Ch.173″We’re gonna die. We’re really gonna die.” (3)

Needless to say, I had absolutely no intention of abandoning this small and precious base.

Besides, with the “Monster Princess” already stationed at this base, abandoning it would severely damage our trust relationship with the monster forces.

So I scraped together every last resource we had left to build not only defensive turrets for the base, but also every “immediately” constructible defensive facility like hangars for autonomous attack drones, preparing for a long siege.

Of course, since we were essentially fighting a siege battle from the base, there was no possibility for mobile warfare.

The small, cute ships I had painstakingly acquired would end up serving as meat shields for the larger, more magnificent vessels.

And there was one very significant point about this base defense…

Unlike the users who casually threaten to “destroy the entire base” when they’re bored.

The outer walls of user bases boast durability levels that make them impossible to destroy with mere fleets.

According to the lore, these massive space structures were designed with the principle of “since they don’t move anyway, let’s just slap on thick armor,” meaning they had system-level protection that prevented damage even from the super-large siege batteries of siege-type battleships that could otherwise shatter base barriers.

Anyway, with my “base” suddenly becoming a massive obstacle in the middle of space…

Our battle truly resembled a “siege” in every sense of the word.

That was a long explanation, but to summarize…

*BOOM! CRASH!*

“Commander, the third and fourth defense turrets have been destroyed!”

“Drone hangar 1 destroyed! Drone swarm 41 has been annihilated!”

*KABOOM!*

“Enemy fleet’s bombardment has hit VLS system 9! System going silent!”

“…”

‘Please, just stop.’

While the immobile base was tanking the fleet’s firepower and getting its defense systems destroyed one by one…

My remaining 15 ships were having a lively dance party with enemy vessels that were closing in for direct combat.

Even in this situation, my awesome Kraken and superhumans were showing remarkable performance…

*CRACK-CRACK-CRACK! CRACKLE… KABOOOOM!!!!*

“UOOOOOOOOHHH!!”

“Commander, our Kraken did it!”

That 1-in-a-million chance drop was proving its worth.

Though we couldn’t properly repair it, the cruiser was still much sturdier than other vessels. The Kraken charged at it with a ramming attack.

In the process, a medium cruiser that tried to block got pushed by the Kraken and sandwiched against the cruiser.

The ramming attack split both the cruiser and medium cruiser in half—just one example of the Kraken’s prowess.

Then there was Ignis, who was consecutively capturing five enemy destroyers, actually increasing our forces during the battle.

Instead of capturing ships, Partia (muscle version) was precisely targeting power sources to render vessels useless, then—claiming it would be a waste of time to board assault pods—riding missiles to fly around.

Given the situation, Griyanar stayed at the base instead of directly engaging, providing support and buff auras for the fleet and defense facilities.

Similarly stationed at the base, Pashtra used her overwhelming firepower to attack like a guerrilla fighter, eventually managing to sink an enemy cruiser.

And Berial, busy commanding the remaining fleet in my place as I focused on overall strategy, was somehow holding on.

Everyone was truly united in purpose, serving up a massive middle finger to that insufferable five-person alliance.

And here, I received one more source of help that I’d forgotten about…

“Commander! Enemy soldiers are landing at the base!”

“Ah.”

No matter how wildly we fought or how hard the base defense systems worked…

There was no way to prevent enemy troops from exploiting the gaps created by our destroyed defenses and pouring in through assault pods, just like when capturing ships.

I immediately dispatched the base’s internal defense units to stop the infiltrating enemies.

Of course, since they were coming in assault pods, regular troops would only buy us time at best.

I was considering whether to call Griyanar away from her buffing and support duties to help block them.

But at that very moment.

“Icarus, can you hear me?”

“Oxianor? What is it?”

“We’ve successfully dealt with all the life forms that just infiltrated. You can focus on commanding without worry.”

“…!”

Surprisingly, our tentacled gentleman Oxianor was, true to his earlier promise, defending against the enemy invasion with monster troops they had produced themselves.

Naturally, Oxianor was also a command-type like Berial, and while not as powerful as Pashtra, he was capable of ranged attacks.

With this weight off my shoulders, I refocused on the battle.

