Ch.351The Central King~ (1)
by fnovelpia
Of course, besides those 4 so-called “mega” clans…
The perpetually undermanned Magellan Clan and the Southern Alliance also tried to recruit Icarus…
…but then they ended up clashing among themselves, resulting in a massive battle where 1 level 4 stronghold, 2 level 2 strongholds, and 5 level 1 strongholds changed ownership in a single day.
Even clans slightly smaller than the big 4, but still considered large in their own right, were making behind-the-scenes moves to hire Icarus as an external mercenary.
During this process, the realization emerged: “Hey, why focus just on Icarus when there are plenty of other solo players we could hire as mercenaries?”
—————————————–
Title: The Current Flow of Consciousness is Scary as Hell
Author: Anonymous
Content: [Image of a frog clicking its tongue]
Regular gallery users = Started by asking how to raid the empty Tannhäuser, then tried to stage a rebellion with docked users, now just watching the battle like it’s a livestream
Clan users = Were about to make their move after seeing Icarus mobilize large forces, but somehow the solo player mercenary business suddenly boomed
For real
Now users with strong connections are suddenly becoming mercenary agents
This is ridiculous, somehow the game situation seems to be getting more chaotic by the minute
Comments:
-[Mercenaries?]
-[What’s that about?]
-˪[It’s connecting solo players from the Central District or other areas with clans](Author)
-˪[Of course, depending on the individual’s wishes, they can either join the clan or become ‘external mercenaries’ that clans use to pad their numbers](Author)
-[What the heck is that]
-[The further we go, the more realistic this game gets in weird ways]
—————————————–
—————————————–
Title: What’s with the Mercenary Business Suddenly Booming in the Last Hour
Author: Mercenary Office
Content: [Suddenly increasing mercenary contract requests]
What’s going on?
I was taking a nap when chat notifications started flooding in, with people asking if they could hire solo players as mercenaries
What?
Comments:
-[LOLOLOLOL]
-[<Link to Icarus-Tannhäuser related post collection><-Check this out]
-˪[What the hell LMAO](Author)
-[Business is good, old man]
—————————————–
It was truly an unexpected development.
Suddenly, the business of mercenary agencies—small clans advocating for mercenary services or individual user-agents—began to flourish.
The world works in mysterious ways indeed.
And while this whirlwind of chaos engulfed both individual users and clan executives alike…
What was our beloved Commander Icarus doing at that very moment…?
==========
-“Enemy fleet’s formation breached, main fleet pushed back!”
“Very juicy.”
While I couldn’t do much about the enemies launching surprise attacks through the gate to our rear, we were somehow managing to push back the rest of the fleet.
To be precise, we were literally “physically” pushing back the frontline…
-BOOM! BANG!
-“GYAAAAH!”
-“Auftingen sunk!”
-“Abandon ship!”
-“Keep pushing! Don’t get close enough to be hit by their artillery!”
The mercenary corps, our numerical main force, were suffering tremendous losses, but…
“Jessica, what’s the enemy situation?”
-BOOOOOOOM!!!
“Well, with that concentrated attack from our carrier aircraft just now, the last heavy cruiser has been sunk, so all heavy cruisers eliminated and about half the battleships remain?”
After teaching some manners to those vicious heavy cruisers and battleships that were trying to crush our physical blockade…
The surviving battleships and other vessels were huddled together in a defensive line, making a desperate effort not to be completely annihilated.
Of course, their strengthening of defenses while retreating in the face of our full-scale offensive…
Was an expression of their intention to prepare a powerful counterattack the moment our offensive reached its limit.
Normally, at this point, one would halt the reckless offensive…
Focus on reorganizing the ship formation and preparing to counter the enemy’s counterattack, but…
“Ouroboros, what’s the current charge status?”
-“Currently 0.58% remaining until maximum output!”
“Jessica, how are the others?”
“They’re positioned with overlapping buff ranges as you instructed, Commander.”
“Very good.”
Unfortunately for the Tannhäuser NPCs facing me, what I was attempting wasn’t a simple contest of strength.
“Veeeery good, if we started with Ouroboros’s 5x charge, we should end with it too.”
“Heeeeh.”
In accordance with the principle of ring composition that people supposedly love to death, now that Tannhäuser’s fleet had been pushed far back…
I initiated bombardment using Ouroboros’s “5x Combined Maximum Output Full Charge Main Gun” with all buffs overlapping once again.
Since it was fired in normal mode rather than concentrated or spread mode, it wasn’t particularly outstanding in any specific way.
However, from the start of the battle until now, Tannhäuser’s outer wall had already been reduced to tatters from the bombardment of Ouroboros and the other fleets.
As a result, the energy torrent striking over a wide area rather than in concentrated mode…
Caused the fatigued outer wall of Tannhäuser to show widespread collapse, creating a massive hole in the exterior.
And at this point, Tannhäuser’s commanders seemed to finally realize what I was aiming for.
-Beep beep beep, beep beep beep!
“Commander, all of Tannhäuser’s fleets are beginning their offensive again!”
“Oh, already?”
-“It seems they’ve realized our objective.”
“Oh my.”
The enemies who had only shown defensive postures against the mercenary corps’ offensive were now rushing forward without even properly forming an assault formation…
“Turn both Krakens to the front, have them defend against the enemy offensive with the Krakens at the center.”
-“Yes, employer!”
-“Understood, Commander.”
“Hresvelgr, as soon as additional missile production is complete, immediately switch strategic missile warheads to scatter shots and bombard Tannhäuser’s external air defense network.”
-“Understood.”
“Ouroboros, once cooling is complete, focus on sniping enemy cruisers with about 10% charge.”
-“I’ll keep that in mind, Commander.”
“And Tiamat, deploy carrier aircraft to attack the air defense network near the hole we just made.”
-“Already on it!”
After responding to the situation according to the planned operation in an instant…
Finally, I turned back to Jessica to give instructions for the final plan.
“Jessica.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“The 10,000 corvettes we set aside and the superhuman assault preparations are all ready, right?”
“Yes, they can depart at any time.”
And that plan was none other than…
Excluding Tiamat, which had no combat capability of its own, and Aquarius, who was essentially a normal person…
A large-scale superhuman assault force consisting of all the superhumans I had, some superhuman mercenary captains…
Even Lephan, who left his fleet to his adjutant and joined the assault force with his subordinates, would be smashed right into Tannhäuser.
Of course, as mentioned above, Tannhäuser only had a large hole in its outer wall and some damaged air defenses around it.
Since most of the stronghold’s defense systems were still intact, simply charging in would result in 90% of the assault pods being shredded.
To prevent interception by overloading the air defense network…
And as a precaution, I even deployed numerous corvettes to act as meat shields instead of assault pods for this operation…
It was a plan with absolutely no possibility of failure.
“Good, then commence the assault immediately, charge!”
“Commander’s orders have been issued! All forces, begin assault on Tannhäuser!”
-“Drop assault pods! Drop them!”
-“You idiots, cover the pods properly!”
-“Carrier aircraft and Hresvelgr’s bombardment are commencing!”
The moment my order was given.
As massive bombardments began and millions of assault pods flew toward the huge hole under the escort of corvettes…
‘Ah, this is the thrill.’
It was truly an exhilarating sight, so I took a screenshot to post on the gallery later for proof.
0 Comments