Ch.397Call Me Icarus. (3)

“Advance the fleet, with the Dreadnought at the vanguard.”

“Yes, Commander!”

Of course, saying “advance” was just a figure of speech.

In reality, the Khabarovsk, unable to move on its own while conducting real-time omnidirectional detection, was being towed by the Bayern, which had lost about half its tanking capability.

And our “vanguard” consisted of the largest and slowest Dreadnought I had, standing at the front to absorb damage.

Currently, my fleet’s advance was moving at an excruciatingly slow pace.

And as one might expect, the enemy fleet seemed to have noticed that our advance route was heading toward where the Anatolia and Anchorage-class were positioned.

-Beep beep beep beep! Beep beep beep beep!

“Commander, part of the enemy fleet is launching attacks from outside the Khabarovsk’s detection range!”

“Intercept them, and have the battleships respond with area bombardment!”

Unlike before, when we tried to minimize damage by firing 100 shots to land just one hit…

Now they were unleashing squadron-level attacks on our fleet, trying to wear down our forces however they could…

-BOOM!

“Destroyer #8 has been sunk. We only have two destroyers left.”

“Ugh.”

Small ships that had been serving as “meat shields” were being sunk one after another.

-Crackle… BANG!

-“Commander, enemy ships are concentrating their fire on the Dreadnought.”

“Berial? Even with their reinforcements, they shouldn’t be able to penetrate the Dreadnought’s armor, right?”

-“Yes, the main armor belt hasn’t been penetrated… but the secondary guns, main turret barrels, and various external sensors are being destroyed.”

“Ah.”

Just like modern tanks in contemporary warfare, the armor plates weren’t being penetrated.

But all those unnecessary sensors and other equipment attached to the exterior were being blown apart by fragments, rendering the ship increasingly useless.

Our forces were being gradually worn down in real-time, causing me no end of frustration.

And that wasn’t the end of our problems…

-“Ouroboros charge 100% complete, preparing additional radiation bombardment…”

-Beep beep beep beep beep!

-“Commander, wormhole reaction detected near the Ouroboros!”

“Huh? What? No!”

Just as the Ouroboros-class had completed 100% of its charge and was about to execute its second radiation bombardment…

Not one but TWO of those goddamn Anchorage’s close-range harpoons appeared simultaneously at the “front” of the Ouroboros.

One was inserted directly into the Ouroboros’s main cannon, which had just completed its energy charge and was about to fire.

And the other pierced through the Ouroboros’s uniquely designed frontal armor, pushing through with sheer mass.

-KABOOOOM!!!!

-“AAAAARGH!”

-“Lower armor plate melting!”

-“The main cannon has been destroyed!”

“C-Commander, the Ouroboros’s main cannon is destroyed! The energy backflow caused a complete explosion!”

“Oh fucking hell, this is insane.”

The main cannon, charged to 100% and ready to fire, had its energy flow reversed by the harpoon that smashed into its muzzle.

In an instant, the energy surge rushed in the opposite direction, not only destroying the massive main cannon attached to the lower part of the hull…

But also obliterating the stern’s lower section, causing the “main engine” located there to be completely annihilated in the catastrophe.

The harpoon lodged in the main cannon was also destroyed in the process, but…

Having lost both its firepower and mobility, the Ouroboros had no way to prevent itself from being dragged by the remaining harpoon.

Watching our versatile Ouroboros being turned into a mangled can…

No, an Ouroboros tin can by that primitive ship.

-“Commander!!”

-“Propulsion system destroyed!”

-“Activate all reverse thrusters! Hold on somehow!”

“KYAAAAAAAAAAH!!! MY URONG!”

I heard myself let out an extremely high-pitched scream, like a 7-year-old girl.

But the Ouroboros caught by the “harpoon” had no ability to remove it.

And though other ships hurriedly tried to remove the harpoon from the Ouroboros, the small ships’ firepower was no match for its ridiculous durability.

