Ch.394″Really? It is real?”

And the result of trusting Arcadia’s advice and diving in.

Indeed, rounds 6 through 9 were, how should I put it, incredibly smooth sailing.

—————————————–

<Round 9 Cleared!>

<Battle Result: Victory>

<Enemy Fleet Annihilated>

<Proceed to next round?>

<Y/N>

—————————————–

“This is quite satisfying.”

“I agree, looks like diving in was the right choice.”

Although in the process, we lost an average of at least 4-5 destroyers per round.

And patrol ships were exploding at a rate of 10 ships per round, so it took quite some time to build new ones, level them up, and deploy them…

“Commander.”

“Ah, Berial, are the other ships alright?”

“Yes, thanks to the sacrifice of the smaller vessels, all capital ships sustained only minor damage that can be repaired within hours.”

“Excellent.”

True to the meat shield strategy, the smaller ships were ground up, allowing the ridiculously expensive capital ships to remain unscratched.

I decided to take a moment of silence for the approximately 100 fallen national heroes… I mean, small ships that had been sunk so far.

‘Thank you, small ships. Live strong in the mountains.’

‘You bastard.’

Though I seemed to hear the soul of some unknown person during that moment.

Since ghosts couldn’t exist in an SF world, I lightly ignored such trivial cursing.

Finally, with the “much-anticipated Round 10” approaching, I made thorough defensive preparations one last time.

“Jessica, how long until the last of the small ships finishes construction?”

“The destroyer at Shipyard 5 will take about another hour.”

“Hmm… is that so?”

“And as you instructed, Berial will take those ships for basic leveling up to level 10 as soon as construction is complete.”

Since it would take time to rebuild the small ship forces destroyed in Round 9 and complete their basic leveling…

I decided to take a short break during this downtime.

And while at it, to fulfill my duties as a moderator, I opened the gallery where notifications were flashing as usual.

However, while entering the gallery and cutting down all the weirdos posting strange, disgusting images as always…

I happened to discover some unusual posts…

Namely, they were about some fools who tried to engage in PVP despite the event period being in effect, and ended up getting thoroughly screwed.

—————————————–

Title: There are idiots who thought PVP would work during an event period

Author: Bahamut

Content: [Image of a fleet surrounded by other fleets, physically unable to move]

This is truly legendary

They have zero thoughts

Comments:

-[What’s this?]

-[They’re talking about something only they understand again]

-[PVP during an event?]

—————————————–

—————————————–

Title: Explanation for those who just entered the gallery and don’t know what’s going on.txt

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Image of a toad shouting “Thinking!”]

Some guys tried to raid while the main fleets of certain clans were away for the event

They forgot that Event Period = No PVP, so the remaining fleets “physically” surrounded them

Now they’re begging “Please spare us,” and the clan abandoned the event to capture all those fleets and is planning to destroy them all once the period ends

If you think I’m wrong, I’m right and you’re wrong bye

Comments:

-[What gave them the confidence to attack?]

-[Idiots lolololol]

-[The funny thing is, you can tell they’re weaker than the clan they attacked since they waited until the main fleet was gone]

-˪[So when the clan either abandoned the event or those who finished early came rushing back with their fleets to physically surround them, they were immediately screwed]

-˪[Legendary]

—————————————–

‘Well, well.’

Of course, I didn’t know what was going on between those two clans at the moment.

And as for looking into it more thoroughly…

“Commander, the small ships are ready.”

“Already? That was fast.”

Since it was time to resume participation in the event…

‘Sigh, can’t be helped.’

I closed the gallery with regret, then set off on another journey to the event map through the wormhole that opened above the base.

==========

But the moment I entered Round 10…

—————————————–

<Round 10 Battle Start>

<Enemy Fleet Undetectable>

—————————————–

‘What are you doing, status window?’

Unlike previous rounds, this time it wasn’t showing the enemy fleet composition.

Having grown accustomed to the “fleet composition notifier” from rounds 5-9, I felt irritation bubbling up at this attempt to mess with me.

Of course, in this game, if you want to know the enemy fleet composition, you have to scout and figure it out yourself, like it or not.

So I grumbled about having another “annoying task” added to my list and prepared to conduct proper reconnaissance after a long time.

But just as I was about to launch scout planes from the Kraken and carriers that had emerged from the wormhole…

-Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!

“Commander, massive missile signatures detected ahead!”

“What?”

From seemingly empty space, a huge volley of missiles suddenly came pouring toward us.

-“All ships, engage intercept protocols!”

-“Hresvelgr launching swarm interceptor missiles, impact in 3…2…1…”

-BOOM! BANG! BOOM!

Fortunately, we had been in combat readiness since before entering the wormhole.

And with the missile battleship Hresvelgr, classified as an arsenal ship, on our side, we could intercept that mysterious missile spam in an instant.

But that was just the beginning.

-“This is Khabarovsk, confirming enemy ships in stealth-cloaking state throughout the area.”

“What… did you say?”

-“They vary in size, from battleships to patrol ships.”

“…Oh damn it.”

When I learned what kind of enemy fleet we were facing through Khabarovsk, which had appeared after 9,980 reroll gacha attempts…

I felt curses involuntarily slipping out.

“Damn, of all things, they’re all stealth bugs.”

“What do you mean by that?”

As always…

Since I had used player terminology rather than “proper in-universe terms,” Jessica couldn’t understand…

I thought that someday I should give Jessica a translation guide between in-setting terms and player terms, and calmly began to explain.

“Stealth battleships, stealth cruisers, stealth destroyers… basically, the entire enemy fleet has both stealth and cloaking capabilities, which is a pain in the ass.”

“Oh… that’s…”

As Khabarovsk’s analysis continued, I could learn exactly what kind of fleet we were facing as the Round 10 boss.

-“Reporting on the enemy fleet’s main force.”

“Go ahead.”

-“One stealth-type missile battleship confirmed, wait… the enemy battleship is initiating a new attack.”

“…Attacking during a report, these guys have no business ethics.”

Although the report was interrupted by an additional attack, changing the situation somewhat…

While Hresvelgr’s numerous interceptor missiles created fireworks as they intercepted the stealth battleship’s surprise missile attack…

Through Khabarovsk’s extremely detailed report, I could learn precisely what ships made up the enemy fleet.

The problem was that among those ships…

‘What is that?’

I discovered there were very unusual “special ships” that you wouldn’t normally see in conventional fleet battles.