Ch.266Avalon Siege Battle. (2)

It didn’t take long to discover who exactly that fleet belonged to.

The reason was obvious – the presence of the “Kraken” positioned prominently at the center of that massive fleet.

That alone made it abundantly clear who the user leading this fleet was.

—————————————–

Title: LOLOLOLOL This is insane

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Image of fleet movement exceeding 50,000 ships]

Are you telling me all those are the personal fleet of that 3rd-ranked guy?

How the hell do you even get that many ships?

Comments:

-[That’s the power of unlimited mercenary hiring…]

-[That’s seriously impressive]

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-[What is this? A bug?]

-˪[No, probably not]

-[But is that really the 3rd-ranked player’s fleet? Even so, that seems way too many]

-˪[He’s the only one dragging around the Kraken]

—————————————–

—————————————–

Title: Whatever it is, someone’s REALLY pissed off

Author: Aurora

Content: [Collection of captured images.jpg]

Based on the verification images posted in the gallery, I checked roughly

There seem to be at least 20 battleships, and counting carriers and cruisers, the number hits triple digits?

By my calculations, not only is this person paying hiring costs,

The daily resource consumption alone must be hundreds of thousands of minerals and nearly 100,000 rare resources

Considering that a level 7 base can only stockpile 6-7 million resources max, they’re dumping absolutely everything they’ve collected

Whatever it is, let’s just pray for whoever’s about to get beaten by 50,000 ships in that solo player paradise

Comments:

-[Wouldn’t it all end if a clan attacked in force?]

-˪[That area doesn’t have mid-sized or larger clans like other sectors]

-˪[Huh?]

-˪[When clans grow beyond a certain size, those angler fish bastards in the demon caves get excited and come running]

-˪[I see]

—————————————–

Normally, even for a top-ranked player, people would complain about turning a regular player into a “named character.”

Former gallery users would throw all kinds of tantrums, resisting what they called “named character-ization.”

And other users, tired of dealing with them, would quietly let the topic die down…

Unfortunately for them, the number of regular users who wanted to see something interesting vastly outnumbered those types of users.

Additionally, the central sector users who were now on edge about Icarus’s fleet began tearing into the complainers.

—————————————–

Title: Stop whining about named characters, damn it

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Verification shot of base location near the fleet’s expected path.jpg]

My heart is fucking racing right now

I might die from high blood pressure

If there’s no streaming gay broadcasting this guy’s route in real-time, I’ll get my base completely wiped out while sitting here, goddammit

Comments:

-[Heart attack gay]

-[Did you mess with him?]

-˪[No no, I’m being falsely accused]

-[LOLOLOL]

-[Ah, I hadn’t thought of that]

—————————————–

After quickly crushing the opposing opinions…

Since there are people in the world who enjoy watching others even if it’s not their own business…

Although Icarus himself was completely unaware of this…

At least 1,000 stealth ships sent by different users had gathered near Icarus’s 50,000-ship fleet, knowingly or unknowingly.

They were broadcasting in real-time to the gallery, simultaneously exposing the fleet’s combat capabilities.

But while the gallery was burning up like this, what was our Icarus doing?

“Aaaaarrrgghhh!”

He was so busy that he had absolutely no time to check the gallery.

==========

Exactly three hours after the fleet’s departure.

-“Commander, we keep having problems during the fleet’s movement.”

“…Huh?”

-“That bastard tore off our destroyer’s wing, I’m telling you!”

-“Shut up, you punk! What did we do?!”

-“Does this fleet provide supplies?”

-“Handling your own supplies is common sense for mercenaries, isn’t it?!”

-“Everyone please shut up, is that how you talk in front of our awesome patron?”

I was in the middle of having my mental state ground down while dealing with my precious mercenaries.

For reference, it wasn’t being ground down because I did something wrong.

It was simply because this massive fleet wasn’t formed under a single unified command structure under my control.

The source of all this discord was that it was, literally speaking, a loose alliance formed around me as the central point.

“Commander, you seem to be having a hard time. May I report?”

“…Well, it’s not like the reports will disappear if I don’t hear them now… go ahead.”

“Yes, so far there have been a total of 12 contact accidents between mercenary ships while the fleet is moving.”

“And?”

“There were also 3 incidents where mercenary groups got into arguments, boarded each other’s ships, got into fistfights, and were suppressed.”

“…Hmm.”

“There’s more. Several guys got their fingers smashed after hitting on superhumans for no reason.”

“…”

Apart from my main force, while everyone was technically under my command…

Strictly speaking, there was the monster fleet that was practically Princess Luca’s direct royal guard(?).

And similarly, about 5,000 ships of the pirate alliance fleet that could only be operated thanks to Marian’s permission.

As if having these three forces wasn’t enough…

With 512 mercenary groups swarming around, fighting amongst themselves…

Compared to when people upload YouTube videos of using unlimited mercenaries in games…

‘This isn’t reality, how can such terrible things happen?’

It was bringing out “realistic” aspects in strange places, making it impossible not to curse at the sight.

But the annoying part was that I couldn’t just say “This is too much trouble, let’s go back” despite this terrible situation.

The hiring costs and today’s contract fees had already been paid…

Going back now would be like watching about 3.2 million minerals and 600,000 rare resources dissolve into thin air.

So I had no choice but to trudge toward Avalon with these precious little bastards.

Of course, even though I needed every bit of military power I could get…

—————————————-

<Event>

<Discord Among Mercenary Groups!>

<Content>

<Perhaps because so many mercenary groups have gathered in one place?>

<Some mercenary groups haven’t forgotten past grudges and are trying to start fights with others during the voyage.>

<It would be one thing if they were just fighting, but they’re even turning their ship’s turrets and attempting to fire.>

<If you don’t stop the mercenary groups’ discord and fighting quickly, the entire fleet might fall apart before a day passes!>

<Option 1: Bring in the instigator and make an example of him>

˪<If selected: Apply negative traits to 5 mercenary group leaders and their forces, increasing desertion probability>

<Option 2: Can’t we all just get along? Try to encourage them somehow>

˪<If selected: Greatly increases the probability of events where half of your mercenary groups get into fights with other groups>

—————————————-

‘This is such bullshit.’

Since I couldn’t tolerate this kind of chaos that was triggering forced-choice events with no good options…

<Option 1: Bring in the instigator and make an example of him><Selected>

˪<If selected: Apply negative traits to 5 mercenary group leaders and their forces, increasing desertion probability>

I immediately chose option 1, deciding to quickly deal with their representatives in a clean manner.

And while I was busy spending time like this…

My fleet of 50,000 ships… finally spotted “Avalon Fortress,” the target chosen instead of Tannhäuser, and began preparing for battle.