Ch.480The Second Siege of Tannhäuser. (5)

If there’s anything fortunate, it might be that the almighty Hyper Particle whatever was so powerful.

It literally “annihilated” the power source while penetrating right through the center of the La Pleiades-class, which at least prevented it from exploding.

Thanks to that, Tiamat, who had been aboard the La Pleiades as “a somewhat decent aircraft carrier” instead of the Kraken or regular-rank carriers, was able to avoid an untimely death.

“I-I thought I was going to die.”

“Tiamat, first evacuate with the remaining crew and transfer to the Kraken.”

“Ugh, well… it’s not ideal, but there’s no other choice… I’ll do it right away!”

Anyway, as the ship’s core turned into a donut shape and began to collapse, the multi-layered flight deck sections forming the “L” and “A” separated and broke away.

While Tiamat emerged from there with the remaining carrier-based aircraft and escape shuttles, I received two pieces of good news amidst the painful situation.

To be precise, one small joy and one big joy.

The smaller one was…

“C-Commander, this is Nero…”

“Ah, Nero, how’s it going?”

“Heheh, m-my assimilation assault ships have captured three enemy battleships…!”

“Oh.”

He had appropriately used the assimilation assault ships, which were essentially large assault pods, to capture enemy battleships that had just broken through the defense line.

Plus, since Nero didn’t really care about “ship classification” and didn’t know much about it, he just called them battleships.

“B-but there are superhumans and troops inside the ships r-resisting…”

“There are superhumans and troops on a battleship-class?”

“Commander, the ships detected on radar aren’t battleships but medium battleships.”

“Oh, really? Tell Bendalof nearby to help Nero complete the takeover of those three medium battleships.”

“I’ll relay that right away.”

In reality, all three were Xenovia Empire’s tanking-type medium battleships that had invested in barrier and armor reinforcement.

This was enough to make up for the loss of the La Pleiades and then some—a sufficiently impressive achievement.

And the other “big” joy was…

—————————————–

<Event>

<‘Tannhäuser Gateway Fortress’ main cannon repairs completed!>

<Details>

<Fortress main cannon durability 100% restored>

<Main cannon energy charge complete, ready to fire>

—————————————–

“Commander, we’ve completed the restoration of Tannhäuser’s fortress main cannon!”

“Ohhh, finally.”

The fortress’s main cannon, which had been rendered impotent by Titan Arum’s ultra-precise long-range sniping right at the start of the battle, had finally been repaired.

The moment I heard this communication and saw the event message that appeared before me,

I immediately opened the chat room and announced that I would proceed with firing the fortress main cannon.

Of course, some users pouted about how they couldn’t just suddenly withdraw, but

Those were either a tiny minority or incompetent players who couldn’t “read the situation.”

In most cases… well.

—————————————–

<Tannhäuser Alliance Forces Private Chat>

-[Fortress cannon ON!]

-[Perfect timing]

-[Anyone who can’t get out should just fall back to the base, better to force return to base than explode and lose your ship]

-[Let’s gooooo]

—————————————–

For users who had already suffered painful losses with the annihilation of auxiliary ships and meat shields, this was literally a chance for a “legitimate” retreat.

Even if not, they all considered this a golden opportunity to grind those damned Punishment Fleet’s small ships to dust, so everyone hurriedly moved out of the main cannon’s firing path.

The Punishment Fleet, unaware that the main cannon had been repaired, seemed to mistake the increasing number of ships “returning” to base as a collapse in our defense line.

They could be seen desperately pushing through the seemingly wide-open gap in the defense line.

Of course, such actions were immediately followed by…

“Countdown to fortress main cannon firing! 10…9…8…”

As the final countdown began, and they witnessed the fortress main cannon with its visibly dangerous swirling torrent of energy,

Their advance changed to a desperate scattering in all directions to survive.

Or conversely, some tried to fire beams at us in a belated attempt to prevent the fortress cannon from firing, but…

Given that even Titan Arum needed full power charge to barely reach that range, ordinary gun batteries had no chance of reaching us.

“3…2…1…Fire!”

-KWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

“Ohhh.”

No joke, a beam as thick as a literal “star” rather than a planet burst out with a whoosh.

It directly hit the Punishment Fleet, which had just broken through the defense line and was frantically trying to evade after assessing the situation.

The fleet, including various large ships like the medium battleships commanding the breakthrough, began melting from the bow.

Eventually, as the armor plates melted away to reveal the internal frame, the hull couldn’t withstand the torrent of energy penetrating the gaps and “bloomed” like a “flower” before exploding.