==========

The problem was that despite the superiority of our superhuman forces, the fleet battle was not going well at all.

Even though the base and defense systems were drawing the enemy fleet’s aggro…

With their numbers more than ten times ours, they were willing to accept some losses to push forward aggressively, turning the battle into absolute chaos.

And in such “chaotic” conditions, our “light carriers”—large in size but paper-thin in armor—couldn’t possibly hold out.

After several hours of battle…

“The light carrier is holding up pretty well—”

*KABOOM!!*

“Light Carrier 1 is going down!”

“We can’t maintain the defensive line anymore!”

“GYAAAAHH!!”

“Where are we supposed to return to?!”

“Commander, Light Carrier 1 has been sunk.”

“…”

Before I could even finish saying how well the fragile vessel was holding up, the light carrier we’d produced for this invasion defense was destroyed.

The other one—perhaps because it was captured, or because its leveling was so high—managed to survive despite taking considerable damage, but…

“Commander, we can’t replenish aircraft fast enough to keep up with consumption rates.”

“This is driving me crazy.”

Too many aircraft were being shredded in the chaos, rendering the carrier useless.

Given the situation, it was reduced to serving as bait to draw the enemy’s aggro.

And the situation with my precious trio of cruisers wasn’t any better.

Two of them were exposed to enemy fleet firepower, took too many hits, and sank.

As for the other one…

“Remember me!!!!”

“I will!!!”

“I will!!!”

Judging survival impossible, it launched a suicide charge at an enemy cruiser and perished gloriously in the explosion.

And as for our awesome fucking Kraken…

True to the saying that it was strongest in small fleet battles, it was firing missiles and assault pods in all directions, lashing out with dozens of tentacles and its modified main guns.

It was absolutely dominating those clan bastards, but…

“Oh shit.”

“Commander! Two enemy cruisers are charging at the Kraken!!”

Perhaps because they had nothing left to lose, the enemy switched from bombardment to ramming attacks.

One cruiser took coordinated crossfire from the Kraken and Pashtra, and couldn’t withstand the accumulated damage, sinking immediately.

But we couldn’t stop the charge of the other one, which delivered a direct hit to the Kraken’s midsection, causing it to cough blood and sustain serious injuries.

Fortunately, the Overseer—which had essentially achieved invincible status—and our remaining ships converged to provide cover for the Kraken.

The enemy fleet could no longer deliver effective strikes against the Kraken, but…

As a result, we completely lost air superiority over the base…

“CHARGE!”

“How dare you invade our Commander’s base!”

“Get out of the way, you bastards!”

At the entrance to my base, Ignis and Partia had returned from their missions and joined Oxianor to defend against the surviving enemy superhumans and troops pouring in.

Adding to this defense were the monster forces’ self-produced troops and Griyanar’s 30% pirate-purity chimera soldiers.

The problem was that the enemy had five people working together. While they might have fewer SSS-rank individuals per person…

With five of them pushing in together, our defense lines kept getting pushed back due to our numerical disadvantage in superhumans.

In the midst of this, when an enemy light carrier took serious damage, they abandoned any attempt at evasion and just docked at our base’s mooring facility.

They were trying to create a second front by sending troops from inside the carrier into the base through the “mooring facility.”

At this point, I once again felt the harsh reality that 5 vs 1 was absolutely unfair and keenly experienced the limitations of going solo.

Still, unwilling to give up, I decided to personally command the troops to resist the enemy’s attack.

To be honest, with the tide of battle completely turned against us…

Holding out longer would only mean the command center would eventually be overrun by the enemy’s superior numbers, forcing a system-mandated surrender and our complete downfall…

But at that very moment.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!*

When an alert sounded on the command center’s communication network as I was preparing for our final stand…

I thought those bastards were trying to teabag us instead of using chat, so I told Jessica to turn off communications, but…

After checking the communication at my request…

“Commander! Commander!”

“Yes?”

“Look, look over there!”

Hopping up and down like a real rabbit, shaking both her large, beautiful chest and the rabbit ears on her head, Jessica…

Hugged me tightly and pointed out the command center window…

At the “pirate fleet” appearing with a massive teleportation reaction.

“We’ve won!”