraktar)

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The Kraken’s ridiculous teleport attack poured dozens of medium torpedoes and a whole lot of missiles directly above the fleet.

Of course, the AI of the cruisers and light carriers positioned at the center of the fleet formation wasn’t just sitting idle.

Like any decent large ship would, they fired hundreds of 250mm CIWS and anti-air missiles at a rate of thousands per second for interception.

While they successfully intercepted the seemingly most threatening medium torpedoes and most of the missiles…

A few assault pods mixed in among those missiles weren’t intercepted in time and cleanly swooshed onto the cruisers.

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-[Oh my goddamn fucking hell!] (Goliath)

-[LOLOLOLOL damn it] (Dolphin)

-[…shit] (Bayraktar)

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When a tiny number of ground combat monsters infiltrated the engine compartment of the nearly repaired cruiser and ran amok, extending the repair period by another day.

The mental state of those involved was rapidly approaching complete collapse.

And since that was exactly Icarus’s intention, everyone would have been happy if they had just given up their invasion plans and retreated…

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-[Damn it, I’m definitely going to tear that bastard’s ship to shreds] (Dolphin)

-[Agreed] (Ramuramu)

-[Fuuuuuuck] (Bayraktar)

-[We need to destroy that bastard’s base completely] (Ramuramu)

-[I need to get my light carrier back too] (Marshmallow)

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Unfortunately, contrary to Icarus’s wishes…

The Unity Clan instead burned with determination to tear our Icarus limb from limb and destroy him.

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The next day.

And during that extended time, they stubbornly continued repairs without retreating.

It was truly strange to see them showing such tenacity in odd places when they were clearly the ones who had invaded first.

Anyway, before Icarus could launch additional air raids, the Unity Clan showed remarkable persistence and finally completed the temporary repairs on their cruisers…

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-[Die, Icarus] (Goliath)

-[Everything can blow up now, just save the cruisers and heavy cruisers] (Ramuramu)

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Due to cooldown issues, the Kraken’s medium torpedo teleport attacks hit destroyers, heavy destroyers, light cruisers, and even heavy cruisers on the outskirts of the fleet formation.

But they didn’t care about the damage.

They switched from anti-air formation to breakthrough formation and began charging toward Icarus’s base.

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And watching all this on radar, I realized it was truly a race against time now.

‘Wow, those bastards are really coming at us with knives sharpened.’

Of course, time was ultimately on my side, so honestly, I just needed to hold out here…

“Jessica, when are our awesome pirate sisters coming?”

“In two more days, Commander.”

Meanwhile, due to their deployment mistakes, their light carrier fleet had been shredded and forced to detour.

Despite losing ships to carrier-based aircraft and teleport bombardments for two straight days…

They still had at least 250 ships left to deal with…

“…How many ships do we have?”

“Do you want the mercenary corps and main force reported separately?”

“Yeah.”

“The mercenary corps has a total of 44 ships of all types with completed repairs.”

“…Hmm.”

“The main force has 35 ships of all types, including transport destroyers brought from the resource zone as meat shields and newly constructed ones to secure our forces.”

…It was quite peculiar that the “all types” included both the small and cute “super-large assault battle carrier” and “patrol ships.”

But ultimately, I felt a headache coming on at the realization that I had to hold out for two days with a fleet of less than 80 ships.

And since there was nothing more foolish than engaging in a direct confrontation with 78 ships (varied) against more than 250 ships (even more varied)…

I tried to create conditions where I could divide their forces and defeat them one by one…

-“Commander, the enemy isn’t falling for our decoy ships.”

“Ah crap, we’re in trouble.”

Unfortunately, perhaps because I had tormented those guys too cruelly…

Now they wouldn’t even take the bait and were stubbornly charging straight toward the base.

I urgently warped the patrol fleet I had sent out as bait back to the base.

Just in case, I decided to activate the base’s barrier function, which I had checked early on when I first possessed this body, and hold out inside.

But unlike when I played the game, where the barrier would activate “immediately” upon use…

“Commander, it will take about 2 hours for the base barrier to activate!”

“What.”

I was shocked to learn that in my absence, they had patched in an ‘activation time’ for the barrier.

“The problem is that judging by the enemy fleet’s advance speed, they’ll reach the base within an hour.”

“…”

Faced with this unfair… no, this divine punishment for my failure to properly check things…

I reluctantly decided to engage the enemy fleet in battle to buy time.