Ch.312″Everyone has only one thought in their minds.” (3)

But if there was one thing those backstabbing plotters hadn’t considered…

-BOOM!!!

-BANG!

-“Seraphias-class cruiser destroyed!”

-“Geibolg-class battle cruiser heavily damaged! Enemy fleet is breaking through our defense line!”

-“Commander!”

-“Oh shit, fuck!”

-“Augustus-class battleship’s ammunition storage exploded! Damage control impossible!”

“Fucking hell.”

As evident from the user fleet exploding spectacularly before their eyes.

Such discussions were only relevant if they could actually siege the stronghold in the first place.

———-

Of course, Aurora’s temporary clan had made adequate preparations, and their strategy was reasonably sound.

—————————————-

<Tannhäuser Strategy Chat Room>

-[So basically, instead of eliminating the enemy patrol fleet, let’s destroy the gate first]

-[For a small group attacking a stronghold, that seems to be the answer]

-[Come to think of it, that’s how Icarus and Raton… I mean Magellan captured strongholds]

-[Was there ever a video of Magellan Clan capturing a city?]

-[Nope]

—————————————-

First, they thoroughly studied the strategies of clans that had “captured strongholds with small numbers.”

They particularly examined Icarus’s strategy, which had plenty of evidence videos in the gallery due to his fame, and tried to copy how to capture a city.

They also diligently searched through fragments of information about how “large clans” captured strongholds, scattered throughout galleries and chat rooms.

—————————————-

-[How many battleships should we bring?]

-[Bring at least 4 destroyers rather than battleships]

-[??]

-[Strongholds have lots of small ships, so they’re absolutely necessary]

-[Ah, I see]

-[Just bring as many as your points allow, even if your base gets captured, you’ll recover quickly once you take the stronghold]

-[Agreed]

-[OK OK]

—————————————-

And since they were all users who had maintained their fleets while playing until now…

They knew that backstabbing should only happen after completing the siege…

—————————————-

<Tannhäuser Strategy Chat Room>

-[Alright everyone, let’s go hard]

-[They say mercenaries are unlimited, but 400 people from 2 clans succeeded, so 1,000 people can’t possibly fail]

-[Fighting!]

-[Hoo]

-[Rah]

-[Hoo]

-[Rah]

—————————————-

…They showed their commitment to the battle with strangely ambiguous responses.

———-

As mentioned above, their preparations weren’t inadequate nor was their strategy flawed.

Being PVP specialists from the Central Zone with high-performance large ships focused on “elite few” as their motto, they were quite short on small ships.

But in exchange, they had swarms of large ships like cruisers and above, which was reasonably good when facing only patrol fleets and defense batteries.

Actually, beyond “reasonably good,” the user fleet with over 10,000 battleships alone overwhelmed the mere 50 patrol fleets with only about 10 battleships each.

So up until this point, Aurora and the betrayers in the temporary clan had rosy futures ahead in their minds.

But…

Their fleets, built with blood, sweat, and tears, within just a few hours of beginning the stronghold assault…

-“Griffin-class heavy battleship destroyed! Destroyed!”

-“Commander! The large aircraft carrier is shielding the flagship!”

-“Commander! Your orders, please!”

—————————————-

<Tannhäuser Temporary Clan Chat Room>

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-[LMAO LOLOLOLOL]

-[Fuck]

-[Fuck]

-[How the fuck are we supposed to beat this?]

—————————————-

Just like at the beginning, they were getting spectacularly destroyed.

The reason for this was partly due to the battle-crazed players forgetting the difference between PVP and PVE.

But above all, the unique structure of the Tannhäuser “Gateway” fortress bewildered those attempting to capture it.

—————————————-

<Tannhäuser Temporary Clan Chat Room>

-[Fuck, I told you idiots to destroy the gate first, not the patrol fleet]

-[The gate is on the opposite side of the battle line, how the fuck are we supposed to destroy it?]

-[???]

-[Fuck, this is completely different from Avalon or Tunguska, you assholes]

—————————————-

That’s right.

Setting aside various issues, the most critical problem was that the strategy to block the gates where the “main fleet” would emerge had fallen apart from the start.

In the case of Avalon Fortress captured by Icarus.

Or Tunguska Fortress City captured through cooperation between Raton Water Clan and Magellan Clan, they had structures optimized for defense with very powerful “defensive facilities.”

But in exchange, the gates where the main fleets would emerge were concentrated in specific locations.

That’s why Icarus was able to block them by inserting strategic missiles among massive missile spam led by the Neranzara-class.

And while Tunguska’s gates were somewhat dispersed due to its size, there were only about 3 locations.

So the veteran Raton Water Clan players could quickly block the gates with their intense micromanagement.

But unlike their cases, for Tannhäuser that the temporary clan was trying to capture…

—————————————-

<Tannhäuser Temporary Clan Chat Room>

-[We’re fucked LOL]

-[Hey, you said you were going to destroy the gate, what were you doing until the main fleet came out?]

-[Are you trolling?]

-[<Main fleet emerging from a location far from the collapsed gate.png>]

-[<Map of gates spread throughout Tannhäuser.png>]

-[Entrances are fucking everywhere. The suicide squads including me have destroyed over 9 gates, but shit keeps coming out]

-[We’re doomed, suicide squad ships all destroyed]

-[Destroyed one more gate, but there are at least 5 more that we know of]

-[Haha fuck]

—————————————-

Unlike a “fortress” specialized for defense, its defensive facilities were about 2 levels lower, similar to Avalon.

But instead, it had a whopping 15 gates, more than both Avalon and Tunguska.

And unlike Tunguska where gates were concentrated in two or three locations, these were literally scattered all around the base.

As a result, despite the temporary clan’s suicide squad users destroying gates while sacrificing all their ships.

With some users even showing the extraordinary tactic of ramming battleships into gates and self-destructing…

The remaining 5 gates were still more than enough for the main fleets to pour out like crazy, making it impossible to prevent the tide from turning.

Moreover, Tannhäuser had another very significant feature.

Being a “gateway,” it housed a massive fleet-scale teleportation system inside.

So when the gates collapsed and internal fleets created a bottleneck trying to escape through the 5 remaining gates.

The fleets still inside simply whooshed outside through the teleportation system.

—————————————-

<Tannhäuser Temporary Clan Chat Room>

-[Fuck, warning!]

-[<Massive fleet appearing via teleport.gif>]

-[Combat fleet came through teleport, fuck!]

-[Fuck, wait, isn’t this cheating?]

-[Oh right]

-[Just remembered this is a gateway fortress with internal teleporters]

-[Why are you only mentioning this now, fuck!]

-[LOLOLOLOLOL]

-[Run run run run]

-[Run the fuck away]

-[This is bullshit]

—————————————-

The temporary clan, whose morale was already shattered from their fleet being torn apart, panicked collectively when the main fleets emerged unhindered through teleportation.

They ultimately abandoned the battle and fled.