Ch.232The Final Blow Makes a Masterpiece…! (4)

As expected, the All-Star team members weren’t ranked players for nothing.

Despite the shock and terror, they began launching attacks quickly, less than a minute after spotting the Kraken.

The problem was that, contrary to what they’d been told before, the Anomalocaris—another “combat aircraft carrier”—had its armor plating too easily penetrated by assault pods.

And now the Kraken was deploying all its firepower at full speed (missiles, main guns, additional assault pods, and some carrier-based aircraft).

Between the Kraken’s impressively large size and its hideous appearance creating an overwhelming pressure…

They unconsciously made the mistake of concentrating their firepower only on its front instead of targeting its sides or weak points.

Of course, the price of this mistake was that during the precious time they could have stopped the Kraken’s charge, they focused their firepower on the “Dreadnought-class” frontal armor—which no one else currently possessed—instead of on the sides or other areas that, in Princess Luca’s words, were “as sensitive and fragile as Pashtra’s fat deposits.”

The result.

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-[Huh? Why isn’t it penetrating?] (Menaldo)

-[Oh right, that thing has Dreadnought-class frontal armor] (Laura)

-[Why are you only saying that now?] (Menaldo)

-[We’re screwed] (Indefatigable)

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Just as Indefatigable’s cruiser, which was responsible for side defense, took a clean shot straight into the Kraken’s mouth.

Like a transfer student running with bread in their mouth shouting “I’m late! I’m late!”

Our Kraken also charged forward with the cruiser in its mouth, showcasing its prowess by completely severing the waist of Indefatigable’s “Royal” class battlecruiser right behind it.

And after breaking through the fleet formation with its massive bulk, it immediately deployed its abundant mass of tentacles.

It began swinging tentacles with the firepower equivalent to a medium cruiser’s main guns in all directions, initiating full-scale chaotic combat.

Of course, the rankers were initially confused and stupidly concentrated their firepower on the frontal armor.

But after taking a beating and coming to their senses, they immediately tried to maneuver to the Kraken’s sides to target the “sensitive and fragile areas like fat deposits,” but…

-BUBUBUBUBOOM!

-KWANG!

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-[Damn, those 4 ships they brought are annoying] (Menaldo)

-[They don’t have many ships either, but we have too few to ram recklessly] (Laura)

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In a situation where all users except Betelgeuse barely had over 10 ships each.

Most of their ships were tied up dealing with either the 9-player fleet approaching from the front or the 100-person(?) suicide squad from the rear.

Despite having three users assigned to this position, they had fewer than 20 ships at their disposal.

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-[That cruiser is dangerous, but the Kraken is even more dangerous]

-[At least it seems to have completely depleted its carrier aircraft, and after firing all its missiles, it’s now self-recharging, so we just need to watch out for the tentacles and main guns] (Laura)

-<Icarus’s Kraken-class assault combat aircraft carrier has sunk Menaldo’s Kazemaru-class destroyer!>

-[Ah shit] (Menaldo)

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As a result, even though they should have been able to push back just 4 medium cruisers in no time.

They were frustrated because they were in a tight spot themselves, while the enemy was taking potshots from behind the Kraken’s rear.

==========

Meanwhile, at the same time.

—————————————-

-[Kraken is so f***ing strong] (Menaldo)

-[Icarus has some good control] (Laura)

-[Damn, those 4 medium cruisers keep covering it, making this tough] (Indefatigable)

—————————————-

While the three users’ fleets were being torn apart as they resisted the Kraken.

Antares, who had taken over command in place of the disconnected Betelgeuse, was beginning to miss someone at this point.

—————————————-

-[Where did Raksha go? Where the hell are you and what are you doing after disappearing alone?] (Antares)

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Of course, that person was none other than Raksha, the human weapon who had achieved 9 consecutive victories with a modified destroyer.

The same Raksha who had completely destroyed another ranker like himself and was ranked 2nd… but who had disappeared somewhere with just his destroyer early in the battle, and now no one knew where he was.

Could it be that someone who had reached 2nd place had now abandoned the battle and was hiding somewhere? Such suspicions were also arising.

But surprisingly, just as Antares was desperately searching for Raksha in the chat.

Immediately after, Raksha’s chat messages appeared along with kill logs for two ships.

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-<Raksha’s Shimakaze-class destroyer has sunk Icarus’s regular-grade light aircraft carrier!>

-<Raksha’s Shimakaze-class destroyer has sunk Icarus’s regular-grade battlecruiser!>

-<Raksha’s Shimakaze-class destroyer has sunk Chuchu’s regular-grade destroyer!>

-[gg]

-[Was a bit busy]

-[Anyway, I’ve destroyed the main ships that were flanking us, returning to the main force] (Raksha)

-[???] (Antares)

-[I believed in you, General] (Menaldo)

-[How on earth did you do that with just one destroyer?] (Arcadia)

-[Skillfully?] (Raksha)

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Naturally, right after Raksha’s chat messages appeared, the movements of the enemy fleet charging from the front began to feel complicated and subtle.

Antares and friends(?) could breathe sighs of relief as they realized what Icarus’s plan had been.

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-[So from the beginning, pushing in from the front was just a decoy?] (Menaldo)

-[Yeah, the plan was to lure our superhumans with a superhuman assault from the rear, then ram the fleet’s flank with capital ships] (Laura)

-[Smart young man] (Menaldo)

-[It’s quite a good strategy, though they probably didn’t expect that Raksha guy to pop out and destroy everything] (Indefatigable)

-[Neither did we] (Laura)

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Though they weren’t sure exactly how he did it.

This was the same guy who had already toyed with three cruisers using just a patrol boat while wearing only underwear, so what couldn’t he do with a destroyer?

They could only nod at Raksha’s presence, which itself served as a kind of plausibility.

But at this point, Melon, who had been silent until now, opened his chat again.

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-[But guys]

-[Didn’t we say Icarus only had about 5 ships left?] (Melon)

-[Yeah] (Laura)

-[And among them, the Kraken is fighting over there, and the light carrier and battlecruiser were destroyed, right?] (Melon)

-[Yeah, that’s right?] (Antares)

-[Then what about the Hresvelgr that was firing strategic missiles at us?]

-[Where did that go?] (Melon)

-[Oh] (Antares)

-[…That’s right] (König)

-[Raksha, wasn’t the Hresvelgr there when you attacked?] (Menaldo)

-[…It wasn’t] (Raksha)

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The question Melon raised in the chat.

“Where did our Hresvelgr go?” As everyone reading the chat while fighting pondered this question.

But less than a minute after having this doubt.

The Hresvelgr they had been searching for boldly appeared from a place they never expected.