Ch.353The Central King~ (3)

Despite the superhumans’ impressive efforts, progress inside the stronghold was much slower than expected.

But thinking about it, that was inevitable.

When barriers came down in corridors, unless you had overwhelming firepower like Pashtra…

Even superhumans would either have to find detours around those corridors…

Or spend time destroying the barriers before advancing. Either way, detours consumed considerable time.

And in areas without superhumans, troops were inevitably depleted in battles against enemy defense units.

My main force wasn’t a major concern since they were all D-rank or higher superhumans from the “Superhuman Training Center” and Griyanar’s chimeras.

But the mercenary forces and actual monster troops that made up the bulk of our numbers were continuously suffering casualties during the breakthrough…

“Commander, we need additional troops!”

“The Tannhäuser defense team is deploying tanks and walkers, but we lack firepower.”

“Ugh.”

Judging the situation unavoidable, I immediately decided to send down second and third wave assault pods to reinforce the interior of Tannhäuser.

Especially since this time we were deploying heavy weapons and armored units like “tanks” and “walkers” mentioned above.

We mobilized not just assault pods but also some patrol ships and large shuttles.

Incidentally, you might wonder how Griyanar’s mobile fortress Tyrano arrived given its insane size.

When it first departed, the monster’s core was just large enough to fill one assault pod, which made transportation possible.

However, after sending down the second assault wave, we received far more damage reports than expected.

“Commander, may I report on the results of the second assault?”

“Go ahead.”

“First, about 50% of the heavy weapons teams and armored forces successfully landed, and about 70% of regular troops made it.”

“…That many were lost?”

When I expressed my doubt at the report, our Jessica explained:

“Yes, it seems we had insufficient escort forces compared to the first assault.”

“Hmm…”

Apparently, the patrol ships (plus escort vessels) and carrier-based aircraft that had protected the pods during the first assault had been too heavily damaged.

“Plus, although they were all eventually repelled, a destroyer squadron from Tannhäuser broke through our defense line at that exact moment.”

“I thought I ordered immediate handling of that.”

“Yes, but they were so evasive that our response was slightly delayed.”

On top of that, even NPC fleets tried to intervene and block us.

Unlike the first wave, the second assault saw a sudden increase in intercepted forces.

For the third assault, I deployed additional patrol ships that still had capacity.

And since all fleets had already emerged from inside, there was no longer any risk of teleportation ambushes from the rear.

I positioned our Kraken Unit 2 at the front to absorb most of the fire from the stronghold’s air defense network.

Then I had it ram straight into the gaping hole in the stronghold, allowing its tentacles—each with the power of a medium cruiser’s main gun—to freely thrash about inside.

As a bonus, assault troops inside the Kraken could board the base during this process.

However, when the Kraken simply rammed in like that, Tannhäuser’s defense fleet attempted to perform their own ramming attacks against it.

Along with various other bizarre tactics targeting the Kraken as it wriggled while embedded in the stronghold…

“Additional enemy fleet approaching Kraken Unit 2 from 11 o’clock.”

“Contact Kraken Unit 2 and tell them to withdraw and return now.”

“Yes, Commander.”

With urgent help from surrounding ships, we decided to extract Kraken Unit 2 from the stronghold and move it to the rear.

But even if they “defeated” the Kraken…

The situation remained unchanged—all defense facilities in the sections where the Kraken had rammed in and thrashed its tentacles were completely destroyed.

At the same time, our advance units were determined to take out the stronghold’s air defense network before anything else.

As time passed, the situation only worsened for Tannhäuser…

Two days later.

‘I’m running out of resources…!’

In just a few hours, mercenary units would desert en masse due to “forced contract termination from resource shortage.”

And we’d lost so many ships trying to forcibly contain the Tannhäuser fleet that I was wondering if I’d need to commit my main forces next.

My heart was pounding, and I felt like high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes were about to hit me all at once.

Then—

*Crackle*

“Commander! Urgent report!”

“Speak quickly.”

“We’ve successfully captured Tannhäuser Fortress’s command center! We’ve won, Commander!”

“Whoa!”

—————————————-

<Event>

<The command center of the stronghold ‘Tannhäuser Gateway Fortress’ has been captured!>

<Rewards>

<You can receive additional rewards from ‘Tannhäuser Gateway Fortress’ every week.>

˪<Minerals 150,000, Rare Resources 12,000, Gold 5,000>

˪<7,000,000 has been contributed from the stronghold’s own resource storage capacity!>

˪<The docking system lock between ‘Tannhäuser Gateway Fortress’ and the Commander’s base has been released!>

—————————————-

“KYEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”

“We did it, Commander!”

“KYOOOOOOOOH!”

Despite the evident fatigue from the grueling battle, hopeful voices came through the communication.

Seeing the event message that naturally appeared, I couldn’t help but let out a cry of joy.

Then Jessica and I held hands and performed a dance of celebration.

I decided to take a screenshot of the new battle result event along with the verification shots I’d taken earlier to post on the gallery.

But there was one problem I truly hadn’t anticipated…

—————————————–

Title: Breaking) Icarus successfully conquers Tannhäuser…

Author: News Boy

Content: [gif of Tannhäuser defense fleet and Icarus’s mercenary group ceasing combat]

After several explosions inside the stronghold, both sides stopped fighting

This is just a prediction, but it seems Icarus has definitely taken Tannhäuser

Maybe, yeah

Comments:

-[Oh]

-[Wow, he actually conquered it]

-[Truly amazing]

-[Impressive]

-[He’s actually taking a level 7 stronghold alone, wow]

-[LOLOLOLOL this is insane]

—————————————–

—————————————–

Title: F*CK YEAH I GOT IT!!!!

Author: Icarus

Content: [jpg of assault operation in progress], [jpg confirming conquest through event message]

I won, you damn stronghold!!

Comments:

-[Congrats]

-[Upvote for conquest, downvote for slow loser]

-[LOLOLOLOLOL]

-[Is this the person slower than the journalist who was watching?]

-˪[Yes that’s right]

-[Slow♡Loser♡]

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-[LOLOLOLOLOL]

—————————————–

‘…How did they write that so quickly?’

The self-proclaimed “journalists” who had been observing the situation posted their results much faster than I, the actual participant, could.

As a result, instead of receiving pure congratulations for conquering a level 7 stronghold, I earned the dishonor of being a “loser slower than journalists♡” and briefly became a laughingstock in the gallery.

Of course, that situation didn’t last long.

After all, the fact remained that I had conquered a level 7 stronghold “alone as a user.”

Before long, users were genuinely praising my stronghold takeover.