It was truly a spectacular end befitting the Xenovia Empire, which uses flower names for their large ships.

Witnessing this spectacle, the users around me, myself included, all let out cheers.

—————————————–

<Tannhäuser Alliance Forces Private Chat>

-[Oh shit the ship’s ass melted]

-[LOLOLOLOL]

-[What were they doing not evading]

-[Xenovia battleship bastards got caught with tow lines]

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-[What the LOLOL]

—————————————–

Although in the process, some lost their ships to enemy vessels employing these desperate tactics, as if inspired by our users.

Of course, while we achieved this immensely satisfying result by firing the fortress main cannon…

Honestly, the barrage only eliminated about 5-6 thousand ships at most, while the Xenovia Empire still had hundreds of thousands of ships remaining.

The remaining users, except for those jokesters who actually deserted when told to evade,

Especially the anti-faction users, who somehow pulled out additional capital ships from who knows where,

The mercenary users who were pouring everything they had into the offensive because they knew they’d go down with me if I fell,

The clan village users who weren’t much help in fleet battles but had so many superhumans they were helpful in other ways.

All the remaining users were putting in extreme effoooort to repel the damned Punishment Fleet, using every means at their disposal.

==========

And as time passed, by the time Neranja, who kept making small contributions, received her third ammunition resupply and was about to sortie again…

-BOOM! CRASH!

“Fortress main cannon hit! Further exposure to enemy fire would be dangerous!”

“Sigh… retract the fortress main cannon, and don’t bring it out until it’s completely repaired.”

“Understood!”

The fortress main cannon, which had been our alliance’s secret weapon, was severely damaged by the relentless Punishment Fleet and forcibly sealed away.

Additionally, the situation wasn’t particularly good for the guard fleets and main combat fleets responsible for our alliance’s numbers either.

“Commander, the defensive fleets called in from Spiralis have been completely wiped out!”

“We’ll need to call in more from Avalon, no, Barracuda.”

“Both Avalon and Barracuda have already been wiped out, and over 70% of Tannhäuser’s carrier-based aircraft from the defensive facility hangars have been destroyed.”

“Damn it, then bring in the remaining Level 1 and Level 2 stronghold fleets, we need every single one!”

As Jessica said, the stronghold defense fleets were virtually annihilated.

And naturally, in battle conditions fierce enough to wipe out defense fleets, other fleets weren’t faring any better.

“Ugh, barely survived.”

“Commander Icarus, we can no longer handle this and will retreat to the stronghold!”

“Damn it, everyone retreat! Retreat!”

“Waaah, my cuties!”

The four mercenary corps directly under my command were also hastily retreating after their ships were either destroyed or heavily damaged.

—————————————–

<Tannhäuser Alliance Forces Private Chat>

-[Oh shit we’re getting pushed back more and more]

-[This is hopeless, GG]

-[Everyone did well]

-[Damn these bastards, they’re so strong]

-[This is why going against a faction is insane]

-[Three dreadnoughts destroyed, my mental is breaking]

-[They’re all just regular grade though, have a drink]

—————————————–

The scattered Titan Arums and their escort fleets were now launching coordinated counterattacks against us.

In the process, more users were retreating to base because their main ships = gacha ships might be in danger.

As scenes reminiscent of the 30,000 mercenaries suffering under the Federation Border Defense Fleet during Humanity’s revolution appeared everywhere,

I shook my head at the alliance forces, which had devolved from “creative tactics for unconventional strategies” into “just a very large mob of disorganized troops” as time passed.

I was preparing to make a surrender declaration to the remaining Punishment Fleet of about 300,000 ships advancing toward Tannhäuser.

Though honestly, I didn’t think they’d accept it, considering they were already launching ramming attacks against my battered Hresvelgr, which was cornered right near Tannhäuser.

‘This goddamn unfair event, shit.’

With such thoughts, I was about to respond to the enemy fleet’s ramming attack with the Kraken’s main guns, which were once again holed up at the fortress entrance.

But at that very moment.

-Beep beep beep!

“Multiple strong energy reactions detected from the rear… heading this way!”

“Multiple annihilation-type flame bombardments confirmed, this is… a coordinated barrage from Jormungandr-class ships!”

“…Shit, finally!!!!!”

Our Leviathan brothers, who had been nowhere to be seen until now, finally revealed themselves with an intense coordinated barrage.

At the same time, hearing that this goddamn unfair quest was finally complete gave me a sensation like relieving a week-long constipation.