At this rate, my Urong would be pulled into the wormhole like a snake being dragged into a hole, and I regretted stepping into Round 10.

But at that moment, the energy chain connected to the wormhole was suddenly released.

And right after that.

-“This is Neranjara. We’ve destroyed the harpoon embedded in the enemy’s massive space monster.”

—————————————–

<Event>

<Anatolia’s Freedom!>

<Details>

<The Anchorage’s ‘harpoon’ embedded in the Anatolia-class giant monster has been released!>

<Result>

<The ‘Anatolia-class giant monster’s’ attitude toward you has changed from ‘hostile’ to ‘friendly neutral’.>

<The ‘Anatolia-class giant monster’s’ attitude toward the fleet that captured it has changed to ‘hostile’.>

<The fleet’s teleport system usage restriction has been lifted as of now.>

—————————————–

‘Viva!’

“Y-Yes! I’ve been waiting for this, excellent!”

The ninja… no, Neranjara had appeared.

==========

At the exact moment when Icarus was letting out a 7-year-old girl’s scream upon seeing his Urong… I mean, the Ouroboros-class annihilation-type siege battleship about to become the contents of a tin can…

…rewinding back to when the battle was just about to begin.

“Hmm, I’m not sure if we should all be on board here.”

“I think the Savior has a plan for everything, don’t you?”

“That’s right. Besides, the enemy fleet is all cloaked, so we can’t dive anyway.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Except for Berial, Tiamat, Griyanar, and Oxianor who remained behind for fleet command, buffs, and minimal defense, the rest of the superhumans—the close-combat types including Ignis, Partia, and Smeragi—were aboard the Neranjara-class subspace diving ship that had separated from the fleet while submerged.

The objective of this group and the Neranjara-class was none other than to locate, immediately after the battle began, the enemy’s electronic warfare ship—or rather, the ‘Anatolia-class’ that was blocking teleportation, as identified by the electronic warfare cruiser Khabarovsk.

And to release the ‘harpoon’ of the ‘Anchorage-class’ that appeared to be controlling—or rather, restraining—the monster.

The issue was that the Neranjara-class didn’t merely “cloak” but actually submerged into subspace, so it could avoid detection by the ‘Anatolia’ while moving.

However, the Neranjara’s subspace diving had a limit of at least a few hours to a maximum of 12 hours.

So they had to periodically interrupt their journey, surfacing from subspace while hiding among asteroids and holding their breath to avoid detection.

And to prevent their position from being discovered through communication interception, they strictly prohibited any contact with the main fleet.

After navigating like an ancient U-boat…

“Target confirmed.”

“Ohhh.”

“Finally found it.”

“My, my.”

Our prematurely arriving Neranjara-class discovered the Anatolia and Anchorage just as the Ouroboros was about to become a wormhole pretzel skewer after being rendered impotent.

Of course, if the Neranjara-class had blindly attacked the Anchorage…

Given that the Anchorage-class had enough tanking ability to withstand dozens of the Neranjara’s premature attacks…

It would have ignored the Neranjara’s assault and continued pulling its harpoon, turning the Ouroboros into something resembling “Ourobo-twist”…

“Fire all spatial torpedoes. Target the massive harpoon embedded in the giant monster.”

The captain of the Neranjara, who had “appropriately” interpreted our protagonist Icarus’s instructions, naturally focused on destroying only the harpoon embedded in the Anatolia.

As a result, the Anchorage couldn’t focus on pulling the Ouroboros.

-GROOOOOOAAAAAAR!!!!

“Ugh, incredible pressure.”

Instead, it had to release the energy chain and perform evasive maneuvers to avoid the enraged Anatolia charging toward it in fury.

Witnessing this, the Neranjara-class captain captured the situation as evidence, activated the communication network that had maintained radio silence until now, and sent a short, concise message along with the images to Icarus, who was rejoicing at the Urong’s miraculous recovery.

“This is Neranjara. We’ve destroyed the harpoon embedded in the enemy’s massive space monster.”