Ch.245The Man with a Sinister Plan (1)

# Chapter 245: A Man Making Sinister Plans (1)

Lady Maria, who was floating in the air with her legs crossed, showed an expression of interest at my bold request, but…

Eventually, Lady Maria shook her head and said.

“I’m afraid that would be rather difficult.”

“Huh?”

I should have felt dismayed as our carefully discussed plan, formulated during time stop, was about to collapse from the start.

[Time Stop]

[Time Stop Released]

As always, I successfully preserved my mental stability through time stop when it was about to crumble.

After steeling my resolve, I decided to ask Lady Maria for her reasons.

“May I ask why that would be difficult?”

And to my response, Lady Maria said:

“The current battle line between the unmanned fleet and the space monsters is being maintained in such a delicate balance…”

“Meaning?”

“Moving the unmanned fleet’s forces carelessly could lead to very dangerous consequences.”

—————————————-

As I heard her additional explanation, I understood why Lady Maria was responding this way.

“So what you’re saying is… if we’re not careful, instead of ‘luring’ the space monsters as per my plan, we might just cause a complete collapse of the front lines and create chaos?”

“Exactly! You understand perfectly!”

Nodding at my words, Lady Maria provided additional information, saying it was all based on what Admiral Lüchou had told her.

“Admiral Lüchou had considered such an approach, but without forces capable of thoroughly controlling the situation, if one were to attempt such a thing…”

“Hmm.”

“You’d end up watching uncontrollable space monster fleets spreading in all directions.”

Right after hearing those words.

-Ding!♪

[Time Stop]

[Event: It’s difficult to use mindlessness in a mindful way.]

[You’re showing a tendency to try utilizing space monsters naturally, despite saying with your own mouth that controlling them would be insane.]

[However, given the circumstances, your plan to use the space monsters might achieve successful results if executed well.]

[But if you fail, you might end up fighting rampaging monster hordes before you can even respond to the situation.]

[Or you might receive an angry backstab from the Fuchsviet Federation once they figure out what’s happening.]

[Choice 1: Challenge it anyway. (Continue linked event, random event will occur)]

[Choice 2: This seems ominous, should I not do it? (End linked event, increased probability of random event occurrence)]

‘Hmm.’

With this unexpected choice event, I decided to take some time to carefully consider.

Of course, I could somewhat guess why it appeared.

The event message content, as well as the choices presented.

It all seemed like some kind of ‘warning’ directed at me.

But separately, the ‘signs’ that typically appear when there’s a truly dangerous warning…

For example, text saying “You’ll regret this” appearing when trying to select a choice.

Or choices emphasized in bold red text.

None of those were present, so after a moment of deliberation…

‘Well, I’ve already drawn my sword.’

[Choice 1: Challenge it anyway. (Continue linked event, random event will occur)]<Selected

I chose option 1 and decided to continue my thoughts as I released the time stop.

[Time Stop Released]

I felt an indescribable emotion and lack of confidence upon hearing that Admiral Lüchou, that crazy polar bear killer yuri horse, had said such things, but…

Regardless of my personal feelings, it remained an unchangeable fact that Admiral Lüchou was currently the most excellent ‘admiral’ in the entire galaxy.

Having served longer than any other admiral and having more experience in fleet operations and battles than anyone else, I had no choice but to believe her words.

When a green newbie like me hits a wall?

It’s better to trust the words of a stagnant veteran who’s evolved in strange directions from being stuck too long.

Who else’s words could I trust?

‘Damn, does this mean there’s no way forward?’

Since I could definitely state that I didn’t have much talent in military matters…

When such a big picture gets blocked from the start, it was inevitable that finding solutions would become difficult.

Because of this, I was beginning to think I’d have to set aside my carefully crafted plan and spend more time creating a new one, but…

“However, that doesn’t mean there’s no way, my child.”

‘…Oh!’

Seeing my expression, Lady Maria, still with her legs crossed, said something different.

“This is also something Admiral Lüchou mentioned… and it should be quite possible for you.”

“What do you mean?”

Seeing my puzzled reaction to her subtle response…

Lady Maria remained silent for a moment as she looked at me, then eventually nodded once and began speaking.

“If you deploy a large fleet separately from the unmanned fleet and position them appropriately… the space monster hordes will bypass that fleet and move elsewhere.”

The moment I heard those words, I couldn’t hide my skepticism.

“Is that really possible?”

What kind of creatures are these space monsters?

As I had experienced during the Warlord Incident, these are creatures that, when enraged, would charge headlong at a fleet of over 10,000 ships despite numbering only a few hundred themselves.

Of course, in that case, they were drawn to our decoy ships and then crashed into our fleet when it suddenly appeared, leaving them with nowhere to go…

Anyway, having witnessed such behavior in reality, I couldn’t help but express doubt at Lady Maria’s words, but…

Lady Maria explained:

“That happens because the monsters experience excessive secretion of hormones like adrenaline in their brains.”

“…?”

“After continuous engagement with unmanned fleets for dozens of days like now, wouldn’t the monsters’ hormones be completely depleted?”

“…”

Faced with this unexpected explanation, I felt bewildered for a different reason now.

“And once the adrenaline-type hormones are depleted, they begin to act very rationally for monsters, despite appearances.”

‘Monsters… acting rationally?’

“Hohoho, it seems you find my words difficult to believe.”

Apparently my thoughts were visible on my face.

Lady Maria, who had been performing aerial maneuvers with her body, gave a small laugh and then proceeded to do somersaults in mid-air.

—————————————–

And shortly after…

After formulating a new strategy based on the method Lady Maria had received from Admiral Lüchou:

“So… we position the ISTO Treaty Forces at the Syr-Horde Alliance’s border closest to Aethernian territory.”

“That’s right, and if you tell that Samiya girl to reposition the Prosnak fleet to the border as well…”

“Ah, so if we do that, the space monsters will avoid our fleets and head toward Fuchsviet territory as you mentioned?”

“Precisely.”

I was able to formulate a solid plan while giving Lady Maria a piggyback ride.

“So the conclusion is to position the Prosnak fleet and ISTO Treaty Forces near the current Aethernian border… deliberately collapse the front line maintained by the unmanned fleet…”

“Mmm.”

“And the space monsters trapped in the capital planetary system will become disoriented and flock toward Fuchsviet territory where defenses are relatively weaker.”

Moreover, during our discussion, Lady Maria brought additional information:

“Are you saying the number of monsters has decreased due to continuous engagement with the unmanned fleet?”

“Indeed! Although the number that once exceeded 100,000 has only been reduced to exactly 100,000!”

As evident from Lady Maria’s confident demeanor…

This meant that the monsters, whose estimated numbers had been continuously rising as we observed them—those that had survived crashing into the capital and crawled back up—had finally stopped increasing.

With this information, I began to think this might be a good opportunity to recover Aethernian ‘technology’ that might remain in the capital planetary system after driving the space monsters toward Fuchsviet territory.

“Child, that’s impossible.”

“Pardon?”

“Because the space monsters crashed in such overwhelming numbers that they formed geological layers, all facilities in the capital planetary system are beyond destroyed—they’re simply gone.”

Unfortunately, I only heard that it was impossible, as immediately confirmed by Lady Maria herself.

But here, we realized there was one problem.